[Warning - Calamity stage increased to level 3]

[Mission updated - Retreat and stay alive until help arrives]

The sudden announcement that suggested a catastrophe caught Emery and the others off guard. Nevertheless, it only took Annara a few moments to read and grasp the message, before proceeding to shout at Emery.

"Fight or flight?!"

Emery heard the red-haired girl's words, but with the fog of mist covering their sight and with the threat of the Abyss creatures still lingering, it would be unwise for him to move recklessly.

At the moment, he could only see clearly about two to three meters in front of him. Furthermore, just like before, his Spirit Reading was not really reliable, making him hard to sense anything beyond the fog.

With this Emery cast the next best thing to help him sense his surroundings.

[Mineralized Warrior]

In just a few seconds, twenty Mineralized soldiers emerged from the ground with stone swords in their hands. Not only that, but Emery also created ten Type 2 Mineralized Warriors - the wolves to increase the summons fighting power. The thirty summons went ahead and protected them from all directions, working in unison to restrain the incoming Abyss creatures.

Emery then shouted, "Atlas! Arcana!" He hoped his shout would reach both of them, so they would understand his intention to regroup by following the direction of his voice.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for Atlas, followed by Sigurd and Lyndell, to appear in his field of vision. However, Emery didn't see any saint fighters coming along with them. Naturally, he asked Atlas and the latter told him neither of them were willing to follow him.

Emery sighed when he heard that, as it most likely meant those saint fighters were determined to risk their life holding back the Abyss creatures.

On the other hand, Arcana arrived and surprisingly brought four saint fighters with him. Emery didn't know how the kid-looking acolyte convinced them seeing that Atlas's group was unable to bring any.

But then, once Emery took a closer look at these knights and realized the four of them looked dazed - a familiar sight as Arcana had used his ability to bewitch them into following him.

"Seriously?" Emery asked, his brows furrowed.

With an innocent expression on his face, Arcana asked back. "Why? Is something wrong? I still need their protection. Besides, I'm sure they will thank me later for saving their lives."

Hearing such an answer, Emery decided not to bother with Arcana's antics for now and focused on fighting the Abyss creatures that were still coming incessantly. With his Savage Blade in hand, he cut down every Abyss creature charging towards him.

Spllaattt! Spllaatt!

Next to him, Sigurd the Titan bloodline swung the huge ax in his hand, violently slicing through the air and the Abyss creatures alike with his overwhelming strength. Coupled with Emery's Mineralized Warriors and the four saint fighters fighting alongside on the frontline, not a single Abyss creature managed to get close to them.

Even so, there were still dozens of hordes of Abyss creatures attacking from all directions beyond the mist. The earth-shattering tremor, deafening chirps and screams, and disturbing screams continued non-stop.

A minute later, everyone simultaneously turned their heads in one particular direction as they suddenly felt a powerful aura sweeping over them from that direction. Given the position they were in, Emery guessed the aura was coming from the central area where Commander Raynor, his two assistants, and Zach were currently.

This phenomenon was quickly followed by something else. Emery watched as the mist that obstructed their view and blocked his Spirit Reading gradually dissipated. When the fog was finally completely gone, the group was stunned by the sight that greeted them.

A huge, shadowy figure loomed over the area in the middle. Despite being 100 meters away from him, Emery could clearly feel the immense pressure the creature was giving off.

He was shocked to see the previous black creature had turned all golden. His eyes were then drawn to its pincers, where the figure of Magus Kenneth could be seen. The man seemed to be struggling with all his might to break free, but his body was eventually cut in half and thrown away like trash.

It was such a horrible and terrifying sight to see a magus figure die so easily

Shhrrrriieeekkkkk!

[Royal Centipede]

[Abyss Creature Stage 7]

[Battle Power: Undefined]

It was so powerful that the scanner couldn't get its power Beside its new golden body, Emery noticed that the hundreds of scythe-like arms were three times longer than before, around five meters long each. However, what shocked him the most was the object in the area just under its head - a glowing golden orb.

It didn't take a genius to realize the Primordial Wisp had merged with the creature, making it to become the strongest Abyss creature on the planet. And now, it would rampage in rage.

Emery quickly shifted his gaze to the area around the creature and saw that Zach and Magus Bellaine were still alive. They were even still throwing attacks at the creature. On the other hand, Commander Raynor's fate was unknown, the man's figure was nowhere to be seen.

As for the saint fighters, except for the ones standing close to him and the Nephilim's group, all of them had been overrun by the horde of Abyss creatures and breathed their last in this place.

Now that Emery had figured out and analyzed the situation, he quickly made the most appropriate decision.

"Retreat!"

In the same beat, everyone quickly took out their orbiters. However, at this moment two figures made their move faster than their group.

Rofos the Tiger bloodline was seen on the wall, trying to get out of the crater by climbing up with his arms that had transformed into claws. Meanwhile, Vida who spreaded her pair of dark blue wings shot into the air. Her body then revolved, turning into a tornado that cut through all the flying Abyss creatures in her path.

Vida's actions were a good opportunity for Emery and the others to retreat from this place, as she had cleared most of the dangers in the sky. However, just as they were on their orbiters and about to take off, the Royal Centipede suddenly let out a loud shriek into the air.

To Emery and the others' complete horror, they saw Vida and dozens of other creatures which were in her vicinity suddenly stop moving, as if time had stopped moving for them, before finally falling from the sky.

"Psyche attack!" Arcana exclaimed

Emery saw the Royal Centipede shooting towards the falling Vida, its pincers wide open ready to make her body like Magus Kenneth.

"Everyone, attack! Use your ranged attacks!"

The first to heed his order was Atlas, who fired his [Tempest Flare] at the creature. A storm of tremendous explosion capable of mass annihilation swept through the air towards the incoming Royal Centipede.

Gritting her teeth, Annara followed suit and swiftly cast her [Hellflame], unleashing a massive wave of scorching black flames upon the creature. Lyndell also took action, sending a five-meter long beam of light - [Divine Arrow] - towards the Abyss creature.

BOOM! BOOM!

The spells struck the Royal Centipede's body successfully, causing clouds of black smoke to appear and shroud its body. In the next second, the smoke parted ways - revealing the unscathed form of the Abyss creature.

Meanwhile, the Dragon bloodline Zach was jumping on the Royal Centipede's back. He lifted his sword high into the air and smashed it down violently, making a loud crisp sound. Alas, it did nothing to stop the creature.

At this point, nothing seemed to be able to stop the Abyss creature from killing the fallen Bird of Prey.

Emery himself contributed his part, firing spells while using the orbiter to catch the falling Vida. There were only tens of meters between them, but because of the spatial distortion that existed in this place, he couldn't rely on his [Blink]. He used the [Slipstream] spell and [fey transformation] for the extra boost of speed but he still couldn't reach her in time.

The image of Vida's body being torn in half appeared in everyone's mind when suddenly, at the last moment, a figure pushed her body away.

Emery witnessed, at close range, how the Tiger Bloodline Rofos pushed Vida's body out of the way, leaving himself caught by Royal Centipede's pincers; unfortunately, the courageous half-blood was torn to pieces mercilessly. Blood spurted in the sky, dyeing it red before what was left of him was instantly teleported away.

At that moment, as Emery witnessed the bloodbath done by the enormous creature towering above him, Emery was once again shocked to find that right beneath the glowing orb, there was a figure of a man embedded into the creature's body.

It was The Magus Commander, forced to become part of the creature itself.

It opened his eyes and said in such a strange voice,

"None of you will be leaving this place!"