William watched them all with the same expression. But his eyes flashed with relief and he said. "Heck, in the worst case, we can leave the Solar system and with our technology, find a suitable star system. One way or another, we will preserve the fire of our civilizati—"
The level 9s and level 8s were about to nod when their expressions suddenly changed and they hurriedly retreated.
The ground shook violently the next second and a dust cloud rose to the sky. The level 8s that were still near were blasted away by the shockwaves and were thankfully rescued by the level 9s.
A moment later, the Human warriors gathered far away and watched the new crater with complicated emotion.
Irene Nial stepped out of the crater with firm footsteps.
This was their leader—the strongest person on their planet. Just a casual attack by her could decide the fate of a planetoid's army. Even if all the generals of a planetoid army came together, they wouldn't be able to draw a single drop of her blood.
But that woman was bleeding profusely from multiple injuries now. Even though all of these injuries were small by themselves, when grouped together, it seemed as if she was suffering heavily.
This shouldn't have been a big problem since Irene possessed some of the best healing potions. Moreover, she now had two artifacts. They'd boost her healing.
Then why was the first injury she received still not healed?
That question did pass through the minds of many level-headed members. But they didn't delve any further. They knew it wouldn't be a pleasant answer.
But one man was interested in knowing the truth.
'This is…?' William held his breath as he noticed small flashes of a black energy on Sovereign Irene's wounds.
They were similar to the energy in the crystal!
'They're suppressing her vitality?'
Not caring about the bunch of humans in the distance, the Undead Abyssal reached Irene and raised his fist.
Irene raised a gravity shield even knowing that it would eventually break. She then turned to the side and gave William a glance.
'You…' William understood her intentions instantly.
Suppressing the heavy emotions in his chest, he ordered everyone. "Let's leave and start our preparations. Even though there's a high chance we have to…evacuate, we will do so only after dealing a severe blow to these bastards! War first!"
The men and women in the uniform nodded vehemently. Boarding the spaceship, they all rushed to the exit.
This was clearly witnessed by the level 8 and level 9 Abyssals that were now recuperating deep in the forest.
"Sir, do you want us to chase them?" An adjutant asked.
"No," The leader of the forces shook his head and turned his gaze to the Undead Abyssal. "I don't know why he's so strong despite us getting only half of the crystals, but it doesn't matter anymore."
"Sir?"
"With an Abyss King level powerhouse at our side, why should we chase them? Recuperate for now. The Undead King will destroy them and then can start hunting these rats." The leader closed his eyes with a smile and resumed recuperation.
Everyone was convinced by his words and followed the order.
On the other hand, Despair Queen had already come to her senses a while ago. But she didn't join the battle for two reasons.
Firstly, she wanted to check the capabilities of the Undead King.
Secondly, if she did join, Irene might not even fight anymore and escape. The best way to take her out would be a sneak attack.
Despair Queen thus turned back into her Abyssal form and tried to find a chance for a good sneak attack. But Irene was already on guard, not giving her any opportunity.
"Tsk! Bitch! But what if you can't let me attack, you'll die soon." Despair Queen cursed.
Even though preventing Irene from running away was hard, once she was sufficiently injured, it could be done.
That's what Despair Queen was waiting for.
Irene knew this too. As for why she didn't run away since she had the chance—
'I still need to hold them back for a bit longer until William and others can escape.' Irene bit her bloodied lips as she continued the fight with her battered body.
'And what is with those crystals? Why are they still shining?' Irene also noticed an anomaly.
The crystals at the deepest part of the World Tree—the ones that contained this energy—were still shining.
She also detected a few dark lines between the Undead and those crystals through her gravity sense.
Her main takeaway was that something was wrong with this Undead.
'Maybe this power boost is temporary?'
Despair Queen thought so too. But even she wasn't sure how this Undead that was supposed to be only a level 9 turned out to be a Sovereign. But she welcomed the pleasant surprise.
And that's why she protected the crystals with more caution.
Irene, on the other hand, tried to attack the crystals multiple times. But Despair Queen blocked her sneak attacks and strictly guarded the crystals.
This only strengthened Irene's guess.
'There is really an issue with those crystals.'
But it better a different issue than the normal Undead. Because if the crystal was destroyed, the normal Undead wouldn't lose their power. Abyssals just couldn't control them anymore.
This Undead was certainly different given how the dark threads were still connected to him…as if charging him.
Moreover, Irene could sense a kind of 'sentience' from this Abyssal.
Intuitively, she realized that even if the crystals were destroyed, this Undead would still help the Abyssals.
He wasn't a braindead Undead like the ones on the planetoid. This was, at least to some extent, a rational Undead.
'But at any cost, I need to destroy the crystals!' Irene gritted her teeth and extend her hand toward the crystals.
A gravity field covered the crystals and Irene was about to clench her fist by increasing the gravity on these crystals, she was going to crush them to powder.
"Raaa!" The Undead King sensed her intention and clawed at her neck.
If she wanted to save herself, Irene would've to cancel the attack and focus on defense.
Irene didn't do that and was about to continue applying the pressure on the crystals.
It was then that a bunch of multi-colored leaves covered the crystals.
"You!" Irene's eyes shone with rage at the Abyssal Queen.
"Heh," The Despair Queen smiled as she poured in her prana into the crystals.
Even though Irene wanted to bypass Irene's leaves and branches to directly crush those crystals, these crystals themselves were special treasures.
Upon taking in Despair Queen's prana, they shone brightly and formed a defensive field around them.
Even Irene couldn't destroy them as long as Despair Queen guarded them!
At this time, the Undead King's attack reached Irene.
Since she focused on the crystals, Irene barely made any defense against him except for the crystal armor.
At the last moment, she changed her position and protected her vitals. But the Abyssal's attack still struck her hard.
Thankfully, her crystal armor gave off a bright glow and absorbed most of the damage, leaving her with only a medium-sized injury.
"Arghh!"
Irene cried out as a terrifying pain assaulted her body. It wasn't the tearing of her shoulder flesh nor the dislocation that caused her to cry out, it was the silent, chilling sensation of foreign energy creeping inside her, like ice pouring into her body and freezing her from the inside.
The Undead smiled, proving Irene's fears that he was more than just a puppet. And he glanced at Despair Queen and mouthed. 'Wait for it.'
Despair Queen nodded and channeled her prana. She had to try her best to suppress the excitement bubbling in her heart.
It had been years, no, decades since she was fighting Irene. This female Sovereign had grown from someone significantly weaker than her to someone who could stand toe to toe with her.
And earlier, Irene even suppressed her! Even though she did thanks to the boost from two artifacts, Despair Queen still felt terribly humiliated.
'I will wash away my humiliation with your blood. My legacy will be your skull.' Despair Queen's lips curled up as she quietly waited for the opportunity that the Undead hinted at.
As the battle continued, Irene's position became more and more disadvantageous.
She was pushed to the point that she was slowly unable to keep her guard up against the possible sneak attacks by the Despair Queen.
Despair Queen's heart throbbed as she waited for the perfect time.
The fate of Uranus' ruler would soon be decided.
