Global Lords: My Territory Heart Is a World Tree

"Dad, stop messing around! We’re on a battlefield."

"Besides, I have so many brothers and sisters. They gave you grandkids a long time ago. Who knows how many great-grandkids you have by now."

"That’s different. Among all your siblings, only the fifth one is an elite hero. The other monkeys haven’t even been promoted to hero rank."

"Right now, you’re my only son who’s a Legendary Hero. That excellent... that... what’s the word..."

"Genes!" Yuan Xiaobo rolled his eyes.

"Right! The excellent genes must be passed down!"

"Dad, if you keep this up, I’m going to the Glacier World when we get back."

"If I meet someone suitable, I’ll get married."

"Bah! Your standards for ’suitable’ are way too high! She has to fit your aesthetic, look good in both monkey and human form, and be a Legendary Hero just like you. How are you supposed to find someone like that in our territory?"

"No way. Those are my minimum requirements. If her rank is too low, she won’t be pleasing to the eye."

...

Amidst Yuan Dafeng’s nagging about marriage, the Light Chain Communicator rang. Yuan Xiaobo, as if he’d seen his savior, immediately said, "Dad, stop talking. A message is coming in."

He then lunged for the communicator and picked it up.

"Monkey, Monkey, this is Mo. Come in."

"This is Monkey, go ahead!"

"Soldiers from the Northern Expedition Legion are climbing the mountain. Maintain alert and observe!"

"Roger!"

Putting down the communicator, Yuan Xiaobo said to Yuan Dafeng, "Dad, go tell the others to be on alert. I’m going to notify Manqiluo and Amuti. I’ll be right back."

Without waiting for Yuan Dafeng to reply, he transformed into a bird and flew away as if escaping.

After receiving the news, Manqiluo and Amuti passed down orders for their soldiers to camouflage themselves and heighten their alert status.

Meanwhile, Yuan Xiaobo slowly flew back, landing in a spot far away from his old man.

Down on the mountain, the flanking detachment of the Northern Expedition Legion was still struggling to climb the massive mountain range.

Thanks to their efforts, it would only be a few more hours before everyone reached the top of the steep cliff.

"Keep it up! Once we get over this cliff, we’ll enter their heartland and cause some chaos. That’s guaranteed to make the lords of the Sniper Corps panic."

"Then Lord Mei Yuan can lead the main army to crush the Sniper Corps, and we’ll definitely be the ones who get the most credit!"

...

Up on the mountain, Manqiluo waited for a long while before finally receiving a message from her clansmen, learning that the enemy was still slowly making their way up.

’A few more hours?’

"Pass down the order: don’t alert the enemy. Wait until they’ve all made it up, then strike quietly. Don’t scare them off and let them escape."

’Hmm... I can even take a nap.’

(Manqiluo had long since replaced sleep with cultivating the Star Technique. When she said "sleep," she actually meant entering a meditative state.)

...

Several hours later, around noon, all fifty thousand soldiers of the flanking detachment had finally reached the mountaintop.

The lords had not come with them. They had only sent the heroes under their command, letting them take charge. (In truth, it made no difference, as they were all elite Eye Demons.)

On the summit, the detachment commander looked at the fifty thousand soldiers under his command, his spirits high.

"Men, the success or failure of our Northern Expedition Legion now rests in our hands."

"After we descend, you will all listen to my command! Don’t screw up. Anyone who drops the ball will have hell to pay!!!"

"For now, you are dismissed. Get something to eat and rest up. We’ll head down the mountain after dark. Don’t wander off!"

"Dou Yang, Powell, take your men to the other side of the mountain and set up the climbing ropes. Tonight, we’ll go straight down using them."

The soldiers of the Northern Expedition Legion scattered in twos and threes. A mountain range high up in the clouds like this was a rare sight, and with no enemies around, it felt almost like a field trip. They looked at their surroundings with curiosity, slowly wandering deep into the mountain forest.

Dou Yang and Powell led their men over the summit and toward the other side of the mountain.

"The vegetation here is so lush! Aren’t large plants supposed to be scarce on high mountains? Why is it so thick here?"

"Heh, why worry about it? We’re only here for half a day. We’re heading down tonight."

"I’m just bored, you know? Figured we could discuss it. Otherwise, what else is there to do?"

"You might as well enjoy the view! Places like this with so few people have their own unique beauty. You’ll probably see things you can’t see on the ground. Look! Doesn’t that patch of grass over there look like a scarecrow?"

"Whoa, it really does! Hey, there’s another one! The grass here is so weird, it looks like it grew itself a face."

As they spoke, the group crested the summit and walked toward the cliffs on the other side.

In a patch of grass, a Withered Messenger opened its eyes. It watched the fifty-odd assassins walk away, then slowly began to move. The rustling sound of its body was masked by the mountain wind.

Dou Yang and Powell and their men were busy at the top of the cliff for a while. They finally secured the anchor points for the climbing ropes. All that was left was to attach the ropes themselves.

"The climbing ropes!"

"The ropes!"

"Where are the ropes?"

Powell held out his hand, expecting the climbing ropes, but after calling out several times, no one brought them. He glared angrily at his men.

No one dared to speak. In unspoken agreement, they all looked toward a timid figure at the very back of the group.

"Charlie! I told you to bring the climbing ropes. Why didn’t you?"

"I... I did..."

Charlie pulled a single climbing rope from his back.

"Where are the others?"

"I... I didn’t bring them. They’re still tied to the cliff on the other side."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go get them!"

"Y-Yes, sir! I’ll go right now!"

Startled by Powell’s shouting, Charlie quickly ran off.

"Honestly, why did they assign a low-level creature to our squad?" Powell grumbled, displeased.

Dou Yang chuckled. "We’re short on numbers, so of course they’d assign some of the less-favored low-level creatures. Just put up with it. We can go back after a few days..."

"Aaaah—"

"Hel—"

A cry of alarm came from the direction Charlie had gone.

Everyone immediately drew their weapons, their eyes fixed on the direction Charlie had disappeared. They cautiously closed in.

The mountaintop forest was quiet, save for Charlie’s sudden cry, the sigh of the wind, and the faint clamor of the main force from the other side of the mountain.

"Charlie!"

"Charlie?"

"Charlie—"

They called Charlie’s name, but there was no reply.

"Over here! Quick, over here..."

Suddenly, one of the assassins shouted.

The group hurried over and pulled a withered corpse from the undergrowth. Its clothes had rotted away, leaving only a few strips of resilient fabric. It looked like a body that had been dead for over a decade.

"Who is this?"

"It’s Charlie! That’s his favorite necklace. He used to be good friends with... this body," an assassin replied.

"Everyone, be careful. Something’s wrong here."

Everyone tightened their grip on their weapons, tense.

"Maybe we should head back to the main force," someone suggested.

"Right. Let’s go."

Dou Yang immediately agreed. The group formed a circle and slowly made their way back toward the summit, intending to cross over and rejoin the main force.

"Boss, isn’t that a scarecrow over there?"

"This is no time to be looking at scarecrows!"

"No, boss, I think that scarecrow is moving... following us!"

"What?"

Dou Yang looked up and, sure enough, saw a scarecrow in the woods not far away.

No, not just one scarecrow.

He looked closer and realized with a start that their group was surrounded by scarecrows, and they were indeed moving with them.

The Eye Demon race had a long history. They knew all too well the power of the Cosmos’s myriad strange species. They did not fear creatures of flesh and blood, but they were terrified of those that weren’t. One look at these bizarre scarecrows and it was clear they were not made of flesh.

Just as he was sizing up the scarecrows and assessing the danger...

The scarecrows opened their eyes, and an overwhelming aura of fear washed over them.

"Run—"

The assassins scattered in a panic.

But they weren’t facing just a single Withered Messenger; more than twenty of them had gathered in the surrounding area.

And as one, they activated their "Fear" ability, though it only affected twenty of the assassins.

But those terrified assassins ran wild through the group, instantly magnifying the fear in everyone’s hearts. This triggered the passive effect of the Withered Messengers’ "Fear," and soon all the assassins were running in a panicked frenzy.

At the same time, the Withered Messengers activated "Wind of Decay" and "Life Link."

The running assassins began to rapidly lose their life force. Everything about them, as if time had suddenly accelerated, swiftly withered and decayed.

A minute later, the chaotic, fear-fueled running stopped. All that remained were corpses that looked as if they had been there for ages.

Even the parasitic Eye Demons on the assassins’ backs could not escape. They lost all life along with their hosts, forever laid to rest with the assassins on this high mountain peak.