Chương 653: A Willow's Weep.

Azuremist didn't know what happened. One moment, she was waving her hand to summon a defensive spell. In the next, her vision was flooded with endless elemental storms and terrifying damage numbers. Pain wracked through her mind, her eyes flashing white as almost a fifth of her <Phoer Body Essence> was forcefully stripped from her. Thankfully, even as she or anyone else didn't understand what was happening, her previous shout to defend still echoed in everyone's mind.

The army quickly activated defensive measures, dispelling the damaging effects around them. Helgor looked around, his face twisting into a grimace.

"How many people have we lost?" Quickly scanning the surroundings, he could see bodies floating within the defensive area, while most were heavily injured. The number of injuries was just ridiculous, making Helgor doubt his own eyes.

'H-How did this happen? I can't remember what happened right after Azuremist shouted, "Defend."' Even when he was baffled, he knew that he couldn't remain passive in this situation. His eyes moved over to the four leading Arboreal Winged Serpents that had been fighting him and the rest of the <Sixth Energy Cycles>. With a step, his body traveled incredible distances and appeared by the side of the healer.

"Die! <Cloud Cutting Sword Art>!" Helgor's movements accelerated, his sword flashing with white lights as he sliced the wings of the healing serpent. Azuremist appeared behind him, her hands waving together as her eyes focused on the serpent's head.

"<Azure Pierce>!" A blue projectile shot out, striking right into the middle of the serpent's forehead and piercing the skull. Her eyes shone with happiness.

"The healer is dead! Bombard the other three!" The screams of the other three S- Tier serpents sounded one after another, dying as they received a barrage of the exhausted Sixth Energy Cycles. While there have been no deaths among the Sixth Energy Cycles, all of them were heavily injured, their bodies barely holding on. Such was the strength of the 4 S- Tier Arboreal Winged Serpents. Helgor's lips arched.

"We've won! Now that they don't have anyone to stop us, we will—""<Reversal>." Liu Shu's one word boomed out, the <Eternity Strands> burning away as her reserve lowered. Eternal energy covered everything as it cut through Helgor's triumphant speech, flowing right into the serpents. That single word carried principles Helgor couldn't understand, and soon, the world around the four Arboreal Winged Serpents distorted and transformed.

Helgor looked over, feeling as if an eternity was passing by in front of his eyes when Liu Shu's skill was basically instantaneous. The cut wings, blood, and burnt or cut-off flesh flowed back. Everything reattached, reforming the perfected form of the four <Arboreal Winged Serpents>. Their eyes, which had lost all luster, regained their former brilliance. Then, they all spread their wings and hissed, their majesty and strength enveloping the void. HISS!!! Helgor's eyes widened, together with the rest of the army.

How much time had they spent trying to grind down these four? How many resources? How many deaths of <Fifth Energy Cycles> so that the <Sixth Energy Cycles> could gravely injure them? Their numbers, initially 1, 400 and 15, respectively, had now gone down to barely 600 Fifth Energy Cycles and 15 exhausted Sixth Energy Cycles. All their efforts, all their tactics, all their tears, blood, and agony… for nothing.

"Aaaah…!" A strangled shout escaped Helgor. He wanted to roar, but his chest constricted, blocking airflow. He wanted to scream, but his heart thumped to the point that he almost bent due to the pain. His eyes, bloodshot and full of rage and unwillingness, glared at the roots that enveloped the emptiness around them.

"Why…!" The bottled feelings gathered, threatening to injure his internal organs, and eventually exploded into a thunderous scream full of wrath, despair, and unwillingness.

"WORLD TREE! IN THIS COSMOS, THERE WILL NEVER BE A PLACE FOR BOTH OF US! EITHER YOU DIE, OR I GO TO THE DEEPEST OF HELLS!" Liu Shu looked at everything, her eyes emotionless, like a god gazing down on the mortal world.

"If that's the case, I will help you by summoning its first layer."

"<Elemental Lord Willow Catastrophe: Frostfire Hell>." WHOOOSH! The entire battlefield was covered by the silvery white flames, damage numbers appearing in the thousands each second as she engulfed the battlefield with her despairing strength. All her buffs triggered, with additional Damage Over Time appearing in the form of hellish flames and soul-freezing ice. Liu Shu then held a single, enchanting, and mystical note.

"Ahhhh~..."

"AAARGH!"

"MY INSIDES ARE SPLITTING!" The tone was haunting and melodic. One could even call it beautiful.

"... Ahhhh~..."

"MAKE IT STOP!"

"AAAAHHH!!!!" The sanity of some slipped away, their eyes losing their luster.

"... Ahhhh~..." Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. The longer it extended, the longer Liu Shu's gorgeous note was maintained, the bloodier everyone's eyes got. Sylvans, spirits, humans, beastkin, or any other race started going crazy. Their organs failed, and their limbs stopped listening to them.

"... Ahhhh~..." The four ships continuously attacked the roots around them, but they were endless and sturdy to no end. Together with Liu Shu's chant, their effectiveness began plummeting ridiculously. Fourth Energy Cycles wept, Fifth Energy Cycles screamed, and Sixth Energy Cycles despaired.

"... Ahhhh~..." Hauntingly beautiful, morbidly alluring, and soul-wrenching yet constant, Liu Shu's chant went uninterrupted as the sounds in the battlefield seemed to be drowned in her melodic voice. Meanwhile, Azuremist, Helgor, Blackscale, and the rest were attacked by the now fully renewed S- Tier Arboreal Serpents, their efforts futile. The Frostfire burned and froze them, and the chant tricked their minds.

Blackscale's body collapsed as one of the melee S- Tier serpents struck him with its tail, blood and organs spewing out of his mouth. Azuremist got engulfed in the attack of the elemental serpent while her body's form flickered due to Liu Shu's enchanting, soul-corrupting voice. Helgor fought tooth and nail, his sword dancing like a free dragon, yet unable to pierce through the reinforced and renewed defenses of the serpent. One of the Starry Traveler Ships stopped functioning.

All the crew were left behind having died under Liu Shu's chant. The rest attacked impotently, most of their gunners dead, reducing the ship's attacking power to an all-time low. The Heavenly Willow's cry mixed with the tears of her enemies, sublimating into a grand, merciless finale. No one survived. Not a single enemy remained. Helgor, the last one alive, floated without any strength left in his limbs as he observed the maw of the Arboreal Winged Serpent open widely.

'... Sorry.' It was an apology to his subordinates, an apology to himself, and an apology to those he left behind and would suffer due to never being able to come back. CHOMP! The snake swallowed Helgor, ending the battle once and for all. Liu Shu's skills deactivated, and all the things maintained by the <Eternity Strands> vanished into the void of space. As the world returned to stillness, Liu Shu glanced at the serpents. They had been heavily injured, as this was no easy fight.

Even with Liu Shu's buffs supporting them and their own individual superiority, the mercenary group was a well-trained, armed group that had existed for a long time. Thankfully, the only deaths that occurred among them were reversed by the <Eternity Strand>'s effect. The Serpents moved about the battlefield, sniffing those they defeated and eating them.

'Hm? They only eat those they personally defeated?' She was curious, but she didn't say anything. She even noticed that those Liu Shu killed were left alone, which amused her.

'Am I supposed to eat them as you do?' A light chuckle escaped her, which eased the tension inside her. A sense of calmness descended on her as she finally tested the whole extent of her strength. In this battle, she pulled no punches, and her System Page agreed with her.

Level: 101 Aether Mana Stars: 1. 84 / 6. 14 (614, 302) (61, 430, 252, 231) Phoer Body Stars: 4. 48 / 6. 19 (619, 729) (61, 972, 959, 256) Anima Energy Stars: 1. 34 / 6. 11 (611, 597) (61, 159, 761, 905) She was exhausted. Most of the energy inside her was depleted as it flowed weakly. The number of <Eternity Strands> left after the battle was six as well! She had used most of her resources without splurging. She was clever with her skills but overwhelming.

If she had wanted to use much fewer resources, she could've easily done so by attacking them as they retreated from her domain. With over nine days of travel needed for them, Liu Shu could've taken her time and eroded their defenses, eventually killing everyone.

Still, she wanted to prove, not to anyone else but to herself, that she was strong. That if she had chosen to battle to the death with Altherion and the others, she could've won. Perhaps not alone, but as long as they were in Ceperet, they could forget about leaving.

"Done… I even managed to avoid destroying most of their fleet." It was surprising. She had not expected that the Starry Traveler Ship and Starry Carrier Battleship had such poor soul defenses. After the battle, they had remained mostly intact. Even at this moment, the Starry Carrier Battleship was still using the auxiliary automatic guns to shoot at her. They did almost no damage, though.

'It's as if someone is tapping my roots.' Approaching the ghost spaceship, Liu Shu broke through the shields and smashed the auxiliary weapons. It was not that she wanted to damage a perfectly fine ship, but that if she didn't do that, it would be impossible to move it to her planet. The size of the ships was large, but not as large as that of the Moon-Types and World-Types. The Starry Traveler Ship was around 1. 5 kilometers long, while the Starry Carrier Battleship doubled that.

"Serpents, help me drag these ships to Nualis first. Just in case they need to be adjusted. I'll call Cael and the other Covenant people; they should have someone who knows about this among them." She recalled that some experts on ships were among the group. As she thought, messages arrived one after another. [You've defeated 21, 241 <Third Energy Cycles> and below! You've lost 4, 050, 851 Experience Points. (Penalty Reduced Due To Conflict Situation).] [You've defeated 32, 564 <Fourth Energy Cycles>! You've gained 118, 397, 500 Experience Points.] [You've defeated 1, 190 <Fifth Energy Cycles>! You've gained 46, 273, 745 Experience Points.] [You've defeated 16 <Sixth Energy Cycles>! You've gained 2, 720, 329 Experience Points.]"Three million for 16 deaths?" Liu Shu was honestly stumped about this. She also noticed that she didn't get the Experience Points for all the <Fifth Energy Cycles>. She asked about the two things to clarify her doubts.

"Why didn't I get the Experience from all the <Fifth Energy Cycles>? Also, show me three messages among the sixteen, including Helgor's." [System Hint: Kills by your summon only count when your participation is considered proportional. Some of the <Fifth Energy Cycles> were killed from start to end by your summons, making you gain no Experience Points for those deaths.] Liu Shu hummed, thoughtful.

"Well, I can't really ask the serpents to slow down in the middle of a war so that I can gain all the Experience Points now, can I? Since that's the case, I'll accept the loss. Now, show me the three messages." [Here are three system messages, one of which belongs to <Human Helgor>.] [You've defeated <Level 150 Garliom Human Sage (A- Tier)! You've gained 97, 091 Experience Points.] [You've defeated <Level 164 Seri Scaled Warrior (A Tier)! You've gained 205, 008 Experience Points.] [You've defeated <Level 175 Profound Swordsman Human (A Tier)! You've gained 271, 174 Experience Points.]"Helgor alone gave me over a quarter of a million…?" She was instantly reluctant to Level Up. After all, the Experience Point took into consideration her own level compared to the enemy. Of course, that was nothing but a dream. She needed to become stronger as fast as possible.

If she delayed her Level Up because of greed and a Level 200 arrived unprompted, she would cry in the afterworld about not expending her Experience Points when she could.

Accumulated Experience Points: 432, 268, 681

"... Well. That should be enough for Level 150." Liu Shu thought, her gaze somewhat complicated as the stupidly large number shone in front of her eyes.