Chapter 2308 Captured
"Report!"
One of the Leaf tribe guards hurriedly approached, quietly informing, "Elder, we've discovered Elder Nanu is missing."
Serge froze, turning sharply and demanding, "What do you mean? Missing?!"
The guard's expression soured as he explained in a low voice, "When we counted heads, Elder Nanu wasn't among them."
Upon hearing this, Serge and two other Leaf tribe elders beside him visibly paled.
Elder Nanu was a senior figure in the tribe, not the strongest but certainly formidable. How could he silently disappear in the midst of that chaos...
Looking back, the rear had already been completely engulfed by a horde of red Lickers.
Returning to search for Elder Nanu? They might get caught up and unable to escape themselves.
Those humans!
Serge restrained his anger, feeling a creeping sense of dread.
If Elder Nanu could vanish without a trace in the chaos, could he be next?
"Let's withdraw and return to the tribe!"
"Yes, sir!"
...
In the grand hall of the Leaf tribe's habitat, Senzo was furious upon learning of Elder Nanu's disappearance during the battle.
Fang Heng! How dare he!
"Report!"
A tribesman hurried forward and reported, "The Licker horde has returned."
They're back again?!
This is relentless!
Senzo's hand clenched the armrest of his vine chair, veins bulging. This was beyond tolerable!
The Leaf tribe guard lowered his head almost to the floor and whispered, "There's also... there's also... "
Senzo's gaze turned icy cold, his voice low and intense, "What else?"
The guard swallowed nervously, not daring to look up. "We've also been targeted by pinpoint light beam strikes from the Federation's remote support."
At the same time, outside the habitat barrier, the human reinforcements had finally arrived.
Say what you will, the Federation's expertise lies in long-range suppression with their artifact-enhanced light beams.
With the fusion Tyrant forms drawing fire up front, the humans positioned themselves five kilometers away and initiated precise beam strikes directly onto the enemy lines.
Following that came the charging and additional output.
Shi Yanwu's psychic team was responsible for coordination, primarily safeguarding the Federation's beam-operated machinery.
Through Fang Heng's remote monitoring, the Federation command could roughly gauge the front-line situation.
Outside the Leaf tribe's habitat, the defensive barrier was under severe threat from the zombie horde and beam weapon attacks, visibly trembling under the assault.
Frankly, the Federation reinforcements that had just arrived were also taken aback. They had expected a counterattack, but it seemed that their counterattack had pushed into the enemy's stronghold.
Moreover, it appeared that the enemy was showing signs of being unable to withstand the assault.
No one could have predicted beforehand that the Leaf tribe would be forced into such a defensive position, huddling behind their defensive barrier.
Fang Heng still hadn't taken action, observing from nearby.
A game hint popped up:
[Hint: The player captures Leaf tribe elder-Nanu. The player gains 20,000 reputation points with the tree spirit tribe.]
Fang Heng glanced at the hint.
Capturing another tree spirit tribe elder gave Fang Heng another bargaining chip.
Through several engagements, Fang Heng had observed that the dimensional energy stored within the Leaf tribe's sacred tree was still substantial and would likely not be depleted in the short term. Even the Leaf tribe's Great Elder, Senzo, had yet to make an appearance.
It was highly probable that the Leaf tribe still had some hidden cards to play.
It looked like pushing a wave was a bit difficult; at least the sacred tree's dimensional level enhancement wasn't enough yet.
He had to prepare for both.
He would start a fight first, and it didn't matter if he lost. He would display his strength to secure a bigger bargaining chip.
The harder they fought, the more sacred tree branches and leaf dimensional markers he could secure for subsequent negotiations.
Once he obtained the dimensional markers, he would return and stay for a few more days. By then, the dimensional energy would likely reach Level 17, allowing him to potentially overwhelm the entire Leaf tribe.
Stable.
However, Fang Heng had not anticipated that the Federation still had remote beam positioning weapons like artifacts, which they had obtained from afar through spatial transmission systems.
These devices required time for positioning; once locked on, they could continuously unleash high-strength energy beam bombardments.
With its assistance, the energy points of the barriers outside the Leaf tribe's habitat were rapidly decreasing!
Visibly, the external barriers were already showing severe tremors.
"Fang Heng! I know you're there! Come out!!"
A furious shout echoed from within the tree spirit tribe's habitat.
Fang Heng frowned slightly, looking ahead.
It was Senzo's voice, that old man.
All the vampires turned to look at Fang Heng.
The vampires all turned their gaze towards Fang Heng.
Fang Heng rubbed his chin, simply pretending not to hear, and did not respond.
It wasn't time for negotiation yet; the battle was still ongoing.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!!!"
The damage from the Federation's beam weapons was devastating.
After four consecutive exchanges, the dimensional energy from the sacred tree ceased to emanate.
Without the dimensional strength boost, the outer barrier of the Leaf tribe's habitat shattered under the concentrated firepower of the zombie teams and Federation light beams, falling into a state of recharge and reboot.
"We did it!"
Inside the Federal Command, seeing the shattered barrier, the spirits of the Federation's high command were lifted.
Well, in the past, even when working together with spawns and dependents, they never managed to wipe out an entire tribe of tree spirit tribe. Now, there was actually a chance to completely eradicate one tribe of the tree spirit tribe?
Fang Heng continued to observe the now tranquil Leaf tribe habitat from a distance, his brow slightly furrowed.
After breaking through the outer barrier, the Leaf tribe guards immediately retreated back, leaving the scene to revert to the appearance of a primeval forest.
The tree spirit tribe's strategy seemed to be luring them into the trap, abandoning the periphery barrier to entice them in, possibly intending to use the sacred tree's strength to counterattack.
Fang Heng had to consider all possible scenarios.
"Command post."
"Mr. Fang Heng, please go ahead."
"Is the beam weapon targeting still active? Strike the camp with another wave."
"Understood."
After a two-minute delay, the remote beam weapons targeted and unleashed a barrage of attacks inside the tree spirit tribe's camp.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The inner region of the Leaf tribe habitat erupted into a cloud of dust, with consecutive violent explosions causing the ground beneath their feet to tremble intensely.
Visibly, the structures within the habitat shattered into rubble under the blasts, transforming into a wasteland.
However, after the explosions, the Leaf tribe habitat fell back into a silence akin to a normal primeval forest, as if the area they had bombed was nothing more than an ordinary domain.
Fang Heng quickly realized.
Last time he visited, under Ovi's guidance, they had entered the cultivation grounds of the sacred tree sapling.
That area was deep underground.
Therefore, it was highly likely that the central regions of the Leaf tribe, their domains, were also established deep underground.
Even though the surface domains had been reduced to vast ruins under the continuous bombardment of the Federation's beam weapons, the deep inner regions would not have been significantly affected.
"Humph..."
He could only kill his way in and see for himself!
Fang Heng snorted coldly and ordered the vampires to guard the periphery while controlling the horde of Lickers to assault the inner regions of the Leaf tribe's habitat.
Taking advantage of the large numbers of Lickers providing cover, Fang Heng himself pushed into the inner regions of the Leaf tribe's habitat.
The Lickers surged through the broken defensive barriers into the Leaf tribe's habitat.
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