Using their group tactics, the Merchant Alliance Army managed to advance through the forest under the heavy bombardment of <Mother Of Thousand Flower Field>. Their experience and discipline allowed for swift movement under all of Liu Shu's tricks.
On the sidelines, Flor ordered. "Let's return to the town; the rest of the defense will happen on the walls. We managed to lower their numbers by a lot, so I am quite satisfied."
Cinderielle asked. "What about their maimed members? They are carrying them with them, but that won't really work out for too long, right?"
Wert spoke, crossing his arms. "We'll need to target them. Some of those people are Aether Mana or Anima Energy Users. They are useful even when they are severely injured. Liu Shu!"
Liu Shu's ethereal voice spread in the area. "Yes?"
Wert spoke. "Tell the Ant Queen to gather her troops and station them on the wall. We'll be there before they arrive, but just in case."
"Understood~."
Flor shouted. "Okay, move out!"
Their group swiftly maneuvered through the forest, overtaking the army and arriving at the <Lignified Wall>.
Meanwhile, the army finally saw the walls and World Tree beyond the trees. Torran spoke, surprise coating her voice. "That's the 'new' World Tree we were told about?"
Rhen spat. "Those assholes probably lied."
Greth clicked his tongue. "I was expecting the World Tree to be stronger than the reports from those people, but this is certainly trickier than expected. What are your orders, General Tharn?"
Tharn squinted and raised his hand, ordering for the defensive spells to appear again as Liu Shu's attacks rained on them. After blocking this barrage, Tharn spoke. "If we apply our usual methods, how confident are you, Greth?"
Greth pondered for a few seconds, observing the large trees around the walls, the sturdy-looking wall, and then the powerful World Tree in the distance. "One or two of us might die, General Tharn. Of course, if we change from heavily injuring to killing the World Tree, then our chances increase slightly, but they are not much better. Our army will certainly receive crippling levels of damage." Greth paused and said. "We could retreat as well, General. Our losses would be for nothing, but at least our army can probably avoid heavy casualties."
Tharn growled, annoyed. "I am going to make sure to give a piece of my mind to those greedy and egotistical bastards when we return." After thinking for a few seconds, he shook his head. "We can't retreat. We would need to go through that trap-infested place again, losing even more people. Moreover, since we would be on a retreat, the World Tree can use her strengths without holding back."
"Clever~." Liu Shu giggled. "Come, come. You are almost here. You can even see me, right?"
Tharn spat. "Do you ever shut up, World Tree?"
"I do most of the time!" Liu Shu sighed. "That's why I am speaking with you. I feel lonely otherwise..."
Torran asked aloud. "World Tree, why did you kill Lady… That fox."
Liu Shu answered. "Hm? You don't know? She tried to buy me for 50 <Syl>! Very insulting, tsk, tsk. We even returned the 50 <Syl> to your alliance so that something like this didn't happen!"
Greth paused. "Wait, you returned the 50 <Syl>? I heard that you kept it for yourself as compensation."
Liu Shu laughed. "Why do I need money? Useless currency! Well… It's not so useless since those minerals have essence inside of them. However, they are far from being something I would kill over. Be careful; another salvo is incoming~. This one is a bit different, though!"
Until now, Liu Shu had been using attributeless attacks. She was doing this so as not to exhaust the <Mother Of Thousand Flower Field> too soon.
Tharn looked around, confused. "Where is the-."
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The attacks that arrived were much different, exploding with spatial energies and causing heavy damage. A lot of people died instantly when the seeds ripped their bodies to shreds.
Tharn immediately shouted. "DEFEND!"
Looking around him, he saw Vaya was on the floor, having received a direct hit that punched her off her mount. "What was that, Vaya!?"
Vaya answered while groaning and clutching her bleeding shoulder. "They are projectiles with an attribute. The damage they do pierces defense too easily for me to guess which one!"
Tharn saw Vaya bleeding, and his face hardened. "Greth!"
Greth answered. "General, my guess is Space Aether! Invisible, hard to detect, and with high destructive power." Tharn shouted back. "Take over and guide us forward!"
"Understood! Defensive squad, reduce your defensive output! Space attribute is volatile, and even low-level defenses are effective against it!"
The soldiers were hesitant. Who would dare to reduce the defensive output after seeing their friends being mutilated like that? However, Tharn bellowed. "Listen to him!"
Liu Shu hummed. "You are so fast to react! Greth really knows his stuff! I was only able to fire one salvo, and you are already aware of how to defend… Well, I killed 172 people, most of them are part of the injured ones from before, though…"
Tharn gritted his teeth, feeling his heart burn with rage. "Advance!"
They finally exited the forest, arriving at a clearing between the trees and the <Lignified Wall>. The wall was 30 meters tall, towering in the distance. On top of the walls, Tharn and the others could easily spot hundreds of beings.
Flor looked at the enemy army and was stunned. 'Huh? Why do I count 200 fewer people than before? They are a little over 500 now…'
Liu Shu spoke, her voice spreading through the entire battlefield. "Well~, time to fight! Tharn, do you want to do the honors? Do you know how to say something like "Charge!" or something similar?"
Tharn, angered by Liu Shu, pointed forward and was about to give an order, but Greth stopped him. "Wait! General!"
Tharn glared at him, his eyes oozing with killing intent. "What's wrong? Are you going to say something cowardly now?"
Greth shook his head and used a few hand gestures to communicate something. Then, he said aloud. "I just want to speak with the World Tree."
"Speak with me? Hm~. What did your hand gestures mean, though? A language of your country? I heard sign language exists in some parts of the World!"
Greth smiled. "Nothing, really. Don't worry about that. You seem like a World Tree who loves knowledge, right?"
Liu Shu hummed. "I do. Why?"
Greth commented. "How about you and I make a deal, yeah?"
"A deal?" Liu Shu thought for a few seconds and answered cheerfully. "No!"
Greth's smiling face cracked. This was clearly not what he expected. Then, he heard several small explosions followed by the sky bloating with bright yellow projectiles. Now that they were in a clearing, they could finally see the seeds streaking through the sky. Tharn looked at them and ordered. "Defend!"
Liu Shu giggled. "Uh oh~, hahaha."
Greth frowned suspiciously, his mind rotating quickly. 'Why did she laugh? Our defense is… Oh no.' It was at that instant when Greth remembered his previous orders, and his heart dropped. His last order was to create low-level shielding to defend against space attribute attacks, and Tharn hadn't ordered otherwise this time around, so they continued with the same mentality.
However, those projectiles were far from being transparent. They had a bright yellow shine. He shouted. "FULL STRENGTH DEFENSE! TORRAN!"
However, it was a bit too late, and only a few people had changed their defensive methods. Even with Torran joining the defense, she only managed to shield the front of the army where the highest-level people were.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The light attribute projectiles rained like heavenly spears, piercing through the flimsy defense and impacting against the soldiers below.
Looking at the effects, those standing on the walls were stunned. Cinderielle muttered. "So, this is how their numbers were reduced so much… We don't live in a town but in a breathing and living fortress."
Wert shouted. "Don't be overconfident! Most of their dead are <First Energy Cycle> people! Their real strength comes from those at the front, and they are alive and kicking!"
Everyone's faces hardened and nodded.
Once Torran's wooden cover returned to the ground, Tharn roared, his face twisted with anger. "CHARGE!"
The 55 people at the front on mounts rushed forward, their speed incredibly high. Behind them, the remaining 400 people similarly ran forward, taking out their weapons.
A large chunk of them stopped at around 300 meters from the walls and began chanting, Vaya standing between them. "Go to hell!"
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Several arrows and spells streaked through the air toward the wall. Flor commanded. "Defensive Spells!"
The Explorers and Rose Fairies used defensive spells, covering the space in front of the wall with various defensive constructs. Even the Myconids that were taking part in the defense had learned a few defensive skills during the last year, helping quite a lot with their numbers.
BOOM!
Attack and defense collided, creating a massive explosion. Between them, Vaya's attack managed to pierce through and strike the wall.
BANG!
The arrow's strength ruptured some of the wall's roots, but the damage was not detrimental. Vaya clicked her tongue. 'Everything here has such a high defense!'
Looking at the approaching group equipped with heavy armor and weapons, Wert shouted. "Melee combatants, prepare! Liu Shu, we are under your care!"
The World Tree's answer came in the form of a chant. "<Runic Living Wood City>!"
Her energy surged through her roots like rivers, making the runes across the wall and the large guardian trees light up strongly. Once the enemy melee charge was 200 meters from the wall, massive phantasmal branches appeared around the guardian trees and descended on the enemies.
Seeing the trees attack, Tharn was not surprised. Instead, he shouted. "Rhen! Torran!"
"On it."
"Understood."
Rhen, the muscular bearkin, stood on his mount and jumped toward the attacks coming from one of the guardian trees. His body was covered with a deep reddish aura and flowed around his claws, enlarging them. "RAHH!" With a roar, several quick strikes blasted all the attacks from the guardian tree into pieces.
Torran extended her staff toward the attack, and roots appeared from the ground like giant spikes, destroying all the attacks from the second guardian tree.
Verdantia asked aloud. "Liu Shu! Can you weaken Torran's control over flora?"
Liu Shu answered. "I am already interfering as much as I can."
Tempestria couldn't help but sigh. "That's the 'Weakened' version of that attack? Really… Level 25 is quite the power-up."
Verdantia spoke to Cinderielle and Tempestria. "You two, we can't fight there without our active transformations. We will always fight with the transformations. Once they are over, we retreat and recharge energy for our second go unless the situation is dire."
Cinderielle and Tempestria nodded. "Understood."
Tharn was charging as the spear point and unsheathed a massive broadsword. "<Earthen Bearking Rush>!"
He jumped from his mount, and his feet touched the ground.
BOOM!
The second he touched the ground, he shot forward with a terrifying sonic boom. His body covered the last 100 meters of distance instantly, arriving at the wall before anyone could react. Then, his sword descended, carrying with him his entire momentum.
BOOOOM!
The people on top of the wall were blasted off of it by the transfer of energy while the attack severely dented the wall.
However, Tharn, who was planning on blasting the thing open, was stunned. 'What is this absurd sturdiness!? It feels as if the entire wall is made out of pure metal!"
In the short time that he was dazed, Wert appeared by his side. "Hey, don't get distracted."
His giant battle ax descended like a guillotine, but it was not fast enough to prevent Tharn from reacting. The tall and burly bearkin general moved his giant broadsword and counterattacked.
CLANG!
Their strength pushed both of them back several steps. Tharn growled. "Human, fighting me in a battle of raw strength is stupidity."
Wert grinned, spinning his giant heavy ax once. "We'll see about that, General Tharn. Now, less chit-chat and more fighting."
Wert's muscles swelled, and he pushed against the ground, blasting forward with terrifying strength.
Tharn roared and similarly rushed forward, clashing with Wert in a battle that created shockwaves with each weapon collision.
The battlefield was a mess, with people fighting everywhere while the enemy's ranged attackers bombarded the wall and tried to pierce through. Vaya also focused on the wall instead of killing lower-level creatures.
Vaya looked at the battlefield situation while she fired an arrow barrage toward the Lignified Wall. ''Once I blast open that wall, we can rush inside and slaughter our way in. The deaths there will far outweigh the killing I can do now. Moreover, the frontlines are not doing well; we need to pierce through and stabilize."
With that in mind, Vaya was about to unleash all her strength, but her natural senses warned her of danger coming from behind. Not doubting her senses, she shouted. "Behind us!"
The ranged group turned around just as the forest's vegetation parted, revealing seven massive serpents. Between them, there was one who could be easily distinguished thanks to the massive and muscular body. Moreover, Vaya could feel its strength. 'That thing is a Second Energy Cycle creature!'
Ophion led a group of six serpents, all of them at Level 24, and started causing havoc in the backlines. He rammed into the group of people with his massive body, sending people flying and even eating some of them.
The creature's speed and bodily strength were incredibly lethal. Vaya's face twisted, and she pulled the string of her bow into a full moon. "Begone!"
BOOM!
The heavy arrow pierced through the air, but Ophion just raised his wing and hardened it, blocking the attack.
BANG!
Ophion's reptile eyes locked on Vaya and hissed loudly, challenging her. Then, he rushed forward and blasted through everyone in his way, closing the distance between Vaya and him.
Vaya would naturally not remain still and cued her mount, moving away while shooting at him. "Do you really think you can catch up with my <Wind Riding Eight-Legged Horse>? Ha!"
Ophion's eyes squinted, and his wings spread to the sides. Then, with a forceful slap against the ground, Ophion lunged forward and activated <Sky Slip>, increasing his movement speed.
With Liu Shu's buffs on him plus his natural advantages, Ophion rushed forward. Vaya only managed to see a blur approach before it hit her mount strongly, toppling her over.
BOOM!
Her head rang painfully as her body was hurled away for tens of meters. She quickly used the ground to flip in the air three times and landed on her feet, looking toward Ophion with an angered expression.
To her horror, Ophion was biting down on the beast and thrashing it around by dragging and slamming it against the ground. "YOU! Leave my Filia alone! <Four Streaking Arrows>!"
With four consecutive explosive sounds, the projectiles flew toward Ophion's head. However, Vaya hadn't seen Ophion's next action coming. His lips arched cruelly as he placed the horse he was holding with his mouth in the arrow's way.
Vaya shouted, her heart clenching. "NO!"
BANG!
[-42,500!]
BANG!
[-32.450!]
BANG!
[-57,880!]
BANG!
[-43,985!]
Then, Vaya received a message that made her heart shatter.
[Congratulations on defeating <Level 22 Wind Riding Eight-Legged Horse (E+ Rank)>! You've gained 333 Experience Points!]
Ophion spat out the corpse of the creature and sneered, his facial expression humane enough for Vaya to understand. Her face twisted in anger, and she had completely forgotten about her mission. "I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"
Ophion rushed at Vaya, and Vaya started unleashing hell on Ophion. However, the Level 25 Arboreal Winged Serpent was extremely resilient, so their fight would not end swiftly.
With Vaya distracted and the other six Arboreal Winged Serpents distracting the other ranged attackers, Liu Shu took a chance and fired the <Mother Of Thousand Flower Field> at the ranged attackers, warning all the serpents.
The people fighting the snakes saw the serpents using defensive skills and frowned. Sadly, none of them understood what was happening before it was too late.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The seeds carrying Space Attribute arrived and exploded, shredding most of the backline numbers enough for the six serpents to finish the rest.
Liu Shu had been looking at the entire battlefield, and while the ranged attacks had been dealt with, the front lines were not doing as fine. Tharn was exchanging blows with Wert, moving around the battlefield like two blurs as their attacks created powerful shockwaves all around.
Even if Vaya and Tharn were stopped, they had three more Second Energy Cycle people to stop. In Liu Shu's opinion, Rhen was the most dangerous. He might not be as strong or deadly as Torran, but his one-on-one strength was easily the highest.
Therefore, when Wert went against Tharn, she sent Mariane against him. Mariane didn't complain much and smirked. "Sure, sure~. I'll hold that big bear back! You owe me something later, Liu Shu!"
Rhen rushed forward, swinging his claws toward one of the Rose Fairies and shredding her to pieces. Sadly for the Rose Fairy who had yet to even reach Level 20, Rhen's attack was too much for her to resist.
Then, Rhen locked on another of the flying fairies and jumped to attack them. However, right at the moment that the second Rose Fairy was about to die, his animal-like senses quickly flared up in danger, and he moved his body mid-air while looking toward his right.
He spotted a mothkin flying at him with a pen in one of her hands, a sword in another, and a shield being held by her two left arms. "Hey, hey! I am here to play with you~. Eat my shield!"
BANG!
Rhen barely blocked the blow by crossing his arms and was blasted toward the ground. Liu Shu quickly helped, using her roots to tie him down, and Mariane wrote a set of runes in the air. "Time to go Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"RAHH!" Rhen roared, his muscles bulging, and he managed to escape Liu Shu's grip. However, Mariane had managed to complete the <Rune Attack Array>.
The runes dissolved in the air and transformed into a large circle that began firing Aether Mana bullets. Looking at the attack descending upon him, Rhen shouted. "Parlor Tricks! Those won't work on me!"
His arms blurred as he slashed at the rain of Aether Mana bullets. Mariane clapped and laughed. "Wow! You attack so quickly! No wonder little Liu Shu wanted me to fight you!"
Rhen snorted, looking at Mariane. "Mothkin, you are not strong enough to fight me. Even with the World Tree restraining me, your attack did nothing!"
Mariane smiled mischievously, her large insectoid black eyes shining with a strange glint. "Oh? Did it do nothing?" She then flew down, standing right in front of the more than two-meter tall burly bearkin. "How about you attack me then?"
Rhen was confused, looking at the mothkin standing in front of him. "What are you doing?"
Mariane asked. "Why? Should you be attacking me?"
Rhen frowned deeply. "Right, I should attack…" Rhen raised his hand, but he paused, strangely feeling a sense of curiosity. "But why are you standing in front of me?" He just felt like he couldn't move on without answering this puzzling question.
Mariane laughed. "Who knows? How about you attack me?"
Rhen asked, confused. "Will attacking you resolve this question?"
"Probably not~," Mariane said, shaking her head sadly. "It will probably remain unanswered forever if you attack me."
Rhen stomped the ground. "Then I won't attack you! Just answer me!"
Mariane spoke again, changing the subject completely randomly. "Did you know that the average mothkin's lifespan is half a human's? However, we gain much more vitality than humans per level, so seeing mothkin older than humans is not strange, leading to a strange misconception that mothkin have long lifespans!"
Rhen blinked twice. "I didn't know that. That's quite strange, no?"
Mariane nodded and began speaking about another completely random fact. Of course, Rhen didn't know that he had fallen prey to Mariane's illusion spells.
Outside, Rhen was still lying on the ground, being tied down by Liu Shu's roots, while Mariane was standing on top of him and flapping her wings to release vast amounts of moth scale powder. Liu Shu asked, confused. "Why can't we kill him now?"
Mariane spoke softly. "The Runic Attack Array I've used sends the victim into a powerful illusion. However, it also increases their strength quite a bit. That's the cost for the power it has. So, if you attack him now, he will wake up stronger than before. I'll stand here on guard. This is enough, right? I got rid of a <Seocnd Energy Cycle>~."
Liu Shu giggled. "Sure, sure."
BOOOM!
On another part of the battlefield, Liu Shu saw massive thorns and plants sprouting upward and attacking a torrent of fire, wind, and plant creatures.
Over there, Verdantia, Flor, Cinderielle, and Tempestria were fighting Torran. The four of them were using their all, trying to hold back the transformed Torran.
After seeing the bad situation, Torran used her transformation, skyrocketing her stats to a whole new level.
Analyzing her, Liu Shu discovered that her current Aether Mana reserves were nearing 5 Aether Mana Cores, while her <Aether> stat had surpassed 1000 points.
Meanwhile, Flor and the others had half those numbers. Still, with the cooperation of the four, they could manage to keep a somewhat balanced battlefield.
Torran looked at Verdantia and the others and squinted. "You know that this battle is far from over even if you managed to reduce us to this state, right? Look at the battlefield!"
Flor looked over and saw that the enemy soldiers were repelling and counter-attacking the attacks of the hundreds of Rose Fairies, Myconids, and Fire Ants on the frontlines. If it weren't for the Explorer group helping, their numbers would've been going down by the second.
Torran waved her hand, summoning massive roots that targeted Verdantia and Flor. However, they were quick to dodge them.
Flor snorted. "As long as we are in a stalemate, it will eventually be our victory! With Liu Shu by our side, you are outnumbered everywhere!"
Torran shook her head. "Have you forgotten that we are five, not four? Your World Tree will have its own trouble. Greth should have already snuck around and arrived in front of her."
Cinderielle's eyes widened. "What!?"
Torran sneered. "Our plan was not to breach through since the beginning. Did you really think that we would speak about our plans with a World Tree constantly watching and listening? Greth is going to kill the World Tree soon, and you will learn not to provoke us."
However, Torran didn't see their faces gaining a trace of fear or worry. Instead, they were still looking at her with surprised expressions. Torran snorted. "What? Too shocked to answer?"
Tempestria asked, confused. "How did you reach the conclusion that this was a good idea?"
Verdantia shook her head. "He went there alone? Then, well, I guess I need to thank you."
Torran summoned another bunch of thorns to strike them, which were blocked and burned by the girls. While they fought, she asked, confused. "What do you mean? A World Tree is strong in large-scale battles. However, they are large and immovable targets that can barely defend themselves! If you close the distance, they are done for, don't you understand? A <Second Energy Cycle> powerhouse has managed to infiltrate that deeply!"
Flor shook her head. "Let's keep this woman busy! Once Liu Shu is done, she should be able to help us."
Seeing that they were so confident, Torran's heart couldn't help but waver. 'They are probably bluffing, right?'
Meanwhile, Greth held a flaming spear in front of Liu Shu. Five other people with fire-attributed weapons also accompanied him, making quite the lineup.
He pointed upward at the almost 200-meter-tall World Tree and stated solemnly. "This is the end, World Tree! Now that I am here, you will either listen to my demands or perish! Now, stop attacking my army and command them to cease their attack!"
Still, Liu Shu gazed weirdly at the Level 27 human, accompanied by five Level 24 people who stopped in front of her. Then, she asked, her voice sincere. "Why did you come so close to me? Are you retarded? Or just incredibly ignorant?"
Greth and the other five looked at the massive tree dumbfounded. 'Did she just insult us?'
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