Inside the abyssal space beneath the Sacred Tree.
Gurgle gurgle…
“I’m starving… Is there really nothing to eat in this place?”
Hearing his companion’s despairing complaint, Salian, lying prone on the ground, had a sudden thought: there was still one plump, juicy Puchi wandering around in the darkness.
But this obviously wasn’t the time to mention it.
After a long rest, the three had finally recovered somewhat from the mental onslaught of the chaotic information.
Salian pushed himself up and walked toward another moderately sized information block in the distance.
Yet from behind came the weary voice of the other mage.
“I’m telling you… stop torturing yourself. We’ve been at this forever and found nothing useful except fragmented images. Just the three of us trying to find a way out among this ocean of blocks is a pipe dream. And who’s to say there even is a way out?”
The earlier experience of being knocked unconscious by the information flood still haunted him. With zero progress, the elven mage had already given up hope inside.
Salian knew his words weren’t wrong, but he answered anyway, “We still have to try.”
Guard Captain Eko didn’t even bother responding. He just shot a faintly contemptuous glance before heading toward another block.
The silent reply made the mage’s face burn. He couldn’t help adding, “Even if we found a way, what then? The Chief needed ages to prepare his teleportation. We have no materials at all. You don’t actually think touching a block will just zap us out, do you?”
Salian ignored him and reached for the block in front of him.
The instant his fingertips were about to make contact, space around them rippled like water!
When the three looked up again, they were greeted by a sky painted with brilliant sunset hues.
“We’re out! Nice one, Salian!” Eko reacted first, shouting excitedly.
Salian looked utterly confused. “No… I didn’t…”
But Eko was already sprinting toward camp. “No time! You two catch up fast!”
In moments, his figure vanished into the dusk.
Running at full speed, Eko was far beyond what the other two could match.
Salian quickly scanned the surroundings, scooped up the crooked-capped Puchi that had been teleported out with them, and raced after him. He had to find his sister immediately!
The mage trailing behind opened his mouth, too embarrassed to speak, and could only hurry to follow.
When Eko reached camp first, the elven rangers were in chaos over the sudden shutdown of the light-gathering array and the disappearance of temporary commander Seldan.
But the moment Eko appeared, the commotion instantly died.
He pulled aside a trusted subordinate, got a quick briefing, then immediately ordered the rangers to withdraw to the surface in orderly fashion and to detain Seldan on sight.
He gave no explanation; his men asked for none.
As for Chief Ilos’s rebellion, Eko kept it quiet to avoid panic during evacuation.
After arrangements were made, Eko set off alone once more, racing toward the dungeon exit at superhuman speed. He was going to put a few holes in that bastard Ilos!
Two minutes after Eko left, Salian finally arrived.
Yet just as the ranger forces began their orderly retreat, disaster struck. They were attacked completely without warning!
…
The elves were gone, but Lin Jun did not leave the space.
For one thing, it wasn’t convenient to exit right now.
Better to wait until the rangers were fully withdrawn, then let Pelagel bring the prisoner back.
As for the Puchi, it would stay here!
At the very least, he had to finish reading all the information blocks and see if he could seize more permissions later.
Though this dungeon had a “legitimate administrator”—judging by the dungeon being named “Esogar” after them, their control was probably far beyond a newbie like Lin Jun.
But since the owner was napping, Lin Jun stuck to the honest mindset of “finders keepers, no loss if I fail” and dug even more enthusiastically through the Sacred Tree’s consciousness interface for other possible switches.
He had no intention of getting too involved in the elves’ internal strife.
Only… the Sacred Tree’s bark seemed to be turning redder?
At a certain moment, the Sacred Tree’s panel changed.
【Status: Dormant, Frenzied】
Lin Jun: …
Asleep and frenzied?
Soon enough, he witnessed exactly how the Sacred Tree could frenzy while asleep.
The forest… came alive!
…
An elven ranger leaped nimbly between giant branches, trying to cross the woods quickly.
But the surrounding branches whipped and coiled toward him like frenzied tentacles.
His curved blade flashed silver, severing every attacking limb.
Yet no matter where he landed, the assaults were endless.
As stamina and focus drained, one moment he missed a thin twig beneath his foot. His ankle was instantly seized!
At that critical second, a druid rushed forward, casting nature magic to temporarily calm and disperse the branches, rescuing his gravely wounded comrade.
The moment they escaped danger, the branches broke free of control and attacked again in frenzy.
Similar scenes unfolded simultaneously across the entire forest.
“Stay away from the trees! Don’t stay in the canopy! Get to open ground!” the elven commander’s voice boomed through amplification magic.
In an extremely short time, red patterns had crawled from the roots to cover the giant trees. The withdrawing elven rangers were suddenly assaulted, suffering heavy losses in an instant.
It wasn’t carelessness; no one could have predicted this.
These were not migratory trees. They shouldn’t have had the ability to control branches like this, nor should they have been infectable by frenzy!
After paying the price of over twenty casualties, the elves, under their commander’s lead, quickly cleared an area and formed a temporary defensive line with their backs to rock.
After that, though roots still occasionally struck from underground, they could no longer inflict new wounds on the prepared elves.
To be fair, the individual strength of these suddenly animated giant trees wasn’t high.
They lacked combat skills and had relied on sheer size and surprise to deal heavy damage.
After activation, they could move slowly, but nowhere near as fast or threatening as true migratory trees.
Even a Silver-tier ranger could solo one given time and kiting.
The problem was: there were trees everywhere!
Experts might be able to speed through, but the ranger forces were trapped.
The commander didn’t even attempt a breakout.
Logistics were out of the question now.
Arrows and potions were still sufficient for the moment, but attacking upward would burn through them in one or two floors.
The commander had no idea about conditions elsewhere and dared not act rashly.
He sent a few skilled scouts to investigate while the main force found a good spot and dug in defensively.
Reports from returning scouts later proved this was the correct call.
Fifteenth floor, fourteenth, thirteenth—some elven experts even reached the twelfth—only to encounter animated giant trees!
By inference, the entire dungeon might have mutated.
Worst case…
The elven commander had no solution. For now, they could only hold position and await rescue.
What they didn’t yet know was that the mutation was far from limited to the dungeon’s giant trees.
At that very moment, the entire Elven Forest had fallen into massive upheaval!
(End of Chapter)
