Chapter 851. Eternal Axis Universal World Tree Unleashes Her Strength.

The army moving toward Etheria’s Solar System reached an area quite dense with structures, causing their speed to slow down. With distances between stars, these kinds of expeditions were quite lengthy, taking several months or even years.

That was mostly why wars could stretch for so long. Strategic prediction, information, and knowledge about your opponent were essential to not get ambushed. If their forces were far too large and your defenses were unable to cope with their ambushes, frontlines could quickly crumble and become enemy strongholds.

While they traversed this space, all of them were keeping track of their sub-dimensional radars. Having dealt with Liu Shu for a while, their technology was now able to easily see Liu Shu’s hidden roots and <Realm>. Seeing it and affecting it were two very different matters, though.

Liu Shu, with all her buffs, was essentially an immovable existence to most individuals at her same level. She was like that before she reached the SS- Tier. So, now that she had reached that realm, forcefully displacing Liu Shu was terribly costly.

The general of this army, a rare Sylvan who grew and developed in Nexus territory, looked forward with a cold expression. Someone like her, who was discriminated against since birth, to reach her current position could only be possible by immense effort and transparent results.

That’s why, even though she was a Sylvan, the people in the army respected her. Nexus armies led by Sylvans were also the armies with the highest proportion of Sylvans.

Liu Shu, who was observing the group, was not that surprised. Individuals are results of their growing environment. Natural instinct did affect things, but it couldn’t win out when your brain was hammered with certain information since childhood.

Quara spoke. “We are approaching an area with her presence. Make sure not to be too close.”

Liu Shu hummed, her World Tree Wisdom, coupled with her other new abilities, helping her easily pierce through the S- Rank anti-spy arrays and rune fields. ‘They can see me quite easily. It’s quite surprising.’

Looking at Quara, Liu Shu checked her <Titles>: A faint frown appeared in her eyes.

<World Tree Destroyer>

<True World Tree Suppressor>

<Hatred of the World Tree>

“She is not being forced.”

Someone who was being forced against their will could not gain some of these titles. Liu Shu was not trying to find justification to kill, but she was curious about high-ranking Sylvans that grew in the Nexus. So, she observed a few.

Most, if not all of them, had at least one negative title gained by actively participating in the killing of a World Tree.

It was not rare since these Sylvans would usually be sent during their Low Levels to participate in struggles within non-ascended worlds. Similar to Evangeline and her corrupted daughter.

“Now… time to start fighting.”

Liu Shu manifested her roots, and as she did so, every single ship in Quara’s army had its alarm signals activated.

“General Quara, World Tree activity detected!”

“Visual contact with the Heavenly Willow’s roots!”

Quara was not flustered. This was not the first time that had happened. Only… she didn’t know that this time was different.

Liu Shu looked at them with cold eyes, her energy surging as she focused in this area. The fifteen million soldiers swarmed out of the ships, while the Moon-Types and World-Types activated their cannons.

“This time… it won’t work. <Shadows Of Chaos> and <Universal Tree: Darkness Blessing>, activate.”

The gorgeous yet massive roots pulsed, deep, Darkness Aether Mana coating around them as Anima Energy fixed it in place. In an instant, Liu Shu’s defense increased by over 120%, also gaining the ability to diffuse energy-type attacks to a certain degree.

The energy cannons of the Nexus’s starships crossed several million kilometers, impacting Liu Shu’s roots, but the result was different from usual.

Instead of large explosions that created holes and severe damage in Liu Shu’s roots, those energy beams impacted and diffused. Quara, who had been calmly looking, couldn’t help but freeze up for a second. “…What happened?”

“Um…” One of the individuals checking the damage looked at the graphs, confused. “There is… a layer? Something is covering the roots and reinforcing them with diffusing properties. We are unsure if this barrier only works against energy attacks or all attacks.”

Quara hummed. “A skill she has not used until now? Use physical munitions as well. Also, charge the main cannons and attack with them to see if there is a threshold.”

Her eyes moved toward one of the roots, and what she saw next caused her very soul to tremble.

The root that had been silently approaching one of the starships suddenly, as if glitching, accelerated and gathered terrifying momentum. The Moon-Type that had started dodging maneuvers was completely caught off-guard.

BOOM!

The starship explodes, its shield and hull crumpling under Liu Shu’s terrifying physical attack. Then, the root that was sweeping down changed trajectories as if bouncing on a perfectly elastic surface.

A Moon-Type that was focusing on another root after that one passed was struck from below, and similar to the previous one, the shields and hull were unable to bear Liu Shu’s strength and exploded like a firework.

What was worse was that the root didn’t stop at starships. The army nearby was swept in Liu Shu’s terrifying attack method, bodies exploding from the sheer kinetic force behind each strike.

“W-What is going on?”

“D-Dodge!”

“We are dodging but—ACK!”

“Move! Move! Get away from the roots!”

Quara’s eyes widened, and she quickly stood up. “Retreat! Regroup in a root-free space! Attack with everything we have!”

The starships fired beams of energy and physical munitions, trying to destroy those rampaging roots. Sadly for them, Liu Shu’s defense was currently absurd.

Her over 115 million <Physique>, coupled with the over 98% natural resistances, and further enhanced by the darkness-type chaos titles, were strong enough for Liu Shu to attempt entering the outer core of Ceperet’s star without the help of <Eternity Of Stars>.

If she could resist the crushing pressure, heat, and natural destruction that deep within a star, what could these people do?

Liu Shu’s gigantic roots, as if defying the very nature of physics and movement laws, slithered around the army and destroyed large chunks quickly.

That wasn’t all. While her roots rampaged, Liu Shu gathered Aether Mana and summoned her wide-area-of-effect attack.

“<Eternity Strand>, <Void Catastrophe>.”

Quara was a Level 275 powerhouse, so her senses quickly picked up the terrifying surge of Aether Mana gathering in a zone with compact individuals. “Dodge!”

Her shout came too late.

Space in an incredibly wide area crumpled like paper, a massive black void appearing and swallowing a World-Type Mothership and many other Moon-Type starships.

The shields of the Level 230 World-Type Mothership tried to cope with space trying to crumple around them, pushing in a valiant defensive effort. However, this attack was different.

Thanks to the <Eternity Strand>, the space folding was happening constantly. It was not a one-off, but a continuous pressure like a hydraulic press massively scaled up to a planetary level.

“Energy shields are collapsing!ª”

“Activate hull reinforcement!”

“Move quickly! Use all thrust power to escape this area!”

“Impossible! The very space around has no substance; our movement has also become sluggish for some reason!”

“D-Do something!”

“W-We—”

CRUNCH!

There was no more sound as the Level 230 World-Type Mothership acted like a submarine losing internal pressure at the deepest parts of the ocean. Everything imploded, and when Liu Shu stopped the Void Catastrophe, only crumpled pieces of scram remained floating in the silence of space.

Quara, who had seen everything happen from a distance, felt blood drain from her face. “W-What kind of skill is that?”

She had seen space-collapsing attacks before. They were tricky, but if you could resist that first wave of crushing pressure, nothing would happen. However, what she was seeing was on a completely different level.

Instead of a crunch, it was a constant pressure that didn’t decrease at all as time passed. A constant crushing force that crumpled even the folds of space.

As the army tried to retreat, Liu Shu glanced over and activated her light chaos titles. In an instant, the range of her attacks more than doubled.

Ternary essences churned under Liu Shu’s SS- Tier presence.

“<Force Essence Manipulation: Thousandfold Gravity>.”

Targeting one of her massive roots, Liu Shu caused the gravity to increase by 1,000 times. Instantly, her root gained attraction power similar to that of a small star. The nearby starships that were thrusting at full power felt their engines heat up as a terrifying pull appeared from deep within the root.

Liu Shu moved it around, causing it to act as a magnet, collecting iron sand. Several individuals felt their bodies falling and pressing against Liu Shu’s root’s hard surface, unable to even lift a finger as their bones and internal organs pressed against their backs.

A Level 180 Moon-Type landed violently, the energy shield unable to protect the starship from giving up under its own magnified weight.

As she did that, Liu Shu activated the ability once more.

“<Force Essence Manipulation: Hundredfold Pressure>.”

If gravity was not enough, Liu Shu augmented the pressure she could release from that very root by a factor of 100. Once that happened, the sight that followed was nothing less than gruesome.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

All the bodies of anyone below the level of a Star Lord were helplessly crushed under their own weight, becoming messy red smudges.

Seeing the black-hole-like behavior of Liu Shu’s roots, Quara couldn’t help but feel greatly apprehensive. With her powerful sight, she could see the people screaming as they fell like meteors against Liu Shu’s roots. All nearby starships crashed, their engines unable to pull away from the mix of the thousandfold gravity and hundredfold pressure.

“None of you can escape today. <World Tree Calling>.”

A total of 500 slots were used in an instant, and together with it, a storm of dimensional energies. A massive pillar of green light soared, piercing the very fabric of reality to open a green portal.

Then, from the green portal, 121 Arboreal Winged Serpents descended. The first 100 were strong, but all of them were at the S- Rank. The following twenty were much stronger special summons, their levels and tier a rank above at SS- Rank.

However, compared to the last one, the previous 120 felt like accessories. Thanks to <Sprouts Of Chaos>, Liu Shu’s maximum summon ability was that of SS+ Tier. This <Elite Summon> was such a being.

An Arboreal Winged Serpent with gorgeous white wings and a slender, red-streaked, white body descended from the portal. The deep green eyes of the white-and-red Arboreal Winged Serpent were cold and detached, a boundless aura emanating from it that made even Liu Shu feel chills.

The Arboreal Winged Serpent, five times larger than even the largest special summon, extended its wings once. Then, light scattered like the birth of a star.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Liu Shu, her mouth agape, could only marvel as dozens of starships were hit by rays of light, exploding like fireworks around the white Arboreal Winged Serpent.