Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos

Chapter 62. Results of the Battle.

Flor looked around with an exhausted face; her Aether Mana had been reduced to around ten percent, and even keeping herself flying felt extraneous. Most of the remaining Rose Fairies had fallen to the ground out of pure fatigue, while a few had fainted from Aether Mana exhaustion.

The entire battlefield was littered with corpses, making the surroundings smell of blood and insides. It was certainly not a pleasant smell.

That was not the worst part since the garden specially made for baby Rose Fairies had been trampled, leaving almost no intact plant. The sight of the flattened roses in between the many footprints made Flor's stomach churn.

This prompted Flor to stop and look closely at the corpses of the Rose Fairies. Her gaze lingered on their messed-up remains, her mind flashing with many thoughts.

Seeing the faces of a few Rose Fairies she personally interacted with between the dead was not a first for Flor, but seeing so many dead was a first certainly a first.

The wars she had participated in in the past were of a much smaller scale, making her realize how difficult it was to resist outside attacks without numbers and proper strategies.

"Flor."

The voice of the mature and usually playful Ant Queen reached her. However, the tone was much softer than usual as her compound eyes looked her way.

Flor mustered a smile and spoke. "Sorry for all your children. Almost 40 of the 100 that came died."

Ignatia looked at the corpses of the ants and shook her head. "They died protecting who will become our race's protector in the future. This war made me realize how important that Little Tree truly is."

Ignatia remembered the brutality of the tree when slaughtering everything that approached with ruthless efficiency and then imagined it when the tree was double or even triple her current height. A chill ran up her spine. 'Probably not even a developed ant nest can deal with her. The only option would be to throw numbers to die until it is exhausted. Even then...' Ignatia looked at Liu Shu's ternary essences and could see the regeneration slowly ticking and increasing the numbers. '... That kind of regeneration would make any low-level attack useless.'

Flor looked around and nodded. "She is important."

Ignatia, however, heard a different tone in her voice and asked with a gentle smile. "Are you wondering if she is more important or the Rose Fairies that lie dead there?"

Flor paused and sighed. Without answering her question, she flew toward Ignatia and sat on her shoulder. Ignatia looked at her and lifted one of her hands to tickle her belly, earning a slap from Flor. "Stop that."

Ignatia laughed as she retracted her hand. "Sorry, you are just adorable."

Flor sighed and looked at the living group of Rose Fairies. After looking around, she suddenly realized that not all of them were gathered among her high-level Rose Fairies. Her heart sank as she asked. "Where is Aster?"

Ignatia paused and looked over. Her compound eyes could easily discern the facial expression of Clavel and the others, and there was a bit of pain beyond the exhaustion, making her realize what happened. "Flor... Aster..."

Flor quickly left her shoulder and approached Clavel, Zinia, and Amapola. "Amapola, where is Aster?"

Aster was quite a mischievous Rose Fairy, and she was always a bit cynical. However, she took care of many things and often talked with Flor. Therefore, Flor was very fond of the young yet strong Rose Fairy.

Amapola saw Flor approach and flinched, making Flor's gut feeling become increasingly worse. Her voice was calm when she asked. "What happened?"

Amapola opened and closed her mouth, and she finally spoke. "One of the high-level <Cloud Magpie> managed to doge one of Liu Shu's attacks. Because we were overconfident that Liu Shu wouldn't miss, our attention was on the beasts below..." Amapola struggled as she said. "Our lack of attention got Aster killed. The bird used that chance and sacrificed itself while taking Aster down with it."