Chương 389: Nexus's Awareness and Liu Shu's Tempting Offer.

"Hm… Why is it taking so long?" A man was looking at his forces with an unpleasant face. They had been sieging the Covenant's territory for almost five years already. While they'd taken over nearly everything, the three main World Trees of the area were holding on strong. Being Level 70+ World Trees, creatures below the <Fourth Energy Cycle> couldn't overwhelm them. Hence, they needed to wear them down, and when they were weak enough, give them the final strike.

The informant standing on his side answered with a tense face.

"Lord Vaelin, we lost Marlius' army somehow. And since then, we've been in some trouble. The sudden disappearance of over 5, 000 <Third Energy Cycles> crippled our advance back then. As a result, the Covenant's reinforcements managed to arrive early." Vaelin's face turned ugly.

"Somehow? That's the best way you have to explain the disappearance of a strong army? How can over five thousand Third Energy Cycles and over seventy thousand Second Energy Cycles disappear overnight? Did they not tell anyone where they were going?" The man's legs trembled when he saw Vaelin reaching for his sword. He spoke quickly before his head flew out of his shoulders.

"Lord! We discovered something not long ago! I came this time around to give you what we found." Vaelin paused and glanced at the scroll that the man was presenting while bowing. He pondered and then picked the scroll. This made the assistant sigh in relief. Vaelin didn't care and looked at the scroll.

"Hm…? Golden Sap Province? Isn't that the small countryside place right on the other side of the Wall Forest?" Vaelin's face turned strange.

"Are you telling me that Marlius went there and then disappeared? If this is some sort of tactic to delay your execution, once I find out that you've lied, I'll send you to the torture chambers!" The informant spoke seriously, his body trembled slightly at the possibility of going to that hellish place.

"L-Lord, I swear that this information is true. A friend of sub-commander Forma spoke with sub-commander Forma before they departed. According to the friend, Forma was not too agreeable since they had their duties, and a delay would cause strong pushback. However, Lord Marlius was sure that he could conquer that place and set an outpost before the time for the next attack arrived." Vaelin laughed twice mockingly.

"Arrogant. I had some expectations that Marlius would rein in his arrogance and listen to the arrangements to avoid messing up the opportunity he was given. It seems that his ego was truly too big to listen to my words!" When Marlius' army disappeared, the southern part of the Covenant's territory managed to escape their assaults and spread upward to reinforce strategic locations.

Without Marlius' army, those that they needed to keep in check were free to move around and managed to do ambushes around the territory, buying enough time for Covenant members from the main continent to arrive and aid them. After the reinforcements arrived, the Nexus's advancing speed ground to a halt, and it has remained that way ever since. Vaelin continued reading through the report, and his face quickly changed from annoyed to serious. The further he read through the reports, the wider his eyes became.

"... Is everything that's written here true?" The informant spoke with a solemn expression.

"If there is something inaccurate, it is because the information is somewhat outdated. We have yet to send active spies to that area because we needed to inform Lord Vaelin first." Vaelin was the major commander of the attack group that planned the majority of the attack. He coordinated with another leader, a woman named Kaelis, from the Nexus-dominated part of the continent. Still, between her and his orders, his had more priority.

After reading the report in his hands, he felt that he had been slapped with a large hand, and the sneering face of a confident silver-haired Sylvan appeared in his head.

"Evangeline…" He swept his semi-long black hair back with his hand and sighed.

"She warned us, but we ignored her. No wonder she asked to be moved out after we ignored her words." In the report he just read, Vaelin was informed that the Golden Sap Province had taken over the other side of the Wall Forest.

"Tianlian Liu Shu is now the overlord World Tree of the East side of the continent. The <Dark Aether Swamp>'s name has changed to <Blooming Aether Swamp>, and World Tree Tianlian Liu Shu now controls it for the most part. The World Trees in World Tree Tianlian Liu Shu's territory have strangely not been attacked. Some people speculate that they've entered an alliance with World Tree Tianlian Liu Shu…" The more he read, the uglier his expression became.

The little bug that he could just stomp on at any time had grown into a massive wall. Vaelin planned to conquer the Covenant's territory. Then, once they secured the area and a foothold was built, they would cross the Wall Forest and conquer the entire East area beyond the Wall Forest. With the <Dark Aether Swamp>, they could expand their domain and turn it into something difficult to retake for the rest of the powers.

Finally, once the East fell under his control, dominating the rest of the Continent would be a matter of time. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. However, because of a single misstep taken by Marlius, all his plans were delayed to the point that a new super force had bloomed in the East. He didn't know much about it either, other than their strength being powerful enough to make someone like Marlius disappear without a trace for a few years.

A tired sigh escaped his mouth.

"Send a message to the main continent and inform them about everything. Send the report and label it as a priority intelligence report so that they don't ignore it. Tianlian Liu Shu has grown enough to be a menace for our plans and needs to be eliminated…" Vaelin's face shone with a wicked light for a second.

"Or corrupted."

Meanwhile, Liu Shu was panting tiredly.

"That was… too tiresome! I have no Aether Mana left!" Lakeborn Forest spoke softly.

"Thank you for your efforts~." Prarya intervened in the chat.

"Hey, Lakeborn? How is it? You've now become an Ocean World Tree!" Lakeborn checked her new surroundings and spoke slowly.

"We feel… fresh. The change in environment is certainly quite big. However, we can sense that our domain will expand quickly. Thank you for your efforts, Liu Shu." Liu Shu spoke with a giggle.

"No need for that~. I just hope that you can live happily~." Lakeborn's tone softened, and she spoke tenderly.

"We will." Hara muttered somewhat shyly.

"Little Liu Shu, you are so powerful. Thank you for not attacking me when I denied you at first." Liu Shu giggled.

"No worries, Big Sister Hara! You were deceived by those people. Hmph, hmph. Now that I've sent the Stormrider Family to help you govern your city, I am sure you'll have a better time." Hara chuckled.

"Indeed. Lord Stormrider is a great leader." Liu Shu suddenly remembered something and communicated with another big sister.

"Big Sister Fortuna!" A high-pitched, surprised voice reached her.

"Y-Yes!?" Liu Shu paused, and her tone became mischievous.

"Hehe, did I interrupt something between Eila and you?" Fortuna's embarrassed and sharp tone reached her.

"W-What are you talking about, little girl!? M-Me and E-E-E-Eila have nothing to do with each other!" Liu Shu giggled and exposed the World Tree shamelessly.

"I saw her enter your Core Room~."

"AH! PERVERT! Why are you stalking me!?" Meanwhile, in Fortuna's Core room, Eila observed with amusement as the beautiful and mature woman's face turned as red as a cooked shrimp.

"What happened?" Fortuna's <Avatar> snapped out of her conversation with Liu Shu. Seeing the violet-eyed and black-haired woman caressing her face and looking at her with a seductive smile, Fortuna felt her roots tangling.

"N-N-Nothing." Eila raised her eyebrow and pushed Fortuna down.

"Since you don't want to tell me properly, let's make a few babies before you become honest again." Fortuna's eyes widened, and she stuttered.

"W-W-Wait—" But the Sylvan didn't wait. Feeling the pollen and body around Eila spreading, a sense of unbearable pleasure crossed Fortuna's mind.

"Aaaahng~!" Liu Shu wanted to continue teasing Fortuna, but Cinderielle, who was in her Core Room, suddenly pinched her waist.

"Kya!" Liu Shu jumped a little, and she glanced at the red-haired Sylvan with a blush.

"W-What are you doing?" Cinderielle smiled amusedly.

"Were you teasing someone? You were spacing out while smiling mischievously." Liu Shu's eyes glittered, and she hugged Cinderielle's neck.

"Listen, listen. Big Sister Fortuna and Eila are together! Now, Eila is in Fortuna's Core Room, hehehe. I was teasing Fortuna about it!" Cinderielle looked at Liu Shu deeply and smiled.

"I know about it. Aunty Eila told me about it. It seems that Fortuna is already pregnant with a few pollinated seeds. Soon, they'll be able to plant them~." Liu Shu's eyes widened.

"So fast!?" Cinderielle snorted and pinched Liu Shu's glutinous cheek.

"Unlike someone, it seems that Fortuna is not against it." Liu Shu looked at Cinderielle guiltily. She sat on Cinderielle's thighs and buried her face in her neck.

"I know that… It's just… I don't know how to take that step." Liu Shu was afraid that if she chose someone as "the first", the rest would feel really bad. Therefore, she had been pushing their attempts back for a while. It was not that Liu Shu didn't want to take the relationship to the next step. In truth, each time she saw them enter her Core Room, Liu Shu's entire body entered into heat.

Even now, while acting spoiledly with Cinderielle, Liu Shu was like a moist flower, emanating charm from every pore of her body. In the past, the Sylvans had been unable to hold back and actually tried to take that last step with Liu Shu. After all, who could resist such temptation? However, when they were about to continue, they saw a trace of fear flash in Liu Shu's eyes. That was like a basin of cold water pouring down their entire body. Since then, they've been mindful but have never taken that last step.

They wanted Liu Shu to take that first step, but Liu Shu felt quite guilty. Cinderielle patted Liu Shu's back. Even now, she could feel the excited body of the woman between her arms.

'Ah…' Cinderielle felt Liu Shu's soft lips press against her neck and slowly savour her.

"Cinderielle~." The sweet and coquettish voice sent a chill down Cinderielle's spine.

"Cinderielle… I'll relieve you today~." That sentence made a certain part of her body jump and create a large tent below with moistness spreading at the top.

"W-What do you mean?" Liu Shu separated and looked at Cinderielle with her moist and seductive amethyst eyes.

"Hehe~, just relax~."