851 When A Tiny Bit Of Hope Is Enough
Irene’s heart sank at the tremendous aura rising in front of her.
The ground shook as the sounds of heavy footsteps rang in the air and blew away the dust revealing a tall figure.
An ash-colored body but pitch-black eyes—not just the pupils, but even the sclera. They weren’t like eyes but two shining black orbs glowing with evil power. And those orb-like eyes stared at her with killing intent.
An Undead.
Irene had seen too many Undead by now and there was no reason to be surprised if this was just another Undead.
But this one was—
The Undead’s figure blurred and he reached Irene in an instant. He raised his hand and punched out. The air blasted away and a huge shockwave swept the Abyss.
At that moment, even the Abyssals as far as a thousand miles away felt the ground shake.
It was a ridiculous show of power.
A power that only belonged to a Sovereign.
Be it Humans or Abyssals, everyone was dumbfounded.
“H-How?” The most shocked of all was perhaps the Despair Queen herself.
She stood dumbstruck as Irene activate her crystal armor to defend against the Undead Abyssal’s attacks.
Irene’s attacks against this Undead weren’t working. He was too strong!
The level 9s that were a hundred miles away from this battle evacuated further. Even they couldn’t bear the shockwaves.
The level 9 Abyssals they were fighting against laughed and chased them. Normally, such provocations would’ve been met with fierce retaliation. But this time, the level 9s retreated with dull eyes and a pale faces.
The level 8s were even more miserable. Some of the unlucky ones were hit by the shockwaves and were directly killed.
Even as they retreated farther instinctively, no one really had the mind to think of their upcoming battle with the level 8 Abyssals.
The battle between the Humans and Abyssals resumed. But unlike earlier where Humans fought tooth and nail to stop the Abyssal ‘plan’, they no longer had any reason to fight.
The battle between Irene and the Undead progressed.
The ground around the World Tree shook violently and huge rocks floated into the air and smashed at the Undead at a violent speed.
The Abyssal’s arms blurred for a moment before they stopped. It was as if time had stopped and then, the rocks burst into pieces.
Without giving time for Irene, the Abyssal reached her in a blink and punched out. Her gravity barrier was quickly broken and even the barrier set up by her defensive artifact armor barely remained.
But as a result of the exchange, Irene suffered greatly and started to bleed from her eyes and nose.
The battle continued. And with every move, Irene would accumulate one more injury. She would spill out a bit more blood. Her movements would turn a little stiffer.
This wasn’t an even match anymore.
Sovereigns were the hardest to kill, but when the gap between two Sovereigns reached an enormous level, it wouldn’t matter.
What’s more, with this battle, everyone understood what the final plan of the Aybssals really was.
A Sovereign!
The ceiling of strength in the solar system!
The true one-man army.
And it’s not a weak Sovereign. If this Undead was weak, then Julius or Albert could take care of him. As the strongest Human Sovereigns, they could hold back two Abyss Rulers, provided one of them was weak enough.
But this one was anything but weak. In fact, he might as well be close to Julius and Albert in strength!
Even the weakest level 8 on the scene understood the implications.
“Over. It’s over!”
“Is this really the end of our Human race?”
“My great-grand father, my grandfather, and my father all died to ensure the survival of our race. I’m sorry. I failed you. I failed your sacrifices.”
Heavy despair filled the air as the burning fire in the hearts of the Human Heroes was snuffed out.
When they boarded for this mission, they were ready to die. As long as it could thwart the Abyssal plan and keep everyone behind the borders safe, they were willing to sacrifice themselves.
But now…
“It’s useless.”
“It’s all useless.”
“My life can’t change anything. Even my death can’t.”
The gloomy aura pervaded the level 8s and subsequently spread to the level 9s. They were still fighting fiercely. Even if they died, they wouldn’t do disgraceful things like suicide. The only acceptable death was in the hands of the enemy, after killing as many as possible.
So, while the human warriors turned more and more desolate about their future, their fighting style slowly changed.
They grew more and more fierce.
The level 9s were relatively calmer than level 8s. But that’s only relative. Most of them went into a frenzy and were attacking madly.
However, a few of them were still very indifferent to the whole situation and acted rationally.
“Retreat and Regroup.” An order came in abruptly and even though the warriors were still in a frenzy, the practice ingrained in their instinct caused them to break away from the Abyssals and regroup.
The Abyssals also took this gap to regroup and recuperate. They were already certain of winning with the new Abyss King. So, they didn’t see the need to engage with the Humans and make unnecessary sacrifices.
As a result, the Human side got a breather.
Looking at the formation, some of them had already fallen, but most of them were alive. However, the serious injuries on most of them showed that if the Order was a few minutes late, they would’ve died.
“The Order isn’t to fight recklessly, but to contain your enemy.” A solemn voice reached their ears.
Their eyes instinctively searched for the owner of that voice.
It was the Leader of this operation, William, an Old Man who was said to be a retired expert.
William was looking at them with a disappointed and furious gaze as if they were the world’s biggest failures. “You are not allowed to die.”
A man clutched his bleeding chest as he roared. “B-But there is a new Abyss King, it’s over, it’s all ov—”
“Shut up and take the order. You want to die? Fine, you can die. But on my order.” William’s words weren’t hopeful, but they broke the gloomy atmosphere like a ray of light shooting through a carpet of darkness.
But the darkness wasn’t over.
A woman stepped forward with a gaze determined to die.
“Sir, with all due respect, the Federation can’t stop such a powerful Abyss King. That monster won’t even bother to take care of our planetoids. It will come straight to our planets. Billions will die.
Then, what can we do? Our attacks won’t harm him. Just the aftermath of his attacks will severely injure, if not kill us.
I wish to kill as many Abyssals as I can before I die. It’s better than watching the civilization my ancestors protected with their lives. I can’t stay alive to see its destruction.
I didn’t have a choice in my life. But this is my choice in death. Please allow.”
Hearing the sincere but disturbing confession, William frowned. But he eventually shook his head. “I can’t allow that.”
The woman’s eyes widened and she clenched her fist as she lowered her head.
This was too much. She dedicated her life to the army. Wasn’t she allowed to at least die?
She made the request just because she didn’t want to see everything she protected perish. She’d go crazy if she witnessed it with her own eyes.
Even if she was known as the Blood Lady of Uranus, Jonah didn’t have the heart to see the deaths of Fifty Billion Humans.
The fight between Irene and the Undead continued in the background, sending shockwaves.
The trees shook, the clouds scattered and the soil rose into the air.
Unperturbed, the Old Man continued. “We are the army. We can win. We can lose. But we cannot quit. We certainly can’t win against this Sovereign. Nor can our Federation.
Until now, our goal was to protect the Solar System from the Abyssal. That is no longer possible. So from now, our goal would be to protect as many humans as we can.”
The gloomy hearts of the men and women were suddenly lifted up. But there was still a doubt in their depressed minds.
Without the planets, how could they save Humans? Take them away in Spaceships?
“We still have some secret realms that are really a secret,” William revealed a top-notch secret that even most level 9s would never know. “They aren’t much, but around 100 million people can survive in them.”
Some were disappointed by the figure. 100 million out of 50 Billion? That’s 0.2%! To put it nicely, they were going to save two people out of every thousand! To put it badly, they were going to let 49 Billion people be slaughtered!
Most were excited at this prospect. As long as human civilization remained alive, there would always be a chance for rejuvenation. One day, they could conquer back the Solar System. One day…
That one day would never manifest in their lives. If they followed what the leader suggested, they’d spend all their lives protecting the last survivors of Human Civilization.
They’d be chased by the Abyssals. They might even be targeted by alien races. Their life would be full of hardships. Compared to life in the Federation, it’d be a living hell.
However—
“Thank Heavens, there is a way out.”
“Even if we lose the planets, the ruins, as long as we can save people, it is enough.”
“Haha! One day, our great-grandchildren will avenge us. They will settle our grudge with the Abyssals.”
Some cried, some laughed, but most stared at each other with bright, red eyes.
When despair was at its highest, a tiny bit of hope was enough.