Chapter 665.1: Beneath the Abyss (1)
The Six Calamities had destroyed countless civilizations since their birth in the ancient era, and they were rightfully named as such. No one could have imagined that a day would come when these ancient monsters protected civilization.
A huge battle unfolded on the moonlit prairie.
On land, tens of thousands of mutated Fallens roared, spewing the aura of madness as they charged at their once-brethren. Behind them were screeching black lumps, with quite a few having already morphed into human form.
On the other side were the neat formations of well-equipped human soldiers. Be they from the Saint Mesit Theocracy, the Austine Empire, the Knight Kingdom, the Country of Scholars, or the Rosa Merchant Confederacy, all of the soldiers stood united under a single chain of command.
Above them, the Six Calamities roared.
Such a face-off was unprecedented even in the long history of the Sia Continent.
Sire Darkness was the first one to make a move. Countless blobs of searing lava fell from the sky like a meteor storm, incinerating the charging Fallens.
Glacier Creator followed suit by spreading its frost across the land, turning all Fallens that came into contact with it into ice sculptures.
Tempest Caller strategically surrounded the battlefield with its winds, slowly segmenting and cornering the Fallens.
Shrouding Fog charged at the black Eggs of the Beast God, tying them down so as to stop them from intervening in the battlefield.
Flooding Death unleashed beams of curses reminiscent of sharp swords at the hearts of the giants morphed by the Eggs of the Beast God, destroying them.
Light Devourer quietly absorbed all of the surrounding mana.
The Six Calamities made huge impacts as soon as they joined the battlefield, so much so that the massive Eggs of the Beast God had to focus their attention on their mortal enemies.
Ten of the Eggs of the Beast God absorbed nearby Fallens and swiftly hatched into humanoid figures. These humanoid figures charged at the Six Calamities and clashed with them, making an utter mess of the surroundings.
The deafening explosions and light flashes made it seem as if the end of the world had arrived.
With the support of the Six Calamities, the human soldiers below gathered their morale and launched their attack too.
The archers unleashed massive barrages of arrows reminiscent of black clouds, while the flames manifested from the magicians’ army spells blazed in the sky. Rosa’s long-ranged attacks fell like rain, and the Saint Mesit Theocracy activated their offensive relics too.
It was an all-out attack with no regard for cost, and it crushed the Fallens’ momentum.
Hundreds of arrows lodged in the mutated knights, causing them to finally crumble to the ground. Army spells blasted the terrifying, mountainous flesh heaps, torching them with crimson-lotus-like flames.
The greatest weakness of the Fallens was their inability to cooperate, and they paid a hefty price for it. However, it would be foolish to think that was all there was to the Fallens. From the arrow rains and devastating flames, the true terror of the Fallens finally showed.
Mutated knights emitted blood-red steam, and their injuries healed. Blasted smithereens of mountainous flesh heaps gathered together and reformed themselves. Decaying magicians raised their staffs with guttural roars to block the incoming attacks.
Origin Level 1 Fallens appeared one after another.
In response, the older-generation Origin Level 1 human transcendents joined the battlefield.
Holy Eminence John lay his gaze on the reformed flesh mountains. Military God Layton glared at the withered magicians. Friedrich and Astrid headed toward the mutated knights.
All of them unleashed the full extent of their powers without holding anything back, knowing this might be their last battle.
This time around, Principal Antonio didn’t follow Astrid onto the battlefield, as there was a more important and difficult mission he needed to accomplish.
Spatial pulsations rippled from him as esoteric runes flowed through his hands like beautiful artworks. He skillfully guided the thousand spatial magicians under his command to unlock the shackles of space to realize a miracle.
The channeling of the thousand spatial magicians slowly opened a spatial crack, as if heaven’s eye judging the masses. Antonio raised his staff up high, and the spatial crack finally fully opened.
On the other side of the spatial crack was the inside of the imperial capital.
Roel and his thousand-man team tensed up. Roel first directed a nod at the profusely sweating Antonio before turning to face his team. Then, he raised his arm up high before charging toward the spatial crack.
“Set off!” he ordered.
Carrying humankind’s final hope, Roel and his team charged into the imperial capital.
…
A thousand years ago, the humans frantically escaped from the imperial capital with the seeds of their civilization. A thousand years later, under Roel’s leadership, a thousand brave warriors returned to this piece of land to fight for humankind’s survival.
Everything was coming together in a circle, as if it had all been preordained.
Roel and his thousand-man team had heavy hearts as they turned their backs on the devastating battle with the Fallens and marched into the unknown.
Everything turned dark as soon as they stepped into the spatial crack. They would have been lost if not for the ancient buildings on the other end of the spatial crack guiding their path, and that was where they were charging toward.
The spatial crack grew larger the further they ventured into it. It was only when they passed through the horizon that their surroundings became clear once more, revealing the full grandeur of the millennia-old city.
The imperial capital had become tattered under the erosion of time. Most of the wooden civilian houses had long since collapsed, leaving behind only stone houses that hinted at the prosperity once enjoyed by this great city.
No weed sprouted between shattered stone tiles. No tree flourished in the city. It was as if life itself had eluded this city. Resilient defensive structures imbued with anti-erosion spells towered under the moonlight, looking like giants guarding this dead city.
A thousand-man team in the humongous imperial capital was smaller than a droplet of water in a cup, but even so, their arrival still shattered the silence that had loomed for a thousand years.
Roel and his team could sense more than a hundred gazes from the darkness of the streets as soon as they emerged from the spatial crack. The Fallens had long since noticed the spatial crack and were lying in wait to ambush them.
More than a hundred mutated monsters roared and pounced on them.
However, Roel was unfazed by their ambush; he didn’t even spare them his slightest attention. Instead, he scanned his surroundings to search for their destination, the Capital Cathedral.
Meanwhile, a hundred elites of their team brandished their weapons to subdue the Fallens. They had opted to not resort to spells lest their mana pulsations draw in more enemies. It was an intense battle, with both Fallens being decapitated and humans shedding blood.
Yet, none of the remaining nine hundred elites lent them a helping hand. Their eyes were solely focused on Roel.
In Phase 3 of the Battle of the Edges, Roel would advance into the imperial capital with his thousand-man team to accomplish his mission. They had established clear protocols for each situation, especially when it came to confronting enemies.
The soldiers were strictly forbidden to cast any spells until they arrived at the Capital Cathedral, lest they wake up the hibernating Fallens.
Other than that, the thousand-man team was further divided into ten sections of a hundred men, and each time they encountered enemies, a section would be sent out to deal with the situation. Those from the other sections wouldn’t interfere in the battle but instead would advance, so as to ensure that the team could reach the Capital Cathedral in the shortest time possible.
Those sections that were left behind would have to somehow figure out a way to defeat their enemies and survive. That was the mission entrusted to them.
Roel’s mission was to reach the Abyss and end everything in the shortest time possible.
With every second he saved on accomplishing his mission, his team would have a higher chance of surviving, and the united army outside the imperial capital would be spared from hundreds more casualties. He had to be decisive for the sake of the greater good.
Even though the imperial capital was humongous, Roel didn’t have much trouble finding the huge Capital Cathedral, particularly thanks to Paul’s map and his familiarity with the Abyss.
He had been to the Abyss before. He could clearly sense the Savior’s aura of madness and depravity even from thousands of kilometers away, not to mention that the aura had become more conspicuous now that the Savior was on the brink of awakening.
Amidst metallic clangs and war cries, Roel’s team began marching toward the depths of the imperial capital. They encountered more enemies along the way, and each time, the team would automatically dispatch a hundred-man squad to deal with them.
Through such an escort method, Roel swiftly approached the heart of the imperial capital. Lofty structures flashed past them as they flitted across the dilapidated city.
Dull thuds from the collision between metal blades and the Fallens’ flesh echoed behind them. In the distance, blinding lights produced by the intense clashes between the Six Calamities and the Eggs of the Beast God irradiated the night sky. Vaguely, the roars of human soldiers could be heard.
The battle was crescendoing with time.
After leaving behind six squads, Roel and his team finally arrived at their destination.