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 bombardnt 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, so 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 nacing 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 seed 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!"
So 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 beca red.
WHOOOSH!
A terrifying wave of flas 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 flas 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 do 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 sohow, 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 ti on both sides: the Fire Ant and Elowen's armies.
Elowen was hit this ti 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 ti more ntally 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 beco 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 ters to the Golden Sap City's walls, and the clearing that Liu Shu left open between her walls and the forest was around 300 ters. So, there were still 200 ters in front of Elowen before she would be able to finally spot the World Tree.
Two hundred ters 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.
"
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