"Those damned demons are back!"
Fendona spat out the words in fury, snatched up her staff, and swept toward the terrace like a gust of wind.
"Your Highness Fendona, it's dangerous!" A guard reached out to stop her, but his fingertips only brushed an afterimage.
"My people are bleeding. I can't stand by and watch!"
Fendona's voice rang out from the distance.
The remaining Elf guards exchanged glances. With no time to spare for Lin Mo, their bizarre visitor from another world, they turned into streaks of green and rushed after her.
In the blink of an eye, Lin Mo was alone in the lavish treehouse.
"Hey! Wait!"
Lin Mo shouted toward the empty doorway.
No one answered.
"I've already proved it! At least untie me!"
Suddenly, he felt the grip around his ankles loosen.
The vines binding him writhed, then withdrew into the cracks in the floor on their own.
"Huh?"
Delighted, Lin Mo took off toward the terrace.
He needed to use this opportunity to learn about this wondrous world.
As for escaping, where could he run in a place he knew nothing about?
He certainly didn't want to die later without even knowing why.
Judging by the horn and the tense atmosphere, there was definitely a war underway.
This wondrous place, with its magic and world tree, might just be Blue Star's lifeline.
So he had to find out who they were fighting, and just how powerful the enemy was!
Lin Mo stepped out of the treehouse onto a suspended walkway connecting the enormous branches, only to be stunned once again by the sight before him.
This was an Elf city built entirely upon towering trees!
Countless walkways woven from living vines crisscrossed hundreds of meters above the ground, connecting exquisite treehouses.
Exotic flowers and plants glowed with breathtaking beauty in the sunlight.
Countless Elves raced along the walkways, their movements agile, their faces grim with the tension of an approaching storm.
His gaze traveled beyond the walkways, farther into the distance.
The world tree.
Only now did he truly see its main trunk.
The top of its canopy was nowhere in sight; it pierced straight into the clouds.
Countless clusters of buildings spiraled up its massive trunk, their lights twinkling like a divine realm.
A rough idea of what it looked like
Lin Mo's mind instantly flashed to the Ark Project that Great Xia was frantically building.
Steel bunkers, concrete cages, eternal layers of rock overhead, and filtered, recycled air to breathe.
Compared to what lay before him, that was merely clinging to survival.
This was living!
This tree alone was an independent ecosystem!
If they could move the whole thing back to Blue Star, why bother with the Ark Project or interstellar colonization?
The tree itself was a new world capable of sustaining more than ten million people!
Lin Mo's breathing quickened, his eyes burning with a mixture of greed and longing.
He suppressed his astonishment, found the direction Fendona and the others had taken, and began sprinting along the aerial walkways.
Fortunately, perhaps because he had just emerged from Fendona's room, the Elves along the way only gave him puzzled looks. With the battle so urgent, no one had time to stop and question him.
They all took him for the princess's guest.
The farther he ran, the stronger the atmosphere of war became.
Countless Elf warriors wearing standard-issue leather armor and carrying longbows or staffs poured from treehouses in every direction, joining the main thoroughfare leading to the city's edge.
Their expressions were stern, their movements silent. Only the faint clatter of their armor accompanied them as they merged into a green torrent.
No one spoke, but their resolve to face death made even Lin Mo, an outsider, feel his heart tighten.
He followed the Elf army forward until he finally reached the city's edge.
There were no walls here.
Or rather, the walls here were alive.
Hundreds of enormous treants, each more than a hundred meters tall, stood shoulder to shoulder, their gnarled roots sunk deep into the earth.
Their thick branches intertwined into an unbroken green barrier.
Countless Elf archers stood on the treants' shoulders and arms, longbows in hand, gazing into the distance.
Fendona stood atop the tallest treant, her staff glowing emerald green, poised for action.
Panting, Lin Mo ran up the stairway formed by branches to her side, then leaned out to follow her gaze.
One look was enough to chill his blood.
A black line had appeared on the distant horizon.
It was a black ocean bursting its banks, visibly expanding and surging as it rushed madly toward them.
An army!
An endless Demon Tide!
All manner of grotesque, hideous Demon Creatures mingled together to form that black wave.
There were Minotaur Demons several meters tall carrying massive axes, swift Lesser Demon Hounds running on all fours, and flying demons circling low overhead...
A rough glance at their numbers made Lin Mo's scalp prickle.
There had to be tens of thousands!
The earth groaned in agony beneath their trampling feet, and foul demonic energy surged skyward, staining the sky dark red.
Lin Mo had watched countless Hollywood effects-heavy blockbusters, from The Lord of the Rings to The Avengers, but not a single scene could compare to the apocalyptic sight before him.
Its oppressive grandeur was real, bearing down on him!
"What... are those things?" Lin Mo turned to Fendona.
Fendona's face was filled with hatred as she answered without turning her head:
"Demons born in the hell of another world. The enemies of every living being on the Terra Continent-the Demon Clan!"
Lin Mo's mouth fell slightly open in disbelief.
"An invasion from hell?"
These were the enemies the Elves had to face?
How were they supposed to fight them?
He stared at the endless Demon Clan army, which included quite a few enormous creatures as big as small buildings.
Then he looked at the Elves, every one of them a handsome man or beautiful woman.
Could they really hold their own in battle?
Was he sure this wouldn't turn into one of those scenes from an adult comic where the Elves got overrun?
Lin Mo wanted to ask more, but Fendona suddenly raised her staff high and shouted with all her might.
"Elemental Elves, ready-attack!"
In an instant, countless Elves began chanting.
Multicolored spheres of magic, wind blades, and ice spikes converged into a rainbow torrent, filling the sky before slamming into the distant Demon Tide.
Thunderous explosions rang out without pause.
Countless demons were blasted to pieces.
Yet the black ocean only faltered for a moment before more Demon Creatures from the rear filled the gaps and continued advancing.
Against the terrifying numbers of the Demon Tide, the gaps left by those casualties were instantly filled by Demon Creatures surging from behind.
Once the Demon Tide charged within a few hundred meters, Fendona's cool, clear command rang across the battlefield again.
"Loose!"
Twang!
Dense volleys of arrows blotted out the sky in an instant.
Tens of thousands of arrows whistled through the air, tracing deadly arcs as they rained precisely onto the front of the Demon Tide.
More than a thousand Demon Creatures at the forefront were instantly turned into pincushions and fell with agonized howls.
But before their corpses could even cool, their companions behind them trampled them into pulp.
The Demon Creatures that followed charged fearlessly onward over their companions' remains.
Fortunately, the dense rain of arrows, combined with the uninterrupted magic and occasional powerful attacks resembling forbidden spells, finally slowed the Demon Tide's advance a little.
At that moment, the Demon Creature army began its counterattack.
Countless streams of corrosive acid, shadow arrows, and chaos fireballs hurtled toward the treant defensive line, filling the sky.
The enormous treants swung their arm-like branches, precisely smashing and sweeping away most of the ranged attacks.
For a time, the battlefield became a brutal, bloody meat grinder.
"ROAR!!!"
An earth-shaking roar came from behind the Demon Tide.
Lin Mo's heart lurched, and he sensed trouble.
With a noise like that, it had to be the boss making its entrance!
Before you continue