novelraw Chapter 624: Even Ants can tear down Trees?
Chapter 624: Even Ants can tear down Trees?
Lillian’s soul remained fetal, her aura weak with vulnerability and weakness as her defences were left null. As she continued to reel from the unbearable pain, enemy mages began to circle her - surrounding her with bloodthirsty looks in their eyes.
Raising his mace, a thug roared ragefully:
"You bastard, this is your end!"
He charged towards Lillian, his mace above his head. But the moment he reached a metre away from Lillian—
BAM!
—He was sent sprawling back, his face bursting with blood as his skull dented inwards.
He fell on his back, dead.
Lillian got up to her feet, shaking but steadfast. Her gaze was as cold and sharp as a steel blade. She raised her gauntlets, one dripping with fresh crimson blood, as she prepared herself.
Her eyes glowed with unbreakable determination.
Martial State.
Seeing this, all the enemy mages took a hostile step forward, their eyes glowing with rage.
They roared and rushed towards her in swarms; thus, a fight ensued.
Millis, who now had the strength of two elephants and a half, continued to fight through the horde - watching as more and more of them injected themselves with the Chrysalis Serum.
She groaned, then casted a glance in Lillian’s direction.
BAM.
Lillian slammed her fist against the side of another person’s head, denting their skull without mercy - killing them instantly without any intentions of holding back any longer.
Then, she spun on her heel, spinning all 360 degrees, and swinging her right arm, conjuring a circular water blade to shoot outwards from her.
And she did this again.
SWISH.
And again.
SWISH.
Until there were three consecutive water blades.
SWISH.
They cleaved through countless people, killing them coldly as all three inevitably became stained in blood. Eventually, they all lost their momentum as more and more people resisted their killing edge.
The enemy mages, who had managed to survive these water blades, sighed in relief before finding themselves pressed down heavily by gravity.
Pressure.
Those that were thirty metres in reach of her felt their body become heavy; those who were of the 1st Tier fell to their knees - unable to move, those of the weaker 2nd Tier could only stand in place, unable to take a step.
This mysterious pressure was the work of Lillian’s Trait, [Maiden of Sinking]!
The enemy mages that were still able to stand managed to raise their arms, bringing forth their mana and shooting out their magic.
And coincidentally, the majority of the magic conjured was water; they were also the ones that reached her first.
Standing still, Lillian watched as the enemy’s water came to an instant stop just a metre before her figure. Her eyes flashed with light as she raised her hand, instantly dominating their control over the liquid and using it for herself at a lower mana cost.
Using them to defend herself against the other projectiles that came her way, Lillian was able to get a slight breather; by now, she had managed to adapt to the pain, but it was still affecting her slightly.
’What a pain...’
After Lillian had defended herself from the attacks, she controlled the water to form yet another circular water blade.
Those who were unable to move—
SWISH!
—Were cleaved through, dying slowly as they could only lie with their upper half intact.
As Lillian was able to finish more off, she was hit with yet another spike of pain - this time, originating from her back.
Lillian’s eyes shot wide open as she instantly buckled to her knees, unable to adapt fast enough to the pain.
The Salesman grinned wickedly, appearing from the shadows, having slashed at Lillian’s back; then, he frowned again, finding that what should’ve been a metre-long cut was only around 25cm.
’What’s going on...?’
He also raised an eyebrow at Lillian’s skin.
Looking through the cut he made in the girl’s robe, he found the girl’s back was unusually blue and ethereal, while also partially covered in flames of the same colour.
He...
He hasn’t seen anything like this before...
The Salesman became even more wary.
Lillian breathed raggedly despite not needing air.
It was as if she was struck by lightning, which continued to course throughout her body, branching inside her spine and shocking her repeatedly as it burned her nerves.
If it wasn’t because Lillian had gone through countless painful experiences before, she would’ve blacked out from the pain by now.
The Salesman continued to stand over Lillian, ignoring the weight on his shoulders.
He casted a look of disappointment towards Lillian, scanning her current state.
"Tch."
This was who he was losing to just mere moments ago? The person who was going to lose him his job!?
He gnashed his teeth and delivered a strong kick to Lillian’s side, causing her to fly sprawling in pain into a crowd of thugs, who began to deliver blow after blow to her body.
Although they worked in a line of immoral work, knowing roughly of the damage their products would cause to people’s bodies, they still had feelings.
The people Lillian had killed were their colleagues, their friends, and some even their close relatives. These close ones had families to come back to: wives, children, elderly parents who were still alive.
But now they were dead, all because of Lillian’s selfish desire.
This was the cruelty of the world, be it on the Surface or the Underworld.
Monsters weren’t the only enemies of humanity; for humanity itself was its own enemy.
Lillian’s spiritual body was tossed into the air, now in a sorry state.
Her robes were more ragged than before, the edges of her robe were more tattered than before, and her mind...
Was both left ragged and tattered than before.
The spiritual body had one upside when enduring damage: it had no blood to bleed, no muscles or skin to bruise, and no bones to be broken.
But the pain was more than enough to balance out this upside.
Even though her robes reduced all damage to her by 75%, it felt like her mind was going to give out first before her soul - the pain was intense.
Her limbs felt like they were being crushed in a hydraulic press, then folded, before being crushed again, while bathing in a bath of burning acid.
She felt like her entire body was being ripped asunder.
Lillian’s weightless body lifted into the air, floating higher and higher; high enough that everyone below her was like ants.
Insects, like any living creature, were social. While there were some insects that lived in seclusion, there were also humans that lived in seclusion, afraid to face the world and its light.
Ants were the face of insects. Social insects. They were born among many and lived amongst many, just like humans.
They followed orders, they built, they harvested, they fought, they conversed with one another; just like humans.
What may take ants days to achieve something would take less than half the time for humans to achieve it; this was one of the major differences between humans and ants.
Humans were stronger, bigger, and smarter than ants; that was nothing more than a fact. However, what if the two faced a major obstacle in their past? An obstacle that blocked your path towards a better life?
Would anything change? Even with their better abilities, humans would be no different in the face of a powerful adversary if their strength were as minuscule as an ant’s; only persistence, tenacity, resources, and circumstances would make a difference.
If a colony of ants had no other options but to dig through a tree several metres thick for survival, only their persistence, tenacity, resources, and circumstances could determine whether they were going to live or die.
This was Lillian’s current situation.
The enemy mages were persistent in tearing down her defences; their ferocious tenacity in tearing down her defences earned them her current state; their resources in the form of the Chrysalis Serum or the Salesman’s supportive items had earned them a higher chance at winning; and lastly, circumstances. If Lillian had been here with her physical body, she would’ve won much sooner and more easily.
Even trees can be torn down by ants; it was only a matter of how long.
Shooting out from the shadows, the Salesman leapt into the sky, soaring with his shadow sword in hand.
When reaching Lillian, who remained floating, he raised his sword over his head, setting his sights on Lillian’s exposed neck.
He was going to decapitate her!
"Die!" The Salesman roared fiercely with his swing.
SWISH.
But as his blade was about to make contact with Lillian’s neck—
"BROOO! WHAT’S MAH DUO DOING!?"
BAM!
—He was sent flying by a punch from Millis that shattered half of his ribs.
Blood erupted out of his mouth, his vision blurring as an intense pain assaulted his side.
"PUAGHK!"
He crashed into the ground and rebounded, bouncing several times before becoming still.
Flying into the air, Millis caught Lillian before falling to the ground, landing into an encirclement of enemy mages that were immediately eliminated with a swing of her battle axe.
After the area was cleared out, Millis set Lillian down, her smile still lingering on her face despite the seriousness of Lillian’s current state.
"Oi, ya ain’t brain dead on me, right? Right?" Millis asked, knocking against Lillian’s mask annoyingly to get a response, "Oi. Oi. Oi."
Eventually, Lillian managed to sit up on the ground before giving a weak response.
"Give... give me some to heal..."
Millis tilted her head.
"How long?"