192: An apocalyptic crisis?

Boom, boom, boom… The Giant Treant's footsteps were incessant.

Following them was a terrifying earthquake.

From far to near, it continuously struck at the heartstrings of humanity.

The first to react were the Awakened Beasts wandering in the wild.

Compared to humans, they had a more acute perception of changes in nature.

Not to mention an earthquake of such immense scale.

Now they only had two choices.

Either run away with their tails between their legs.

Or stay and fight the creature capable of causing such a terrifying earthquake.

And let it know who the true king of this place was.

Due to the diversity of creatures, both choices were made by Awakened Beasts.

However, upon seeing the colossal Giant Treant, large enough to blot out the sky, all the Awakened Beasts who chose to resist fell silent.

Could such a terrifying behemoth truly be something a living creature could contend with?

Thinking of this, they no longer hesitated and began to flee frantically.

—

Joy.

Then an even stronger terror.

These onlookers didn't even have time to celebrate being rid of the terrifying opponent, the Tiger King.

When they saw the Giant Treant walking towards them.

Such a terrifying behemoth didn't even need to make significant movements.

Its mere stomping was enough to destroy everything.

This was an existence more terrifying than the Tiger King.

Most importantly, it was very hostile towards humans.

At least, its direction of travel indicated as much… The joy on MacArthur's face had not yet faded when he discovered in horror.

The Giant Treant was actually walking in his direction.

Each step covered several hundred meters.

Despite the Giant Treant's seemingly clumsy movements, its forward speed was by no means slow.

Before long, it had advanced several kilometers.

MacArthur's expression stiffened.

He never expected that the Giant Treant had indeed eliminated the Tiger King, just as he had envisioned.

But they were not faring any better.

The Giant Treant seemed to harbor great hostility towards humans.

The first step in conquering the Blue Star was to launch its plant-based counterattack against these tiny creatures!

As a five-star general, MacArthur's psychological fortitude was exceptionally strong.

After only a moment of panic, he regained his composure.

In this moment of life and death, the more one feared, the calmer one needed to be.

Because this could be a world-ending crisis affecting all humanity.

Once this Giant Treant grew, it would absolutely be an existence capable of destroying heaven and earth.

It could even collapse the Blue Star.

Thinking of this, he calmly issued the order: "Everyone, put aside your prejudices, concentrate your strength, and launch a counterattack against the Giant Treant."

"We must protect our homeland."

"Let this Giant Treant know that it cannot trample everywhere it pleases!"

Although MacArthur's order was vague, it was also the best order.

Everyone working together to fight a powerful enemy?

This meant that all means could be used, without any further restrictions.

After all, everyone was now facing only one problem: to survive.

Watching the Giant Treant getting closer and closer, MacArthur, having issued the order, cursed under his breath:

"The Tiger King was truly useless, couldn't even take down such a big, clumsy idiot."

"If he had been a little more capable, perhaps we wouldn't be facing such a terrifying crisis."

"Damn it! He truly deserves to die!"

At this moment, MacArthur seemed to have completely forgotten one thing.

Back then, he hadn't wanted Lin Tianwei to win that battle at all.

But sometimes these people are just that unreasonable.

—

One battle had just ended, and no one expected that another battle had already quietly begun.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh… That was the sound of countless missiles being launched.

The cities in the Giant Treant's path launched their counterattack before the Giant Treant even arrived.

Most of these cities were built around powerful weapons.

These high-tech weapons were also the foundation of their survival in the new world.

Weapons they usually cherished were now, as if free, launched without hesitation towards the Giant Treant.

Furthermore, countless helicopter units carrying special weapons began their assault on the Giant Treant.

They would not believe that so many of their powerful high-tech weapons would actually be defeated by the Giant Treant.

No sooner said than done.

The fastest-flying missiles had already reached the Giant Treant.

Although the Giant Treant did not have conventional eyes, all plants were its eyes.

Its vision was far wider than humans could imagine.

Looking at the missiles flying over to harass it.

The Giant Treant let out a roar and began its counterattack.

It stretched its arms straight forward.

Just as humans wondered why the Giant Treant was behaving so strangely.

They saw countless vines begin to grow wildly on the Giant Treant's hands.

They quickly formed a giant net, ensnaring all the missiles.

This was not the most terrifying thing.

With just a slight exertion of force, these captured missiles were propelled by the Giant Treant's immense power.

Flying in the opposite direction.

Although the Giant Treant's power was not enough to hurl these missiles back to the cities that launched them.

It was enough to strike at those so-called elite helicopter units.

Boom… Boom!

That was the sound of countless missiles exploding.

There were explosions near the Giant Treant, and also near the helicopter units.

After all, not all missiles could be thrown back by the Giant Treant before exploding.

However, the effects of these two explosions were worlds apart.

Even Reinforcement helicopters were still no match for missiles.

In an instant, this elite helicopter unit suffered a forty percent reduction in personnel.

Terrifying!

In contrast, the explosions near the Giant Treant had an effect that was like night and day.

Although the energy of the missile explosions was violent, compared to the Giant Treant's colossal body, it seemed somewhat insufficient.

The impact force generated by countless missile explosions only barely caused the Giant Treant's body to tilt slightly.

After all, the Giant Treant was not a simple giant.

But a plant giant formed by the aggregation of countless plants.

This special structure allowed the Giant Treant to minimize the impact of missile explosions on itself.

As for the flames generated by the missile explosions?

Even Lin Tianwei's flames couldn't faze the Treant, let alone these missiles?

The seemingly terrifying flames, compared to the Giant Treant's massive size, appeared somewhat insignificant.

Before the flames even had a chance to ignite, they were already extinguished by the Giant Treant.

It could be said that they had absolutely no effect.

First round, missile launch, Giant Treant complete victory!

Not only that, America also paid a heavy price, which was a net loss.

This situation made all other countries worry for America.

Although the Giant Treant had not yet reached their lands.

But as long as this menace was not eliminated, it was only a matter of time.

After all, the vitality of plants has been proven by thousands of years of history.

As long as there is a sufficiently suitable growing environment.

The Giant Treant could absolutely evolve into the greatest disaster in human history.

It might even be a world-ending catastrophe.

If it ever came to a point where Treants were everywhere, that would absolutely be hell in the eyes of humanity.

However, no matter how anxious they were, there was nothing they could do.

Because separated by thousands of miles, they were simply powerless to help.

Moreover, America's military strength itself was not weak.

If even he himself couldn't deal with the Giant Treant.

Even if they came, it would be a complete waste.

The first round of attack failed, but it could not extinguish the flames of resistance of the American people.

It wasn't because they were so great.

But because they knew that once the Giant Treant eliminated the vast majority of America's effective forces.

The remaining people, even if they survived, wouldn't last long.

Since that was the case, it was better to launch the most furious attack on the Giant Treant while America could still fight!

Buzz, buzz, buzz… That was the sound of countless helicopter Reinforcements.

Although the missile launch had a counterproductive effect, it bought time for others.

Finally, before the Giant Treant reached the first city, enough troops were assembled to launch an attack on the Giant Treant.

Sizzle, sizzle… That was the sound of strong acid corroding and carbonizing everything.

Knowing that flames were useless, these helicopters naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to use flame attacks.

This time, they used strong acid.

Violent strong acid, the moment it was poured onto the Giant Treant, had a very obvious effect.

Pungent thick smoke rose, and the Giant Treant's body also emitted a sizzling sound of corrosion.

It sounded quite eerie.

The Giant Treant's body was still within the realm of plants after all.

Coupled with not having developed specific immunity to strong acid, it could only endure it with its body.

This attack did have a very good effect.

However, that was only how it seemed.

The Giant Treant directly activated the Power of Nature.

With a flash of green light, the Power of Nature erupted, and the charred plants regained their lush greenness.

The terrifying acid could indeed cause damage to the Giant Treant.

But that was merely causing damage.

As long as the Power of Nature was not exhausted, the Giant Treant could infinitely recover from its injuries.

Second round, acid launch, the effect was barely better than nothing!

This situation immediately stunned MacArthur.

Since acid had no effect, then the upcoming alkali solution would definitely not have much of an effect either.

Their principles were similar.

Unless the Giant Treant was a plant that feared alkali, it would be impossible for it to suffer too much damage from alkali solution.

As expected, although there was a lot of alkali solution, it only served to deplete the Giant Treant's strength.

On the contrary, countless helicopters, due to getting too close.

Were either directly swatted away by the Giant Treant like flies, or entangled by wildly growing vines.

Pulled into the Giant Treant's body, they completely became fertilizer for plant growth.

Third round, alkali launch, the effect was barely better than nothing!

America, which prided itself as the world's number one, was completely helpless against such a terrifying plant giant.

MacArthur's face was ashen, and he could only pin his hopes on the last resort.

If, before the world mutated, the entire strength of America had been gathered, it would have been entirely possible to win this war of attrition.

But now it was different.

After countless Awakened Beasts rampaged, the remaining strength of the entire America was less than thirty percent.

What remained were massive weapons, akin to nuclear weapons.

These ordinary weapons, however, due to their limited effectiveness, had very few in stock.

Nor had they been produced.

Under normal circumstances, the effect of these ordinary weapons was even inferior to an Esper's ability.

Attack!

With a silent command, the remaining helicopter units launched their final assault.

Those were liquid nitrogen shells.

Missiles capable of instantly causing freezing temperatures!

As is well known, plants do not only fear fire.

Low temperatures are also a plant killer.

And this liquid nitrogen was the best gift for the Giant Treant.

Boom, boom, boom...

That was the sound of shells exploding.

The liquid nitrogen hidden within instantly erupted, drenching the Giant Treant's legs.

This was also MacArthur's order.

He was very smart.

He knew that relying solely on this liquid nitrogen would not completely restrain the Giant Treant's movements.

So he chose to concentrate fire, attacking the Giant Treant's crucial legs.

As cold white mist rose, the sound of freezing was incessant.

Under the eruption of liquid nitrogen, even plants could be frozen.

Not to mention, some ice-type Espers and Espers capable of controlling temperature were also not idle.

They began to unleash their abilities on the Giant Treant with all their might.

To everyone's surprise, ice gradually froze the Giant Treant's legs.

Not only that, but it continued to spread upwards, showing a tendency to completely freeze the Giant Treant.

Hope!

That was the hope of defeating the Giant Treant!

Some even cheered prematurely, celebrating the joy of surviving a catastrophe.

However, MacArthur's furrowed brow indicated that the situation was not optimistic.

It was impossible to control a plant aggregate like the Giant Treant with freezing.

As long as it could extricate itself, it definitely had the strength to break free from the icy shackles.

Therefore, to inflict significant damage on the Giant Treant, they had to attack it during the brief moment it was frozen.

At MacArthur's command, a large number of shells bombarded the Giant Treant's frozen legs.

Normally, shells would merely tickle the Giant Treant.

But now it was different.

Plants in a frozen state are exceptionally fragile.

Even shells that were not particularly powerful were enough to give the Giant Treant a hard time.

Boom, boom, boom...

Countless more shells rang out.

Along with it was an angry roar belonging to the Giant Treant!

A huge shadow began to fall.

Undoubtedly, this attack definitely caused immense damage to the Giant Treant.

Otherwise, with its stable body, it would be impossible for it to topple over.

As expected, when the smoke cleared, the Giant Treant's legs were found to be shattered.

It was precisely because of this that its enormous body fell to one side.

Round four, liquid nitrogen shells, significant effect!

The crashing collapse of the Giant Treant gave everyone immense hope.

They at least knew that, facing such a terrifying behemoth, they also had a chance of winning.

Taking advantage of the Giant Treant's momentary loss of balance, more high-tech weapons launched attacks on it.

They tried to deliver a fatal blow during the brief period it couldn't resist.

However, they were still a bit too naive.

How could a creature arrogant enough to attempt to rule the entire Blue Star not have a few tricks up its sleeve?

As long as the Treant Core was not destroyed, the Giant Treant was completely immortal.

As for the conditions to destroy the Treant Core?

It was made very clear before: it required an attack that was both powerful enough and fast enough.

A slow combination like freezing and shattering simply couldn't cause substantial damage to the Treant Core.

All the Treant Cores had already been transferred to other parts of the Giant Treant's body before its legs were completely frozen.

Squeak, squeak...

The Giant Treant let out another angry roar.

However, this time the sound was distinctly different from before.

Although it hadn't suffered a fatal injury, this level of damage was enough to enrage the Giant Treant.

To everyone's disbelief, the Giant Treant directly discarded its legs.

As the plants began to re-converge, a new, slightly smaller Giant Treant reappeared.

Although it was a size smaller, this new Giant Treant still stood a full three hundred and fifty meters tall.

Standing there, it remained an existence like a god descending to earth.

Most importantly, the helicopter units were already out of ammunition and supplies.

Now, they couldn't inflict any damage on the Giant Treant.

They could only watch as it drew closer and closer to Pent City, the nearest city.

—

As the Giant Treant drew closer to Pent City, MacArthur's body trembled more and more violently.

Nothing else.

His heart was struggling.

Whether to use the last weapon to stop this terrifying monster outside the human city.

While MacArthur was agonizing, the Giant Treant finally arrived outside Pent City's walls.

The seemingly indestructible city walls.

The walls, built with immense human and material resources, were completely ineffective against the Giant Treant.

Nothing else.

The Giant Treant was simply too tall.

Its immense height allowed it to easily step over the seemingly tall city walls.

Just like that, right under everyone's noses, it effortlessly entered Pent City.

Even with prior evacuation, a large population still remained in Pent City.

In such a short time, how could an emergency evacuation be carried out just by wishing it so?

The moment they witnessed the Giant Treant, everyone was engulfed by immense fear.

They screamed in terror, frantically wanting to escape this city that was supposed to bring them a sense of security.

Unfortunately, the city gates were too small.

Coupled with the sheer number of people wanting to escape.

A terrifying stampede instantly occurred.

Many people did not die under the Giant Treant's trampling but died under the feet of their own compatriots.

This could also be considered a strange irony.

Seeing the frantically fleeing humans, the Giant Treant remained completely unperturbed.

These tiny creatures reminded it of its days before Awakening.

Sharp chainsaws, terrifying excavators... these dreadful plant harvesters still made the Giant Treant feel a faint fear when it thought of them now.

But it was good.

Now the situation was reversed.

It was these tiny creatures who were at a disadvantage.

Then it shouldn't be blamed for seeking revenge for the blood feud of the past.

Blood for blood!

The Giant Treant actually controlled its massive body to make a grinning motion.

These people loved to smile while slaughtering their own kind.

Then it would return their smiles.

Just like that.

A Giant Treant with a bizarre smile drew closer and closer to the frantically fleeing people...

In the command center.

MacArthur ultimately didn't have the courage to press that sinful button.

The tragic state of Cherry Blossom Island constantly flashed before his eyes.

He didn't want the land of America to become a similar living hell.

Moreover, no one could guarantee that nuclear weapons could completely eliminate this Giant Treant.

So even in the face of countless deaths, MacArthur ultimately chose to give up.

At least, the mushroom cloud shouldn't bloom on American soil!

Thinking this, MacArthur turned and left directly.

It was time to escape here, to a safer place.

At this thought, MacArthur felt his old face flush red.

When did he, too, become so terrified by these monstrous creatures that he had to flee in panic?

Like a pitiful stray dog.

But this was the only way.

Die with the city?

MacArthur did not have such resolve.

If he were to die for anything, he would die for the entire America!

Thinking this, MacArthur quickened his pace.

Although the Giant Treant's speed wasn't fast, it wasn't slow either.

If he left too late, he really wouldn't be able to escape!

—

In Pent City.

The Giant Treant wantonly trampled the buildings here.

All creatures hidden within were also trampled into a bloody mess.

This was not enough.

Under the Giant Treant's control, the plants forming its body began to grow wildly.

Feeding on flesh and blood, they embarked on a carnival of savage growth.

In just fifteen minutes, Pent City was completely transformed into a living hell.

A green living hell.

The prosperous city, the bustling streets, were utterly destroyed.

Along with the people who resided there, everything was completely annihilated.

In their place were countless plants.

Perhaps due to the abundance of food, their growth rate was extremely fast.

Before long, they grew from seeds into seedlings.

Then they matured into gigantic plants.

Even countless beautiful flowers began to bloom, emitting an enchanting fragrance.

However, no one dared to look directly at these seemingly beautiful flowers.

They were all evil beings that had grown by absorbing the flesh and blood of their compatriots.

If possible, they would prefer to set a great fire.

Destroying these eerie plants along with this ruined city.

However, the Giant Treant seemed very satisfied with its masterpiece.

Without hesitation, it took another step, heading towards the next city.

It had already sown enough Seeds of Hope in this city.

Next, it would spread the Seeds of Hope to another city.

The familiar earthquake came again.

However, this time, everyone became afraid.

Because they knew this was not a natural disaster.

But something even more terrifying than a natural disaster, the countdown of death.

Especially those who felt the earthquake getting closer and closer to them.

They panicked, their expressions gradually turning frantic.

Some even cried loudly, screaming, "We can't escape."

"That's the Grim Reaper's scythe, there's no avoiding it!"

However, just as everyone was sinking into despair, the invincible Giant Treant strangely stopped.

It just stopped in the wilderness, unable to move.