Chapter 60 — The Guardian Beneath the Tree
BOOM.
The heartbeat echoed through the white world.
Azrael stood frozen.
Another heartbeat followed.
BOOM.
The ground beneath his feet trembled.
The enormous roots of the white tree continued pulling themselves from the earth, tearing through the pale soil as though something beneath them was forcing its way upward.
The enemy warriors stopped attacking.
Even the masked leader stared.
"What..."
His voice was barely a whisper.
"What is beneath the tree?"
The old master didn’t answer.
His eyes remained fixed on the roots.
For the first time since Azrael had met him, the old man’s expression contained something other than calm confidence.
It was uncertainty.
Azrael noticed immediately.
"You don’t know?"
The old master shook his head slowly.
"I thought I did."
The ground split open.
A wave of ancient energy erupted from below.
Azrael instinctively raised Astraeus.
The pressure wasn’t directed at him.
Yet his body reacted anyway.
His wings wanted to unfold.
His bloodline stirred.
Even the Celestial Evolution System began flickering inside his mind.
"WARNING"
Unknown Origin Energy detected.
Analysis impossible.
Source exists beyond current evolutionary authority.
Azrael’s eyes narrowed.
Beyond my authority?
He had never seen the System produce a warning like this.
The white stone in his hand suddenly became hot.
He nearly dropped it.
The stone floated.
Then slowly moved toward the tree.
Azrael reached for it.
"Wait—"
The stone disappeared into one of the tree’s roots.
Silence.
Then—
BOOM!
A pulse of silver light spread outward.
Every living being in the battlefield felt it.
The enemy warriors fell to one knee.
Some screamed.
Others dropped their weapons.
Even the masked leader struggled to remain standing.
Azrael remained upright.
Not because the pressure wasn’t affecting him.
It was.
His bones felt heavy.
His heart struggled to beat.
But something within his bloodline was responding.
The old master looked at him.
"Don’t resist."
Azrael gritted his teeth.
"Then what should I do?"
"Listen."
Azrael closed his eyes.
The pressure became clearer.
The heartbeat.
The roots.
The lake.
The wind.
The formation.
His own breathing.
Everything was connected.
But beneath all of it...
There was another rhythm.
Older.
Slower.
Almost impossible to perceive.
BOOM.
Azrael’s eyes opened.
"I hear it."
The old master smiled.
"What do you hear?"
"A heartbeat."
"Whose?"
Azrael looked beneath the tree.
"I don’t know."
The ground suddenly exploded.
CRAAAAASH!
A gigantic figure emerged.
Roots snapped around its body as it slowly rose from beneath the earth.
At first, Azrael thought it was a beast.
Then he realized he was wrong.
It was something far stranger.
Its body appeared to be formed from pale stone and ancient roots.
Four enormous arms emerged from its torso.
A crown of branches surrounded its head.
There were no visible eyes.
Yet Azrael knew it was looking at him.
The creature slowly stood.
It was taller than the white tree itself.
The old master stared upward.
"The Root Guardian."
The masked leader’s expression changed.
"You knew it existed?"
The old master shook his head.
"I knew there was a guardian."
He looked at the enormous being.
"I didn’t know it had awakened."
The creature moved.
One enormous hand touched the white tree.
The tree responded.
Its branches illuminated the entire sky.
The masked leader immediately shouted.
"Destroy it!"
The remaining warriors raised their weapons.
Thousands of attacks flew toward the guardian.
Fire.
Lightning.
Sword energy.
Spear intent.
Dark magic.
Explosive formations.
The sky became a storm of power.
Azrael instinctively stepped forward.
The old master stopped him.
"Don’t."
"But they’re attacking it."
"Watch."
The attacks reached the guardian.
The creature didn’t defend itself.
It simply stood there.
The first attack touched its body.
Then disappeared.
The second vanished.
The third.
The fourth.
All of them.
Not blocked.
Not destroyed.
Absorbed.
The guardian’s body began glowing.
The old master smiled.
"They’re feeding it."
The masked leader’s face became pale.
"Stop!"
Too late.
The guardian opened its mouth.
There was no roar.
Instead, a deep vibration spread through the battlefield.
BOOOOOOM.
Every weapon shattered.
Every formation collapsed.
The warriors were thrown backward.
Some flew hundreds of meters.
Others crashed into the ground.
The masked leader barely remained standing.
Azrael stared.
"That’s resonance."
The old master nodded.
"Exactly."
The guardian wasn’t overpowering the attacks.
It was returning them through their own resonance.
Azrael’s eyes brightened.
He understood the lesson immediately.
Don’t fight against something.
Understand its rhythm.
Then let that rhythm defeat itself.
The guardian slowly turned its head toward Azrael.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then one of its enormous hands extended.
The old master stepped forward.
"Don’t worry."
Azrael looked at him.
"It recognizes you."
The guardian’s hand stopped before Azrael.
A small point of silver light appeared above its palm.
Azrael stared.
It was the white stone.
The stone floated toward him.
He caught it.
The moment it touched his hand—
Ding!
The Celestial Evolution System appeared.
"Special Resonance Detected"
Source: Root Guardian
Compatibility: Extremely High
Stone Resonance has undergone an abnormal reaction.
Skill evolution conditions detected.
Current requirement: Understanding 1 additional resonance principle.
The screen disappeared.
Azrael stared at the stone.
"What is this?"
The old master smiled.
"A key."
"A key to what?"
"The first door of the Forgotten Path."
Azrael looked toward the guardian.
"Why did it give it to me?"
The old master remained silent.
Then his expression became thoughtful.
"Perhaps it didn’t."
Azrael frowned.
"What do you mean?"
The old master looked toward the white tree.
"Perhaps..."
He paused.
"...the Path gave it to you."
Azrael’s heart skipped.
Before he could respond, the masked leader suddenly laughed.
Everyone turned toward him.
The man was injured.
Blood ran from beneath his armor.
Yet he was smiling.
"You fools."
The old master narrowed his eyes.
"What?"
The masked leader slowly raised one hand.
A black symbol appeared across his palm.
"You think this changes anything?"
The old master’s expression hardened.
The masked leader looked directly at Azrael.
"The guardian has awakened."
His smile widened.
"That was exactly what we wanted."
Azrael’s eyes narrowed.
The old master immediately understood.
"You’re using him as a catalyst."
"Correct."
The masked leader’s voice echoed across the battlefield.
"For countless ages, the Guardian remained dormant because the Forgotten Path lacked a successor."
His eyes burned with anticipation.
"But now..."
He looked at Azrael.
"...the successor has awakened it."
The old master stepped forward.
"You planned this."
"We couldn’t enter the Gate directly."
The masked leader’s smile disappeared.
"So we forced you to activate the Path."
Azrael looked at the black formation.
Then at the guardian.
Then at the stone.
Suddenly, everything connected.
The attack.
The formation.
The synchronization.
The guardian.
They had never intended to destroy the Forgotten Path.
They wanted to force it to reveal itself.
And Azrael...
Had been the key.
The old master cursed quietly.
"We’ve been playing their game."
The masked leader raised his hand.
"Now..."
The black formation above them began changing.
Instead of attacking the white tree...
It turned toward Azrael.
A massive black symbol appeared in the sky.
Azrael felt something lock onto his existence.
The System immediately sounded an alarm.
"CRITICAL WARNING"
External Origin Mark detected.
Target: Azrael
Purpose: Unknown
Removal: Failed
Azrael’s expression changed.
"What did they do?"
The old master looked at the symbol.
His face became cold.
"They marked you."
"Can you remove it?"
The old master didn’t answer immediately.
Then—
"No."
Azrael’s eyes widened.
The old master looked at him.
"But I can stop it from taking you."
The masked leader laughed.
"You misunderstand, Guardian."
He pointed toward Azrael.
"We don’t need to take him."
The black symbol pulsed.
"We only need to make sure..."
"...he can never leave."
The entire white world went silent.
Azrael looked toward the shattered entrance.
The black formation had begun closing around the Thirteenth Gate.
The path behind him was disappearing.
The old master stepped beside him.
"Azrael."
"Yes?"
"You have two choices."
Azrael looked at him.
"Fight your way through the formation..."
The old master raised his hand.
"...or learn to resonate with it."
Azrael looked down at the white stone.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
The answer suddenly seemed obvious.
He tightened his grip.
"I’ll do both."
The old master laughed.
"That’s my disciple."
The Root Guardian released a thunderous vibration.
The white tree illuminated the sky.
Astraeus began humming in Azrael’s hand.
And deep within his soul...
Something answered.
Not Genesis.
Not Oblivion.
Something older.
Something that had been waiting for him to understand.
"Stone Resonance is evolving..."
"Evolution incomplete."
"New requirement discovered: Understand the resonance of an enemy."
Azrael slowly raised Astraeus.
His eyes locked onto the masked leader.
"Then let’s see..."
His sword began shining with a faint silver light.
"...what your resonance sounds like."