Chapter 174. Disastrous Start To The War.

The Explorer Association's people saw the movement and quickly regrouped. Their group consisted of 20 people, all between Level 18 and Level 22. Once regrouped, they were a pretty formidable force. 

Flor looked at them approaching and asked. "What's wrong? We have very little time before the enemies arrive."

The person who faced her before, Morrigan, asked with a serious expression. "Queen Flor, what's happening?"

Flor explained quickly. "An army of nearly 3000 is approaching with strong people at the helm. We need to prepare the defenses. Now, I will ask this once: will you help defend or not?"

Morrigan frowned, and Flor's face quickly cooled down. While Morrigan pondered for a few seconds, Flor sneered. "Now I am wondering why you are all here. Is it really to assist us? Or is it to control us so that the "monsters" don't do anything unnecessary?"

Then, Flor flew off. Morrigan shouted. "Wait!"

However, Flor didn't even stop and left with just a sentence. "Go to the Library and stay there! If you come out, you'll be treated as enemies!"

Morrigan clenched his fist and looked at the rest. "We are defending this place! Prepare for battle!" 

The rest nodded, looking between Flor and Morrigan with strange expressions. Wert left, clearly stating that they were stationed there to prevent accidents, so his hesitation was a direct contradiction of Wert's orders. 

Still, because he was the person with the most authority, they all followed behind him. Flor reached the walls and saw the non-fighters going into the Ant Hole. Meanwhile, fighters from the three main groups, Myconids, Rose Fairies, and Fire Ants, gathered around her. Flor looked at the ants and muttered aloud so that Liu Shu could hear her. "Liu Shu, how will I control the ants without Ignatia being around?"

The World Tree answered with mental communication. 'There is no need to do that. Your group won't leave the confines set up by my walls. Always fight from within the walls of the territory. I will be the one fighting from a distance until they arrive.'

Flor was confused. "Huh? Why won't we go out to set up ambushes?"

Liu Shu, who was observing the group, was looking at Finnian very closely. 'One of them is probably a <Second Energy Cycle> person. If you go out and ambush them, this person can just rush towards all of you and kill you. The best way to use your strength is to fight defensively, not aggressively. Your long-range attacks are your strongest suit.'

Flor nodded. "Understood." Then, she looked to the side and asked, annoyed. "What are you doing here? Didn't you hear my words?"

Morrigan was about to speak, but a man in the group tapped his shoulder and spoke in his steed. "Queen Flor, Morrigan is resentful for what happened the last time. However, we are stationed here by Lord Wert. Therefore, we will defend this place. Please, place a vote of trust in us."

Flor looked at them and commented. "Are you all going to be able to kill humans? Who we are fighting is not a monster group, but humans, beastkin, and Sylvans." 

Unlike the response that Flor predicted, the Explorers didn't seem intimidated and easily nodded. "We understand. We didn't stay here, protecting a town full of… well, monsters, thinking that the only things we would fight are monsters."

The Rose Fairy Queen looked at Morrigan and wanted to ask why he reacted the way he did. However, she knew that there wasn't much time for conversations. "If you are going to fight, then do so. However, if I ever see any suspicious activity, everything around your group will turn to fight you. Understood?"

As soon as Flor stopped speaking, four pillars of green light appeared behind them with a powerful shockwave, startling them. 

Looking back, everyone saw four massive serpents appearing around the Temple Of Summoning, carrying profound auras with them.

Each of them felt even more dangerous than Flor. That was, of course, until Flor allowed all her buffs to affect her body. 

The Explorer Group's hair flew as a whirlwind surrounded Flor's body, her stats skyrocketing. As if that was little to take in, Liu Shu's <Defender > buff covered everyone, increasing their stats by 10%.

Morrigan and the rest, who suddenly saw this burst of aura from basically everyone, had their mouths hang open, unable to believe their eyes. 

Flor ordered aloud, her Aether Wind carrying her voice across the entire town. "Everyone in position! We will fight a defensive battle, so don't leave the <Lignified Defensive Walls>! All Rose Fairies and Arboreal Winged Serpents look skyward and prepare to combat air creatures! There will be nearly twenty-five strong creatures flying nearby soon!"

Behind Flor, in the middle of the town, Liu Shu's energy surged into the <Mother Of Thousand Flower Field>, and Aether Mana and Anima Energy surrounded every single flower.

Then, a silent pulse of energy spread outward and covered everything in her vision range, giving the World Tree a clear view of the situation. 'Flor, the enemies are approaching from…'

A few moments ago, on the other side of the battlefield, Finnian looked at Eldric and said. "You should start the scouting. I want information about the enemies in 30 minutes at most. Remember to maintain an altitude of 500 meters or so."

Eldric nodded and tapped the stormbird below. "Let's go."

The group of 26 flew upward slowly, and as they moved, Finnian spoke to the rest. "Push forward. We are less than a kilometer away." As they moved forward, the group of assassins cleared everything in the way, and finally, they arrived nearly 500 meters away from their objective. "Slow down! Wait for Eldric to return!"

Meanwhile, the 26 Stormbirds were flying in the surroundings, gaining a clear view of the town. Eldric frowned, seeing the massive tree that had clearly grown a lot since the last time standing in the middle. "Let's move closer; I want a clearer look." 

The rest of the people obeyed and slowly came closer. Their vision of the town was quite clear. Of course, the tree-like buildings made it look like a small island in the sea of trees, having some sparse trees. Moreover, the large wall and open space between the surrounding forest made it easier to distinguish them if you knew that something was there. 

As Eldric and the others approached, they circled around 500 meters above them. Eldric ordered. "Gather all the information you can, and when we are done, we return." 

One of the raiders spoke. "Sir Eldric, I heard that they have Rose Fairies. What if a group flies towards us?"

Eldric answered, confused. "We kill them, of course."

The same rider asked. "Sir Eldric, wouldn't it be better if we avoided combat? We don't want to alert the enemies, right?"

Eldric shook his head. "If we kill them all, we will avoid being discovered and also reduce their numbers. Don't tell me that you can't deal with a few Rose Fairies."

The raider answered. "Understood, Sir. We'll fight unless sir gives us another order." 

Another rider frowned and asked. "Sir, what if you add five giant winged snakes accompanying a group of 50 Rose Fairies?"

Eldric looked down and raised his eyebrows. "They really think that they can take us out with those five? What are the level and stats?"

A Sylvan woman between the group spoke with a frown. "Sir, there is a problem. Even my system information as a Sylvan is being blocked by those serpents. I can only see their ternary essences and Level." 

Elderic asked. "What are their ternary essences?"

The rider said in a heavy tone. "Three of them have nearly 200,000 Phoer Body Shards. Two of them have nearly 200,000 Aether Mana Shards. All five of them are Level 18.'

Eldric's face changed to one of horror. "W-What? Two hundred thousand!? That's what some <Second Cycle> people have!"

The rider asked. "Do we fight?"

Eldric asked. "What are our chances?"

The rider wanted to answer, but seeing their speed, he shouted. "Sir, an order now! They are on us!" 

Eldric looked down, and after a moment of hesitation, he shouted. "Retreat!"

All stormbirds flew away as fast as they could, but as they were turning around, several rays of light illuminated a circle around the large tree in the middle of the town.

The Sylvan shouted. "DODGE!"

One rider turned his mount and bumped against Eldric's stormbird, sending him crashing down. In the next moment, the rays of light covered the area where they were like a pillar of brilliance, focusing more on Eldric's previous position.

Several screams of pain echoed in the sky while Eldric got off with some light injuries. When he looked back, his face almost lost all color. The rider that had bumped him out of the way was falling, the mount below him filled with holes. 

Not only him but another three of them were damaged so badly that they couldn't maintain flight, while the rest were somewhat injured. The Sylvan rider shouted. "SIR ELDRIC! WE NEED TO RETREAT! THEIR ANTI-AIR IS TOO STRONG-! ANOTHER BARRAGE INCOMING, DIVE DOWN!"

No one hesitated and forced their birds to do a nosedive. However, when they started, Eldric's heart sank because, as if they had anticipated it, the group of Rose Fairies were waiting there. 

A dignified woman's voice reached Eldric as he shouted. 

"PUSH THROUGH!"

"STOP THEM! WE HAVE AERIAL ADVANTAGE."

As they descended, with perfect precision, another shower of light rays covered their area. However, because they were much further away, the strength behind the blows had diminished, making it feel like very strong hail instead of actual attacks. 

That didn't mean that it didn't do damage. Each blow sliced nearly 200 Phoer Body Shards from the Stormbirds' Phoer reserves.

Five enormous shadows appeared just as they were about to clash with the Rose Fairies. Every Stormrider looked sideways and saw the bodies of the three brown-colored serpents gain a metallic gleam. Simultaneously, massive lightning bolts and a powerful firestorm surrounded the two smaller but more intimidating serpents behind them. 

Eldric's face hardened as nine Stormriders covered that side, two for each of the serpents and the three remaining ones, to try and defend against the magical attacks.

As they clashed, a storm of cutting blades shot from the Rose Fairies, led by Flor herself. Eldric's face couldn't get any grimmer as the collision occurred. 

BOOM!

His world shook as the Stormriders to his right were literally run over by the brown-scaled serpents and thrown down like little birds. Meanwhile, blade winds sliced his skin while the biggest between the tiny Rose Fairies flew at him with murderous eyes. "PROTECT SIR ELDRIC!"

One of the Stormriders grabbed Eldric's shirt and pulled him sideways while around ten of them stopped the Rose Fairies. The three that had tried protecting him from the Aether Serpents had been carbonized, leaving nothing but charred remains that fell from the sky behind.

The Sylvan Stormrider's body got covered in wind currents and she jumped from the stormbird as her body grew in size and terrifying currents appeared. "I'LL HOLD THEM BACK!"

"No, you won't!"

The wind Sylvan looked to the side and saw a grey-haired Sylvan approaching her at tremendous speed while her body similarly transformed. 

Before she knew it, her sword was flying toward her neck, forcing her to block.

CLANG!

The Stormrider Sylvan's face dropped. "YOU DARE INVOLVE YOURSELF, SYLVAN!?"

Tempestria grinned coldly. "Involve myself? I am the one being targeted. How could I not? Now, dance with me."

Their bodies roared with wind currents as a fast exchange started. 

Meanwhile, Flor managed to sneak through completely and appear right before them. "Hey, human boy. Remember me?"

The Stormrider didn't stop, wanting to tackle her with his mount, but Flor scoffed. "<Frantic Flight>."

Her body blurred, and by the time he realized, the Stormrider felt his hand empty while Eldric was dangling in the air, grabbed by the tiny Rose Fairy. 

Edlric shouted while choking. "YOU WILL- REGRET… THIS!"

Flor smiled. "Finally, I got you. Now, die. <Wind Slash>!"

Eldric's eyes flashed regretfully as Flor's hand burst with terrifying wind blades.