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As the split souls' phantom clones were designing the new creations, a spirit and two avatars for the twins, the group began to talk about how to go down the Labyrinth.
"How do we go down though? Should we just smack everywhere and crush through all things?" asked Aurora.
"Certainly, that's the better way to do it!" said Veronica.
"N-No! If you do that you'll end up smacking through my tree! My wood will break apart and the Hivemind will get through it, you have to go down the conventional way, through the stairs." Said Veronica.
"The stairs?! Ugh…" sighed Veronica.
"We'll take the stairs then. I didn't even knew there were stairs." Said Ervas.
"There are, they had been slowly formed through my intervention as I've made this place just for the right "heroes" to go down there and slay the Hivemind, it is all pretty much me orchestrating an epic adventure." Said Yggdrasil.
"Wow, we didn't knew that face of yours." Said Anastacia.
"Y-Yeah…" said Juliette.
"Eh? I-Is it bad? Sorry, I was just having a bit of fun. And it makes sense! Down there, I've sensed many things, although not everything… but there are many things yet to be explored… There are currently five stratums, all five of them have around 10 floors, and each floor is rather gigantic… I believe that each stratum is like a biome of its own… But I can't tell many other details until we get down there. The people here had only reached the first floor of the second stratum. They had somehow defeated the guardian of the first stratum, a powerful monster that I cannot really control which guards that place like a King. After they defeated it, it still spawns, but an entrance down there emerged where they can evade it." Said Yggdrasil.
"Wow, so the boss is pretty weak if they defeated it, I guess we can breeze through most of it easily." Said Veronica.
"Don't have your hopes up, that entire thing is being shrouded by the All-Absorbing Miasma Aura of the Hivemind, these people is so weak so they don't get affected by it, but all of you will get a bit weak down there, and the monsters get exponentially stronger." Said Yggdrasil.
"Huh, so it's a proper challenge, through and through! Sounds like fun, about time we got some action going on in here, things are getting boring." Said Veronica.
"Indeed, we have to keep the audience interested." Said Ervas.
"What are you two even talking about?" asked Yggdrasil.
"We were just talking nonsense, we read too many light novels in our previous life so we kind of understand this necessity that sometimes stories have to add action when things get too story heavy… nonetheless, we are still doing fine as we are." Said Veronica.
"Yeah, no rush, as long as the author enjoys what she writes." Said Ervas.
"Now you're talking even more nonsense, I guess you're pretending there's a fourth wall or something?!" asked Anastacia.
"It is actually a fun joke, I guess this is their way to cope with the challenge ahead." Sighed Juliette.
The group giggled a bit as they looked into the bonfire, they sighed a bit, many of them had high expectations for the future ahead. The exploration of the underground labyrinth of the tree of the world was an interesting journey ahead.
However, it felt weird, how did this labyrinth had such dungeon-like rules?
Aurora ended asking this.
"I wonder… Yggdrasil, did your roots became a dungeon by itself?" asked Aurora.
"Ah, indeed. Treasure chests sometimes spawn out of nowhere. Monsters appear out of nowhere too. And things like that… It is the only dungeon in the entire world as my mothers never created any more, finding that they would only bring unnecessary dangers to the people of this world instead of necessary challenges." Said Yggdrasil.
"But I guess there's this thing about the people, they have an urge to go explore the Labyrinth, mostly obsession with it but also mixed with concern, there had been previous monster breaks, monster tides… which had attacked the town, there are also underground routes where monsters had spread into the rest of the world, so they're a constant threat, although wild animals are also kind of a thread by just how super-evolved, they had become, kind of like megafauna." Said Yggdrasil.
"So the people here also had such issues like in Kritias in the past… Oh well, we'll get through it. And through Manationia, we can help out the people in the mortal realm while we all go down." Said Veronica.
"Sounds like we all done it then, we got this figured out," said Ervas.
"Indeed! Anyways, going back to the topic… Yggdrasil, how was this possible? Did your own roots became a dungeon through your intervention?" asked Aurora.
"Oh no, I think it happened naturally, the miasma of the Hivemind which it created after absorbing the contamination and then mixing it with its innate magic into a contaminating aura is the responsible… at the very least I've concentrated it all on my roots, so this won't go anywhere else." Sighed Yggdrasil.
"I see, that's interesting… I guess the Hivemind… was it a magical being all by itself?" asked Veronica.
"No, originally it only used its unique capabilities, after it saw us use supernatural abilities is when it began using magic and the like… I assume it is like this as always." Said Anastacia.
"It always knew magic, but it became better at it after our fight…" said Juliette.
"I see… I think that the Hivemind might had purposedly done all of this so it something like the dungeon was born, although it most likely didn't expected that it would grow all the way deep into its flesh nearing the core where the soul is stored…" said Aurora.
"Aurora… you're suggesting…?!" asked Anastacia.
"Indeed, the Hivemind is intelligent and cunning, it is planning something more… I have the itch." Said Aurora.
"Something more…?" wondered everyone.
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