The ongoing battle was brutal. Both sides had strong people, and with the eight serpents joining the war, Lorbase and his high-ranking people became tied down to deal with them.
Lorbase himself was fighting Ophion, both sides clashing together at terrifying speeds. Lorbase was using his sword and the masterful sword techniques he polished during the years to deflect and try to chip away at Ophion's formidable defenses.
Meanwhile, Ophion, who had reached Level 30 and D- Tier, had stats that could make the heart of an average Level 30 tremble. Lorbase's eyebrows locked together after he managed to sneak an attack past Ophion's guard and hit his body. 'My sword is barely piercing this beast's scales! Hm!?'
A terrifying wind pressure approached from his side, and looking sideways, he saw Ophion's tail twisting around in a perfect way to lash at him. "Cheeky beast!"
CLANG!
His sword and the tail collided, but the strength of the Arboreal Winged Serpent was too high to take head-on. Lorbase felt his arms hurting as his feet lifted from the ground, and he shot backward like a cannonball. Once he landed, he was about to charge forward again, but his danger senses tingled. Yet, Ophion was still rushing at him. 'Where is it coming from!?'
His heart tensed, his senses sharpened to the limits, and a slight glare was caught at the periphery of his vision. Instead of leaping forward, he quickly leaned backward, sliding one leg forward to arch his body far enough.
Just as he did so, a light thorn grazed his nose.
Whoosh!
Baron Lorbase's adrenaline pumped, having almost had his head blown up. 'That freaking World Tree!'
SCREECH!
Lorbase paid attention to Ophion's attack. However, after blocking, he jumped backward and looked over. 'Huh? What's that?'
From a place in the city near where the big bulk of his army was, a strange red swarm started pouring out from a large hole. 'Those… They are ants!?'
At that location, a soldier who was exchanging blows with an Explorer suddenly felt a shadow approaching from the side. Looking sideways, he was ready to counterattack whatever attack was coming his way. However, once he turned, he saw two giant mandibles closing down on him. "Huh?"
CHOMP!
[-148,983]!
"ARGH!"
The Explorer saw how the mandibles of the ant pierced through the armor, lodging deeply into the enemy's body, and he took the chance to rush forward. His spear pierced the air, and he struck the head of the enemy, finishing it off.
However, after she did so, his body stayed tense, looking up warily at the giant ant. The ant looked down at him for a second as it opened the mandibles and let the corpse fall down. In that second of exchanging looks with the giant monster, the human man felt weak and powerless. He felt that if the ant in front of him wanted to eat him, it could. 'D-Do these ants know how to differentiate allies from enemies?'
Thankfully for him, the soldier ant turned around and rushed to other places on the battlefield to kill other people. In reality, no more than a second had passed since the ant gave him a dismissive look. Yet, it had felt like an eternity.
Once it was gone, the tension left his body. He turned to look and saw the absolute massacre the ants were causing. 'This… How do they even know who to attack?'
The trick was in the scent. The antennae of ants were like ultra-powerful noses. As a human's vision could distinguish the most array of colors, the ants could literally smell the differences in mood from people. Based on that powerful smelling sense, the ants could categorize those who had Liu Shu's aura around them and those who didn't.
It was easier for an ant to distinguish allies from enemies compared to any other race, and this made them utterly terrifying slaughtering machines. They weaved between the chaotic battlefield, taking over each section and accurately striking those who didn't smell like their eldest. Like the creature that they had to protect with their very souls second only to their Mother Queen.
Ignatia slowly walked out of the nest, ten Level 25 ants surrounding her at all times. "Well, well, well. Disgusting bugs have finally arrived at my dear Liu Shu's city."
Her lips arched coldly, her ant-like eyes glowing with such coldness and bloodthirstiness that when anyone looked her way, a chill would climb up their spines. She stopped walking and then, her aura began ballooning as she spoke until it reached a bursting point. "Children, kill the invaders. Kill all and feed on these creatures that want to harm your eldest sister!
SCREEECH!
Ignatia howled with such strength that it made everyone feel like their hearts were shivering. When the aura of the Ant Queen enveloped the ants, the strength of the ants exploded, increasing the rate at which they systematically and perfectly massacred waves and waves of enemies.
Baron Lorbase was one of these people who noticed Ignatia's presence.'T-That…' His face was as pale as a sheet of paper as his eyes locked on Ignatia. 'H-H-Humanoid Ant Queen!? What is such a monster doing here!?'
Lorbase was not a stupid man. He was just obsessive at this point in time and afflicted by some curses that enhanced his obsession with revenge a hundredfold more profound. Therefore, he could quickly link the events he learned about Golden Sap City. '... Kaedric was right. This place is not something I should've attacked!'
Even with his mind clouded, he finally reached that conclusion. While it was far too late, the fact that he could reach this conclusion instead of continuing to live in denial spoke volumes about how things would've turned out if Evangeline had not involved herself in this event.
"Hiss!"
The baron's face changed. "Shi-"
BANG!
"GAH!"
Lorbase's body flew across the battlefield in Liu Shu's direction after Ophion hit him while he was distracted. Seeing their leader flying across the town was quite a blow in morale for the soldiers nearby. Even then, this was a Baron's 1,000 army of elites together with several tens of thousands of strong people from a remote Province.
While the battle seemed to lean toward Liu Shu's side, it was not without casualties. To begin with, the Tree Houses and Guardian Trees bore the worst burn from the ongoing war. All House Trees at the edge of the town had been killed, the numbers reaching a few dozen already.
The Guardian Trees, while tough and having similar defensive stats to Liu Shu, were no match for the attacks of several thousand around them. From a distance, the soldiers of Golden Sap City could clearly see as hundreds of spells landed on the Guardian Trees, exploding their bark and setting them up in flames.
The Sylvans fighting on Liu Shu's side and others who adored nature felt their eyes reddening as tears of pure anger and anguish threatened to escape. 'These beasts dare come here and slaughter our Trees!? DEATH!'
A powerful wave of energy exploded from Liu Shu's army as ALL the Sylvans transformed.
Cinderielle appeared right at the frontline, her flaming body exuding wrath in the form of powerful plumes of fire. "BURN WITH THEM! BURN SO THAT YOU CAN FEEL WHAT THEY FEEL!
A hurricane of flames exploded around Cinderielle, consuming everything in front of her. Tempestria descended from the sky at this second, landing in the middle of the flames. Her cold voice felt like the cold and biting wind of winter. "
All the flames that Cinderielle summoned started spinning at a crazy rate, feeding on the oxigen and ternary essences in the wind to increase in heat and strength. Tempestria pointed forward with her sword and spat, her grey eyes cold like a winter cloud. "Go."
WHOOSH!
Screams of pain echoed around as the enemy army was engulfed in their combination attack.
Flor looked around and rushed to aid one of the Tree Houses that was being attacked. She quickly appeared. "Don't touch them! SCUM!
Life, Earth, Light, and Space Aether Mana exploded around her in a massive barrage of projectiles of all sizes, raining on enemies with lethal accuracy. Even as a Juvenile Flower Fairy, her offensive capabilities were brutal.
Sadly, there were too many, and as stationary targets, the Tree Houses were too vulnerable. Flor heard a massive explosion behind her, and turning around, she saw an enemy Level 30 punching the Tree House's trunk and blasting it into splinters and sap. Flor's pupils shrunk as cold rage enveloped her mind.
The Level 30 saw the notification of killing and sighed in relief. 'These freaking Tree Houses are too tough! We need to kill them all- Huh?'
"DIE!"
A flash of light swallowed his side as the feeling of being hit by a steel projectile reached his brain.
BOOM!
[-184,140]!
The Level 30 literally flew several hundreds of meters through the air, slamming into the ground with an explosion. Disoriented, the Level 30 shook his head and then hissed. There was a sharp pain coming from his side. 'Branches above! What attacked me!? Do they have a Level 40 or something!? My ribs are broken!'
Feeling the presence of his attacker approaching, he quickly readied himself and stood up. The dust parted because of the speed of his attacker, and a small red-haired fairy with transparent pink wings appeared in his sight. His expression changed to one of disbelief. '... A fairy!?'
Suddenly, around the tiny fairy, four Aether Elements started gathering, making his disbelieving face turn to shock. '... Is this some kind of sick joke!?'
Flor's attack rushed forward, and the Level 30 used his gauntlets to defend himself.
BANG!
The second he punched the first attack, a vibration literally shook his entire body. 'So heavy!' Still, he didn't slow his movements, even when his ribs were broken.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Flor's body radiated absurd amounts of Aether Mana as her over 14 Aether Mana Cores spun crazily, giving her strength.
"
"
"
The man's vision was flooded with projectiles of different attributes, making his face turn from serious to pale to fearful. 'DOES THIS FAIRY NOT RUN OUT OF AETHER MANA!?'
Flor shouted, her face twisted in anger and her attacks relentless and unstoppable. "DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"
The fearful part of a Flower Fairy was not her raw stats, which were high. A Flower Fairy was a creature that had attuned with nature to levels comparable to a World Tree. While an average human would need 1000 Aether Mana points to use a spell, the Flower Fairy would need 100 to cast the same spell with triple the strength.
In a one-on-one with similar stats, a Flower Fairy would always come out victorious.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Level 30 could somewhat protect himself at first, and some people even tried to come to his aid. However, with the Flower Fairy having locked onto him, any person below Level 25 that came close was instantly killed, and Flor blasted away those above.
Hit after hit, spell after spell, his Phoer Essence plummeted crazily until the man's exhaustion eventually pushed him to make a mistake and failed to protect one attack.
BANG!
His entire arm was blown off his body, and Flor closed the distance. The man's heart dropped. 'A fairy…? Ha!' Seeing the creature closing in, a self-mocking smile spread on his lips. 'She is a freaking monster.'
In his last moments of life, the last thing he saw was Flor's cold and ruthless face as her tiny hand grabbed his face.
Flor spat coldly, her eyes flashing with different colored lights. "Die."
BOOM!
[Congratulations on defeating