The green-colored mist provided the best barrier between the Cerulean Defense Forces and the opponents. During the time the mist provided cover, a new group came to the vicinity of the Rift.

This time they were varied in form but they carried Withered White Tree with them. The tree slowly let out a small concentration of undead element while the Undead Race were absorbing it to sustain themselves.

“You’ve come here too, Zhask.” Hecates said while approaching the undead leader.

This time, the Undead Race sent their best fighter to the Star Battle. Zhask also personally participated since he wanted the humans to know that the Undead Race could be depended on.

“Hecates, you are also here. What is the current situation?” Zhask asked.

“So far so good. We managed to break the ambush by using the Bio Weapon and spreading it to form a perimeter. So at least this area is now safe. But please don’t get close to the area designated for humans and dwarves. You understand, right?” Hecates replied and reminded Zhask.

“Of course, I take the route that doesn’t bother the humans and dwarves. The Withering White Tree is detecting a rich amount of undead element near here. Looks like the Transcendent from the Human Race absorbed most of it.” Zhask paid attention to the Withering White Tree and discovered that fact.

“Yeah, those Glings are using the swarm tactic against us. But we have something that turns their tactic into our own advantage. The risen undead that the Transcendents manage are currently patrolling the area beyond the mist.” Hecates informed Zhask of their current situation.

Zhask nodded his skeletal head and led the Undead Race past the perimeter. And as Hecates told him, skeletal undead were roaming around the perimeter while some ventured deeper into the forest.

‘Presumably, the enemy territory is in that direction.’ Zhask knew that the undead were sensitive to life signs, especially to the transcendent energy called Ether. The skeletal undead would definitely go in the direction where they could sense a life sign.

Zhask then ordered the Wraith units to move forward and do some detailed reconnaissance. They were the most suitable for this because they were immune to physical attack. Their Undead Fire was also well concealed so they were hard to kill.

The only weakness was to drain them of their undead element or to thoroughly purify them using strong life force or using Ether-based transcendent strike.

And so the Wraith moved along the traces the skeletal undead left behind. Zhask planted the Withered White Tree in a location a bit far from the perimeter and the other undead did the same.

They formed another layer of security to the perimeter behind them. This action also let them absorb the appearing undead element in the ground and in the air around the Withered White Tree.

While the Undead Race did that, the skeletal undead that the Transcendents gave rise to finally spotted a small group of Glings along with a certain large structure that relayed life signs.

The Transcendents shared the senses with their arisen undead, so they were surprised that this place was not far from the Rift. This was the first place where there were signs from enemy civilizations.

“We finally found the enemy encampment. I suspect that it is one of many places where they can reproduce Glings. It is their Nest. Confirming the numbers…around five hundred.” One of the Transcendents reported to Hecates.

Long Wu who heard it then prepared to head there but was stopped by Hecates.

“You need to move together with the others. Don’t move alone.” Hecates said.

Long Wu initially found that hard to accept. He often moved individually and he was fine with that. But when he thought about it, it made sense.

He was here in the Star Battle. It was different from the battle he had waged so far and perhaps needed cooperation from the other Transcendents to be able to pull something that could be monumental.

“Alright. I understand the thought. But I have to be the one to scout things around. I am capable of that.” Long Wu spoke and said what he was capable of.

Hecates processed this information. Not only was Long Wu formidable in combat, but he also excelled in scouting things as well as returning safely.

“That goes without saying. Now I need the group to do this since we discovered their bases.”

Hecates devised a plan and Long Wu listened. It was not a bad plan since Long Wu would be given the task of scouting the nest. Long Wu relayed that since the elves could detect the Transcendent and the Undead Race through their undead element, sneaking in to infiltrate their ranks became impossible.

Therefore, Long Wu was there to feel the defense and also the important structure that the enemies had. It was like dancing on the edge of a blade. Long Wu was prepared for that and agreed.

Then the skeletal undead spread in the forest went to patrol the outermost perimeter, forming the first line of an early warning system.

Hecates, Long Wu and the group of Transcendents went in the direction where the skeletal undead detected the nest.

According to the information given by Tatsumi, the Glings' base was a nest. It was where they reproduced and also nurtured their race. The nest was somehow similar to how the Undead Pool worked but the nest also provided the Glings with a way to morph into something more formidable.

To prevent their currently established territory from being overwhelmed by the enemy, the Transcendent Group decided to destroy the nest area they could possibly find and this was only the first.

Long Wu went to the outer area of the nest, trying to feel the defense around it. Since the nest was the critical infrastructure of the Glings, he was certain that there would be a defensive structure to protect it.

As expected, the moment Long Wu approached a certain building, he felt that an attack was coming. Strangely, it came from the underground direction.

Long Wu naturally could dodge the attack but this caused his position to be compromised. He dodged the attack as well as a projectile attack that came from afar.

A sharp flesh-like tentacle suddenly erupted from the ground where Long Wu had been, along with the arrow that hit it. The tentacle then burrowed itself into the ground while there were continuous projectiles being shot from afar.

Long Wu did not venture deeper and kept dodging the arrows that came to him. It was easy since the arrow mostly went in a straight direction. But he also needed to take into account the curved ones too since they came from a Transcendent being like him.

He had gained the range of the defensive buildings and the reach of the Elves' long-range attack. It was quite useful information for future reference.

But the Elves kept their pursuit. Long Wu was quite surprised but went further from the nest. Only after he went quite a distance that the Elves stop and return to do their patrol.

Long Wu then returned to the Transcendent Group and reported his scouting results. Hecates then designed a simple strategy to eliminate the nest.

He had to do this quickly because he realized that the enemy forces were likely to gather into one and tried to push them back to the Rift. He could not let them do that, and that was why he had to eliminate the nest near the Rift.

Hecates then moved along with dozens of Core Formation Realm Transcendents to eliminate the nest that they had discovered.

They did it in a similar fashion the Glings did, using the overwhelming number to render the defense ineffective in their role. Even if the Glings had a dozen defensive structures that could attack from underground, if the Transcendent sensed it, it would be easy to dodge.

As for the Elves, the Transcendent used the skeletal undead as the shield. Even if the Elves used their Curved Shot, it would only take an extra effort to dodge and it was not a big deal as long as they evaded the arrows.

Hecates swung his axe, brimming with the undead element, at the defensive structure that attacked the nearby Transcendent. It extended its tentacles underground before rising to the surface, where its target was.

Hecates hit the part where the tentacles came from and successfully severed it. Purple liquid came out from the severed part and Hecates did not dare to let that hit his body so he created an energy barrier.

Then he hacked and slashed the defensive structure until it was completely destroyed. At the same time, another Transcendent also destroyed the defensive structure while dodging the arrows that came.

Long Wu was helping against the arrow attack while in the midst of the group. He kept himself hidden from the sensitive Elves' sense so that they would not be able to pinpoint his location.

He knew that since the Elves probably saw him, they would try to at least identify him, perhaps through their sensitive sense or through sight. Long Wu excelled at burst attack and stealth, so he took his advantage to the limits.

The Transcendents finally pushed far enough to the nest. Dozens of Glings were forcefully nurtured to what the Transcendent supposed to be adult Glings before being sent right to them. It looked like a defensive reaction to their attack so part of their group had to deal with it at the same time.

“Watch out! Enemy saturation strike!” Long Wu warned. The group then raised what looked like a small shield that protected their vitals, especially their head.

The Elves realized that they could not cause damage to the group by shooting at random so they used a saturation attack using their Ether. Jade-colored light rose from the Elves position before multiplying into dozens of energy arrows.

Then it fell like rain toward the group. Fortunately, Long Wu reminded them in time so they were prepared.

The energy arrows were weak on their own but with dozens, even reaching hundreds of them, it was still a formidable attack method.

The moment it hit the shield, it also hit the undead element imbued in the shield, causing a great reaction.

“Ack! The shield is strengthened by the transcendent energy but it reacted with the enemies’!”

“Endure it!” Hecates shouted and the Transcendent Group listened to his order. They endure the reaction between two transcendent energy sources colliding and overpowering each other.

The reaction was so intense that it made the arm of the Transcendent feel heavy and like a scorching coal. But they had to endure. If they did not imbue the shield with their undead element, the shield would be broken in an instant.

But the saturation strike from the elves was also consuming their transcendent energy at a fast rate so it could not be maintained for long.

It also damaged the surroundings, so the Elves probably judged that the destroyed infrastructure would be destroyed sooner or later by the Transcendent Group and they decided to launch the saturation attack to at least delay them, if not causing some casualties among them.

But the elves could see that the Transcendent Group was enduring their attacks. Then one of the Elves suddenly yelled something that could be heard in the area.

Long Wu’s eyes narrowed as he could feel the Ether of the Elf gathering and kept gathering. He knew that whatever the Elves were planning, he had to stop it.

“With me! Stop that pointy-ears action!” Long Wu roared.

Long Wu moved the fastest since he had a movement skill he cultivated since he gained enlightenment on it. But two Elves protected the one who was gathering the Ether in a large amount.

The Transcendent Group responded by coming to the direction Long Wu moved. The ground may be a bit foreign since they entered the influence of the nest but it did not diminish their movement.

Hecates then engaged with one of the two Elves while another Transcendent paired up with the other, giving Long Wu a space to go directly to the particular Elf. Long Wu nodded as a gesture of thanks while directly stepping using his tiptoe to dash.

The Elf in question was nocking his arrow to his bow, the Ether flowing from his body to the bow and to the tip of the arrow. Long Wu knew that if the elf unleashed that on the group, it would be devastating.

He threw the dagger at the Elf. The Elf did not even put his bow; he did not even cower in front of the fatal threat.

The dagger was filled with Long Wu’s undead element straight from his core so its force was quite terrifying.

As for the other Elves, they were a bit far so they could not come to the rescue at this moment.

The elf knew that it could not escape death so he might as well do an exchange. But before he could release the bowstring, the dagger that Long Wu threw suddenly accelerated and stabbed at the forehead of the elf

Blood came out. Its red color was no different from humans but it came out quite a bit from the injury. The conflicting energy between the two transcendent energies surged and exploded right on the head of the elf, letting out more of the gore and its contents outside.

The hands that held the bow released their grip on the other end of the arrow as it shot forth, but not at the group of transcendent; rather, it went to the sky. Long Wu sighed in small relief that he had successfully eliminated this threat.

The rest of the two factions then came like a tsunami to the place where Long Wu killed an elf. It became the center of the battle as Long Wu went to support the other transcendents who were engaging with the Elves.

For some reason, the Elf group did not escape but kept defending in their place. Long Wu noticed this peculiarity but did not mind it, thinking that it might be the order from the superior race to defend this place to the death.

Long Wu then sliced his dagger and an Elf’s head was separated from the body, along with the geyser of blood spurting out from the severed part, slowly turning into a pool under the corpse.

‘Their long-range capability is excellent, equal to the sniper rifle. But when it comes to melee, they are lacking. Or perhaps this is not their close combat specialist.’ Long Wu thought while helping the other transcendent deal with the Elves.

Hecates was also done dealing with the elf on his side. He was grinning as if the battle was satisfying to him. Before he knew it, all the hostiles were eliminated around the nest.

All they had to do was destroy the nest itself.

“This thing is big. No wonder the Glings' swarm tactic is popular for them. It can produce a lot of Glings race’s derivatives and its cycle is small. Look at one of them!” Hecates said to the group, pointing at the thing that looked like the larvae of the Gling.

It squirmed slightly before getting bigger and forming a flesh cocoon. Then, from the cocoon, the familiar cannon fodder Gling was born. The Transcendent nearby killed it in one blow immediately.

They just wanted to see the process of creating the Gling’s race so they waited. Now that they had seen the process, there was no need to keep them.

The next step was to destroy the nest. Several transcendent launched an attack on the nest. The nest was created from the flesh and bones of another Glings’ derivative. But strangely, the nest could stand still despite the attack from several dozen transcendent.

“It is working.” Long Wu commented as he could feel the condition of the nest was deteriorating. But it took some time to get to that situation.

“This is valuable experience in this Star Battle.” Hecates added.

“Yes, it is.” Long Wu kept looking at the nest that was letting out purple liquid. The attack seemed effective but they needed quite a lot of people to do it.

‘Or we need a burst attack strong enough to annihilate the nest in one strike.’ Long Wu thought about the possible way to destroy the Gling’s nest.

Then the nest crumbled as its foundation was finally destroyed. The larvae of the Glings were all dead inside while the soil started to revert back to the previous state where it was untouched by the nest.

“Well, at least the nest here is destroyed. Absorb as many of the undead element as you can, everyone!” Hecates shouted with the aid of the undead element, making all the people in the group hear him.

Since the group had infected the flesh of the opponent with the undead element, the said element could multiply in case the opponent was dead. The generated undead element was quite a lot even for the Core Formation Realm Transcendent in the group.

They all absorb the undead element with relish. This was also the chance where they grew their strength, possibly raised their heavenstage by one or two if they had the lucky strike.

Long Wu was also absorbing the undead element but he also kind of purifying it, making it harder and arduous. But it was worth it since Long Wu knew that the purity of the transcendent energy for further advancement was guaranteed.

The corpses of the Elves in particular, after devouring the Ether in their body, the undead element multiplied as if going mad. This caused some transcendent to absorb it quickly, but they could not so they had to share it with the one who got less.

‘Well, the tide of battle starts to turn in our favor. But the enemies will likely send one of their hidden cards against us. It will be the moment where our reaction speed will be tested.’ Long Wu thought after he had absorbed and purified the undead element into his core and body.