Meanwhile, William and the rest had already reached the crack—the exit and entrance of the Despair Abyss.
"I've already informed the Headquarters. Follow their plan." William said and got out of the spaceship.
"S-Sir, what are you going to do?" William's adjutant asked in confusion.
"I?" William looked at the endless forest of Despair Abyss and smiled. "I will regroup with you guys soon. I have an archenemy to kill. He'd be at his weakest now."
"But shouldn't we preserve our lives to ensure the safety of humanity later on?" A sharp voice asked.
It was Jonah, the woman who earlier pleaded with him to let her die in the battle. She was now staring at him with a critical eye.
Even though she was weaker than him, she was also younger than him. She only listened to his orders because he was the leader of the expedition team.
But the expedition 'ended' and he was longer their leader.
So, even though she accepted his words, she didn't like him breaking what he preached.
"He is a special Plantae awakener. He can produce tiny flowers that can sense life forms. If Humanity has to face the fate of escaping the solar system, he'll be our nemesis. Killing him is necessary." William said calmly.
Jonah raised a brow but nodded softly. "Make sure to kill him."
She felt that William was lying. But at the same time, what he was about to do was indeed necessary.
It wasn't her intuition or anything, but William's eyes.
Those were the eyes of a man burdened with a task greater than him. Whatever William was going to do, it was for the good of humanity.
"I'll succeed, even at the expense of my life." William smiled lightly. He had recently retired and was busy raising his grandson.
Due to war, he rejoined the army. And since this expedition was so important, he agreed to be the leader.
But who would've thought…
'I hope you can survive, little guy.' William prayed for his grandson as that was the only thing he could do now.
Many of them had doubts regarding William's words, but no one questioned him anymore.
Bidding him farewell, the spaceship finally left the crack and disappeared from William's vision.
Of course, a certain someone had also quietly slipped out of the spaceship and appeared in the Despair Abyss.
'What is this old guy going to do?' Enigma hid herself using her Dark powers and spied on the Old Man.
Things escalated way too quickly. It was just a high-priority mission. Then, it turned into a battle between Sovereigns. Now, they had a new Sovereign and his strength was comparable to the likes of Albert and Julius!
Enigma knew that there was no hope for Humanity anymore. An extra Sovereign wasn't something they could face.
Even Varian wouldn't be able to reach the Sovereign state soon.
'And with so many paths, I'm not sure if he can even reach the Sovereign state in the first place.' Out of worry, Enigma had already warned Varian about the situation inside.
She wanted him to find a route out of the solar system. Once the planets fall and Sovereigns die, the Abyssals would target Varian without any hesitation!
Keeping him alive was akin to leaving a growing timebomb alone. Only stupid rulers would do that. And from this war, Enigma knew that the so-called Abyss Emperor was a clever and cunning person.
'Varian, respond.'
'Where are you?'
Enigma frowned and was about to contact Boo when a change occurred.
The Old Man turned around and his figure blurred.
'If I can't go after him now, I'll lose him.' Enigma clenched her fist. She stayed behind to check if there was any secret.
But Varian wasn't responding now!
Varian or the secret?
Enigma didn't even think for a second and slammed her comm.
'I should've stayed with you. You…You…' Even though Enigma's face remained expressionless, she was angry inside.
She had a strong feeling that Varian broke his promise and entered the Despair Abyss.
And if he did that, where would he go?
To the most dangerous place!
'Arghh!' Hiding her grudges behind an expressionless face, Enigma teleported near the World Tree or where it used to be.
The Old man William had teleported to a location nearby and sneaked into a hill.
Unlike Enigma, he didn't have any Darkness powers to hide his presence.
Thankfully, this area was already ravaged by Irene and Despair Queen's battle earlier. So, there were no plants to sense him and reveal his location.
William spread his space sense and locked onto the coffin a few hundred miles away. Near it, he also sensed the crystals.
As expected, they were still glowing and they still had some black energy!
'If I can destroy them…' William's eyes flashed but he quickly withdrew his space sense and hid his presence.
Despair Queen looked toward the north and saw nothing but barren hills. 'Is it my illusion?'
She checked the nearby messengers but the plants haven't found anything suspicious.
'Whatever, no one can even get close to this place.' She shrugged.
Indeed, the place she was standing was constantly hit by shockwaves.
The ground had long since caved in and formed a crater nearly half a mile deep and dozens of miles wide!
Even the strongest level 9s wouldn't be able to walk through this storm of shockwaves, much less reach the crystals that were next to Despair Queen.
'I must get there at any cost.' William held his breath.
This was a plan he had come up with long ago.
Yes, they all decided that Humanity was going to face near extinction and be expelled from the planets due to this extra Sovereign.
But this Undead was just that. An Undead.
What would happen if he could destroy the crystals that birthed this Undead?
Maybe then Abyssals would have to deal with this monster! Just like how the Undead turned back against Abyssals on the planetoids.
'Or maybe that's all my wishful thinking.' William smiled wryly.
The biggest problem of all was that even if he was certain that the Undead could turn against Abyssals, he had no confidence in destroying the crystals.
Despair Queen was protecting them after all!
So, he devised a plan with the greatest success rate.
He sent back everyone else to relax the vigilance of the Abyssal army and the Despair Queen.
Now, he's waiting for Despair Queen to move to fight Sovereign Irene. At that moment, he'd teleport and destroy the crystals.
Of course, the moment he teleported there, he'd be noticed by Despair Queen.
Since she's a Plantae Awakener, Irene had the option to leave behind her roots or branches near the crystal even when she was fighting Irene.
And she certainly would.
So, when she sensed his presence, she'd directly attack him with her roots or branches. Her attacks would reach him first even before he could attack the crystals.
Once her attack hit him, it was over.
Because even if he's one of the strongest level 9s, it wasn't much in front of a Sovereign.
Even without Despair Queen, the shockwaves there would blast him away and seriously injure him.
William could transport to the crystals, but attacking them was almost impossible.
The only way out he saw was self-destruction. He'd turn the whole space chaotic and die with as much impact as he could.
'I know I'm hoping for too much, but if somehow this Undead Abyssal threat disappears…we can go back to the status quo. We don't have to face a future where humanity goes nearly extinct.' William prepared for the most important action of his life.
Despair Queen waited for the opportunity to sneak attack Irene. William waited for the opportunity to sneak attack the crystals.
Enigma, on the other hand, was ready to pick up Varian and teleport out of this damn place.
Boo had already informed her that they were inside. But before it could tell more, Boo was 'muted' by Varian.
But that was enough. Enigma was already seething. 'Why is it that every time you can go to safety, you jump ahead of danger and try to die! Is it that fun? Huh?'
No one noticed Enigma's existence and the plans proceeded.
William held his breath and locked his space sense onto the crystal Despair Queen quietly turned her lower form into roots and spread her roots in every direction for several miles.
The opportunity arrived.
Following a resounding slap, Irene blasted through several mountains as she puked out blood.
At that very moment, Despair Queen drilled the root near Irene into the ground and pulled herself to that place using it as support.
The next moment, Despair Queen disappeared and appeared in front of Irene.
Right then, William teleported and appeared in front of the crystals.
The pale-faced and seriously injured Irene was alerted at the appearance of Despair Queen, but she couldn't put up the defense right away.
Now, she could only watch helplessly at Despair Queen raised her branches to attack her—
"What?!" Despair Queen's focus was suddenly broken by the spatial fluctuation nears the near the crystals and she noticed the new presence near the crystals.
Without hesitation, she ordered the roots she secretly buried near the crystals.
Even though William calculated Despair Queen's speed to be damn high, it was higher.
So, the moment he appeared and was about to self-destruct, a root slapped him away.
That period of distraction allowed Irene to retreat from Despair Queen and saved herself from a fatal injury.
After confirming that the human had broken all his bones and at his last breath, Despair Queen channeled all her focus on Irene.
"Tch! I missed the chance just now, but it's over! You're going to—"
Despair Queen froze all of a sudden and turned to the area with crystals.
There was—
