Earth's Greatest Magus

A glowing vessel hovered overhead and slowly made its descent on top of the three-story building that stood just next to the towering transport vessel. It safely landed and a set of stairs cascaded from the vessel to the ground.

Soon after, a white cocoon was brought out of the vessel and carried into one of the rooms in the building. Lyndell swiftly followed suit, as she had to continue her examination and further take care of it to prevent complications from arising.

"How is it? Did you find anything yet?" asked Klea. It was clear she was still really worried about Emery's situation.

Lyndell shook her head.

"The threads that make up this cocoon are made of pure energy. It's almost impossible for me to forcibly get my spirit force through. I can only do so much with my current abilities." Klea's face worsened at Lyndell's words. However, the latter had not finished speaking.

"However, I can say for the most part these threads are actually helping him rather than harming him as you fear." Glancing at the cocoon, she continued, "I'm afraid I won't discover more, I would need the alliance's facilities… I'm sorry."

Hearing this, Klea who had been anxious ever since finally took a deep breath and got her bearings together. A firm determination shone in her eyes as she spoke.

"If that's the case, we should return as soon as possible. We need to find help for him."

Upon hearing that, the red-haired girl who had been standing beside her let out a chuckle, causing Klea to turn her head. 

"This is why I never wanted to be in a relationship. It just makes people turn irrational." Ignoring the glare given to her, Annara continued, "Calm down, will you? Your boy over there wants us to help those survivors first, otherwise everything he has done would be in vain."

Klea closed her eyes and took another deep breath. When she opened it again, a calmness could be seen. "You're right. So what should we do now?"

Annara didn't answer and just turned to the other people present. Seeing this, Klea followed her gaze and also looked at Jinkan Nephilim. Facing the gazes of the two people, the latter simply smiled, "There's nothing you can do that we can't. So just stay here and don't make trouble."

Klea was annoyed by the Nephilim's arrogant words, but for Emery's sake, she tried hard to keep her cool.

A moment later, Annara received information from the bat familiar she released right after stepping through the portal and with it she could finally detect the coming threat.

"That thing, that stage 7 Abyss creature. It's near."

In response, Jinkan spoke in a calm tone. "Relax, I know. We're right on it."

Not long after, a dozen acolytes came flying into the building with orbiters. These people were the acolytes of Platoon 1. Those seen among them were Eeshoo, Abrafo, the three Nephilim, and several others Klea didn't recognize.

The strongest person amongst them, Eeshoo, looked as calm as ever. The man usually didn't say a word to anyone other than Jinkan. But then, to Klea's surprise, he looked at Annara and opened his mouth.

"The machine acolyte, Atlas, did he fall?"

As if she had expected the question, the red-haired girl nodded her head.

Eesho's expression changed for half a second before returning to his usual manner. Klea noticed it seemed her reaction was also noticed, as the atmosphere in the room quickly turned strange and awkward.

Fortunately, the awkwardness didn't last long as Jinkan quickly broke it by asking about the latest update of the situation. They didn't have time to waste, as what mattered the most was the threat coming from the north.

One of the people who had come with Eeshoo stepped forward and delivered the report.

He took out a small cube that showed a moving picture with a live visual of the coming hordes, while explaining.

"Having taken into account countless factors, the creature is expected to arrive in approximately 45 minutes. It is also expected to bring with it the largest horde of Abyss creatures we have ever seen."

Jinkan was silent for a while, before asking another question.

"What about the situation and time projection for the survivors?"

"98 percent of the survivors we collected have managed to get onto the transport ship. As for those who came from the east by third platoon are currently entering the eastern gates of our base, they are expected to take 2 and a half hours to 3 hours to successfully do the same thing."

Jinkan's expression still remained calm when she heard those words. After that, she turned to Abrafo - the formation expert in charge of the base's defensive formation - and said, "Go and bring down the east gate wall. That way, the survivors will be able to move faster."

Abrafo voiced his disapproval of Jinkan's orders. He argued such an action would create a fatal gap for the entire defense and would allow hordes of Abyss creatures to enter the base. If that happened, it would endanger the entire base.

However, Jinkan easily convinced the man by stating that there was not much need to defend the base anymore.

"As for the incoming hordes, their platoon will take care of it, we need not risk anything."

Such words annoyed Klea, however it was something to be expected from the Nephilim.

With this setting, the estimated time required was significantly accelerated by one hour. Jinkan then turned to Eeshoo, "We should be able to get at least half of them before the creature arrives, that's roughly 150,000 points. But if we want all of them, we need to buy time for them. It's about 30 minutes according to my calculations, so which one would you choose?"

"30 minutes… Yes, I will do it." Eeshoo said in the next sentence in a very confident tone. 

Jinkan quickly added, "You do know what I am asking right?"

"Yes, to hold down the stage 7 creature for 30 minutes. Yes, I'll do it… I'll hold it back."

Jinkan didn't second-guess his words and continued with the next question. "How many men do you need?"

Eeshoo replied calmly, "That creature has a strong psychic attack, not many people have the ability to withstand it. I'd prefer to go by myself."

This time, Jinkan refuted his words. "No, can't do. I will pick a few to back you up." Hearing that, Eeshoo didn't say anything else and just nodded his head.

Just like that, the final siege would be held just before the mission time reached zero.