Edward teleported past the battlefield ignoring both the encroaching vines and the city defenders. He probed the city with his aura, Alaucocha was a frontier town and was roughly the same size as Gobéliard. Edward had no problem identifying a group of predator-level individuals gathered together and went directly to them, identifying them as the leadership of the city.

His sudden apparition provoked frightened reactions, but Edward spoke before they could act. “Peace, I’m coming at Ignis’ request. I’m here to help.”

“Are you bringing reinforcements?” one individual asked, his voice helpful.

“I’m the reinforcements,” Edward stated, faces turning somber once more around him as they realized no army was coming to save them.

“I should have known better…” whispered the one who had spoken earlier.

An older man with a square stature and a thick beard spoke to Edward. “I’m sorry but one man won’t be able to change much. You must have seen what the situation is like. The city is surrounded and won’t be able to last for long. We need help right now. I had hoped that Ignis would have come himself, his fire would be most helpful.”

“Ignis has his own matters to settle. But do not worry, I’m fully able to take care of the situation. I came here requesting information and not for your help with dealing with those monsters.” Edward proclaimed matter-of-factly.

“Who does he think he is?” one guy mumbled flabbergasted by Edward’s attitude.

“I’m at the patriarch stage, you can trust my abilities,” Edward answered without losing a beat.

“A new patriarch? We sure live in interesting times.” The older man chuckled.

He gave Edward all the information they had gathered until now. The vines and ants were new types of monsters they had never encountered before. They must be invaders from another world just like the spiders. In but a month the newcomers had squashed the local monsters and reduced the city to such a state, on the edge of being overtaken. They didn’t know much about their abilities apart from the fact they seemed to be reliant on numbers. The vines were growing at an impressive rate, were resistant to fire, and even cutting them to pieces only slow them down.

They had tried to escape only to realize that the creepers had since long surrounded the city. At that time, the vines weren’t thick enough to fully stopped them but the ants had intervened. Swarms of ants with no particular powers had charged at them without interruption. Even without powers, the ants were only slightly weaker than an awaken and outnumbering them ten to one, they had no choice but to retreat. The origin point of the ants and the vines was unknown.

“I see. Thanks for the information. I will stabilize the situation first. Not knowing the origin of those creatures makes things more difficult but I will do my best to destroy the portal they are coming from. I won’t have the time to take care of the remaining monsters though. So, I will advise that you stay careful even after I leave.” Edward stated.

Edward sensed strong disbelief from the assembly in front of him and he could understand why. If he had been fighting an unending tide of monsters for a month, close to losing hope, only for a random guy to show himself saying he would take care of the situation. He too would be laughing with disbelief. And truth be told, he didn’t have enough information to be fully confident as well. He didn’t have bombs on him to blow the invaders’ portal and he didn’t know their trump cards. He could only assume that they were roughly on the same level as the spiders, with maybe a larger army since they had more time to grow their forces.

His fight against the spiders had been a close call, but he wasn’t the same as before. At the patriarch level he could defeat an Arachne easily, he only had to be careful not to overexert himself or to fall into a trap. The safest call would have been to counterattack with an army so that he always had a force to fall back on in case something went wrong. But he didn’t have the time right now and he was used to fighting alone.

First, let’s help the frontline lest they get overrun.

Edward teleported above the walls. The vines are really thick, they must be at least four meters of thickness to threaten the wall in such a way. He dished out multiple aura frag grenades, not restraining his power. Given the extent of the assault, it was very much needed.

The aura inside the grenades exploded sending blades cutting through everything in their path. Many vines were cut, temporally stopping their assault, but more of them came immediately afterward. That’s it, keep coming. Aura grenades are not even costly for me to use. Pool all of your resources where I am. It will be easier for me to drain it all.

The guards watched in awe as Edward stopped the assault on this side of the wall by himself. No matter how many vines were coming they kept being torn to shreds, and just like the creepers Edward seemed as if he could go at it all day long.

“If you have time gaping you have time to fight! Go help the other squadrons, the east side needs reinforcements!” Their captain scolded them, and the whole team moved away, only a few soldiers staying on the spot in case the situation changed.

Edward continued to dish out frag grenades, the fight had turned into a contest of endurance. In the distance, the ants were shifting their body uneasily and some of them left to report what was happening.

Thirty minutes later, after being torn to shreds repeatedly the vines stopped their assault not only in Edward’s location but on the rest of the walls as well. The vines had to pull all of their resources to sustain the continuous destruction brought by Edward and even the plants on the other side of the city had been affected. Of course, given that all of their sap was on the ground it wouldn’t take long before their find back their strength and resumed the assault. That is if Edward left them.

Time for the feast.

Multiple aura tendrils shot out of Edward and plunged into the ground. The soil itself was covered by ten centimeters of accumulated sap. Edward greedily absorbed it all. Just like for the flying eyes, the vines’ individual power was so weak as to be insignificant unless they were harvested in industrial quantity. And industrial quantity was exactly what Edward was aiming for.

Hectoliters passed through his body, all of the essence getting absorbed and only clean water coming out. The vines sagged visibly as their energy left their bodies. Starting from Edward’s location and spreading in a circle a hundred meters in radius all the vines turned lifeless.

The city commander stood on the wall behind Edward with a big grin on his face. “You certainly walk the talk. I’m impressed, it has been days since the assault last stopped, and there is no need to even mention the vines suffering a setback. Whatever you are doing seems to be more effective than cutting the vines apart.”

I’m not done yet. Edward smirked.

“Then let’s celebrate with some fireworks.”

Edward formed several fire runes at the same time and sent massive fireballs on the weakened vines which started to burn. The fire spread quickly. A hundred-meter circle represented roughly thirty square kilometers, the fire had plenty of consumables to feed on. The flames raised high as thick smoke covered the sky.

It looks much better when it’s your enemy burning rather than your city.

“Actually, let’s strike while the iron is hot,” he added, the fire reflecting in his eyes.

Edward teleported ahead of the flames where the vines were still active. He went sufficiently ahead so that the fire would take some time to catch up to him. There he summoned three additional clones that he sent spreading out in the forest direction. They settled in equidistant positions and blasted the vines with frag grenades.

Having to struggle with the incoming fire while being attacked in four places at once the vines had trouble to retaliate and in but a few minutes they were torn to shreds, not having enough energy to regrow immediately. Edward and his clones formed aura tendrils draining the ground of the vines’ sap. Additional tendrils formed, linking Edward with his clones. All of the plants’ lifeblood flowed into him, slowly feeding his growth in power.

I may not know where their portal is located but I only have to follow the vines to find out. Just like for the spiderwebs, most of the vines are aligned in a specific direction.

Edward cleared the way, weakening the vines so that they could be consumed by the fire. He stopped only when he reached the jungle and then recalled his clones. The vines are stifling the local plants as well. Creepers were everywhere, recovering the native plants. Apart from the creepers, the jungle itself appeared dead to Edward’s senses, all of its life had been consumed by the creepers. Not only were the vines stifling the other plants, but Edward could also discern holes in several of the trees with vines coming out of them.

That’s why I hate invading species.

That’s when the jungle turned into a flurry of activities. To Edward’s surprise, the creepers retreated, slithering back inside the jungle and creating free space between themselves and the incoming raging fire. Meanwhile, several swarms of ants came out.

Showing your true color now, heh.

The ants crouched their abdomen forward and blasted a stream of acids in his direction. Edward simply teleported higher, the acid missing him entirely. This would have been bothersome before I had aura steps, but something at this level won’t even be able to faze me anymore.

However, soon after another swarm of ants came into view except those were flying. They appeared to be much more powerful than the ground ones. Additionally, they displayed a high level of intelligence and behaved like coordinated units rather than a swarm of monsters. Each ant formed swords of light and armor with their aura before encircling him and attacking him from several directions. Due to their numbers and close proximity to each other, they chose to engage in close combat rather than in ranged attacks.

Edward himself sensing the power emanating from them chose to refrain from large-scale attacks. Each of them seems to be roughly at the predator level. They won’t fall with a single attack. I don’t know how many of them there are, I could kill them all with a few attacks but I would be mostly spent after that. This would be bad if more of them are coming.

It’s actually surprising that they didn’t act sooner. They are already more than a dozen of them here. If they truly wanted to, Alaucocha would have already fallen, the vines were enough to tie up the defender, and with the addition of so many predators, the city would have been crushed. Were they keeping those troops in reserve for when the Andherians would come?