Chương 483: Tempestria Liberates A City.

Tempestria looked at how they easily entered the cities occupied by the Void Nexus and had a thought.

"We completely underestimate the rage these people are feeling." Some of these cities had their own World Trees, which were either corrupted or killed by the Nexus armies. Therefore, when they realized that someone was coming from the outside to take it over, the population rioted with brutal aggressiveness. Tempestria's group didn't even have to do a siege, as the insides of the city were burning up with people fighting everywhere.

Once they arrived, Tempestria and the others burst the gates open and flooded inside without a single shred of hesitation. Once inside, Tempestria looked around with frowning eyebrows.

"The problem is that telling who belongs to the Nexus and who doesn't is difficult among those who don't have their military attire on." Tempestria moved quickly, her sword billowing with sharp winds as she slaughtered enemy soldiers. As she fought and killed, her sword suddenly came to a stop as someone managed to block her attack. Her grey-colored eyes turned serious as she quickly jumped back and dodged the counterattack.

The person in front of her was a human woman holding a large sword and clad in armor with Nexus emblems. The woman's face was ferocious, looking at Tempestria with killing intent.

"You filthy dogs! Once our armies return from the other side of the Wall Forest, you'll be done for!" For most of the Abyss Nexus people, these raids were done by some sort of resistance that gathered during these months. Tempestria glanced at the woman indifferently and waved her hand, summoning a torrent of winds at the woman's feet.

"You—!" The woman lost her footing, and Tempestria lunged forward. Her sword whistled with sharp winds as she struck from above at the defense of the other party. BANG!

"Guh!" A grunt left the woman's lips as her body was slammed against the ground. She looked up, glaring at the Sylvan. Yet, the second she looked up, her heart chilled. Tempestria's gaze was terrifyingly cold.

"You, who hunt and hurt World Trees, have no right to live. <Tempest Sharp Blade>." The sound of wind spread as a tornado of sharp wind blades rotated around Tempestria's weapon. Since the human woman was pressed between the ground and Tempestria's sword, her body was instantly engulfed and shredded.

"Aargh!" The pain and adrenaline allowed her to push Tempestria's sword and turn to leave. However, she shouldn't have given her back to Tempestria. Ignoring her own wounds, Tempestria lunged forward and stabbed her from the back. Then, she used the skill once more, and her winds shredded the woman from the inside. Her Phoer plummeted as her insides were churned into a pinkish paste. When Tempestria took out her sword, the body fell limply forward and landed with a squishy sound.

"I guess that we can deal with the Nexus' strongest soldiers and then slowly round up the rest." That's the tactic that they came up with after fighting quite a chaotic battle the first time. Tempestria was still a bit regretful and guilt-ridden from that ride. When they entered the city, they thought they would encounter only Nexus soldiers, and not citizens. Therefore, they attacked the borders and successfully entered the city. Sadly, once inside, the enemy used hostage tactics against them.

At that time, the people inside the city were unprepared and didn't know about the attack, so during the initial siege, those citizens were seized. Sadly, their orders were to take over the cities and never agree to hostage situations. This was done for the general good.

"I understand the logic, but seeing those young and non-combatants die the first few times was really… hard." Now that she had children of her own, she could already imagine how the mothers and fathers of those who were killed in the first few rounds would spiral down. Looking around, Tempestria noticed that this time around, many fewer people were killed.

"It's an improvement, at least. After sending those messages around, things are getting better." The messages they sent to all cities were that a liberation army was coming. Then, they also sent a false message that hostage situations had gone terribly wrong since those places had been scorched down. Who could check on this news when they were being targeted soon? So, many other types of resistance were planned by the enemy without involving the innocent citizens.

As she moved toward the center, Tempestria's face suddenly changed. There was a terribly ominous aura coming from the center of the city, stifling her heart and breath.

"<Corrupt Warrior Enhancement Sacrificial Array>." A chorus-like chant spread throughout the battlefield, and right after, screams spread everywhere. Tempestria looked around and saw the civilians screaming in pain and scratching their chests as if they wanted to dig out their hearts.

"It burns!"

"Ahhh!" This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"Help! Help!" Without a shred of doubt, those from the Abyss Nexus quickly ran toward the kneeling people and stabbed their weapons at them. Tempestria's eyes widened at the brutality, and she quickly acted, rushing to kill them. However, she couldn't reach them before a violent windwave exploded from them and pushed her back several meters.

"What? What are they doing?" She had read information from the Abyssal Void Nexus. However, their curses and corrupt arts were so tightly guarded that it was very difficult to find any relevant information. After all, there were very few times when a Corrupt Sylvan would regret her actions and come back alive to tell the tale and spread the knowledge. Any Sylvans or humans who participated in corrupt arts would usually be killed before they had a chance to regret it.

Tempestria's face became serious when she looked at the people who were grinning at them. The enemy army's weapons were enveloped in a strange, malevolent energy, while their faces were full of black veins and their eyes were bloodshot. It felt as if they had become one with the corruption while receiving a buff.

"We are outside of Liu Shu's domain, so her buffs are unavailable. Their strengthening is something that might create too many casualties on our side, even when we have the advantage in numbers and strength." Tempestria shouted.

"Second Energy Cycles, retreat! Only Third Energy Cycles and above will engage at close distance from now on! The rest attack from the rearguard." Tempestria rushed forward after she shouted, her wind energies churning violently.

"[Cyclamen Intaminatum Sylvan Transformation]!" Her body instantly expanded to over three meters in size, and her skin and body transformed into a stylized, greyish-black tree woman. Her body figure was slender, but with thick legs and turbulent winds surrounding her. Her head appeared like a lidded flower bud, her two eyes looking cold and detached.

"<Storm Rush>." Her speed increased severalfold as she collided with a group of enemies. BOOM! Violent Wind Aether Mana exploded everywhere as her figure danced unfettered among the enemies. Each sword strike would take a life or send someone flying as she reaped life like a storm did with flowers in the wild. With Tempestria's current strength and boost from the transformation, she was truly unstoppable, similar to a miniature World Tree. However, those that weren't Sylvans were having some trouble.

After the Corrupt Warrior Array, the strength of the enemies had increased a lot. Overall, it has around a 25% stat boost with a side effect named <Berserk Mind>. This buff made all of them bloodthirsty and unaware of the pain in their bodies. This made it much easier to kill them as long as the army remained cohesive. Tempestria noticed the disadvantage and shouted.

"Their minds have been corrupted; treat them not like humans but beasts! Remain concealed, use taunt tactics, and form groups among yourselves to eliminate them steadily! Those who can fly, follow me to the center and interrupt their Corrupt Aethermancers!" Tempestria's voice, now changed because of her transformation, sounded like tempestuous winds and carried strength and an imposing nature. So, no one disagreed and quickly followed behind the flying Sylvan.

With a speed of several hundred meters a second, Tempestria streaked through the city and arrived at the source of the Corrupt Array.

"<Wind Bomb>." Extending her hand forward, a five-meter-wide wind sphere burst forward and exploded against the wall, blowing a large hole on the side of the main city building. Inside, she saw around 30 men and women, mainly women due to the Sylvan-to-human ratio. Many of them were lying on the ground due to the aftershock of her attack, but Tempestria didn't lower her guard.

"<Storm Rush>." Tempestria barreled through the hole and landed in the middle of the room, where she felt the most intense corrupt aura. BOOM!

"Ah!"

"What is happening!?"

"What are the guards doing!? Stop her!" Tempestria's face was terrifyingly cold when she looked at these people. Void Nexus people were, more often than not, morally corrupt. However, these people who handled corrupt energies were rotten to the very core of their existence.

"Filth, let my winds cleanse your existence. <Tempest Chaos Storm>." When those words escaped her mouth, there was a hint of distortion in her voice as her eyes and body glowed with multicolored lights for a fraction of a second. A feeling of nausea filled everyone in the room, as if Tempestria had become an incomprehensible existence for a fraction of a second. Opening her arms, Tempestria summoned terrifying wind energy with hints of energy that shifted color hues at the edges of the bladed wind.

The sharpness of this wind was several times that of her usual wind blades and shredded the place like a giant blender. The flying army stopped approaching the second a tornado swept everything in the building, leaving nothing behind. Someone muttered.

"Why did Lady Tempestria ask for our help? She could deal with everything herself so easily…" A higher-ranked man slapped the back of his head.

"What if there were any dangers? Lady Tempestria's strength is no excuse to send her alone to the core of the enemy base. If something happens to her, I want to see what excuses you make in front of Lady World Tree!" The soldier sweated coldly.

'If I carry news that something happened to Lady Tempestria… I might get killed out of anger.' Of course, Liu Shu was not someone who would vent that way. The ones who would receive her wrath would be her enemies. Nonetheless, it was scary to bring back bad news to your superiors. Still transformed, Tempestria walked out of the building with a pensive expression on her face.

"Each time I use that new skill, I feel strange…" After getting the <Chaos Tempest Soul> title, Tempestria's strength had increased severalfold. Then, in addition to her strength, she also acquired a few new skills, while others had evolved. Overall, the change in strength was so drastic that she was certain she would be able to fight ten Tempestrias before they acquired their title and emerge victorious. Shaking her head, Tempestria sighed.

"I can't find anything, and everyone I've asked has never heard about the <Chaos> attribute. I wonder where it comes from and why it feels so natural to learn skills with it." After dealing with the Corrupt Aethermancers, she shredded through the rest of the enemy lines and eventually managed to kill all the enemies together with her army. Overall, around 3% of the civilians had died. The numbers seemed small, but they were mostly part of the high-level civilians. Tempestria sighed.

'Their sacrifice will allow for the new blood to grow and continue the flow of the world.' In a society, the best way to become stronger was for the old to give way to the young and teach them. Only when the student surpasses the master will society be able to develop and reach new heights.