Thalric’s group had been reduced to 150 people as they fled. However, since they had overcome the most intense section of Liu Shu’s bombardment range, they managed to regain some calm.

“Lord Thalric, we are five minutes away from the Wall Forest! What are your orders?”

Thalric looked behind them before answering. When the floor exploded a few moments earlier, he had lost his communication tool, and many of the beasts were injured to the point that running was faster than mounting them.

Now, after running for several hours, they finally arrived near the edge of the Wall Forest.

“Tianlian Liu Shu probably has eyes on us. If we dare stop or rest before we get out of her domain, we’ll be in trouble!”

Rumble!

As they ran, ternary essences surged in the surroundings, making their faces pale. The reason was that the same thing had happened before when the World Tree somehow manifested in front of them. Thalric ordered, his voice gaining a faint tremble. “Don’t miss a single patch of land! If anywhere the land starts bulging, say it and we’ll flee in the opposite direction!”

The chances that the World Tree would manifest by their side again were slim. After all, in Thalric’s opinion, the World Tree would much prefer to appear in places with many people to eliminate more threats and protect the domain.

“Flee into the Wall Forest! Once inside, the World Tree won’t be able to reach us easily. Her offensive power will also become limited. After all, if she dares to cause a great commotion inside the Wall Forest, the flora of that place will attack her.”

The group of elites easily accepted Thalric’s words as they accelerated their march. Instead of stopping to rest in front of the Wall Forest tree line, the group of 150 rushed into the forest without a shred of hesitation.

Liu Shu observed them enter the forest, and a bubbly laugh erupted from her.

“People delivering themselves into my strongest locations around the domain is always quite the treat~.”

In the meantime, the Soulseeds manifested in the other three battlefields together with the ants, winged serpents, and the reinforcements from the Olive Vine Fortress.

After the enemy’s defeat, only hunting groups were left behind to clean up the area. Liu Shu guided these groups, and whenever the enemies entered the domain of any other World Tree, they would be in deep trouble.

All the World Trees that received the unwelcome visitors were ruthless and efficient with the matter. Once a group touched a relatively deep part of the domain, the earth would burst up as gargantuan roots coiled and smashed around the place.

Trying to flee in a World-Tree-heavy land was like trying to escape a spider by climbing around the web it created. You’d only be telling the spider about your location, making it easier to become food.

Back to Thalric, the man was unaware of the ensuing chaos on the battlefield, and he continued traversing the Wall Forest for a while. One of the scouts spoke to him. “Lord, we are a quarter of the way inside. Around this location, we should’ve seen some animal population. However, we’ve encountered nothing. I think there is something wrong with this area.”

Thalric frowned and raised his hand. The quick march slowed down as they looked at the surroundings warily. “Tell me, what is your suggestion?”

The man who spoke looked around and replied. “I think we should move north or south until we find some fauna. Locations where fauna don’t dare step inside are because the flora in that place is too strong and also carnivorous. When we were in a large group, we had no reason to fear those areas. Our numbers were just that high. Moreover, we chose open paths to travel. Now, we are evading those because Tianlian Liu Shu might’ve prepared an ambush over there. So, we are in danger of entering an aggressive flora area.”

“What if we find nothing?” Thalric asked. “You are asking us to lose too much time in something that might only avoid some complications. I think that traversing the Wall Forest as quickly as possible is what we should do.”

The scout partially agreed. However, there was a sense of unsettling peace in the surroundings, as if it were the calm before the storm. Honestly, he was just speaking more out of a hunch than real evidence. 

Some of his colleagues noticed as well, and one spoke with a snort. “You are being too paranoid. While your words make sense, you can see some animal activity around us. For example, broken branches there, feces over there, and you can see a few feathers on those branches above us.”

The man pointed around, and while the traces were barely noticeable, once one focused, they became clear. With that in mind, Thalric scolded the first man.

“I won’t punish you severely because everyone is scared. However, once we return, you’ll receive punishment for interrupting the highest priority retreat. Move on!”

The group advanced, and as the second group began to move, the trees behind them slowly shifted. Their roots climbed upward, creating a convoluted wall that spread quickly in a large circle. Liu Shu was now processing many things at the same time, trying to control her Soulseeds while also making sure no one escaped. This forced her to use 100% of her processing power to the point that her Avatar was lying limply on the leaf bed without a single movement, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Thalric’s group noticed something was wrong after a few more minutes. “Hey, where is Johan?”

Johan was the person covering the retreat path. Looking back, they saw that no one was following them from behind. Everyone became solemn and stuck together while warily looking at their surroundings.

“Lord Thalric.” The same scout who warned about the possible dangers spoke with an ugly tone. “Please, analyze the trees we are surrounded by.”

“The trees?” Thalric focused his gaze, and the System Page popped into his eyes. Most things were covered. However, there was one Title that caught his eye.

***

One With The World Tree: You are one with the World Tree. Her will is your will; her existence is your existence. You become impossible to corrupt and gain traits from the World Tree.

***

“... What!?” Thalric was stumped. “Where did these titles come from!? Why didn’t we detect them earlier!?”

It was then that the World Tree’s will spread throughout the Wall Forest.

‘Kill intruders.’

Those thoughts were what finally awakened the dormant and strengthened ancient forest.

Rustling sounds of the wind caressing the leaves of the trees reached the people in Thalric’s army. Then, a creaking sound reached them, together with the sound of the earth moving. Thalric looked around, and his face turned white.

“Escape!”

“What direction, Lord!?”

Thalric hesitated. They were around a third of the way toward the other side. So, turning back was not an option. If this had happened earlier, Thalric might’ve chosen to go back to Liu Shu’s domain. Escaping the forest’s boundaries was the priority after all. Knowing that this was also part of Tianlian Liu Shu’s plan, Thalric felt a mix of hatred and fear invade his body.

“Forward! Once we cross the Wall Forest, we’ll be free! Go in formation and destroy any weak-looking tree in our way.” 

After Liu Shu placed the Wall Forest under her Domain, their Level and Tier went up. As a result, they were far from being able to one-shot these Third Energy Cycle trees. Defending against the roots was not impossible, though.

The group of 150 rushed through the complicated forest, and around 20 seconds after they started their run, the Wall Forest attacked.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Roots shot like whips from the ground and from the nearby trees, slamming against the shields they had set up with enough strength to make them tremble.

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

How many trees were there in the Wall Forest? How dense was the forest? Liu Shu knew far too well. Were it not for her incredibly strong ability to influence flora, the Wall Forest would never have surrendered to her and might’ve defeated her. Now, a small group of 150 Third Energy Cycles was trying to face hundreds of thousands of trees in their way to freedom.

BOOM! 

One root slipped by the defensive measures and pushed one of the soldiers. The soldier quickly recovered, but that small stumble placed him five steps behind the army. How much distance was five steps? Just a few meters. Usually, such a distance would be insignificant. However, as he separated from the ground, roots, vines, and flowers pounced at him like hungry snakes.

“Let me go!” He waved his sword helplessly, trying to block the barrage of attacks. But it didn’t matter how elite or high-level he was—when thousands of attacks arrived at him at once, each with enough strength to pierce his defenses even if only a little bit—the result was just one:

Death.

STAB! STAB! BANG! CRACK! BOOM!

“Arg! GAH! AHH!!!”

The poor man was rag-dolled and skewered with hundreds of [-100,000] to [-300,000] numbers appearing on his body. Even with a few hundred Phoer Body Cores, the rain-like barrage depleted his Phoer reserves in just a few seconds.

Thalric looked behind for a moment, only for his heart to drop. The mangled mess of flesh was even more horrifying since plants didn’t really have a sense of what not to eat. So, the body was ripped apart into chunks and dragged underground.

From then on, the same thing happened again and again. One tripped on a root and was then devoured, another was snatched into the air by some hanging carnivorous flowers and devoured alive, and a few others were struck by a wave of lethargy pollen and fell asleep while running—dragged away in the next moment.

The fear of being attacked by the very forest you always took as “landscape” or “harmless” could drive even the strongest minds into collapse.

Death. Death. Death. Death. Death.

Thalric just ran for his life as everyone around him fell like flies. And as he ran and was sometimes struck, he finally saw the area before him clear up.

“Ha… Ha… Ha…” Thalric’s legs trembled from the effort it took to flee without stopping for such a long distance, and he looked around with a confused look. “I… I did it?”

His disbelief was soon changed by bubbling happiness. Eyes wide, he started laughing like a maniac. “I did it! Hahaha! I crossed that damned Wall Forest! Hahaha!”

“Great job~.”

His laugh came to an abrupt stop as a voice he couldn’t forget, even if he wanted to, echoed around him. Then, in front of him, a single root double the thickness of a normal human torso rose. The root’s blue energy veins pulsed with raw power as it waved gently at him.

“You crossed the Wall Forest. Congratulations! While I told them to take you at the very end, I didn’t expect you to trip and accidentally dodge the last root attack~.”

Thalric’s eyes were trembling erratically as chills rushed through his body. The sound of his heart beating against his chest was so loud that one might’ve been able to hear it standing there in silence.

Liu Shu chuckled. “Sadly for you, I have long taken a large chunk beyond the Wall Forest as part of my domain.”

The floor around him cracked, and another root peeked from the ground.

Then, another.

And another.

And another.

And another.

And another.

And another.

And another.

And another.

And another.

Thalric looked around, despair coloring his expression, as enough roots surged from the ground to create a dome above his head and hide the Sun. The only illumination was the blue glow from the roots.

“Now, die. This moment was decided the day you chose to target me.”

Thalric shouted with a crazed expression and took out his weapon. “WORLD TREE! DON’T THINK THAT—”

But Liu Shu’s roots didn’t let him finish and descended from the skies.

Then…

“Root Explosion.”

BOOOM!!!!

[-85,000,000]!

[Congratulations on defeating Ceperet Human Level 74 (B+ Rank). You've gained 15,650 Experience Points.]