Ryu took a breath, and Jue was looking confused as he was hoping for the dungeon boss to be inside the core room, but Ardian just said it just had Tree's soul.
Ryu looked straight into Ardian's eyes and spoke.
"Are you sure about it?"
Ardian wiped his eyes and nodded, and Ryu had a troubled expression as he thought,
'Well, if I still ignore this…. I would just be ignorant.'
Ryu turned towards Jue and Rafa,
"Do you two need rest?" he asked, half hoping they'll say yes, but both of them moved their head in denial as Jue turned to Ardian,
"Ardian, big brother, will you be fine?" he asked, concerned as since coming to this dungeon, Ardian's face was filled with sadness. Even though Jue could not comprehend the reason and thinking behind Ardian's sadness, he still wanted to help him.
"I am fine," Ardian replied as he looked towards the door with impatience.
'Dude, at least wipe those tears before you say that,' thought Ryu and finally began giving instructions,
"Jue, smash those things that came towards you and create a mud wall if a sudden attack is being launched,"
"I will kill the dungeon boss this time!!" Jue replied as he nodded, and Ryu spoke.
"You can kill it if you get the chance. Focus on defence though we can't be hurt the one time we come to the dungeon without Aiena" he imagined how sad Aiena would be if they went back hurt, and Jue, who could imagine that too, nodded with understanding,
"Rafa big sister, please guard Ardian a bit more because he can't fight," Ryu said, but before Rafa could reply, Ardian cut in the middle,
"I will be in front."
"Why? You know you can't fight?" Ryu replied, and Ardian replied,
"I can save the tree,"
"How? by talking with it?"
"I mean…."
"What, you will make it have a conversation over tea?"
"I did not mean that if you all are in front, you might just kill it before considering other options," Ardian replied.
'But dungeon bosses are meant to be killed!!?' Ryu wanted to shout but held back as he knew Ardian by now. He is the type of person who would not change their ideals for logic so easily, and he sighed in disappointment. Ryu spoke in a serious voice.
"I will agree to your stupid demand, not because you are right, but because I do not want to argue more…." Ardian nodded, and Ryu added,
"If you get hurt, die, become limp for life, it won't be my fault after this, understood," Ardian seemed a bit taken aback, but he still nodded,
"I will…. I will be okay," he said, although not so sure himself.
After getting into their formation, Ryu spoke.
"Open the door," and Ardian, who was already in a hurry to do so, pushed the door open and walked inside but then suddenly something that no one could've imagined happened the giant dungeon door was suddenly closed. Jue, who was right behind Ardian, tried to pull him out, but it was too late as Ardian himself went towards the monster inside the boss room,
"Big brother, what do we do!?" Jue asked, confused and Ryu, who was already having a bad feeling, thought,
'That is why you should take a warning when one gives it!!'
"Jue, try smashing the door open. Use your blessing too," Ryu replied as he himself looked around in search of something like a button to open the door, but both were met with no luck.
Jue tried his best to punch crack the wooden door, but it did not get a single scratch, even with his strongest combo.
'Man, he is going to die,' Ryu thought as he imagined Ardian against a dungeon master, but before he could care anymore, suddenly, all the dungeon monsters began rushing towards them from the ground and walls. Various types of Fungi monsters, along with medium-sized Trent,
"Jue, Rafa, focus on the monsters. Don't think about him for now," Ryu stated as he had his priority cleared, and Rafa nodded instantly as she rushed towards the swarm of monsters, and Jue was looking hesitant as he asked,
"Big brother, what about Ardian brother? Is he going to die?"
"Jue, if there is a way to save him, I promise to give it my all; for now, let's focus on our own lives," Jue nodded and used [Gravel smash] on incoming mushroom monsters,
The battle was seemingly unending when they killed a few monsters. Many others appeared before them, and even though Ryu was killing the monsters in succession one after another, he couldn't help but wonder if Ardian was alive or not,
'The door is still closed,' he thought as he looked towards the boss room earlier in a book about adventuring. He had read dungeon room gets locked once a party or group has already started fighting the boss, but it'll open as soon as the party is dead,
'How is he still alive?' Ryu was shocked as he could've imagined Ardian surviving for fifteen minutes at most, but he never thought that he would survive half an hour.
Ryu pulled out twin fang swords as no one was here to witness him using them and cut two Fungi Trent's stalks as he wondered,
'Just what is happening in there' Ryu was very curious and was wondering if talking to the tree was really working,
'No way it is,' he shrugged as he stabbed a mushroom that was opening its giant mouth towards Jue from behind, and Rafa sliced through multiple Trent in one go, making Ryu think,
'I still have a long road to go….'
While this fight was going on inside the dungeon room, there was another fight and conflicts of mind taking place.
'Please do it…. This way forest will live… I already had my centuries' the voice came inside Ardian's mind, but he couldn't reply, or he did not want to face it.
'Why would he want to die…?' Ardian thought as he had seen trees trying to exist to longest stand tough even if they lacked resources in the hope of the future. That was what inspired him whenever he heard a tree asking for help,
'But he wants to die!?' Ardian couldn't take this; his face crumpled.
"Why would you want to die!? Your species live five thousand years easily. Do not joke with me!!" shouted Ardian with sadness and a hint of anger in his eye.
'If… I die, you can save them; old trees die to give new one place…. I was taking all the light for so long,' a tree voice rang in Ardian's ears, but he just closed his ears and tried his best to hold his tears.
In the core room, there were three spirals of roots enclosing orbs of energy. The one who Ardian was talking with was the middle spiral of roots. The biggest one was half eroded by Fungi. It looked to be resisting fungi that wanted to take over the control of it,
Ardian kept walking towards the spiral. The other two began attacking it, but the middle one protected Ardian from them even when Ardian went unconscious at the gate. The middle spiral saved him from attacks,
"I CAN NOT KILL A TREE!!" Ardian screamed with a conflicted expression towards the spiral, which was begging him again and again, and kneeled at the base, his mind repeating a single thing,
'I cannot let it die, I cannot let it die,' he began clawing at the Fungi moss bare-handed from the spiral's surface. The soul of the tree entrapped in the core pleaded and begged him to stop hurting himself as soon Ardian's finger began bleeding,
Fifteen minutes passed, and half an hour passed, but the Fungi won't get off. No matter how much he clawed, he remembered the words he had heard long ago and kept going.
'Ardian, even though trees cannot move with you, I never felt bored. You saved me… this is my time, please as you saved me, make sure all those lucky plants that come across you live their life to the fullest, so they know the bliss I had,'
'I won't break my promise!! I will not kill it ever!!' replied Ardian, the voice of memories.
'Please, I want to die… if not soon, my existence will change…' Trent's pleading voice tore at Ardian's soul. Why was he trying to save a tree that wanted to die for the sake of others,
'Why won't you let me have my last karma be pure…. If it took over, I would become a menacing existence. The forest in this part would always be barren, the tree core said to Ardian, who was madly clawing still.
His fingers were bruised, and the blood coming out of his hand was no longer a small dribble.
"I will keep my promis…." Ardian spoke. The flowers and leaves on his halo finally drifted off his head, and suddenly felt a gentle touch on his shoulder, and a voice different from that of the spiral of roots entered his ears, a soothing voice as if the voice produced by a flute played in enteral silence,
'My cute stubborn child, why would you take those words of his like that?'
'Who is it!?'
The voice suddenly seemed pouty as it stated,
'Mouuu, you really are not a cute child at all… even though you follow my teachings and principal, this was the reply you gave me after we met'
'The…. Boun…. How!?'
'I had always been watching over you since you did that. I see all your memories, but are you sure you took them right?'
'What does that mean?'
The voice disappeared for a bit. Ardian had stopped clawing, and his fingers were hurting badly with fungi trying to infect him, but soon the gentle voice entered his ears again.
'Now, let me show you your past and reach the point where your misunderstanding began' suddenly, the middle spiral of root extent reached out towards Ardian and began enclosing him when the voice said in Ardian's mind,
"Do not worry. This brave child is just doing this to protect you until we are done,"
-To be continued