CHAPTER 469. PEEKING AT THE ABYSS OF THEIR ENEMY.

Eryndis and Vaelin looked at the messages with big frowns on their faces. Vaelin was the closest one so, he asked his people to look at what was happening in that location. However, before he could send someone, someone burst through the door with a pale face and hurried steps. “Lord Vaelin, urgent matters!”

Vaelin frowned. “We are in an important—”

“Lord Vaelin!” The man who entered spoke with a tone that left no room for discussion. “Please, step outside right at this instant and look north. This is not something that Lord Vaelin should ignore!”

Vaelin’s handsome eyebrow arched, and he stood up slowly. “Follow me outside.” Then, as he passed by that person’s side, he spoke. “If you’ve interrupted without a good reason, you’ll lose your head.”

The man didn’t even flinch, showing how confident he was about the lack of repercussions. This made Vaelin feel a trace of alertness as he hurried outside. “So, what’s wrong… with…” He lost his voice as his steps slowly came to a stop, and with his eyes fixed on the horizon.  

Everyone in the army was looking that way as well, some clutching their weapons, others showing incredulous expressions, while some showed a hint of fear. 

Vaelin asked aloud. “W-What is that?”

One of his generals spoke with an uncertain tone. “Sir… That appears to be the silhouette of a World Tree…”

“Nonsense!” Vaelin shouted. “How can a World Tree pop up from nowhere!?”

Dandelion Fortress was not that far away from Olive Vine Fortress. Therefore, they could see with their bare eyes Liu Shu’s 2,000-meter-tall Soulseed in the distance. 

Then, Vaelin’s mind flashed with the message Thalric sent. “He was speaking about some kind of ability… Is that ability the power to move around her domain?”

Those words sounded absurd, but it was the only explanation Vaelin could think of for what he was seeing. How could a giant World Tree otherwise pop up where there was nothing a few hours ago? A World Tree was not something that could be relocated mid-battle!

“Lord Vaelin, what do we do? Do we continue our siege?” 

“Otherwise?” Vaelin frowned deeply. While he was commanding one of the four armies, his level of influence compared to the other three commanders was a step below. If he dared to order a retreat before any of the other three came to an agreement, his head would be lost even if he successfully retreated. Still, his head was hurting terribly. ‘How often can she use that skill? How far is the range? How fast is the growth? Is it possible to block the transference? Is her strength weakened or strengthened after the jump?’

Question after question plagued his mind. But, over all of that, he knew that he needed to report it. It has been a few days since the war started, and the enemy has already managed to defeat quite a few of his people. Thankfully, the remaining 4 Artillery Monoliths were still functioning, although barely.  

Vaelin shouted. “Prepare to redouble our efforts! We don’t know when that skill can be used again, so we need to attack the enemy before she can appear on our battlefield!” He took the circular tablet to communicate with the other leaders and tried writing as he was taught.

He and Eryndis, both people trying to communicate through the tablet, suddenly frowned when it didn’t work anymore. “What happened? Stupid technology! Couldn’t we use other methods instead of these ones!? Call the Rune Crafter!”

Liu Shu glanced at him, fiddling with the tablet with a chuckle. ‘You feel hasty after seeing my Soulseed. You can’t wait to attack, right? Come, come. Once your army crosses enough distance, my Soulseed here will activate as well. Of course, I’ll deal with you once I make Thalric completely disappear.’

***

Meanwhile, in Eryndis' camp, the woman was looking at Prarya city with a solemn expression. She had tried many long-range tactics and short-range ones. However, Prarya City’s defenses were even sturdier than those of the Fortresses. Moreover, after the gargantuan explosion Liu Shu created during the initial part of the attacks, Eryndis had no Artillery Monoliths under her command. This made the assault a slow and tedious battle.  

When besieging a World Tree city, one needed to aim for four major objectives. The first and most important was knowing how to keep the World Tree’s attacks at bay. If you couldn’t block the World Tree’s attacks while sieging the city, you would eventually lose because the World Tree would gain an advantage. 

The second objective was to demoralize and hurt the defenders slowly. Sometimes, people defending a World Tree would become so cowardly or exhausted that their defenses faltered. Moreover, the World Tree and the people in charge of the World Tree city might be at odds, and the wars only aggravated such relations, causing internal chaos. 

The third objective was to be able to notice when the World Tree started to give up on defending itself. As explained previously, not all World Trees fought with teeth and nails for survival. So, if one pushed at the right time, the nature of the World Trees would slowly wane away until it completely gave up. This third objective was typically achieved through corruption tactics or by fostering dissent between the World Tree and its inhabitants.  

The fourth and final one was blocked by Liu Shu’s attacks, which were overwhelming the World Tree with attacks outside of its attack range. World Trees were immobile and extremely large. So, if you could attack them from a safe distance, not only would you flip the siege’s nature over, but you’d also gain the initiative. 

Eryndis was currently trying to use the first and third methods. She knew that Thalgryn was not someone who would be against the World Tree she defended. The bear woman was a person who would rather die in the fires of the World Tree she defended than survive the battle. 

But with the news Thalric sent, Eryndis felt like things got a hundred times more complicated. ‘What is worse than a powerful enemy? A backstabber within your ranks!’ She was naturally skeptical about the message; she even feared that the tablet had been compromised. Nevertheless, she couldn’t ignore a message like that, especially when it came directly from someone like Thalric. 

“Thalric is a man who wouldn’t accuse someone without any conviction. He is quite righteous for his own cause, and he would not play strange games during a war as important as this one. But what does he want me to do with…” Looking at the words in the tablet, she slammed the table. “This shit!”

Advisors at her side looked at each other, somewhat lost as well. “Lady Eryndis, Lord Thalric sent these words to everyone, including Evangeline. So, if they are the truth, Lady Evangeline’s army will start a retreat.”

“That’s impossible,” Eryndis spoke coldly. “I also don’t trust that woman much, so more than half of the army she is controlling are actually soldiers I’ve raised. The only loyal ones to Evangeline in that army are the corruption group accompanying her.”

Those words sent chills down the spines of many. The level of control that Eryndis seemed to have was truly all-encompassing. Thinking for a few seconds, she crossed her arms and spoke. “Okay, we’ll do it like this. First of all, act as if nothing happened. That woman will for sure send her trusty scouts to check the battlefields. So, if we act suspicious, she will also become suspicious. When distrust starts growing between parties, there will be no remedy.”

With that in mind, Eryndis stood up and said. “Send our fastest scouts to check on Evangeline’s army. Tell the rest that we’ll start another siege soon. Without those annoying flying snakes, we can maintain an attack for a few hours without problems. The last thing we want is to let Prarya recover because we are hesitating. If we don’t attack for a day, the World Tree will recover many days of damage. We can’t waste those efforts.”

***

Within the army attacking Fortuna City, people were starting to get somewhat restless. Evangeline had not ordered any siege attacks yet, as Liu Shu’s containment of the corruption disrupted many of her plans. The only things that had been going on for a while had been the Artillery Monoliths. However, with Liu Shu, Fortuna, and the Guardian Trees working together, blocking the assault was rather easy. 

“What’s the result? It has been four hours. Has the scout come back?” 

Evangeline asked while looking calm on the outside. Inside, though, she was feeling restless. Nothing was going according to plan, and that was very bothersome. It felt as if all their steps had been calculated beforehand by the enemy, and she was just walking toward certain destruction. 

“Lady Evangeline, we have not received any news yet.”

The man’s voice made her facial expression sink as a trace of anger flashed in her mind. Jolie entered through the door with a solemn expression at that moment. “Mother, we have finally managed to reach one of the roots containing the corruption…”

Evangeline thought that this would be good news, but her daughter’s facial expression clearly indicated otherwise. “Speak. What’s wrong?”

Jolie didn’t know how to say it without sounding ridiculous, so she just told her the blunt truth. “The roots containing the corruption are not Fortuna’s… They are Tianlian Liu Shu’s roots.”

“...What?” For the first time, Evangeline lost composure. “You must be mistaken! This is Fortuna’s domain! How can Tianlian Liu Shu’s roots… roots…” Evangeline got silent as many scenes appeared in her head. “No… We were never in Fortuna’s domain.” Her face twisted as she spoke through gritted teeth. “Everything is Tianlian Liu Shu’s domain. This is not a situation where World Trees are keeping boundaries, but one where a single World Tree dominates the entire landscape and allows World Trees to live within her root system!”

When those around her heard her words, their eyes opened wide. This meant that when attacking ANY city, they’d be attacking the resident World Tree AND Tianlian Liu Shu. Everywhere they attacked, they’d be fighting at least 2 World Trees! Moreover, the auras and buffs from both World Trees would affect those defending, making any fight unfavorable. An average soldier in the enemy lines might be twice as strong as theirs, even with the same base stats!

Looking at her hand, Evangeline noticed a slight trembling as cold sweat soaked her back. “We were never in control of any plot of land. Tianlian Liu Shu is a monster far beyond our estimations.” Looking at the distance where Fortuna City was, her face gained a trace of hesitation. ‘I can’t cash in my Sylvan Quest because we left Warlya alive. I was expecting that, even if Tianlian Liu Shu was powerful, she wouldn’t defy the natural order of things. Yet, the moment I started thinking like that, it seemed to have marked my defeat… Tianlian Liu Shu is beyond any common sense.’

The scout returned at that moment and spoke with a trembling voice. “Lady Evangeline! Thalric’s army is in complete disarray! Most of them have been exterminated and only a few groups are left. Most of those groups have fled toward the Wall Forest.”

“... How?” Evangeline almost felt tired of being shocked. 

“That… That…” 

Jolie frowned. “Why are you hesitating!? Speak up!”

The scout spoke with a pale face. “A World Tree manifested in the middle of the battlefield! This World Tree is probably Tianlian Liu Shu due to her characteristic blue-glowing energy veins in the roots.”

Blank faces filled the space as no one knew how to express the terror they felt when those words left the scout’s mouth. 

Liu Shu smiled at that moment. ‘Now that everyone knows~. Soulseeds, activate everywhere~.’ 

Then, the earth trembled as the ternary essences surged in three different locations. Those locations were all by Eryndis, Evangeline, and Vaelin's encampments.