Chapter 222. Different Battlefronts.

The battlefield was a mess, with people fighting everywhere while the enemy's ranged attackers bombarded the wall and tried to pierce through. Vaya also focused on the wall instead of killing lower-level creatures.

Vaya looked at the battlefield situation while she fired an arrow barrage toward the Lignified Wall. ''Once I blast open that wall, we can rush inside and slaughter our way in. The deaths there will far outweigh the killing I can do now. Moreover, the frontlines are not doing well; we need to pierce through and stabilize."

With that in mind, Vaya was about to unleash all her strength, but her natural senses warned her of danger coming from behind. Not doubting her senses, she shouted. "Behind us!"

The ranged group turned around just as the forest's vegetation parted, revealing seven massive serpents. Between them, there was one who could be easily distinguished thanks to the massive and muscular body. Moreover, Vaya could feel its strength. 'That thing is a Second Energy Cycle creature!'

Ophion led a group of six serpents, all of them at Level 24, and started causing havoc in the backlines. He rammed into the group of people with his massive body, sending people flying and even eating some of them. 

The creature's speed and bodily strength were incredibly lethal. Vaya's face twisted, and she pulled the string of her bow into a full moon. "Begone!"

BOOM! 

The heavy arrow pierced through the air, but Ophion just raised his wing and hardened it, blocking the attack.

BANG!

Ophion's reptile eyes locked on Vaya and hissed loudly, challenging her. Then, he rushed forward and blasted through everyone in his way, closing the distance between Vaya and him.

Vaya would naturally not remain still and cued her mount, moving away while shooting at him. "Do you really think you can catch up with my <Wind Riding Eight-Legged Horse>? Ha!" 

Ophion's eyes squinted, and his wings spread to the sides. Then, with a forceful slap against the ground, Ophion lunged forward and activated <Sky Slip>, increasing his movement speed.

With Liu Shu's buffs on him plus his natural advantages, Ophion rushed forward. Vaya only managed to see a blur approach before it hit her mount strongly, toppling her over.

BOOM!

Her head rang painfully as her body was hurled away for tens of meters. She quickly used the ground to flip in the air three times and landed on her feet, looking toward Ophion with an angered expression.

To her horror, Ophion was biting down on the beast and thrashing it around by dragging and slamming it against the ground. "YOU! Leave my Filia alone! <Four Streaking Arrows>!"

With four consecutive explosive sounds, the projectiles flew toward Ophion's head. However, Vaya hadn't seen Ophion's next action coming. His lips arched cruelly as he placed the horse he was holding with his mouth in the arrow's way.

Vaya shouted, her heart clenching. "NO!"

BANG! 

[-42,500!]

BANG! 

[-32.450!]

BANG! 

[-57,880!]

BANG! 

[-43,985!]

Then, Vaya received a message that made her heart shatter. 

[Congratulations on defeating <Level 22 Wind Riding Eight-Legged Horse (E+ Rank)>! You've gained 333 Experience Points!] 

Ophion spat out the corpse of the creature and sneered, his facial expression humane enough for Vaya to understand. Her face twisted in anger, and she had completely forgotten about her mission. "I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Ophion rushed at Vaya, and Vaya started unleashing hell on Ophion. However, the Level 25 Arboreal Winged Serpent was extremely resilient, so their fight would not end swiftly. 

With Vaya distracted and the other six Arboreal Winged Serpents distracting the other ranged attackers, Liu Shu took a chance and fired the <Mother Of Thousand Flower Field> at the ranged attackers, warning all the serpents. 

The people fighting the snakes saw the serpents using defensive skills and frowned. Sadly, none of them understood what was happening before it was too late. 

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! 

The seeds carrying Space Attribute arrived and exploded, shredding most of the backline numbers enough for the six serpents to finish the rest.

Liu Shu had been looking at the entire battlefield, and while the ranged attacks had been dealt with, the front lines were not doing as fine. Tharn was exchanging blows with Wert, moving around the battlefield like two blurs as their attacks created powerful shockwaves all around.

Even if Vaya and Tharn were stopped, they had three more Second Energy Cycle people to stop. In Liu Shu's opinion, Rhen was the most dangerous. He might not be as strong or deadly as Torran, but his one-on-one strength was easily the highest. 

Therefore, when Wert went against Tharn, she sent Mariane against him. Mariane didn't complain much and smirked. "Sure, sure~. I'll hold that big bear back! You owe me something later, Liu Shu!"

Rhen rushed forward, swinging his claws toward one of the Rose Fairies and shredding her to pieces. Sadly for the Rose Fairy who had yet to even reach Level 20, Rhen's attack was too much for her to resist. 

Then, Rhen locked on another of the flying fairies and jumped to attack them. However, right at the moment that the second Rose Fairy was about to die, his animal-like senses quickly flared up in danger, and he moved his body mid-air while looking toward his right. 

He spotted a mothkin flying at him with a pen in one of her hands, a sword in another, and a shield being held by her two left arms. "Hey, hey! I am here to play with you~. Eat my shield!"

BANG!

Rhen barely blocked the blow by crossing his arms and was blasted toward the ground. Liu Shu quickly helped, using her roots to tie him down, and Mariane wrote a set of runes in the air. "Time to go Bang! Bang! Bang!"

"RAHH!" Rhen roared, his muscles bulging, and he managed to escape Liu Shu's grip. However, Mariane had managed to complete the <Rune Attack Array>. 

The runes dissolved in the air and transformed into a large circle that began firing Aether Mana bullets. Looking at the attack descending upon him, Rhen shouted. "Parlor Tricks! Those won't work on me!"

His arms blurred as he slashed at the rain of Aether Mana bullets. Mariane clapped and laughed. "Wow! You attack so quickly! No wonder little Liu Shu wanted me to fight you!"

Rhen snorted, looking at Mariane. "Mothkin, you are not strong enough to fight me. Even with the World Tree restraining me, your attack did nothing!"

Mariane smiled mischievously, her large insectoid black eyes shining with a strange glint. "Oh? Did it do nothing?" She then flew down, standing right in front of the more than two-meter tall burly bearkin. "How about you attack me then?"

Rhen was confused, looking at the mothkin standing in front of him. "What are you doing?"

Mariane asked. "Why? Should you be attacking me?"

Rhen frowned deeply. "Right, I should attack…" Rhen raised his hand, but he paused, strangely feeling a sense of curiosity. "But why are you standing in front of me?" He just felt like he couldn't move on without answering this puzzling question. 

Mariane laughed. "Who knows? How about you attack me?"

Rhen asked, confused. "Will attacking you resolve this question?"

"Probably not~," Mariane said, shaking her head sadly. "It will probably remain unanswered forever if you attack me."

Rhen stomped the ground. "Then I won't attack you! Just answer me!"

Mariane spoke again, changing the subject completely randomly. "Did you know that the average mothkin's lifespan is half a human's? However, we gain much more vitality than humans per level, so seeing mothkin older than humans is not strange, leading to a strange misconception that mothkin have long lifespans!"

Rhen blinked twice. "I didn't know that. That's quite strange, no?" 

Mariane nodded and began speaking about another completely random fact. Of course, Rhen didn't know that he had fallen prey to Mariane's illusion spells.

Outside, Rhen was still lying on the ground, being tied down by Liu Shu's roots, while Mariane was standing on top of him and flapping her wings to release vast amounts of moth scale powder. Liu Shu asked, confused. "Why can't we kill him now?"

Mariane spoke softly. "The Runic Attack Array I've used sends the victim into a powerful illusion. However, it also increases their strength quite a bit. That's the cost for the power it has. So, if you attack him now, he will wake up stronger than before. I'll stand here on guard. This is enough, right? I got rid of a <Seocnd Energy Cycle>~."

Liu Shu giggled. "Sure, sure." 

BOOOM!

On another part of the battlefield, Liu Shu saw massive thorns and plants sprouting upward and attacking a torrent of fire, wind, and plant creatures. 

Over there, Verdantia, Flor, Cinderielle, and Tempestria were fighting Torran. The four of them were using their all, trying to hold back the transformed Torran. 

After seeing the bad situation, Torran used her transformation, skyrocketing her stats to a whole new level.

Analyzing her, Liu Shu discovered that her current Aether Mana reserves were nearing 5 Aether Mana Cores, while her <Aether > stat had surpassed 1000 points. 

Meanwhile, Flor and the others had half those numbers. Still, with the cooperation of the four, they could manage to keep a somewhat balanced battlefield.

Torran looked at Verdantia and the others and squinted. "You know that this battle is far from over even if you managed to reduce us to this state, right? Look at the battlefield!"

Flor looked over and saw that the enemy soldiers were repelling and counter-attacking the attacks of the hundreds of Rose Fairies, Myconids, and Fire Ants on the frontlines. If it weren't for the Explorer group helping, their numbers would've been going down by the second.

Torran waved her hand, summoning massive roots that targeted Verdantia and Flor. However, they were quick to dodge them. 

Flor snorted. "As long as we are in a stalemate, it will eventually be our victory! With Liu Shu by our side, you are outnumbered everywhere!"

Torran shook her head. "Have you forgotten that we are five, not four? Your World Tree will have its own trouble. Greth should have already snuck around and arrived in front of her."

Cinderielle's eyes widened. "What!?"

Torran sneered. "Our plan was not to breach through since the beginning. Did you really think that we would speak about our plans with a World Tree constantly watching and listening? Greth is going to kill the World Tree soon, and you will learn not to provoke us."

However, Torran didn't see their faces gaining a trace of fear or worry. Instead, they were still looking at her with surprised expressions. Torran snorted. "What? Too shocked to answer?"

Tempestria asked, confused. "How did you reach the conclusion that this was a good idea?"

Verdantia shook her head. "He went there alone? Then, well, I guess I need to thank you."

Torran summoned another bunch of thorns to strike them, which were blocked and burned by the girls. While they fought, she asked, confused. "What do you mean? A World Tree is strong in large-scale battles. However, they are large and immovable targets that can barely defend themselves! If you close the distance, they are done for, don't you understand? A <Second Energy Cycle> powerhouse has managed to infiltrate that deeply!" 

Flor shook her head. "Let's keep this woman busy! Once Liu Shu is done, she should be able to help us."

Seeing that they were so confident, Torran's heart couldn't help but waver. 'They are probably bluffing, right?'

Meanwhile, Greth held a flaming spear in front of Liu Shu. Five other people with fire-attributed weapons also accompanied him, making quite the lineup. 

He pointed upward at the almost 200-meter-tall World Tree and stated solemnly. "This is the end, World Tree! Now that I am here, you will either listen to my demands or perish! Now, stop attacking my army and command them to cease their attack!" 

Still, Liu Shu gazed weirdly at the Level 27 human, accompanied by five Level 24 people who stopped in front of her. Then, she asked, her voice sincere. "Why did you come so close to me? Are you retarded? Or just incredibly ignorant?"

Greth and the other five looked at the massive tree dumbfounded. 'Did she just insult us?'