Chương 455: Eve Of The Wild Continent War.

Eryndis tightened her bow, releasing a powerful arrow that struck the body of the giant World Tree in the distance. Simultaneously, hundreds of attacks flew from everywhere around it, bombarding the body of the tall and unique marvel of nature. Naturally, the World Tree defended with superior ferocity. Branches, roots, Aether Mana spells, and many other types of attacks flew everywhere from the powerful being, striking people here and there and killing them. Eryndis shouted.

"One last push! One last push and the West is ours!"

"One last push!"

"Attack!"

"Destroy it!" The fight went on for five more hours, and eventually, the World Tree got tired and stopped defending. The calming and accepting voice of the World Tree reached the woman.

"You win, Eryndis. However, the Azure Rose Confederation won't let this slide. Eventually, all your evils will catch up to you. That day, you will regret all your actions from the past, leaving nothing behind as your legacy."

"Wrong." Eryndis chuckled.

"Even if what you say is the truth. I'll leave behind the legacy of being one of the few in history who managed to conquer over half of the <Wild Continent> territory! When the <Wall Forest> falls to us as well, those on the east will be nothing but caged prey."

"Conquer the West? It seems that you've forgotten about Warlya." Eryndis' face became somewhat stiff as she frowned.

"Topple her down!" Spells bombarded the World Tree once more, and soon, her giant body gave up under its own weight and began cracking. The loud splintering of the tough wood was like bombs constantly setting off. Eryndis looked on at this now familiar sight.

"It is not every day that you have the chance to go on a rampage and see so many World Trees fall. Now, the only World Trees on this side of the Continent are the seven we managed to corrupt and Warlya. Well, Warlya is a foregone conclusion as well. Surrounded by corrupted flora, she will eventually be affected enough for our methods to work on her and overcome her willpower." By her side, a tall man with rough facial features spoke gruffly.

"Lady Eryndis, should we start <Quest: Golden Corruption>?" Eryndis smiled.

"Go ahead. It is a shame that a <Sylvan Quest> didn't generate after so much planning and preparation. Well, it is irrelevant. Tianlian Liu Shu must go or change sides, and the same goes for the <Wild Lands> southeast of the continent. The lack of a <Sylvan Quest> is not enough reason for us to delay our attack anymore." Her smile turned somewhat evil.

"Send people to tell the aquatic base that we are ready to strike. I want to see how she will react when the Wall Forest or the Troubled Sea that she thought protected her becomes the very thing that will prevent all her population from escaping disaster."

Golden Sap City. Inside one of the largest meeting rooms inside the <Lignified Town Hall>, Flor and many other leaders were in a meeting. The one leading the meeting was not Flor, though. This time, someone else took charge.

"Thank you for answering my call." A nature-like voice that sounded like a pleasant chorus spread throughout the entire room. Its presence was enough to make others feel pressured. The voice was none other than that of their World Tree, also known as the Heavenly Willow Tree or Tianlian Liu Shu.

"We are thankful that Lady World Tree has called us today." Liu Shu glanced at them with a calm expression. The grand majority of these people were people she didn't know personally. However, she had naturally spied on most leaders in her domain. To say that they were just and fair would be a stretch, but to say that they were corrupt and evil would be a lie. They were just slightly greedy, but overall good leaders.

Liu Shu understood that utterly suppressing and squashing the free will of people to force them to act like what you believe is righteous would eventually lead to those being oppressed exploding with indignation and rioting. Therefore, using a tightly developed judicial system, Liu Shu controlled most politics in the entire domain. Even if they are the mayor of one of the cities, if a judge pins a crime on them, as a World Tree, it would be easy to deliver "justice" without any extra interference.

"Oh, he was guilty. It is no wonder Lady World Tree dealt with him." Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

"Such a shame. Here I thought he was a good leader. But I was deceived! Deserved for lying to us all!" Such conversations were easy to create under any guise. Now, this way of ruling was appropriate because of the very essence that Liu Shu was a World Tree. Her lifespan was virtually infinite, and her sense of good and bad was relatively moderate, with almost no chance of becoming corrupted in the moral sense.

Something extreme needed to happen that would completely change her moral compass for Liu Shu to become a despotic tyrant. I digress. After receiving the greetings from the leaders, Liu Shu spoke slowly and at length about what was happening around the world.

"The <Abyssal Void Nexus> has already started the final arrangements before they attack us. This means that the East of the Wild Continent has been mostly conquered."

"Mostly?" A man with a long beard interrupted.

"Lady World Tree, how could the Nexus think of starting to attack us without completely clearing the other side?" Liu Shu glanced at the older gentleman who spoke and answered curtly.

"World Tree Warlya lives on the other side." Then, she ignored his reaction and continued speaking.

"Now, the aquatic base of the Void Nexus has become active, and the Wall Forest will soon welcome hundreds of thousands of Void Nexus troops. The number of <Third Energy Cycles> has diminished greatly on the other side since the start of the war. Nevertheless, they are being supported by the main continent of the <Abyssal Void Nexus>. So, expecting reinforcements is not too outlandish to take into account." A nobleman with a luxurious tunic and fair skin asked aloud.

"Lady World Tree, do we know the exact numbers on the other side? How could Warlya defend if they have so many people to conquer half the continent?" Liu Shu glanced at that person, and detecting that he was Level 14, she didn't even bother answering him.

'A perfectly mature but low-level person can't understand the threat tens of thousands of <Third Energy Cycles> represent.'

"As I was saying, the enemy has anti-World-Tree technology that prevents me and my sisters from seeing, hearing, and interacting with certain areas. I am sure that this technology is what gave them the advantage against the World Trees on the other side of the Wall Forest." Being ignored so blatantly made the man's face turn red with anger. He was a high-ranking leader, even if his level was low. So, he probably thought that he needed to be given some respect.

"Lady World Tree, ignoring our words won't help you with your cause. Please answer my question, or my Clover City won't participate in your war!" The World Tree sighed in her mind.

"Has your second in command come with you?" The man frowned and answered, confused.

"Yes."

"Great. You've been demoted. Whoever that man is will now be the mayor of Clover City. Let's congratulate him." Everyone was hesitant, but the rest followed when Flor clapped her hands, followed by many other close people to Liu Shu. Meanwhile, the nobleman's eyes were round and full of indignation.

"Lady World Tree, you can't do this!" Liu Shu laughed twice.

"Oh, watch me. Take away his title and give it to the other person." The man suddenly saw a message pop up in his interface. [You've been stripped of the <Clover City Mayor> title.]"... Ha?"

"Now, stand up and trade your seat with that person. Oh, and if you make any trouble or even dare to plot revenge, I'll kill you." The man's face spasmed, and cold sweat flowed down his back. In conversations between intelligent beings, such blunt threats were unthinkable. After all, everyone followed a minimum sense of cordiality, false or truthful. However, as the World Tree and lord of the entire domain, Liu Shu could speak as she pleased, and no one would dare bring it up to her.

Additionally, those who had the guts or a enough close relationship with Liu Shu were utterly loyal and always on her side. Then, Liu Shu asked while the trade was happening.

"Does anyone else want to betray Golden Sap Country and threaten me with retreating from the war? If that's the case, raise your hands now so I can make the substitutions quickly." Everyone stayed silent and stiff, fearing a little gesture would be taken as agreeing with her words. After waiting for a few moments, the echoey voice of the World Tree spoke with a smile.

"Perfect… Now, where was I? Right, anti-World-Tree thingies and such. Anyway, to summarize, the enemy can hide from me within my territory, and that's annoying. If I can't see them, <Mother Of Thousand Flower Field> can't aim with precision. So, don't expect long-range precision bombardment but instead a broader suppression type." Flor nodded and added to Liu Shu's words.

"The Runic Formations for the anti-sound tools have been easily deciphered. However, the Runic Rods are quite complex. The best we've been able to develop in this short amount of time are pulse bombs that can disrupt the fields for a few minutes. This will change the terrain from a blind spot to a blurry spot for Lady World Tree. They are currently being produced as fast as possible, and we should have enough by the time the full-blown war starts."

With Flor and Liu Shu's words, everyone in the room understood that, while they did have an advantage, they weren't that far ahead of their enemies. Everyone in the room also understood that Liu Shu's growth was another point of which the enemies were unaware. Still, it was not something that she would say aloud.

"Finally, I wanted to say to everyone that while I do have control over the Wall Forest, I am not going to use it as a shield for our armies. Everything within the domain is a helping tool, not something to sacrifice. A patch of forest is as hard, if not harder, to grow than a bunch of soldiers of the same level." Before people started frowning and having bad thoughts, our World Tree clarified.

"What I mean is, when you are leading the army, do so thinking you'll receive no support. That way, when you do receive my support, things won't ever go south and can only get better. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Lady World Tree!" Satisfied with their response, Liu Shu finished her participation in the meeting by saying her next action.

"Now, prepare the armies that will go to Lakeborn City and those who will attack the underwater location survivors when I collapse it." Her tone became ruthless as she spat her last sentence.

"Our first strike will be telling the Nexus that, if they want to play, they will need to be willing to make great sacrifices."