Inside the isolated space, an unnatural silence echoed. The area was wide, as if someone had carved out a vast hollow space beneath the World Tree itself. There were no rocks or dirt walls like one would expect underground.
Instead, massive roots of the World Tree filled the space, spreading across the chamber like a network of giant veins.
But something was terribly wrong.
Those sacred roots were pulsing with a strange, twisted energy. The demonic presence was not just faint or lingering. It was strong, thick, and deeply rooted into the very core of the tree. The entire place reeked of dark mana.
And then came the real shock.
The missing spirits, the ones the elves had been searching for, were all here. They hovered around the roots, their auras flickering like weak candlelight in the wind. Some were trying to protect the pure parts of the roots, clinging to the last traces of uncorrupted energy.
