Aurora didn't waste any time. Her emerald-green eyes flickered with anger as she clenched her hand into a fist.
"Constrict!"
With her command, the surrounding plants responded violently. They tightened and compressed against the hulls of the interstellar warships, exerting immense pressure. No matter how the ships thrashed, it was all in vain.
Inside the ships, the liches screamed in terror, their cries echoing endlessly until the plants fully engulfed them. The crushing pressure reduced them to a pulp.
BOOM!
The sound of metal hulls exploding reverberated through the starry void, sending chills down the spines of the remaining liches. When they looked toward the advancing army of treants, fear filled their eyes.
Initially, the treants' task had been straightforward: form a barrier with their bodies to block the portal entrance and hold their ground until it closed. But Bai Ze had reconsidered. Knowing the liches had wiped out the entire race of sacred wood elves, he realized Aurora harbored a deep hatred for them.
Their vendetta needed closure.
Thus, he redirected a portion of the treant forces to follow Aurora, allowing her to exact her revenge. The remaining treants would hold their position, as losing a fraction of their forces wouldn't jeopardize the mission.
After all, though Bai Ze was a god, he liked to think of himself as somewhat compassionate.
A Shift in the Battlefield
Meanwhile, the focus returned to the two commanding leaders.
As Bai Ze had anticipated, while their auras were imposing, they lacked true strength.
The Sword and Shield Taotie, surrounded by several lich kings of commander level, was gradually faltering. It struggled to defend itself with its scarlet shield, panting heavily.
On the other hand, Hyper Zetton was in even worse shape. It was up against a lich archmage, a being one tier above its own. It was evident it had no chance of victory.
In the early exchanges, Hyper Zetton had tried every trick it could to strike at the lich archmage's weakness the red gemstone atop its staff. But despite its efforts, it had only managed to leave a shallow scratch, causing no real damage.
"Futile... utterly futile..."
The lich archmage stood tall, raising its staff with supreme confidence.
"You're nothing more than an oversized bug with a touch of sentience. And yet, you dare stand in the way of the lich race?"
"You mortals truly underestimate us!"
The archmage spun its staff above its head, forming a massive magical array that covered the battlefield.
The array shimmered in silver-white, with countless light points connecting to create an intricate star map a divine and majestic sight.
"Descend, Divine Punishment!"
With a wave of the staff, beams of destructive light rained down from the array. Explosions erupted across the field as the beams struck indiscriminately, sparing neither lich nor Bai Ze's forces.
Both sides suffered heavy casualties. The Meteor Swarm Insect Army, already decimated after two rounds of combat, now had fewer than 1,000 members remaining.
"Alert: Portal closing in 1 minute. Please evacuate immediately."
"Warning: Once the portal closes, any stranded entities cannot return without reopening the portal."
Bai Ze's expression turned serious.
"Only 1 minute left? This is it!"
He couldn't afford to let his forces linger. If they failed to evacuate in time, reopening the portal was out of the question. Keeping it open for just 10 minutes had already inflicted heavy losses. Another 10 minutes might mean total annihilation.
"Meteor Swarm Insects, Sword and Shield Army listen to my command! Retreat through the portal immediately!"
His divine voice thundered across the battlefield.
Aurora also heard the command. Without hesitation, she swiftly entangled a nearby lich with her vines and tore it apart before retreating toward the portal with the main forces.
"Damn it! They're retreating! The portal must be closing!"
"We can't be trapped here! Hurry, follow them!"
The liches, seeing their opponents suddenly retreat, panicked. No one wanted to be left behind in the pitch-black storm zone, doomed to oblivion.
The lich fleet redirected their ships and pushed their engines to full power, racing madly toward the portal.
"Alert: Portal closing in 30 seconds!"
"Not enough time..." Bai Ze muttered anxiously.
It wasn't that his forces wouldn't make it. They would. But there wasn't enough time to stop the liches from escaping as well.
Just then, a hundred new entities emerged from the other side of the portal.
"For our God, we offer our lives without regret!"
"For victory, we are willing to perish! Glory to our Father God!"
"It's the Roc and Sea Emperor clans!" Bai Ze exclaimed in disbelief.
Explosions erupted as members of the Roc and Sea Emperor clans charged through the portal, launching suicide attacks that created a chain of devastating blasts. This desperate sacrifice slowed the liches' advance, giving Bai Ze's forces the opening they needed to escape.
The Sword and Shield Taotie fought their way back to the portal and, with Aurora's assistance, managed to retreat.
One by one, the treants followed, though they lacked the energy-imbued cards for self-destruction.
As the portal's transparency increased, signaling its imminent closure, only Aurora and Hyper Zetton remained.
Aurora stood atop the Treant King's shoulder, near the portal and ready to step through.
But Hyper Zetton was still entangled with the lich archmage, which relentlessly pursued it. The distance between them narrowed rapidly, and the archmage's skeletal hand seemed just moments away from grasping its target.
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