Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos

Chapter 117. Out of the frying pan into the fire.

Verdantia looked at the battlefield situation and was optimistic. With the Level 10s holding back the enemies and the sub-Level-10s harassing the enemies with their attacks, the battle looked like it would continue to go in their favor.

The ones suffering the most were the three Level 10 <Fire Ants> fighting the four <Stormbirds>. While <Fire Ants> were strong, they were much more adept at fighting within groups. Hence, being outnumbered was not something they really knew how to deal with.

Other than that, Flor's and Ignatia's battlefields were controlled and in a stalemate. Each of them was fighting three mounted Stormbird Riders while being supported by their race.

Being weaker than Flor, Ignatia had the help of Zinia, Clavel, and Thallus, in addition to her army of 300 ants.

Flor, on the other side, had Amapola with her, together with the 150 Rose Fairies and 80% of the Myconids.

Thanks to the Rose Fairies maneuverability, they could stall those three Stormbird Riders and block them from joining others. Of course, defeating them was another matter altogether. Even when Flor's stats were astoundingly high against 6 Level 10 plus creatures, she was having trouble with just Amapola's help.

The only battlefield that was going in their favor was the Sylvan battlefield.

Fighting just 4 of the riders, Cinderielle, Verdantia, and Tempestria, were doing quick work on them. Their attacks were incredibly ruthless, trying to finish the fight as soon as possible.

Of course, the female captain and the three other humans fighting with her understood their current perilous situation. Without their mounts, escaping was nothing but a pipe dream, so all this time, they had been trying to call their mounts, which were being stalled by the three resilient Level 10 ants.

'What do we do? What do we do? What do we do!?' The female Captain barely blocked Tempestria's swift sword, being pushed back several steps while her armor gained new lacerations. "SYLVAN! WE ARE PART OF THE STORMRIDER FAMILY! CEASE THIS ATTACK!"

Verdantia's anima energy sank into the trees and vegetation around the female captain, making them attack and latch around her. Then, using her staff and pointing at her, an illusory vine-like whip shot forward. Her cold voice accompanied the whistling sound of her attack. "I refuse."

This was Verdantia's primary way of attacking other than her summons, and it was called <Soul Root Strike>.

<Soul Root Strike (E Rank Level 3 [28,000/248900]): Summons an ethereal whip-like vine made out of pure Anima Energy to attack people's souls and damage their minds and bodies. It also steals a small part of the struck person's Anima Energy Shards, which depends on the difference between stats.

With this attack, she could continuously damage her enemies, and if she hit them enough times, forcing their Anima Energy to reach zero was not completely out of the question. When Anima Energy Shards reached zero, a person's core being could be damaged, and fighting beyond that point was almost impossible.

Anima Energy was the Soul's energy and vitality. It was expendable and fully recoverable, like Aether Mana, but like with the other two general stats, if it reached zero, it was very dangerous.

Losing stats or levels when dealt further damage was not uncommon. Moreover, the shock to the body was big enough that dying was much more common than any significant Level drop or stat drop.

When her illusory green whip landed on her body, a system message that gave her chills appeared.

[You've been struck by <Soul Root Strike>. -430 Anima Energy Shards. -860 Phoer Body Shards.]