993 Inevitable Changes

The rhythm of war changed. It wasn't a reversal like humans hoped but the change was enough to piss off the abyssals.

This change first started on a planetoid of Uranus, which was about to be conquered by the abyssals.

Humans were pushed to their last base and only 10% of their original army remained. Meanwhile, the abyssals stood strong at 60% and were about to crush their enemies.

As the abyssal army of a 100,000 marched towards the giant fortress—the last stronghold of resistance—the sky lit up.

Then a red barrier enveloped the fortress. It didn't really seem like a normal defense barrier. It gave off a different feel. Something about it made the abyssals in the vanguard uneasy.

"Another barrier? Do they seriously think they can stop us?"

"Ignorant humans!"

"Give up your struggle and meet your fate!"

The abyssal army chanted with vigor and valor as they roared.

The elementalists, space awakeners, long ranged beast and plant Morpheus all attacked the barrier with their full strength.

For a moment, the sky was covered in the sea of attacks.

And the next moment, the attacks fell onto the barrier…and disappeared.

The barrier didn't shake nor did it even ripple. There wasn't even as much as a response as throwing a pebble into the ocean.

The noisy battlefield fell silent in an instant.

Forget the abyssals who stared at the barrier with huge suspicion and a hint of fear,  even the humans standing on the fortress' thick walls, ready to neutralize the attacks were dumbfounded.

Was that small disc that reached them a few minutes ago really this powerful?

But the surprise was yet to come.

The red barrier turned white and flooded the sky with tens of thousands of attacks. These were the same attacks that reached it!

The abyssals thought they were going to destroy the humans with little resistance and were fully on the offensive.

As a result, while they scrambled to defend themselves, a lot of them couldn't make it in time and fell prey to their own attacks. Screams rang out in the battlefield and lives were lost in seconds.

"Commander! They have a magical tower! It's not only shielding them, it's also absorbing the attacks and bouncing them—!" The adjutant screamed before he was slapped by the commander.

"I can fucking see!" The burly abyssal growled and signaled to the level 9s beside him. "Every barrier has its limits."

The level 9s shed their hesitation and launched their attacks on the barrier from the sky.

The ground split and the sky shook. The entire world seemed to come to a stand still as the attacks reached the barrier…and disappeared.

The level 9s stared intensely at the weird barrier which once again turned white and spat out their attacks back at them.

"Fuck!" They dodged their own attacks and cursed.

Due to some of their attacks like fire ball explosion and ice bullet rain covering wide areas, the abyssal army suffered.

The level 9s didn't give up and kept firing the attacks. The barrier responded in kind. Even the commander joined the attacks but the same story repeated.

After losing a few thousand more to these rebound attacks, the abyssal army retreated.

Only the level 9s continued to fight relentlessly, with the sole aim of pushing the barrier to its capacity and destroying it.

But even level 9s had a limited stamina.

So, when the barrier bounced back the same force with he punched it, a tired abyssal couldn't take it anymore and collapsed.

The commander came to his senses and realized that most of the level 9s were also tired.

His gaze turned to the barrier and he saw the human level 9s looking at them hopefully.

It's as if they were asking him to attack the barrier more and tire themselves out so that human level 9s could finish them out.

"Fall back!" The commander growled unwillingly.

As the abyssals retreated, the human level 9s put away their hopeful expressions and gathered around the small disc responsible for the barrier.

More than 30% of it was already cracked!

The abyssals were right. Even the barrier couldn't hold on forever. It'd break sooner or later.

But…

"We should use this opportunity to assassinate as many as we can." The human commander said.

"But our safety…"

"What safety? Without this barrier, we're dead meat. And this barrier will fall sooner or later. Rather than worry about the inevitable death, it's better to kill as many abyssals."

His words stirred the hearts of the powerhouses.

Even though the abyssals now had three times more level 9s than they did, so what?

A few minutes later, the human level 9s used some treasures and sneaked out.

The abyssals weren't expecting the cornered humans to have such guts. The assassination ended up with human level 9s losing a third of their numbers while taking down two abyssals each.

Suddenly, the unimaginable gap between the two seemed to have been shrunk to a manageable scale.

This result not only horrified the abyssals, it even surprised Varian.

But once this operation was spread out, the abyssals on the other planetoids were cautious and such miracles didn't repeat.

However, the change was unstoppable.

The numerous planetoids that were about to fall suddenly got a defensive treasure and blocked the abyssals.

For at least two days, they're going to be safe.

While this change rocked the abyssals, a bigger and more fundamental change was being engineered in the top laboratories.

The potion was developed in thirty hours—the fastest in human history!

The price was the death of three level 9s, ten level 8s and thirty level 7s. All of them knew the risks but were more than willing to gamble their life for the benefit of humanity.

Thanks to their selflessness and the relentless efforts from the scientists, all the level 9s, level 8s and level 7s got the potion.

As the high awakeners prepared for the advancement, Varian reached Neptune for a clean up.