748 Mars War [2]
"He's grown." Varian smiled in appreciation as he observed Xavier panting heavily in the tower.
Even though he finished a big battle, Xavier only took a few minutes to rest and shouted.
"B-3, I'll assist you with the body awakeners, but I can't reach their space awakeners, beware."
Another battle began.
The short-scaled war went on for three hours until both sides retreated.
To the utter surprise of abyssals, humans had an upper hand.
"It's as expected. Barring the commanders, the rest are mid and low awakeners. This is the best proof that mankind is growing stronger every year and will surpass abyssals in the next generation." Varian grinned.
Below level 7, an average human genius was stronger than an average abyssal genius.
In these geniuses grow up, humans would slowly gain dominance at each level.
The only problem was that even geniuses took decades to go from level 6 to level 9.
"Humanity can defeat abyssals in a decade or two, exterminating them will take longer though," Varian commented as he swiped the records of one planetoid after another.
After arriving on one particular planetoid, he paused.
— — —
The human army, numbered thirty thousand, was pushed back by the abyssals.
When the war started, their strengths were more or less balanced.
But the abyssals' space awakeners managed to sneak attack on their psychics and took down a significant number of them.
Using this opportunity, the abyssal psychics attacked their body awakeners and ate away a good chunk of their vanguard.
Since body awakeners acted as a defense layer in this battle, a gap appeared in the defense of the overall army.
Not letting go of the chance, the abyssals sent their own body awakeners who dashed straight into the middle of the elementals.
Even though elementals weren't powerless in close combat due to their elemental bodies, they still suffered a loss due to the sudden intervention of abyssal psychics.
The first loss thus snowballed into a big gap that created the current situation.
"Defend!"
"Save your comrades!"
"Don't go for the offensive! I repeat, focus on defense!"
The orders of the high officers rank as the human army spread out in defensive formations and kept retreating to the base.
The abyssal army knew it'd have to restrategize if they wanted to attack the base. To get all the benefits they could squeeze now, the abyssal army decided to change course.
"Kuruk!"
"Kuruk!"
"Kuruk!"
A war chant spread across the battlefield. Every abyssal roared for a great war. As if they were hypnotizing themselves, their eyes grew red and their mind turned fearless.
Abandoning any and all intentions to defend, the abyssal army attacked.
Facing a suicidal enemy that intended to kill them even if they die, the human army struggled.
Like a deer, the human army tried to retreat.
But the abyssal army was like a lion. Holding the leg of the deer, it held the weaker side from escaping and kept gnawing its leg.
The losses of the human side skyrocketed in a matter of minutes.
The human commander, a high level 7, fighting his abyssal counterpart could perceive the situation outside.
As a result, he got agitated.
The abyssal commander, who was slightly losing until now, exploited the chance and attacked the human commander with full force.
Caught by surprise in the moment of carelessness, the human commander lost his upper hand and was forced to defend himself.
The abyssal commander didn't give him a chance to stabilize the situation, rather, he attacked him without breaks, hoping to push his advantage further and severely injure the human commander.
The human commander tried his best, yet injuries appeared on his body one after another.
If it continued for long, he'd die!
But the commander was more worried about the army.
"Damn it! Where are the reinforcements?"
He knew there were no reinforcements coming for the next thirty minutes. Yet, he desperately hoped they did.
Looking at the soldiers he personally raised, the commander's eyes grew red and his heart burned.
His killing intent exploded and he launched a suicidal attack.
"I'll kill you!"
The battle between the leaders grew intense while the human army was quickly suppressed by the abyssals.
It wasn't just this battlefield, however. The same situation occurred on every battlefield on this planetoid.
Because…
"Hahaha! This is your end!" A burst of unbridled laughter echoed in an illusory world.
The high level 9 abyssal looked at the human kneeling in front of him with satisfaction.
After defeating the human commander of the planetoid, the abyssal, being a psychic, used his powers to subtly influence the battlefields on the entire planetoid.
As a result, the tactics of abyssals succeeded and humans were pushed into the corner.
In the process, he was also exhausted and injured. But he did it!
"The entire planetoid is now our—huh?" The abyssal's eyes snapped open in the base and he gazed at the sky.
His mind sense spread out and caught a figure rushing to the planetoid.
A bald man with the body build of a gym model, the human's eyes were locked onto the very base he was staying at.
"Damn it!"
The abyssal cursed and his mind sense attacked the human.
He appeared in an illusory world the next moment.
But before he could even react, a huge pressure fell on him and a fist smacked him in the face.
The abyssal felt a searing pain through his body and gritted his teeth. With a thought, he appeared in another location.
"A dual awakener?" He noticed the powers of his opponent. But the next realization made his eyes grow in anger. "A mere newbie level 9 wants to challenge me?"
Seth stretched his hands and grinned. "You're exhausted and injured now. Even my pupil can beat you now!"
"I'll kill you both!"
A battle of epic proportions ensued in an illusory world.
— — —
Varian rubbed his forehead with his thumb and index finger as he finished the review.
The commanders decided to go for an all-out war just to make Mirage Queen wait.
Since humans showed that they were serious, the mirage queen would wait, even though it's only for a bit before entering the battle.
"She only stops for a day for that reason, then she takes the initiative," Irene told him. "Mirage Queen is cautious, not passive. Once she sees something is wrong, she'll lash out with full force."
"Even though your declaration put her under pressure, like any abyss ruler, she'd eventually enter the battlefield. Abyssals aren't a race that liked to sit back. Question is, can Bali make it before she does?"
Varian didn't know.
He could only hope for things to turn out fine as everyone fought their battles.
As for his battle…
Looking at the abyss cities below the clouds, Sia turned to Varian.
"Round two?"
"Haha!"
