In the end, although unhappy, Spurius complied with Edward’s demands as quickly as he could to get rid of him as soon as possible. Edward didn’t ask for Spurius to accompany him in fighting the monsters, he would be too slow to follow him anyway. Additionally, Edward couldn’t force someone to fight against his will, and he didn’t have the time to monitor Spurius to make sure he would comply with his demands. He only added a few threats to prevent Spurius from killing the knights who had witnessed Edward rebuking him. Spurius had been thoroughly humiliated, and from what little he knew of the man, Edward wouldn’t put past him to kill witnesses to wash his nonexistent honor.

Even though Spurius was a scumbag Edward decided against punishing him. If he killed him to absorb his essence, he wouldn’t be any different than a monster himself. This was a line that he shouldn’t cross no matter how dire the situation. As for weaker punishments, Edward would let Ignis decide, he was the emperor after all. And in the event that they failed to defeat the Andherian’s invasion, humanity wouldn’t have any fighting chance left, by then a coward might be what humanity needed to survive with no other choice but to hide.

After the initial confrontation, Edward also brought him up to date on the event that happened within Pescara. Edward informed Spurius that the initial monsters plaguing the capital had been eliminated but that another one even more powerful could come at any time. He strongly advised Spurius to join Ignis and Adotinus as this might be their only chance to defeat such a strong monster by fighting altogether, but unsurprisingly Spurius didn’t seem enchanted by such a proposition. Edward didn’t insist, not wanting to waste any time for a lost cause.

With the help of Spurius and the empire’s network of information Edward quickly had a general understanding of the situation. It wasn’t looking pretty. Due to its strong military forces, the empire hadn’t collapsed but it was pressurized on all fronts. Sorrente was still relatively fine since it was in the center of the empire and had been near Pescara the capital.

However, to the south where the empire was stopped by a desert, the frontier city of Nagh Kuldohr had difficulties dealing with giant worms, lizard people, and wisps able to control and summon sandstorms. The habitants had to confine themselves inside their city with a limited source of supplies. To the west, near the tropical jungle of Nyegale, Alaucocha was barely able to hold on. The jungle was constantly expanding and the city was on the verge of being surrounded and cut from all contact. It would only be a question of time before it fell. To the east, where the rocky mountain ranges had stopped human expansion, Zakrens was under assault as well. Incredibly large birds designed as Rocks were regularly attacking the city. What made the situation difficult was the ability of those birds to create a storm and to wield its lightning. Several of them gathered together were impossible to deal with even for predators.

The news depicted a worrying picture, and this was even worse when you learned that they were already a week old. There was no network to spread information instantaneously, and one had to wait for messengers or delivery birds to get reports of events that had already happened by the time they reached you. The difficulty that the empire was experiencing didn’t improve things, with the risk of messengers never reaching their destination.

Edward analyzed the situation with a map spread in front of him. If possible, he would have liked to help the nearest city before moving to the next. But the way things were right now, he had to free Alaucocha first, otherwise there would be nothing left to save. From the different reports, Zakrens seemed to be the city least in distress for now.

“I will take care of Alaucocha and Nagh Kuldohr, you send reinforcements to Zakrens. I will try to stop the monsters assaulting Zakrens as well but I have no guarantee that I will have the time to do so. We are on a timer, the Andherians can come at any time.” Edward requested from Spurius. The latter appeared to be happy to get rid of him and assured him that everything would be done according to his wishes.

Edward took the map with him, oriented his compass, and left, teleporting away. With a few teleportations, he had left Sorrente behind him. Progressively he noticed the landscape changing, it was easy to perceive the change at the speed he was moving. The plains became more humid, with multiple rivers crossing them. And with most of the arable forsaken due to the monster’s surge, lush vegetation was growing. One-meter-tall ferns, ever-present creepers, moss covering each portion of rocks, plants were everywhere.

The furthest he progressed the thicker the creepers became, covering everything under their writhing mass. No paths nor any human signs were visible. This doesn’t look right. Edward stopped to analyze the situation. The creepers were already two meters thick and it was the only thing in sight. I might go overboard but it’s better to check it.

With his aura, he drew a three-meter fire rune that he dropped on the vegetation below him. The vines sizzled under the high temperature but they didn’t burn. The whole area shook as if the plants were interconnected. The vines coalesced and the fire was extinguished before it could begin. The writhing plants looked like an angry sea forming swaying waves.

Yep, it’s not normal.

The vines shot at him and Edward climbed higher, forming aura steps under his feet. He sent aura blades to cut the vines coming at him, and although the vines weren’t able to offer any resistance it didn’t change the situation, and more and more of them came coming at him from every direction even as they were cut into pieces.

They are trying to overcome me through numbers. I would say this is a very poor strategy, but my swings don’t seem to be very effective. With the number of plants gathered here, burning everything would be a lot easier, but of course, they already have a countermeasure. If they were that easy to destroy I guess someone would have already dealt with it.

Edward changed tactics, and rather than shooting large aura blades he formed multiples fragmentation grenades. The aura blades were smaller, but it was more than enough to cut through the vines, and more importantly, the attacks were omnidirectional, causing a lot more havoc than a simple blade.

Chunks of vines and green sap flew everywhere as the creepers were shredded to pieces by multiple explosions. Only a few minutes were needed before the whole area was devastated. No more vines were in the state to fight back, however, Edward wasn’t smiling.

All things considered, he had cleared but a small area a few hundred meters wide, whereas the vines extended for kilometers. Additionally, the sap and biomass were still there, already beginning to percolate through the ground.

I can’t let it go to waste. If I leave, the vegetation will reabsorb most of its nutrients and essence, recouping its losses and regrowing in a matter of days.

Field types are really annoying. It’s just like the mist but this time I don’t have any bombs on me.

Though if you ask me, humans know the best how to destroy the environment. If you want to destroy a jungle, there is no need to cut every tree, you just need to drain the soil. Altering the field can work both ways.

Aura tendrils extended from Edward and plunged inside the drenched soil, draining the sap as if they were huge pumps. The sap itself was low in energy, but Edward was able to extract what little essence it contained, leaving only ordinary water behind. Liters and liters passed through him, only water devoid of essence coming out.

Within ten minutes the ground was washed up, all of the sap having been absorbed and the surplus of water washing the broken vines away.

It looks already a lot cleaner this way.

Strangely enough, draining and absorbing all of the essence from the sap seemed to be as effective as clearing an area from the vines. Where the surrounding vines had been full of life, stems swaying, and ready to regrow, they now seemed lifeless, no more energetic than normal plants.

They are linked together. Even when cut into pieces the surroundings creepers are continuing to feed them. In this situation draining them from their essence is more effective than cutting them.

Edward watched the weakened vegetation. I wonder if…

He formed another fire rune with his aura and sent it plummeting toward the weakened plants. Even though the ground was drenched with residual water this time the fire rune had some effect. In this humid climate, a spark wasn’t enough to cause a fire, but Edward’s rune was akin to a three-meter fireball. Even though the plants were somewhat resistant to fire, now that they were too weak to smother the fire before it could take them, the flames spread. This led to the bizarre sight of the ground soaked with water while the vegetation above it was burning.

Unfortunately, the fire didn’t spread that far before the rest of the plants reacted. Since the fire had already gained in intensity it was a lot harder for them to extinguish it, but the situation changed when some of them formed something akin to pumps with empty stems propelling water over the flames. All in all, the fire had managed to triple the area that was cleared of invasive creepers before being extinguished.

This is not enough to burn the whole vegetation in one go but if I were to weaken the vegetation by draining several areas and set off different fires at the same time, I may be able to overcome them.

It is kinda sad to burn a whole forest but it’s the most effective way. Just like for the spider webs, they may have partially resolved their weakness to fire but once you are powerful enough it doesn’t matter.

Edward left the area, resuming his teleportation. In a few more minutes he reached Alaucocha. The situation was even worse, the whole city was surrounded by creepers, they had even reached halfway to the wall, already blocking all exits. Guards were continuously throwing attacks to prevent the plants from overwhelming them, but it was only slowing down the inevitable.

Additionally, in the distance, large groups of ants with each individual as big as a sheep were watching the scene with interest. The creepers weren’t attacking them, and although the ants were passive, Edward had no doubt they would intervene if the city somehow managed to repel the vines.

It seems those plants didn’t grow on their own. Are those ants some kind of caretaker? Making sure the creepers become strong enough before letting them overcome their enemies? It looks like I will have to deal with them as well if I want to burn the jungle.