978 Unexpected Resistance

Sacrifices happened all across the solar system. Hundreds of thousands gave away their lives to protect their race and civilization.

No one had the time or energy to pay attention to them.

Every soldier, every officer, and every mercenary was forced to fight. It didn't end with them, just a few hours after the war began, all the reserve forces were called up.

While the high ranking abyssals all achieved a breakthrough and grew stronger, the low and mid ranking abyssals were bestowed with all kinds of treasures and items that made them a force to reckon with.

As the war passed three days, all able-bodied males and females older than sixteen were called to the military districts on the planets and were given emergency training.

Even with the reserves coming into play, the situation wasn't optimistic at all!

Rather, in these three days, the borders of all planetoids were redrawn. The human forces were surprised by the reinforced strength of the abyssal high awakeners and the abyssal army.

It was only after they retreated to the next line of defense that they fully digested the current reality.

It's a huge shock to not just the army but the whole human race. Every man and woman with large enough power realized this time was different from every other.

Even during the last war, such a disparity wasn't seen.

Abyssals had their victories last time due to the reinforcements and Undead. Their core army by itself wasn't strengthened.

Things were different now. The abyssals as a whole underwent an upgrade. And they forced the whole human army back.

Even some of the fiercest legions from Neptune and Earth, arguably the strongest of all, couldn't stand the onslaught of the abyssals and were forced to retreat.

It was a show of raw strength.

And it also made the human powerhouses realize that if they didn't do anything, then the future result was set.

So, they opened their vaults and without any hesitation, poured out all the treasures, magical items, formations, and elixirs they had preserved for centuries.

All of these were acquired through their blood and sacrifice over the centuries from the ruins. Even during the last war, they didn't touch these reserves as they were confident of creating a stalemate. But they couldn't wait for more than three days this time.

Thanks to this unexpected aid that was truly akin to a blessing, the dynamics of the war once again underwent a dramatic shift.

The defense infrastructure on the first line of defense, the currently active line, was propped up with all sorts of precious materials and formations.

Even with a significantly superior military force, the abyssals failed to invade them successfully.

To their credit, even without these treasures and aid, the army would've held up for a week in most planetoids.

In a few planetoids with good defense infra, it's even possible to stall the abyssals for three weeks.

But more than 90% of the planetoids were going to fall after a week had there been no intervention.

Now, there had been a successful shift in the war.

— — —

"Why is the planetoid not conquered yet? Are you eating grass?" Slamming the table, Fire King growled. Fire leaked out of his body and engulfed the room he was in.

But even the bright orange fire devouring everything in sight couldn't cover the glowing white eyes that stared at the screen. "Speak!"

The level 9 commander sighed and wordlessly grabbed the communication crystal and shot into the sky.

The world flashed and he appeared on a desolate purple plain.

There was a huge fortified silver wall standing tall and splitting the plain into two.

Almost a hundred thousand abyssal armies, segregated based on their paths, formed hundreds of teams and were attacking the wall without holding back.

The sky was drowned in the endless attacks and the land between the wall and the army was long filled with giant craters.

When these tens of thousands of attacks reached the wall, the silver wall shone slightly and the human army behind the wall shot their attacks.

These attacks reached the sky and canceled off most of the abyssal attacks. But since abyssals were undoubtedly stronger, some attacks still reached the wall which the huge structure took without even shaking. Except for a few cracks here and there, the wall was mostly fine.

Similarly, far in the distance were a bunch of dots in the sky. Wherever they went, the space would explode and fierce shockwaves would follow.

These were naturally the high awakeners from the human and abyssal sides that were battling it out.

The abyssals expected human high awakeners to be completely crushed. But to their utter surprise, some of the humans, less than half of them, seemed to have advanced as well. This ratio still greatly favored abyssals and became the reason borders were easily breached.

But now, the same result wasn't repeating.

There was a very thin but shining silver light on all high-ranking humans fighting the abyssals. They were given additional defense!

Thanks to this reliance, they were able to fight more recklessly and successfully stalled the stronger foe.

"If some of them didn't advance, even these treasures couldn't have helped them. And even if they did advance but didn't have the treasures, it'd have been game over. But lucky for them." The abyssal commander of the planetoid said.

His counterpart was already standing a few miles above the wall, staring at him with killing intent.

After their recent battle, they both retreated to rest. So, his arrival must've been unexpected. But seeing that he's just reporting to Fire King, the human commander didn't provoke a fight and focused on recovery.

"Why did they even advance? Our spies had no clue!" The Fire King slammed the chair and smashed it to pieces. "And these treasures! Where the hell did they get them? We didn't know about these either!"

"…Every race has its final cards that it wouldn't use unless pushed to the corner, Your Majesty," The abyssal commander, who's actually a few decades older than the Fire King, said patiently.

Just like how humans didn't expect them to bring up these ridiculous treasures from the empire and strengthen themselves, they didn't expect humans to suddenly have mass advancements and bring out these treasures.

The Fire King also calmed down at his words. The fire in his room disappeared in a blink and he grinned at the experienced and wise commander.

"If they're forced to bring out these treasures, we can rest assured they're pushed to the corner. This is their last fight."

"Yes, your majesty." The commander nodded and glanced at the silver wall with a scrutinizing gaze. "They can hold on for a month with this. Or maybe more…humans did always surprise us after all."

"His highness would send us reinforcements after a month and a half, or earlier. We should finish these humans and save the lord this trouble." Fire King said in a solemn tone.

"Indeed. They can hold on for a month, provided no other external factor intervenes." A devilish smile formed on the commander's face as he bowed to his ruler.

Fire King also understood the underlying meaning and laughed happily. With an approving nod, he ended the call.

The commander returned to his camp while staring in a particular direction.

…Neptune.

"Soon, the Undead will…soon."

That external factor will break stalemates and decide the fate of this war.