A tendril smashed onto the floor. Oscar dodged in time and punched again, this time with his shield. Once more, the smaller tendrils created an opening, a void for Oscar's attack to hit nothing so they could enact a counter. Oscar's shield went inside the gap, and the tendrils contracted to close.

"Not this time," Oscar grunted and swung his arm up. Their mouths cried and screeched as his copper shield sliced out of their enclosure. Its edges gleamed with spheres of Eirin, allowing it to reach a sharpness unlike any other. However, it wasn't perfect.

Again, Oscar was plagued by the lower quality of a grade-two armament. To compensate, Erden rushed in, and its front hooves expanded and grew large from metal plates stacked on each other. It stomped on the large tendril and crushed as much of it as possible.

Oscar ran ahead and dashed across the stuck tendril, slicing through it with the sharpened shield. The part he cut off started to writhe and screech, breaking apart into smaller tendrils before plopping lifelessly on the floor. Oscar stared at this copper shield, noticing a small crack had formed on its surface.

"Grade-two armaments have their limitations." Oscar sighed. However, with this, he had the means to cut apart the red root piece by piece before his time ran out. The red root tried to catch Oscar, but his speed in the mantle form was beyond its means. Several slashes later, more tendrils dropped to the floor.

The red root stopped trying to fight directly and held back its large tendrils. The four mouths on its main body spat out large amounts of acid to level the battlefield. Seeing the sudden shift in its tactics, Oscar breathed a sigh of relief. His goal at the start was to force it to play defensively.

Thanks to the opening brought upon by the threat of his copper shield, Oscar rushed to the crater's edge.

'I still have this move!' Oscar stomped his right foot; his left hand was stretched back. With the form of a spear thrower, Oscar swung his left arm with all his might, throwing his copper shield. The spheres of Eirin burned along its edges, giving it a unique look as it spun in the air of a copper disk with rotating blue lights.

He had thrown it with all his power, so the speed was beyond what the red root could handle. Aiming for its main body wasn't feasible due to how close some tendrils kept to it, but Oscar knew the other perfect place to aim for. He had aimed straight down the crater toward the base of the large root connecting the body to the floor.

A grating noise filled the crater as the shield ground against the thick root. Rather than being sturdy like a vine, it seemed tougher than metal. Oscar expected this and observed while dodging the red root's lashing.

'20 Percent Eirin Shattering Wave.'

His shield was infused with the power of his Shattering Wave. Unlike the Silver Stars, which blew apart in an explosion, the shield was created with Reis-forging and directed the power naturally and seamlessly. It exploded from the edges, not as a wave but as a powerful, all-encompassing slash.

This expanding ring of Eirin Shattering Wave sliced into the crater walls and the large root. It severed the root from its base, a straight cut through. Toppling from the loss of its support, the red root propped itself up with more of its tendrils, managing to hold on.

Down below, the large root withered rapidly down to the base of the main body and tore off like a flimsy fall leaf. Parts of it went down into the hole of the crater, where Oscar felt a familiar presence of a Forest Heart.

Oscar breathed heavily, taking in as much air as to recover. The corners of his lips curled up into a slight smile. He had done it. He managed to do it. Staring at the fresh cut on the large withered root where the red root should be connected, Oscar could feel the Ein seeping out from the severed wound.

"Your fresh supply is gone. Now it's just you." Oscar turned his attention to the red root, the main body. It was bleeding from where the large root used to be and visibly shrinking. The Ein was lower than before, and this should be its true level as a Lower Knight Exalt.

The four faces on the main body trembled; their lips quivered, and their mouth-eyes blinked constantly. They all opened wide and roared. Anger, fear, confusion, and all manners of emotional distress poured out with its voice. Suddenly, the main body grew smaller as more tendrils grew and wrapped around it.

"A last defense?" Oscar watched as the red root continued to wrap more tendrils around itself. Looking at the creature, Oscar couldn't help but picture a ball of red yarn from back home. Returning his focus to reality, Oscar rushed out with Erden.

If this were the red root's final move, then he would break it. After losing its main power source, an act of defense was not a bad idea. Oscar's time was limited, and a battle of attrition was his weakness. However, that was assuming the red root could stand up to his overwhelming offense.

'45 Percent Eirin Shattering Wave.'

To destroy the main body of the red root, Oscar used nearly everything he had, leaving scraps enough for his body to keep moving. Though severing the red root from the connection to the Forest Heart below had weakened its Ein, its defense was still beyond tough when wrapped around itself. Oscar grunted as his arms trembled, feeling the power leaving him like he was drained of life.

Erden wasn't lagging behind, either. Using most of his Ein, Erden's antlers grew to immense proportions, towering over the defensive sphere of the red root. Erden smashed down his antlers with Oscar's Shattering Wave in a bellowing roar.

The sapphire metallic antlers, burning with all of Erden's Ein, and Oscar's Eirin Shattering Wave, carrying most of his Eirin, devastated the red root. Their collective force cut apart roots, crushed the feeble tendrils, shattered the teeth, and exposed the main body. The large face of the red root twisted and screamed, unable to muster anything.

Erden's antlers slammed onto it from above as Oscar's Shattering Wave formed a large crater in its body. Blood burst out from the center as cuts and wounds spread all over its body. Erden forced his antlers down further in a final burst and dealt the finishing blow.

In a rain of blood and root, the red root fell apart. Its thousands of mouths groaned and chattered weakly until they fell into silence. The tendrils withered away, turning from red to brown to black before flaking away like dust, leaving behind something sparkling. A bright red core appeared within the fading mess where the red root once stood.

Oscar flew above the crater and retrieved the red core. Suddenly, he felt a pang of hunger. For an unknown reason, he saw the red core as a tasty meal and couldn't help but drool, almost losing himself from the sweet, irresistible scent wafting into his nose from the core.

"Oscar!" Gol-4 cried out from his shoulder, putting him back to reality. "We still have one more job to do."

Oscar shook his head and noticed the Eirin fading fast from his body. After using this Shattering Wave, he had around tens of seconds to make his next move. He called out to Erden, who wobbled in the air toward him. Riding on top of Erden, Oscar descended where the large root came from, an opening at the bottom of the crater.

Going through the hole, Oscar heard the sound of a heart beating and the thick smell of the forest, a calming smell to most, but Oscar had grown sick of it after so long. In a deep cavern surrounded by glowing grass and trees, which somehow grew without sunlight, Oscar found the Forest Heart in the center.

Disregarding the withered red root next to it, Oscar and Erden focused the last of their power and fell on the Forest Heart like a meteor, burning with blue Ein. The two exerted everything, and their shouts of exertion echoed in the cavern.

Finally, the Forest Heart burst apart. Oscar landed and tumbled onto the soft glowing grass, surrounded by floating gold pollen that glimmered like stars in this underground world. What an amazing sight. Oscar chuckled as he marveled at his surroundings.

"Erden, can you keep watch? I can't move a muscle." Oscar couldn't move. After training and becoming a Knight Exalt, Oscar no longer lost consciousness after using the Demon Deer Eirin Mantle, but his body remained immobile. Well, there was nothing else to do but enjoy this spectacle before him.

The golden pollen seemed to dance around him, celebrating his victory as the trees and grass swayed from the breeze coming from above. Erden lay beside him and lifted Oscar's head to rest it on his soft body. Feeling tired and gratified, Oscar slowly fell asleep in the comfort of his triumph, nestling on Erden's fur.

He dreamed of returning home. With the red root gone and the Forest Hearts destroyed. Nothing else stood in his way.