Chương 320: Liu Shu's Nature And Acceptance.

Author Note: Bittersweet chapter~. Sorry dears.

Eventually, Fiera managed to defeat the beast. The fight had been close, but with a few tricks and items like runic bombs and healing potions, the large furry monster was slain. However, that was not the end of Fiera's problems.

'What do I do?' Her gaze shifted toward the four men walking at her, and her heart shuddered.

'What do I do?' Fang, the leader of the other three people, smiled faintly.

"Sorry, Lady Fiera. However, surrender everything you own if you don't want to die." Fiera looked at him with increasingly deep hatred in her eyes. Slowly, she stood up and pointed her sword at them.

"Since it has come down to this, I'll take at least one of you with me to the next life." Fang's group raised their eyebrow but then shook their head. The woman had fought bravely against a beast, spending many consumables. Even if she was fresh, Fang's group was not weak, all of them being <Second Energy Cycle> people. Fiera was Level 30, a sub-cycle above them, but her stats were not high enough.

"Attack her. Remember not to kill her. She is quite a beauty, so she has value." A woman from Fang's group frowned.

"But boss, we can't hold back much against her, right?" Fang nodded.

"Just try to deplete her strength, after fighting that beast, she is exhausted."

"Ha!" A mocking laugh reached them. Fiera smiled sneeringly.

"Do you think that you have so much leisure to discuss things in front of me?" Fury flashed through her eyes.

"Don't look down on me so much." Then, she lunged forward. Fang's group was not expecting Fiera to attack them. Even then, reacting to her straightforward attack was not a problem. Fang's group was quite balanced, having a healer, a shield user, a dagger user, and Fang, a spear user. Their party's strength is what allowed them to continue their antics for so long, even in the World-Tree-Dominated province. The burly man at the front met the sword with his shield in a violent clash. CLANG!

His shield arm trembled, Fiera's strength pushing him back two steps. From the side, the dagger-wielding woman appeared like a shadow, slashing at Fiera's waist. However, the sword wielder's expression didn't change. Fiera raised her leg and planted her metal shoes on the woman's face. Crack! A sharp scream of pain escaped the woman who received the kick to the face.

"AH!" Some facial bones broke from Fiera's kick. Sadly for Fiera, Fang appeared right as she kicked, thrusting with his long spear from behind the unstable shield-bearer. With one leg raised, Fiera couldn't block. Liu Shu was surprised.

'Good coordination.' Knowing that she couldn't dodge, Fiera pushed against the ground with her remaining leg, raising a few inches and spinning in the air. Then, her long leg descended against the shield to kill her rotational momentum. BOOM! Fiera and the shield user were blasted backward. After landing, with a heavy breath, Fiera smiled disdainfully.

"A bunch of low-lives. Even as I currently am, you can't even scratch me. Cowards. Pitiful. I am sure that one day, justice will be served. Fang acted calmly, even when he was shocked by Fiera's movements.

"You won't be alive to witness that day." Fiera's disdainful smirk turned vicious.

"Perhaps I won't. But you won't either." Before Fang's group could react, Fiera sliced the skin on her forearm with her sword, making blood flow. It was only now that Fang realized Fiera was standing by the side of a particular tree. Instead of the completely ashed look of most flora and fauna, this one tree had some bloody streaks running from the base to the tallest part of the canopy. Fang's face turned pale.

"Lunatic!" Fiera's grin was face-splitting as she waved her arm and splattered her own blood against that particular tree.

"I'll see you in hell, Fang." HOWL! A strangely beastly and windy howl exploded from the red-streaked tree, startling Liu Shu.

'Huh? What's wrong with this Tree?' Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. She analyzed it and saw one particular passive skill among many others. <Blood Awakening (D Rank)>: When you taste blood, you enhance the bloodthirstiness of all flora and fauna around you. Any and all non-plant living beings will be targetted by descendants from the mature <Umbramortus Sanguinae>.

Fang's party of four turned around and quickly tried to flee the second Fiera swung her bloodied arm. However, it was too late for them. Liu Shu felt the dormant forest suddenly surge with energy and bloodthirstiness. It felt like that small patch of forest around her had opened its murderous gaze and started hunting everything in its range. The thorny roots aimed at Fang's party, bursting from the ground and wishing for blood. The number was overwhelming.

"Defend! Use Fire! Use the defensive items as well!" Liu Shu observed Fiera. She didn't resist as roots all around surrounded her figure, piercing deep into her flesh and drawing blood. Her maniacal smile had subsided, leaving a melancholic expression full of regret and wistfulness.

"Ah… Sadly, I could never become someone who can protect others." Then, the roots of the mature <Umbramortus Sanguinae> dragged her underground. Liu Shu didn't interfere from the start to the finish. Her gaze carried many thoughts, but she didn't interfere. Instead, she looked toward Fang's party. They were somewhat resisting, spending many goods and trying to get out of the range of attack from the powerful trees around them.

"Don't hold back anything! Riches are nothing in front of our lives!" Slowly but methodically, they managed to resist the relentless assault. Liu Shu hummed in her mind, her tone flat.

'At this pace, they actually have a chance at escaping.' She shouldn't care if they managed to escape. The 'Evil' side being victorious was something that happened far too often. Life was not a fairy tale. That's why there were victims. If not, a righteous hero would appear in the nick of time, saving anyone from the evil claws of their assailant. Still, Liu Shu felt a bit different.

'Even if I shouldn't care… even if my nature is one of letting creatures live and die…' Fiera's melancholic smile before her death flashed in Liu Shu's mind.

'I can't reconcile with this result. I can't be everyone's savior, and I shouldn't be. But if someone is suffering in front of me, should I ignore it?' Her roots twitched, but she stopped herself.

'What will happen when my roots cover more than a single province? What will happen when my roots cover a continent? What about further?' Intervening this time meant that there would be a precedent. She had saved others in the past, but it was for certain benefits. Liu Shu scanned her entire domain and noticed several other people in distress. A woman was being beaten in her house by her partner. An old couple was being robbed during their travels. A pair of young men were being assaulted.

Liu Shu controlled the cities and tried to make them as safe as possible, but the security outside of the city walls didn't concern her much unless there was a threat to the security of the cities. She would also not interfere with personal relationships. Looking at Fang's group, there was hesitation.

'Am I compelled to interfere because I observed it from start to finish? Do I feel empathetic to Fiera?' Fang's group continued to advance, using a protective barrier and other tools to defend against the attacks.

"We are almost out of range! Push! Don't stop now!" Fang's hopeful voice spread around, not knowing that a cold gaze was looking at them and pondering many things.

'What does it mean to be a World Tree dominating a province? A continent? A world?' Liu Shu thought about it. After all, if she could dominate the entirety of the world, wouldn't she theoretically be able to stop all evil in the world? It was not the first time she pondered about it. However, it was such a deep matter that she ended up falling into deep ruminations about the subject often.

"Were my thoughts back then correct?"

"Is what I am thinking better?"

"What should I do in this situation if I act this way?" Non-interference has been and always will be the easiest path. Liu Shu would just spread, grow, and expand her influence. Eventually, she would reach a point when she might feel satisfied, a point when she would become unmatched, or she would encounter something that would put an end to her own life. Conformity didn't exist in Liu Shu's heart.

'What if I just accepted that I can't grow further?' That question had never crossed her mind. As she observed Fang's group, her gaze seemed to blur as a strange imagery formed in her mind.

'... What is this?' She could see everything. Worlds, galaxies, and further apart. Her gaze was so all-encompassing that making sense of what she was observing hurt Liu Shu's powerful mind. It was a scene where a single tree had managed to encompass everything. A scenery where the very fabric of existence was tangled with the gargantuan tree's roots. A creature of incomprehensible power spanning inexplicable distances. Liu Shu couldn't see what this being was seeing.

However, she could feel her emotions or what was left of them. It was a dull monotony. Eons went by with each blink of an eye. Stars being born and dying were like fireworks for the long lifespan of this being. Among everything across all creation, only a single voice reached her. A voice filled with tenderness and love.

"... Cele-" Liu Shu snapped out of her daze.

'Huh? What was that?' Our World Tree internally frowned, her feelings a mess. A strange urge in herself made her thoughts about everything seem inconsequential compared to the smiles of a few faces.

"Cinderielle… Verdantia… Tempestria… Harmonixia…' Strangely, Flor's and Ignatia's names didn't come to her. Liu Shu didn't even realize this. Only those four names echoed in her mind. Liu Shu glanced at Fang's group and noticed that they were on the ground, branches coiled around them and sucking them dry.

'They failed…' She ignored them and turned her focus away from the Dark Aether Swamp. Her gargantuan presence scanned the surroundings, and she quickly found the four people she was searching for. With her powerful mind, she observed the four of them go about their day. As she looked at them, her messy feelings somewhat felt at ease. There was a sensation of peace flowing through her roots straight into her core.

'... In the end, I can't deny it anymore.' Liu Shu sighed in her mind, but her gaze was filled with tenderness and care.

'I seem to have fallen into their silly traps.' Liu Shu chuckled and whispered to them together with a breeze.

"I love you." Her voice was soft like nature and blended with the warm and gentle wind. The four Sylvans blinked as a warm breeze passed their bodies, feeling that someone had said something, but they didn't catch it. However, their hearts strangely sped up as their gazes moved toward the World Tree far in the distance.