Chapter 679.5: Twisted Treant
Within half a day, the entire front line had been pushed outward nearly 3 kilometers.
Meanwhile, elite Dragon Warriors had already locked onto the major twisted monsters and plants.
With help from wyvern cavalry and hidden teleportation arrays, they launched bold assaults on various locations.
Enraged, the Evil Shadow Spirits responded to the Dragon Warriors' ruthless attacks by setting traps and deploying more forces.
Unfortunately, the Dragon Warriors—averaging Challenge Rating 18+ (Elite)—easily crushed the large twisted monsters, which barely reached level 14.
Thunder Enchanted Armor gave them massive boosts in strength and defense, letting them move through the twisted jungle like it was nothing.
Still, the Dragon Warriors remained neither arrogant nor careless.
They either killed targets quickly and withdrew immediately—
Or, if the mission wasn't complete within the 10-minute time limit, they retreated without hesitation.
After multiple strikes, the Dragon Warriors had wiped out swarms of twisted monsters and plants, heavily weakening the Evil Shadow Spirits' formations.
The Evil Shadow Spirits had no choice but to continuously reinforce the area with more twisted troops.
They had to ensure enough twisted monsters remained to fight alongside the Twisted Treants.
To be extra safe, they also deployed newly bred Catachan demons around the battlefield.
In addition to deploying troops, Bay Territory activated more defensive measures.
Yaya's colossal form descended at the outer rim of Aso Volcano with terrifying pressure.
Watched by Evil Shadow Spirits, she instinctively took a deep breath and exhaled dragon breath right onto the volcano's edge.
The volcanic rock glowed red under her destructive breath and melted open.
Molten lava poured downward—
Flowing swiftly along channels that had been dug out in advance.
The lava lit up the entire volcano.
It flowed through the center of the megacity and reached the outer wall.
Streams of molten lava surged outward through the ditches, spreading in all directions.
The waves of heat significantly boosted the power of the scorched earth array, making the ground even hotter.
Hidden underground, the scorched earth array had also been modified to slow the lava's cooling and keep it flowing.
In the end, the massive Aso Volcano Fortress was surrounded by a lava moat.
Along this moat, Bay Territory's heavy excavators were hard at work.
After three to four hours—
Several huge magma pools had been dug out.
"Roar...!"
One after another, powerful subdragons burst from Aso Volcano Fortress.
They dove into the magma pools and rolled about gleefully.
It looked like they were planning to turn these lava zones into lairs and create an even deadlier defensive line.
Seeing the already troublesome subdragons now manipulating fire and lava, the Evil Shadow Spirits felt a new wave of dread.
Even for Twisted Treants, dealing with those fierce subdragons wouldn't be easy.
Bay Territory's civil engineers weren't idle either—they rolled out all sizes of mechanical golems.
Covered by the scorched earth array, they quickly built mounds and artillery platforms.
Various cannons were mounted, adjusted, and deployed rapidly.
It was clear that Bay Territory planned to extend their firepower range even farther.
And at this very moment, the Evil Shadow Spirits had no good way to stop Bay Territory's movements.
They even had to carefully manage the positioning of large twisted monsters to avoid being picked off by precision strikes.
What made them even more cautious was that more adventurers receiving orders and missions began flooding into the Catachan jungle.
The adventurers seized this opportunity to harvest and collect all kinds of rare jungle plants and materials.
The effects of Catachan jungle botanical materials were excellent. Once processed and detoxified, they were highly sought after by many alchemists and potion makers.
Some special materials were also high-bounty targets posted by Bay Territory's Druid Research Institute.
The main purpose was to cultivate and research them, developing high-value magical materials suitable for large-scale planting in Bay Territory.
Many of the expanding cities and fortresses of Bay Territory had secretly constructed cultivation zones.
Faced with Bay Territory's all-out pre-war mobilization, the Evil Shadow Spirits also frantically accelerated their troop buildup.
June 29.
Catachan Demiplane.
Clear skies.
The sky was tinged with green, pressure from the Green Tide surged in like a tsunami.
In the lush and twisted jungle, all kinds of warped plants were flourishing.
They greedily devoured the hard-won nutrients, growing and strengthening at faster rates than usual.
At the same time, they also became more bloodthirsty and ravenous.
Sharp shrieks echoed; the twisted plants were attacking the twisted animals.
They broke free from the rigidity of their usual plant forms, becoming more active and distorted.
The unrest in this region didn't last long before fine silk webs spreading from the ground began to control most of the area.
The tangled roots of the twisted plants couldn't resist this superior control.
Soon, their bodily activity was "stimulated," making them even more "lively."
They quickly "gathered" together, suppressing their usual instinct to kill each other, and under the effect of control orders, surged in waves toward the distance.
They surged forward like a vast tide.
From afar, it looked like a green ocean.
Dozens of dark red bloodthirsty vines greedily devoured the incoming twisted plants.
These usually fierce plants were quickly pierced once touched by the vines.
Their internal structure and tissues melted rapidly and were absorbed by the powerful bloodthirsty vines.
The absorbed nutrients were delivered through the vine's transport system into the massive body of the Twisted Treant.
The once withered and frail Twisted Treants, weary from long travel, quickly regained vitality.
Especially the dried-up branches at the top began sprouting fresh green buds.
These buds glowed faintly, seemingly undergoing some special transformation.
In no time, black-green fruits the size of fists emerged from the center of the buds.
As the nutrients increased, the fruits grew larger and larger.
Vague, grotesque human faces began to appear on them.
Seeing this from afar, Matthew instinctively raised an eyebrow, recalling the horrifying bloodthirsty monsters that these twisted seeds transformed into. In a calm tone, he said:
"Catachan archers and snipers, keep your eyes on those twisted fruits. Shoot them down in the air."
"Once the fruits hit the ground, they will rapidly root and sprout bloodthirsty vines with extreme activation speed."
"Bloodthirsty vines are agile and tough, dangerous and ravenous. Once they devour enough flesh and nutrients, they immediately transform into bloodthirsty monsters woven from the vines."
"These monsters inherit all the abilities of bloodthirsty vines, can move independently, and launch mid-to-long-range vine attacks."
"Kill those twisted seeds first. Use ranged attacks and fire."
"If you encounter a bloodthirsty monster, call the Dragon Warriors!"
Matthew's warning was quickly transmitted to everyone's magic wristwatches, prompting commanders to immediately adjust their assignments and tactics.
Bay Territory's combat missions were never fixed. They were modified and refined in real-time based on the enemy and battlefield changes.
There were a total of 15 Twisted Treants, each one representing peak legendary combat power.
Facing such dangerous enemies, even Matthew had to strategize carefully.
However, he wasn't overly fearful or worried.
He believed that Bay Territory's battle-hardened forces and command could withstand the enemy's assault.
Pale green light shone over Aso Volcano.
Sensing the great disturbance, Onyxia cautiously crawled to the crater, using her superior eyesight to gaze at the living green ocean in the distance.
Even though it wasn't her first time seeing this, she still felt an overwhelming sense of fear and dread.
This was a world never recorded in her inherited memories—danger like she had never known.
Onyxia didn't know where the enemy came from. She just had a vague feeling of mortal danger.
Her eyes drifted to the subdragons emerging from the lava pools. She instinctively squinted and muttered to herself:
"What kind of world is this?"
"Can we even survive this?"
Just then, the Green Tide moved.
Twisted plants and monsters surged toward Aso Volcano Fortress like a flood.
Onyxia watched them step onto the scorched red earth. Smoke began rising from where they touched the ground.
She even faintly smelled the foul stench of burning flesh, and her already uneasy heart tensed further.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Deafening explosions shook the entire land.
Onyxia watched the cannons spewing flame and projectiles, eyes locked onto the shells flying out.
The spinning shells landed among the twisted monsters and exploded violently.
The terrifying impact and shrapnel instantly tore apart huge swathes of twisted plants and creatures.
Looking around, a ring of shredded flesh and gore formed around the bombarded zone.
The sheer lethality widened Onyxia's eyes in disbelief.
In her mind, various knowledge and calculation methods suddenly surfaced.
"Parabolas, drag, angles..."
"Fire, explosions, secondary blasts..."
Although she didn't yet understand the detailed mechanics behind magical artillery, she already grasped the basics.
She never imagined that seemingly useless knowledge could combine in such ingenious ways.
However, Onyxia quickly noticed that even with three rows of dwarven cannons bombarding in turns—
They still couldn't stop the advance of the twisted plants and monsters. There were simply too many.
Gaps remained in the shell coverage.
To her surprise, the cannons withdrew after about six volleys, dragged away by Bay Territory's golem-armored trucks.
She watched the twisted monster remains being devoured by the next wave of twisted creatures and couldn't help but shiver.
She definitely didn't want to become food!
Just as Onyxia grew anxious, the golem trucks, now about one kilometer back, stopped again.
Bay Territory's soldiers quickly adjusted the cannons' firing angles, aiming at the surging enemies, and fired without hesitation.
The thunder of cannon fire echoed across the plains.
The twisted monsters at the front were smashed to pieces.
But Onyxia furrowed her brow, muttering internally:
"If the enemy can reuse flesh, wouldn't this attack method be kind of pointless?"
Watching the artillery fire about eight volleys and then retreat again, Onyxia stopped dwelling on the question and began pondering the deeper logic behind Bay Territory's strategy.
Why the nonstop bombardment?
Could it be the enemy's absorption and reuse also came with losses?
Without a city to defend, mobile artillery on open ground could provide sustained fire suppression against charging foes...
But against this type of enemy, what was the solution?
As Onyxia pondered, the retreating golem trucks stopped beside a group of massive golem machines.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Giant mechanical arms loaded with blazing oil barrels hurled them forward.
Onyxia saw the cracked barrels spilling thick black liquid.
Gouts of flame instantly ignited the sticky fluid.
The liquid turned into a rising wall of fire, engulfing the fuel-stained plants and monsters.
Barrel after barrel of blazing oil was hurled forward, making the flame barrier even more intense.
In Onyxia's eyes, the dancing flames reflected—and her gaze fell on the metal figures charging ahead.
"Dragon Warriors..."
Onyxia had seen Dragon Warriors before, but never up close.
Every one she'd seen left a heavy pressure on her.
She had a gut feeling that if they wanted to, they could probably kill her.
It was precisely under all this pressure that Onyxia had grown so fast.
In just over half a month, she had grown to five meters in length and reached Challenge Rating 10.
However, she hadn't taken a class yet because Yaya had already picked the Arcanist path for her.
The reason was simple—Onyxia had a smart mind and excellent intelligence stats. That had to be put to good use.
If she ended up a musclebound brawler...
She'd be nothing but a flying version of Yaya #1.
No future at all!
Well, with Yaya being the Chosen Dragon, she had the right to say that!
The Dragon Warriors charged ahead, tearing through the twisted creatures and plants.
On a barren clearing, they simply needed to kill everything that moved.
Much easier than fighting in the treacherous Catachan jungle.
The civil engineers surged forward, reclaiming usable materials with their machines.
Bay Territory never feared war of attrition—they just needed the enemy to keep coming.
The Evil Shadow Spirits, backed by the Green Tide, watched the burning flames and continued sending "resources," holding back their large monsters and plants for now.
The Dragon Warriors, having harvested a large batch of materials, retreated to a position 500 meters behind the bombardment zone.
They waited for the next wave of twisted monsters to break through the flame wall, weakened due to lack of more blazing oil.
When the cannon roars and blazing oil flew again—
The Dragon Warriors charged once more!
Harvesting again and again—better rake in profits first!
A stunned Onyxia looked at the mass slaughter of twisted monsters and muttered:
"You can fight like this?"
Matthew, pulling his gaze away from her, checked the message on his magic wristwatch.
"Thirty-two Catachan tribes are being attacked simultaneously..."
"Tsk, with this many troops, of course they're confident."
"Still, you don't have enough troops yet!"