Emery looked at his hand which was currently holding the crystal glass that contained four tiny, glowing butterflies with mixed feelings.
It was like being trusted to hold onto a very precious treasure.
He then recalled what the female magus had told him.
"Commander, under no circumstances, should the lifeform be allowed to come out of the container," said Magus Bellain in a serious tone, her expression having returned to normal. "It is, after all, a spirit creature; it can only be contained with a special container such as this."
It was clear that the female magus had no idea that Emery could restrain the creature with his spell, let alone know that he could communicate with the spirit beast.
Though Emery was tempted to experiment with the four butterflies he just received, he knew that now was not the time nor the place to check if he could interact with them just like the one currently in his Spatial Space.
He opened his Spatial Space and put the crystal glass inside before heading out to regroup with his five companions.
"That took quite a while! What did I miss?" asked the red-haired girl who seemed to have been waiting anxiously.
"We need to get back to our base as soon as possible, so I'll explain on the way."
Seeing Emery's expression, Annara just nodded and followed him right behind. This time, apart from her and the other four, Magus Bellaine and her twelve remaining saint fighters also joined them on their return journey.
Without further ado, Emery opened a Spatial Gate to the direction where the Platoon 3 base was. As they entered the portal and made their way back, he began to explain how the meeting had gone and the outcome to the others.
There was a total of two-thousand five-hundred miles between Platoon 1 base and Platoon 3 base. It took Emery about twenty successful cast of Spatial Gate and around one and a half hour before he finally sensed the familiar area around the base.
As Julian reported in his message, the yellow plain beyond the base was crowded with an ocean of Abyss creatures. They were completely encircling the base from all directions and were trying their best to break through and lay their claws upon the survivors gathered inside.
"Let's give them a hand!" Emery said, and immediately all 18 figures beside him charged towards the sea of Abyss creatures.
Meanwhile, noticing the myriad spells that appeared in the rear of the Abyss creatures, Julian and the other acolytes in the base cheered loudly before swiftly joining the reinforcement by storming out of the base.
The situation suddenly turned into an all-out war, as two-hundred plus acolytes jumped off the walls and faced the Abyss creatures head-on.
BOOM! BAAMM!! Spllatt!! Spllaatt!!
While a battlefield appeared in the area just outside the base, Emery's group of 18 continued their assault so that they could cause further chaos amidst the hordes of Abyss creatures. They moved through the sea of Abyss creatures in a spear formation that allowed them to cut through hordes at high speed.
Leading the formation was the half-machine Atlas who with his overwhelming firepower blasted away the Abyss creatures that stood in its path, paving the way for the group. Right behind him and flanking his sides were Sigurd and Annara, both providing support and attacking any creatures that threatened to stop their trailblazer.
Emery, Magus Bellaine and the group of saint fighters ran right behind the three of them. They all brandished their weapons and cast spells one after another, culling the Abyss creatures that rushed over and wanted to tear them apart.
Facing this group of people, the Abyss creatures could do nothing but accept their fates of being killed.
After all, those who came with Emery this time could be considered as the strongest among their peers; Atlas's destructive spells that altered the terrain, the Titan's Sigurd's fierce strikes that shook the earth, Annara's fiery whips that claimed the life of several Abyss creatures at once, a group of top veteran fighters that synergize well with one another, as well as a bona-fide magus.
In just a little over an hour, the plain was quickly filled with the corpses of the Abyss creatures.
At the same time, a notification came into his mind.
[Day Nine has passed.]
[Personal Points Ranking]
[Rank 13 - 624,968 points]
[Squad Points Ranking]
[Rank 31 - 2,002,141 points]
[Survivors: 7,783,129]
[Time left: 0 days 23 hours 59 minutes]
[Acolyte casualties: 48]
In just 12 hours since Emery last saw the notification, nearly 2 million Andora natives have died while the toll of acolytes has doubled. Quickly, Emery dashed towards the base to meet up with Julian and the others.
"Thank god, you're all back at last," said Julian who was slighty out of breath leading the siege defense against the Abyss creatures. Noticing the group of unfamiliar people standing behind Emery, the Roman cracked a smile and said, "I see you brought more help with you."
Soon enough, the saint fighters and the newly arrived acolytes were stationed at various places across the base. Meanwhile, Emery and the others such as Julian, Roran, Anas, and Magus Bellain gathered to discuss what to do in the next 24 hours.
However, just before the meeting started, both Klea and Annara forced themselves to join the discussion. Understanding the two girls, Emery let them participate in the end; hopefully, with the two of them involved, things could go much smoother and faster.
After Emery explained what happened during the emergency mission on the Sacred Mountain, Julian went ahead and reported the details of everything that had happened during the last 12 hours of their absence.
The first thing was that all squads had successfully withdrawn from the three forwarding bases used to save the natives. The entire endeavor wasn't done without sacrifice though, as they, unfortunately, lost 5 acolytes during the chaos.
But on the other hand, there were almost three million survivors who had been rescued and gathered, leaving the main base fully packed down to the corner of the underground cave. Luckily, they only needed to wait another 24 hours before it was all over, so the survivors would just have to hold on until then.
After that, Magus Bellaine explained the evacuation procedure in detail so that there were no mistakes during execution. To put it simply, because of the mid-test, the transport would only be accessible until the last six hours of the mission.
The platoon was expected to move all three million survivors before that time limit in order to receive the necessary points before operating the transport to leave the planet. Luckily for them, their transport was only ten miles away from the base.
There should be enough time to move all the survivors when the time comes.
"Alright, now we only need to defend this base for 24 hours, whatever it takes!"