Today is Arbor Day, April 5.

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After liberation and through the Korean War, Korea’s mountains were left almost bare due to firewood collection, heating needs, and the realities of life in refuge. To help revive those devastated forests and highlight the importance of trees, Arbor Day was established as a public holiday.

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As the country grew and changed, Arbor Day was eventually removed from the list of public holidays, and in some ways it does feel a little forgotten now. Even so, most people still know that April 5 is Arbor Day.

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With that in mind, today I’d like to look at tree-related monsters and NPCs that appear in DNF Mobile.

Druid Mia

In DNF Mobile, Druid Mia is a 22-year-old human woman and a Cypher with the ability to control plants.

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Cyphers are born with abilities beyond those of ordinary humans, but they have also faced discrimination, and Mia was no exception. She endured that prejudice from an early age, yet through her relationships with other Cyphers, including Michelle and Deschamps, she gradually begins to overcome it.

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She is loyal enough to risk her life for the people she cares about, though she is quite soft-hearted underneath. Her fighting style reflects that personality as well, using tree vines to bind or strike her enemies.

In the PC version of DNF, she endures many harsh events, including seeing one of her most precious companions offered as a sacrifice and nearly transformed into a demon.

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By contrast, in DNF Mobile her story is handled in a comparatively softened way: after war and conflict with the Kartel, peace returns, and she works with her companions to gradually improve how Cyphers are viewed.

The Dendroid Race

In DNF Mobile, a gigantic whale called Behemoth flies through the sky.

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Countless ecosystems have formed on its back.

Most notably, water gushes from its head, where thick vegetation took root and formed a jungle. The tree race that grew alongside it there is the Dendroids.

Rodinglo and Woody Plant

Dendroids are trees that have lived for at least several hundred years. They are highly intelligent and move about using their roots. Their leaders are called Rodinglo and Woody Plant, with Woody Plant depicted as the superior individual.

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Having lived for around a thousand years, Woody Plant possesses wisdom as deep as its age, and it also scatters Dendroid seeds to propagate its kind.

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They were originally a gentle race, but after falling under Lotus’s mental control, they became monsters and suffered severe decline both physically and mentally.

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Even after Lotus was defeated, that influence lingered, leaving their ecosystem in a deeply disrupted state.

Ceylon and Ultimate Nahil

Ceylon and Ultimate Nahil

On the planet called 'Jualabadon,' the homeworld of Siroco, there was a Tree of Life.

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Ceylon is an energy being born from this Tree of Life. There is also a similar-looking being called Tion, but Tion is a slime born from condensed life energy.

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Ceylon, by contrast, absorbs the tree’s energy and glows green, using its horns to control or release that energy and cast powerful magic.

Among the Ceylons, the one that remained near the Tree of Life for a long time and absorbed a great deal of energy became Ultimate Nahil.

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She, too, was originally a Ceylon, but through repeated evolution she materialized a physical body and gained reason and wisdom. Grateful to the Tree of Life for granting her those abilities, she vows to protect the forest forever.

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So although she is usually gentle, she becomes sensitive whenever something appears that could harm the forest.

They too once lived in peace, but Siroco appeared, stole the energy of the Seeds of Life, and destroyed them, leaving the forest in ruins. Nahil guarded the last remaining Seed of Life, only to have it taken by Sorun, one of Siroco’s subordinates, and she ultimately lost her life.

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In time, life may sprout again and new Ceylons may be born, but that will require an immense span of time. Because scenes like this continue to appear throughout the towns and dungeons, the consequences of Siroco’s atrocities remain constantly on display.

In Closing

Land corrupted by Siroco

Corrupted Nahil

To sum up, whether the threat is Lotus or Siroco, the basic narrative structure of DNF Mobile is to steadily build up environmental destruction before the player confronts the Apostles, who can be called the game’s greatest villains.

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Combat is enjoyable on its own, of course, but it becomes even more motivating when you understand just how terrible the enemy you are fighting really is.

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Much like Korea, which was left in ruins by war but still established Arbor Day and worked hard to preserve its trees and forests, the NPCs of DNF Mobile are also interesting to watch. Their world has been devastated by the Apostles, yet they keep rebuilding their towns and carrying on little by little.

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Whether in games or in real life, nature carries immense meaning for us.