"It’s the potion... Do you have more?" Yumina asked urgently, her voice echoing faintly through the trembling underground chamber.

Tyla glanced inside her small pouch. Only two vials remained, glowing faintly with a pale green hue. "There are only two here," she said, frowning. "There might be more inside the pocket dimension... but I can’t tell from here."

"Hold this," Tyla added, "I’ll check."

Before Yumina could reply, Tyla’s figure just simply vanished, leaving behind only the pocket dimension pearl in midair which was about to fall. Yumina caught it and carefully pocketed it.

For a brief moment, silence returned— only the faint rustles of the roots could be heard. The few uncorrupted ones that had surrounded them had grown still, swaying gently like calm waves after a storm. But the peace didn’t last.

The corrupted roots began to move again—wild, erratic, and violent. They tore through the soil and air, black ichor dripping from their jagged tips. The ground itself seemed to pulse with a dark heartbeat.

Then, with a guttural roar, Marco screamed. His once-human form was almost gone, his arms replaced by a twisted amalgamation of flesh and roots. The corrupted energy in him burst outward, and two of his root-covered arms plunged deep into the ground.

"Move!" Yumina shouted, narrowly dodging as the roots erupted from beneath her. She shot into the air, propelled by bursts from her boots, barely escaping the impaling strike. She can fly without it too, but she was used to using it.

Marco’s root-arms detached themselves with a sickening snap, writhing independently like monstrous serpents. His body hovered, no longer weighed down by the limbs, and he surged forward— straight toward Yumina.

Before he could reach her, a blinding beam of light cut through the air and struck him. Marco froze mid-flight.

Yumina turned her head sharply. Down below stood Kurt, breathing heavily, holding his Neutralizer Gun, Pointing at Marco.

"I... got him," Kurt panted, steadying his shaking hand.

Meanwhile, inside the pocket dimension, Tyla rummaged frantically through her shelves and crates until she found the second vial— its greenish white glow pulsing faintly. The label, written in beautiful handwriting, read simply: LIFE.

She stared at it for a second, then took out her copper pot and carefully placed the vial inside. Grabbing her copper ladle, she murmured to herself, "Hmm... Instead of Vial to store, I can use something else."

Back outside, the chaos had worsened.

The corrupted roots twisted and reshaped themselves into humanoid figures— thin, tall, and eerily elegant. Tendrils that formed in shaped of skin was dark and cracked, and their hollow eyes glowed faintly green.

"Elves?" Yumina muttered, stunned for a second.

The root-elves moved gracefully yet with deadly precision, charging toward her and Kurt. She raised her gauntlets and unleashed a barrage of flaming projectiles. Each shot exploded upon contact, burning through their bark and sending molten sap splattering across the ground.

"Oh, great... now it can produce their own humanoids." she muttered sarcastically as she fired again. "Elves and the World Tree — of course they have a connection. It makes sense why they took that form."

"Now’s not the time to analyze that! Let’s leave." Kurt shouted, swinging Marco and hurling him toward the massive tree stump in the center of the chamber. The impact sent cracks splintering through the bark.

"Wait!" Yumina called out. "Tyla said she wanted to go near the Tree!"

Kurt grimaced. His scaled head turned slightly toward her, his golden eyes filled with hesitation. "I’m sorry... I can’t risk it anymore. I only helped because it was my boss’s order. Going any further... that’s suicide."

"Then retreat," Yumina said firmly. "Tyla left me enough defense charms. I’ll manage."

Kurt hesitated only a moment longer, then nodded. "Sorry. Let’s hope you both make it out alive."

As he flew away, he muttered under his breath, "There’s got to be treasure down here... I’ll bring my team later. Justice deserves treasure, after all." He touched his chest, where a faint warmth lingered from Tyla’s potion earlier. "Also... what was that potion? That Lady Boss wealth is insane..."

Back near the center of the cavern, Yumina was still fighting. The air shimmered with heat as she soared upward, her gauntlets glowing. Dozens of corrupted elves stacked over one another, climbing like twisted ladders toward her.

"Persistent little weeds," she hissed.

The lion engravings on her gauntlets flared bright orange, their eyes lighting up. With a deafening roar, streams of molten lava erupted downward. The air crackled, and the shrieks of the burning elves filled the cavern.

But amid the inferno, Marco reappeared —his body charred but still moving. He leapt from the flames, roaring, and lunged straight for Yumina.

She barely had time to react before Tyla’s defense charm— a small crystal attached to her wrist —activated on its own. A hexagonal barrier of blue light formed instantly, absorbing Marco’s strike and sending him flying back.

Yumina smirked slightly. "Thanks, Tyla."

Moments later, a faint shimmer appeared in the air behind her. Tyla materialized, holding a peculiar greenish gourd that pulsed softly with life energy. Her eyes were calm, determined.

"Sorry for the wait," Tyla said, her voice low but steady.

She pointed the gourd toward the ground. The mouth of the vessel glowed, and then—

Whooosh!

Streams of liquid light poured out like rain. The potion— Life – splattered across the ground and onto the writhing roots. The reaction was instantaneous.

The corrupted tendrils twitched violently, letting out eerie, almost human screams. Their blackened texture faded, replaced by vibrant green. The corruption melted away, the air growing lighter, warmer.

The once-hostile roots began to turn still. The twisted elf forms crumbled into dust, their essence returning to the soil.

All around them, the underground seemed to breathe again. The faint sound of a heartbeat— slow and deep— echoed through the roots. The World Tree stump itself seemed to stir.

Yumina lowered her gauntlets, panting heavily. "You... did it."

Tyla smiled faintly,

"No," she said softly. "We did it."

"Where’s Kurt?" Tyla asked, glancing around the battlefield.

"He left..." Yumina sighed, her shoulders dropping slightly.

"Well, smart decision," Tyla muttered, forcing a small smirk. "Still, I thought we were friends... Anyway—" Her eyes shifted toward the motionless figure lying among the tangled roots. "Let’s see if we can save him."

Without hesitation, she flew toward Marco’s fallen body. The air still carried faint traces of corruption, the roots twitching weakly around him like dying snakes.

Tyla raised her hand, and a faint glow pulsed from the greenish gourd floating beside her. "Come on, Technically I forced you into this," she whispered.

The gourd wasn’t ordinary— it held a lake-sized space within, enchanted to contain only liquids. Tyla had already filled it entirely with Life Potions. Ofcourse she used her copper pot and Copper Ladle.

She aimed the gourd toward Marco and let a stream of shimmering liquid pour over him. The potion soaked into his wounds, glowing as it touched his corrupted skin. Steam rose, the dark veins getting destroyed.

Yumina watched silently. "You think it’ll work?"

Tyla exhaled softly, eyes focused. "I don’t know... Let’s hope..."

The copper pot resonated again towards the tree stump.

---

As soon as Kurt left the factory and started heading toward his hidden base, the cold wind of winter brushed against his scales. He was halfway across the snow-covered street when three shadows dropped from above, landing in front of him with a heavy thud that cracked the ice beneath their feet.

He froze. The energy in the air suddenly thickened—these weren’t ordinary practitioners.

"What do you want?" Kurt asked warily, his hand subtly moving toward the Neutralizer inside his storage ring.

"This smell..." one of them said, her voice low and curious. A girl with curved dragon horns sniffed the air. Her golden eyes glimmered. "It smells like a Life Potion."

Another girl, tanned-skinned and dressed in thin white clothes completely unfit for the season, tilted her head. "Life Potion? Never heard of it. Though this dragon man does look like he’s overflowing with vitality."

The horned girl smirked proudly. "That’s because it’s because that Pervert Women Made it. It’s exclusive to Tyler’s crew. He used to feed me a lot of it... like a snack... when we mated."

A third voice, calm and emotionless, interrupted. "So that means this one knows where Mr. Tyler is."

Zuzia, Myrtle, and Lanny all turned their gazes toward Kurt. The air grew heavier; the pressure alone made his knees tremble.

Zuzia cracked her knuckles, grinning as tiny fire sparks danced across her fists. "Hey, hey, Mr. Lizard... care to tell us where Tyler is?"

She slammed her fists together, creating a shockwave that blew the snow away in a perfect circle. The ground trembled, "Hey Hey tell me, Where is Tyler?"

Kurt gulped, taking a nervous step back. "W–wait, wait! Let’s talk about this! Who is Tyler?"

But the gleam in Zuzia’s eyes said otherwise —she was already preparing her next punch.