The ranking in Ethan's consciousness was constantly refreshing.
Every time it updated, the numbers changed. Fifth, third, first, then dropping to fourth, and surging back to second.
The speed of the changes was absurd; dozens of names jumped up and down in his mind every second.
Ethan watched for a moment, his lips slowly curling into a grin.
Fine then. I was planning to hold back a little, but since there are significant rewards involved, let's do this.
The mana around him erupted with a roar.
Emerald light surged from every part of his body, flowing down into the soil beneath his feet and spreading in all directions.
Deeply buried roots were activated by his mental power, beginning to expand, spread, and intertwine at a frantic pace.
The vegetation on the battlefield responded simultaneously.
Wild grass soaked in blood began to grow wildly, turning from withered yellow to vibrant emerald, and from creeping along the ground to standing tall and straight, their blades glinting coldly under the sun.
Shrubs shattered by the fires of war sprouted countless new shoots from their roots. In just a few breaths, these shoots grew into thick branches, which then sprouted new branches of their own, spreading out in dense layers.
Trees charred by the energy shockwaves began to recover.
Charred bark peeled away from the trunks, revealing a new layer of wood beneath. The fresh bark was deep brown with fine, intricate patterns.
Countless tender green leaves sprouted on the canopies, growing to the size of a palm in just a few breaths, spreading out in overlapping layers.
Vines burst from the ground in numbers too great to count.
Deep Forest Emergence.
Activate!
They ensnared the Amons' catapults, making the dark brown wood creak and groan until the throwing arms snapped. Emerald torsion ropes burst, and energy ball ammunition rolled off the machines, exploding on the ground in spheres of emerald flame.
They entangled the ballistae, snapping their axles, dragging the bolts from their slots, and pulling the entire frames deep into the earth.
They coiled around the war bastions that were still operational. Vines tunneled through the foundations, squeezed through cracks in the walls, and poked out from beneath the roof tiles.
The bastions collapsed under the vines' strangulation. Wood splintered, stones flew, and the Amons warriors inside didn't even have time to scream before being buried under the ruins.
The vines continued to spread.
They were no longer satisfied with just this position.
They surged toward more distant areas, pouncing on the charging Amons warrior phalanxes, coiling around the ranks of archers still drawing their bows, and flooding toward the priests who were still casting wizardry.
Wherever the vines passed, the ground was plowed into deep furrows, and the soil was turned over and over again.
Amons warriors were dragged down, strangled, and torn apart in massive swaths.
Pale green blood flowed freely on the soil, merging into small streams and pooling in low-lying areas.
Ethan stood where he was, his hands hanging naturally at his sides, not moving an inch.
He didn't need to manually control the vines and roots.
With Combat Instinct paired with Plant Affinity, Ethan didn't have to think about which direction the vines should spread, which angle the roots should burst from the ground, or where the wooden stakes should pierce.
The plants knew for themselves.
Nourished by his mana, they had long since formed a cooperative efficiency akin to a hive mind.
Only three seconds had passed from the moment Ethan's mana erupted to the completion of this comprehensive cantrip.
At this point, after three seconds of frantic jumping, his battle merit score reached 142,114. He shot straight to first place.
This meant that in those three seconds, Ethan had killed over ten thousand Amons combat units.
After all, not every Amons combat unit was worth only 1 point of battle merit.
The calculation for battle merit was a very complex formula, considering target level, kill difficulty, contribution to the front line, and a bunch of other messy coefficients.
Ethan had no interest in studying that.
He only knew that this single move had brought in over three hundred thousand Life Energy.
That was enough.
Now, the next goal: eliminate the Amons natives still struggling within the Deep Forest Emergence.
The moment Ethan's Deep Forest Emergence spread out, the tens of thousands of cannon fodder legions from the Wizard world within the spell's range froze in place.
The slaves' hands holding longblades stopped, and the contract beasts' pouncing motions halted mid-air.
They had originally thought they were dead.
When a wizardry of such massive scale was unleashed, who would bother to distinguish between friend and foe?
Every cannon fodder present had seen countless instances of people being killed by their own side's large-scale area-of-effect attacks on the battlefield.
A slave's life was worthless, and if a contract beast died, it could just be replaced. No one cared.
But this time was different.
When those emerald vines brushed past their feet, they actively swerved around them.
When thick roots burst from the ground, they curved around their bodies.
Some slaves had their thighs slashed by Amons warriors and were retreating while dragging their mangled limbs. Suddenly, a thin vine sprouted by their feet, pressed its tip against the wound, and injected a surge of warm Life Energy.
The wounds began to heal.
A slave missing half an arm looked down at his stump. The flesh at the cross-section was writhing, and new granulation was sprouting like vines in spring.
His face remained expressionless, but his mouth opened, closed, and opened again.
A wounded companion beside him was in no better state.
A wound on his shoulder, split open by a battle axe deep enough to see the bone, was closing at an incredible speed under the touch of a thin vine.
Torn muscle fibers were rewoven, ruptured blood vessels reconnected, and finally, skin covered the area.
A contract beast five meters tall had its abdomen bitten through by an Amons magical beast, its intestines sliding out and dragging on the ground.
It could no longer run; it knelt on all fours, letting out low, mournful whimpers. A thick vine burst from the soil beneath it, coiling around the fur at the edge of the abdominal wound as emerald light poured in continuously.
The intestines were gently pushed back into the abdominal cavity, the torn abdominal wall regrew layer by layer, and finally, a layer of dark gray fur covered the site.
This sort of thing was happening everywhere within the range of the Deep Forest Emergence.
Not just slaves and contract beasts; even the damaged parts of the mechanical servants were being picked up by vines and returned to their original positions, with cracks at the joints being filled and reinforced by wood fibers.
A mechanical ox that had its leg smashed by an Amon was struggling in the mud. A vine slithered over, coiling around the broken leg several times, and the lignified fibers forced a temporary wooden leg onto it.
The mechanical ox stood up and tested a few steps. Although the wooden leg wasn't as flexible as the original, it had no problem running.
As for the Amons targeted by the Deep Forest Emergence, they received no such treatment.
When the vines coiled around their ankles, they were merciless, digging into the flesh and crushing the bone.
When the roots burst from the ground, they impaled them directly, stabbing in through the soles of their feet and exiting through their calves or thighs.
When those emerald leaves flew past their throats, they were sharper than the finest blades.
For a time, an extremely absurd scene appeared on the battlefield.
The same vine was strangling an Amons warrior's neck on the left while gently pressing against a slave's wound to heal him on the right.
Was this logical?
It wasn't logical at all.
But it was happening.
The slaves couldn't figure it out, so they stopped trying.
They were cannon fodder; they didn't need to think, they only needed to fight.
Now that someone was healing their wounds, they could live a little longer. Living a little longer meant they could kill a few more Amons.
That was enough.
Rate on N.U.
