Chapter 814: The Devil Trees
When the evolved demon king saw that Zhou Ying was still barely holding on, it chose to self-destruct immediately. Its stomach began to bloat as it triggered its gag reflex and simultaneously held in its vomit. Its eyes turned bloodshot as yellow vomitus trickled down its nostrils, so corrosive it made its own body decay.
The demon king's swelling stomach looked like a bomb about to explode.
Upon seeing the demon king's condition, Zhou Ying's eyes widened, and she immediately controlled her ebony dragons to prevent the demon king's plan. Her wood dragons twined together into thick pillars, passed through the demon king's domain of miasma, and smashed into its stomach as the evolved demon king burst apart.
Dark yellow bile exploded all around it, each drop of vomit like a bullet piercing through the trees of the forest and exploding whatever it came in contact with. Yellow-green pus from the demon king's pustules exploded and accompanied its vomit.
Zhou Ying's face crumpled. Any lifeform in the forest who came in contact with a single drop of vomit would either die or, worse, become a demon itself.
The demon king's body likewise exploded, sending pitch-black blood flying all over. Its entire body was poisonous, including the vomitus it sprayed out, the pus from its pustules, and the blood flowing through its body.
The demon king's explosion was so massive in scope that it covered the entire forest.
Zhou Ying responded immediately. Thousands of wood dragons emerged from the earth—not to prevent the explosion, but rather to dive straight back underground.
The demon king's self-destruction melted almost the entirety of the forest, which Zhou Ying had spent such effort trying to terraform. As the poisonous air spread throughout, all the plants began to wilt, wither, and die.
.
The demon king's poison dissolved not only the greenery, but also the soil. Where the evolved demon king's body had once been was now a dark yellow swamp that was emitting noxious purple miasma.
The wood dragons emerged from where they had dove down into the earth, revealing a protective cocoon they had formed. The dragons twined around the cocoon's exterior were dissolving from the poison, but those within were safely shielded.
The cocoon broke open with a burst of vitality, revealing a goddess of nature with long, black hair that shone like jade. She was so beautiful that anyone who saw her would be immediately enraptured, and motes of vitality shone around her like fireflies.
Zhou Ying stepped out of the cocoon and sucked in a deep breath as she saw the land that had turned back into a poisonous swamp.
If not for Zhou Ying's astounding vitality, she would have been poisoned to death from the breath she had inhaled alone. The swamp was so poisonous that it was still corroding the soil and slowly spreading, growing ever larger.
It was slowly expanding beyond a swamp and into a sea, one where no greenery would ever grow out of the corrupt soil.
Even after the demon king's explosion, no rain of blood appeared, nor cries of mourning. The demon king hadn't yet died.
It was likely that the demon king had lost all capability for battle against Zhou Ying, and was currently hiding in a secluded corner of the world. Although it had successfully negated Zhou Ying's efforts since entering the world, the demon king was in no shape to hinder her further terraforming.
Without anything else in the world to threaten her, Zhou Ying left the poisonous sea and rekindled her efforts once again. When the entire world turned green, no matter where the demon king was hiding, she would have the final victory.
In the draconian world, the wall that Sun Mengmeng had been guarding now bordered a sea of purple flames. Devil trees were screeching in pain as they burned.
As Zhang Lie had indicated, Sun Mengmeng's elemental attunement perfectly countered the devil trees, who were being slaughtered one-sidedly on the battlefield, which looked like a scene straight from hell.
A gigantic devil tree screeched even as it rushed through the fire and toward the walls.
"This must be the devil trees' leader," Sun Mengmeng murmured, pulling her bow taut as flames licked her body. Three arrows filled with purple flame left her hand. "[Lunarflame Shot]!"
The three arrows exploded on contact with the gigantic devil tree's body, piercing it through.
As Sun Mengmeng put down her bow, the burning devil tree fell to the ground with a huge crash.
The human and draconian guards standing on the wall had foreheads beading with sweat— from the waves of heat emanating from the battlefield, and from Sun Mengmeng's stunning performance.
They had seen how Sun Mengmeng stood atop the wall like a god of war.
At the start of the battlefield, she had summoned a shower of purple meteors that lit up the heavens and turned the battlefield into a sea of purple flame. Subsequently, she shot at whatever devil tree was able to make its way past the fields of fire and toward the wall. Her firepower alone was sufficient to defend the wall.
The humans and draconians stared at Sun Mengmeng's figure, tinted purple by flame, with awe and respect, with fear and rapture.
Tens of thousands of devil trees had been killed by the huntress who surveyed the battlefield from above. If the devil trees had known of such a peerless existence, they would never have dared to attack the draconian world.
Only when the last devil tree had been burned to a crisp by the flames did Sun Mengmeng finally hop off the wall. Her skills, well suited for field coverage, gave impressive results without draining her unduly.
"Wait for the flames to die out before reaping the spoils of the battlefield. I don't expect any more devil trees to invade; I'll head straight to their world and get rid of their king."
One of the guards, who had belatedly come to her senses, stepped forward. "Miss Sun, the draconian sage wishes to provide you with some information about the devil trees' world."
Sun Mengmeng glanced at the guard appraisingly. "More information would be appreciated."
"The devil trees' world is a large forest, one almost without end. All the trees within are devil trees, and the king of the devil trees has styled itself the world tree. It is an ancient tree spirit that has weathered years innumerable."
Sun Mengmeng nodded. "In other words, I'll be besieged from all fronts the moment I enter the world."
"Indeed so. The devil trees are cruel and crazed entities, ones that would immediately rush toward foreign invaders and turn them into fertilizer for themselves."
"Very well. I'd like to see if I'll become fertilizer, or they wood ash."
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