Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos.

Chapter 344. Blood Sacrifice and Three Splitting Curse Orb.

Liu Shu was feeling strangely nervous. Her gaze was sweeping the entire place, trying to find the origin of her discomfort. For something to happen and give her this amount of discomfort, our World Tree knew that whoever was doing it should not be too far away. Hence, after checking the Golden Sap City, forest, and the other three main cities, she began inspecting nearby towns.

Town after town flashed through her vision, her powerful mind analyzing everything at speeds a human mind could not comprehend. As she did so, she suddenly found an oddity. ‘Huh? Wasn’t there a town here?’

The place she was looking at was a grassplain with a small mound in the middle. There were no traces of a village, town, or any kind of encampment. 

Liu Shu checked the province map and noticed that a small town had emerged around three years ago in the location she was currently looking at. The development was slow, but there should've been traces here even if they had been wiped out. Liu Shu’s gaze sharpened, and she quickly voiced several commands. “Amapola, prepare the armies and move them to <Fang Village> east of the city.”

After ten years, Amapola had matured a lot. As a Rose Fairy, the lifespan was not that long, and her face had started to show signs of aging. Even then, her body was incredibly healthy, and she was in her strongest state ever. Additionally, she had become a Level 45 Rose Fairy Queen, the strongest fairy besides Flor. 

Once she heard Liu Shu, Amapla stopped swinging her spear and nodded faintly with a calm smile. “I’ll be there, Liu Shu.”

Liu Shu couldn’t help but glance at Amapola. It had been 17 years since the Rose Fairies found her, and many of the oldest ones had passed away, leaving room to the new generations. Thanks to her nourishment, the Tier of the fairies that were born around her had reached an absurd standard of E+ Tier as an average. There were many geniuses that had reached D- Tier, and some even reached the D Tier standard. 

Naturally, their leveling speed was not fast enough to replace the veteran Rose Fairies yet. Still, most of the powerful and high-tiered creatures were gathered in <Fortuna Academy>, where masters personally selected by Eila taught them.

Flor was also informed, and soon, all the available armies gathered at the city's east gate. Seeing the tens of thousands of troops, many people became nervous. Some spies situated in the Golden Sap City naturally sent the news out, while the general public was confused. 

“Why are the armies moving together? This doesn’t seem like a training or mock march.” 

“How can this be a training? Every single army member is clad with their official equipment. There are even four out of the five Sylvan branches gathered here.”

“Look over there! Even the Ants are mobilizing!”

Ignatia was sitting on the head of a gigantic ant, her face serious. “Liu Shu. Are we on a time limit? If you give me an hour, I can gather many more ants to help. Currently, I only have around 15,000 soldier ants free to help you.”

Liu Shu spoke, her tone unsure. “I have a bad premonition, so we can’t wait any longer. Depart as soon as you are all gathered!”

Ignatia nodded and jumped forward, running ahead and reaching the armies. “Everyone, we are marching out immediately! Prepare yourselves!”

In the distance, the town suddenly saw ten pillars of green light descending from the heavens, materializing ten massive Arboreal Winged Serpents. Seeing the guardian beasts appearing, all the armies became incomparably serious.

They knew that unless the World Tree felt truly threatened, the Arboreal Winged Serpents would not make an appearance. Since they were here, it meant that Liu Shu was not taking any chances.

Flor’s voice spread around mightily. “Depart!”

Six of the Nine armies moved out. They were the <Elemental Army>, <Combat Army>, <Restorative Army>, <Support Army>, <Monster Army>, and a part of the <Ant Army>. These armies were led by Cinderielle, Tempestria, Verdantia, Harmonixia, Amapola, and Ignatia, respectively. The only ones that didn’t move out were the <Main Army>, <City Army>, and <Explorer Army>. 

While the army marched quickly, the people inside the village stood calmly like before. However, the village's appearance had changed drastically. The ground was black, and all plant life in the area had either withered or become tainted. The buildings were corroded and about to crumble, while the streets were littered with corpses.

Lyara looked around and chuckled faintly. “Preparations are complete~. Six hundred sacrifices, six hundred souls, six hundred paths that end prematurely!” Lyara looked at the blood-red runic circle that was getting complete and suddenly felt a shift in the aura around them. She raised her head with a large grin. “Oh? The Baby World Tree is trying to peek at what we are doing. Such a naughty young girl! Sadly, you can’t see through my Flawless-Level, Mid-Rank Runic Array!”

Lyara laughed and then looked at the runic circle. Seeing that it was complete, she stood in the middle and looked sideways. “Bring in the sacrifices.” 

Twenty people, both male and female, ranging from very young to elderly, were pushed forward and forced to kneel on specific locations of the runic circle.

“H-Help!”

“Please! Please! Don’t kill me!”

“I will become your servant! Please don’t kill me!”

“Mamaa!”

Lyara ignored their pleading screams and smiled. “Great. Now that everyone is here and ready to be a pious and reasonable sacrifice, let’s activate the <Blood Sacrifice Runic Field>! Of course, a small sacrifice that doesn’t reach one thousand people is just a side-dish; the real deal is here~.”

Lyara took out a strange black orb, and seeing it, the people in Lyara’s group were actually surprised. “Miss. Are you sure you want to do this? That’s such a valuable item. We should use it to invade the north side of the continent controlled by the <Verdant Sanctity Covenant>, not here.”

Lyara shook her head. “Evangeline was scared of this World Tree. While I don’t understand why, I won’t disregard her worries. Since I have decided to corrupt this World Tree and use it to expand the <Dark Aether Swamp>, I naturally have to go all out. Who knows, we might get some benefits.”

The rest of the ground looked at each other, but seeing the determined look in Lyara’s eyes, they knew that complaining would not lead them anywhere. Once this woman decided on something, it would be hard to convince her otherwise. Eventually, the group of black robed people bowed. “We’ll do as Lady Lyara wishes.”

“Great!” Lyara laughed and threw the black orb to the ground with a wicked smile. “First, we need to soften your powerful will, don’t we, World Tree? Activate <Three Splitting Curse Orb>.” Once it touched the ground, it was like a solid object touching the water and creating a ripple. The sound was also very clear and high-pitched, like a bell. 

Cling~.

At this moment, Liu Shu was observing the place, and suddenly, a sound reached her ears. Right as that sound reached her, a scream of agony escaped her as a head-spliitng pain struck her mind. 

[-20,000,000]!

“AHHHH!!!!”

[You’ve been afflicted by <First Curse: Mind Splitting Curse>. Losing 20,000,000 Phoer Body Shards (20 Cores) every hour.]

Liu Shu’s heart-wrenching scream of pain echoed across the entire province, making the hearts of many people shudder. Everybody’s faces turned ashen as the hearts of those who cared for her twisted in anxiety. 

Flor looked back and shouted. “Liu Shu!? What’s wrong, love!?” It was the first time that she had heard such an agonizing scream from Liu Shu. 

Liu Shu didn’t hear anything. The hit had been so severe that the hundreds of thousands of voices from her people were blurred. She could not differentiate anyone’s voice from the countless echoes of the creatures under her domain. 

Ignatia shouted, her face extremely ferocious. “MARCH TO THE TOWN! THE SOURCE OF HER PAIN IS THERE!”

Once they heard the Ant Queen’s majestic voice, the faces of every single army member overflowed with killing intent, and their marching speed multiplied. 

Meanwhile, Lyara was humming with a gleeful smile. “Not bad~. Such a beautiful scream is hard to come by. Activate the second curse.” The twenty sacrifices suddenly turned inside out and exploded in a bloody mess that the Black Orb greedily absorbed.

Cling~.

Together with another resonant sound, an ominous aura rippled outward and covered Liu Shu’s domain. A system notification appeared to everyone in Liu Shu’s province. 

[Tianlian Liu Shu’s domain has been corrupted. Everyone above Level 10 and below Level 50 will be afflicted by the <Second Curse: World Tree Weeping>.]

<World Tree Weeping>: Every time the World Tree screams in pain and you hear it, you will lose 10% of your Phoer Body Shards and become dazed. 

Liu Shu similarly received the message, making her dizzy mind sharpen as she tried her best to contain her voice. The previous strike had sliced a quarter of her Phoer Body Cores, feeling as if someone had tried to cleave her mind in half with a sharp ax. 

First, an incredulous feeling appeared in Liu Shu’s heart. ‘W-What!? How can someone corrupt my domain?’ Incredulity slowly transformed, and a deep red feeling surged from the bottom of her core. ‘How dare someone try to take over my domain!?’

Her gaze zeroed in on the place where there was supposed to be a town, and she attacked ruthlessly. “HOW DARE YOU! <LAND MODIFYING>.”

Lyara shook her head with a chuckle. “Oh, you little World Tree. You don’t understand that this is already not your domain, but ours~. Activate the final curse.”

Before Liu Shu attacked, another clear sound rippled, spreading a black ring of energy that sank into the earth. 

Cling~.

Liu Shu’s energy suddenly went stilled, unable to utilize it. “Huh?”

[You’ve been afflicted by <Final Curse: Corrupted Roots>!]

<Corrupted Roots>: While under the influence of the three curses, your ternary essences will be forcefully used to create <Corrupted Spawn>. You will be unable to use your own energy until one of the three curses is cleansed. 

[Draining 50,000 <Aether Mana Shards> and 70,000 <Anima Energy Shards> per minute!]

Liu Shu looked at that curse with an incredulous gaze. “This… How is this possible?”

Lyara shook her head with a sigh. “This is a Flawless Level Advanced Item, which is a bit of a waste to use with a Second Energy Cycle World Tree. How many tens of thousands were sacrificed for this single black orb? How many valuable materials were used? Ugh, my heart hurts a little. However, I guess that if the first tick of the curse didn’t kill you, it is somewhat worth it. Moreover~...” Lyara looked toward the horizon and saw a line of people appearing with ten massive flying creatures accompanying them. “...It seems that we have some company, so the <Corrupted Spawns> will be quite useful.”

Lyara spread her arms and chuckled. “Now, little children. Absorb the energies of the World Tree and be born!”

The bead touching the ground created a circular black portal and combined it with the Blood Runic Field they had set up earlier. A few wooden creatures with different limbs crawled out creepily. Their bodies dripped with a black substance that created smoke when coming into contact with the ground. Each of these monsters was Level 40!

Together with the monsters, the <Blood Sacrifice Runic Field> activated. It was a small-scale Curse, but it was by no means weak. The town’s sacrifice was done for this curse, not the orb. A corrosive smoke spread from the runic field.

[You’ve been affected by <Blood Sacrifice Curse>. If you are a corrupted creature, your stats will increase by 10%. You will lose 10% of your stats if you are not a corrupted creature. Everyone within the <Blood Sacrifice Curse> range will similarly gain or lose 1,000 Phoer Body Shards per second, depending on their corruption status.]