Two days later, the group finally reached the tenth floor.

They had just finished off a particularly strong group of monsters when Fay noticed a path leading downward.

Everyone soon began eyeing the new set of stairs spiraling down into some new dark depths.

The air rising from it felt heavier, the kind that made you second-guess your next step.

"Well, what do you all think?" Fay asked, resting one hand on the wall while looking down with a torch.

Horin flicked the blood from her claws onto the floor, then glanced over with a faint smirk.

"I think we've got time to at least see what it has to offer…"

Selûne nodded, though her attention was on the spider now crawling beside her. Marru had grown too large to ride on her back, its legs clicking softly against the stone.

"I want to push forward," Joan said simply, checking his gear. "The deeper we go, the better the cores… and the more prepared we'll be for what Mirage warned us about."

Maria nodded even though she felt like the weakest now, the last few monsters she couldn't even kill, no matter how much she bashed them with her mace.

Fay nudged them forward as everyone agreed.

They descended in a loose formation, torches in hand, while casting a weak light that couldn't even show them the walls or ceiling as they kept going down.

The spiral stairs eventually gave way to a tunnel lined with roots so thick they seemed to hold the stone in place.

Every so often, a root twitched slightly under their passing, as though aware of them.

As for the tunnel, it opened into a cavern so vast it made the floors above seem cramped.

At its center stood a colossal tree, its trunk wide enough to house a small village.

Its bark was pale, split in deep, jagged scars, and the branches which were frail and without any life in them.

The air was dry, as if the large plant was so old it was about to turn into dust.

Selûne's steps slowed. "This… it is the world tree…" she whispered. Her gaze softened, almost mournful, until her voice hardened. "What kind of vile illusion is this… don't tell me this is the future..."

Fay stepped closer, placing a hand on her shoulder before giving it a gentle shake.

"Remember, not much here is real. There's no way a tree this size could survive underground, so don't start believing it now, and don't take everything that is happening here to heart."

Selûne shook her head as if trying to clear it, then let out a long sigh.

"You're right… sorry. It's just that being down here so many days starts to cloud my mind, to make me think this is real…"

Fay smiled faintly. He understood her problem all too well. It felt like the dungeon was listening to them, searching for weakness the moment they spoke or even thought of it.

A sudden crack split the air. The colossal trunk groaned, lifting many of its roots from the ground as they curled and twisted toward the group.

"Positions!" Fay barked, already summoning Jolt in a burst of crackling aether.

Joan's blade rang against the nearest tendril, but the wood was harder than the dagger he had carried when he first arrived.

The impact sent a sharp jolt up his arm, and the root barely flinched.

Barely was too simple a statement; it didn't even show signs of being scratched.

Before the root could strike back, Fay sent Grin to pull Joan to safety. His otter, on the other hand, unleashed a high-pressure stream of water to shove the massive limb aside.

"Selûne, you know this tree better than any of us. Try to find a way to destroy it. It seems to be the only thing with life around here. Everyone else, keep moving. If we stay in one spot, it'll target us with its largest roots. Use your creatures to cover and find safe paths!"

At his command, the group scattered. Selûne, shaking off the last of her earlier daze, began working through possible counters. Her mind was already turning over ways to reach the core or to discover whether the tree's state was caused by something else entirely.

Maria could only use her buckler and mace to bat away the thinner roots. The largest ones seemed to ignore her, perhaps sensing her limited ability to harm the guardian.

Joan, who had landed the first blow, was fending off the most aggressive attacks. Grin stayed near him, pulling him clear whenever a strike came too close.

Horin moved like the fight was a game, leaping from one side of the chamber to the other, even using the incoming roots as springboards to vault away.

It was when Serana's eyes caught sight of Horin's creature, Nuel, that an idea took shape.

"Horin! This is your fight. Have Nuel go inside the tree and search for the core. It should be in the center. If it can start draining the core directly, we might actually win this. We've got no fire creatures, and no space to run if we set the place alight, so this is our best choice!"

Horin nodded sharply and sent her command. Nuel stopped swiping at the roots and instead leapt toward the trunk, its ghostly, smoke-like body slipping into the bark as though diving into deep water.

Inside, the guardian's form was far more imposing. The trunk's circumference stretched nearly twenty meters, and the sheer height over a hundred meters meant the search would be neither quick nor easy.

Every meter Nuel advanced, the wood seemed to resist, halting its root attacks at times as if concentrating its energy to force the ghostly cat out.

"We need to keep it focused on us, keep attacking! The more pressure we put on it, the less energy it will have to hunt down Nuel!" Horin shouted, her voice tight with worry.

She didn't like where her creature was or what might happen if they failed to play their part.

She struck furiously at the root nearest her, claws tearing splinters free until it stopped trying to retaliate.

Fay drew his sword and began targeting the most aggressive roots, hacking at them with sharp, decisive blows.

When steel wasn't enough, though, he began enchanting his blade with wind magic, slicing clean through thick tendrils that threatened to corner his teammates.

Luckily, the chamber was vast, forcing everyone to fight spread out, but he kept positioning himself to draw the guardian's attention away from the others.

"Still nothing, Horin?" Selûne's voice rang out across the chaos as she slammed a root back with Marru's help. "I almost got my leg slapped clean off by this tree!"

All around, the group was pushing back as hard as they could, but the roots were endless, and the strain was starting to show.

"Just keep at it! My cat's doing all it can do, I don't think she's having a good time when this tree is basically trying to purify her…" Horin shouted, her tone edged with frustration.

She still didn't understand how the tree could even attempt such a thing.

"Oh, right… It's got those kinds of properties," Selûne replied between breaths. "Sorry, I forgot to mention that."

She twisted aside as another root slammed down, Marru yanking her clear at the last possible moment.

Jonas wasn't so lucky; he'd already been sent flying twice, but each time he forced himself back to his feet, moving closer to Maria to make sure she didn't suffer the same fate.

The only one having it easy was Jolt. This was his element—using his electric saw mode to slice through roots worked well, but only against the smaller ones. His arcs crackled as he tore through them, scattering splinters across the stone. The thicker roots, however, shrugged off his efforts, their bark too dense to cut more than a shallow groove before pushing him back.

Still, every strike he landed kept the guardian's focus on them, buying precious seconds for Nuel to work deeper into the trunk.

It was then that everyone noticed the tree shaking violently. The roots began to spasm in a strange, uneven rhythm, slamming into the ground with less precision but far more force.

"Alright, Nuel's biting through the core! Let's end this! Hit it with your best attacks so we can finally kill it!" Horin shouted, her strikes growing faster and more savage. She wasn't about to let her creature be purified.

Fay kept cleaving through the largest roots with razor-sharp bursts of wind, each strike sending splinters flying. Beside him, Grin tore into the bark with relentless fury, shredding chunks away to expose the pale wood beneath.

As they continued to attack, a terrible sound echoed in the room. It was as if wood was splitting under immense pressure, followed by a low, guttural groan that reverberated in their minds.

The tree swayed once, then went still.

"It's done," Horin said, relief softening her voice as Nuel drifted free from the trunk in a wisp of smoke, unharmed but clearly exhausted.

They had barely begun to lower their guard when the colossal tree shuddered again once… twice, and then collapsed inward. Grin lunged, seizing Joan by the collar and yanking him clear of the falling mass just in time.

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