Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos.

Chapter 286. Elenara’s Anger. Another Plight.

Lorbase had arrived slightly late, so he failed to see what Lakeborn Forest had done to his army. Still, looking around, he could easily see that the number of people had clearly lowered. Not only that, important people from high-level positions were missing as well. Shocked by this event, he looked at Elenara and asked hastily. “Elenara! What happened!? Where are the soldiers?”

Elenara turned her face, revealing a sickly pale face. Now that she was safe, the adrenaline and other natural substances running wild across her body had reeled back, making her feel a wave of exhaustion. “... What happened?” Elenara smiled mockingly, her respect for Baron Lorbase having clearly fallen a few notches. “Did My Lord just ask what happened?”

Her attitude was something that made Lorbase feel a sense of alienation. Usually, Elenara had been a serious woman and never really went against his orders unless they were clearly wrong. However, now, Sylvan's gentle earthly eyes showed a clear sense of disdain, which shocked him. 

Instead of answering, Elenara looked at Evangeline, her face twisted with anger. “Did you know about this!? Did you know that a powerful plant creature lived in the lake!? You are a traitor leading My Lord on the wrong path! Die!”

Evangeline was taken by surprise when Elenara stomped the ground and attacked her out of nowhere. From the distance they were standing, avoiding the attack was very difficult, and she was hit by the earth spike right in the middle of her chest.

BANG!

“GAH!?”

[-258,840]!

Evangeline’s eyes widened with pain, and her body flew from the back of her mount, slamming against a tree several meters behind her. ‘S-She cracked my ribs…’ Evangeline was stunned at this. Even when she took the attack head-on, her soft-looking clothes were Flawed Level, Mid Rank, and Level 40. A top-notch treasure that gave her, just by itself, over 1000 <Aether> Stat points.

Evangeline looked toward Elenara and saw that many people were stopping the furious Earth Sylvan. ‘If I didn’t have this treasure… I would be dead. She actually attacked me with killing intent!?’

A sense of cold and dark anger rushed to Evangeline’s head as she stood up, holding her burning chest. 

Lorbase shouted to Elenara. “What do you think you are doing!?” He was genuinely angry, feeling as if the Sylvan in front of his eyes had become a completely different person. Seeing the Sylvan be restrained by other people without resistance, Lorbase asked again, his tone increasing. “Elenara! Answer me!”

Elenara gazed at Lorbase while her limbs were completely restricted, and she spat with a cold tone. “Revenge for the fallen, My Lord.”

Lorbase felt his mind shake for a few moments when Elenara answered. He realized that he had yet to ask for the losses and other details about what happened.

Before he did so, he heard the weak and gentle voice of the mature woman. “Don’t be too harsh, Lord Baron.”

Looking back, everyone saw Evangeline leaning on the other Sylvan, Jolie, her lips stained with a pitiful red color as blood dripped on the middle of her chest, where the earth spike hit her and almost impaled her. Evangeline sighed, coughing a few times. “She is, cough, cough. She is right. This is my fault. I was the one who convinced Lord Baron to cross the forest, thinking it was safer.”

Everyone saw how instead of lashing out, Evangeline coughed twice and smiled in a forgiving way. “Leave her be. She is clearly shook and is a bit confused. No need to be harsh on her.”

Many people felt pity for the mature woman, and when they looked at Elenara, a disapproving frown appeared between their eyebrows. Elenara saw their gazes and felt her insides burn. ‘This witch! A shame I couldn’t kill her! Still…’ Looking at the woman, she couldn’t help but be surprised. ‘I sliced two and a half cores from her, but I am only seeing superficial wounds. If a Level 30 were hit that hard, their chest would’ve been opened…’ Elenara confirmed in her mind with this information that the woman was probably over Level 40.

Lorbase looked between the two women, and after evaluating the situation, he sighed and shook his head. “Leave Elenara be. However, Elenara, you will be transferred to the right wing of the army. I can’t risk you going berserk again and attacking Lady Evangeline again.” He then scolded her. “Be thankful that Lady Evangeline is merciful and gentle! Not many would have forgiven you after being hit so harshly.”

Evangeline scoffed in her mind. ‘Forgive? Not many would’ve survived!’

Elenara didn’t protest, accepting her punishment. Instead, she turned and looked toward a person who had been tracking their losses from their contact with the plant creature. “What are the results?” 

The man looked at Elenara with a difficult expression, but he did the job he was tasked to do and spoke aloud. “Our losses are close to 2,300 soldiers and 32 high-ranking people! Due to the huge area the lake covers, the attacks happened across the entire right wing, basically decimating a large part of the army. Our biggest loss is four Level 30 and above officials that have been swallowed by the monster in the lake… This loss has crippled our army’s strength by around five to ten percent.”

Lorbase listened, and each data point that was spoken made his eyed widen further. While he had been expecting a few losses due to Elenara’s reaction, he didn’t think that they were this heavy! 

“What in the branches’ name…?” Lorbase asked Elenara, confused and terrified. “We were attacked for no longer than a few minutes! What attacked us to cause such levels of damage!?”

Elenara looked at him and then shook her head. “I don’t know, a plant monster that controlled the algae in the Lake. It almost got me, too.” After explaining superficially what she saw, she turned and shouted. “What remains of the right-wing! Gather! I’ll be your commander-in-chief from now on due to the death of yours.”

“Yes, Commander!”

They all have seen how Elenara stood up for them and their fallen brothers and sisters. So, there was not a single soldier that was dissatisfied. Showing incredible discipline, the right-wing section of the army quickly rearranged themselves, ready to continue marching forward with the rest of the army. 

Meanwhile, Jolie and Evangeline were looking toward the lake with curious eyes. Jolie muttered to her mother. “The White Flower Province is full of surprises… Is it because they are so close to the <Wall Forest> and <Dark Aether Swamp>?”

“Perhaps…” Evangeline muttered, her silvery gaze looking at the calm lake in the distance. “It seems that all powers have been ignoring the potential of this land due to Fortuna appearing. Fortuna feels like the golden powder hiding a giant treasure below. People are satisfied with the golden powder and don’t dig, only finding things when it is too late…”

After a small pause and rearrangement of the right side of the army, they started marching forward again. Lakeborn Forest looked at them as they moved forward and slowly entered Liu Shu’s part of the forest. ‘I wonder… You are currently in a passively defensive mode, right? How will those defenses react?’

As the army walked forward, many couldn’t help but feel that the land below them was getting softer and less stable. Some of the heavier things, like carriages carrying supplies and larger animals, started having trouble continuing to advance.

Confused about these events, Lorbase asked his advisors. “What is happening? I thought there was no danger in this area related to… Soft terrain.”

A male advisor urged his mount forward, catching up to Lorbase to speak to him closer. “My Lord, we are unsure as well. However, this might be the lake’s influence. The massive lake at the center of this forest probably extends underground, and soft terrain like this becomes common in places that are slowly transforming into a swamp-like environment.”

“I see-”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“AH-!”

Lorbase looked sideways toward the scream, and he shouted. “What is happening now!?”

A woman was confusedly looking to the side, and when he heard Lorbase’s loud question, she jumped to answer, her heart beating rapidly. “M-My Lord, I don’t know! Soldier Grahant suddenly fell into the ground!”

Lorbase’s pinched the bridge of his nose. “He fell into the ground…? What is happening in this forest?”

“Ah-!”

Splash!

Lorbase looked sideways again and asked, stunned. “Another one?” Looking ahead at the long stretch of forest they still had to cross, Lorbase’s heart tightened. ‘How many people will perish this time around?... I can’t continue to let this happen.’ 

Lorbase shouted. “Earth Aether Masters, try to dig up the victims!”

Some Earth Aether Mana users moved, but the second they took one step, Lorbase saw in front of his eyes how they were all basically yanked into the ground. “...Huh?” 

Then, the earth started trembling as those Earth masters tried to fight off whatever yanked them underground. Lorbase shouted, rushed. “Save them! Quickly!”

Such behavior was clearly not a natural occurrence, making Lorbase finally realize that something was attacking them, luring them to mobilize their Earth Aether Mana users so that it could kill them in one attack and then continue its antics. ‘I made a big mistake!’

However, as people mobilized and those trapped resisted, there was a big problem. The creature that had yanked them wasn’t an Earth-attributed monster. Instead, they were several blue-glowing roots, coiling around their necks and squeezing without a single ounce of mercy. 

Mechanically and with inhuman precision, the Earth Aether users could only open the ground around them for a short time before their spines snapped under the strong roots strangling them.

The others in the army rushed to their aid, but what they found mainly were corpses. Those alive were utterly paralyzed. Looking at them, Lorbase’s heart became heavy. “Roots with blue-glowing energy veins… This is World Tree Tianlian Liu Shu, right? The battles that have been registered against her all have this description in them.”

An advisor spoke with a stoic tone. “I wouldn’t be that sure, Lord Baron. The fights we’ve seen records from are basically imaginary scenarios written by non-participants. After all, all armies that have attacked Golden Sap City before us have been annihilated.”

Lorbase’s lips twitched. “... That’s not very reassuring.”

The stoic advisor blinked and spoke. “I am giving information, My Lord. Not trying to be reassuring.”

“Right…” 

Looking to the side, he asked. “Lady Evangeline, I need your help with this situation. I feel that if we continue without some kind of protection, we will be heavily crippled before we reach our objective.”

Evangeline opened her fan and commented. “Isn’t that woman Elenara an Earth Attribute Sylvan? I wonder if she can help us.”

Lorbase’s face twisted slightly. ‘... I just threw her away as if she was a burden, but now she is the one I need the most…’ He really wanted to slap his own face as he muttered with a sigh. “Is this karma…?”