Chương 412: Fourth Months. Overall Situation. Berries!

Overall Situation. Berries!

While there were a few groups who got heavily crippled after fighting the Terragores underground, many more were successful in their attempts. Groups who completed the <Personal Objective> were not few, creating a surge in work for the country's crafters. With <Sylvanium Ingots>, the D Tier material, weapons, armors, and many other items were constantly being produced. With the <Temple Of Craft> buff, some C Tier masterpieces appeared among the population.

On average, a D Tier armor of Level 50 added roughly 1500 points to each <Stat>, while a Level 50 C Tier equipment would add around 3000 points to each. Of course, that was supposing that they were crafted perfectly. The jump between tiers was quite significant when creating items as well. By the time the fourth month of the war against the <Terragore> started, all the caves had been mapped to perfection, and Explorers started understanding which zones they could approach.

Of course, that would be impossible without all the sacrifices before them. Regardless, the casualties began decreasing significantly after the mapped area was published. Simultaneously, the Terragores were cornered and surrounded, slowly enclosing them in the <Blooming Aether Swamp> underground area. Verdantia walked slowly with the army, looking around attentively. Her face was full of dirt, and there was a hint of tiredness between her brows. Moreover, she was not the only one.

The 400 people around her were equally tired or worse. BOOM! Looking over, Verdantia noticed a Terragore sprawled on the floor, leaking blood everywhere, while Ignatia stood on top of it, stomping its head against the ground. In the entire group, Ignatia was the least tired by far. The Ant Queen looked back and smiled.

"We should rest for an hour. Sweeping the tunnels ahead will be quite hard. Moreover, it is time for me to have mommy time~." Her throat clicked a few times, and several hundred ants flowed from the passages, surrounding Ignatia while she lay down to lay her daily eggs. Flor easily flew inside, landing in her arms and closing her eyes to rest. Ignatia chuckled.

"You really love being with me while I lay my eggs~. Such a pervert~." Flor didn't mind and rubbed her face against Ignatia's voluminous chest.

"It feels nice to be near you~." She glanced at Ignatia mischievously.

"Moreover, I know a certain someone loves to squeeze me in her arms while laying eggs~." Ignatia's antennae bobbed shyly and she squeezed the petite fairy in her arms. Outside, Cinderielle approached Ignatia and asked while sitting down on the ground.

"Verdantia, how big do you think Dewna has grown? What about our other babies? I hope Liu Shu is taking care of them, since she looked quite distracted while dealing with the <Wall Forest>." Tempestria used a bit of water from her flask to clean her hands and face.

"Can you blame her? Even if she is a World Tree, controlling all the roots in such a large area must be mentally taxing. More so when she is doing it almost all day." Harmonixia sat cross-legged, placing her zither on her thighs.

"I didn't expect the Wild Continent to have this level of threat. Even on other continents, these Terragores would be quite a problem. To be honest, I expected a few tens of thousands of monsters lurking underground in total. But, according to records… How many have died already? 82, 000?" Tempestria shook her head.

"That report is from last month. By this month, the casualties on both sides have escalated. On our part, we've lost a total of 48 <Third Energy Cycles> and around 6, 400 <Second Energy Cycles>. The Terragores have lost a total of 133, 000 creatures, with nearly 750 being <Third Energy Cycles>." Verdantia frowned.

"Those numbers are not small. Why have there been so many deaths?" Tempestria smiled wryly.

"Over 4, 000 of those deaths occurred during the first month. The second one had the most <Third Energy Cycle> casualties, reaching 28 during that month." Verdantia sighed, leaning back while looking at the dark ceiling above them.

"Quite harsh. Thankfully, teams have learned how to deal with them, and the merchants nearby have also saved quite a few lives. Is there any threat for Terragore to excavate a new tunnel and attack the supply chains and hotspots?"

"None." Tempestria answered with conviction.

"All those locations are placed strategically right below the World Trees. If the <Terragore> even dares to come close, those World Trees will warn everyone about the threat directly or indirectly."

"Using our strengths to our advantage~." The Life Sylvan laughed. Tempestria chuckled while drying her hands with her Wind Aether Mana.

"That's what separates the intelligent races from the beasts, right?" Cinderielle answered cynically.

"It's also that intelligence that pushes people to a greedy path of destruction that takes many people with it." Harmonixia exclaimed with a short laugh.

"Woah, there. If you say those profound things, you'll surprise my flowers into bloom." A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The remark made the other three Sylvans roll their eyes.

"Can you speak normally for once?" Harmonixia chuckled and then asked.

"But Tempestria, you've been down here like us, right? How do you know about all those things?"

"Unlike you three, I told one of my informants to contact me every month at the same hour and communicate a few essential things." As they talked, an hour passed quickly, and everyone felt slightly more refreshed. Ignatia and Flor also left the group of ants, while the ants carried the precious eggs away in an organized group. Flor spoke to everyone while sitting on Ignatia's shoulder.

"We are entering the true territory of the Terragore from now on. Until now, we've been fighting against the external routes, and you've seen that it was far from easy. We even found a group of 600 Terragore with 30 <Third Energy Cycle> monsters, and we almost lost a few people." Ignatia nodded.

"If it weren't because of the summoners who are extremely strong and can use their summons as shields, more than a few of you would've died during the expedition. So, from now on, take any notion of going outside out of your heads. We are entering <Terragore Empire> territory with all the other main groups." She commented.

"My ants have fought a few times against them, and while they don't really have a commanding structure in large fights, they are intelligent enough to create ambushes, traps, and many other tricks. They are natural underground predators." Flor finished by saying.

"Now, keep your mind alert, and each time any of your Ternary Essences hits 50%, you must shout it out loud. Our recovery tools and items are limited by daily use, after all." Liu Shu's berries had been stuck at the same tier for a long time, so their ability to replenish them was basically null. Still, using those berries in concoctions and potions created new, powerful potions they could use. <Phoer Berry Potion>: Recovers 30 <Phoer Body Cores> during a period of 3 hours. Maximum uses daily, 5.

<Aether Berry Potion>: Recovers 30 <Aether Mana Cores> during a period of 3 hours. Maximum uses daily, 5. <Anima Berry Potion>: Recovers 30 <Anima Energy Cores> during a period of 3 hours. Maximum uses daily, 5. Each of these potions needed the concentrated essence of almost 50 berries of each kind. Regardless, with the now ridiculous amount of daily berries Liu Shu produced, it was not a problem to create a vast supply.

Liu Shu was now over 2400 meters tall, and her Aether Mana and Anima energy reserves were roughly around 750 <Cores>. Just with that, and using her usual way of growing fruits, Liu Shu produced the following amount of berries monthly: <Delicious Berry>: 3, 000, 000 fruits. <Phoer Berry>: 1, 200, 000 fruits. <Mana Berry>: 1, 200, 000 fruits. <Energy Berry>: 1, 200, 000 fruits. <Breakthrough Berry>: 1, 388 fruits. <Resonant Berry>: 30, 000 fruits. <Refinement Berry>: 30, 000 fruits. <Affinity Berry>: 30, 000 fruits.

<Palace Berry>: 30, 000 fruits. <Energy Cycle Experience Berry>: 2, 083 fruits. <Cerulean Bloodfruit>: 416 fruits. With so many of them, there was no shortage of supplies accumulated in the enormous <Lignified Vault>. Speaking of which, this structure, which was the first one Liu Shu ever created, had so much inner space that even now, not even a quarter of it was filled. Moreover, as Liu Shu and it Leveled Up, the Vault continued to grow in size.

Thankfully, there were many managers to organize it, while Liu Shu also did some work to ensure she remembered how much of each material she had. After all, other than the <Wall Forest> project, Liu Shu had been doing extra work on the sides to reinforce the cities under her domain. This work involved creating <Lignified Walls>, <Guardian Trees>, and long-range defense by building <Mother Of Thousand Flower Field> in each major city.

While they wouldn't be as strong as the ones near her main body, it was enough to be incredibly menacing. They had around half the efficacy of the real deal due to the lack of some buffs her proximity <Runic Fields> produced. Still, they were a worthwhile investment since not only were they a way to defend them, but also a way to control all World Trees. If one day one of them decided to go against her, the <Mother Of Thousand Flower Field> built around them would point their cannons inwards.

Not even Liu Shu herself would like to be under the fire of the full capabilities of her own defensive field. Of course, for now, the World Trees were not fully aware of how big a menace they were. Focusing on Flor's group once more, they finally stepped into <Terragore Empire> territory. Once there, their group of 400 noticed the difference in the walls of the caves.

While not as polished or perfected as ant colony tunnels, the cave system was much more orderly and neat, with several forking paths that would confuse almost anyone. Ignatia looked around and her antennae twitched. The two beautiful red antennae on her forehead were not for decoration, and using a complex biology of chemical and ternary essence receptors, she could easily map the nearby caves in her head. It came instinctively with her bloodline, which was quite handy.

Pointing at one of the paths on her right, Ignatia commented seriously.

"That way, there is a lot of Terragore activity. I suggest that we slowly clean the place, leaving a way to escape behind us. After all, if we are swarmed by thousands of Terragore, even if they are <Second Energy Cycle> monsters, we'll be in deep trouble. Moreover, Liu Shu's roots around this area are quite sparse, so her ability to help is very limited." Flor easily agreed.

"So, the plan is to clean <Terragore> as we advance, that way, we won't have a situation of being ambushed from behind. Even if there are many monsters, we can reduce their numbers systematically. Eventually, they will have no other choice but to congregate and play on the defensive. Once that occurs, we will gather with the rest of the groups and begin our final siege against the main colony." Ignatia chuckled.

"That's a good summary. It is easier said than done, though." Flor jumped from Ignatia's shoulder, her beautiful pink fairy wings buzzing gently.

"Well, nothing I've ever done has been easy, so nothing has changed. We just need to do it carefully so that no one else dies unexpectedly." Ignatia's face softened, and she leaned forward to kiss her cheek.

"Don't worry, we'll prioritize safety. We still have a few years until the time for the <Sylvan Quest> runs out, so there is no need to rush."