Chương 457: Collapsing Ocean.

While the woman leading the underwater base was moving toward the research center, she heard something absurd from the runic voice augmentors placed in certain parts of the city to warn of dangers.

"There has been a breach in the prison cells. We are calling for all <Third Energy Cycles> to go to the area and help contain the breach. We repeat, there has been…" The announcement rang constantly, and by the time it finished the second time, the woman's face changed to one of disbelief.

"How could that be possible? The system in place is controlled by the main runic system. For a breach to occur in the prison, it means that the main runic system has malfunctioned to some degree…" Her mind was sharp, so instantly, her gaze shifted upward, and she glanced at the white line on the transparent surface.

"If there was a malfunction… That might truly be a crack from a failure at evenly spreading out the water pressure." Fearing the worst, she sped up and rushed toward the main research center. Meanwhile, on the surface, a bunch of people started mounting the massive platform to descend and help with the breach.

"Go down and help! Now is the worst time for something like this to happen, so we must suppress it as fast as we can. Those are some dangerous people that we placed there!" The commanders and other leaders on the surface sent batches of powerful soldiers down. Inside the prison area, the bearded man who met Liu Shu was looking at the roots with surprise and confusion.

"Why are you helping us? What are you, really?"

"In around… 20 minutes, you will know why I am doing this." Liu Shu answered him calmly as she observed the battlefield. The prisoners were surprisingly organized, and they formed a group that defended and counterattacked against enemy forces. They had one great advantage, and that was that their captors couldn't use highly destructive spells or attacks of any kind. They were, after all, underwater.

This allowed both sides to enter into a stalemate even when the prisoners were in much smaller numbers and overall strength. Within a few minutes, the tide of the battle began to lean toward the side of the underwater base soldiers. The man was observing from a distance with a frown.

"Hey, Roots, can't you do anything about that? We are going to lose at this pace." Liu Shu answered softly, her tone reassuring.

"Of course. Just wait 11 more minutes. The second those 11 minutes pass, I will show you what it means to clear the way. But first, my roots need to be properly entangled with the base systems. Otherwise, they might recover control midway, placing us in a tight spot. You wouldn't want that, right?" The man nodded a few times and chuckled. After approaching the roots, he patted them a few times.

"You are good. Thank you so much, Roots!"

"Hehe. No problem. By the way," Liu Shu paused for a second, asking with a curious tone.

"Why were you incarcerated?"

"Ah, well." The man sighed.

"You know, there are factions within the Abyssal Void Nexus. However, the anti-World-Tree faction is the strongest and most prominent. It has the support of over 80% of the common population. Then, within the elites, I would say that percentage rises to 95%. I, who don't really agree that we should destroy all World Trees, became a political prisoner when I protested." Liu Shu silently observed the relatively young man. Then, she asked.

"What's your stance on World Trees?"

"Hm. While I do think that they are a plague and that they must be controlled, destroying them is a waste. I am of the faction that speaks in favor of letting World Trees live as our cattle. It is hard because they grow quite a lot and quite fast. However, that's not something impossible to do as long as they are reared since childhood. If the World Tree doesn't understand or know that they are supposed to be a free creature, how could they yearn for it?"

"Oh." Liu Shu answered with a rather deadpan tone. The man scratched his head.

"What's with that answer? You are an underwater plant monster, right? World Trees are your enemies as well, so don't be too upset. Other than World Trees, most of the Abyssal Void Nexus doesn't take the rest of the vegetation as enemies. Life Trees and other big entities are much less harmful than World Trees." Liu Shu ignored the man's words. A World Tree was destructive; that was not a matter of discussion.

However, what these people failed to observe due to their limited lifespans was the effect of their actions a hundred, a thousand, and even ten thousand years later. Not to go that hypothetical in the examples, what happened between the Wall Forest and Liu Shu was the best to show the effects. The Wall Forest was a natural wonder. And yet, once it came down under Liu Shu's domain, it became a place where creatures would be able to evolve faster and stronger, and create rarer and more valuable resources.

'Hm? People are coming?' While speaking with that man, her gaze moved toward the central area where she was mimicking the runic and array formations. Over there, a group of 7 researchers led by one powerful woman was approaching the central area with concerned looks. She listened to their conversation. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. The woman at the lead spoke with a rather annoyed tone.

"Why do you useless people have no reports about it? It couldn't have suddenly appeared from one day to another, yeah? If so, it would not have been such a faint crack!"

'Crack? Have my actions already caused the dome to start cracking? Hm…' She glanced at her roots and pondered in her mind.

'I still need another 7 minutes… Ugh. Do I need to rush the last parts? I guess the people in my city can slowly decipher them if I give them a sketchy section, right?' Thinking as such, and believing that she didn't have more than 3 minutes before that group arrived at the heart of the facility, Liu Shu's roots sped up and began moving faster. A battle in the prison center, the urging steps of the people rushing toward the heart area, Liu Shu's gradually tensing roots… Everything moved as seconds ticked by.

Ten seconds, one minute, two minutes… The group of researchers arrived at the last hallway leading up to the center of the massive rune and array system. The World Tree looked between both sides, and her focus increased several times over to do the mimicking as fast as she could.

'Come on, a little bit more… I am almost done!' As the seconds passed, the clicking of high heels and the tapping of the researchers' shoes drew closer to her. Then, as the woman stepped aside so that one of the researchers could open the room, Liu Shu tensed her roots.

'Ah, whatever! There is this corner left, but I can only imitate it from memory later.' From the inner parts of the continent, the World Tree's body suddenly surged with millions of Aether Mana and Anima Energy Shards, swelling her presence like a balloon about to explode. Everyone in the city paused their activities to look over as the air around the massive being wobbled dangerously.

It felt that, in the very next second, the World Tree would explode outward and raze everything to the ground with her astounding strength. As they all tensed, the ternary essences gathered around her suddenly slammed against the ground and pulsed outward through her complex root system. This generated a low, thunderous pulse that rippled through stone and soul alike, forcing the hearts of everyone in the city to palpitate as one for a second. THUD!

The researchers opened the door, and their faces instantly changed after they saw what was inside. Hundreds of roots covered every nook and cranny of the place as they strangely mimicked the appearance of the complex rune and array system in place. The woman's expression twisted in disbelief because she knew these roots. The characteristic glowing blue energy veins running along their length made it quite clear whose roots these were.

"You… Tianlian Liu Shu!? Why are Tianlian Liu Shu's roots here!?" She waved her hand, summoning a storm of powerful Wind Aether Mana.

"Stupid World Tree, what do you think you are do—" RRUMBLE!! The woman barely maintained her footing while the rest of the researchers fell down from the violent shaking.

"E-Earthquake!?" Liu Shu spoke with a cruel tone.

"Earthquake? No, this is nature's wrath, Abyssal Void Nexus—my wrath." The people who wanted to act were frozen as they slowly came to understand what was happening.

"The friends that have fallen because of you, the people you've slaughtered in the name of your power… This is my first gift to you, people. I hope you know how to swim."

"Swim?" The woman's face turned pale as she took out something that projected a virtual dome. This item was to see the general integrity of the structure when under attack. After all, it couldn't show small fractures. The dome in the holographic image suddenly shattered inward, as if the weight of several mountains was pushing it from above. The researchers and the woman's eyes opened wide with fright.

"Run to the emergency exits!" The woman shouted as she turned to flee. How could Liu Shu allow them to escape? The roots in the room shot through the door at terrifying speed, coiling around them and squeezing them as hard as Liu Shu could. The several tens of thousands of <Physique> translated from these relatively thin roots would not be able to hurt someone on the woman's level. So, she struggled while snapping a few of them.

"World Tree! You will pay for this!" Sadly for the low-level researchers, their lack of combat power would be their undoing, as the ocean didn't even have time to slam against the ground before Liu Shu's very roots crumpled them as if they were paper. A few moments earlier, the prisoners and Nexus fighters had stopped fighting to look around when the massive trembling occurred. Then, their sky collapsed. CRASH! Looking up, everyone's breath hitched.

A deep blue wall descended from heaven, carrying the weight of the entire ocean behind it. Nobody was able to say anything as the sight of a falling sky threw their minds into confusion. Then, the falling sky impacted against the ground. BOOOM!!!! The force of the water hitting the ground was like thousands of bombs exploding across the entire land. It even made the ocean ripple, creating a deep and sonorous shockwave that rushed through the water.

The brutal impact was strong enough to flatten buildings and collapse everything. No structure could survive the impact of the millions of tons of water hitting the ground, let alone the inhabitants. There was no time to suffer for the grand majority, as everyone was pulverized through the sheer strength of the literal ocean falling on top of their heads. Even Liu Shu felt the impact through her roots as those inside the structure were squashed, many of them exploding from the unbearable pressure.

Thousands of messages of losing <Phoer> reached her, slicing over 30 <Phoer Body Cores> off her just from the large amount of roots that died from the impact. At the end, the people waiting above only heard a muted explosion. Looking over with confusion, they saw a geyser of water rush up the elevator, destroying the entire tunnel and bursting upward like a roaring dragon.

Those above could only look in horror as the sky was shrouded in water particles, creating a gorgeous rainbow that contrasted with the tragedy that occurred down below.