Chapter 384: Guardian Warfare

Violet stood alone in a clearing within the dense jungle, at her feet lay the tattered and already decomposing remains of one of the jungle guardians, a facsimile of a deer made of roots, vines and other plant matter.

Yet she was not focused on the now dead guardian, but instead on the dozens of sets of eyes that stared at her from all around.

Each of those emerald eyes belonged to one of many jungle guardians. Each and every one of them having been called over as backup for the freshly slain creature at her feet.

Violet allowed her senses to expand, gaining a understanding of exactly what kind of force she was up against.

And what a force it was.

Around her she initially counted no fewer than 30 jungle guardians, yet more kept on arriving at a steady pace. The only saving grace was that Violet was unable to detect any being at tier 5, still the vast majority of creatures arrayed around her were at at least tier 4, a few stragglers being tier 3 but non weaker than that.

It was a formidable force, or at least it would be to any being at tier 4. Yet Violet was a sovereign not a mere Lord.

She held a domain, the power to lay claim to the very land that they would soon fight upon, she did not feel threatened, no, she only felt excited for the upcoming battle.

The guardians didn’t seem overly eager to start the battle just yet, something that Violet would not turn down. She spent the downtime productively.

Her domain would manifest briefly all around her, remaining mostly hidden within the various shadows as she forged void runes all around the soon to be battlefield.

Next she allowed her void thread to spread out, spools of inky nothingness snaking out from Violet’s body in near imperceptible paths.

Finally Violet summoned her core spells. Dozens upon dozens of void bolts manifested above her head whilst 10 void spears also manifested, each one pointed towards one of the many creatures that surrounded her.

With her preparations ready Violet saw no reason in delaying her assault and giving the guardians time to gather more of their numbers.

So with a wave of her hand all hell was unleashed.

All of the bolts and spears shot out at blinding speeds, each one aimed at one of the many guardians.

The guardians did not delay their reaction, walls of vines and roots rose up before them in an attempt to block the incoming attacks, swirls of enhanced leaves fluttered about in the air, each one as big as Violet’s head as they rushed to intercept the attacks.

Of her initial barrage less than a quarter of her bolts found their targets, the rest having been blocked or redirected away.

Of the spears however, well they were a different story entirely.

Not a single spear was successfully blocked, each one did encounter some resistance, yet the very nature of the spears, coupled with the density of mana imbued within allowed them to near effortlessly punch through whatever quick defence the tier 4 guardians could erect.

The sound of shattering wood and sap burning away at the ground followed behind a series of explosions from the various bolts and spears.

Yet that was only Violet’s opening blow. A volley of attacks that cost her next to nothing had already claimed the life of close to 15 of her attackers in a single moment.

For whilst these guardians had terrifying regenerative powers, that was only so long as their cores were still intact. Violet naturally knew this fact by now so had aimed directly at them off the bat.

She did not revel in taking out close to half of her attackers however, understanding that more were soon to come.

So Violet summoned a fresh barrage of attacks, instantly sending them off into the disarrayed forces.

The guardians would not take this lightly however, responding with attacks of their own.

A volley of razor sharp leaves flew through the air whilst a wave of undulating earth spirited the arrival of dozens of piercing roots erupting from the ground, all aimed directly at Violet.

A small smile played at her lips as she noticed this, then before the attacks could arrive a wave of utter nothingness enveloped the battlefield around the lone dragon.

As her domain unfurled in all of its glory the mana and reality of the incoming attacks simply ceased to be. Eroded away under the unrelenting abcense that was the void.

Yet this abcense was only true for things made in reality, things formed of the void found no issue emerging from within its darkless depths.

A fresh wave of void attacks emerged from the newly established domain, this time moving at significantly faster speeds.

The guardians tried to form new defenses tried to block the attacks, yet a deft manipulation of her domain served to disavow several sections of the barriers. Thus the bolts and spears coming from within the domain found no resistance to their travel.

At least until they impacted with the scrambling guardians that desperately tried to get out of the way.

It was then that Violet suddenly turned her head in one direction, her eyes narrowing as she sensed the approach of something powerful.

No, not just something, but several somethings.

They were still some distance away, yet Violet could still feel the rapid approach of 3 distinct beings that held a domain.

One was coming from the middle of the island whilst the other two were approaching from the same direction off to one side.

But Violet could not focus on that all too much just yet, for more and more guardians were constantly pouring into the clearing that she was fighting within.

She continually unleashed wave after wave of attacks, mainly relying on her standard bolt and spears. Occasionally utilising the void thread that she had spread through the battlefield to trip up or hold down a foe as it tried to escape.

Violet did not activate any of her prepared runes, knowing that she would likely need them for when the stronger fighters soon arrived.

And arrive they did.

Violet felt her domain being challenged as the being that arrived from the centre of the island soon made its presence known.

It emerged from a nearby tree, its form that of a long snake made of brown and green vines and roots.

It let out a chilling hiss as it emerged, sounding like the scraping of bark that sent shivered rushing through the undergrowth and ripples through Violet’s domain.

As she turned to focus on the newly arrived Tyrant she was forced to blink away from her current position as two new figures also emerged from the nearby jungle.

(A/N tyrant is the term for a tier 5 Monster)

One was a beastkin, an enlightened being that looked to resemble a bull, he was tall and powerfully built with two large harms atop his head.

And he was apparently being pursued by a peculiar creature. It had the body of a large cat, maybe a tiger or panther yet the head of a crocodile, this one was undoubtedly a guardian based off its makeup of roots and vines.

A moment of stillness overcame the battlefield as the 4 tier 5 combatants assessed one another.

Yet that stillness was fleeting before the very air seemed to explode as all 4 domains violently clashed with one another.