Evangeline, Eryndis, and Vaelin didn’t expect to have stepped into a land of horror and tension instead of a World Tree domain. The tactics that Liu Shu used while they approached their objectives were so underhanded and malicious that maintaining any semblance of morale was proving to be as difficult as ascending to the skies!
Evangeline looked at the path ahead and started frowning deeply. “We still have a few hours until we arrive at Fortuna City. Are the artillery okay?”
A person at the side was sweating coldly as he spoke carefully. “T-The stealth strikes from the World Tree have compromised most of them. Even if we want to fire them, we’ll need to use a few hours to fix them. Moreover, so of the rune and array masters who can manipulate and fix it have been swallowed by the World Trees. This will probably make it even harder to fix them.”
Their marching pace had slowed down trendously after the enemy tactics had changed from targeting the people to targeting the large structures. With the artillery set around 20 kiloters away from the World Tree cities, constant bombardnt was possible. You only needed to defend the artillery for a while or charge right after an attack to throw everything into disarray.
Evangeline crossed her arms and looked around with an annoyed expression. “Am I the only one with a brain around here!? Why have all of you been chosen as my assistant if it is not to give ideas during these tis when I can’t co up with sothing to deal with our current predicant?”
Her mood was bad when Liu Shu showed powerful anti-corruption capabilities in the Wall Forest. Then, her mood beca worse when people in her army behaved like little cowards because the earth swallowed a few hundred. Now that even the artillery was being implicated, Evangeline could feel it in her bones that people had started thinking about retreating. ‘Tianlian Liu Shu is harder to deal with than I expected. While our forces are basically untouched, everything is a ss! They are not in condition to fight at all.’
One man spoke up in the heavy silence that was occasionally interrupted by the scream of one of Liu Shu’s victims. “Lady Evangeline, we could fire the artillery from here. The maximum effective range is twenty kiloters. That doesn’t an that they can’t fire from further away. Only, they lose strength quite rapidly beyond that point.”
Evangeline showed a doubtful expression. “We are around 37 kiloters away from Fortuna City. That’s almost double the distance to the city than their effective range. Wouldn’t the attack be more than halved in strength? To fight a World Tree, we need the artillery’s full strength.”
The man spoke wryly. “We understand that. However, Lady Evangeline, are you confident in being able to carry the large structures another 17 kiloters? By the ti we reach the firing point, the artillery might be no more. It is better to set them up here, and since their arrays protect them once they are set up, we’ll at least have them do sothing and not go to waste.”
The silver-haired Sylvan was not the only one who received that suggestion. Their respective experts also told Eryndis and Vaelin similar things. The three leaders chose a middle point. They would advance as much as possible and, when it was impossible to continue the march with the artillery, do as they said.
Liu Shu heard everything, even if sowhat distorted due to all their anti-spying arrays and rune fields. ‘Hm… You want to use those things from a distance? Honestly, I don’t mind that much.’
The artillery was dangerous when operating at full capacity. In the Olive Fortress, the three powerful strikes had damaged the Guardian Trees enough to be sowhat concerned. If instead of three, 15 were fired, resisting would beco difficult. ‘However… Aren’t they forgetting sothing?’
As Liu Shu pondered the level of information the enemies had on her, she never stopped bothering and striking fear in her enemies. While the tactic was similar everywhere, repetitiveness didn’t an ineffectiveness. The experience, no matter how many tis you went through it, was not sothing that you could easily get accustod to. After all, Liu Shu’s attacks were truly random. Who could say that the next victim wouldn’t be them?
So, ti passed, and afternoon arrived. By then, the four armies were ntally and physically exhausted. Without any obstacles, these massive armies could easily cover dozens of kiloters. Yet, this ti around, each kiloter they covered felt like an eternity.
Eryndis looked at the artillery and frowned. All 15 of her monoliths were damaged here and there. Although it was just structural and not functional damage, it was a matter of ti before the failing structure began affecting the effectiveness.
In the end, the only army that managed to start the siege was Thalric’s. And this was because Liu Shu allowed them to approach without many difficulties to test several things. The difficulty of sieging an active World Tree territory with a 100% Energy Cycle Completion Rate was incomparable to any other one. The entire domain felt as if it were the outskirts of Liu Shu’s city.
Evangeline saw the encampnt they set up and sighed tiredly to herself. Of course, she didn’t show that to her army. Instead, she put on a cold and indifferent face as she spread her voice around for everyone to hear. “Tonight, we’ll have the Earth Aethermancers reinforce the ground in turns. Rest well, and don’t worry. It will be too difficult for the enemy to do as they’ve been doing. Tomorrow, we’ll cover the last few kiloters and use this encampnt as the fallback. Reinforce the surroundings and be attentive for night rides! That’s all.”
With that said, she turned and left for her own tent. Once inside, her body relaxed, and she walked with tired steps to the couch built inside. Jolie noticed soone sitting by her side, and seeing Evangeline, she smiled. “Where is your confident expression, Mother? It seems that Tianlian Liu Shu is giving you much more trouble than you ever expected.”
Evangeline didn’t answer and closed her eyes in thought. Then, she asked. “How are the preparations for the and ?”
Jolie spoke lightly. “They are almost in place. We used defensive formations as coverage to create them. This tent has a special disrupting array as well, so there is absolutely no chance that the World Trees are listening.”
Evangeline nodded. “Once those are set, the artillery will be redundant. From this camp, a wave of blight will corrupt everything. Fortuna City is just 28 kiloters away, and once she falls, her roots will provide the railway to the rest of the continent. Tianlian Liu Shu is also just 63 kiloters from here… She will be too busy fighting off the corruption to do her little tricks.”
“Speaking of Tianlian Liu Shu…” Jolie asked with so worry. “Did you… See her?”
Evangeline opened her mystical sky-blue eyes and nodded silently. How could they not see the gargantuan World Tree poking from the horizon? Fortuna was visible from where they were, but she was of normal size for a World Tree at her level. On the other hand, Liu Shu didn’t look much smaller than Fortuna, and she was more than twice the distance away. “... As tall as mountains. Her growth is much more accelerated than I expected.”
Jolie asked once more. “Then… Aren’t the arrays we prepared inadequate? We are betting too much on a single trick.”
“It’s naturally not a single trick, love,” Evangeline explained patiently. “These arrays’ main function is, as you already know, corrupting World Trees. However, there are myriad more arrays whose corrupting power is stronger than ours. The reason I used this one instead of the others is because it enhances Dark Aether Mana, sothing extrely rare to have on the enemy side.” Her gaze then showed so viciousness as she smiled coldly. “Of course, that might have small side effects on normal people, like amplifying their violent side. But that’s naturally not sothing anyone should know.”
Jolie looked at her mother and nodded. She wanted to share another worry, but eventually, she didn’t. She looked sowhat dazed as she pondered. ‘Liu Shu is clearly aiming at our people, but that should be impossible. The stealth fields hide us, but her accuracy is just too perfect. There had never been a ti when she had missed a root grab. If she missed even once, people wouldn’t be so scared. After all, when a root appears, it ans certain death for soone. That’s just much scarier than the ability to resist.’
There was another matter that worried her. ‘Taking into account that she can grab individuals… Why isn’t she aiming for higher-ranked people? Why are soldiers the ones being targeted, who are basically expendable resources? Her attacks are only making the morale shaky instead of disrupting the entire army.’
Liu Shu observed the four enemy camps with cold, calculating eyes. “Distance to Evangeline’s camp from … 28,350 ters. Distance to Eryndis’ camp from … 29,950 ters. Distance from to Thalric’s camp… 27,500 ters. Distance from to Vaelin’s camp… 23,400 ters.”
Her lips arched in a faint, icy smile. “All within range of .”
After getting stronger and feeding on Liu Shu’s Tier and Level Ups, had an effective range of 34 kiloters or 34,000 ters. “I won’t fire yet, though… Slowly, gradually, and without you knowing, I’ll coil my roots around all your weaknesses. Then, at the right ti, you’ll suffer from your arrogance. Trying to estimate my strength without any surviving past armies is just guesswork, and yet, you ca thinking you understood . You’ll pay dearly for that.”
Liu Shu’s energy started surging inside the city, and then streaked skyward like a pillar. The light slamd against the sky, bursting space itself, and a green portal appeared above her.
“.”
Echoing with the strength of Mother Nature herself, her voice called upon massive serpents that surged down in the hundreds. Liu Shu’s ability to manifest summons had beco ridiculous thanks to her titles, temple, and she herself. Moreover, the Arboreal Winged Serpents she summoned were all B- Tier and above, making each of them a terrifying monster.
“Fly above the clouds and remain unseen.”
In the darkness of the night, the green light looked especially ominous, and those awake couldn’t help but look through their windows at the spectacle of hundreds of winged creatures flying around the vast canopy of their World Tree before soaring up and disappearing into the night sky.
It seed that from tomorrow onward, the invaders would start to understand part of Lady World Tree’s true capabilities.
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