Emery quickly leaped forward and grabbed the fallen Vida. The two continued to fall several meters down before the orbiter finally caught up and carried them to where his team had gathered.
By the time the two landed back on the ground, the Bird bloodline Vida finally got out of the frozen state and regained her consciousness. Noticing the heavy look on everyone's face, she asked what had happened.
"W-what…? Rofos… Rofos did what?!"
Recalling the last state of Rofos' body - how it had been dissected into parts - before he was teleported away, it was unlikely the Tiger bloodline would come out alive from this predicament.
Vida seemed shaken by the news. She snapped her head at the Abyss creature, staring at it with burning hatred in her eyes. She even showed an intention to attack the humongous creature, but Emery was there to stop her.
"Stop! We can't be reckless!"
Emery turned his gaze to where the Royal Centipede was and saw the Dragon bloodline Zach was still fiercely fighting the creature. The man maneuvered around agilely, dodging the scythe-like arms, while simultaneously striking the creature with his sword.
The blood-pumping sight managed to make Emery want to join in. However, he wouldn't just brandish his sword and attack the Abyss creature recklessly, especially not when his number one mobility spell [Blink] couldn't be used.
While his companions and summons were busy killing the seemingly endless hordes of Abyss creatures, more and more saint fighters and acolytes tried to pass through the horde and get out of the crater.
Unfortunately, their attempts were shut down when the Royal Centipede shot out many thin threads similar to the one Chrysalis had. The threads flew through the air above these people and covered most of the crater hole, while the gaps that existed were quickly taken over by the Flyers and Reavers.
More saints and acolytes were caught and Emery can only see, one by one they were bitten, cut or smashed by the monstrous creature or other flying creatures.
It seemed the Abyss creature was dead set on not letting them go.
Realizing the precarious situation they were in, Emery set his eyes on the two groups on the other side.
On one side, there were Jinkan and Eesho Nephilim calmly watching their surroundings, accompanied by half a dozen acolytes. Meanwhile, on the other side, Magus Bellainne was surrounded by ten of her saint fighters. Both sides were analyzing the situation, and trying to find a way to deal with it.
Bammm!
While observing the two groups, Emery was startled by a loud sound. He instantly turned his head towards the source and clearly saw Zach being hit by the Royal Centipede, his body crashing violently into the ground.
Following that, the Abyss creature decided to set its eyes on Magus Bellaine and her fighters.
Then suddenly, Emery once again heard a voice in his mind. This time, it belonged to a girl.
"Go and secure the crystal orb, then I will help get all of you out of this place safely."
Emery immediately turned his gaze to the owner of the voice. It was Jinkan Nephilim, who currently had a confident smile on her face. Seeing that, his brows couldn't help but frown. Once again, her voice could be heard in his head.
"Go now! We will help the dragon boy!"
Emery, of course, had absolutely no reason to believe the other party. However, he quickly realized that, if he did nothing, Magus Bellaine and her fighters would be killed by the Royal Centipede and Emery couldn't think of a way to save them.
Turning his head to his companions, he said seriously,
"We are going to help the magus! Keep your distance and be careful!"
After saying those words, Emery kicked the ground while using his
[Twilight fey transformation]
With the extra boost of power, he dashed towards Magus Bellain and her saint fighters along with Atlas and Annara, while the others followed right behind the three of them.
At this time, Magus Bellaine was in the middle of channeling a spell that conjured huge wind blades continuously. Its sharp blades relentlessly struck the Royal Centipede, but they were only able to stop its movement for a second or two.
The female magus and her fighters were seconds away from being massacred by the Abyss creature, when the creature body was suddenly hit by numerous fire blasts. It let out a loud shrike and turned its head towards the direction the fire blasts had come from.
There, the figures of Atlas and Annara could be seen. A.L.L N.O.V.E.L F.U.L.L
"This way!" Emery shouted as loudly as he could. He also didn't forget to send [Ash Blast] at the Abyss creature, making it let out another deafening shriek.
After provoking the Royal Centipede, Emery immediately cast [Jade Root]. Numerous arm-sized green roots emerged from the ground and began to creep all over the Abyss creature. Of course, they couldn't stop the creature completely. However, they were enough to slow it down a bit, giving Magus Bellaine and her men a chance to escape and join Emery's group.
"Now what?!" Annara shouted, panicking to see they were now the targets of the Royal Centipede.
Even though he clearly heard Annara's words, Emery had no intention of answering as he was busy with something. As his brows furrowed deeply, he placed his hands on the ground and created a total of a hundred Mineralized Warriors to distract the Abyss creatures.
His body wobbled a little after suched rushed cast and his breathing was slightly out of breath. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to rest as his summons were only able to buy them a few seconds.
Harnessing the spirit energy within his core and fully utilizing his concentration, Emery successively cast his two AoE offensive spells. [Ash Blast] and [Seed Bomb] once again made their appearance, adding to Atlas' [Tempest Flare], Lyndell's [Divine Arrow] and Annara's [Hellfire].
The five spells struck the Royal Centipede and its minions, the air and ground seemed to be shattered by the resulting explosion. Rocks and dirt flew everywhere, creating a scene of chaos. However, they only paused for a moment before continuing forward.
Desperate expressions couldn't help but appear on everyone's faces.
Even though it seemed there was no hope left for them to get out of this situation alive, Sigurd and Vida still gripped their weapons tightly. Their expressions and gestures clearly said they were ready to charge in for close combat, but Emery quickly stopped them.
It was at this moment the female voice sounded in his mind again.
"Good job. It's our turn now."
The next second, Emery saw a bright beam of light flash across the corner of his eye and hit the Royal Centipede, sending it barreling to the side. He had seen that attack before, it was Eesho's [Sun Beam] that previously wiped out hundreds of Abyss creatures in the blink of an eye.
Then to his surprise, a glowing construct that looked like a ship made out of energy descended in front of his group.
"Hurry up, get on board!" Jinkan's voice sounded in the air.
Emery was speechless by how extraordinary the construct was. It must be one of the life-saving items given by the Nephilim faction. No wonder she and Eesho were able to maintain their calm even when they saw that Commander Raynor was dead.
Without further ado, Emery quickly instructed everyone to board the ship. When he finally boarded, the ship quickly rose into the air.
Shhhrrriiikkkk!!!
The Royal Centipede, however, seemed very determined not to let them go. It fired hundreds of threads, wrapping the ship with it while its arms reached over, trying to catch the ship. Everyone on the ship lost their balance as the ship shook violently while struggling against the creature.
Everyone could hear a screeching sound, as the huge creature tried to crush the construct.
"Don't worry, it will hold." Jinkan said.
People on board of the construct were busy trying to cast spells to destroy the threads binding the construct and force the creature to release its grasp.
Jinkan, however, casually walked over to Arcana and gave the kid-looking acolyte a slap.
"What are you doing? Do your thing now!"
It took a moment for the disoriented Arcana to regroup his thoughts. When he finally recovered, he quickly cast his [Eye of Mistra] at the Royal Centipede. Apparently Arcana's special skill was able to paralyze it for a few seconds.
That was all the time Jinkan needed to free the ship from the Royal Centipede's grasp. The ship rose higher into the air, until it finally approached one of the gaps. The Flyers and Reavers swiftly dove towards the ship to stop it, but all were crushed to pieces by the ship.
The ship flew through the gap and came out of the crater smoothly - the sound of a raging creature resounding clearly behind them.
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