The Martial Unity

He froze.

Not just because of what he saw.

But also what he saw exerted so much pressure on his mind that it took actual physical effort to push his body forward.

Not because there was a forcefield pushing back against him, no. But because his subconscious instinct to run away from the grave sense of danger was extremely high. He knew that he had to get away from there as soon as possible.

Yet what he saw was shocking.

He was unable to turn away.

What pushed him away from it with fear also pulled him towards it with shock.

It was as though these two emotions pulling and pushing at his mind were crushing his mind. It was painful on a psychological level.

('What… is that?') Rui wondered with horror as he stared at the center of the mining floor.

It was a giant messy blob of wood and bark.

Its upper half was connected to a multitude of roots coming from up above.

Its lower half consisted of more roots than consisted of the one that Rui saw earlier, reaching for the esoteric raw ores across the entire mine.

In between its upper half and lower half was a separation that opened up as the tentacles tossed large unrefined ore deposits into the opening that shut close after the ore deposit fell in. Rui sensed a liquid sloshing around inside the mouth once it closed, slowly dissolving the unrefined ore boulder.

what was going on. ('The roots don't directly absorb the esoteric unrefined ore deposits themselves. They feed it to that… root mouth that absorbs the unrefined ore deposits, refines it, then sends it across the rest of the dungeon through the roots that

discovery. ('The vegetation mutated not just in size but also mutated to be able to absorb unrefined ore deposits faster

at it. It was grotesque and sickening. Yet he couldn't help but watch in awe as it lifted esoteric

No Martial Squires can beat that thing head-on… That's beyond the Squire Realm in combat power." Rui shook his

the many Martial Squires that Chairman Deacon had gathered taking down the Root of

to picture himself not getting annihilated by it. The most rational choice was to simply

basically a floor, and will be treated as

a whole day of slogging in the dungeon. He hadn't even experienced it

now, he just needed to get

want to stay around

across some profound discoveries that changed his view of the Shionel

dungeon

that swallowed and digested food? Or was this perhaps like a carnivorous plant that

He didn't entirely know.

every dungeon was like this at its Root? Perhaps it was necessary for dungeons to develop such a mutation to accelerate their access to

feeling for him. He normally felt quite comfortable in the Shionel Dungeon because he knew that every

however, he felt quite strange being in the dungeon with the new insights that

back on the journey as he navigated

greeted him

the ring yet because he didn't know when Rui would

did it go?" Kane raised an eyebrow. "Given the long