Altherion and the others in the fleet were preparing to tidy up and return to their ships. Everyone was relaxed, their pace clearly lacking any worries.
There were some couples smiling at each other, while most just cleaned up the place and left nothing behind.
Altherion nodded, thinking to himself. 'It seems that Vaarn's crew is not as lawless as they appear to be. Marisella and Selkor told me that no one had tried to leave the designated area during our week here.'
While everything was calm and peaceful, Altherion felt his heart thump. A prickly sensation, as if he was poked by a needle inside his chest, made him pause and frown deeply. Bewildered by the sudden sensation, he looked around, confused.
'What is going on?'
The sense of danger he felt didn't disappear, but it intensified with each passing second. 'The Aether Mana and Anima Energy are converging…?' After he finally voiced the strange feeling, it felt as if lightning hit his brain. All types of information and warnings from that junior flashed in his mind.
It was then that everything around them suddenly fell into an unsettling stillness. Altherion wanted to warn, he wanted to shout, but it was too late.
Innumerable tendrils grasped the spatial layer around all of them. The sight of the tens of thousands of invisible tendrils gripping the walls of the dimension made Altherion's heart sink.
The colors of the world drained for half a heartbeat, as though reality inhaled sharply, preparing for catastrophe. Then, the voice of a being as vast and boundless as the sky echoed.
"
How could Altherion describe what he saw next? The image in front of him transformed, as if he were looking at reality through a pair of glasses that had their crystals fractured by a hammer. The figures of everyone present distorted, the bodies of the weakest people distorting under the ruthless power of space fracturing.
"Defend!"
Then, as Altherion shouted a warning, a deafening crash erupted, drowning any voice or sound he or anyone else wanted to make.
CRASH!
Altherion's skin felt as if dozens of sharp blades suddenly pressed against his body. In his eyes, messages of damage popped up one after another. Beyond the red numbers appearing in his eyes, the bodies of many of those smiling people were breaking apart, their blood erupting and falling into the dimensional rifts that appeared right before them.
Thankfully, an army like Altherion and Vaarn's had some people to protect against space-related shenanigans. So, the screams of over a hundred people managed to pierce through the deafening sound of space collapsing.
"
"
"
Hundreds of auras soared, their ternary essence manipulating the space around them. Even when there was a powerful and mysterious energy trying to keep the rifts open, the strength of hundreds was enough to overwhelm it quickly.
Altherion's fragmented view was finally restored, and the world around them returned to normal. What entered his ears next was not cheering, but wails and screams of desperation, pain, and fear.
"HEALERS!"
"QUICK! THEY ARE BLEEDING OUT!"
"AHH!!! MY ARM!"
"I… can't… *Gurgle* …breathe…"
"Wake up! Wake up! Ahhh!!!"
Altherion's face morphed, and he shouted at the sky. "TIANLIAN LIU SHU! HOW DARE YOU!"
The same female voice, deep and boundless, echoed in the surroundings. "How was my greeting, Star Lord? Was it worth coming all the way here for your petty revenge over your daughter's death?"
Altherion looked like a demon about to slaughter the very skies above him. "How are you awake!? How are you this strong!? You were a Level 99 World Tree just three decades ago!"
In fact, his body was not that injured. Although his skin had cuts, the overall damage to his Phoer Reserves was not severe. As a Level 179 being, his natural body strength was anything but normal.
Liu Shu spoke coldly, her tone indifferent to all life. "Altherion, stop with your worthless questions. My attack right now was a greeting. If you don't move quickly, I will cast that spell again."
Those words snapped him out, making him recover his wits. Everything had been so sudden that his mind had clouded for a moment. "Draevin! Check the area around us and make sure the World Tree can't interfere!"
"On it!"
"Marisella! Go to the ship and activate the anti-interference! Also, make sure that all systems are operational!"
"Yes, sir! Right away!"
Vaarn was the same, giving orders around and checking for damage.
Of the remaining 34 Moon-Types, Liu Shu's attack heavily damaged 13 of them, making them unable to take flight. The World Types were not undamaged, either. After all, the shields were not activated to save energy. Hence, the ships received Liu Shu's area-of-effect attack with their bare hulls.
This caused streaking lines all along the ships, making them look ghastly. Still, once Marisella was inside, she quickly checked everything and noticed that most systems were operational. Only a few stealth-derived characteristics took heavy hits.
"Activate shields! We are not letting that World Tree damage us again. Once we are done with that, use the fleet system to help the Moon-Types take off! Activate all internal healing chambers!"
Meanwhile, Liu Shu observed everything without acting anymore. The first attack was a surprise attack, so it was bound to work. Any and all people below Level 100 were either heavily injured or dead. This would reduce the ship's functioning capabilities much more than any damage she could do to them.
After all, the ship was controlled by humans. Without the experts, many functions would instantly become unavailable.
'Not to mention. If I dared to attack again, the only result would be that my attacks would be blocked. With so many Level 100 and above individuals, what can my attacks do other than tire me out and bother them?'
So, instead, she observed. Her focus was fixed on them as they worked. Due to the panic and rush, all healers were actively working to help people. She quickly identified, recorded, and saved the special skills of those who would annoy her the most. She even knew who used space-related affinities.
'Only the
Liu Shu asked the system to compile the numbers and saw the results.
[You've killed 89,540
[You've killed 58,901
[You've killed 431
'As I expected,
All those who died were lucky hits where the spatial rifts severed heads or cut essential parts of the body. In short, Liu Shu described those as 'Lethal Hits.' After all, it didn't matter how much
'I killed over half of the
Even now, system messages of people dying because of their injuries were reaching her. Still, Liu Shu calculated that these people who are still bleeding out wouldn't raise the numbers more than 5%.
Altherion looked around, his face cold and dark. He had never expected to be hit with such a tragic attack right off the bat. It had been completely unexpected, taking everyone by surprise. After all, who would've imagined that, while packing things after a week-long rest, a sudden, explosive attack would sweep their entire camp?
'That attack stretched for over 100 square kilometers… What kind of attack range is that?'
Seeing trees covering larger areas was not uncommon, but Altherion still had in mind that Liu Shu was supposed to be a young one!
He sped to Vaarn's side and spoke solemnly. "We can't let this thing live. I know you are thinking about retreating, but just a few decades have been enough to allow her to reach her current strength. If we let her alone now, the next time we come here, we will need more than two Star Lords."
Vaarn's injuries were already healed, but some of the scarring still marred his undead body. He looked at Altherion coldly, his aura turbulent, and his sunken eyes flickering with evil flames. "A simple expedition, was it, Altherion? I wonder how those in the council back at home will take it when we return and report over 60% casualties."
Without waiting for an answer, Vaarn turned around angrily and boarded the World-Type.
Altherion's face was also dark, but Liu Shu's attack made it so that they were unable to leave. 'Even if she has held back to entrap us or lure us, I can't do anything else but swallow this bitter pill. Leaving is far from being an option, at least not for now.'
They now needed justification. If they returned and reported things as they were, the Nexus higher-ups would not react with concern, but disdain. Two Star Lords were scared by a single attack, losing several Moon-Type ships and damaging two World-Type ships.
An embarrassment like that was career-ending.
As the World-Types took off, their engines, arrays, and movement runes lighting up violently, energies pulsed out and entangled all Moon-Types. Using the entangling, the World-Type took to the skies and helped drag those operational Moon-Types.
Altherion wanted nothing more than to carry those who were turned into glorified scrap. However, with their exteriors breached, no one would be able to survive in outer space.
'Our best bet is to kill Tianlian Liu Shu and then return to drag them home.'
While Altherion was angry, there was absolutely no doubt in his mind that they could kill Liu Shu. After all, their remaining army was imposing. Around 4500
This army was more than enough to raze a True World Tree that recently Leveled Up to Level 100.
21 Moon-Types and 2 World-Types streaked into the void above, Liu Shu's eyes constantly following them.
Glancing at the 13 Moon Types in
So, she checked the area for survivors one last time, actually finding around 41 of them. She finished all of them off and refocused on the fleet traveling toward Ceperet.
"Alright, the first part of the plan was successful. Results are good, but not exceptional."
Cael and everyone back at home heard Liu Shu's report, their faces thoughtful.
Eventually, Cael nodded. "That's good enough for now. Focus on harassing them throughout the journey. You can probably tumble a few Moon-Types before they arrive at Ceperet without consuming much energy."
Liu Shu agreed, preparing to move to the next part of their plans.