At the same time, in the other treehouses, explosive crossbow bolts were also being unleashed!

Against aerial targets, using heavy crossbows or super-heavy crossbows was meaningless; explosive crossbow bolts were the most suitable!

But the mutant raptors in the air were extremely agile, and hitting them wasn’t that simple.

More than half of the explosive bolts were dodged by the mutant raptors in the air and fell among the mutant creatures on the ground.

However, under the cover of these explosive bolts, a small portion did hit the mutant raptors in the air!

"Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom!"

The dual explosions on the ground and in the air instantly lit up the surroundings of the World Tree with blazing light!

For a moment, it was as if fireworks were being set off under the World Tree, accompanied by feathers flying in the sky; it was even somewhat beautiful.

The mutant raptors affected by the air explosions came crashing down from the sky.

Yet some were unaffected, and they rushed toward the World Tree at high speed, ignoring everything else!

Then, skimming past the trunk of the World Tree, their sharp claws slashed across the bark like knives!

"Screech——————!"

This sound echoed incessantly in Xu Xin’s ears!

Each raptor left marks several meters long and half a foot deep on the trunk!

In no time, the trunk of the World Tree was riddled with scars!

Fortunately, the trunk was a full ten meters in diameter, so even the half-foot-deep marks didn’t penetrate the bark.

But the raptors that skimmed past the trunk and caused tangible damage made a loop in the air and dove back toward the trunk!

"Screech————!"

"Screech————!"

In an instant, numerous raptors circled around like flies around rotting fruit, flying back and forth manically, causing meter-long scratches on every pass!

Moreover, they were shockingly disciplined, focusing their attack on a single spot.

Within seconds, the targeted spot was slashed over a dozen times, forming a groove over four to five meters long, several centimeters wide, and at least a foot deep!

At this rate, even the thick bark of the World Tree wouldn’t hold up!

The explorers around the World Tree hesitated as their hands hovered over the control panels.

The mutant raptors were too close to the trunk. If they fired, they might cause even more damage to the World Tree!

It’s practically like dealing a thousand damage to the enemy and suffering eighteen hundred in return!

But before they could figure out a better method, the plant’s heart sprang into action in a flash.

Influenced by the World Tree, the vines controlled by the plant’s heart could reach significantly higher!

The original vines of the plant heart were at most a dozen meters long, but now, they reached straight up to twenty or thirty meters into the sky!

Countless vines shot up from the ground like a bamboo forest, piercing through half of the flying mutant raptors!

Furthermore, these vines were incredibly agile, piercing and weaving through the air, instantly reducing the number of mutant raptors by nearly half again.

Under such a crisis, the remaining raptors stopped focusing solely on attacking the trunk and instead screeched, ascending rapidly!

Initially, they attacked from about thirty meters above the ground, but now, to avoid the vines, they had to fly to higher altitudes.

However, they still didn’t choose to stop attacking and flee. Instead, they targeted a spot about seventy meters up the World Tree’s trunk and resumed their frenzied attack!

But this time, the vines controlled by the plant heart couldn’t reach them.

The vines stood straight like bamboo, but their length maxed out at fifty meters.

These vines swayed a few times in the air and finally retracted downwards in defeat.

"Go for it!"

In a nearby treehouse, Wen Guixin leaned on the windowsill, sticking her head out, shouting into the sky.

Immediately, the infected raptors quickly gathered and charged towards those uninfluenced ones!

In just a few dozen seconds, the three raptors Wen Guixin had previously released had already infected most of the flying mutant creatures this time around!

The infected raptors ascended towards the raptor group attacking crazily at seventy meters high on the World Tree!

Their numbers now exceeded the enemy’s!

The final outcome was obvious.

That group of raptors was completely annihilated.

They were either blown up by explosive bolts, pierced by the plant’s heart, or directly infected by Wen Guixin’s abilities, left to wait for their demise.

The ground battle also seemed to be drawing to a close.

The scales of victory had begun to tilt in their favor.

There were few mutant creatures left on the ground that could cross the grooves, and these creatures found it difficult to combat the vines that crazily sprouted from the ground, hardly any even reached the World Tree’s trunk.

Even those that did, after one or two attacks on the trunk, were pierced by several vines, drained into dried husks, becoming nourishment for the plant’s heart.

The later beast hordes now mainly faced foes that had rebelled against them due to Wen Guixin’s ability.

The beast horde’s "infighting" made the scene bloody and chaotic.

In the treehouses around the World Tree, most had exhausted their ammunition, watching the chaos near their treehouse.

The newcomers were a bit bewildered.

"What’s going on, why are they fighting each other?"

"Why so many traitors? And it looks like... there are more traitors than those who haven’t betrayed?"

"Haha, you guys don’t understand, do you? It’s Sister Gui Xin’s ability!"

"When I saw the enemy strike with a beast horde this time, I felt defending would be no big deal at all!"

"Exactly, with Sister Gui Xin here, the beast horde is just here to serve as fodder!"

In the [Crystal City Survivors] group, everyone was discussing.

They had all stopped their actions, and even survivors with remaining ammunition had stopped.

The situation no longer required them to attack.

Xu Xin looked at the ground outside the window, marveling at Wen Guixin’s powers once more.

Too powerful.

Really too powerful.

Even though he knew how effective her power was against beast hordes, witnessing it was still astonishing.

This time, without Wen Guixin’s capabilities as a safety net, they likely wouldn’t have been able to protect this World Tree.

Just the groups of mutants on the ground and in the sky would be enough to destroy the World Tree!

At this moment, his watch started buzzing; it was Qin Fu calling.

"Boss, those burrowing creatures underground are now less than five hundred meters from the World Tree. But they seem to have slowed down and are making less noise now. It’s like they don’t want people above to notice them."

This is a clandestine attempt at home invasion—trying to be sneaky!

The sound was indeed quiet; amidst the ground chaos, Xu Xin, even with enhanced hearing, couldn’t detect any underground disturbances.

If they hadn’t detected their actions, allowing them to secretly dig under the World Tree and either take or destroy the treehouse core...

They might suddenly suffer defeat while celebrating victory.

That would be truly ironic.

Luckily, under Qin Fu’s observation, they had a comprehensive view of the underground activities.

"How far are they underground?"

"Five meters, same as before; they aren’t far from the surface, coming from all directions and digging out... twenty-three tunnels, each housing two tiger-sized creatures."

Which means a total of forty-six.

The number isn’t large, but underground, it’s not small at all.

Fortunately, at a five-meter depth, they’ll directly dig out of the groove, allowing the explorers to attack directly and kill them.

Their prospect of sneaking into the home was now futile.

Just then, in the explorer channel, Ji Chaoyang suddenly posted a message.

"East of Crystal City! Giant beast!"

What?!

Xu Xin immediately turned to look east.

That was where his treehouse originally stood.

Suddenly, his pupils contracted sharply.

He saw to the east a giant... dinosaur charging furiously toward Crystal City!

...dinosaur?!