The skeletons moved first, followed by Jay and Red, entering the enormous circular chamber, which seemed much larger from down here than from the observation deck high above.
It could hardly be called a room, and was more like a cavern; it seemed like they had carved a whole hill out of here.
Jay guessed that perhaps the entire adventurer association would fit inside, along with the palisade wall surrounding it. If he were to throw a stone with all his might, it would not reach halfway across the room.
The enormous head still ignored them, continuing to pump the green fluid through the root system, and each time its forehead pulsed, Jay felt a gentle breeze waving backwards and forwards.
"I wonder if severing the roots of the castle affected it?" Jay scratched his chin.
The room itself smelt fresh, as if he were in a forest, and apart from the noise of the fighting knights and Ova behind them, there was only a subtle, deep beating sound that came from the head, sounding more like a ticking clock than a heartbeat.
Jay still had to feed some bones to Sweeper to grow back its arms, so he took a moment to analyze and think things through.
Above them on the observation deck, a flurry of knights rushed over. The unending masses of knights were coming, not only to secure their castle, but now, for revenge.
Jay glanced back into the room he had just come through, seeing more Ova awaken and arise from their root coffins below as they responded to the oncoming wave of knights. As for how long they will last against the raging knights, Jay could only guess.
"Alright… let's get this over with." He thought, turning back to the giant head.
The head was still staring into a portal at the back-right side of the room, ignoring his presence. The portal had a silver-mirror surface which seemed to ripple like water as a root pumped the milky substance through it. There was no telling what was on the other side, or what was sending the milky-white fluid through.
Jay sent Lamp and Handy around the edge of the circular room towards the portal, firstly to see if any more Ova were in here.
Lamp and Handy were cautious at first, plodding along slowly, but seeing it was calm, they sped up to a brisk walk, and eventually they were running, travelling around the edge of the room where the roots met the wall.
"Hmm, so no Ova here?" Jay raised a brow.
With Sweeper back to full form, he sent it and Blue towards the giant head in the middle of the room.
Red stayed at Jay's side as his personal guard. Jay kept Red's armor in his inventory in case it died, not wanting to lose it in this dungeon; the blueprints were more important to him than a temporary advantage.
Besides, if there was an emergency, he could simply have Red don its armor again, and by conserving his mana, it was almost back to being full again. Ready to summon multiple undead.
Jay made a quick glance back as the battle behind him grew louder. The swarm of knights charged into the Ova without mercy.
As their numbers swelled, there were no longer any tactics. It was just a brutal, armored swarm of wrath. A wave of metal crashing against whatever would dare to stand in their path.
Yet the Ova held strong and defiantly remained in place. They were immobile, attached to the root on the floor they stood on; a part of it. Unyielding to the knights, they stood firm.
Jay curiously watched while he waited for his skeletons to get into place or uncover enemies.
Every so often, a knight fell and its body disappeared into the roots below. A moment later and another Ova would rise, although none of the new Ova would be above level eight either.
This insignificant detail caused Jay to smile mischievously.
"Ah… I see how it works now." He nodded.
Jay went back into the passage with the Ova. Just before he would get into range of an Ova lashing at him, he held his necrotic gauntlet up. A luminous dark green glowed from it.
"I hope you're hungry." He smiled, and a sickly green cloud of mana appeared.
From the mana, bones appeared, vomiting out onto the floor like a river.
Jay instantly deposited thirty complete Helvetian human skeletons. The root floor responded, ravenously swallowing them, tearing them apart. In moments, the mass of bones disappeared.
Yet they were not gone for long.
The roots opened up, and suddenly, an entire assembly of Ova rose.
There were less than thirty, as they needed other parts of a human body to create an Ova, but this blockade was enough to stop the charging masses of knights, no matter how many would come into the room.
"Alright, that's taken care of for now." Jay nodded, happy with his work.
Walking back into the circular chamber, he saw Lamp and Handy had made it half-way around the outside, while Blue and Sweeper were about halfway to the centre of the room - half-way to the flesh-plant head.
"Lets get moving, Red." Jay thought, moving around the outside of the room too.
Compared to Lamp and Handy, who were running, Jay moved at a more cautious walking pace.
Jay glanced at the giant head as he went. Still, there was no reaction; its eyes fixated on the portal.
"I wonder what level it is? It's confident enough to ignore me even while I'm here… or perhaps it can do nothing? I'm sure it's powerful, though, as it has been feeding on the whole dungeon for years." he nodded.
The sounds of charging knights continued above. They were like a threatening thunder, yet it only caused Jay to smile as he thought about the blockade of Ova he just set up after gifting them some bones.
While it was a cheap trick, it was something only Jay could do. There were no other adventurers who carried around thousands of corpses. At least, none that Jay knew of.
Suddenly, there was a movement near the head.
Before Blue and Sweeper, the roots moved. So many shifted around that they lost their balance.
Curling around each other and twisting together, they formed what looked like a slender tree trunk that continued to rise. However, it was not all made from the plant-flesh material.
At the very top, a giant, talon-shaped stone appeared. White and sharp, it was the size of Jay's body. Sitting atop the root tower, it grew to be the height of a four-story building.
(Blue, fall back) Jay immediately ordered, seeing the large tentacle-like tendril already falling towards them.
Blue and Sweeper both got back to their feet dashed back.
The root picked up speed. It not only fell, but actively flexed towards them, causing the wind to howl around it.
Sweeper and Blue bolted right below it, but were not fast enough; both were about to be crushed into powder.
*BOOM!~*
The giant root tentacle smashed into the ground.
Jay felt the shock through his feet as the deep sound echoed through the castle.
Green blood spurted everywhere as it smashed heavily into the floor.
Yet it took no enemies with it.
While commanding, Blue had come to value its combat awareness. Even as it ran, it continued to glance back at the impending doom.
Right before it smashed them to pieces, Blue pushed Sweeper on the shoulder, sending them both to each side of the fearsome tentacle.
The immediate shockwave sent them both staggering, falling onto their knees.
The giant tentacle was not done, though.
It slid backwards as it raised itself up again.
Blue and Sweeper sprinted away and were nearly out of range.
The root flexed, whipping its enormous trunk towards them.
Blue moved to Sweeper's side, ready to push Sweeper and dodge the tentacle again.
The root howled through the air, and as Blue looked back, it saw that they were almost out of range.
Only a little further and they would be safe. I may not even need to dodge.
Blue was sure they would be safe before it fell.
However, the root curved differently than before.
(Blue, dodge now!) A heavenly voice rattled through Blue's mind.
Blue obeyed instantly. Its body moved on its own.
*BA- BOOM!*
A flash of a white stone blinked past Blue's eyes, confusing the skeleton.
It was sure they had made it far enough; the destruction left on the root floor from the previous attack didn't even reach this far.
Yet the white stone was there, embedded deeply into the ground. How was the stone right next to it?
Sweeper was in pieces again. Its body split in to two. Bones shot off in random directions while it snapped and crushed others.
(Bring Sweeper back!) Jay ordered, watching from the edge of the room.
The root was moving back again, yet the white claw-shaped stone stayed pierced into the ground. The root tendril didn't do a crushing attack. Instead, it had whipped its body and hurled the giant stone like a projectile.
Neither Blue nor Sweeper were prepared for such an attack; only Jay realised.
"Dammit." Jay thought, "So we can't get close to the head. That just leaves one option." His eyes glanced towards the silvery portal, crackling with chaotic blue magic around the outside.
