Evolving by devouring from a young dragon

The Allied forces camp on the outskirts of the Hengduan Mountains.

Alduin stood on the high platform, his dark golden vertical pupils sweeping over the warriors of various races below, who were fully armed and ready for battle.

The Lion Knights' yellow armor gleamed, and the golden runes on their orc battleaxes shone with a majestic light...

"Set off."

A colossal, dark golden dragon soared into the sky, its wings obscuring half the heavens. On the ground, a torrent of steel rolled forward, its target—

Moonlit Forest.

The army marched for a day and a night, arriving at the outskirts of Moonlit Forest at dusk on the second day.

The sight before them made everyone stop in their tracks.

The once lush and verdant ancient forest is now nothing but desolation.

The trees had withered and yellowed branches, black rot spots crawled all over the trunks, and thick piles of white bones were piled up at the roots.

Deep in the forest, the outlines of several towering ancient trees can be vaguely seen. Their crowns have completely withered, and their trunks are twisted, like the claws of a demon.

"This is...the Moon Whisper Forest?" Grimm asked, his voice trembling as he hid at the very back.

Elunea frowned, her expression turning somewhat grim:

"Those corrupted treants were the creations of the lich. He used ordinary treants from the forest to create them. They originally appeared in a small area, but unexpectedly they corrupted the entire forest."

Alduin didn't speak, but instead raised his dark golden eyes and scanned the edge of the forest.

In this desolate forest, he sensed countless magical fluctuations, and the sound waves conveyed a great deal of information.

Those corrupted tree-people disguised themselves as ordinary trees, hiding in the forest, secretly waiting for them to take the bait.

It seems that after the lich's death, and with the silver moon elves no longer protecting it, this place has become their paradise.

In Alduin's memory, Fallen Treants are a subspecies of Treants born from ordinary Treants infected with negative magical energy.

Ordinary tree people are guardians of the forest, gentle yet resilient;

The fallen tree-man, corrupted by negative energy and magic, underwent a drastic personality change, becoming cruel and bloodthirsty.

Their wooden trunks are hardened by negative energy, making them stronger than ordinary tree people, and they have regenerative abilities, with severed limbs healing quickly and new branches growing.

Their only weakness is their core.

The core is hidden deep within the tree trunk; if the core is destroyed, the tree person will die completely.

"They're waiting for us to walk right into their trap," Alduin said calmly.

Leon rode forward on his lion, and the old lion's gaze was also fixed on the depths of the forest.

"Then let them come at me." He drew his longsword, and the magic power of the Rock Beast on the blade exploded, transforming into a towering yellow pillar of light. "Lion Knights—Form ranks!"

Three hundred and twelve knights instantly formed a battle formation.

The heavily armored knights in the front row held shields covered with a thick layer of yellow magic, while the knights in the back row gripped swords, the magic on the blades shimmering like flames.

The war lion lowered its body, tensed its muscles, stared intently into the depths of the forest, and dug its claws deep into the soil, ready to strike at any moment.

Auduin swooped down and landed at the forefront of the allied forces.

He folded his dragon wings, his dark golden vertical pupils coldly staring at the forest.

"Iron Bones".

The orc chieftain, carrying a double-edged battle axe, stepped forward and said in a deep voice, "Present!"

"Once the lions break through the frontal defenses, you lead the orcs to attack from the left flank and wipe out all the guards of those fallen treants, leaving none alive."

He grinned, revealing jagged fangs: "The orcs' axes have been itching for a long time."

"Leon".

The old lion stepped forward, his gaze as steady as a rock.

"Can we launch a frontal assault and tear through their defenses?"

Auduin glanced at him and spoke slowly.

Leon did not answer immediately.

He glanced back at the knights behind him, then turned back, his yellow eyes meeting Alduin's vertical pupils.

"Dragon Lord, watch closely."

He turned around and raised his longsword high.

"Lion Knights—Charge!"

Three hundred and twelve war lions roared simultaneously, their iron hooves shattering the sunlight, transforming into a yellow torrent that crashed head-on into the Moon Whisper Forest.

The dead trees at the edge of the forest instantly "came to life".

The corrupted tree-men hidden in the forest burst forth from the ground, and countless verdant trees instantly withered and decayed, transforming into twisted tree-men that bared their fangs and claws as they pounced on them.

They varied in size and form, but all of them were incredibly ugly tree-men.

Alduin surveyed the entire battlefield from above, while simultaneously using sound waves to sense the enemy's every move.

He identified several different types of fallen tree people through the transmission of his memories.

The most common one is a withered tree person.

This is the most numerous type, transformed from ordinary tree people corrupted by necromantic magic. They are between three and five meters tall, with wooden trunks covered in thorny spikes and branches like claws. Their attack method is singular: they rely on brute force and numbers to overwhelm their opponents.

Their core is hidden in the very center of the tree trunk, encased in a layer of hardened wood; breaking it will kill them.

Behind them, however, lurked the Shadow Treants.

These treants are corrupted by shadow magic. They look similar to ordinary treants, but can briefly enter a shadow state, becoming immune to physical attacks and only susceptible to magical damage.

When it moves, it leaves behind shadowy vines that hinder the enemy's movement.

Their core is not in the trunk, but hidden in the root ball underground, making them extremely difficult to find.

Further in, you'll find the Mother Nest Tree People.

They are core treants with extremely high defense, but they do not fight themselves. Instead, they continuously hatch swarms of decaying insects to attack their enemies.

Their cores are encased in layers of hardened wood and located in a hollow in the center of the canopy.

"Front line, engage the enemy!" Leon roared.

The first row of withered treants met the charge of the lion race.

The heavy-armored knight's shield collided with the withered tree's branches, producing a dull thud.

The withered tree-man's strength was enough to shatter the breastplate of an ordinary cavalryman, but the lion knights only trembled slightly, and none of them were repelled.

"cut!"

The knights in the back row thrust their longswords through the gaps in the shields, and the yellow flames on the blades tore through the treant's torso.

The magical properties of the Wild Rock Beast were fully revealed at this moment.

It doesn't rely on restraint, but on pure, violent power, using brute force to disperse the necromantic magic and destroy their bodies.

The withered tree-man's trunk snapped as it was struck, splintering wood into the air; it looked as if it had been shattered rather than severed.

Several smaller, withered tree-men were cleaved in two by a single sword strike, their cores deep within the trunks exposed to the air. The eerie green cores flickered a few times before going out.

"Battle Mane Aura - Activate!"

At Leon's command, the soul magic of all the knights and war lions immediately resonated.

A yellow halo spread out from beneath their feet. Within the halo's reach, the withered treants immediately slowed down, and their regeneration rate also decreased significantly.

"Right side, Shadow Treant," Alduin warned.

Vanguard Officer Raine rode his lion to the right and indeed saw three Shadow Treants entering Shadow Mode.

Their wooden trunks gradually became transparent, like smoke. The knight's longsword slashed through them without causing any damage.

The next moment, a rain of arrows came, each one glowing with a silvery-white light. The moment the arrows touched the shadowy treants, they pulled them back to reality, their light flickering.

When Raine turned around, he saw Elunea standing not far away, holding a short staff and watching them warily.