1080 The next fragment



Against the staunch warnings of the draconian princess, Liam used the teleportation portals to first arrive at territory 1 and started from there. 

Clutching the combined word seed fragment, he once again started bouncing between one portal to another, trying to sense where the remaining fragments were.

"I hope you understand the severity of what you are doing. Finding the remaining fragments is not the problem here. You have two in your hand now. You will definitely be able to sense the remaining fragments." 

"Sooner or later you will find them." The draconian princess sighed. "The real problem will start there. Would you have the strength to hold onto it once you find it?"

Liam suddenly stopped. He had also thought about this particular issue. "What if they get it from me?" 

Ideally, no matter whether it was him or any of the guardian beasts, they should be trying to do the same thing. Every single one of them has skin in this game. So they too should be attempting to stop the spread of nether.

However, from what Liam could see none of the beasts seem to have any intention of doing this. Even though it was already too late, they were taking their own sweet time.

The draconian princess also did not have any explanations for this. She could only sigh in response. Everything was already beyond their control.

Liam immediately started searching for the remaining world seed fragments using the one in his possession. He looked for the fragments in many of the zones but to no avail.

Finally, he sensed a small pulse in the middle of nowhere in Russia.

"This is…" The draconian princess shivered. 

The entire area was unusually cold. More surprisingly there was a nether node in the vicinity but Liam could not sense any nether from the node at all except for a faint trace amount. It almost looked as if this particular node was nullified.

Motivated by this observation, Liam hurriedly flew toward the particular spot from where he could feel the faint pulse. Perhaps the world seed fragment would really end all of this and would finally be able to get some protection.

As he rushed forward suddenly he noticed something strange. Amidst the frozen landscape, Liam's eyes widened as he spotted patches of vibrant greenery peeking through the icy terrain. It was an astonishing sight, a stark contrast to the surrounding desolation. 

He hastened his steps, drawn towards the anomaly. This was where he felt the pulsing of the world seed fragment too.

As he approached, the greenery became more pronounced. He found himself standing before a small grove, completely untouched by the surroundings, as if it was protected from the encroaching cold by an invisible barrier. 

Within this grove, a majestic tree stood tall, its branches laden with blossoming flowers, radiating a gentle warmth.

Liam's gaze abruptly shifted to the center of the grove, where a figure was seated beneath the tree. It was a woman, her hair flowing like cascading emerald, and her eyes shimmering with a serene glow.

But the next second, the woman was nowhere to be seen.

"Huh? Where did she go?"

"Who?" The draconian princess looked confused. "Who are you talking about?" She gave Liam a meaningful look and responded, "I didn't see anyone. Are you sure you saw someone?"

Liam silently nodded. He gazed at the same spot for a few seconds before snapping out of it and focusing on the main reason why he came here.

He tightly clutched the combined word seed fragment and stepped into the grove, feeling the vibrant energy pulsating through the air.

Perhaps because he was in such close proximity, it only took him a second to figure out where the fragment rested. His gaze shifted to the giant tree. The seed fragment was there.

More specifically it was part of the tree. Liam took out his sword and slashed at the tree, only to be instantly engulfed in a blinding burst of light. The force of the impact sent Liam stumbling backward, his sword clattering to the ground.

As the light gradually subsided, Liam's eyes widened in astonishment. The tree remained unscathed, not a single scratch marring its surface. It was as if his strike had never occurred.

Liam bitterly smiled. It was one thing to be defeated by giant monsters but he was not even stronger than a tree? This was fucking ridiculous.

Not giving up, he tried attacking the tree a few more times but nothing worked. At the end of it, he wondered if the tree was even made of wood or some kind of special metal that seemed like wood.

The worst part was he couldn't even use nether here. There was not even a lick of nether anywhere in the vicinity.

"I have no other choice. I have to use that." Liam muttered, his cold gaze fixed on the tree. 

He did not want to use this attack here because even though the attack was mana based, every time he used it, he was extremely drained and utterly exhausted. However, he was too far in to stop now. He had no other choice but to use the trump card he was saving.

Liam stepped back and started gathering as much mana as he could. While this place lacked even a minuscule amount of nether, it was overflowing with mana.

Turbulent swirls of mana gathered around him and coursed through his body. Usually, this soothed his body and empowered him but now a part of his body groaned in agony unable to withstand even the mere presence of mana.

Liam had a feeling that this was going to happen. This was the effect of him burning through his mana pathways, but he did not stop and continued to cast the attack, the other powerful fatal attack that he possessed, [Dragon Breath].

The turbulent swirls of mana around him intensified and the air crackled with power. With the attack fully powered up, he was ready to unleash hell on the giant tree which still casually stood like a statue, not even a leaf atop it moving.

Arrrghhh! Liam roared, his shout echoing through the grove. However… instead of unleashing the attack, he stopped it at the last moment.