Chapter 240. Indiscriminate Slaughter.

The sky felt as if it was falling with countless explosive seeds constantly falling down. When they walked around, they had to be careful not to trip over the corpses of their comrades. Inside them, adrenaline was pumping crazily while blood flowed around them and pushed them more and more out of their rational mind, leaving behind a shell of a rational being that was moving just to survive. 

The sensations that every single soldier was feeling when the bombardment started were not far from there, and when they were already feeling like trapped beasts, the voice of their commander reached them. 

"WE ARE BEING AMBUSHED, SPREAD AROUND AND DEFEND! AETHER USERS CONTINUE THE DEFENSIVE SPELLS AND TRY TO BOMBARD BACK!"

The soldiers scrambled around as they could, some falling while tripping on limbs strewn across the battlefield, while others felt their limbs numb and moved by pure instinct as their minds had shut down due to the shock of seeing their close people basically explode in front of them.

When the soldiers moved outward, they finally saw their enemies, and their hearts almost stopped right then and there. The ridiculous view of thousands of giant ants approaching in menacing silence was far more fear-inducing than seeing another army charging toward them while hollering their battle cries. 

The army of ants that approached was one of the worst things that soldiers could encounter in the wild. Reports had described the encounters, and reading them was always bone-chilling. Now, it seemed that their army was about to be added to the countless tales of armies being swallowed by the wave of creatures that felt endless.

Their commander shouted, moving toward one of the fronts as they were being attacked from all directions. "HOLD THE LINE! ONCE WE DEAL WITH THESE BUGS, WE'LL GO AND AVENGE OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS!"

Some soldiers roared in response, creating a reverberating loud cry that could be taken as both the battle cry of the valiant and the defiant cry of the cowardly. 

The mass of red ants opened their mandibles at once, revealing the horrifying mouths hidden behind them, and then, the sight of the soldiers became red. 

WHOOOSH!

A terrifying wave of flames burst forward from all the ants, coordinating with such perfection that not one ant was injured by allies in the crossfire.

"AHHHH!!"

The shrill screams of the soldiers who were ignited mixed with the previous defiant cries in a morbid wail. Pushing the flames aside, the soldiers finally saw the ants in front of them and stepped forward to fight.

BANG! 

CLANG! 

BOOM!

Countless echoes of war filled the now-burning area of the forest as both armies fought with everything they had. Elowen was a Level 29, so these ants weren't much of a threat individually. However, when the numbers were as high as these, the constant instances of damage were depleting her Phoer Cores at a rapid pace.

Still, the woman was like a grim reaper as she cleaved through the sea of ants. 'This is dangerous, but at least the World Tree won't attack us now.' Thinking so, she ordered. "Those defending the sky, join the rest in battle!"

The sky defense weakened, naturally not leaving themselves wide open, but nothing in comparison with the defensive dome they had created before. 

However, as Elowen saw the sky defense disappear, she couldn't help but gaze skyward. A clean sky greeted her gaze, but somehow, there was a strange distortion in the air that Elowen didn't like at all.

The reason was apparent in the next few seconds. 

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! 

Seeds charged with Spatial Aether exploded with lethality twice as high as before, killing thousands once more, this time on both sides: the Fire Ant and Elowen's armies. 

Elowen was hit this time around, being surrounded by a barrage of Spatial distortions that were trying to rip her apart, forcing a scream out of her. "ARGH!"

[-9,850]!

[-10,670]!

[-9,444]!

[-9,710]!

…

Feeling the raw strength of the attack on her own body, Elowen couldn't imagine what it did to her own army. Turning around to check, this time more mentally prepared, Elowen gritted her teeth at the aftermath with both ants and soldiers torn apart. "Ruthless creature! You don't care about the lives of your own people!?"

Looking around her, she knew that they had already become less than 5,000 people. 'I have yet to see the World Tree, and my army has been halved!? I will make you pay for leaving so much information out of the reports, Eila Neoflora!'

Elowen looked behind her toward the Golden Sap City with a heavy gaze. There were still around 500 meters to the Golden Sap City's walls, and the clearing that Liu Shu left open between her walls and the forest was around 300 meters. So, there were still 200 meters in front of Elowen before she would be able to finally spot the World Tree.

Two hundred meters of pure forest that felt like an uncrossable chasm. 'Can I even continue our charge? While most of the dead people are the weaker ones, one or two of the Second Energy Cycles have already fallen!'

While she thought, Elowen was naturally not standing still. She was rushing at the ants and slicing through them with agility and lethality. Wherever she passed, the head of a giant ant would fly skyward. 

Suddenly, the earth trembled, and a massively powerful Aether Mana energy pulse spread in the surroundings, alerting everyone. 'Hm!?'

The land exploded upward, creating large dust clouds that reduced visibility. "What now!?"

Elowen swung her sword, creating a powerful wind pressure wave that blew the dust away right as two roots coiled around her legs. "AS IF!" 

She cut downwards, slicing both roots off her and jumping backward to avoid the next set of them. However, that situation naturally told her what was happening.

The entire soil had exploded and revealed countless roots that were coiling and lashing at her soldiers, aiding the ants as much as possible.

The ants were fearless, and even when many of them had just been slaughtered, they were still charging forward and replacing the fallen ants even if they had to step over their sister's bodies. 

For the ants, their Queen was everything. If they were ordered to give up their life, they would. As long as their Queen Mother was safe and sound, as long as their Queen Mother could remain well fed and secure, the ants would create mountains of corpses from both their enemies and their own. They would create a mountain that would act as a protective barrier shielding their great-mother from harm. 

Ignatia looked from the canopy of a nearby tree. Even if her heart hurt, she was never going to look away when her daughters were giving up their lives. Seeing Elowen reaping through her children, Ignatia's heart burned with rage, and her Aether Mana concentrated to the point that she caught the attention of the Level 29 powerhouse.

"<Ant Queen's Ire>!"

SCREEEECH!

A terrifying sound wave that spent more than half of Ignatia's Aether Mana reserves spread outward. 

<Ant Queen's Ire> was a massively influential move that could enhance every single ant to absurd degrees for a relatively short time. The buffs it gave were a 30% damage reduction increase and a 50% increase in damage. The increase in damage came as an enhancement to all the lethal parts of each ant. 

Other than that, the skill also increased Ignatia's own stats by an absurd 40% for the skill's short duration. With her stats boosted by Liu Shu's auras and her own, she activated <Ember Assault>, a long-range skill that focused pure Fire Aether Mana in front of her and shot it like a burst of scorching embers. 

Elowen knew that the scream that spread around should come from this colony's Ant Queen, so she decided to catch it and kill it to weaken the Ant Army. However, when she was going to step toward the origin of the scream, a red and black wave rushed toward her with imposing strength. 

Elowen reacted, slashing her sword forward with a defensive skill that created an energy phantom strike. 

BOOOM!

Elowen's face changed to one of disbelief as her defensive skills were breached, and the attack struck her like a burning hammer.

Bang!

"Gah!?"

Her body flew backward, rolling on the ground until she slammed against a tree.

[-49,680]!

The commander's face was visibly full of shock as she quickly stood up. 'What!? How strong is the Ant Queen!? Didn't the report say that it was around Level 20!?'

Before she could recover from shock, she noticed that the enemy's army had suddenly appeared and was rushing toward her own people, but not before a second barrage of seeds fell from the sky. 

Without a single extra moment of hesitation, Elowen's voice boomed outward. 

"RETREAT!"

However, the World Tree's voice boomed around at the same time. It felt as if all the trees in the surroundings were speaking at once, creating an imposing and ethereal voice full of wrath. "RETREAT!? YOU COME TO ATTACK MY DOMAIN AND THINK THAT YOU CAN LEAVE WITH YOUR LIFE!? DELUSIONAL CREATURE! YOUR FATE IS BECOMING NOURISHMENT TO GROW THE PATCH OF FOREST YOU'VE HURT!"

Liu Shu's voice was accompanied by <Mind Echo>, making it ring in each soldier's head. 

Elowen moved toward her own army as she spoke aloud. "World Tree, I am the Sect Master of the <Midnight Foxglove Sect>! If you dare kill me, the consequences will not be light!"

"Inconsequential!" Liu Shu's voice echoed with scorn and the voices of the angered forest. "Today is the day you die, Elowen. And if someone comes to avenge you, then it will become their turn to die!"

Elowen's face became cold, but her heart couldn't help but tighten. This answer told her that the World Tree truly did not care. It didn't matter if it was due to ignorance or not, but she understood that words would not reach her. 

As they spoke, Wert, Thalia, Kael, and the rest finally arrived to join the ants and Liu Shu in the attack. 

The enemy still had a lot of people, around 4,000 of them. The Golden Sap City's group was composed of nearly 3,000 soldiers, without counting the ants. Liu Shu's group was also outnumbered on the <Second Energy Cycle> front. However, the enemy was tired and injured, which balanced the situation.

Elowen's army had around 25 <Second Energy Cycle> people when they arrived, which now had been reduced to 21. 

On the other side, Liu Shu's group had Wert and Mariane as natural Second Energy Cycles. Then, there were Flor, Amapola, and the Three Sylvans, who could fight on a Second Energy Cycle's level together. Next, Thalia's and Kael's group of ten. Finally, Liu Shu herself and one more creature.

As Elowen prepared to face Wert and the rest, a shadow loomed over her. At first, she thought Liu Shu was crazy enough to fire another barrage of projectiles even when these people arrived. However, when she looked upward, her pupils shrunk to dots.

A massive serpent with a brown body and massive wings was hovering over her, its emerald green eyes locked onto her like a predator would on their prey. The aura around the creature was far beyond anything she had felt, making her body tense as her entire body told her to flee. 

If she had not exhausted her strength during the journey, Elowen might've been able to face the giant serpent. However, as she was now, her chances of keeping her life in a frontal clash were close to none.

Wert saw Elowen's face as he clashed with a Second Energy Cycle and smirked. "I would like to present to you our Ophion. He is a little friend of the resident World Tree. Have fun with him, Elowen."

HISSS!

Ophion's hiss echoed loudly while his body crashed onto Elowen like a falling meteor.

BOOM!