Chapter 203: Retreat

Chapter 203: Retreat

You defeated a Shadow Dimensioner - Level 284!

You defeated a Shadow Dimensioner - Level 291!

...

| Extra experience is granted for defeating an enemy many levels above!

You have Levelled up!

| Oculus Witch Level 215-> Oculus Witch Level 225

| Voidmare Level 215 -> Voidmare Level 225

You have gained 100 stat points.

| You now have 2016 Intelligence.

Milestone reached - 2000 Intelligence.

| Intelligence [ Stage 4 ] failed to upgrade.

| Conditions not met.

| Conditions still to meet: defeat a Level 350 with mana. Enter the Eye-Queen trials. Finish the first trial 50% complete.

Not again! Astrid shouted internally as her clone kept a lookout from what was happening above her. It seemed the action hadn’t stopped as Noah was clashing against a powerful entity.

It was a risk to enter her System, but she had hoped for a power increase to help her during the city. She was wrong.

Eye-Queen Trials? Astrid flinched as a Shadow Dimensioner was blasted into pieces just five metres away from her.

With disease on Rebirth, and now a psychopathic group of terrorists trying to summon the Leviathan from its depths, she had forgotten all about the trials.

Well I can’t enter them now. Astrid thought as the fight continued.

Havel stood on a piece of stair that remained standing, while all the other warriors were cramped just behind him.

With the top of the building removed, there was little space for the warriors to manoeuvre. Even the rangers and mages were having a tough time finding an opening. It was chaos.

“We can’t fight here!” Havel shouted. “Retreat down into the streets below!”

No-one questioned Havel’s command as the second strongest here. Even Kaylan who had kept quiet during this time agreed with the plan.

“I’ll keep the barrier up for the descent!” Astrid shouted over the sounds of fighting from above.

Kaylan nodded, turned, and sprinted with the others to get to the bottom.

Attacks ravaged Astrid’s barrier by the second. Each one was capable of tearing past layer upon layer, but thanks to Astrid’s powerful mind, she was able to recreate them just as fast as they were being destroyed.

However, it wouldn’t last long. Despite her monstrously high mana capacity, creating such powerful mana barriers, and then having them break, crushed any advantage she held.

“Quickly get up, they are coming,” Kaylan warned, and moved his body in front of Astrid.

Despite his words, the monsters had already arrived.

Crashing down on the floor. Half of them were visible, while the others relied on their high tiered stealthing capabilities.

Astrid scrambled behind the others as she took out a health stimulant from her Void Storage. Injecting it into her veins, she took a sharp breath as the bones in her body miraculously snapped back into place. It was a high tiered one, but she didn’t care.

Still in pain, Astrid bombarded the bottom of the starwell where she had just fallen.

She wasn’t the only one. The archers and mages used everything they had and tore through them like war cannons. But it wasn’t enough.

Some were also dropping from the windows at the side of the building, and they were now mixing in with other monsters. Orcs, apes, they were all charging at them now.

Astrid needed a plan, and as she glanced at the chaotic barrage of skills, an idea formed.

“Focus on the foundations!” Astrid shouted, her voice barely able to be heard over the chaos.

“Are you crazy? Whatever Noah’s fighting will fall down here,” Haval snapped.

“Noah can use it to her advantage!”

It was exactly what Astrid would do. If Astrid was Noah, she would make the monster fight the others, lessening the tension on her team.

“Plus, don’t forget I have illusions!” Astrid screamed. “Now tear down the damned building before we all die anyway!

Her words swayed not just Havel, but the others as well. Before their sub-leader could give the order, Lisa, and Rachelle, were the first of the ranged users to act.

Rachelle was especially affected with her brand new staff. The air in the surrounding area rose by an order of magnitude as the heat licked Astrid’s face, making her uncomfortable within her sauna-like armour.

Then she pushed the flames forward in a wide arc, melting everything, and anything in its path. Most of the dimensioners resisted the flames, but the same couldn’t be said about the building around them.

The lobby was burned to cinders in seconds, and then the metal beams of the foundations began melting at a rapid pace.

A wind user that belonged to Kaylan’s party that had long white hair, a moustache, and ice blue robes, sent gusts of air chasing after it.

Like fuel to a fire, Rachelle’s blaze only strengthened. And in the next moment, the entire structure of the building groaned in protest.

“Retreat!” Astrid shouted, but she didn’t have to tell them that.

In formation, they retreated while defending the ranged users just like they had done before countless times. They didn’t run under panic, everyone was highly trained professionals.

Managing to retreat two blocks away, the building fiercely groaned, then tilted until it was moving all the way to one side. It was falling.

Sounds of battle were still emitted from the building, but then they stopped for a moment while the building crashed against the other buildings in the city, crushing them into nothing.

A cloud of smoke surged through straight for them. Astrid widened her eyes, and covered everyone in a huge shield. Debris pelted her barrier, but it wasn’t enough to even cause a scratch.

In a second, the entire city was engulfed in a plume of obscuring dust. Silence remained, flitting through Astrid’s mind like a rolling tumbleweed.

Had she just murdered Noah?