"The Hell Tree generates chaos among all creatures, causing them to fight. This is its way of gaining nutrients. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Tilian conducted an extensive study on the structure and command system of the Hell Tree, conducting large-scale experiments. Ultimately, he developed a potion that, to a certain degree, modifies the Hell Tree, lowering the amount of hell-power it can emit.

"But there’s a side effect," Tilian said.

"What kind of side effect?" Yake asked.

"The Hell Tree’s resistance to energy will decrease to a certain extent," Tilian replied.

"By how much?"

"About thirty percent."

"Use it!"

"Your Majesty, please reconsider. If it decreases, it will give the White Dragon Empire an opportunity." Tilian seemed hesitant to use this potion.

"Tilian, you’re not thinking far enough ahead! If you don’t use this potion, it won’t be long before all of our Black Dragons go mad! How do you expect me to win with an army of creatures incapable of following orders?" Yake said.

"All right."

Tilian immediately administered the potion to the Hell Tree, and indeed, the power of Hell it emitted significantly decreased. However, since the White Dragon Empire had already ceased its attack on the Hell Tree, its reduced defense was undetectable.

Suddenly, a harsh winter came.

In the past three months, using the sprawling roots of the Hell Tree, the Black Dragon Empire had managed to push nearly a hundred kilometers into the White Dragon Empire. But now, with the land frozen and inhospitable, the Hell Tree, accustomed to warmer climes, was having a tough time. Its roots went dormant and couldn’t continue to spread.

The White Dragon Empire noticed this and initiated a counter-offensive.

At the start of this counter-attack, both the White and Black Dragon Empires noticed a significant decrease in the Hell Tree’s defensive power! Before, the breath of a White Dragon would hardly cause any damage to the Hell Tree, but now it could actually blast a hole in the crown of the tree!

What did this mean?

It meant victory!

The White Dragon Empire immediately launched a counter-offensive, with the White Dragons using their extremely long-range to unleash a saturation attack on the Black Dragon Empire’s border. Almost every White Dragon now possessed a frightening range of over five kilometers. Under this extreme range, any target exposed outside the range of the Hell Tree would be destroyed in an instant. Even the Hell Tree, with its lowered defenses, struggled to resist such attacks!

However, the Hell Tree had an incredibly strong self-healing ability. As long as its roots were not damaged, it could recover from even the most serious injuries. But the recovery speed was directly proportional to the rate at which the Hell Tree itself absorbed nutrients.

The roots of the Hell Tree, having pillaged the nutrients from the soil in an almost predatory manner, had rendered the location of its habitation completely barren. With its defenses lowered, the tree had a harder time absorbing the nutrients from the dragon breaths!

Ultimately, a Hell Tree went mad, with countless roots shooting towards the sky, directly attacking every living creature within its range, whether they were Black Dragons or the Undead. Anyone who was impaled by its roots quickly withered away, their body becoming nutrients for the tree, enabling it to flourish!

This astonishing development caught Yake off guard!

So, this was the true nature of the Hell Tree!

However, for the now Yake, this was not his main concern.

An unprecedented crisis had already erupted around him.

Due to the previous onslaught committed internally, the population of the Black Dragon Empire had sharply decreased by seventy percent, with the majority of the reductions coming from agricultural producers. Without their support, autumn’s harvest had spoiled in the fields, and their livestock had returned to the wilderness.

At this point, the Black Dragon Empire was experiencing an unprecedented food shortage.

Particularly, the Black Dragon Empire had to account for the food supply of its three hundred thousand Black Dragons!

In the beginning, the Black Dragons could still find food in the mountains on their own, but the amount of food required by a giant Black Dragon measuring twenty to thirty meters in length was staggering. With three hundred thousand Black Dragons, the food supply in the nearby forests was quickly depleted. The Black Dragons flew farther and farther to search for food, but their harvests were depressingly meager.

If the situation was so dire for the Black Dragons, it was even more so for the ordinary Humans. The Imperial City had a significant amount of food stored, so Yake never worried about food. Therefore, he never imagined that food would become his biggest problem.

In fact, the food shortage became apparent six months ago, it’s just that at that time, Yake had not yet resorted to attacking his own people. But now, all crises had erupted at once.

At this moment, the Black Dragon Empire was experiencing a severe outbreak of scurvy. The soldiers were all skin and bones, their spirits wilted. This resulted in a second wave of mass desertion.

This time, those who defected were the once loyal soldiers of the Black Dragon Empire.

A person must first fill his stomach before he can think about loyalty to the empire.

At this point, in the Black Dragon Empire’s forces, other than the Dragon Riders, there was hardly a human left.

Yake was an excellent warrior - something no one could deny since the time he was still a normal human. But being an excellent warrior didn’t necessarily mean that he would also be an excellent emperor, much less a competent strategist.