"Trying to escape?"
Alex had been keeping a close eye on Sebastian's movements and wasn't about to let him slip away. He immediately ordered his plants to give chase.
"Hurry! Stop him!"
Faced with the oncoming vines, Sebastian panicked. He quickly summoned his remaining angels to block the plants' path while he turned and fled.
"Boss Sebastian, wait for me!"
The young man accompanying him was equally caught off guard by the sudden retreat. In his confusion, he hesitated just long enough for a vine to shoot forward, piercing his chest with a sickening thud. His body froze mid-motion, lifeless.
Without their lord to sustain them, the beast horde let out a collective wail before collapsing, one by one.
In the blink of an eye, only Sebastian and his dozen or so angels remained on the battlefield. They were quickly overwhelmed by the relentless assault of the plants, and within moments, they too were dealt with. The plants then surged forward, closing in on Sebastian.
Before Sebastian could even process what was happening, several vines shot out in front of him, cutting off his escape.
"I told you, you're not getting away."
Alex's voice was icy as he emerged with the rest of his plants, his expression cold and unyielding.
Thud!
Sebastian's legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground, his face pale as a sheet. When he met Alex's gaze, he shuddered, overwhelmed by a mix of terror and regret.
He never should have been so arrogant. He never should have provoked this demon.
Four fourth-tier lords!
And yet, they hadn't even managed to lay a finger on him. Their entire force had been wiped out, leaving him in this pitiful state.
Was this really the power of a fourth-tier lord?
Without a second thought, Sebastian scrambled to his feet and bolted, his speed rivaling that of his own units.
Yes!
Even without his units, he was still a fourth-tier lord. If he could just make it back to his territory, he could recruit new units and rise again. He could even seek revenge for this humiliation!
"River!"
But Alex wasn't about to give him that chance. He immediately issued a command to River, who stood beside him.
Sebastian turned his head just in time to see River raise her staff and point it at him.
In the next moment, thorny vines erupted from the ground, wrapping around his legs and yanking him to the ground.
"What!?"
Sebastian's face twisted in panic as he tumbled forward, crashing hard onto the dirt. Before he could recover, more vines surged forward, coiling around his body like serpents.
"No!!"
His eyes widened in terror as he struggled desperately against the vines, but they only tightened their grip, digging deep into his flesh. The pain was excruciating, contorting his face into a mask of agony.
Thud!
Finally, the sound of flesh being pierced echoed through the air. Sebastian's struggles ceased as a vine burst through his chest. He let out a gurgling sound, his eyes wide with disbelief, before collapsing to the ground.
[Successfully killed a fourth-tier lord. Gained 506 Mana, 150 units of wood, 290 units of stone, 1 fourth-tier Territory Essence, and 1 building blueprint.]
Alex's expression remained cold and unflinching as he stood over Sebastian's lifeless body. Though a faint sense of unease stirred within him—after all, humans and monsters were not the same—he felt no pity for Sebastian or his men. They had come here intending to kill him, and he had no reason to show them mercy.
After standing in silence for a while, Alex began to take stock of his spoils.
Including the resources from the three subordinates he had killed earlier, he had gained over 800 Mana, 300 units of wood, 500 units of stone, four fourth-tier Territory Essences, and one building blueprint.
What a bunch of paupers. Four lords combined had only yielded this much. They must have spent most of their resources during the beast tide.
And they had only dropped one Territory Essence each, even though they should have had more. It seemed that aside from resources and blueprints, other items didn't drop upon death.
But it didn't matter. Alex was only after the resources, and the blueprint was a nice bonus.
This was the first time he had come across a blueprint, and he couldn't help but feel a bit curious. He immediately checked its details.
[Building Blueprint: Quarry]
[Building Level: Tier 1 (Upgradeable)]
[Building Description: Increases the efficiency of stone collection in your territory.]
[Collection Efficiency: 110%]
[Construction Cost: 25 wood, 25 stone, 50 Mana]
A building that improved stone collection efficiency? That was unexpected.
So, aside from the three basic buildings, lords could also add functional buildings to their territories through blueprints. This was good news.
Right now, Alex was only short on stone to upgrade his territory to the fifth tier. With this Quarry blueprint, his stone collection efficiency would increase significantly. Combined with the 500 stone he had just acquired, he wouldn't need much more to reach his goal.
With that in mind, Alex had his plants dispose of the bodies outside while he returned to his territory to construct the Quarry.
After a flash of light, a passage leading into the mountainside appeared on one side of his territory, dedicated to stone collection.
Once the Quarry was taken care of, Alex headed to the Tower of Units to check the progress of his unit research.
After a day of research, the advanced unit of the Spirit of Flora was finally complete, giving him a new fourth-tier unit to recruit.
Eagerly, he selected the option to recruit. Soon, a glowing orb, similar to the Spirit of Flora but slightly larger, appeared before him.
[Name: Flora Sprite (Rare)]
[Race: Plant]
[Level: Tier 4 (0/100)]
[Strength: 50]
[Constitution: 50]
[Agility: 66]
[Spirit: 87]
[Skills: Nature's Dominion (Intermediate), Flora's Protection (Surrounds itself with natural energy, reducing damage taken from attacks.)]
[Description: One of the most nature-aligned units among intermediate creatures, capable of wielding various nature-based spells.]
The Spirit of Flora had evolved into the Flora Sprite at the fourth tier. True to its status as a rare unit, it had gained an excellent new skill that reduced damage taken. Even its Nature's Dominion skill had upgraded to the intermediate level.
Alex had it test its abilities and found that, like River, it could manipulate the surrounding foliage, turning leaves and branches into weapons. It was undeniably powerful.
However, since Alex was preparing to upgrade to the fifth tier, he decided to hold off on using Mutation on it, saving his Mana for now.
Next, he opened the research panel for another of his recruitable third-tier units, the Poison Thornvine, and began researching its advanced form, the Toxic Enchantress.
All of his Toxic Enchantresses had been obtained through Mutation from the King of the Man-Eating Flowers, making it inconvenient to recruit them directly. Naturally, this was his second choice for research.
As for the Flower Sprite line of units, they were also obtained through Mutation. While they could be researched, it would have to start from the first tier, taking a total of four days to reach the fourth tier. That wasn't a priority at the moment.
Alex did the math. He currently had units from the Flower Sprite, Thornvine, Treant, Mushroom, Man-Eating Flower, Ancient Tree of Knowledge, and Spirit of Flora lines. Researching all of them would take a considerable amount of time—a massive undertaking.
He doubted there were many in the entire region with as many unit types as he had.
At least the Ancient Tree of Knowledge couldn't be upgraded, so it didn't need to be researched.
"Speaking of the Ancient Tree of Knowledge..."
Alex suddenly remembered something. The Ancient Tree of Knowledge provided experience to other units. By his estimate, some of his plants should be close to leveling up.
Sure enough, as soon as the thought crossed his mind, two Fission Mushrooms basking in the sunlight within his territory began to glow.
[Congratulations! Your Fission Mushrooms have reached maximum experience and successfully advanced to the fifth tier!]
[Congratulations! Your Fission Mushrooms have reached maximum experience and successfully advanced to the fifth tier!]