Chương 651: Battling The Mercenary Group!

Liu Shu looked at the fleet that had just arrived with wariness.

'What happened? How did they undo my sub-dimension?' Meanwhile, Helgor and the others looked at the giant roots around the Starry Phantom Trail with the same wariness. Both sides were on guard. Azuremist spoke solemnly.

"Those roots are from a True World Tree. There is no other creature that can do something like this!" Helgor frowned.

"A True World Tree? There was no information about a True World Tree in the <Open Coordinate>'s information. Were we deceived?" Azuremist shook her head.

"Impossible. It was published in the public section. We were not targeted, and many others were about to take it as well. If we didn't have everything already prepared, it would've been another group who arrived before us." Helgor nodded and started barking orders.

"Save the Starry Phantom Trail. After we liberate it, we will turn around and leave. Open communications!" Liu Shu noticed the ships and pondered.

"Should I increase the intensity of the attacks?" She intended to kill everyone inside and leave most of the ship intact. Otherwise, she would've assaulted it with her roots instead of squeezing it around the shields. As she pondered, Liu Shu heard a man's voice.

"True World Tree. We were unaware of your existence. Please, let our ship go. We promise to leave the vicinity of your domain and won't bother you." Liu Shu harrumphed.

'If I were a weak True World Tree that couldn't fight against you, would you bother to speak up?' Still, she began considering her options.

'Can I capture the ships and kill everyone inside? That's most likely impossible. I have quite a lot of time to attack them, though. If I am careful, perhaps it is possible.' The bigger question was another one.

'Will they have a grudge against me and plan a coordinated attack?' These people could be considered her nourishment. Her bags of Experience Points. Being gentle and wanting to grow out of her enemies didn't really conflict with each other. Gentleness toward enemies was meekness, something Liu Shu knew deeply. After a moment of hesitation, her emotions hardened.

"You've come to my domain with ill intent. Were I not mighty, would you have stepped back and tried to negotiate? My strength gives me the right of choice. Henceforth, I choose to do as those who approached me would if I lacked the strength to protect myself!" Liu Shu's voice spread out, booming in everyone's minds as it covered millions of kilometers around them. Helgor's face turned ugly, unable to retort. Even then, he could only try to negotiate. After all, he really didn't want to face a World Tree.

If they won, the rewards would actually be worth it. Regardless, he was unwilling to risk it! His mercenary group had been doing great for a few hundred years, and gambling everything was just ridiculous.

"World Tree, please have mercy this one time. I promise that we won't seek revenge. We won't even spread news of your existence. Find forgiveness in your boundless heart and let us go. We don't want to fight to the death with you!" Sadly for them, they came at a time when Liu Shu's heart had yet to heal from a big loss. It would be hypocritical to say that her current motives were not affected by her inability to slaughter the Nexus's expedition party.

Even if Liu Shu tried to convince herself that she was doing it for proper motives, and even when those motives were fully rational and valid, the true motivation was venting her deep-seated rage to some extent.

"You chose this path; the result is already set in stone. Your group, and any other group that comes with evil intent—I will eliminate all of them and use them to nurture myself!" Azuremist finally understood why her danger sense's effects were so harsh this time. The World Tree they encountered was not only powerful, but also ruthless. They either fought or tried to escape, and fighting was a losing option because, unless they destroyed the main body, they would be constantly harassed.

Helgor finally made up his mind and shouted to his subordinates and other ships.

"Attack and liberate the Starry Phantom Trail! Surround it once we are done, and we will turn around and leave. We should be at the edge of the World Tree's domain, so her strength is limited. As long as we create a distance, we will be able to escape." His words motivated everyone, many shouting to expel the gloom in their hearts. Blackscale shouted.

"All <Fifth Energy Cycles> and above will leave the ships and fight against the World Tree! I will lead the charge. Hold it back until the Starry Phantom Trail is liberated!" With his orders, everyone got moving. Meanwhile, Liu Shu finally got serious and stopped playing. Her senses covered the entire battlefield, and then, a single world spread out with a silent pulse.

"<Slow>." If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Everyone got the system alarm that the debuff affected them. There was not a single person who managed to resist it. Then, Liu Shu looked at the Starry Phantom Trail and moved.

"It seems that I won't be able to take any of them intact. That being the case… <Elemental Lord Willow Catastrophe: Elemental Cascade>." While the <Eternal Void> continued trying to tear apart the shields of the shield, Liu Shu's roots glowed with a myriad of elemental energies. Then, another word left her.

"<Accelerate>." With the other party slowed down and her roots accelerated, her attacking speed became terrifying. Hundreds of roots, each large enough to sweep through large cities, descended while enveloped in different colors. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Even when there was no sound, everyone could feel the impact of each attack. Moreover, the heat- and cold-related attacks were buffed by Liu Shu's <Universal Tree> title, adding 40% extra damage in the form of a damage-over-time effect.

The people inside the Starry Phantom Trail blanched further. Dolvert shouted.

"All <Fifth Energy Cycles>, come with me and attack the roots!" The number of people who left the six ships was numerous. In total, there were 1, 700 <Fifth Energy Cycles> and 18 <Sixth Energy Cycles>. Among the 18, one of them was Helgor, who had the strength of a Star Lord, being Level 175. All of them had matching uniforms, with those at higher positions having slightly more luxurious ones. This showed that they were not a disorganized bunch of brutes, but a properly organized force.

Liu Shu took everything in with <World Tree Eye> and her natural senses, processing it quickly thanks to all her buffs and <World Tree Wisdom>. Her thought-speed was ridiculous, each second stretching so far that the world seemed to slow down to a crawl.

'That man should be the leader. He is Level 175, with around 5. 4 <Phoer Stars> and 1. 3 million <Physique> points. The other Sixth Energy Cycles are varied, but the numbers are around 4. 2 for their main <Ternary Essence Reserve> and 1. 1 million for their main <Stat>. The rest of the combatants, the <Fifth Energy Cycles>, only had around 0. 7 central <Ternary Essence Reserve> on average, with the strongest <Stat> reaching 450 thousand.

Meanwhile, Liu Shu's attribute panel was still as egregious as before after being buffed.

Level: 101 Aether Mana Stars: 6. 14 / 6. 14 (614, 302) (61, 430, 252, 231) Phoer Body Stars: 6. 19 / 6. 19 (619, 729) (61, 972, 959, 256) Anima Energy Stars: 6. 11 / 6. 11 (611, 597) (61, 159, 761, 905) Attributes: Aether 967, 426 → 2, 257, 205 / Physique 971, 496 → 2, 266, 701 / Anima 965, 391 → 2, 252, 457 / Willpower 373, 865 → 872, 443 / Destiny 10, 100 (10, 100) Resistance Percentage: Aether Resistance (90), Physique Resistance (90), Spiritual Resistance (90), Mental Resistance (90) That was not all.

As she attacked the Starry Phantom Trail, her energy gathered and shot up, breaking open space.

"<World Tree Calling>!" Knowing that she needed to have quite a few powerful leaders, Liu Su called four super serpents, while the rest were lower-level ones. The charging people looked at the green hole that appeared in the sky, and right after, 104 Arboreal Winged Serpents flew down the hole. Among the one hundred Level 101, 50 were defensive, 30 were offensive, and 20 were supporters, of whom 15 were healers.

Then, of the four Level 131 super serpents, 2 were tanks, one was a pure offensive serpent, and the last one was a healer. With this extremely balanced line-up, the 104 serpents were a terrifying force to reckon with. After all, each of the 100 serpents was A+ Tier, with stats that rivaled Level 150 beings. The Level 131 were even more ridiculous, each with stats rivaling those of a Level 175 being. In short, it was a battle of quantity versus quality. Helgor noticed the serpents, and his eyes widened.

He didn't know why legendary Arboreal Winged Serpents would appear here out of nowhere.

'Is this a hidden territory of this species!? Crap! We've kicked a steel plate this time!' He was about to warn the others, but Liu Shu interrupted. Once the people of the Starry Phantom Trail left the protection of their shield, a flash of coldness flashed in her eyes.

"<Soul Enthralling World Tree>..." Azuremist's heart trembled, and she instinctively used a skill to defend herself. Then, the World Tree's voice boomed, Anima Energy coating it.

"... BREAK!"

"ARGHH!"

"AHHH!"

"MY HEAD!" Countless messages of damage appeared in Liu Shu's eyes as the soul-damaging voice struck everyone like a hammer. Helgor was quick to react, shouting to the supporters.

"Aethermancers, deploy Soul Shields!" They didn't lose time, but the momentary interference of Liu Shu was a chance the predators of the universe would not let slide. The Arboreal Winged Serpents took the chance to rush toward one of the more isolated groups, elemental spells manifesting with multicolored lights. These hundreds of attacks were almost as brutal as Liu Shu's <Elemental Lord Willow Catastrophe>." BOOM! BOOM! Hundreds were instantly killed!

A <Sixth Energy Cycle> fell into a disadvantage as one of the S- Tier Serpents attacked it with a concentrated beam of pure light Aether Mana. Liu Shu noticed, and her Aether Mana manifested behind the <Sixth Energy Cycle>.

"<Elemental Lord Willow Catastrophe: Mountain Slicing Wind>." SLASH! A transparent crescent manifested, its cutting power terrifying, and struck the back of the Level 154. BANG! [-13, 450, 000, 000]! (134, 500)! (1. 3)! The wind crescent sliced off half the man's torso, creating a terrifying damage number that surpassed even the punch against Altherion.

Before the rest could help, the Arboreal Winged Serpents used their superior mobility, which didn't lose out to common spaceships, and swallowed the group of one of the Starry Traveler Ships. In total, 200 <Fifth Energy Cycles> and 2 <Sixth Energy Cycles> died, even when the battle had just started.