Chapter 317: Break the Roots

The ground shook again, and Arthur stopped walking.

Behind him, the students were catching up. The tunnel toward the professors had collapsed only moments after they entered it, and they had been forced to climb out with Arthur’s group instead, following the professors’ voices across the surface.

Ahead of them, something enormous moved beneath the earth. The ground rose several meters before splitting apart, flinging dirt and broken stone into the air, and a root emerged.

It was nothing like the smaller roots they had seen in the ruins. Its surface was dark brown beneath layers of black-purple corruption, and it stretched through the forest like a massive road.

With smaller roots branching off it and disappearing beneath the ground in every direction.

Arthur stared at it. "That’s a root?"

Athena looked up. "No." She adjusted her glasses. "That’s a network."

The students had stopped too, and one of them stared at the enormous structure. "How are we supposed to get around that?"

Another looked toward the distant shouting. "Maybe we don’t."

Arthur turned. The professors’ voices were still echoing through the transformed forest, calling for all students to move toward the eastern clearing, warning that some were trapped near the southern forest, and telling everyone to stay together. He looked back at the root. It stretched directly across their path.

Mithra slowly drew Dawn Sovereign. "Looks like we found our first problem."

Sun raised his staff. "First?"

Mithra smiled. "Do you really think it’s going to be the last one?"

Sun looked at the enormous World Tree in the distance. "...No."

Arthur stepped closer to the root, and his expression turned thoughtful.

Something was wrong.

The corruption wasn’t spreading randomly across its surface.

It was moving, slowly, black-purple energy traveling through the root like blood through a vein, and Arthur followed it with his eyes toward one of the transformed regions.

"Everyone," he said, pointing at a section where several smaller branches connected. "Attack this part."

Athena frowned. "Why there?"

"I don’t know yet."

Sun sighed. "Of course."

Arthur placed a hand against the root. It was warm, almost as if it were alive, and then something pulsed beneath his palm, and he pulled his hand away immediately. "The roots are carrying something."

"What?" Mithra asked.

Arthur looked toward the distant region. "I don’t know."

A student raised his weapon. "Does it matter?"

Arthur smiled. "It will." He stepped back. "Everyone, attack."

The students moved first as their Beast Partners appeared beside them. One student’s large armored wolf lunged forward, another’s broad-winged hawk circled above the root before diving, and a third student’s small reptilian Beast, covered in stone-like scales, charged in after them.

"Now!"

The battlefield erupted. Skills crashed into the root, blades struck, spells exploded, and Beasts tore at the corrupted bark, and the enormous root shook. But it didn’t break.

The students stared. "Again!"

They attacked together.

BOOM!

The root barely moved, and a student stumbled back. "What is this thing made of?!"

Sun slammed his staff into the ground, sending a shockwave across the earth into the root. The corruption rippled, but the root held.

Sun stared. "...That’s ridiculous."

Mithra swung Dawn Sovereign.

CLANG!

Her expression changed. "It’s tougher than I thought."

Athena’s Heavenpiercer struck next, and the spear pierced the outer layer but stopped almost immediately. She pulled it free. "The corruption is reinforcing the structure."

Arthur was watching the root carefully. "Not exactly." Athena looked at him, and he pointed. "Look."

The damage they had done was slowly closing. The root was regenerating.

Sun’s expression darkened. "So we’re making progress and losing it at the same time."

"Basically," Arthur said, and smiled. "Interesting."

Sun looked at him. "Please stop saying that when we’re fighting something like this."

Arthur ignored him. He looked down at Dusk, then at Dawn Sovereign in Mithra’s hands, and then at Sun’s weapon, and something clicked. "Wait."

Mithra looked over. "What?"

Arthur raised Dusk. "We’ve been using our abilities." He stepped toward the root. "But these aren’t normal weapons."

Mithra’s eyes narrowed as she understood. "The Armaments."

Arthur nodded. "Try the weapon itself."

Mithra didn’t hesitate. She tightened her grip on Dawn Sovereign, and golden light spread across the blade.

[Light Resonance]

She swung.

SLASH!

The corrupted bark split open, and everyone froze.

Mithra stared at the cut. "...That was easier."

Arthur’s eyes lit up. "Again."

She struck another section.

SLASH!

A deep golden line opened across the root.

Sun’s eyes widened. "So the Armaments aren’t just stronger weapons."

Athena looked at the wound. "They’re interacting with the corruption itself."

"Creation and Light," Arthur said, and he turned to the students. "Everyone else, keep attacking normally." The students nodded, and he turned to his friends. "We’ll use the Armaments."

Mithra smiled. "Finally."

The battle changed.

The students kept attacking the root with their Beast Partners, forcing it to regenerate in several places at once, while Arthur, Mithra, Sun, and Athena moved between the damaged sections.

Dawn Sovereign flashed, Heavenpiercer struck, golden energy erupted from Sun’s weapon, and Arthur drove Dusk into the corrupted bark.

Each strike cut deeper than anything they had managed before, but the root still refused to break.

Arthur landed beside Mithra. "Again."

"Already?"

"Yes."

Mithra laughed. "You’re enjoying this."

"A little."

"You’re strange."

"I know."

They attacked together.

SLASH!

THOOM!

CRACK!

A massive fracture spread through the root, and the students noticed immediately. "It’s breaking!"

Everyone attacked at once. The armored wolf bit into the exposed section, the hawk slammed into another weak point, and the stone-scaled Beast dug its claws into the crack. Sun struck the center, and Athena drove Heavenpiercer through the fracture, as Mithra and Arthur raised their weapons.

"Now!"

Their weapons struck together.

BOOM!

The enormous root split apart. For a moment, nothing happened, and then the whole structure collapsed, both halves slamming into the forest hard enough to shake the ground.

The students stared. "We did it."

Arthur looked at the broken root, and his expression slowly changed. Something was wrong. The corruption inside it hadn’t disappeared. Instead, black-purple energy was pouring from the broken section and flowing along the smaller roots toward the transformed regions.

His eyes narrowed. "Everyone, wait."

The others stopped. The energy kept moving, one stream heading west, another north, and another disappearing beneath the earth.

Arthur looked at Athena. "They’re connected to the regions."

Athena understood immediately. "And the regions are where the Mirrors are."

Arthur nodded. "The roots are carrying the corruption toward the Mirrors."

Nobody spoke for a moment.

Sun’s expression turned serious. "So cutting the roots isn’t enough."

"Not if the corruption just finds another path," Arthur said.

A distant explosion shook the forest, and everyone turned. Far away, one of the professors was fighting another enormous root, and a massive attack struck it.

BOOM!

The root barely cracked, and the professor’s voice echoed through the trees. "Why isn’t this thing breaking?!"

Arthur looked at Dawn Sovereign in Mithra’s hands, then toward the professor’s voice. "They don’t have the Armaments."

Mithra smiled. "Then we should probably help."

Arthur looked at the students. The professors’ voices were getting closer, and the students exchanged glances until one of them stepped forward. "We should go."

Arthur nodded. "Yeah."

Another student hesitated. "What about you?"

Arthur pointed toward the other roots. "We’ll keep breaking them."

The student frowned. "Alone?"

Arthur smiled. "We’re not alone."

Vedas stepped forward, Star bounced onto Arthur’s shoulder, and Eden floated beside him.

Mithra rested Dawn Sovereign against her shoulder, Sun tightened his grip on his weapon, and Athena raised Heavenpiercer, while Athy circled above them and Luna sat ready on Melo’s back.

The student smiled. "Right."

A professor’s voice rang out again. "STUDENTS! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, KEEP MOVING!"

Arthur looked at the students. "Go." He paused. "Good luck."

"You too," they said, and they turned and ran toward the professors.