Dain received the news of Liu Shu's attack and quickly mobilized his people. More than 100 available
"What happened here?"
One of the leading powerhouses spoke with a touch of disbelief. They, as
Using the strength of her roots, she sank the coastal area and continued advancing inwards. It was as if a person played in the sand on the beach, creating a sinkhole where water poured in from the sea. Of course, the scale was on an entirely different level.
In the Abyssal Void Nexus, Dain was the overall leader, but he had six other powerhouses as his trusted aides. They were all A Tier Level 99 powerhouses.
The names of these people were Thyra, Sylwen, Renvar, Korean, Bastille, and Foler. Among these, four of them were otherworlders, with two natural Level 99 powerhouses from Ceperet. These two were Sylwen and Foler.
Sylwen looked at the thick roots digging into the land, moving like living giant beasts with the intent to devour everything. The pulsing rhythm of the glowing blue veins felt like the heartbeat of the world, carrying such intensity that it made them all feel suffocated.
"For the World Tree to keep such presence and strength on her roots even after crossing thousands of kilometers… her Energy Cycle Completion rate must be above 90%."
For a World Tree without a high Completion rate, expanding was complicated mainly because its roots would lose strength exponentially the closer to the edge of its domain. Therefore, once those limits began showing, planting a few defensive locations would be enough to stop them.
One would think that, with their ability to dig underground, bypassing the fortresses would be easy. However, these fortresses were specially built to prevent that, using arrays and runic fields to block underground attacks. Any civilization that dared to fight against the World Trees needed to have similar methods. Otherwise, the World Tree would just collapse its cities by messing with the underground foundation.
"Lady Sylwen, even if we attack her here, it won't hurt her too much. We will, at most, delay her advance. Should we retreat to the first fortress defensive line?"
"No." Sylwen squinted dangerously. "We know nothing about her fighting ability. We need to attack her and check her limits. If she can reach this shore and attack us before we detect her, then that means that she is immune to the curse we've etched in our land. Don't forget, the reason other World Trees have been kept in line is because our lands are inadequate for them to live."
Only then did they realize. If Liu Shu heard, she would understand why she had felt that the ground was a bit too acidic and uncomfortable when she came close to the Abyssal Void Nexus Continent. She had attributed it to a lack of care from the population towards nature, but in truth, it was a continental curse trying to affect her, but unable to break her passive defense.
When Sylwen stopped speaking, the rest of the 100 powerhouses nodded and followed behind her.
Liu Shu was advancing through the continent, observing the differences between the Wild Continent and this one. "There is plant life here as well. I can see forests and other types of creatures… Nevertheless, their level is pitifully low. Also, most trees are young trees… do they cut them down for materials?"
The practice of cutting down trees was not widespread, but it existed in many places.
While she was advancing and latching onto the Abyssal Void Nexus, she felt powerful presences approaching. "Hm?" Looking over, her
"They are quite fast. It has been less than forty minutes since I arrived." Liu Shu chuckled. "I guess that, when you are finally being taken seriously, things are a bit more complicated."
Sylwen pointed at Liu Shu's roots and spoke aloud. "Gather energy!"
Liu Shu smiled coldly. "Do you think that the edge of my root-net is the visible part? Fool.
The skill,
***
The attacks can shrink space and reach up to 5 times the length of the World Tree's limb. The further the World Tree attacks, the more energy it consumes. Attacks beyond that range are possible, but with power and accuracy penalties.
***
With Liu Shu's primary limbs, her branches, measuring around 5,000 meters, Liu Shu's "normal" attacking range for each root was close to 25,000 meters.
The second Liu Shu activated her skill, the powerhouses floating 500 meters above the ground felt their spines tingling as a sense of intense danger surrounded them. Sylwen shouted, her face solemn. "Defense!"
Everyone reacted swiftly, their ternary essence manipulation changing to deploy hasty defensive skills around their ground. Then, the earth below them twisted and deformed as roots, coated with large chunks of earth, soared above their current flying height and crashed down against their defensive measures.
BOOM! BOOM!! BOOM!!!!
The one hundred powerhouses became slightly pale as their combined defensive measures wobbled dangerously, containing the attack but not without letting them know the power behind them.
Liu Shu spoke to them, her voice echoing throughout the entire landscape as if the world itself was talking through her. "Today, I, Tianlian Liu Shu, have come to bring destruction and death to your continent. The cycle has finally made a full circle, and now, it is returning to bite you down."
Sylwen shouted, her face cold as flames burst around her. "Ridiculous! Ignorance will be your bane, since you attack without fully understanding the true scale of our power!"
"True scale?" Liu Shu's roots moved the land, deforming the mountains and hills in her way. "You are the one who still doesn't understand the true scale of my power
The earth attached to Liu Shu's giant roots dropped down, revealing their sleek and beautiful appearance hiding below.
Then, when the energy manifested, the colors around them dimmed.
Darkness descended not because of a lack of light, but because that light concentrated on the hundreds of giant roots around them. This light, like a whirlwind of purifying majesty, spiraled up the roots and reached the root tip that pointed at them.
"Combination skill:
Sylwen didn't have to speak, as everyone in the group of one hundred people felt the shadow of death tightly surrounding them.
"
"
"
Fear gripping their hearts, defensive skills bloomed around them like a multilayered giant rose. Then, the energy gathered by the World Tree created a purifying Sun at the edge of the continent.
There was no loud sound, no explosion, just a deafening moment of brilliant silence.
That ball of pure light was so bright that almost everyone within 1,000 kilometers could see it. All who practiced cursed arts felt their skin itching, quickly taking cover, while the land sizzled as a dark grey smoke floated upward.
When
The silent light of purification disappeared, and in the middle of the Sun, the layered defenses were barely standing. All those with corrupted arts inside the defensive sphere were panting, their skins peeling off. Of course, the others were not much better.
Defending against that attack had consumed 10% of their ternary essence reserves. That meant that more than 100,000 Aether Mana cores were needed to defend an attack that only cost a few hundred for the World Tree.
Seeing the results, Liu Shu felt a bit of regret. 'If I chose the
She was sure that the
"What are you?"
A trembling whisper, full of fear, reached Liu Shu's senses. Looking over, she saw that Sylwen and the others all had pale faces and quivering eyes.
Liu Shu answered calmly, her gentle voice coated in coldness and nonchalance. "I am the Natural Disaster that will raze down your power."
"Retreat!" Sylwen shouted, her heart still trembling due to the previous attack. "Reach the fortresses and activate all the defensive formations!"
"Want to escape?" Seeing that they were about to flee, Liu Shu spoke with a soft tone. "This area is quite empty, and I wanted to check something… Your group is the perfect target."
All the
Behind them, Liu Shu's ternary essences were spiraling out of control, affecting even the weather around her. Her gaze followed the fleeing people, quickly calculating their retreating point with the map.
While destroying Dark Water City, she had eaten a few books and maps to learn about the superficial knowledge and geography. "You are going to…
Space Attributed Ternary Essence pulsed, making light wobble as Liu Shu locked onto the fortress.
All around the world, the World Trees in contact with Liu Shu felt a sense of extreme danger.
Fortuna, Warlya, and everyone else looked over to the center of the Golden Sap City and felt their branches shiver. "How can a single being create such a concentration of Ternary Essences?"
Liu Shu's body was surrounded by a torrent of spatial energies, all flowing around her under perfect control. Even then, the swelling pressure was congesting the chests of everyone in the city, as if a hand was gripping their heart.
No one dared to speak, and no one dared to move as the gorgeous and powerful World Tree gathered energy like never before.
Then, after five minutes, the energies that seemed about to explode slammed downward and pulsed outward through the complicated root network of the World Tree.
All World Trees in Liu Shu's domain felt death approaching, even when this energy was not directed at them. Then, using Liu Shu's root net access as a medium, they zoomed into the distance to observe what had run out of luck.
Sylwen, sensing something wrong, spoke to her group. "We will leave ten of you in this fortress while the rest spread out and make sure Tianlian Liu Shu is not active in other parts of the continent! If you need help, send a message to Lord Dain. I will inform him personally."
The ten selected people wanted to protest, but they couldn't go against Sylwen's prestige, so they remained behind.
A few minutes after Sylwen left, Liu Shu's presence swept the area. The dense presence felt as if a sticky film had latched onto their skin. "Activate defenses!"
One of the powerhouses shouted, and the fortress deployed its defensive dome. A semi-transparent green dome surrounded the fortress, black-golden runes shining on the solid surface.
It was then that Liu Shu activated the true terror of her A Rank skill.
Locking onto an area of over five thousand square kilometers, with the fortress right in the middle, Liu Shu unleashed her wrath.
"
CRASH!
In the area Liu Shu enveloped, space collapsed like a broken mirror. Everyone inside didn't even feel pain as their bodies crumbled, and a single terrifyingly high damage number appeared on their head.
[-500,000,000]!
[Congratulations on defeating…]!
[Congratulations on defeating…]!
[Congratulations on defeating…]!
[Too many messages… Compiling…]
[You've defeated 2,230,050 creatures! You've earned 12,305,000 Experience Points!]