Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos.

Chapter 347. Gathering Around the Dungeon. Dungeon Guardian Might.

The group entered the destroyed town slowly, their faces full of curiosity. Of course, before asking about that, Cinderielle and the others started worrying about Liu Shu. “Tiantian, are you okay? How much damage did you receive?”

Tempestria nodded, her face serious. “Explain what happened. We need to take precautions in the future so that this doesn’t happen again.”

Liu Shu smiled softly and relaxed their tensed nerves. “Don’t worry. I just received 25 cores of damage. I can recover in less than a day.”

The hearts of everyone present shook terribly. ‘No wonder she wailed in pain. Such a powerful hit would’ve made anyone faint from pain.’

Verdantia mounted on the four-legged beast and hurried back. Flor asked with a shout. “Where are you going, Verdantia!?”

Verdantia shouted back as she sped into the distance. “To heal Liu Shu! Half of the Restorative Army stays here; the rest follow me back to heal Liu’er’s main body!”

The group quickly divided and started rushing back. Seeing Verdantia rush back, Flor sighed with a faint smile. “That girl is too anxious.”

Harmonixia snorted. “As she should be! Twenty-five cores of damage…” Her heart ached for Liu Shu. “Lian’er, are you sure you are okay?”

“Yes. Don’t worry.” 

The soothing voice calmed their nerves, but there was a lingering fear in their bodies that tormented them. To calm them down, Liu Shu started to describe what had happened.

Everyone listened silently, and soon, Liu Shu explained most of it. She naturally didn’t reveal anything about her taking over the orb or creating a Dungeon. An army general in Tempestria’s army asked, confused. “I can understand most of it. However, Lady Liu Shu, how did you manage to get rid of the Orb’s influence?”

Liu Shu had long thought of an excuse. “I am unsure as well. Once I was heavily wounded, the Orb suddenly cracked and started changing. Now, as you can see, the previous black vortex has completely transformed.” She added. “In my opinion, a cursed item can reverse the balance inside of it if it is damaged. So, perhaps the orb couldn’t keep me entangled, and consequently, it became damaged. The casters of the spell suffered a backlash, which is what I explained about them being swallowed. The reason for such a harsh backlash must’ve been that it is a cursed item.”

“Being swallowed by their own cursed item…” The captain muttered. Then, he sneered. “Quite a good end for those villains.”

Flor listened from the side and understood that Liu Shu was not describing the entire truth. However, she had no urgency in asking about the details of what happened. Instead, she shook her head and commented. “How can we prevent this from happening again? An entire town was sacrificed. These kinds of things can’t be allowed to occur, or our wilderness will become a barren land.” 

Ignatia crossed her arms and sighed. “Preventing sacrificial curses is not where we should focus our attention. Instead, we should analyze their methods of hiding from Liu Shu’s gaze. Love, can you tell me the Tier of your World Tree Eye?”

Liu Shu didn’t mind and shared it. “It’s C Tier.”

Many people widened their eyes with surprise. Usually, this skill was one of the lowest leveled ones among the World Tree’s various innate skills. Most of them were at the E Tier, with very few reaching the D Tier standard. Even those super World Trees only had it at the C Tier.

Ignatia was not happy, though. Her face was somewhat solemn as she muttered. “They can even hide from a C Tiered World Tree Eye. That’s quite a powerful array.” She glanced at Flor and asked. “Do you think Mariane can come up with countermeasures?” 

Flor shook her head, unsure. “I will ask her. But I don’t know if she will be able to help us.”

Harmonixia commented. “I’ll go since I have nothing else to do.”

They nodded, and the Sound Sylvan took off. 

Once they dealt with those things, the army members refocused on the golden and blue whirpool slowly rotating in the middle of the town. The people close to Liu Shu suddenly heard her voice. ‘Don’t approach it. You might be swallowed. Also, this thing is under my control, so don’t worry about it. Instead, you should start preparing and gathering materials so I can build a small city around it. I’ve notified Wert, and he will be in charge of this place.’

The girls were surprised; their curiosity made them feel an unbearable itch. ‘I want to know what this thing is!’ 

Flor knew that if Liu Shu didn’t want to share it, the importance of this vortex was far beyond what she could currently understand. Hence, she ordered the rest of the army members to return. Only the Restorative Army was left behind, pouring healing and nourishing spells into the soil that the orb had corrupted. 

Wert arrived around an hour later. He was busy with some matters and needed to deal with them first. Seeing the muscular and reliable man arrive, the girls welcomed him with smiles. Wert grinned. “A group of beauties welcoming me, my wife will be jealous!”

Flor chuckled and asked, curious. “What does Liu Shu want? Have you heard anything?”

Wert jumped down from his domineering mount and shook his head. “I have no clue.” He looked upward and smiled. “Big girl, will you tell us now?”

“Hm~. You all better find a place to sit down first.”

Hearing her words, everyone started sweating coldly. If this was something big even for the World tree, they couldn’t imagine what kind of terrifying thing that vortex was. 

Once they all found a place to sit, either on the ground or rubble from the destroyed houses, Liu Shu coughed and blurted it out. “That vortex is a Dungeon I created.”

‘Either way, the longer I delay, the longer the suffering. I might as well strike them with a blunt answer.’

Everyone else was frozen. Flor extended her trembling hand, wanting to take her teacup, but she noticed that there was nothing in front of her. ‘There is no tea… ah… ahahaha… I might break down… WHAT DID SHE JUST SAY?’

Wert asked after a long moment of silence. “Um. Sorry, I think I spaced out. What did you say, Big girl?”

Liu Shu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She coughed and muttered somewhat guiltily. “That vortex there… It is a <Dungeon> I created.”

Wert nodded twice. “I see. I see… HOW!?” He complained, his hand ruffling his own hair. “You! Can your announcements be a bit more normal? Do you want this old man to have an early death!? Each time you gather us to announce something, my wife says that she can see extra white hears appearing on my scalp after I return!”

Cinderielle stood up and smiled widely. “Ah. Such a refreshing day! Thankfully, I have nothing to do with this! Goodbye!”

She turned around, but Wert’s hand was too fast. He grabbed her by the scurf of her neck and smiled menacingly. “Girl. Where are you going, eh? Your little lover has created such a wonderful thing. How about I throw you in to explore it?”

CInderielle almost combusted on the spot. “U-Uncle Wert! You can’t joke around with those things! I will one day attack you!”

Ignatia stretched her hand, grabbing the ankle of the Wind Sylvan about to sneak away, and she smiled. “Little Tempestria, how could you leave without saying goodbye?”

Tempestria saw the smile of the Ant Queen, and she almost burst into tears. ‘Mommy, why is her smile so terrifying!’

Flor sighed and punched the bridge of her nose. Then, she asked with a stern tone. “Explain before I scold you.”

Liu Shu was baffled. “W-Wait, is my scolding already decided?”

Flor smiled coldly. “Otherwise?”

Our World Tree wanted to cry but had no tears. She then shared the System notifications with the people present. After reading through everything, they couldn’t help but suck in a cold breath. Cinderielle muttered. “This is terrifying. Lyara and her group have become a Dungeon monster?”

Tempestria rubbed her chin and looked at the guardians patrolling the area. “So, those things are called <Cerulean Spawns>. Interesting. How are their stats, Liu Shu?”

The World Tree was somewhat surprised when Tempestria asked that question. “You can’t see it?”

“I can’t.” Tempestria shook her head.

Wert clarified. “Liu Shu, only you can see the stats of the Dungeon Guardians. This is done this way so that no one has the idea of fighting them without being completely confident in their own strength. Moreover, the difficulty of the <Dungeon> doesn’t reflect the level of the <Guardian>, so only madmans attack Dungen Guardians.”

Ignatia added as an interesting past tale. “One of my inherited memories is about that, actually. There was a Level 10 <Dungeon> that a country tried to attack. However, the <Guardians> of that Dungeon turned out to be Level 80 monsters. Those ten guardians destroyed that country’s army within a few hours, leaving nothing behind. They were one of the strongest powers of that era as well. Of course, after being slaughtered in that manner, they lost their standing and eventually were reduced to a third-rate power.”

While the other girls were terrified, Wert didn’t find it that strange. Dungeon Guardians are terrifyingly strong. Liu Shu checked their overall stats without her buffs. 

***

Name: ---

Race: Cerulean Spawn

Level: 45 

Aether Mana Cores: 34.49/34.49 (3,449,738) 

Phoer Body Cores: 48.10/48.10 (4,810,464) 

Anima Energy Cores: 29.55/29.55 (2,955,842)

***

Liu Shu glanced at those “pre-buff” stats and was silent for a long time. ‘My summon buffs are terrifying, taking the Summoning Temple into account… Won’t these stats almost double?’

Eventually, she spoke up. “Well, these are their current base stats… They are as strong as the Arobreal Winged Serpents.”

Everyone saw the numbers and couldn’t help but feel their hearts skip a beat. Ignatia was not that flustered since she had reached Level 50, and her stats were terrifying. However, she couldn’t help but comment. “Killing these things would be somewhat difficult after you buff them!”

Everyone was surprised. Even the Level 50’s would have some trouble killing them! You must understand that Ignatia’s main stat crossed the 10,000 mark after reaching the <Third Energy Cycle>, so it was a surprising matter.

Reading their thoughts, Ignatia smiled. “I overwhelm it stats-wise. However, I know that these Guardians have several defensive skills and a ridiculous self-regeneration ability. Being <Guardians> made from Liu Shu’s Ternary Essences… I can already imagine all types of ridiculous passives and talents at their disposal. Five of these might be able to hold me back with no problems. Of course, that’s if I don’t go all out.”