THUD!

THUD! THUD!

Swarms of tree spirits collapsed like straw in a gale.

Their bodies were uncontrollably pinned to the ground, unable to so much as lift a finger.

However, beneath this devastating pressure, over a dozen figures still struggled to stand.

They were tree spirits of particularly towering stature, emanating powerful fluctuations of Natural Energy.

Their power had all reached the Domain Level!

Several furious roars erupted from the tree spirits below.

The dozen or so Domain Level tree spirits suddenly transformed their feet into countless thick, python-like roots that plunged deep into the cracked earth below!

They bound themselves to the land and to the root system of the ten-thousand-year-old ancient tree.

Drawing upon the strength of the entire forest and the ancient tree, they united to resist the Catastrophe Level Power descending from the sky—a force that felt like the weight of the entire world.

VMMM!

A vibrant green Energy Shield, brimming with the essence of life, rose from their bodies. It formed an immense, hemispherical barrier that enveloped the ten-thousand-year-old ancient tree.

Countless ancient runes, filled with a natural mystique, flowed and shifted across the barrier’s surface.

This was their final, and strongest, defense!

Among them, a colossal tree spirit, whose power had reached Domain Level Peak and stood over a hundred meters tall, let out a defiant roar.

It was the leader of these tree spirits and the most loyal Guardian of the ten-thousand-year-old ancient tree.

Its massive body, formed from countless tenacious ancient branches, trembled violently!

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

Tens of thousands of thick branches, shimmering with a dark green luster, sprouted wildly from its body like endless tentacles.

These branches swiftly wove together in mid-air, forming a colossal net that blotted out the sky. Filled with a destructive aura, it surged back toward the god-like blue figure in the heavens!

It was actually attempting to fight a Catastrophe Level Giant Dragon with its own power!

High in the sky, Astra watched the tree spirits’ futile struggles with cold indifference.

There wasn’t the slightest ripple of emotion in its eyes.

It simply, slowly, opened its massive maw.

There was no earth-shattering roar, no world-ending breath attack.

There was only a brilliant, dazzling flash of lightning that seemed capable of purifying the world, erupting from its mouth!

It wasn’t a bolt of lightning, nor was it a beam of light.

It was an ocean of lightning, formed from the purest, most primordial Thunderbolt Power!

BOOM!

The Sea of Thunderbolt descended from the heavens!

With unstoppable, all-crushing momentum, it slammed viciously into the sky-blotting net of branches!

There was no stalemate.

The moment it touched the Sea of Thunderbolt, the supposedly indestructible net of branches—unleashed with the full power of the Domain Level Peak tree spirit—was like a thin sheet of paper thrown into a Melting Furnace.

KZZZZZZZT!

A piercing, grating crackle echoed between heaven and earth.

Before the raging Thunderbolt Power, the tens of thousands of tenacious branches didn’t even last a second.

In an instant, the tyrannical lightning thoroughly decomposed and annihilated them from the inside out, reducing them to insignificant wisps of green smoke.

An absolute rout!

This was absolute Power!

After effortlessly destroying the giant net of branches, the vast Sea of Thunderbolt’s power had not diminished in the slightest.

It continued its descent, pressing down relentlessly!

Its target: the vibrant green Energy Shield held up by the combined might of the dozen-plus Domain Level tree spirits below!

"No!"

The tree spirit leader let out a desperate, defiant roar.

It could only watch helplessly as the Sea of Thunderbolt, a representation of death and destruction, drew ever closer.

It could feel the terrifying destructive force contained within that sea of lightning, a power potent enough to completely vaporize its very soul.

Just then, VMMM! An equally vast and mighty Catastrophe Level Power erupted without warning from the distant western horizon!

It was an aura that was heavy, ancient, and as vast as the earth itself.

This aura, unlike Astra’s Dragon Mighty, was not filled with tyranny and destruction.

It simply, calmly, revealed its presence on the far horizon.

But the meaning it conveyed was crystal clear.

A warning!

This Giant Valley had a master.

And this master was also a Catastrophe Level being!

Astra slowly turned its mountain-like head, its gaze piercing through layers of space toward the source of the aura.

It could feel the master of that aura locking onto it with its will.

It was a silent warning, a dismissal of an unwelcome intruder.

Astra looked down at the sea of forest below once more.

The next moment, Astra’s enormous draconic body moved.

It did not command the Sea of Thunderbolt again.

It simply raised one of its claws—a claw as massive as a mountain and covered in azure scales.

Then, it swung it gently toward the thousand-meter-tall, ten-thousand-year-old ancient tree below.