232 Exposed To The World

Crawford Kingdom Eastern Border Pass, Azure Verdant Plains.

The war between the three kingdoms had already commenced over the tri-bridge in the past few days. 

The Crawford Kingdom was outnumbered by the alliance between the Durham Kingdom and the Valaran Kingdom, but both sides were evenly matched on the battlefield without any clear advantages.

The Queen's arrival had been a great boost to the morale of the soldiers of the Crawford Kingdom.

With her at the hem of the battlefield with the 20 thousand strong soldiers gathered from various regions of the Crawford Kingdom, they were able to fend off the 40 thousand invaders.

During the first confrontation, the enemy had sent out their full force in a bid to take down the Eastern Border Pass as swiftly as possible. 

However, the strong Crawford Kingdom soldiers were alert under the Queen's command and retaliated. A great battle was fought over the central tri-bridge. 

Sparks of gunpowder exploded all over the battlefield while bullets ricocheted off the great shields of both sides. In this bout of crossfire, the Crawford Kingdom held the advantage. 

Their bullets and firearms were all designed to penetrate the tough hides and shells of the beasts from the Wildlands. Thus, it only took a few rounds before it broke through the enemy's steel shield.

The enemy generals were quick to notice the unfavorable situation their troops were in but pressed forward and forced the Crawford Kingdom's troops into close combat.

The casualties on the Crawford Kingdom's side quickly rose to 2000, while the enemy's losses tallied up to roughly 4000. 

Their bodies piled up like mountains, while some directly fell into the Azure River to become food for the fishes.

At the rate the battle was progressing, both sides would just suffer mutual destruction if no changes were made. As such, the Queen changed tactics and went from offensive to defensive.

She ordered the kingdom's troops to retreat behind the safety of the walls where they would make their stand.

The two sects controlling the Durham Kingdom and the Valaran Kingdom might not care for the lives of the soldiers lost, but it was not the same for Elizabeth. 

Every life lost in battle was a loss for the Human Domain.

With the wall as the cover and the soldiers managing it, the Border Pass was like an impregnable fortress. The enemy troops could not take down the Border Pass and both sides ended up in a stalemate.

This was the situation for the last couple of days. 

The enemy did not send out their sect members to join the battle, so neither did the queen nor the two daughters-in-law she brought along. 

In the end, the big battle ended prematurely, and only small skirmishes broke out at irregular intervals in front of the wall. 

As the attacker, the enemy's tactic was to harass and wear down the garrisons before they launch their next big attack with the main army. 

Elizabeth had realized their intentions and divided her troops to take shifts in guarding the walls through the night. This way, they would get adequate rests.

The enemy had also realized that strategy was rendered useless. They could only helplessly throw out taunts in front of the wall to provoke the Crawford Kingdom into sending out their troops to do battle.

Naturally, as the chief commander of the Border Pass defense, Elizabeth was the focus of their taunts and provocations. 

To such taunts and provocations, Elizabeth responded with a flying sword and lopped off the heads of her taunters. 

Since then, the enemy could only retreat in fear and taunt from afar that could barely be heard.

Presently, Elizabeth was overlooking the situation of the tri-bridge from atop the Border Pass walls. Lynne and Aria stood behind her with similar gazes. 

The experience in the last few days had caused slight changes to their mentality. They appeared more mature and the naivety brought by their youth was less evident. 

Elizabeth had been strict in her teaching during resting periods. Not only did she taught them sword arts, but she also shared her insights in the way of the sword.

Formless Sword Art was the name of the sword art she taught them. It was the most appropriate one to teach. It was foundation level sword art that is easy to learn with no upper limit to its potential.

As the saying goes, there are no invincible martial arts, only invincible martial artist.

Fixed sword arts were too rigid and inflexible to changes, but the Formless Sword Art allows the user to be formless to counteract all changes in battle. The form of sword art was never fixed and differs from users to users. 

Apart from this, Aria and Lynne were giving magisteel swords and learned how to enchant their weapons with elemental attributes to increase their striking power.

Elizabeth really wondered how her son managed to find such talented ladies. They were also considered geniuses in her books. 

It wasn't like she was doubting her own son's charms.

After all, his face shares resemblances to his father— Ahem, never mind the face. He was driven and motivated. Women find men most attractive when they are serious and hardworking.

While facing the empty horizon, everyone on the wall thought that the enemies were not going to come out to taunt them today.

However, everyone became shocked when the earth suddenly quaked, and the direction seemed to have come from behind them in the west.

When they thought about the enemy's inaction of the day and the sudden earthquake that just happened, they all came to the same conclusion.

The enemy must have crossed the river and snuck around to attack their rear!

Elizabeth's expression became serious. The enemy had set camp on the tri-bridge and had not made any sudden movements.

Was their main army only a diversion from the start? If it was then the situation was not good.

One had to know that the Crawford Kingdom had to defend the Western Frontier and Southern Wall from possible beast invasion, but also their eastern borders against the two kingdoms.

However, the two sects might not care about the two kingdom's stability and round up all the military force they can muster to invade the Crawford Kingdom. 

If that was the case, 40 thousand soldiers were hardly even half of what they had.

Elizabeth quickly assigned a trusted commander as deputy chief in command of the eastern borders, before taking Aria, Lynne and 2000 other soldiers with her, before making haste for the source of the earthquake.

One of their cities could be under attack.

…

Black ashes billowed around the Elder Tree as it received a surge in energy after using its ability. The triple-layered energy dome began to amalgamate into a single colored energy dome that rippled with power across the landscape.

The observers could feel a strong breeze pass them by before the wind was drawn back towards the Elder Tree. 

A more observant eye would notice that the flow of wind was spiraling around the Elder Tree towards the sky. The weather began to change as dark clouds gathered above the sunny sky.

Everyone was taken aback, but Leon turned serious. 

For the Elder Tree to induce a change in the weather implies that it had reached the threshold for a breakthrough. A tribulation was coming. 

There was no turning back now. 

A World Tree Tribulation was on the level of a Celestial Tribulation. The phenomena will stretch across thousands of miles and the world will be drawn towards its epicenter. 

Whether the Elder Tree succeeds or not, it was impossible to keep it hidden. The Elder Tree and the two underground floors were exposed to the world. 

Those who knew of the treasures that lie within will flock over like birds dying for food. Whether he wants it or not, a future great battle for the subterranean resources of this region was coming their way.

Little did he know, a war had already started in the east and the enemy was much closer than he thinks.

The energy dome that was filled with lifeforce, artificial spirit energy, and solar energy had yellowy-brown color after their amalgamation, but it did not stay this way for long as the energy dome began to pulse like a beating heart that expands and contracts.

At the end of each pulse, the energy dome would grow a size smaller until it completely disappears within the Elder Tree.

Everyone except Leon thought the Elder Tree was finished at this point until the Elder Tree began to glow again but with overwhelming lifeforce that shot towards the skies like a declaration of challenge.

As this happens, the tribulation clouds above drastically gathered and finished its formation like it had been provoked. The crackle of thunder can be heard within its dark looming clouds. 

Some people felt unsettled and subconsciously stepped back several paces at this sight.

Suddenly, everything went eerily silent for a brief moment, before a white flash of lightning struck down like the angry wrath of heaven. 

Boom!

The sky shattered and the earth trembled as the Elder Tree took the hit with great difficulty. The clash between plant and lightning generated a seismic force of wind that billowed outwards.

Everyone thought they were safe, they were. But the strong rush of wind still blew at them and forced their feet to glide along the surface of the ground.

Some lightweights were blown away some distance directly, but otherwise, unharmed.

Lilith was unfortunately one of the few people blown off her feet. She had panicked in that instant and reached out her hands to grab at whatever she could like a wailing baby. 

Leon was doing fine until he suddenly felt another compelling force tugging on his clothes from behind, causing him to lose his balance. 

The two ended up rolling on the ground in each other's embrace until they separated after the first round of tribulation lightning ended. 

With a face covered in dirt, Leon threw Lilith a dirty look.

"Hehehe… sorry." 

Lilith apologized with a guilty yet cute expression.

…

The World Tree Tribulation was too flashy to go unnoticed by the better half of the Desolate Continent. 

Whether it was the five kingdoms and four sects of the Human Domain, the western and southern regions of the Wildlands, they have all seen the phenomenon of unprecedented scale. 

The more distant regions of the Wildlands had not seen but they had sensed it, while even the Boundless Sea seemed to have been stirred by the changes…