Stinger stayed by Han Wu’s side to guard him while the other eleven War Saint Locustmen circled the World Tree canopy. They searched high and low but couldn’t find a single fruit.
At this point, Han Wu was starting to wonder if he’d been tricked.
The Pride Dark Tyrannosprite King had no reason to do that, though. With its strength and the dragon-type Digital Sprite legion under its command, it could’ve effortlessly wiped Han Wu out. Why bother with such an elaborate setup?
The fruit had to be somewhere in the canopy. They just hadn’t found it yet.
“Keep looking!” Han Wu ordered.
The eleven War Saint Locustmen frantically scoured the branches, desperate to find the fruit to put Han Wu’s mind at ease. Han Wu searched on his own as well, taking advantage of the intel from his avatars through the live stream.
The avatars soon spotted something. A glowing figure had flashed briefly in a hidden corner of the canopy. Following their guidance, Han Wu headed over with Stinger as his guard.
There, he found a glowing figure curled up in the small corner. It looked like a four-year-old child—round, chubby, and pale—but something about it felt off.
Han Wu quickly checked its stats and confirmed that this glowing figure was the fruit he had been searching for. This naturally surprised him. He had expected the fruit to be, well, an actual fruit, not a baby.
Regardless of the form the World Tree’s fruit took, all he had left to do was grab it and bring it back to the Pride Dark Tyrannosprite King. Han Wu immediately ordered Stinger to capture it. The little thing was small, but fast and skilled at dodging. Even Stinger, with its agility, couldn’t catch it.
Han Wu quickly blocked its path and called the other War Saint Locustmen back to help. After a frantic chase, he finally got his hands on the World Tree’s fruit. Not wanting to risk it escaping, he opened a Microcosm and locked it inside.
The moment he did, the World Tree beneath his feet moved. It wasn’t his imagination. The tree was genuinely trembling. The World Tree had sensed that its fruit had been separated from the Sprite Civilization and sought revenge for its lost child.
The entire World Tree Forest started contracting inward from the edges. Trees awakened in droves, transforming into mature Treesprites with swinging branches. They sent countless vines skyward and turned the entire forest into a giant cage. Inside the cage, more vines split and spread, creating layers upon layers of smaller prisons.
Han Wu’s avatars observed the situation through the live stream and relayed it to him immediately. Understanding the severity of the situation, he called for Stinger and the War Saint Locustmen to descend and escape.
Countless vines erupted from the World Tree in an attempt to stop him. The Locustmen sliced through every one of them, but the World Tree was never short on life force. For every vine the War Saint Locustmen cut, ten more grew in its place. It was determined to capture Han Wu and take back the fruit.
Before Han Wu even reached the ground, he spotted the War Tyrannosprite King climbing upward at terrifying speed, its eyes blazing with fury when it spotted him.
Han Wu had actually taken the World Tree’s fruit! This would throw the entire World Tree into chaos and send shockwaves through the whole Sprite Civilization.
“Hand over the fruit!” the War Tyrannosprite King roared.
Han Wu scoffed and continued his descent to rejoin the rest of his Digital Sprites. The War Tyrannosprite King only became more enraged at the blatant dismissal. Gathering Gaia Force, it formed an enormous energy sphere and threw it at Han Wu.
The attack was devastating enough to kill any ultimate Digital Sprite on impact. Faced with a strike of that magnitude, Han Wu simply opened his Microcosm and threw out a disposable fodder, an ultimate Dugongsprite.
The Gaia Force collided with the Dugongsprite, obliterating it. Not even a hint of its body remained. Its death, however, bought Han Wu precious time to escape.
As Han Wu finally reached the ground, he looked around to see the rest of his Digital Sprites badly hurt. The War Tyrannosprite King had injured them after breaking free from the Black Coffin. Thankfully, it had been more concerned with the World Tree’s fruit and hadn’t gone for the kill.
Han Wu quickly recalled his wounded Digital Sprites into his Microcosm. Inside, the Bloodfang Bats went to work healing them while Han Wu tried to escape the forest.
Layers of vines blocked every path. The War Saint Locustmen couldn’t cut through them fast enough, and the War Tyrannosprite King was closing in from behind. In that desperate moment, Han Wu fell back on his signature tactic: Self-Detonation!
Vines were susceptible to fire, and Han Wu happened to have fire-attribute Digital Sprites. On the way in, he had killed enough Digital Sprites to gather nearly 9 million energy points and 800,000 evolution points. This was the time to spend them.
He burned through the energy points to summon a massive swarm of Magma Locusts. These locusts were cheap and could release large amounts of lava, making them perfect for the situation.
As the Magma Locusts Self-Detonated, lava splashed across the spreading vines and set them alight. Flames raced along the vines, turning the forest into a sea of fire.
Countless Treesprites and other Digital Sprites were caught in the blaze. Waves of Digital Sprites died with every passing second.
The War Tyrannosprite King burned with fury when it saw the raging inferno. It wanted to keep chasing Han Wu, but it also couldn’t bear to watch its fellow forest-dwelling Digital Sprites burn to death.
It was forced to choose a side.
In the end, the War Tyrannosprite King abandoned the pursuit in favor of activating the King of Tyrannosprite Kings. This skill gave it access to every ability that all other types of Tyrannosprites had. It selected a Frost Breath technique belonging to an ice-type Tyrannosprite and started putting out the surrounding lava and flames.
The freezing worked rapidly, allowing many Digital Sprites to narrowly escape death. Han Wu, meanwhile, seized the chance, blasting a hole through the Treesprites’ prison of vines with his Nuclear Locusts and escaping through it.