[You have arrived, Eater of Stars.]

A voice resonated, not just in Alon’s ears but deep within his mind.

Alon hurriedly looked around.

Yet, all he saw was Rim’s gaze, staring at him strangely.

Only then did he realize that the voice was speaking solely inside his head.

[Reach the depths of the roots. There, you will find what you seek.]

“Wait—”

The profound voice simply conveyed the message and vanished.

Alon hastily opened his mouth, but—

“What is it?”

Only Rim’s voice responded.

For a moment, he unconsciously raised his hand, then slowly lowered it again.

“…….”

“I will keep moving forward.”

“Do we need to go further?”

“This is just the entrance. We will move to the forward base.”

Rim moved forward as if no further conversation was needed.

Following her, Alon recalled the voice he had just heard.

‘What was that?’

At first, he thought it was the voice of ‘that thing’ that had guided him beneath the roots, but it wasn’t.

‘The voice was clear. Unlike the unreadable voice from the dark eyes, this was definitely a man’s voice.’

It was distinctly different from the voice that had once been incomprehensible.

As Alon pondered behind his emotionless expression—

“We have arrived.”

“……Oh.”

Rim announced their arrival, and Alon let out a gasp.

A fortress-like structure, built within the depths of the abyss.

Its scale was not particularly large.

Yet, in this vast darkness, it was the only thing emitting a faint glow, like a firefly.

A strangely dreamlike atmosphere.

Staring blankly at the sight, Alon soon stepped inside alongside Rim.

‘This is better.’

Unlike the abyss beneath the roots, where nothing was visible,

The interior of the fortress, though dimly lit, allowed for clear visibility.

As Alon calmly observed his surroundings—

“Hm? Rim, why are you here? It’s not time for the shift change yet.”

“What’s going on?”

“It’s Rim! ……Huh? The Shadow Leaves is here too?”

Three elves emerged from within.

Two men and one woman.

“……A human?”

The moment they spotted Alon, their cheerful expressions vanished, and they instinctively placed their hands on their weapons.

“Stand down. This is a direct order from the Queen.”

“……From the Queen?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“You must have heard at least some of it, even if not in detail. Isn’t that right?”

At Rim’s words, they seemed to recall something.

Then, with an expression of ‘Ah, that matter?’ they withdrew their hands from their weapons.

However, the wariness in their faces remained.

‘……Similar to Rim.’

As Alon contemplated, a tall elf wielding a sword spoke.

“My name is Egal.”

Next, an elf with an unusually large build for his kind, carrying a massive double-bladed axe on his back, introduced himself.

“Vian.”

Then, a smaller elf with dual short swords at her waist followed.

“Ramu.”

“……Alon.”

A brief and simple introduction.

Alon glanced at the three elves before turning to Rim as she spoke.

“So, do you have any further business here?”

Alon quickly recalled his objective.

“How do I descend further from here?”

“……You intend to go deeper than this?”

“Yes.”

At Alon’s affirmation, Rim’s expression grew even colder.

“Do you even know what lies in the depths of these roots?”

“What is down there?”

“There are the ‘Ashes.'”

Vian answered in Rim’s stead.

Alon turned to him and asked.

“Ashes?”

“Yes. To put it simply, think of them as monsters dwelling beneath the roots.”

“……Are they strong?”

“Not particularly. We can handle dozens of them on our own.”

Vian stated the truth plainly.

“Then—”

“But in the deeper parts, there is the ‘Ash Seeder.'”

“……The Ash Seeder?”

“The one that endlessly creates the Ashes. The guardian of the roots.”

Unlike before,

Vian’s expression twisted.

“We cannot kill it. That is why we continue to struggle here.”

“……Is it really that powerful?”

“Yes. But that is not the only problem.”

“What do you mean?”

This time, it was Rim who answered Alon’s question.

Still maintaining her cold demeanor, she continued.

“In the depths where the Ash Seeder resides, magic cannot be used.”

“……You mean magic cannot be used?”

“Yes. The deeper you descend beneath the roots, the more magic becomes unusable. Even with Philde, who has reached the ninth rank, we still cannot eliminate what lies below.”

From Rim’s explanation, Alon roughly grasped the situation.

‘So, to acquire the means to use Arrow, I have to descend into a place where magic doesn’t function, kill the Ash Seeder, and proceed further.’

“……”

Alon hesitated.

Unlike before, this time, he had no useful information about the Ash Seeder.

That meant the risk was significantly higher than usual.

Moreover, if magic was unusable, the danger increased even more.

However, even considering all those risks—

“I want you to take me to the depths.”

It was still worth going.

“You don’t have to come with me. Just show me the way, and I’ll descend alone.”

Recalling his emergency measures, Alon resolved to go alone.

“Sorry, but we have no intention of letting you reach the depths in the first place.”

Ramu stepped forward as if to challenge his words.

“No, stand down.”

Rim blocked him.

“What? Why?”

“The Queen ordered us to grant his request.”

“……Are you serious?”

“Have I ever lied?”

“No, but no matter how I think about it, letting him go down is too—”

“Ramu. It is the Queen’s command.”

The Queen’s command.

Ramu seemed to struggle with a response, opening and closing his mouth several times.

“……Fine.”

In the end, he stepped back.

“Then let’s move immediately.”

Once again, they left the fortress, stepping into the dark abyss.

Heading toward the depths of the roots.

***

After walking for some time beyond the fortress,

Alon, dulled by the overwhelming abyss around him, simply kept moving.

Just as his legs began to tingle slightly—

“……!”

Suddenly, a burst of light spread before his eyes, illuminating the space.

The sudden brightness made Alon instinctively squint.

“This is the middle layer of the roots.”

Rim’s monotone explanation followed.

Alon took in the view of the middle layer.

It was completely different from the upper layer.

‘It’s bright.’

The uppermost layer had been nothing but an abyss.

In contrast, the middle layer was bright enough to see far into the distance.

Enormous roots crisscrossed the area chaotically, forming paths.

Alon soon realized that the very ground he was walking on was one of these massive roots, but it didn’t feel unnatural.

The roots were so large that it felt like walking down a vast, eight-lane highway.

Silently impressed, Alon followed as Rim led the way downward once more.

***

As Alon and the others descended further—

‘Why are we even doing this just because of that human’s words?’

Walking at the front, Rim let out a quiet sigh, her expression tinged with frustration.

No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t understand the Queen’s command.

From what she had seen, the man behind her was neither a Primordial Elf nor anything special.

Of course, there were circumstances.

He possessed an artifact of the Primordial Elf, and he had been acknowledged by Philde, the elves’ Grand Mage.

But beyond that—

What else was there?

Where was the certainty that this man was truly the Primordial Elf?

Was that all?

There were contradictions with Philde’s words.

Philde had said that the Primordial Elf had reincarnated through a contract and could not approach the World Tree because of the ‘thing’ following him.

But what was happening now?

He had come to Greynifra, carrying that eerie presence that might threaten the World Tree.

And now, he was even heading toward the depths of the roots.

That meant he was acting completely differently from what Philde had predicted.

Yet, despite this, the Queen acted as if she had seen undeniable proof.

That worried Rim.

She feared that the Queen, unable to let go of her deceased brother, was clinging to even the slightest possibility, wanting to believe that man was a Primordial Elf.

As she struggled to suppress her dissatisfaction—

“……Rim.”

Suddenly, Vian’s voice reached her.

“What is it, Vian?”

“Something’s wrong.”

“……What?”

“By now, we should have encountered the Ashes.”

Rim finally turned to look around, frowning.

Indeed, Vian was right—something was wrong.

The Ashes constantly crawled upward from the roots.

Moreover, to prevent the elves from descending, hundreds of them were always stationed in the middle layer.

In other words, they should have already encountered them by now.

‘But we’ve almost reached the bottom, and there are no Ashes in sight……?’

No matter where she looked, the Ashes that should have been scattered throughout the area were completely absent.

Rim instinctively tensed.

She knew.

The absence of Ashes was not a good sign.

After a brief hesitation, Rim called out to Vian.

“Vian.”

“Speak.”

“Weren’t there abnormal occurrences before?”

“A couple of months ago, there was a massive surge of Ashes, but that was the last of it.”

“And since then?”

“No particular signs of anything. But this……”

“……An abnormal phenomenon.”

An abnormal phenomenon.

The phrase referred to the sudden shift in the behavior of the Ashes.

It was not a frequent occurrence, but whenever it happened, it always led to grave danger.

“Well, we had to come down at some point anyway.”

Rim muttered under her breath.

Anomalies needed to be detected as early as possible to prepare for potential crises or resolve emerging threats.

Her expression grew more serious.

Their descent into the depths became even more cautious.

Eventually—

“This is the deep root zone.”

They arrived at a place where all the chaotic, intertwined roots converged, forming a massive hole in the center.

“How do we get down?”

Like the upper layers, the inside of the hole was obscured from view.

Silently, Rim pointed to a circular staircase descending along the wall of the cavernous opening.

The group began their descent once again.

And by the time the pain in their feet grew unbearable, likely forming blisters—

Rim realized they had finally reached the depths of the roots.

And she froze on the spot.

Not just her—

Egal, Vian, and even Ramu stood paralyzed, their faces filled with shock.

Because what filled their vision was—

An enormous horde of Ashes.

“Hah—”

Rim instinctively swallowed hard.

Though they retained the forms of humans or beastkin,

Ashen dust scattered from their bodies, and like the molten ground of an active volcano, their skin pulsed with a faint red glow as they moved.

Every aspect of their appearance confirmed—

These were unmistakably Ashes.

Rim tried to count them.

Hundreds?

No, too few.

Thousands?

Still not enough.

Then—

‘Ten thousand.’

Rim clenched her teeth.

The coming disaster was as clear as day.

Whether they could use magic or not was no longer the issue.

If all of these creatures began ascending at once—

Paggade would collapse in an instant.

A disaster of overwhelming scale.

Just as despair crept into her expression—

!!!

One of the Ashes, which had remained silent until now, suddenly let out a piercing wail—

Directly at Alon’s group, the intruders who had stepped into their domain.

—!!!!

As if resonating with the first cry, the other Ashes began howling madly.

Then, waves of Ashes surged forward, scattering through the air as they charged.

“Run!”

Rim shouted desperately and immediately sprinted back up the circular stairs.

However—

“No! It’s—!”

“What?!”

“They’re above too…!!!”

Ramu’s frantic scream made her snap her gaze upward.

“……!!”

She witnessed it.

The previously empty upper staircase—

Now swarming with descending Ashes.

As if they had been waiting.

Waiting for them to reach the deepest point before closing in.

It was deeply unnatural.

In the centuries they had fought the Ashes,

Not once had they ever—

Acted with intelligence.

There was no time to dwell on the inexplicable.

Despair spread across the elves’ faces.

None of them were weak.

They were warriors of Paggade.

Yet even as elite warriors—

“This… This is…”

They saw no chance of survival.

Not against this overwhelming number of Ashes.

Despair turned to resignation.

And then—

“Everyone, move to the walls.”

“!”

A voice rang out.

Calm—far too calm for this dire situation.

Rim turned her gaze.

There stood Marquis Palatio.

The deafening cries of the Ashes filled the space.

They were seconds away from being torn apart.

Yet he simply gazed at them, his expression devoid of emotion.

“You’ll be caught in it otherwise.”

Him.

“You fool! I told you—! Magic does not work in this place!”

Rim screamed, her voice filled with urgency.

He was a mage.

Without magic, he was utterly powerless.

Yet he remained unfazed, surveying the horde of Ashes descending upon them.

Then—

“Ally, Manifest.”

Alon’s voice echoed.

The elves saw it.

Beneath the roots of the World Tree—

Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga-gak!!

An overwhelming force crushed the Ashes in an instant—

■—!

A presence descended.

The manifestation of the Receiver.

Basiliora.