Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos-Chapter 312 - . Second Mission Objective Complete!

Ignatia crossed her arms and looked in front of her. What she was looking at was a large clearing that shouldn't be there. This place was right below the mines, around twelve meters tall and hundreds of meters wide and long. The massive room was supported by reinforced pillars that had coiling roots. These roots were clearly Liu Shu's roots.

Not only was the place spacious, but there was also a single chokepoint on one side of the room. The other side had many paths that converged from the ant nest. Additionally, the walls were heavily reinforced with alloys that blacksmiths from the Golden Sap City had manufactured. Creating this room was expensive, reaching a total cost of over 140 . This kind of fortune was rarely used to build places.

Still, this room was perfect to fight the and block their exits.

Flor looked at everything and asked, worried. "Won't the just dig around the room? They are excellent diggers, right?"

Ignatia smiled faintly. "That would be a worry if the earth around us was normal. However, there is someone who has a dense and complex root net spread all around the place. If she wanted to, she could collapse any passage without affecting the integrity of the tunnels above, right, love?"

"Right! Right! If they want to pass through places other than here, I will intercept them!"

Hearing the cheerful voice of the World Tree, Flor decided to trust her words. To this day, Flor couldn't really remember any time that Liu Shu had failed to keep one of her promises.

Sounds of echoing steps came from behind them, and turning around, they saw Verdantia and Harmonixia appearing with three thousand people each. Their armies were the least numerous ones. The reason was clear, though. Unlike the others that gathered many types of combat jobs, Verdantia's and Harmonixia's armies gathered those with rare supporting, healing, or summoning jobs.

Flor smiled. "That was quicker than expected. You two only took two and a half hours."

Both Sylvans smiled faintly, and Harmonixia asked. "Flor, Ignatia, what's the plan?"

Ignatia giggled and pointed at the relatively wide passage with her thumb. "Kill everything that comes out of that hole. Make sure that our people don't die. Don't die." Ignatia chuckled. "That's all."

Verdantia looked upward and didn't see a ceiling. Instead, she saw a giant mass of ants hanging upside down while staring at the entrance. A one-meter-tall ant by Ignatia's side suddenly jerked, its antennae moving slightly. The girls looked at Ignatia and saw her nod. "I see. There is a group of creatures that are coming this way."

"Oh?" Flor looked toward the entrance, and after two minutes, the girls spotted five creatures appear. These creatures had long limbs and terrifyingly solid claws. The claws seemed able to cut anything and dig through everything, while their slightly furry bodies shone with a metallic glint.

A head with a large snout and mouth full of serrated things dripped with saliva. Moreover, when that saliva touched the ground, it slightly dissolved the rocks below them, as if the enzymes in the mouth were specially mutated to digest rocks.

Verdantia muttered. "Those are... juvenile , right?"

Harmonixia was surprised. "Those are juvenile? They are one and a half meters tall, with bodies full of explosive muscles. I didn't expect them to be so big."

Verdantia remembered how she was almost killed and smiled wryly. "You'll be quite terrified when you see the adult ones if this one is scary."

Harmonixia blinked, curious. "Have you met them in the past?"

With a sigh, the Life Sylvan answered. "Almost became their meal after they traced my trail from one of their young's corpse."

Harmonixia chuckled. "If they caught you, it was justified, Verdy~."

Verdantia rolled her eyes. "Can you not say uncomfortable truths? Also, how many times have I told you not to call me that way!"

Flor hummed and asked, interrupting their playful banter. "Are they blind?"

They paused and saw the group of fifteen juvenile looking around and sniffing the air strangely. Right above them, all the ants were looking at them with immobile bodies, using their compound eyes to track their movements.

Ignatia crossed her arms under her generously developed chest. "Their sight is certainly not that good. Should I capture them to make experiments? We never really got a chance to capture a few of these alive, right?"

Liu Shu commented, curious. "You want to capture them now?"

Ignatia nodded, her antennae bobbing with her head movement. "Yes. I might even be able to create a farm of them... I mean, their skin should be valuable to create strong clothing, right?"

Verdantia muttered. "I wonder if someone has tried before."

"It's settled then. Liu Shu, dear, can you do mommy this favor?"

"Hehehe~. Sure!"

Several roots exploded right under the 's feet, trapping all of them instantly. The creatures struggled. However, they were just Level 20 creatures. When faced with Liu Shu's Level 34 roots, even their innate bodies were unable to leave a single scratch on them.

Harmonixia grabbed the stringed instrument from her back and approached them. The beasts were acting out, struggling with their entire bodies and trying to free themselves. Their struggle was violent enough that they were getting hurt. "Oh, little ones, you are so angry. How about you calm down with my music?"

Her fingers stretched and started playing a soft and slow tone. Invisible sound waves traveled forward, targeting the group and developing into a gorgeous sonata. Liu Shu hummed at the gentle rhythm of the song, feeling peaceful and happy. 'Harmonixia's music is always so good~. I love it.'

The beasts stopped struggling after a few seconds, and eventually, their bodies became limp. They had fallen asleep.

Harmonixia stopped and chuckled, turning to look at Ignatia. "All yours, Ignatia."

"Thank you, daughter-in-law~."

Liu Shu interrupted, shouting embarrassedly. "WAH! WHO IS THAT!? I DON'T KNOW?! I DON'T KNOW WHAT DAUGHTER-IN-LAW MEANS!"

Harmonixia raised her eyebrow and asked. "Oh? Then why stop it, eh?"

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"Lalalalaalala! I can't hear your pretty voice! I can't hear you speaaak!"

A chuckle escaped everyone, even those in the army. After being part of the army for a few years, they all saw Liu Shu interact with the high-rankings. These interactions made it easy for them to understand that their Lady World Tree was a bit childish and thin-skinned for many things—a very precious and sweet World Tree.

Of course, that didn't take away from the respect they had for Liu Shu.

Ignatia saw a few of her ants carry away the beasts and spoke aloud. "Today, we fight against a powerful foe."

Everyone turned serious and looked at Ignatia. The Ant Queen turned around and looked at everyone. " are a species with sturdy bodies, lethal claws, and swift reactions. If you are at a melee distance, getting injured will be inevitable, even if you are at a much higher level. Their claws can slice through minerals, not to mention your bodies."

Seeing that the determination in the humanoids' eyes did not falter, Ignatia smiled and nodded. "That's why you are all here. My ants will be a wall. They will stand in front of you and soak all the attacks. When one of them is injured, it will retreat and be substituted by another one."

Ignatia looked to the right. ", you will be in charge of buffing and keeping those at the front in their peak condition! I want your entire efforts to be focused on them and avoid deaths. Use ordinary summons as cannon fodder to block lethal attacks if possible. Shields, buffs, and any other kind of things are a matter of course."

Her voice carried weight and royal pressure. As if a ruler was giving orders, everyone answered in a loud chorus. "Understood!"

Looking to her left, Ignatia ordered once more. ", you all will forgo the frontlines! I want all your efforts to pour into the ants that retire and will be on the verge of death. My dears are too serious, so they will stay at the front until they have a sliver of health left. Hence, I am counting on all of you to save my children."

The army spoke solemnly. "Leave that to us, Lady Ignatia!"

Ignatia's existence was not a secret to everyone in the army. The reason to reveal it was because it would make things easier. Of course, some people freaked out at first. Still, if someone was trusted enough to participate in the army, it meant that they had lived in Golden Sap City for a while.

Even after so many years, no one had had a bad interaction with the ants. Being literally incorruptible guardians, everyone treated the ants in the city extremely well. Some children would even cling to the bigger ant's legs and play with them.

It also sparked a slight trend of people keeping regular ants as pets in their houses in a terrarium. Of course, this was a matter for another time.

To summarize, no one present was adverse to Ignatia's presence. On the contrary, they were grateful because of all the safety that her children provided them. Almost no parent was fearful of their children moving alone in the city because of her children. How could they hate the mother of their protectors?

Ignatia looked at Verdantia and Harmonixia and said. "You both will be in charge of me."

Both of them paused and looked at Ignatia worriedly. Verdantia frowned and asked. "You will fight in the frontlines? It is too dangerous, Ignatia."

Harmonixia was serious as well. "Ignatia, you are the soul of the entire Ant Nest. If something happens to you..."

Ignatia smiled faintly. "If something happens to me, Solaria will become the next Ant Queen. Don't worry, my children won't go wild."

Flor said nothing. She perfectly understood Ignatia's mindset. She herself was basically the soul of Golden Sap City. The main link between the city and the World Tree. If she died, that link would weaken, and Liu Shu would probably stop caring as much for the Golden Sap City and its inhabitants. Even then, she refused to sit back and see everything unfold.

They were Tianlian Liu Shu's mothers. Even if they weren't her biological parents, Flor and Ignatia would never avoid fighting during critical moments like this one.

Ignatia walked forward, and a mass of ants surged from all the tunnels. They followed their Queen to battle, filled with murderous intent. Their Queen Mother was participating, so they were ready to sacrifice everything in this fight.

The ants were scariest when the Queen participated because they had absolutely no reservations.

The two armies looked around with widening eyes. They knew that the ants had been multiplying and growing during the last years. However, this massive room which could easily hold a few dozen of armies their size was basically crammed to the limits.

A man muttered. "Just... How many are there?"

A woman by his side spoke, her lips twitching. "I think there are over fifty thousand just on the ground. All of them Level 20 and above." Looking up, the woman chuckled nervously. "If we count those hanging on the ceiling... Heh."

"... Insane."

Ignatia's voice spread around at this moment. "Liu Shu! Activate the mines!"

The aura around skyrocketed as a rush of energy passed through all of them like a wave. The thick energy rushing upward and spreading through the mines made everyone feel as if they could breathe the ternary essences.

In Liu Shu's eyes, a notification popped up.

[Objective Complete: Improve the mineral mine you are standing on by at least one rank. (1/1)]

And right after, the air rumbled with the sounds of a thousand beasts.

"GRAAAAAHHH!!!!!!"