The fog on the far side of the river was even thicker than before.
Every step the Nutrition Guardians took became slower. More careful.
The trees in this part of the forest dwarfed anything they had seen before. Massive trunks rose like ancient pillars supporting the sky, while enormous roots twisted through the earth like living walls.
Almost no sunlight reached the forest floor.
The air was warm.
But it wasn't an ordinary warmth.
It felt like...
a living breath.
Bimo tilted his head back, staring up into the towering canopy.
"These trees..."
"...their size should be illegal."
Tono smiled faintly.
"This is what a true primordial forest looks like."
Dika placed a hand against one of the enormous trunks.
"The tree is harder than stone."
"It could easily be hundreds of years old."
Rani slowly shook her head.
"Or much older than the city we came from."
Lila checked the readings on her tablet.
"The energy level is still climbing."
Farhan zoomed in on the digital map.
"We're only a few kilometers from the center of the resonance."
For the first time, however, his voice lacked its usual confidence.
His hands were trembling.
Sinta noticed immediately.
"Farhan?"
He hesitated before swallowing.
"The closer we get..."
"...the more data we're losing."
Lila looked up sharply.
"Losing?"
Farhan nodded.
"It's like..."
"...our system can't read this place anymore."
Kai remained perfectly still.
A faint golden glow flickered inside his eyes.
He sensed something deeper than any scanner could detect.
A vast...
ancient...
steady source of energy.
But beneath it, he felt something else.
Sorrow.
"This isn't just an Energy Core," Kai whispered.
Arga turned toward him.
"What do you mean?"
Kai stared into the endless wall of mist ahead.
"Something is alive with it."
A low rumble rolled beneath their feet.
RUMBLE...
Everyone stopped.
Sinta raised a hand.
"Quiet."
The vibration came again.
Closer.
Heavier.
Like the footsteps of a giant.
Bimo whispered,
"If this is another monster..."
"...I'm officially retiring."
A flock of birds suddenly burst from the treetops.
The fog slowly parted.
Then...
something emerged.
It was enormous.
Nearly as tall as a two-story house.
Its body resembled a gigantic gorilla.
Thick moss covered its fur.
Wildflowers bloomed across its shoulders.
Long vines trailed from its arms.
It looked less like an animal...
and more like a piece of the forest itself.
Golden light flowed beneath its skin like glowing roots.
Its eyes shone with a gentle radiance.
Yet the pressure radiating from its presence was almost overwhelming.
Bimo stared with his mouth hanging open.
"Okay..."
"...I take it back."
"I'm not retiring."
"I'm just going to pass out."
Farhan glanced at his monitor.
"Its energy is incredibly stable."
Lila lowered her voice.
"This creature has lived beside the Core for a very long time."
Kai never looked away.
"It's no ordinary guardian."
"...It's the First Guardian."
The creature slowly studied each member of the team.
Then its gaze settled on Arga.
There was no anger.
No hostility.
But suddenly—
Arga felt something pierce straight into his heart.
Loneliness.
An ancient loneliness beyond words.
A vision flashed through his mind.
The same forest.
Untouched.
No people.
No footprints.
No voices.
Only the giant guardian...
waiting.
Century after century.
Alone.
Arga drew a shaky breath.
"...I can feel him."
Sinta immediately turned toward him.
"What is it?"
Arga stared at the giant, his eyes quietly filling with tears.
"...He's been waiting..."
"...for far too long."
Silence settled over the forest.
Even Bimo had no joke this time.
The giant guardian slowly raised one massive hand.
A long scar crossed its palm.
It wasn't a natural wound.
It formed a perfect metallic ring.
Kai froze.
"...That mark..."
Sinta narrowed her eyes.
"You recognize it?"
Kai couldn't look away.
"...It's the symbol of a Dominion experiment."
The forest suddenly felt colder.
Bimo straightened immediately.
"So..."
"They've already been here?"
Farhan hurriedly searched through old encrypted files.
His eyes widened.
"Wait..."
His fingers flew across the keyboard.
"I found an archived Dominion operation."
"It dates back to years before Arga was even born."
A classified project name appeared on the screen.
PROJECT: ROOTKEEPER
Lila read the faded file aloud.
"Capture indigenous guardians... to secure access to the Energy Core."
Rani looked back at the giant guardian.
"...They tortured him."
The creature remained silent.
But the way it looked at humanity became infinitely heavier.
Suddenly—
CRACK!
The ground beneath them split open.
Massive roots burst from the earth like living serpents.
One of them lashed toward the team.
Andra reacted a split second too late.
The root slammed into him and hurled him against a giant tree.
THUD!
"ANDRA!" Nisa cried.
He collapsed to the ground without moving.
Everyone froze.
This wasn't an adventure anymore.
Bones could break here.
People could die here.
Sinta reacted instantly.
"Rani! Check Andra!"
Rani rushed over and examined him.
"He's alive..."
"...but his shoulder is dislocated."
The atmosphere changed immediately.
No one here was invincible.
Arga stepped forward despite the weight pressing on his legs.
He opened his MBG lunchbox.
The fifteen glowing grains of rice radiated a soft golden light.
Not to attack.
Only to warm the air around them.
The giant guardian watched the light in silence.
After a long moment...
it slowly lowered its head.
Not in surrender.
But in recognition.
Kai smiled faintly.
"He recognizes the Guardian's energy."
The giant turned around and began walking deeper into the mist.
After several steps, it stopped.
Then glanced back.
Waiting.
Farhan lowered his voice.
"...He's showing us the way."
Sinta looked once more at the injured Andra.
"Do we keep going?"
Arga looked at every member of his team.
For the first time...
he truly hesitated.
If they continued...
who would be hurt next?
Then the voice from the Core echoed inside him once more.
Come. Quickly.
Arga slowly lifted his head.
"We're moving."
His voice remained calm.
But now it carried a weight everyone could hear.
They followed the giant guardian into the thickening mist.
Minutes later...
the entire forest suddenly fell silent.
Then something impossible happened.
Every tree around them began glowing with golden light.
One after another.
The trunks.
The roots.
The branches.
The leaves.
The entire forest illuminated as though countless stars had awakened beneath the bark.
Farhan stared at his monitor.
His face turned pale.
"...That's impossible."
Lila grabbed the tablet from his hands.
The readings made no sense.
There wasn't one Energy Core.
There weren't three.
The forest itself...
was one enormous living Core.
Kai's voice was barely a whisper.
"...The Third Core isn't hidden beneath the forest."
He stared at the glowing trees without blinking.
"...The Third Core... is the forest itself."