Tyla took out several charms— some defensive, some offensive— arranging them neatly between her fingers, ready to activate at a moment’s notice. Yumina equipped her Lion Gauntlets; a sharp click echoed through the tunnel as the metallic joints locked firmly around her arms, faint smoke curling from the barrel-shaped mouths of the gauntlets. Marco unsheathed a small but sharp knife, while Kurt loaded his Neutralizer Gun, its glowing core humming faintly.

According to Marco, the last time he was here, he felt as if something unseen had been watching him from the darkness. That warning alone was enough for everyone to prepare for unexpected suprise.

As they proceeded deeper into the narrow tunnel, their footsteps echoed softly against the cold stone. Tyla’s sharp divine sense scanned the surroundings; then she frowned slightly, "Hmm... something feels different in here," she murmured.

Marco turned with a grin. "Wow, you noticed it already? As expected of Lady Boss. I didn’t realize it until I went much deeper last time."

"What did you notice?" Yumina asked, her tone a mix of curiosity and caution.

Tyla only smirked and winked. "You’ll find out soon."

They continued forward, and as the air grew cooler, Yumina felt a strange sensation wash over her. The heavy tension that usually accompanied seemed to fade.

"This... feels calm," Yumina said softly, her steps slowing.

Kurt nodded in agreement. "The chaotic energy— it’s gone. I can’t sense it at all."

Marco tilted his head. "Oh, so that’s what it was! I thought it was just the healing power from the broken World Tree roots."

Kurt adjusted his weapon. "Maybe it is. The Tree might be broken, but even fragments of something that powerful can still purify the air."

The group exchanged glances, silently realizing— they were visiting an ex-sacred tree.

In the Boundless World, two fundamental energies governed all life —Aura and Prana. Aura flowed through warriors, fueling their strength, speed, and battle techniques, while Prana coursed through mages, empowering them to cast intricate spells that could alter reality itself. Even monsters possessed these energies, though often mixed with into what was known as Monster Qi.

Both Aura and Prana existed everywhere —in the air, water, soil, and even in living beings. Yet, despite their omnipresence, they were not easily usable. Over the ages, something had twisted the natural flow of these energies, making them chaotic and dangerous. Anyone foolish enough to absorb them directly risked crippling their cultivation, or worse, death.

For this reason, practitioners relied on arrays, pills, potions, and charms to safely refine and absorb energy. Even a dual practitioner like Tyler, who had mastered both Aura and Prana, couldn’t draw in the world’s energy freely. It was one of the greatest mysteries that plagued every scholar and immortal alike—why the energy in the atmosphere is Chaotic Itself?

Yet now, deep beneath the earth, that very hostility was gone. In this underground passage, the chaotic hum of energy that usually filled the air had vanished completely. What surrounded them was pure, tranquil, and perfectly balanced.

Tyla felt her body relax as her instincts confirmed the truth— this place was unlike anywhere else in the world.

"Wow..." Kurt muttered, glancing around as faint light shimmered across the stone walls. "Even the Immortals couldn’t figure out why Aura and Prana became chaotic... but here—it’s calm. Perfectly calm."

The group stood in silent awe.

"Ahhhh!"

Marco’s scream echoed through the tunnel as something shot out from the shadows and pierced his shoulder. The impact sent him stumbling backward, his crate falling with a loud clatter.

"Marco!" Kurt shouted, instantly raising his Neutralizer Gun. A burst of blue light erupted from the weapon, flooding the tunnel with its glow—and what they saw made their blood run cold.

From the darkness writhed thin, sharp tendrils, their surfaces glistening with a black sheen that seemed to swallow the light itself. They slithered across the ground like serpents, vanishing and reappearing with ghostly silence.

"I can’t even sense them with my Divine Sense..." Tyla muttered, her tone unusually tense.

Marco gritted his teeth and grabbed his knife. The runes etched along its blade began to glow crimson. "Let’s see if you can handle this!" he growled. The knife burst into flames as he swung it across the tendril that had impaled him.

Slash!

The burning blade sliced through the shadowy appendage. The severed piece hissed, melting away into black smoke before vanishing completely. The remaining tendrils recoiled, retreating into the darkness.

"The heck was that..." Marco started, but his voice faltered.

A chill crept down everyone’s spine. The air around them shifted —heavy, watchful, alive.

Tyla slowly turned her head toward the far end of the tunnel. "That way..." she whispered.

They followed her gaze, and when Kurt lifted his weapon to illuminate the path, the sight before them left them speechless.

Beyond the shadows stretched an immense underground chamber, its size dwarfing everything they had seen before. At the center stood a colossal stump, easily a thousand meters tall and twice as wide. Its sheer scale made them feel like insects before a divine relic.

The surface of the stump was split— half lifeless and gray, half faintly glowing with veins of emerald light pulsing beneath its bark.

Yumina’s breath caught. "And this... this is the smallest World Tree of them all," she whispered in awe.

Tyla stepped forward, her eyes reflecting the faint green glow. "We’ve arrived."

As they descended toward the base of the stump, the scene grew more surreal. Countless metal pipes extended from some sort of small arrays from walls, each one spewing streams of industrial waste— toxic smoke, black sludge, and molten residue. The waste splashed against the roots and was immediately devoured by living tendrils sprouting from the ground.

The tendrils, green and faintly translucent, looked eerily similar to the black one that had attacked Marco earlier. They slithered across the surface like veins, absorbing every drop of pollution, cleansing the area around the living half of the stump.

"It’s feeding..." Kurt murmured, unable to look away.

"Or just Cleaning," Tyla corrected softly. "The broken World Tree is purifying the poison that humans dump into it... and in return, it’s dying even faster than it should."

The air trembled faintly— as if the ancient tree could hear them.

Suddenly, the ground trembled.

From the abyss below, massive roots—thick as towers and dark as melted tar—shot upward, tearing through stone and soil like monstrous serpents. The air filled with a low, rumbling roar as the corrupted Roots of the World Tree lunged toward them.

"Domain—Barrier!" Kurt shouted.

A pulse of blue energy burst from him, forming a translucent barrier around the group just in time. The roots slammed against it, shaking the ground but failing to pierce through.

"Wow," Yumina said, blinking in surprise. "Your Domain is a barrier?"

Marco, who was backing away cautiously, added, "That’s... kind of underwhelming for a Domain."

Kurt’s eye twitched. "Shut up, you’re just a Master-level flunky," he snapped, his voice strained from maintaining the shield. Then, glancing at Yumina, he continued through clenched teeth, "And no, this isn’t my full Domain! I can’t use it when allies are inside. For now, this much will have to do!"

Tyla didn’t waste time. She reached into her pouch and threw several Light-attribute attack charms into the air. The talismans ignited instantly, flaring like miniature suns.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Explosions of blinding light erupted around them, searing the blackened roots and forcing them to recoil with shrill hisses.

"Oh... that worked surprisingly well," Yumina said with a smirk. Flames gathered around her gauntlets as she clicked them into their combat mode. "My turn!"

Fwoooosh!

Twin beams of fire shot out from her gauntlets, carving through several roots in one sweep. The stench of burning corruption filled the air.

Kurt lifted his Neutralizer Gun and fired. A wave of icy blue energy expanded outward, freezing the charging roots mid-air, turning them into crystalline sculptures.

For a brief moment, it seemed like they had regained control of the situation.

But then—

Zing!

Without warning, something shot forward — a dark spear-like tendril that tore through the air and pierced straight through Kurt’s chest from behind.

Kurt’s body jerked violently, his breath catching. "What the hell—" he gasped, blood spilling from his lips. His legs trembled as he turned around, disbelief etched across his face.

"No way... something got through my domain without me noticing... This—" His words faltered, the strength leaving his voice.

Thud.

His knees hit the ground.

Behind him, Marco stood eerily still. The light around him seemed to dim as his shadow bled outward, spreading across the floor like spilled ink. His fingers twisted and elongated, warping into gnarled, root-like tendrils that pulsed with corrupted energy. The faint scent of corruption filled the air.

Marco’s eyes turned pitch-black—devoid of pupils, emotion, or recognition. They were just hollow voids reflecting the faint light of the barrier. His lips moved slightly, but no words came out —only a low, guttural growl that didn’t sound human.

Tyla spun around, her fingers already gripping a handful of charms. But she froze, her mind struggling to process what she was seeing. Marco...?

The barrier around them flickered as the corrupted tendrils writhed and coiled, responding to an unseen force. The warmth of Aura and Prana in the air was replaced by a suffocating chill that seeped into their bones.

Yumina took a hesitant step back, the glow of her gauntlets trembling. "That’s... not Marco anymore."

Kurt, barely alive, tried to move his trembling hands, but his body twitched unnaturally. His eyes too were turning black.

The situation is getting worse.