Using their group tactics, the Merchant Alliance Army managed to advance through the forest under the heavy bombardment of . Their experience and discipline allowed for swift movement under all of Liu Shu's tricks.

On the sidelines, Flor ordered. "Let's return to the town; the rest of the defense will happen on the walls. We managed to lower their numbers by a lot, so I am quite satisfied."

Cinderielle asked. "What about their maimed members? They are carrying them with them, but that won't really work out for too long, right?"

Wert spoke, crossing his arms. "We'll need to target them. Some of those people are Aether Mana or Anima Energy Users. They are useful even when they are severely injured. Liu Shu!"

Liu Shu's ethereal voice spread in the area. "Yes?"

Wert spoke. "Tell the Ant Queen to gather her troops and station them on the wall. We'll be there before they arrive, but just in case."

"Understood~."

Flor shouted. "Okay, move out!"

Their group swiftly maneuvered through the forest, overtaking the army and arriving at the .

Meanwhile, the army finally saw the walls and World Tree beyond the trees. Torran spoke, surprise coating her voice. "That's the 'new' World Tree we were told about?"

Rhen spat. "Those assholes probably lied."

Greth clicked his tongue. "I was expecting the World Tree to be stronger than the reports from those people, but this is certainly trickier than expected. What are your orders, General Tharn?"

Tharn squinted and raised his hand, ordering for the defensive spells to appear again as Liu Shu's attacks rained on them. After blocking this barrage, Tharn spoke. "If we apply our usual methods, how confident are you, Greth?"

Greth pondered for a few seconds, observing the large trees around the walls, the sturdy-looking wall, and then the powerful World Tree in the distance. "One or two of us might die, General Tharn. Of course, if we change from heavily injuring to killing the World Tree, then our chances increase slightly, but they are not much better. Our army will certainly receive crippling levels of damage." Greth paused and said. "We could retreat as well, General. Our losses would be for nothing, but at least our army can probably avoid heavy casualties."

Tharn growled, annoyed. "I am going to make sure to give a piece of my mind to those greedy and egotistical bastards when we return." After thinking for a few seconds, he shook his head. "We can't retreat. We would need to go through that trap-infested place again, losing even more people. Moreover, since we would be on a retreat, the World Tree can use her strengths without holding back."

"Clever~." Liu Shu giggled. "Come, come. You are almost here. You can even see me, right?"

Tharn spat. "Do you ever shut up, World Tree?"

"I do most of the time!" Liu Shu sighed. "That's why I am speaking with you. I feel lonely otherwise..."

Torran asked aloud. "World Tree, why did you kill Lady… That fox."

Liu Shu answered. "Hm? You don't know? She tried to buy me for 50 ! Very insulting, tsk, tsk. We even returned the 50 to your alliance so that something like this didn't happen!"

Greth paused. "Wait, you returned the 50 ? I heard that you kept it for yourself as compensation."

Liu Shu laughed. "Why do I need money? Useless currency! Well… It's not so useless since those minerals have essence inside of them. However, they are far from being something I would kill over. Be careful; another salvo is incoming~. This one is a bit different, though!"

Until now, Liu Shu had been using attributeless attacks. She was doing this so as not to exhaust the too soon.

Tharn looked around, confused. "Where is the-."

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The attacks that arrived were much different, exploding with spatial energies and causing heavy damage. A lot of people died instantly when the seeds ripped their bodies to shreds.

Tharn immediately shouted. "DEFEND!"

Looking around him, he saw Vaya was on the floor, having received a direct hit that punched her off her mount. "What was that, Vaya!?"

Vaya answered while groaning and clutching her bleeding shoulder. "They are projectiles with an attribute. The damage they do pierces defense too easily for me to guess which one!"

Tharn saw Vaya bleeding, and his face hardened. "Greth!"

Greth answered. "General, my guess is Space Aether! Invisible, hard to detect, and with high destructive power." Tharn shouted back. "Take over and guide us forward!"

"Understood! Defensive squad, reduce your defensive output! Space attribute is volatile, and even low-level defenses are effective against it!"

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The soldiers were hesitant. Who would dare to reduce the defensive output after seeing their friends being mutilated like that? However, Tharn bellowed. "Listen to him!"

Liu Shu hummed. "You are so fast to react! Greth really knows his stuff! I was only able to fire one salvo, and you are already aware of how to defend… Well, I killed 172 people, most of them are part of the injured ones from before, though…"

Tharn gritted his teeth, feeling his heart burn with rage. "Advance!"

They finally exited the forest, arriving at a clearing between the trees and the . The wall was 30 meters tall, towering in the distance. On top of the walls, Tharn and the others could easily spot hundreds of beings.

Flor looked at the enemy army and was stunned. 'Huh? Why do I count 200 fewer people than before? They are a little over 500 now…'

Liu Shu spoke, her voice spreading through the entire battlefield. "Well~, time to fight! Tharn, do you want to do the honors? Do you know how to say something like "Charge!" or something similar?"

Tharn, angered by Liu Shu, pointed forward and was about to give an order, but Greth stopped him. "Wait! General!"

Tharn glared at him, his eyes oozing with killing intent. "What's wrong? Are you going to say something cowardly now?"

Greth shook his head and used a few hand gestures to communicate something. Then, he said aloud. "I just want to speak with the World Tree."

"Speak with me? Hm~. What did your hand gestures mean, though? A language of your country? I heard sign language exists in some parts of the World!"

Greth smiled. "Nothing, really. Don't worry about that. You seem like a World Tree who loves knowledge, right?"

Liu Shu hummed. "I do. Why?"

Greth commented. "How about you and I make a deal, yeah?"

"A deal?" Liu Shu thought for a few seconds and answered cheerfully. "No!"

Greth's smiling face cracked. This was clearly not what he expected. Then, he heard several small explosions followed by the sky bloating with bright yellow projectiles. Now that they were in a clearing, they could finally see the seeds streaking through the sky. Tharn looked at them and ordered. "Defend!"

Liu Shu giggled. "Uh oh~, hahaha."

Greth frowned suspiciously, his mind rotating quickly. 'Why did she laugh? Our defense is… Oh no.' It was at that instant when Greth remembered his previous orders, and his heart dropped. His last order was to create low-level shielding to defend against space attribute attacks, and Tharn hadn't ordered otherwise this time around, so they continued with the same mentality.

However, those projectiles were far from being transparent. They had a bright yellow shine. He shouted. "FULL STRENGTH DEFENSE! TORRAN!"

However, it was a bit too late, and only a few people had changed their defensive methods. Even with Torran joining the defense, she only managed to shield the front of the army where the highest-level people were.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The light attribute projectiles rained like heavenly spears, piercing through the flimsy defense and impacting against the soldiers below.

Looking at the effects, those standing on the walls were stunned. Cinderielle muttered. "So, this is how their numbers were reduced so much… We don't live in a town but in a breathing and living fortress."

Wert shouted. "Don't be overconfident! Most of their dead are people! Their real strength comes from those at the front, and they are alive and kicking!"

Everyone's faces hardened and nodded.

Once Torran's wooden cover returned to the ground, Tharn roared, his face twisted with anger. "CHARGE!"

The 55 people at the front on mounts rushed forward, their speed incredibly high. Behind them, the remaining 400 people similarly ran forward, taking out their weapons.

A large chunk of them stopped at around 300 meters from the walls and began chanting, Vaya standing between them. "Go to hell!"

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Several arrows and spells streaked through the air toward the wall. Flor commanded. "Defensive Spells!"

The Explorers and Rose Fairies used defensive spells, covering the space in front of the wall with various defensive constructs. Even the Myconids that were taking part in the defense had learned a few defensive skills during the last year, helping quite a lot with their numbers.

BOOM!

Attack and defense collided, creating a massive explosion. Between them, Vaya's attack managed to pierce through and strike the wall.

BANG!

The arrow's strength ruptured some of the wall's roots, but the damage was not detrimental. Vaya clicked her tongue. 'Everything here has such a high defense!'

Looking at the approaching group equipped with heavy armor and weapons, Wert shouted. "Melee combatants, prepare! Liu Shu, we are under your care!"

The World Tree's answer came in the form of a chant. "!"

Her energy surged through her roots like rivers, making the runes across the wall and the large guardian trees light up strongly. Once the enemy melee charge was 200 meters from the wall, massive phantasmal branches appeared around the guardian trees and descended on the enemies.

Seeing the trees attack, Tharn was not surprised. Instead, he shouted. "Rhen! Torran!"

"On it."

"Understood."

Rhen, the muscular bearkin, stood on his mount and jumped toward the attacks coming from one of the guardian trees. His body was covered with a deep reddish aura and flowed around his claws, enlarging them. "RAHH!" With a roar, several quick strikes blasted all the attacks from the guardian tree into pieces.

Torran extended her staff toward the attack, and roots appeared from the ground like giant spikes, destroying all the attacks from the second guardian tree.

Verdantia asked aloud. "Liu Shu! Can you weaken Torran's control over flora?"

Liu Shu answered. "I am already interfering as much as I can."

Tempestria couldn't help but sigh. "That's the 'Weakened' version of that attack? Really… Level 25 is quite the power-up."

Verdantia spoke to Cinderielle and Tempestria. "You two, we can't fight there without our active transformations. We will always fight with the transformations. Once they are over, we retreat and recharge energy for our second go unless the situation is dire."

Cinderielle and Tempestria nodded. "Understood."

Tharn was charging as the spear point and unsheathed a massive broadsword. "!"

He jumped from his mount, and his feet touched the ground.

BOOM!

The second he touched the ground, he shot forward with a terrifying sonic boom. His body covered the last 100 meters of distance instantly, arriving at the wall before anyone could react. Then, his sword descended, carrying with him his entire momentum.

BOOOOM!

The people on top of the wall were blasted off of it by the transfer of energy while the attack severely dented the wall.

However, Tharn, who was planning on blasting the thing open, was stunned. 'What is this absurd sturdiness!? It feels as if the entire wall is made out of pure metal!"

In the short time that he was dazed, Wert appeared by his side. "Hey, don't get distracted."

His giant battle ax descended like a guillotine, but it was not fast enough to prevent Tharn from reacting. The tall and burly bearkin general moved his giant broadsword and counterattacked.

CLANG!

Their strength pushed both of them back several steps. Tharn growled. "Human, fighting me in a battle of raw strength is stupidity."

Wert grinned, spinning his giant heavy ax once. "We'll see about that, General Tharn. Now, less chit-chat and more fighting."

Wert's muscles swelled, and he pushed against the ground, blasting forward with terrifying strength.

Tharn roared and similarly rushed forward, clashing with Wert in a battle that created shockwaves with each weapon collision.