Chapter 95 - Ancient Tree

Chapter 95: 95 - Ancient Tree

The sound of creaking wood continued as they descended. It came irregularly through the ruins, sometimes distant and then close enough that all three stopped to listen. Adrien kept Absolute Mana Sense extended. The stronger presence he had detected earlier remained ahead, but the deeper they went, the stranger it felt.

There was only one, and Adrien was certain. One living mana signature dominated everything below them, yet its presence seemed to spread across an enormous area instead of remaining concentrated in one body.

"Still only one?" Lucien asked quietly.

"Yes, just one," Adrien confirmed. Umbral Root remained stored for now, avoiding the unnecessary mana drain of keeping it manifested while they walked. "But I can feel it throughout the area ahead. I don’t know how large it is."

Amelia looked toward the root-covered ceiling. "Then we assume it can reach farther than we expect."

They continued until the narrow passage opened into a chamber so vast that Adrien couldn’t clearly see the opposite wall. It resembled an underground garden abandoned for centuries.

Ruined structures surrounded a wide central space, their walls split apart by immense roots. Trees grew everywhere despite the impossible depth, some thin and twisted, others thick enough to rival the ancient trunks surrounding Elyndor.

Pale plants illuminated the chamber in scattered patches. Above them, the ceiling had almost disappeared beneath interwoven wood. Then Adrien saw the crystals.

Clusters of yellow-brown crystal protruded from roots near the center. Some were no larger than fingers, while others formed jagged growths almost as tall as Amelia. Their surfaces carried a muted golden sheen beneath the brown coloration, and concentrated mana pulsed inside them.

"Heartroot Crystal," Amelia said.

Lucien studied the nearest cluster without lowering his attention from the trees. "Enough for the barrier?"

"More than enough if we can actually take it back."

Adrien didn’t move toward them. Absolute Mana Sense was telling him something far more important. The powerful signature hadn’t disappeared. It was here, everywhere.

Mana flowed through the roots crossing the floor. It climbed the walls, spread through the ceiling and continued into several trees around them. Yet it all belonged to the same presence.

"Don’t touch the crystals," Adrien said.

Lucien stopped immediately. "You found it?"

"I think we’re standing inside part of it."

Amelia’s grip tightened. "Where’s the body?"

Adrien focused harder, but the answer came a second too late. One of the enormous trees near the Heartroot Crystal moved.

Bark split along what Adrien had assumed was an ordinary trunk, revealing two recessed points glowing with dense green mana. A massive arm unfolded from the side of the tree, its fingers formed from thick roots, while another tore free from the ground. The chamber shook as the creature began pulling itself upward.

Lucien extended one hand immediately. His bow manifested into his grip, beginning its constant mana consumption the moment it became physical. Amelia summoned her mace and shield, while Adrien brought Umbral Root into his hand.

The Ancient Tree fully emerged. Its torso was a colossal trunk covered in ancient bark, with broad shoulders formed from compacted branches. Two enormous legs ripped free from the soil, leaving deep cavities behind, but the creature was not truly separated from the chamber.

Roots remained connected to it in every direction. Adrien understood why its mana had seemed to fill the entire place.

"Those roots are part of it," he warned. "All of them."

The floor erupted. Adrien sensed the mana move beneath them and shouted, "Left!"

All three moved before several roots speared through the stone where they’d been standing. More followed immediately, sweeping across the chamber while smaller shapes detached themselves from roots and nearby trees.

Barklings.

Lucien fired at the first before it completely formed. His arrow pierced its eye, but three more awakened farther back. Amelia shifted toward the rear.

"I’ll keep them off us. Focus on the main one."

Adrien raised Umbral Root and cast [Frost Lance], sending four projectiles toward a cluster of roots advancing across the ground. Two shattered smaller tendrils, while another froze a thicker root long enough for Lucien to move clear. The fourth struck the Ancient Tree’s torso and barely left a mark.

Another root lashed toward Adrien. He stepped aside and cast [Ice Wall] at an angle, forcing the attack upward when the root collided with the frozen barrier. The wall cracked immediately under the impact.

Lucien fired repeatedly into the creature’s shoulder, searching for separations in the bark. Some arrows sank into thinner areas, but none caused enough damage to slow it. Adrien already knew what he needed and began shaping [Lightning Bolt].

The mana requirement was enormous compared to his other spells, but Bottomless Core gave him room to work. Electricity condensed around Umbral Root, illuminating nearby ruins in sharp flashes.

"Clear the center."

Lucien and Amelia moved, and Adrien released. [Lightning Bolt] crossed the chamber almost instantly and struck the Ancient Tree high in the torso. Bark exploded outward and a deep black cavity appeared in the trunk. The creature recoiled for the first time, several roots spasming across the chamber.

It wasn’t enough. Damaged wood began tightening around the wound, and Adrien tracked mana flowing through the roots and into the creature.

"Regeneration," Amelia warned.

"I see it."

It wasn’t healing from nothing. Energy was coming from the chamber itself. More Barklings emerged, and Amelia caught one against her shield and crushed its head with the mace while Lucien changed angles, firing into the cavity Adrien had opened.

"Same place?" he called.

"Keep it open."

Adrien avoided another eruption of roots and shaped [Lightning Bolt] for the second time. The spell strained his control far more than Frost magic, but the target was enormous and already damaged. He steadied Umbral Root, waited until Lucien’s next arrow disappeared into the blackened cavity, and released.

The second [Lightning Bolt] struck the same wound. The Ancient Tree convulsed, and a deafening crack rolled through the chamber as part of its torso split open.

Inside the broken wood, something glimmered.

Yellow-brown crystal.

Adrien froze. Heartroot Crystal wasn’t merely growing around the creature. It was growing inside it.

Absolute Mana Sense followed the realization immediately. The crystals scattered throughout the chamber, the roots covering the ruins and the immense body in front of them were all connected to the same mana network.

Adrien tightened his grip on Umbral Root. They hadn’t entered a chamber containing the boss.

The chamber itself was the boss.