Oscar shouted; his voice traveled throughout the mines, and others responded with numerous calls from everywhere. If the Grovekeepers didn't know where he was, they did now. Oscar darted his eyes around and back to the map, circling several spots where the activity was the highest. A clue might lie around these denser areas.

"Incoming!" Gol-4 exclaimed.

"Erden, stick with me." Oscar drank another mouthful of the blue potion and gave another to Erden, who recovered slightly. Hearing the cries and footsteps draw nearer, Oscar found the direction he needed to go and ran with Erden in tow. The ground was full of wooden remains from Erden's earlier rampage.

Grovekeepers pointed at Oscar and approached, screeching their form of warcry. Unthreatened, Oscar let loose several Ripple Shrouds and pierced them with his Eirin Silver Lances, breaking apart their bodies in an orchestra of cracks and splinters. Glancing at the map, he should be close to one of the suspicious areas with spiked activity.

"Gol-4, keep your eyes open. Since the Grovekeepers here were descended from the miners, they might have dug deeper." Oscar tore off one of the glowing crystals on the tunnel walls, using it as a torch to see clearly.

"Digging deeper…Interesting how these abominations continue to exhibit such civilized behavior. Is there something else to it?" Gol-4 said, his eyes shifting around rapidly to scrutinize every corner.

"Something else?" Oscar placed his hand on the walls, knelt to examine the ground, and listened for more activity. More Grovekeepers were on the move, their limbs creaking and cracking as they ran toward him.

"Even if they are transformed humans, where did they get such knowledge to do so, and how are they living for so long? It's so strange. I feel like there's something amiss about them." Gol-4 mumbled as wooden limbs and faces scattered around the caverns.

"You can think about it for the next few years. I just want to be rid of them." Oscar exhaled, tired after having killed so many. A silver lining was the decreasing number of footsteps and Grovekeepers stopping him. Surely, he had dwindled them down after hours of fighting.

"Where is it?" Oscar returned to a part of the mines where Erden fought the fiercest against many Grovekeepers. At first glance, he saw only the remains of the fallen. He grimaced, knowing he had to search every inch of the place.

Oscar scoured the area together, leaving no rubble on the floor and tossing aside the corpses. Hearing and seeing nothing else, Oscar wondered where all the Grovekeepers had gone. They stopped pursuing him a while ago. Covered in dust and dirt, Oscar continued his search.

"Huh?" Oscar noticed a clean and flat part of the wall in a small dead-end. When he came here earlier, he only took a hasty look before turning to leave. But now, a careful look revealed a breakthrough in his search. At the bottom was a small aperture, an opening where air flowed. Smelling a hint of bark and green from within, Oscar gripped the crevice and lifted with all his might.

The stones groaned and creaked, and Oscar exerted more strength. The wall began to lift off the ground like a sliding door, heading up into the ceiling. It wasn't a wall at all but a gate that retracted upward. Lifting the stone gate fully into the ceiling, Oscar saw a fresh new tunnel leading down.

There was no lock or stoppage to hold the stone gate up, so Oscar stepped aside, letting Erden walk through, and lowered the gate gently to not alert anything within. He had no clue of his enemies' numbers and power. Once the gate was closed, Oscar turned to the new tunnel, holding the light crystal.

He moved with light feet, careful not to disturb the rocks, and killed his rushed breathing. Gol-4 remained silent throughout as they traversed down the tunnel. This one was crude and shoddy at best compared to the tunnels above. It appeared the Grovekeepers, while remembering the action of mining, forgot the expertise in it.

A low, raspy voice came from below.

Oscar leaned closer to the wall. He heard other weak voices and turned his head around a corner for a peek. His eyes trembled at the sight of many Grovekeepers lying on the floor, their chests heaving. What happened to these creatures?

Seeing a few healthy ones standing around, Oscar nodded to Erden and braced himself. Silver Burst protruded from his feet and sent him crashing into the home of the Grovekeepers. His Edureisclad arm struck and sliced a Grovekeeper in half while he crushed another's head with his copper shield.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"So few are healthy," Oscar saw Erden trample over the remaining healthy ones. The weak and sick ones on the ground made pained cries and tried to move, stretching their arms up only to lose strength and drop.

"Perplexing. These creatures get sick?" Gol-4 stared around the vast underground chamber. "They carved out an entire place under the mines, and they're sick? With so many ill, it's likely a disease. Be careful not to draw close, or you may also suffer."

"No…" Oscar observed a sick Grovekeeper. Its bark skin was peeling off, and its limbs were thin like twigs. It didn't seem like a common affliction and appeared particular to the Grovekeepers. So many mysteries continued to form around these strange creatures.

Glancing around, his eyes stared at a wide opening. It wasn't the tunnel that interested him but the red strands on the floor before its mouth. Ignoring the weak Grovekeepers for now, he picked up a red strand and knew it was from the red root. At this level, rather than sacrifice to crevices beneath, the Grovekeepers could directly feed the red root. It all seemed fine, but where was the root?

"Sick Grovekeepers and the red root is no longer here. Two strange things at once." Oscar sat on a boulder while consulting Gol-4. Erden decided to start stomping on the sick Grovekeepers to harvest their cores. They couldn't muster even a scream, only low gasps.

"Maybe the sick Grovekeepers couldn't keep up the blood sacrifices, so it disappeared. I'm inclined toward a greater reason than that." Gol-4 rested on Oscar's shoulder.

"If it's a sickness, do we toss some healthy Grovekeepers in here and see how they react?" Oscar tapped his fingers on his knees. His stomach started to growl in hunger, and he took out several smoked pieces of meat to eat. "Speaking of, what do they eat? When I got sick, my mom would make a light stew. Or maybe they truly are plants in a way. Wait, then, how would the Grovekeepers living underground survive?"

"A food source…a source…" Gol-4 whispered until he suddenly banged on Oscar's head.

"Ow! What?" Oscar turned to Gol-4.

"That's it. A source. They require a source to survive, same for the red root. The red root can't have extended so far from the Central Palace if not for something to keep its most remote tendrils from withering. That's why it's suspicious we see some scraps of it here. Even the fact it spread across the entire realm is astounding."

"What are you talking about?" Oscar asked.

"The Forest Heart! We destroyed the one in Tectusen, and so the effects of its loss have done the deed. These sick Grovekeepers and the retreat of the red root are because the environment is shifting."

"So, if we destroy all of the Forest Hearts, the Grovekeepers would be no more." Oscar caught on.

"And the red root will be confined to its place in the Central Palace. Maybe it also draws strength from the Forest Hearts. Taking them out will make the battle ahead easier." Gol-4 urged. "Free the realm of the forest's taint and prepare for the future."

"Can't I fly to the hovering portals and avoid the battle altogether?"

"No, the best bet is the control room within the Central Palace. Chances are the portals above won't activate unless we go inside."

"Now, you tell me this?" Oscar felt a headache coming.

No other option remained. The red root had to be confronted and defeated. There was no other choice. Oscar got to his feet, collected the cores, and walked toward the exit. With a final glance at the gaping aperture where the red root once rested, Oscar thought of their eventual battle, wondering who would come out on top.

…….

Six years later, within the central region of Ashen Grove, Oscar roamed around. Thunder masked his footsteps, and the rain obscured his figure. Entirely clothed in scraps of clothing and fur, Oscar skipped along the trees, chasing his prey. The Greater Elite Exalt Beast wailed and screeched, and several wounds bled on its scaly body.

Oscar leaped from the trees and landed on the beast, impaling its head with his lance. The beast released a final cry in the face of death and fell to the floor; the flooding rain washed out its blood. Oscar cut out as much meat as possible and its core before leaving.

Entering the entrance to Tectusen, Oscar returned to the boiling district, warming and drying up from the heated air. He entered a house and saw Gol-4 levitating over a map with a pen in its mouth. Erden was resting by Oscar's bed.

"I'm back. Got more food and a core for you, Erden." Oscar threw the core to Erden, who ate it with a happy grunt. "How is it?"

"I'm terribly disappointed at your lack of talent in alchemy. How on earth can one be so bad?" Gol-4 spat the pen onto the table and turned to Oscar while shaking his head.

"I meant the map, not the alchemy. You said it yourself. You didn't care, and I could find people outside to do it for me." Oscar took off his fur shoes, tossed them aside, and rested on the bed while the meat cooked on the hot stove.

"Who thought you could be so inept at it? At least you learned everything else. As for the map, well…" Gol-4 bit on the edge of the paper and levitated to Oscar, dropping the map on Oscar's face. "I found another one. It's probably the last one."

"You sure?" Oscar held the map above his resting head. Unlike before, every part was filled out with landmarks and circled locations. It had been a long six years. During that time, Oscar hunted down and destroyed many of the Forest Hearts in the realm.

"90 percent sure. We noticed some staggering movement of Grovekeepers in the past few months after you demolished several hearts. If they don't wish to be sick, they should be heading for a Forest Heart. And it's a large gathering." Gol-4 said.

The last Forest Heart. Oscar tapped on the fresh circle Gol-4 marked. It was close to the Central Palace and near the base of a Great Tree. Oscar glanced at all the other circles which were crossed out. Finally, with this, their first step would be complete.