Chapter 231 - Nature Is To Be Feared
Boom!
The Elder Tree violently shook again, but except for the rampaging tree roots outside, the tree spirit itself was completely dead silent. Everyone was filled with an ominous feeling despite not knowing what was about to happen. They were just told to rushed to the surface as quickly as possible.
As everyone began making their way through the tunnel, Lilith could no longer hold back her curiosity while they were on the run and turned to Leon at her side.
"Now can you tell us what is going on?"
When the question was raised, the nearby runners also perked their ears to listen in.
"The Elder Tree is trying to take advantage of its first ray of sunlight to push for a breakthrough to become a World Tree."
The first ray of sunlight on a plant deprived of it will always have the strongest effect.
"Push for a breakthrough? Trees can cultivate now?" Lilith was flabbergasted.
This was news to her.
"Heaven never closes its door to life. If it is living, it can cultivate." Leon explained.
"So, what you're telling me is even flowers and any random stalks of grass on the field has a chance of cultivating as well?" Lilith rolled her eyes. It sounded unbelievable.
"If it aged well and developed a sentient spirit then yes, they can!"
Lilith gaped in disbelief. What in the world! She felt her world turning upside down.
However, she quickly shook her head and said, "Okay… but what does that have to do with why we need to run to the surface? What's so dangerous about the Elder Tree pushing for a breakthrough?"
This question was also what everyone wanted to ask as well as they were listening. They could not put the two and two together.
"It's not easy to become a World Tree. In fact, it is extremely difficult. In order to become a World Tree, the Elder Tree will give it everything it has to push through once it collects enough sunlight." Leon explained.
The crowd was still confused, unsure of where the danger was coming from. Leon's explanation was rather vague.
"Since sunlight is the problem, why don't we just move these mirrors and stop the Elder Tree from getting the sunlight?" Lilith suggested.
"Don't touch the mirrors!" Leon barked. He almost jumped with fright. "It's already begun making its preparation for a breakthrough, but the sunlight is not enough to help its breakthrough! Even the power source will most likely not be enough! In fact, all life within a certain distance of the Elder Tree will be sacrificed for its breakthrough! If you stop it from receiving sunlight now, you will only anger it and get us all killed."
"What!"
Everyone was appalled.
"How can it do that?! With its tree roots?" Lilith asked with horror. She remembered the tree roots of the Elder Tree could seemingly suck anything dry in an instant.
At her question, Leon made a bitter smile. If only it was that simple, but she was not wrong either. If it wanted, its tree roots can even reach the surface through the tunnel.
But that was not what he was worried about.
"No, you are severely underestimating what an elder tree can do. If World Trees are considered deities, then Elder Trees are like demigods. It has the ability to drain all the lifeforce within its immediate surrounding. Think of it as an absolute domain over life and death."
People were not aware because the Elder Tree had never used its special ability before due to the consumption of energy. Instead, it had always been passive and focused on the conservation of energy for its continual survival in the underground.
But now that it has the opportunity to break out of the subterranean space and ascend to a higher state, it would naturally give it everything it's got!
This was the brutality of the Divine Realm that Leon knew! In the pursuit of the everlasting, everything else can be discarded!
No matter what relationship they had established with the Elder Tree, it was insignificant compared to its own ascension, and sunlight was the catalyst for what was happening!
Leon felt incredibly complicated. Why did blessings and disasters always come hand in hand?! Were they a married couple?!
Elder Evergreen and the villagers all felt a chill in their hearts at the revelation. They had relied on the Elder Tree all their life for survival, but the opposite cannot be said. The Elder Tree did not need them. They were just freeloaders, but perhaps they were kept alive for this moment!
In the end, they were still considered fortunate for having some relationship with the tree spirit. They realized why the ants were going all out in their attack against the Elder Tree.
The Elder Tree must have targeted their lifeforce subtly but got discovered and triggered their frenzy. Why wouldn't they be? The Elder Tree was going to take everything away from them, including their life!
The tunnel was long, but it did not take much time to reach the surface through it as compared to climbing up the Elder Tree to reach the entrance of the tunnel.
Everyone quickly made it outside, and the treants that had yet to undergo their baptism of sunlight underwent an even more exaggerated transformation. Sunlight could be seen drawn to their bodies like particles, but Leon did not have time to admire.
"We… should be safe now, right?" Lilith asked.
Leon was about to answer when the villagers all started groaning with difficult expressions.
"Ugh…"
"What's happening now?"
The palace guards were surprised by the sudden change in the villagers next to them.
Leon turned to Elder Evergreen for an answer. The elder was no exception from the sudden change. Seeing his fellow villagers suffering the same symptoms as him, he said, "Our bodies suddenly feel heavy. It wants to go back down."
"Fight it. The Elder Tree is summoning you all back. We need to get further away from here. Regardless of whether the Elder Tree succeeds or not, there's a high chance the ground will collapse." Leon said with a serious look.
Elder Evergreen nodded as his big leaf swayed in the wind.
The group of several hundred people retreated some 3000 yards away before they finally sighed with relief.
At this distance, the villagers from the old treant village no longer felt the compelling summoning force of the Elder Tree and they finally felt safe.
The trembles of the earth could still be felt from the surface, and it was growing with intensity with each passing moment.
One could imagine that the battle within the subterranean space was very ferocious for it to pass through 300fts of thick earth to reach the surface.
Fortunately, there were no cities or towns located in the vicinity, and the logistic team from the military had long left for Azure Verdant Plains to deliver the supplies as they were assigned to do.
Thus, even if the earth collapse, there would be no casualties.
"I don't understand though. If the Elder Tree was draining the lifeforce from the ants to aid its breakthrough, can't they just retreat out of the Elder Tree's range? Why do they need to fight?" Lilith voiced her doubts as she sat down on the patch of grass.
"My guess is that they were greedy and didn't want the Elder Tree to absorb all that red energy down there. If I'm not wrong, the reason for the ants' regular attack was to train themselves. The weak ones are killed off, but the strong ones will live on." Leon said.
"That's starting to make sense to me."
Soon, everyone began to show Leon gratitude for his timing warning and bringing them out to safety.
Pieces of earth surrounding the opening of the tunnel began breaking off and dropping into the darkness below in tandem with the shaking of the ground.
It wasn't long before they saw tree roots shooting out of the opening before slamming back into the ground.
"Did the Elder Tree succeed in its breakthrough?"
The people were shaken by the sight.
"No, it's still far from it. It's trying to remove the ceiling and bathe in its entire body in the sunlight." Leon answered seriously before suggesting, "We… should probably back off a bit more."
As if the ground within a 3000-yard radius of the tunnel opening had lost all its support, the entire region finally collapsed.
Boom!
The earth shook again with unprecedented force like an earthquake. The power of nature was to be feared. It was simply earthshaking and devastating as its tremors could be felt dozens of miles away.
It was a scene that everyone present would never forget as they fail to hold their balance. Slickers of cold sweat dripped from their faces at the thought that they could be buried under all that earth.
The sheer weight of the earth was impossible to calculate, but it was unlikely for the ants to survive the crushing weight of its fall.
Everyone scrutinized their eyes into the newly formed and enormous pit as the dust settled. Surprisingly, many ants had survived as they had broken the Elder Tree's defense and latched on its stump for cover.
The Elder Tree was revealed to be in a severely battered shape, covered in dirt and ants nibbling on it, but despite all this, it still stood strong and tall in all its majesty. Its leaves had turned completely green.
The Elder Tree began to glow with triple layers of color after it was exposed to rich sunlight.
Starting with the innermost being green, red followed in the middle, and finally yellow occupied the outermost layer. The three layers of color formed a beautifully large and spherical dome around the Elder Tree like a barrier. It was its domain.
"It's starting." Leon quietly muttered.
Everyone focused their gaze into the distance as they watched the ants suddenly withered like dead plants and dropped from the tree's stump one after the other.
Their carcasses crashed, shattered into fine dust, and scattered with the wind. It was like their entire existence had just been erased from the world and never existed.
Lilith paled and everyone trembled in their hearts at the sight. If they had not escaped in a timely manner and retreated to such safe distances, what happened to the ants would have happened to them as well.
As knowledgeable as Leon was, it was also his first time witnessing it in person. He couldn't help but inhale deeply and cussed.
"Damn nature, you scary!"