Sovereign of the Ashes

As Lorianne had predicted, the destruction of the planar nodes did not halt the civil war between the two large forests of Verdant Wilderness World.

According to normal planar development, such an outcome was nearly impossible.

Perhaps Lorianne was right; the civil war could indeed be instigated by an otherworldly force behind the scenes.

The conflict was not just a duel between those among the higher echelons and the most strategically minded; it also turned countless lesser creatures into victims caught in the crossfire.

***

Three months after the destruction of the Plain Forest's planar node, a second node in Verdant Wilderness World met the same fate.

This time, the target was in a medium-sized forest, northeast of the main continent.

The entire forest was engulfed in flames.

It was then that the native forces of Verdant Wilderness World finally engaged directly with the green-furred gorilla for the very first time.

Leading the Verdant Wilderness defense was a ten-meter-long mottled green serpent.

As it led a diverse group of native creatures to the scene, the group of green-furred gorillas was just completing their detonation work.

Despite the hissing and snarling of the great mottled serpent, it failed to halt the gorillas' destructive efforts.

Amid a flurry of explosions, the native creatures of Verdant Wilderness World clashed with the invading gorillas!

This confrontation confirmed that the strength of the otherworldly gorillas indeed surpassed that of this low-level dendro elemental plane.

The disparity in realm strength was evident not only in the quantity of high-level combatants but also in the prowess of equivalent rank creatures.

Among those of the same rank, the otherworldly gorillas clearly exhibited greater strength than the native plant creatures of Verdant Wilderness World.

Despite its Rank Three life level, the mottled green serpent was no match for a white-furred gorilla.

The white-furred gorilla beat its chest with both fists. With a surge of energy, it swelled in size until it towered over twenty meters tall, even exceeding the height of the mottled green serpent when standing upright.

With thick arms, it grasped the neck of the mottled green serpent and swung it wildly from side to side, breaking countless giant trees in the process.

The creatures of Verdant Wilderness World had never relied on size for victory.

Although the mottled green serpent was a Rank Three creature primarily wielding dendro and poison powers, it lacked experience in harsh warfare.

Its green dendro elemental energy granted it a resilience greater than ordinary creatures of the same rank.

Despite having every bone in its body nearly broken by the white-furred gorilla, the serpent survived and continued to coil itself around the gorilla's arm stubbornly.

However, its poison powers had little effect on the thick-skinned white-furred gorilla.

While the transparent venom it spewed from its mouth poisoned a few Rank One gorillas, the white-furred gorilla seemed unfazed.

The intense battle raged for half a day.

Eventually, the green-furred gorillas chose to retreat—not due to their inability to defeat their opponent but because they were fighting in the Verdant Wilderness World.

As time passed, more native creatures would converge on the site, and the gorillas, despite their arrogance, realized that a prolonged battle would put them at a disadvantage.

Amidst the chaos, Sein seized his chance, subduing and capturing a Rank One green-furred gorilla at the edge of the battlefield.

His elfin appearance and Aura Restraint Spell kept his identity concealed.

After securing his target, Sein swiftly exited the forest battlefield.

"These green-furred gorillas' tactics are too crude; it didn't take long for the native creatures of the Verdant Wilderness World to catch on. It will be challenging for them to destroy more planar nodes now. The plant creatures will surely fortify their defenses," Sein remarked.

Although both the gorillas and Sein were on an infiltration mission, their approach differed significantly.

Unlike the overt actions of the green-furred gorillas, Sein had been discreetly planting multiple node weakeners.

The gorillas had only managed to destroy two planar nodes before the Verdant Wilderness World's main forces intervened.

Since their efforts were insufficient to weaken the planar laws, the green-furred gorillas would undoubtedly strike again.

However, Sein could not help but wonder if they could still reach their next target.

After capturing a green-furred gorilla, Sein quickly left the forest ablaze with raging fires, and headed to a more secluded, smaller forest.

There, he set up his temporary base in an underground space he created with magic, where he planned to conduct his next experiment and anatomical research.

Sein was determined to find answers to several questions in his mind.

Where does this group of green-furred gorillas originate?

How strong is their plane?

How many of them possess the strength of Rank Four or above?

And what are the specifics of their physiological structure?

He planned to extract the answers from his captured subject.

The weakened green-furred gorilla lay on the experimental table, looking up at Sein with a terrified look as he approached steadily.

Holding a sharp silver scalpel, Sein spoke in the calmest tone he could muster.

"Come on, tell me everything you know."

"Of course, it's fine if you're not ready to talk; I'll make you spill everything eventually though the process might hurt a bit," Sein added, his voice as chilling and eerie as a ghost.

Upon hearing that, the gorilla on the table struggled more intensely.

***

It turned out that the gorilla's fur was not naturally green.

They had dyed their fur green for camouflage, much like how Sein disguised himself as an elf.

Their actual fur was typically brown, though there were variations like the Rank Three white-furred gorilla.

These gorillas hailed from a plane known as the Wild Gorilla World.

The Rank One gorilla captured by Sein possessed limited knowledge due to its relatively low life level.

However, after enduring a round of interrogation by Sein and being subjected to his soul magic, the gorilla finally disclosed that the invasion of Verdant Wilderness World was orchestrated by the four Gorilla Gods of its homeplane.

This gorilla was a devotee of the strongest of the four, the War Gorilla God.

Alongside the War Gorilla God, the other three Gorilla Gods also had their own unique names and stood as supreme leaders over the hundreds of millions of gorillas and their allied species in the Wild Gorilla World.

Aside from these four war planners, It remained uncertain whether other Gorilla Gods existed in the Wild Gorilla World.

The Rank One gorilla suggested there might be others. However, it was only an ordinary Rank One gorilla that had lived for just over a hundred years.

It was not only ignorant of the Astral Realm but also poorly informed about its own homeplane.

Nevertheless, Sein gleaned another useful piece of information—Verdant Wilderness World was not their only target for conquest.

This very gorilla that Sein captured had participated in another interplanar war and achieved Rank One during that conflict.

Its comparatively notable performance in battle had attracted the attention of the War Gorilla God and earned itself a place in the mission to Verdant Wilderness World.

This suggested that the Wild Gorilla World was likely a foreign world with an established system of aggression and expansion, making it one of the superior low-level planes, or even a medium or large-sized plane.

Such planes typically transcended the resource and wealth limitations of their worlds to embark on expansionist ventures into the vast Astral Realm.

This was also the same path that the Magus Civilization had taken back then.