Chapter 435 - Chapter 435. Final Push!

Meanwhile, the armies clashing against the waves of were doing their best to maintain their positions and stay compact. The monsters had a certain advantage in terms of mobility, being able to easily jump and use the walls to move and attack from tricky angles. Usually, that would've been a big problem, as the backline could be attacked, making the formations crumble.

Nevertheless, that didn't happen. Liu Shu's army was not only created with intelligent beings like humans, beastkin, and Sylvans, but there were monsters as well! Moreover, among those monsters, ants were a large percentage. Ants were expert climbers and had natural long-range attacks and sturdy bodies. So, when a Terragore would try to climb up the wall, one ant would instantly go up as well and tackle them off. 

As one Terragore climbed, a rather large and strong ant caught it with her compound eyes' peripheral vision. Her six legs moved, her body speeding up the ground, and she used her strong claws to latch onto the wall and rush up. 

Seeing the ant climbing rapidly, the Terragore's eyes shone with annoyance and anger. This was not the first nor the last time that the annoying ants protected this bunch of people. Even with their limited intelligence, the Terragore knew that they could've killed many more than they managed to so far. 

As the ant approached, the Terragore changed its approach. When the ant reached its side and prepared to tackle it off the wall, the Terragore extended its arms and grabbed the mandibles while using the long claws at the end of the hind legs to avoid falling off right away. "RAAAHH!"

Using the leverage, the Terragore and the ant both unlatched from the wall, flying toward the mass of monsters. The ant was surprised by such a move, not expecting it to do something like that. 

Seeing the large ant fly off, a woman in the group sprinted out. She was the human woman who had been in the initial scouting party, where only an ant had died. However, that death was a big blow to her, who had become very close to it. Fire Aether Mana surrounded the human woman's body as she soared into the air like an ascending fire meteor. 'I won't let another one die in vain!'

Her actions alerted others, and soon, a big part of that army's section changed the direction of the attacks, determined to save the large ant. 

BANG!

The ant hit the ground, and hundreds of monsters threw themselves at her, wanting to rip her apart limb by limb. Claws and teeth fell onto her, creating crunching and metallic sounds.

[-25,450]!

[-450,910]!

[-75,800]!

[-69,081]!

[-274,500]!

Damage numbers ranged a lot as different monsters tried eating her body. Still, the ant was a high-level ant while also being quite old and experienced. So, it didn't panic. Instead, she used her defensive auras and then her fire affinity to blow up the zone around her, regardless of the damage done to herself.

BOOM!

[-1,100,500]!

With a small area around her cleaned, the powerful ant swung her mandibles and struck one of the stronger Terragore, who managed to resist the explosion. The monster flew off as the strength behind the mandible strike sent it tumbling back. As she did so, a sharp pain came from behind her. 

Looking back, she realized that one of her legs had been torn off. Moreover, the smaller Terragore was lunging at her once more. The Ant knew that she was done for and wouldn't be able to return. Still, she wouldn't surrender. When she was going to start going wild and using self-destructing skills to kill as many as she could, a woman descended from the sky like a wrathful ball of flames. "GET OFF HER! !"

BOOM!!

[-1,580,600]!

Even as she was damaged, the ant looked at the woman who arrived with curiosity and surprise. The woman turned toward her and shouted. "Let's go! We'll receive cover as we return—"

The woman suddenly saw the ant lunging at her, making her head go blank. 'Huh? Why is she attacking me?'

The mandibles opened widely, and then they snapped shut. Closing her eyes for a second, the woman thought with a broken heart that she would die right there. However, the pain she expected didn't come. Instead, a screech of pain echoed behind her. The woman hastily looked back and saw the massive mandibles of the ant bypassing her and clamping down onto a Terragore that snuck behind her.

The ant raised the monster while clamping down on it with her mandibles and then thrashed the place by using it as a blunt weapon.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Once the ant thought she had created enough of a distraction, she quickly threw the stunned woman up onto her head and turned around to flee. Even when she was missing a leg, she was much swifter than the woman. 

Sitting on the warm, hard, yet comfortable carapace, the woman grinned and extended her arms. "!"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Together, they managed to create a path through the sea of monsters, returning to safety rather quickly. The Ant had less than 30 left, which showed with the leaking wounds and mangled body. Noticing her predicament, the woman shouted. "Healers! Heal her!"

Verdantia was nearby and heard the shout, so she moved over. Seeing how damaged that one ant was, her eyes widened. "Oh, dear. What happened? ."

[You've been affected by . You will heal 80,000 every 5 seconds for 100 seconds.]

[+80,000]!

Seeing the wounds mending, the woman sighed in relief and hugged the giant ant's head. "I am so glad I could save you."

Verdantia glanced at that woman and smiled to herself. "Don't be here for too long. Still, rest for a bit." Seeing the woman nod, Verdantia said nothing else and returned to heal and support others. 

The initial number of Terragore neared 5,000. However, after a few hours of fighting, their numbers had decreased until only a few hundred were alive. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of monsters had been reduced to just tens of thousands. 

Everyone was exhausted, but seeing the mass of creatures being systematically and noticeably reduced gave them hope. On their side, there had been a few deaths. However, their organized tactics and powerful combatants could avoid most of the deaths, leaving primarily heavily injured people lying at the back of the fight, where the healers used their all to provide help.

Liu Shu had helped here and there, using her spatial and situational awareness to save people from near-death experiences. Meanwhile, the area surrounding the Terragore Queen had become a broken mess. Cracks filled the entire location, while the white-furred monster lay somewhat exhausted on the ground, saliva dripping from her panting jaws. 

It wasn't only she who was tired, though.

All 200 mothkins had begun to show signs of tiredness. As the Terragore Queen resisted, the backlash was directly shared and transmitted to them. A monster whose attributes were over 90,000 was just too high. 

Even when most of the Mothkin had between 10 and 20 thousand points in their main attributes, with some, like Mariane, reached nearly 30,000. 

Attribute points didn't really work linearly. So, two people with 10,000 couldn't really rival someone with 20,000 points. 

If they were restricting her alone, they would've probably started failing by now. Thankfully, they had a helper in the form of a World Tree with an affinity for runes. 

Flor looked around and saw hints of the fight being their victory. Her tired facial expression showed a hint of a smile. "Just a bit more. We are almost done." 

Liu Shu looked at the mission and spoke with Ignatia. "Ignatia, can you lead 2000 of your strongest available children and raid the nest? There should be a few powerful Terragore left there. I can't tell you much, though. After all, I avoided extending my roots deep there, fearing that I would get discovered if I tried peeking into such a sensitive place." 

Ignatia nodded, and her throat started making a clicking sound that echoed around. 

The Terragore Queen glanced over, her glowing red eyes looking at Igantia as if she wanted to devour her whole in one bite. Liu Shu pondered for a second and decided to create a blanket of roots blocking the Terragore Queen's view of where Ignatia was going. 'An enraged mother is quite a scary thing… I don't want her to become restless when she knows that we are trying to raid her nest.'

That decision would prove to be the correct one shortly after. 

As Liu Shu and the others kept the Terragore Queen in check, Ignatia dove into the heart of the Terragore Empire and started cleaning up the place. The nesting grounds for the Terragore were rather peculiar. First of all, the walls were full of gems of different kinds. These gems covered an extensive part of the walls, and right below them, Ignatia saw the young Terragore and their guardians. 'There are around 200 and 4,000 Terragore here… Not bad numbers. However, I have over 2,000 babies with me. They are not a threat.'

Remembering what Liu Shu said, she spoke to her babies. "Approach silently and try to ambush them. We need to be swift this time around. All Earth Aethermancers, seal the exit. Space Aethermancers, create a film so that their screams won't be spread around."

As a fellow mother, what she was about to do didn't really sit well with her. However, this was a war for dominance and survival. Therefore, all guardians needed to be put down regardless of how many of the young Terragore were damaged in the process. 

A battle ensued, with the results being more than easy to predict. The over 2000 ants were like a single entity that swallowed everything. Their strength and coordination completely outclassed the Terragore group. 

It took less than 40 minutes to clean up the entire area. Once done, the quest was updated, with a few objectives switching to . Looking at the mission, Ignatia smiled. "The only thing left is capturing the . Everything else is completed, finally."

Looking at the nesting grounds, she approached curiously and finally noticed the oddity with a few of the Terragore babies. When they were small, these monsters were actually quite adorable. They looked like small hedgehogs but with longer limbs and sharp nails. 'They are that sharp even a few hours after birth? Also, why does this one feel somewhat close to nature?'

As she poked at the baby around, she read the system page and noticed one