Chapter 367: The Last Record

Luna remained in front of the inscription, unable to look away from her grandfather’s handwriting.

The local root connection is failing. The corruption is spreading faster than the World Tree can suppress it. If I cannot restore the balance, the village will be lost.

She had read countless records written by her grandfather, but none had ever carried such a desperate tone. His research notes were usually precise, filled with observations, diagrams, and questions he intended to answer later.

This message was different. It sounded like a warning written by someone running out of time.

"He knew what was happening," Luna whispered. "He knew the village was in danger."

Arthur stood beside her. "It seems he discovered the corruption before it spread through the entire settlement."

"But why didn’t he leave?" Her voice tightened. "If he knew how dangerous it was, why would he stay here?"

Vedas examined the damaged roots surrounding the chamber. "Perhaps he believed he could stop it. Or perhaps leaving would have put the villagers in even greater danger."

Luna lowered her eyes.

Neither possibility made her feel better.

Eden approached the inscription, carefully examining the golden lines beneath the dark veins. "There’s something else. The corruption hasn’t completely consumed this structure. Some of the original mana is still circulating through the roots."

"Meaning the connection can still be repaired?" Arthur asked.

"Possibly. But we need to understand what your grandfather was doing here before we touch anything."

Athy nodded, opening her notebook. "If he was researching the local network, he might have left additional records nearby. We should search the chamber before attempting to repair the connection."

Mithra glanced toward the staircase. "Then let’s find them quickly. I don’t like how much corruption is gathering around this place."

"Agreed," Melo said. Her five tails swayed cautiously as she surveyed the darkened walls. "The energy here feels different from what we encountered in the streets. It’s concentrated, almost as if something has been drawing it toward this chamber."

Kong shifted his grip on his weapon. "Wonderful. A mysterious underground research site filled with dangerous energy. Does anyone else miss standing somewhere with a roof that isn’t trying to collapse?"

"You’re standing beneath a roof right now," Sun pointed out.

Kong looked up at the cracked ceiling.

"That is exactly my point."

Arthur gave them a brief glance before turning back to Luna. "Let’s search the area. If your grandfather left something here, it might help us understand what happened."

Luna nodded and began examining the walls.

The chamber was larger than they had initially realized. Several narrow passages extended beyond the central structure, partially concealed by fallen stone and tangled roots. Old worktables stood against one wall, their surfaces covered in dust and fragments of broken instruments. Rusted containers had been pushed into the corners, while faded markings covered the stone floor.

Luna moved toward the nearest table.

"I recognize these symbols. My grandfather used them to distinguish observations from experiments. The circles indicate confirmed findings, while the crossed lines mark things he hadn’t been able to verify."

She brushed dust from a damaged notebook.

"These are his records."

Arthur joined her while Athy carefully opened the remaining containers. Several pages had deteriorated beyond recognition, but others remained intact beneath thin protective coverings.

Luna began reading.

"The corruption first appeared around the western roots. At first, he thought it was a natural imbalance in the local mana circulation. But it kept spreading, even when the surrounding energy levels returned to normal."

Eden leaned closer. "That matches what I sensed outside. The corruption isn’t simply lingering in the soil. Something is sustaining it through the damaged connection."

Luna turned another page.

"He tried to redirect the flow through the surrounding roots, but the local network couldn’t maintain the balance. Eventually, he began using the village’s connection to the World Tree to protect the people living nearby."

"Protect them how?" Mithra asked.

Luna studied the next section, her expression growing increasingly troubled.

"He created a protective field around part of the village. The notes say the network could preserve the villagers’ life energy even as the corruption spread through their surroundings."

Athy frowned. "Preserve their life energy? Does that mean he placed them inside some kind of barrier?"

"Not exactly," Luna replied. "It sounds as though he used the roots to keep the corruption from completely overwhelming them. Their bodies remained alive, but the damaged circulation interfered with their normal functions."

Eden’s eyes widened slightly. "That could explain what we saw in the streets. The villagers might not be ordinary corrupted Beasts or enemies. Their life energy could be trapped in a state the network has been maintaining."

"But the network is damaged," Arthur said. "So whatever protection he created may no longer be working properly."

"Yes," Eden answered. "And if the corruption is still being sustained by the broken connection, simply restoring the main network might not be enough. We need to repair this local root first."

Luna turned another page, searching for more information.

The writing became increasingly uneven. Several lines had been crossed out, and the margins were crowded with calculations. One passage had been underlined so heavily that the paper had nearly torn.

The protective field is failing. The local root cannot sustain the entire village indefinitely. I must transfer the remaining stable circulation to the original root before the corruption consumes the network.

Luna’s fingers stopped moving.

"The original root," she whispered.

Vedas looked toward the central structure. "Perhaps that’s what lies beneath this chamber."

Metapholes was not present with them in the underground chamber, but Athy carefully compared the symbols with the markings they had encountered earlier.

"The inscription on the staircase mentioned an older structure beneath the village. If your grandfather was trying to transfer the remaining circulation, he may have been searching for a deeper connection to the World Tree."

Luna continued reading.

Another note described how the protective field had changed the villagers’ condition. Rather than allowing the corruption to destroy them immediately, the unstable network had preserved traces of their life energy within its influence.

Some passages were missing, leaving gaps in the explanation, but one conclusion appeared repeatedly: restoring the original root might allow the network to resume its natural circulation and give the affected villagers a chance to recover.

Luna pressed the pages against her chest.

"Then they might still be saved."

"Possibly," Eden replied carefully. "The records suggest that their life energy was preserved, but we haven’t confirmed how much damage they’ve suffered. We need to restore the connection before we can understand their condition properly."

Luna nodded, although her thoughts had already moved elsewhere.

She looked down at the final page.

There was no completed report, no explanation of how the experiment ended, and no record of her grandfather leaving the chamber. The notes simply stopped in the middle of a calculation.

"Where did he go?" she asked.

Nobody answered immediately.

Luna looked toward the sealed passages beyond the worktables.

"He was trying to protect everyone. If he knew the network was failing, he must have continued searching for a solution. But there’s nothing here explaining what happened afterward."

Arthur watched her carefully.

"That doesn’t mean we know what happened to him."

"He could have stayed behind to maintain the protective field," Luna said, her voice trembling. "If the connection was failing, someone might have needed to keep it stable long enough for the villagers to survive."

"That’s possible," Arthur replied. "But we shouldn’t decide what happened before we have the evidence."

Luna looked at him, struggling to keep her composure.

"What if he sacrificed himself to save them?"

Arthur didn’t pretend to know the answer.

"Then we’ll find whatever evidence remains and understand what he did. But until we know more, I won’t tell you he’s dead, and I won’t promise you he’s alive. Neither would be fair to you."

Luna stared at him for a moment before slowly nodding.

It wasn’t the reassurance she had wanted, but it was honest.

And right now, honesty was something she could hold on to.

Melo moved beside her and gently touched her shoulder with one of her tails.

"Your grandfather clearly did everything he could to protect the village. Whatever happened afterward, his work hasn’t been meaningless. We’re standing here because he left these records behind."

Kong nodded. "And we’ll finish what he started if we can. We found the source, so we have somewhere to begin."

"Just remember that finishing his work doesn’t mean repeating every decision he made," Vedas added. "We need to learn from his research, including the mistakes he might have made."

Athy closed her notebook. "The most important thing is finding the original root. If we can establish how the protective field worked, we might be able to reverse the corruption without harming the villagers."

Luna wiped her eyes and carefully returned the records to their protective case.

"Then let’s find it."

The group moved deeper into the research site, following the passages that led away from the central structure. The corruption grew thicker along the walls, but faint golden markings remained visible beneath its surface. Every few steps, Eden paused to sense the rhythm passing through the roots.

At last, they reached a narrow corridor ending at a massive stone door.

Ancient inscriptions covered its surface, arranged around a circular symbol resembling the branching roots of the World Tree. Unlike the damaged mechanisms outside, this structure remained mostly intact. Golden lines traced its edges, though several sections had dimmed beneath the corruption.

Luna approached slowly.

"This symbol appears in my grandfather’s notes. He called it the original root, the point where the local network connected to an older circulation system."

Eden stopped beside her, her expression suddenly alert.

"The temporal rhythm is much stronger here."

Arthur turned toward her. "Stronger than the other roots?"

"Much stronger. Something beyond this door is still connected to the network, and the rhythm is repeating in a stable pattern."

Vedas examined the door. "Could it be the source sustaining the corruption?"

"Perhaps," Eden replied. "But there’s something else. The rhythm doesn’t feel entirely mechanical. There’s a second pattern beneath it, almost as though something inside is responding to the network."

Mithra tightened her grip on her weapon. "You mean something is alive in there?"

"I don’t know. I can only tell that the rhythm is different."

Arthur stepped forward, examining the door’s edges without touching the inscriptions.

"We don’t open it until we understand the mechanism. If this chamber is maintaining the villagers’ life energy, forcing it open could damage the connection."

Luna nodded and began studying the markings. She recognized several symbols from her grandfather’s records and carefully traced their positions, searching for the sequence he had used to activate the network.

Then she noticed a small inscription near the bottom of the door.

It was written in the same handwriting as the notes she had found earlier.

Luna knelt, brushing away the dust.

The message was short.

If the connection fails, do not abandon those within. The door must remain sealed until the original root can be restored.

Her breath caught.

"He was here," she whispered. "My grandfather came to this chamber."

Eden looked toward the door as the golden markings brightened faintly.

Then a sound emerged from the other side.

A quiet, muffled voice.

"Luna?"

Everyone froze.

Luna’s face went pale.

She knew that voice.

She had heard it in childhood, in the village streets, and in the quiet moments when her grandfather called her home.

It came again, weak but unmistakable.

"Luna... is that you?"

For several seconds, she couldn’t move.

Then she stepped toward the sealed door, tears filling her eyes.

"Grandfather?"