Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos.

Chapter 116. Tense Battlefield.

Amapola was quick to see the enemy's charge and reacted accordingly. "Spread out and fly upward! Use the tree canopies to maneuver around them. They are too big to follow us!"

The Rose Fairies all quickly flapped their wings and flew upward, entering the canopy and moving away swiftly.

The group of Stormbird Soldiers were naturally trained in hunting down people. After all, they were assigned as bodyguards. Even the woman who gained the captain position illegitimately needed at least enough skill to join the army. 

So, when they saw what the group they spotted was doing, the female captain ordered. "Separate and hunt them down!"

However, as soon as her orders were told, the former captain strongly disagreed. "Captain! We are surrounded by many beasts! Separating right now is the worst we can do!"

The woman found it reasonable and changed her orders. "Hunt down the highest-level one, then! She's gone that way!"

All then <Stormbird> kicked the ground and shot across the forest with incredible agility. 

Amapola saw that they were all coming for her and smiled. 'Better if they target me than others. Thankfully, I managed to level up during the last months, or I would've probably been done for.'

Looking around, Amapola could navigate with incredible precision. For Rose Fairies, trees were very recognizable, like buildings were for other intelligent races. So she could pinpoint her own location incredibly well. 'Let's guide them away from Liu Shu and around Queen Flor's location. This way, Queen Flor and the rest will be able to continue the bombardment. It's a bit risky… but I need to do it.'

She tapped her chest, where Liu Shu's amulet clung, and activated the skill that came with it called <Windy Currents>. Her movement speed soared for a few seconds, allowing her to increase the distance with her pursuers.

Amapola was flying high, but not high enough to go above the trees. 

On the ground, the ten people followed closely. The woman's face was scrunched, not expecting the Level 10 to be so slippery. "She is turning right! Surround her position! Don't let her run as she pleases, and use skills to attack her!"

Three of them accelerated, going ahead and trying to circle around her. Meanwhile, the people following used their skills to channel storm-attributed attacks.

Storm Mana attacks were varied, being able to summon damaging clouds that carried lethal currents of electricity and damaging water bolts. When they combine with the innate abilities of their mount, the riders would be able to summon a dangerous and swift attack. But without the help of their mounts, they couldn't create the attack called <Stormrider Strike>, which was their main form of attack.

For a Stormbird Rider's combat ability, their mount was as precious as any weapon. While they could fight without it, their combat strength decreased significantly.

Their attacks shot forward with tremendous speed, having even some homing ability. Amapola looked at the rapid grey clouds shooting at her, and she bit her lip while saying sorry in her head. 'I'm sorry, little trees. I swear that after this battle, I will come to help you.'

Then, she dodged to the left, and the attack followed, slamming into a Level 7 tree and blowing off a massive chunk of the trunk. Seeing the canopy start to fall over because of the missing part of the trunk, Amapola felt her stomach churn. 'Poor darling. Please survive until I come back to heal you.'

Amapola knew that Liu Shu killed trees as she expanded, but she accepted it as the "cycle of nature" because Liu Shu had proven that she also grew trees herself. Some of them were in house shapes, but they were not much different from normal ones if you didn't take into account their strange interiors. 

Seeing trees being killed without reason was different, so it really hurt her as a Rose Fairy to use the nature around her to save her own life. Still, their Queen had ordered them that they could do so in an emergency, and therefore, Amapola continued doing so with the attacks she couldn't dodge. 'Hm? Is that Verdantia?'

As the riders moved around Amapola, trying to cut her off and trap her in, Flor and the rest managed to arrive near the area and throw attacks at the quick riders. 

Several wind and fire attacks flew from them, landing on some of the riders and making their mounts lose some stability. Still, the <Stormbird> proved its value when, even as Flor's attacks struck right on their legs, they continued running without making a single sound.

Flor clicked her tongue. 'If I don't cut their leg off, they will continue fighting. However, if I approach, I'll become a prime target. Hm? When did Verdantia reach that area?'

The former captain spoke again. "If we continue like this, we are going to be overwhelmed by them! We need to focus on more immobile high levels!"

The female captain became irritated and shouted, "Are you or am I the captain!? Why are you speaking so much!?"

The man was not playing around anymore as the danger around them had proven to be real, so he shouted back. "BECAUSE IF WE CONTINUE FOLLOWING YOUR ORDERS! WE ARE GOING TO BE KILLED! WE NEED TO-" 

The woman didn't know what to do at the moment, and with the shouts of the person she hated the most in the squad, her nerves became ever more agitated. 

She turned her helmet in his direction, ready to scream back. Yet, as soon as she did so, she saw the man pointing forward and shouting. "DODGE!"

Her reaction speed was too low, and before she realized it, she felt her body become weightless as she was flung off the back of the <Stormbird>.

While flying upside down, she could see several horizontal vines that had not been there just a moment ago, tripping four out of the seven riders that had not separated just a moment ago. 'A flora manipulator!? Since when!?' Before hitting the ground face first, the woman gritted her teeth in anger. 'These monsters are too cunning!'

BANG!

A few moments earlier, Verdantia had been throwing a few hand signs toward Amapola. She had more or less seen the path that Amapola would take, so preparing a trap was not complicated. She hoped that the birds would not fly so that her trap worked, and thanks to the Level 10 Rose Fairy flying relatively low, it went according to her plans. Verdantia couldn't help but admire her. 'She is really risking everything.'

As they approached, she could hear what the riders were actually discussing, which made her eyes flash with deep killing intent. 

'If you are distracted…' 

<Life Affinity Connection (E Rank Level MAX)>

'...You will make this too easy!'

Vines appeared from the sides, cutting off the road, which was followed by a loud "Dodge!" from her enemies. 

Still, Verdantia's lips arched in joy when she saw four of the stormbirds failing to jump and being entangled, plunging their raiders flying while they fell forward.

The damage was not great, but Verdantia understood how much easier it was to fight a Stormbird rider and their mount separated than when they were mounted.

Even in fights between them, one mounted stormbird rider could defeat three dismounted ones and their mounts with relative ease, even when their strength was on par. 

Verdantia shouted. "CINDERIELLE! TEMPESTRIA! TRANSFORM!"

Together with the sound of two giant ants charging out of the dense forest, Verdantia chanted. "<Vinebloom Sylvan Body Liberation>!"

Behind her, two more voices were heard.

"<Pyroaether Sylvan Body Liberation>!"

"<Cyclamen Sylvan Body Liberation>!"

Aether, Phoer, and Anima energies gathered around the three Sylvans as their aura and strength skyrocketed. 

Then, jumping off their Level 10 Fire Ants and ordering them to fight the four isolated mounts, the transformed Verdantia, Tempestria, and Cinderielle rushed at the four Level 12 humans that had fallen.

The female captain had just stood up when she saw the three tall and imposing Sylvans charging at them. Her heart chilled, and her face was covered with horror. "Three Sylvans!? QUICKLY! DEFEND!"

In the Ceperet World, if there was one thing that was never underestimated, it was the strength of a Sylvan after transforming. 

And, looking at their stats, it was clear why.

***

Name: Cinderielle

Level: 9

Aether Mana Shards: 23,656/23,656

Phoer Body Shards: 17,066/17,066 

Anima Energy Shards: 15,973/15,973 

***

Cinderielle was an Aether Powerhouse, but while her stats were not as high as the other two, she had plenty of Fire-related buffs when transformed, making her attack power the highest of the three.

***

Name: Verdantia

Level: 9

Aether Mana Shards: 15,974/15,974

Phoer Body Shards: 17,067/17,067

Anima Energy Shards: 29,601/29,601

***

Verdantia had incredibly deep Anima Energy reserves, and her transformation also enhanced her ability to summon and heal, which made her a one-woman army that could cast one spell after another. 

***

Name: Tempestria

Level: 9

Aether Mana Shards: 21,215/21,215

Phoer Body Shards: 27,289/27,289 

Anima Energy Shards: 13,641/13,641

***

Meanwhile, Tempestria was a fighter-type Sylvan, with Physique as her focus, but she was also assisted by powerful Wind-attributed Aether Mana. In a melee fight, she was a terrifying foe to fight against. 

The four riders that had fallen prepared their swords and tried to gather together before the three sylvans arrived. 

Before the clash, Tempestria also bothered looking at their ternary essences. 

The Female Captain's stats were as such, and the rest had very similar ones, being slightly weaker.

***

Level: 12

Aether Mana Shards: 11,737/11,737

Phoer Body Shards: 23,052/23,052

Anima Energy Shards: 9,677/9,677

***

Tempestria's body, surrounded by tempestuous and sharp winds, looked like the personification of wind. Her grey hair had semi-transformed into wind, and her skin gained a beautiful metallic texture. 

Her height, reaching almost three-and-a-half-meters, towered above the four people facing her, and even when Tempestria was a Level 9 facing four Level 12s, the image looked more like four weak humans taking on the wrath of a humanoid typhoon.

Tempestria's sword moved, and with it, a terrible wind pressure rushed forward. 

BOOM!

One of the raiders rushed forward to meet with Tempestria's sword, and even if the collision didn't provoke too much damage, the Wind Sylvan's constantly circling gusts of wind forced his feet to stop touching the ground, and his body flew for several meters.

The other three moved quickly, trying to attack Tempestria. However, they had to stop as three enormous fireballs rushed at them with incredible speed.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Swiftly counterattacking, they managed to block them while receiving minimal damage. Yet, the weight behind the fireballs shook the hearts of the female captain and the other two. 

The Female Captain looked around her, trying to spot the ones that managed to dodge. However, her face sunk when she realized that they were in combat with two strong-looking Rose Fairies, a few hundred ants, and a red-haired woman with a voluptuous body and what seemed an ant thorax behind her. 

As if that was not all, the last three that went to circle Amapola were fighting the Rose Fairy they had followed together with a Rose Fairy that was even more terrifying than the wind Sylvan in front of them. 

The wind that the petite Rose Fairy was controlling made even the Female Captain's heart shudder. If you added the more than 100 Rose Fairies surrounding those three and some fungus-like creatures helping both groups, she realized that there were no "reinforcements." 

Her eyes turned toward the flaming Sylvan, and she gritted her teeth in anger. 'What kind of monster nest did we poke!? And why is our target with them!?'

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