Chapter 1362 - Fortitude Tree King: I’ll Take Over Your Water Pot! (1/2)

Heart Tree King was locked in a strange position by the Lord’s Avatar, and they were trapped in the Spacetime Amber. Time seemed to have stopped, and this world-famous painting was seen by all the Beyond Grade As on both sides.

The Beyond Grade As of the three Universal Civilizations were overjoyed. “Black Star has succeeded!”

“Beautiful! That Tree King did not have the time to self-destruct!”

“Support them with all your might! Don’t let those enemies harass Black Star!”

The morale of the Beyond Grade As was greatly boosted, and they were no longer in low spirits for losing their healer. They launched ferocious attacks at the World Tree experts who were anxious to leave the battle.

The emotions of all the World Tree experts were the exact opposite. Their rapidly changing expressions were filled with shock and anger.

They could not be bothered to fight with the opponent and rushed toward Han Xiao like crazy, trying to snatch Heart Tree King back.

However, the moment Han Xiao succeeded, he controlled the Mechanical Deity to move again. He grabbed the Spacetime Amber ball and swallowed it into his body, taking back the Spacetime Amber in Hila’s hands.

Without another word, he used his mechanical army as a shield to block the attacks of the World Tree fleet around him. He then flew in the opposite direction at full speed and stopped fighting. His goal was to retreat from the battlefield.

To lure the three Universal Civilizations into deploying their high-level combatants, Heart Tree King naturally would not stay too deep into the World Tree fleet. The battle zone was located at the periphery of the fleet and even if the World Tree fleet wanted to intercept Han Xiao, they would not be able to do so. Han Xiao paid the price of groups of mechanical soldiers and quickly entered the battle zone at the center of the battlefield.

The many World Tree Supers could not care less and surrounded Han Xiao in groups, trying to hinder his return. However, the Beyond Grade As of the three Universal Civilizations that were chasing after them all acted as cover for Han Xiao, restraining one opponent after another. The energy waves that flashed when they fought lit up continuously around Han Xiao, creating a path.

Fortitude Tree King was entangled with Herberlon again, and violent vibrations were transmitting through his body. He also wanted to support Heart Tree King, but could not get rid of Herberlon and could not increase his speed at all. He could only watch Han Xiao’s figure get further and further away. He was so angry that his energy core almost overloaded.

“D*mn idiot! Even Subduing Tree King is smarter than you!”

Fortitude Tree King was furious. They had clearly achieved a huge success in the Exchange tactic, so it would have been fine to retreat. At the very least, they could self-destruct and die. He did not expect them to be defeated at the last moment. It was supposed to be a great victory without much loss, but now, it had become a real ‘Exchange’!

He had already cursed Heart Tree King’s eighteen generations of ancestors in his heart. Just because he had thought for too long at that last moment, Heart Tree King did not self-destruct and was captured. This was a fatal mistake that even Subduing Tree King did not make. He was the shame of the Tree Kings!

What happened next could only be decided by Ancestral Tree King!

Seeing that Han Xiao was about to return to the fleet of the three Universal Civilizations, Fortitude Tree King knew that there was nothing he could do. His eyes flashed sharply as he sent a command in the mental network:

“Everyone, stop chasing. Retreat! Stop fighting!”

Now that Heart Tree King had been captured alive, Fortitude Tree King was the only one in charge. He took over the leadership without hesitation and ordered all the Beyond Grade As to retreat.

One Tree King was already gone, he was worried that Han Xiao would continue to seal more experts, so he decided to give up and ordered everyone to leave the battle. Upon hearing the order, the World Tree experts who were chasing Han Xiao paused slightly. They looked at Han Xiao’s back that was getting smaller and smaller, but they still chose to follow the orders of the Tree King and stopped their pursuit. While dealing with the Beyond Grade As of the three Universal Civilizations, they quickly retreated to the World Tree fleet.

The battleships in the distance also began to provide remote support to help them escape from their opponents.

The Beyond Grade As of the three Universal Civilizations did not chase after them too deeply. Instead, they chased for a while and killed a few World Tree experts who were exposed due to the sudden change of plan. Then, under the leadership of the association members, all the Beyond Grade As retreated and did not dare follow the remaining World Tree experts into the enemy fleet. If they did that, they would be the ones in danger instead.

Seeing this, Herberlon did not dare continue fighting alone. He fought fiercely with the Tree King a few times before gradually moving toward his teammates. After escaping from the battle, his eyes—flashing with Mechanical Force-locked onto the Tree King, filled with killing intent as though he was saying, “I’ll teach you a lesson the next time we meet.”

Fortitude Tree King took a deep look at this familiar face and did not say anything. He took the World Tree powerhouses and retreated deep into the World Tree fleet. Starships moved over and formed layers of barriers, blocking the sight of Herberlon and the others.

As the remaining Beyond Grade As of the World Tree retreated, the battle between the high-level combatants on both sides came to an end. The members of the association and the direct descendants did not stay on the battlefield. They went back to the three Universal Civilizations’ fleet while bracing the merciless firing.

Everyone put away their weapons and returned to the temporary command ship at the back of the battlefield. As soon as they entered the command room, they noticed Han Xiao, Hila, and the others were already there. The remote projections of Simon and the many commanders were also gathered there, pointing at Heart Tree King’s Spacetime Amber and talking.

“…Black Star, our front line of defense can’t hold on any longer, and the other war zones are also showing signs of collapse. The World Tree breaking through the interception circle is already set in stone. We are currently mobilizing our troops to retreat, but this isn’t your problem. You did very well by capturing a Tree King.”

Simon’s tone was low.

“I should have dealt with the Tree King Halo much earlier…” Han Xiao sighed.

“Although that would have been helpful, from the way the World Tree is attacking, it can only slightly delay them from breaking through the blockade. At most, the first to fall wouldn’t be this war zone but the other defense lines.”

Simon shook his head and said with a helpless tone. However, he was not angry. After a month of fighting, the entire command level had already mentally prepared themselves for the worst-for the interception circle to be broken.

“What do we do next?”

“There’s no need for you to continue fighting. Return to the main base first. We will begin evacuating in batches. The World Tree’s goal is not just to break through the intercepting perimeter but also to clean up our troops. Since the defense line has been broken, the trend will be difficult to reverse. There’s no need to fight them head-on. We will use the various fortifications that we have built in the strategic depth of the rear for the past year to cover fire and harass them into slowing down. I…”

“You guys can decide the matters of the army.” Han Xiao waved his hand.

Simon nodded and turned to look at the wounded Beyond Grade As. He changed the topic and said, “Everyone, please tabulate the damage. We need accurate data.”

Hearing this, the Beyond Grade As sized each other up and began telling their names. The number of people had decreased by a lot compared to when they went to fight. Many of them had died in the intense battle, with the direct Beyond Grade As suffering the most casualties, as well as some Revivors. The number of casualties among the association members was relatively low.

Because the number of participants this time had increased quite a lot, the World Tree had lost even more people. The three Universal Civilizations, on the other hand, were in a far better state. However, the World Tree did not bring out all their high-level combatants. In terms of numbers, the number of participants was only a fifth or a quarter of the total.

However, although they had the upper hand in terms of battle losses, it was still much worse than the previous battle. Many familiar faces disappeared, and the Beyond Grade As present could not even muster any emotions. They were still immersed in the battle and could not extricate themselves from it. They still had lingering fears and felt like they had just survived a disaster. The atmosphere was like a dark cloud.

“The losses this time are not small,” Sun Hunter muttered. “I think we should have retreated when Aurora was defeated…”

Hearing his soft voice, many Beyond Grade As nodded in agreement. They looked at Han Xiao with complicated emotions-helplessness, understanding, dissatisfaction, and resentment.

If they did not capture Heart Tree King this time, they would have suffered a huge loss. However, they had at least gained something and did not return empty-handed. Although many Beyond Grade As still felt that they had suffered a loss, they felt more or less comforted when they saw Heart Tree King in the amber.

Although they were unhappy, they could not say anything. After all, Han Xiao had captured a Tree King and made a huge contribution. At most, they felt that it was not worth it to exchange so many people for one opponent.