The problem with stealing a fifty-foot glowing tree from the center of a heavily guarded colosseum is not the weight of the object, nor the height of the walls. The problem is the sheer auditory inconvenience of digging. Digging is loud. Shovels hitting dirt make a distinct thwack, and rock makes a clink. When you are trying to commit grand larceny in a crater filled with light-sleeping beast tamers, silence is a commodity more valuable than gold.
The Bowl of Fangs slept under a blanket of torchlight and snoring. The Qualifier Round had exhausted the combatants, leaving the campgrounds a sprawling mess of passed-out warriors and resting beasts.
Su Ye crouched in the shadows of the southern gate, his face smeared with soot. Beside him, his team was dressed in their "stealth gear," which mostly consisted of dark clothes and, in Gao Ming's case, a black cape that he insisted made him look like "The Night's Whisper."
"Operation Root Canal is a go," Su Ye whispered. "Review the roles. Lin Fan?"
"Vibration dampening," Lin Fan tapped his gauntlets. "I will create a localized magnetic field to absorb the sound waves of the excavation."
"Gao Ming?"
"Distraction," Gao Ming preened. "If we are spotted, I will perform a dramatic monologue about the futility of existence to confuse the guards."
"Moonbell?"
The Nine-Tailed Fox, shrunk down to the size of a house cat to conserve energy, flicked her ear. "I will cast a sensory illusion. To anyone watching, the arena will appear empty. Do not step outside the circle of my influence."
"And Zhu Zhu?"
The pig was currently chewing on a piece of licorice. He looked up, his eyes wide.
"I am the heavy machinery," Zhu Zhu whispered, his posh voice muffled by candy. "I eat the dirt. I leave no pile."
"Perfect," Su Ye gripped his shovel. "Let's go do some landscaping."
They slipped through the bars of the drainage grate. The sewer tunnels beneath the arena were damp, smelling of old blood and beast waste, but they led directly to the center of the pit.
They moved silently, guided by the glowing moss on the walls. Above them, the heavy thud of Ogre guard boots echoed through the stone ceiling.
"We are directly under the Shard," Lin Fan checked his holographic map. "The root system penetrates the ceiling here."
"Then we go up," Su Ye pointed to a service hatch.
He pushed it open. They emerged into the center of the Grand Arena. The vast space was eerie in the moonlight. The stands were empty, looming like the ribs of a dead giant. In the exact center of the sand, pulsing with a soft, verdant rhythm, stood the World Tree Shard.
It wasn't a whole tree; it was a massive, crystallized fragment of wood, jagged and ancient, thrust into the earth like a spear. Roots of green light spread out from its base, digging into the sand.
"It's beautiful," Luo Bing whispered. "The energy... it feels like pure life."
"It feels like a cork," Su Ye corrected, walking up to it. "Moonbell said it's sealing a fissure. If we pull it, we open the bottle."
He placed his hand on the glowing bark.
Zzzzt.
"Connection Established."
[Subject: World Tree Fragment (Class: Divine Flora).]
[Status: Stressed. Root-bound. Serving as a filtration unit for Subterranean Void Corruption.]
[Ancestor: The Yggdrasil Prime.]
[Complaint: "My toes are cold. There is something slimy licking my roots. Get it off. Get it off!"]
Su Ye pulled his hand back. "Okay. The Tree wants to leave. That makes this a rescue mission, not a heist. But it says something is licking its roots."
"Licking?" Gao Ming shuddered.
"Something nasty is down there," Su Ye spat on his hands and grabbed his shovel. "Lin Fan, dampen the area. Zhu Zhu, stand by for dirt disposal. I'm going in."
Su Ye didn't dig like a normal person. He dug like a machine. His shovel, a standard-issue stable tool that had somehow survived god-wars, blurred.
Thwack-scoop-toss.
Dirt flew into the air, only to be intercepted mid-flight by Zhu Zhu, who inhaled it like a vacuum cleaner.
Slurp-gulp.
Within minutes, a trench appeared around the base of the Shard. Su Ye worked with surgical precision, exposing the glowing green roots without severing them.
"Deeper," Su Ye muttered, jumping into the pit. "We need to get to the taproot."
As they dug deeper, the sand turned black. The smell of life faded, replaced by the scent of rotten eggs and ozone.
"Void residue," Moonbell hissed, her fur standing on end. "The seal is leaking."
Suddenly, the ground beneath Su Ye's boots felt soft. Squishy.
He stopped digging. He poked the black earth.
It pulsed.
"Uh oh," Su Ye whispered.
From the black soil, a tendril shot out. It wasn't a root. It was a tentacle made of shadows and teeth. It wrapped around Su Ye's ankle.
"Hostile flora!" Su Ye yelled. "Zhu Zhu! Eat the weed!"
Zhu Zhu dove into the pit. He saw the shadow tentacle. To a Void Pig, a shadow tentacle was just a spicy gummy worm.
CHOMP.
Zhu Zhu bit the tentacle off. A screech echoed from deep underground—a sound that vibrated the fillings in their teeth.
"We woke it up!" Lin Fan panicked. "The readings are spiking! Whatever is down there is trying to push the Shard out!"
The massive crystal tree began to shake. The ground around the arena cracked. Green light battled with purple smoke.
"We have to pull it now!" Su Ye shouted, grabbing a thick root. "Everyone grab a hold! On three! One, two, HEAVE!"
The team grabbed the roots. Even Moonbell wrapped her tails around the trunk. They pulled.
The Shard groaned. It slid up a few inches.
CRACK.
But it wasn't the tree coming loose. It was the sound of applause.
Slow, sarcastic clapping echoed from the edge of the arena.
Su Ye froze. He looked up from the pit.
Standing in the entrance tunnel, illuminated by the moonlight, was the Beast King.
He was not wearing his ceremonial armor. He was shirtless, revealing a chest covered in black, pulsing veins that matched the corruption beneath the tree. His Hydra loomed behind him, its six eyes glowing red.
"I wondered when the rats would come for the cheese," the Beast King said, his voice deep and gravelly. "You are bold, Warden. Or incredibly stupid."
"A bit of both," Su Ye wiped mud from his face, not letting go of the tree. "We're the landscaping crew. We noticed your tree has root rot. We're taking it to a specialist."
"That tree," the Beast King walked onto the sand, "is the only thing keeping me sane. It filters the whispers."
He tapped his chest.
"The Void beneath this arena... it speaks. It offers power. But the price is madness. The Tree filters the power, making it usable. It is my battery. And you are trying to unplug it."
"You're using a World Tree Shard as a filter for dark magic?" Su Ye scoffed. "That's like using the Mona Lisa as a placemat. It's disrespectful."
"It is necessary!" The Beast King roared. The black veins on his chest flared. "I am the King! I need power to rule! Without this, I am just a man with a lizard!"
The Hydra hissed, offended.
"Kill them," the Beast King commanded. "Feed them to the fissure."
The Hydra charged. Its three heads snapped—Fire, Poison, and Ice.
"Defensive positions!" Su Ye shouted. "Lin Fan, keep the sound dampener up! If the rest of the city wakes up, we're dead! Luo Bing, handle the ice head! Gao Ming, blind the fire head! Moonbell, take the poison!"
"And you?" Moonbell asked, releasing the tree.
"I'm going to finish the job," Su Ye gritted his teeth. "Zhu Zhu! We aren't done digging!"
While his disciples engaged the massive Tier-6 Hydra, Su Ye dove back into the pit. The shadow tentacles were multiplying, thrashing around the root ball.
"Zhu Zhu, I need a Void Shield around the taproot!"
Zhu Zhu inflated, creating a bubble of void energy that pushed the tentacles back. Su Ye swung his shovel like a madman, severing the corrupted earth clinging to the crystal wood.
Above him, the battle raged.
Luo Bing clashed with the Ice Head. Her rapier met the Hydra's frost breath, creating an explosion of snow.
"You call that ice?" Luo Bing mocked. "I was raised in the Frozen North! That is a slushie!"
Gao Ming danced around the Fire Head. Every time the Hydra breathed flame, Gao Ming angled his mirror cape, reflecting the fire into the Hydra's own eyes.
"Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!" Gao Ming laughed maniacally.
Moonbell was the most terrifying. She didn't dodge the Poison Head. She let the venom hit her fur. It sizzled and evaporated. Her silver aura purified it instantly. She leaped onto the Hydra's neck, sinking her fangs into the scales.
"Enough!" The Beast King roared. He drew a massive greatsword made of black bone. He charged at the pit, intending to decapitate Su Ye.
"Die, thief!"
Su Ye looked up. He was waist-deep in mud. He couldn't dodge.
"Block!" Su Ye yelled.
He didn't call for his disciples. He called for the Tree.
He slapped his hand on the exposed taproot.
Zzzzt.
"Hey, Yggdrasil Junior! You want to leave? Prove it! Swat the bug!"
"GET OFF MY LAWN!" the Tree Ancestor's consciousness screamed.
The World Tree Shard reacted. A massive green root whipped out of the pit with the speed of a whip-crack.
WHACK.
It slapped the Beast King mid-air.
The King, a Martial Lord, was swatted like a fly. He flew backward, crashing into the stone wall of the arena, leaving a crater.
"Thanks," Su Ye gasped.
He grabbed the base of the Shard. "Now! Everyone! PULL!"
Luo Bing, Moonbell, Gao Ming, and Lin Fan disengaged from the stunned Hydra and grabbed the tree. Zhu Zhu pushed from below.
"HNNNNGGGH!"
With a sound like the earth tearing in half, the World Tree Shard popped out of the ground.
Instantly, the seal broke.
A geyser of black smoke erupted from the hole. The screams of the damned echoed from the abyss. The ground began to liquefy.
"We uncorked it!" Lin Fan screamed. "The Void is leaking!"
"Zhu Zhu! Plug it!" Su Ye ordered.
"With what?" Zhu Zhu looked at the massive hole.
"With your butt! Sit on it!"
Zhu Zhu looked horrified, but he obeyed. He floated down and sat directly on the fissure. His Void Belt flared. He acted as a living stopper, absorbing the leaking corruption into his own core.
Burp. Burp. Burp.
He was containing it, but barely.
"We have the package!" Su Ye hoisted the massive crystal log onto his shoulder (aided by Lin Fan's power armor). "Retreat! To the Tortoise!"
"You aren't going anywhere!" The Beast King crawled out of the rubble. His eyes were completely black now. The corruption, deprived of its filter, was consuming him. He looked less like a man and more like a monster.
"I will eat your hearts!"
He raised his hand. The black mud of the arena floor rose up, forming massive golems.
But before he could strike, a horn sounded.
BWAAAAAAP.
A blinding spotlight hit the arena floor from the sky.
Everyone froze. Su Ye looked up.
Hovering above the arena, descending from the clouds, was the Sky-Eater. The massive mountain had come down.
And standing on the edge of the mountain, holding a megaphone, was...
The Thunder-Clap Baboon King.
The Baboon King shrieked. He waved his hand.
From the mountain, a rain of objects fell.
Rocks? No.
Bombs? No.
Banana Peels.
Thousands of banana peels (which the monkeys had been saving for weeks) rained down on the arena.
It was the most ridiculous, low-budget, effective area-of-effect attack in history.
The Beast King charged. He stepped on a peel.
SLIP.
He flailed. He stepped on another.
SLIDE.
The terrifying, corrupted Martial Lord did a cartoon split and slammed face-first into the mud. The Hydra tried to help, but its heads slipped and tangled into a knot.
"Monkey support!" Su Ye cheered. "Go! Go! Go!"
They ran. Su Ye carried the tree. Zhu Zhu floated off the hole (causing a new geyser of smoke to erupt), and they sprinted toward the Tortoise waiting at the gate.
"Start the car!" Su Ye screamed at the Tortoise.
"I am not a car," the Tortoise rumbled, but it began to move.
They threw the World Tree Shard onto the Tortoise's back. They scrambled aboard just as the Beast King managed to stand up, covered in mud and bananas.
"AFTER THEM!" The King screamed. "THEY STOLE MY BATTERY!"
The entire city of the Bowl of Fangs woke up. Five thousand beast tamers grabbed their weapons.
"Run away!" Su Ye yelled.
The Tortoise tucked its head and activated its Earth-Slide ability. It drifted around the corner, crashing through a souvenir stand, and bolted toward the open plains.
Behind them, the black smoke from the arena fissure rose into the sky, forming the shape of a laughing skull.
"We got the tree," Su Ye panted, collapsing on the deck. "But I think we just started the apocalypse."
"Again," Moonbell corrected, grooming her tail. "You started it again."
"Details," Su Ye waved his hand. "Senior Tortoise! Rendezvous with the Sky-Eater! We have a spine to transplant!"
As they sped away into the night, the Beast King stood in the center of the arena, the corruption consuming him fully. He threw his head back and laughed.
"Run, Warden," the thing that was no longer the King whispered. "You opened the door. Now the Masters will come."
He looked at the fissure.
"Come forth," he commanded the darkness. "The hunt begins."
From the hole, a hand made of pure void reached out. It grabbed the edge of the arena.
It pulled itself up.
It wasn't a beast. It wasn't a human.
It was a Reflection.
A perfect, shadowy copy of Su Ye climbed out of the pit. It held a shovel made of darkness. It smiled.
"Hello, world," the Shadow-Su Ye whispered. "Time to go to work."