The Guardian

Chapter 236: For a Few Weeks?

Shouts arose from all sides, and one voice rose above the others.

“Hold the line! Shoot!”

Ta-ta-ta.

A captain’s shout was heard by the people around him and the light combat vehicles fired as they fell back.

The paladins in the rear were with their shields protecting their comrades, but the captain’s expression was hard.

Behind him, in the direction where the old square and the portal were, everything was destroyed.

Black tentacles, like a root, were rising between the buildings and the corruption was so high that grotesque monsters were born.

Worst of all were the corpses of allies and enemies, they were corrupted and rose again.

They were not zombies, the ‘Chaos’ corrupted the bodies, giving birth to grotesque monsters that only sought to eliminate every living being.

‘Chaos’... It was divinity, it was a primordial energy that could change everything completely and that was coming out of the rip in the dimensional barrier.

What had appeared where the abyssal portal was a rip.

Using the abyssal portal as a medium, the tear was extending high into the sky, releasing monsters coming from the other side and, as if that wasn’t enough, it was also letting ‘Chaos’ in from the other side.

“Don’t look, just fight and evacuate!” ordered the captain in a serious tone.

He was an S-Rank, but just looking at that dark void where the Chaos was coming from made grotesque thoughts pop into his mind and his body felt sickening.

‘Don’t look at god’.

That sentence popped into his mind and Chaos, who was the closest thing to a god, was here.

Ta-ta-ta.

The captain heard the gunshots and ran another monster through with his sword, but another attacked and then another.

“Captain, we’ve got trouble!”

When they reached an intersection, a soldier gave his report, pointing down the other street where a group of goblins were running in their direction.

Behind them were dozens of grotesque monsters that could only be described as abominable four-legged creatures.

Among those monsters were some adventurers’ bodies that Chaos had corrupted and were moving while opening their mouths unnaturally.

The captain cursed his bad luck, and in an instant, made the decision.

“Shoot the monsters!” He ordered loudly.

Between stopping the goblins or the monsters, he chose the more natural option.

Ta-ta-ta.

*BOOM*

The machine gun sounded and the team’s mages cast several fire spells, while the captain swung his sword, throwing a slash that went toward the monsters.

The joint attack stalled the monsters and gave the goblins a chance to escape.

The tense captain, seeing the goblins approaching, raised his guard and looked at the shaman with a covered face leading the group of goblins.

“Do not attack the humans!” the shaman commanded the group.

The captain breathed a sigh of relief at those words.

Right now, he was thankful that he had gone to the church to be allowed to communicate and, most of all, he was thankful for that shaman’s reaction.

They could choose enemies, but Chaos affected everyone equally... While some entities could control that energy, no mortal could master it completely.

The captain again ordered the retreat, and everyone moved.

Without being able to advance too far, a rat with dozens of mouths across its body appeared in the street, chasing a huge spider with a human rider.

The tamer’s wounds were visible from afar.

The captain, even though there were too many monsters chasing that group, went ahead of the encounter and, to his regret, he was too late.

*BOOM*

A grotesque abomination with the head of a little devil that seemed to still be alive smashed a building, shattering everything to pieces.

Five meters high, a grotesque body made up of corpses, debris, and flesh corrupted by Chaos.

The little devil had been corrupted by Chaos, but it still had a certain level of intelligence to move, seeing all living beings as its enemy.

That grotesque abomination, with S-Rank strength, pierced the tamer’s stomach.

The captain tightened his grip on his sword, hesitating whether to attack and before giving him time, he raised his gaze to the sky.

Floating in the sky was a woman who, with one hand, was holding back the ripping of the abyssal portal and with the other hand, she pointed at the tamer.

“...”

Then, silently, time began to recede, healing the adventurer’s wound and bringing ‘life’ back to his eyes.

The pallor of Cardinal Najjar, who was using the powers of her god, became greater and the captain acted instantly.

Swinging his sword, he slashed at the abomination and got it to retreat long enough for the great spider to react, taking the wounded and its still stunned tamer with it.

The Abyssal Portal shuddered again, causing Cardinal Najjar to look forward again, holding back as much of the Chaos seeping through the rip as possible.

Elsewhere were Cardinal Auguste and Duke Kristoph doing the same, but a rip to the dimensional barrier was not something they could completely contain.

That they lost the support of an SS rank caused the tamer to be in trouble, but then buildings and debris rose up, forming an earthen battle golem.

The captain noticed that the shaman had created that golem, and instead of attacking the spider, that golem crashed of directly into the abomination, showing an S rank strength.

“Fall back!” ordered the captain with a raised tone and then, looking at the shaman and his group, he realized that that goblin had his eyes closed.

He had connected his consciousness with the golem that was now struggling covering his retreat and with every moment he was turning pale at the loss of magical energy.

Without hesitation, the captain ran towards that medium-sized goblin and charged her on his back, receiving the murderous gaze of the surrounding goblins

“Move if you don’t want to die!” the captain shouted, hoping the translation would do the trick.

And it did, as the goblins obeyed.

The captain kept running, feeling that the shaman he was charging was still holding the battle golem.

Retreating with the entire group, he noticed that in other streets there were other teams also fleeing and when he looked back, he noticed lines stretching across the sky.

The rip seemed to be growing, and the monsters were increasing in number.

While Chaos in its pure form could give strength to all those it affected, it totally distorted and corrupted.

Now it was the same... No entity controlled the Chaos of the outer void and at this moment it seeped through the rip.

The captain gave a serious look as he watched the golem suffer through another abomination and overhead, he noticed Duke Kristoph commanding Cardinal Najjar and Cardinal Auguste pointing to the abyssal portal.

“Reinforcements are already coming! Everyone retreat as quickly as possible. Constanta City will fall!”

Duke Kristoph’s voice boomed through the surroundings.

Reinforcements could arrive at any moment through the cosmos portals nearby, but the last words made everyone move faster.

“Run away, everyone run with all your might!” the captain shouted, and looking at the charging shaman, he ordered. “Make your people run away or they will all end up dead!”

The captain lowered the shaman to the ground, looking directly at him.

He noticed some female features noticing and realized it was a female goblin and from the look she gave him; it was calmer than her male counterpart.

She nodded in understanding and broke a crystal.

She was sending a message using that medium and...

“Retreat! Away from this place!”

Perhaps the common soldiers would hear guttural sounds, but the captain heard the voice clearly spread across the area and it was coming from the leader, who was close to Cardinal Najjar.

No, he wasn’t close, he was protecting her from all the abominations and creatures that came out of the abyssal portal or were thrown out of the void.

Did the Cardinal inform him that she had already saved his people?

That didn’t matter to the captain when he saw in the sky Duke Kristoph transform.

Recognized vampire of the Lineage of Cain, an ancient Vampire God who ended up dying during Terra nova times.

Those vampires were the only active lineage in that magical world, as they devoured all those who were not members of their lineage.

Lunatics, lustful, beasts or monsters... Called by different names, in the end, only one thing mattered, they were strong, extremely strong.

Duke Kristoph’s body changed shape and his body began to grow, the skin gained a grayish color and the ears grew, while the mouth increased in size, revealing fangs inside.

A pair of bat wings came out of the duke’s back and his body reached the height of two meters, becoming muscular and strong.

The robe did not tear, it simply changed size, adjusting to the new body shape.

Duke Kristoph smiled, revealing dozens of white fangs.

The look and presence of that vampire were not only powerful but fearsome.

From an SS Rank, with a simple transformation, he had reached SSS Rank... He was a calamity in every presence.

He was the one who led the Terranovian forces during the European-Demon War and commanded several SSS Ranks... He was the Duke of the Falion Empire, a vampire of the Cain Lineage.

He was a calamity.

The Duke opened his hand and magical energy that caused fear to those who felt it surged, then he pointed his hand at the monsters.

“[Gate to the Abyss]”

The duke’s voice was heard by all, despite being a whisper, and fear instinctively arose in all those who heard and watched as he cast his best-forbidden spell.

Behind the vampire’s back, a strange door appeared and when it opened, thousands of bats that became tens of thousands emerged and flew everywhere, devastating everything they touched.

They formed a black cloud... A plague that advanced devastating everything in its path.

Buildings fell as the debris was consumed, the earth disappeared, and the monsters ended up falling as the little bats consumed the flesh.

Before anyone knew it, half the city was swept away by the forbidden spell of a Vampire Duke who had lived over a thousand years.

Still, the rift trembled back.

From the abysmal portal, more strange creatures coming from the other side began to arrive one after another, while from the rift formed by the tear, Chaos seeped empowered monsters.

In that tear, the magical energy and Chaos gave life to dozens of monsters and creatures, as if forming an army to invade these lands.

“Reinforcements have arrived!” a soldier gave warning and then whirlwinds appeared through that area of death along with lightning.

When the captain looked at that individual, he realized that the former hero and one of the founders of the hero guild, the current director of the Hero Academy, Aaron Vincent, had arrived along with his apprentice.

From his expression, it was very certain that the battle would drag on for a long time... A battle against Chaos.

******

“Dodge and keep moving! Let’s go!”

Leslie heard the captain’s voice and ran as spheres of water began to be shot towards her.

On either side of the path, she had to cross were drones with devices that were launching spheres of water magic to hit her.

They were also hitting passing soldiers, testing their reflexes and quick reactions.

Leslie had to run with all her might, jumping and ducking to roll, then keep dodging.

In the middle of her path, a stone wall rose up, and she had to grit her teeth as she scaled it past that obstacle.

When she reached the top, she simply jumped to the other side, dodging a sphere of water, and when she hit the ground, she crawled as she watched spheres of water fly over her head.

The soldiers followed behind her, crawling through the mud as some of the water spheres hit each other, splashing them.

“Excellent soldier, Leslie!” the captain said as she reached the other side.

“Thank you, Captain!” Leslie replied, stepping into a firm formation and looking at the other soldiers.

Some were hit before crossing the wall by the water spheres, which made it difficult to climb the wall because they were wet and others didn’t duck just in time when crossing the wall and were hit hard until they fell into the mud.

Then, before that place, there were all kinds of obstacles in a long street that she had to cross.

She had already passed this challenge dodging air and stone balls, the former were silent and the latter was painful.

The water was fast and visible but made it difficult to run if hit and complicated passing all the obstacles.

An endurance test, where they tested reflexes and reaction speed while tempering the sense of pain.

Leslie, waiting for the small platoon, noticed how another soldier reported something to the captain and the latter opened the holographic clock, only for his expression to become serious.

When the platoon finished passing the test and was standing by fully steady, the captain approached.

“Apparently a tear in the dimensional barrier happened at the abyssal portal,” the Captain reported managing to stun everyone.

Leslie was the most stunned to hear those words.

She knew the mission was about to happen because of Aurora informing her something, but... A rip, it was something she had never imagined.

“The allied forces made an attack to control the abyssal portal and for unknown reasons it failed and the tearing happened. Right now, monsters are still coming from the portal and from the void, while most of Constanta City was wiped out, the losses so far...”

Leslie stopped listening until that part and, pulling her holographic watch out of her space ring, she looked at the news.

The news broadcasts ran videos of parts of the destroyed city and then other videos of the reinforcements fighting back against the monsters.

The allied forces, meanwhile, had reorganized by posting the losses publicly.

Leslie noticed in her group the hundreds of messages and without reading it, she felt a bad feeling and her body tensed.

Her hands trembled as she read some words that made her turn pale and, as if she wanted to verify it on her own, she entered the list of dead and missing.

When she read the first one, her expression became paler and then, when she got to the second one, she began to read aloud.

“Urfin, Meden, Siba, Alros, Dan, Amanda, Adala, Marius, Theodore, Aurora and Alice Campbell...” Leslie mumbled the names, drawing a blank.

Her feet moved towards the exit, ignoring her captain’s voice, but in the middle of her path, a man descended.

A man in his thirties dressed in a mage’s robes who looked at her with a serious and solemn expression.

Leslie had met him before and he was the person who paid the most attention to her and ordered the members of the army to give her more work, pushing her hard with all kinds of training.

Luukas Waris, an S-Rank earth mage.

Although he hadn’t shown himself, it was certain that this man was the one in charge of her ‘random reward’.

“Get back to training,” Luukas ordered, and seeing that she did not wish to back down, he stated. “You’re nothing right now. Do you think with your experience you’ll change anything? Do you think if you get out, you’ll change anything?”

Leslie was silent.

The words were cruel, but they were realistic... That man had surely reviewed her background and had known her personal relationships.

It was impossible to answer those questions... No, she knew the answer, and it was what made Leslie grit her teeth.

They had disappeared, that was what the authorities reported, but Cithrel reported clearly that their disappearance was related to the abyssal portal.

Could she do anything about it? No, she couldn’t.

Now that she came to think about it, it was certain that, if she got out of here and left, there was nothing she could do.

Her father would not let her participate in those battles, and even if she went over to get among the allied forces, she would be put far away from the battle because of her inexperience and lack of strength.

“Go back to your training and keep training. Now, with your ability, you can only continue training,” Luukas ordered, and stepped aside.

Making it clear that he would not stop her and it was now up to her decision.

Leslie stood in her place.

Feeling as helpless as when her companions almost died in the assault mission, the only difference was that now the feeling was worse.

******

“Let me go!” Nicole shouted, angrily and seeing a man’s arms crossed, she declared. “I can go with them! I’ll go with Rupert and Cesar!”

Emperor Victor heard those words and looked at Nicole, who was upset as she read the news.

“I’m strong and I’ve trained hard. I can help too!” Nicole said with a look full of will.

Victor laughed as he heard those words.

Her strong vigor in battle was showing, but now a flaw was let out... That vigor in an altered state of mind turned into recklessness.

“Train hard? For a few weeks? Please, you’re just like those who diet for a few days and expect results,” Victor said with a distinct sneer.

Nicole’s expression distorted.

“I’ll go, anyway. You can’t stop me,” the young woman said without hiding the solemn expression.

They were in Switzerland right now, where the Cernunnos Academy was located, and the news had already arrived.

Chaos was seeping into Constanta City, and above all, Aurora and Alice had disappeared into the abyssal portal.

When the news reached Cernunnos Academy, two S-Ranks had decided to enlist, being the same as Akira’s ‘Frozen Storm’ guild.

It was very certain that others who knew the sisters would also move, and that was why Nicole wished to go.

Victor knew all that, as he had been very well informed about those two sisters and had researched them to perfection.

Now Nicole wished to go, but she was getting confused about something.

Could he stop her?

“Yes, yes I can,” Victor replied, releasing his aura.

In an instant, Nicole fell to her knees on the ground and, although she struggled to get up, she couldn’t manage it.

Victor looked at the young woman.

Nicole had the courage and a strong will along with the ferocity of a fighter, and that was why he liked to train her personally.

However, there was one problem.

“I didn’t waste all these hours training with you for you to go and kill yourself in a stupid fight,” Victor said in a cold voice, managing to make Nicole turn paler.

He wasn’t throwing a bucket of cold water on her, with his pressure and his voice, he was leaving her in the middle of Antarctica.

How many hours was he spending training her?

They were quite a lot and, among all his tasks, training was present as a duty he did not neglect.

“Your Majesty, please don’t treat her that way,” Ersin intervened, appearing at his side.

The atmosphere disappeared along with the aura and Nicole could stand up, but she wasn’t able to because her legs were shaking.

“If what those who were present say is true... Then the abyssal portal swallowed Aurora and Alice,” Victor said in a serious tone and, looking at that young woman, he asked. “If you go, do you think you can change anything?”

“Yes...” Nicole answered, looking up.

A quick answer.

It wasn’t arrogance, even someone like her could make a change no matter how minuscule and insignificant it was.

However, Victor chuckled as he understood the young woman’s way of thinking.

“Ersin, summon a creature of Chaos,” Victor ordered with a serious tone.

His secretary obeyed, casting a high-level summoning spell and managing to bring forth a monster that looked like an orangutan with four arms and a mouth on its stomach.

It was Rank A and looked enraged, but chains of light trapped it and wouldn’t let it move.

It was a monster corrupted by Chaos and released an ominous presence while giving an eerie feeling.

“If you defeat it, I will send an SS Rank to participate in your place. They will make the difference,” Victor said with a smile.

Nicole’s eyes filled with vitality and getting up, she moved forward forcefully, taking the punch from her new enemy.

Victor looked at her for a moment and gave a smile.

The creature had four arms, so she was going to have a tough time.

Approaching the entrance, Ersin followed him.

“You treat her very well, Your Majesty. Do you really intend to send an SS Rank?” Ersin asked curiously.

“Jealous?” Victor asked with a flirtatious smile and, seeing Ersin’s expression quiver, he commented. “Don’t worry in my eyes, she’s a kid. Besides, I only have eyes for one woman.”

Looking serious and bright, with a flirtatious smile, his eyes did not leave Ersin’s.

“I hope that woman can put up with your personality, Your Majesty,” Ersin replied, and seeing Victor’s lips quiver, she added. “Gliss has managed to stop Érica Reynolds, who also tried to move.”

Hearing those words, Victor shook his head.

“It’s a nice friendship. Nice enough to send them to their deaths,” Victor muttered, with a serious tone and giving a look, he explained. “To your earlier question. Yes, I’ll send someone... Eva hasn’t been too bored? It would be great if she showed up now. ‘To pay for her crimes, she decided to help humanity at this desperate time.’ That’s a good headline.”

A ‘tear’ was serious business and was the worst outcome the Allied forces were trying to avoid.

If not controlled precisely, the tear could grow into a rift, then before they knew it, humanity would be facing another cataclysm.

Sure, humanity had its gods, and it was possible that they would move to try to fix the tear in the dimensional barrier, but if the gods of earth weakened, it meant that the barrier would weaken as well.

That would lead to an increase in magical energy, in the number of temporary and natural dungeons, among other problems that the scholars had to check on their own.

Now Constance City was swept by Duke Kristoph and together with the other SS ranks, they were preventing Chaos from spreading, but slowly they would start to retreat and before they knew it, another bloody battle could happen.

It would be a tough battle... No, it already had been and enough people died, including S-ranks, to retreat from that tear.

That rookies would try to go to that place was a joke to Victor... It was like giving troops to the enemy so that Chaos could corrupt them.

In this kind of apocalyptic environment, having the Queen of the North, who had led the mob, appear as someone who wished to ‘change’, was an excellent move.

“As for Aurora and Alice?” Ersin asked with a serious tone.

Victor was silent and shook his head.

“The last time someone entered the abyssal portal, it was sealed. And now creatures come out, but we don’t know if they come from the other side or from the ‘void’... In the end, it’s the same. They are on their own,” Victor replied in a serious tone.

If his acquaintance heard these words, it was hard to say what he would have done to him.

“Of course, the authorities have to move... If they are on the other side and there is a time difference between Earth and the other side, they have to act fast,” Victor said in a serious tone.

According to what he had read in those letters that the expedition group sent, it was that they felt the time differently.

The truth was that this issue was complicated, and there was not much to do.

They had to prepare for the possibility that the sisters would be on their own.