Chapter 192 – Escape

As Dream was preparing to head up, the class 4's in the sky were continuing their battle. 

They had been steadily losing their advantage and building up fatigue, something that would be their demise if the situation didn't change. However, as Luna was about to talk to Dream about this, some information was sent to her mind from Sophia.

"Railguns..."

*Zip!*

Right as she spoke in surprise, Luna heard a projectile sail past her. The next moment, she could see a demon be blown to bits. 

That was only the first one though. After a few seconds, 14 more projectiles were launched seemingly from out of nowhere. All of them had a target, and all of them obliterated a demon. 

The other class 4's were baffled by this new development, but had no trouble going with it. Their load was already eased greatly with several demons being killed. 

For the next several minutes, the projectiles kept coming and demons kept dying. They took care of the excess demons, allowing people to safely focus on their own few demons. Seeing this, Luna nodded and let out a deep breath. 

"...*sigh* Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"Huh?"

Suddenly, Luna heard a familiar voice from behind her. She glanced back as she fought over a dozen demons and saw Dream flying towards them, armor and all.

"Dream? But you..."

"I'm here to help. Don't worry about the Tree."

"...Okay."

Nodding, Luna smiled and gladly received the extra help. Dream quickly jumped in and took control of some loose demons.

Like that, the balance between the two sides was corrected, and everyone was able to maintain a strong pace while not draining their energy too fast. This went on for 10 more hours, bringing them to the 25th hour.

Dream went around the battlefield acting as an invisible guardian. He would keep track of everyone's battles and constantly intervene, hurting or killing the demons. This allowed them to maintain an overall advantage against the demons, and it eased everyone's load greatly. While that wasn't as much the case for Dream who had to output large amounts of energy, he could handle it better than most.

This advantage wasn't able to be maintained forever though. When they passed the 25th hour, more and more demons started piling over. They had never stopped their advance, and it seemed like the tougher opponents were in the rear of the army. 

More and more batches of class 4 demons came over, and it forced them to keep on fighting and increasing their energy output. Once again, their advantage started steadily decreasing, and Dream could see the fatigue that most others had built up. 

For some, their auras wavered, their breath was ragged, and some had heavy injuries. There were many that died as well, and of the remaining 85 or so, nearly half were on their last legs, and Dream knew they wouldn't last much longer, especially with the increasing difficulty.

'Right when we need them most too.'

Dream shook his head as he started devising another plan.

'Sophia, how's the battle down below going?'

[Good for the most part. Although the demons have pushed out of the entrance, they haven't made it past the mile mark. They're being held there.]

'Mm. They were never my worry. Can we spare more platforms?'

[That should be fine.]

'Then bring up as many as possible. I'll also send out the tired class 4's.'

[Understood.]

With a word, Sophia gave orders to another 20 platforms. With that, there were 15 left in the city to defend, and all of them had even more work to do.

But now there were more platforms up above to take on some of the pressure. They would turn demons to meat paste, or at the very least, take out a huge chunk of their bodies. No matter what, the railguns were a force to be reckoned with. 

When the railguns arrived, Dream also told his weak allies to step back and recover. They didn't hesitate to take the chance to recuperate, and 40 of them left the battlefield. 

While this meant that each person had to deal with more demons, the additional railguns kept killing, which eased the pressure greatly. They just had to hold on for long enough and wait for a projectile to rip their enemy to shreds. 

The balance wasn't steady though, and it ever so slowly tilted in the demons' favor. Whenever someone didn't kill a demon fast enough, it meant there was one more to deal with as another batch appeared. One or twice wouldn't be too big of a deal, but 10 times would. The demons steadily built up their resistance, and Dream had to keep increasing his energy output, as did the girls. Even they were starting to get tired. 

.............

[Amost done!]

Sophia shouted excitedly as she monitored the Tree growth. 

Currently it was the 36th hour, and the Tree was fully grown. Its branches and roots fully encompassed the Haven, creating an impenetrable magical and physical barrier that could be controlled however Dream saw fit. 

However, there were still 2 more hours to go until the whole thing was done. This was to allow the enchantments between the Tree and city to finish merging. Only then would it be totally complete, and only then would its power truly reach the unimaginable height Dream needed from it. 

Right now, there were over 1 million people in the upper dwarven city, mostly class 2's. They were all gathered around the wall that defended against the entrance. This was so that they properly attracted the demons, and their help wasn't actually all that significant.

Everyone defended well against the demons as a collective though, forcing them back at the 2 mile mark. They couldn't move any farther than that. The class 4 battle was another story though.

After a decently long rest, the weaker class 4's had jumped back into the fray, and at the time it had been a good help. But as the battle went on, the situation became more and more irreversible. The demons that had gathered amounted to 150, and the humanoids were steadily killed off leaving only 60 people left of the original 100+. The rest were dead, and the only thing standing between the death of the rest was the unrelenting attacks of the most powerful people there. 

The remaining 60 class 4's were the most powerful in the world. They consisted of the animal, elven, and even dwarven Ancients. The old monsters fit this bill too. As for the others besides Dream and the girls, they were the stronger class 4's that came from the human Empires like the Mercenary Empire ruler, the Sword School president, and the Mountain's director. Not only that, but the Pope of the Church was there too alongside a few other more powerful cardinals. 

All these people were the true ruling class in this world, people who could stand above all out of sheer power. They were the ones who leveled above level 360 and approached the highest levels of the class 4 realm. While there were others that hovered around level 340, those people numbered less than the ones who stood above. Most people at that level were killed off under the relentless attacks by the demons. Only people like Idona and Ciroc survived. Idona had high potential in the first place, becoming a class 4 in less than 100 years. She was able to grow immensely with the pressure from the demons. And Ciroc was never weak, having S level strength and stats. 

Then there were Dream, Luna, and Iris. These three were outliers that could fight against the Ancients despite being at the lower end of the class 4 realm. Well, only Dream could be considered at the lower end. Luna and Iris were already approaching level 360 from all the high level demon-hunting they had done.  

Despite all this though, they were all being pushed back. More and more demons arrived, and the more arrived, the less they could kill. It was a vicious downward spiral that they couldn't pull themselves out of. But they didn't necessarily need to.

They just needed to hold off until the enchantments were complete. They absolutely could not allow the class 4's to attack the city before then. Luckily, after the tree finished its growth, Aegis was able to spare much more power and send it to him, boosting his combat ability once more. That was the only consolation though. The battle was still hard fought.

[1 hour!]

Sophia shouted as she counted down. Seeing the timer, Dream gave an order.

'Start moving everyone down below into the Haven.'

[Understood.]

With that, Sophia started sending notifications to all the soldiers in the upper dwarven city. Some bots also went over and started herding all the people, moving them off the wall and down into the pathway that led to the Haven. 

However, around this time, the class 4 demons started pushing harder. They had accumulated to around 190, and some were attempting to slip by them and attack the city. They obviously couldn't allow this to happen and were gradually pushed back towards the cave. 

Them getting pushed back though allowed even more demons to pile on them. Not long after they hit the 1 hour mark, a few more class 4's died. They now had 53, and that number was steadily decreasing as the demon count increased. 

'Shit...'

Dream cursed as they were pushed down into the cave. Demons were constantly trying to slip through them, but with his quick reactions, they were able to prevent that. However, when they only had 40 minutes to go, the demon class 4 count reach 240. Everyone was starting to reach their absolute limit. 

'...Get the rest of the railguns over here.'

[The demons in the cave won't allow that.]

"...Scarlet! Take care of the demons down below!"

"Alright!"

Yelling in response, Iris spread out her corrosive mana to fill up the entire cave. When it did, the hundreds of thousands of demons that were charging through started disintegrating. 

And with that obstacle gone, the railguns were allowed to move away from the wall and go up the empty cave to support. Not only that, but all the bots and turrets followed.

Soon, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and guns appeared behind them, and as soon as their line of sight was established, they fired upon the class 4 demons.

*DSH!*

The guns all created streaks in the air that instantly landed upon the class 4's, expertly weaving between the humanoids. However, most of them were small arms fire, and they weren't able to severely injure the demons in only one shot. This was especially true since the demons could employ magical or physical shields that blocked the majority of the projectiles. 

However, it was definitely effective harassment, and it eased some of the pressure. 

But the demons just kept on coming. More and more class 4's appeared by the minute, and they soon approached 300 in number. 

At the 20 minute mark, there were 46 humanoids left, and they had been pushed all the way back to the bottom of the cave. 

'Damn! Are the people all down the hole?!'

[Yes. The dwarven city is empty.]

'Good! Collapse the tunnel!'

[Understood.]

Quickly carrying out her directions that were already planned for, Sophia activated thousands of devices that lined the walls of the pathway down to the Haven. After they slightly glowed, the metal that lined the walls disassembled into large pieces and flew themselves down the path. They also activated magic within them that collapsed the dirt, filling up the tunnel. 

Soon, the over 4 mile long tunnel was collapsed totally unbeknownst to the demons, cutting off the only entrance to the Haven. When it was, Dream sighed in relief. 

'Now comes the hard part.'

Dream narrowed his eyes that looked at the timer. There were 10 minutes left. However, there were also over 300 demons, and most of his machinery support had been destroyed. More humanoids also died. Even Dream was running low on energy. He had been working in overdrive for a while, trying to pick up the slack of the deceased, but his soul didn't really like that. Even his gray mist had been eaten into with how much energy Iris was sending to him and Luna. 

But now, it was about time to enact his final plan. He had been preparing for this moment for a while. 

"Everyone! It's almost time to leave!"

Dream spoke to the remaining 40 class 4's over the bracelet, ensuring the demons couldn't hear the conversation.

"In 5 minutes, we're all going to escape on my ship!"

"But what about the demons here?!"

"They'll be taken care of! Just do as I say, and we'll all get out of this alive! Now, wait for my signal."

Dream gave one last order and they all nodded. The fight continued with everyone giving their last drops of energy. 

Soon, the time came. Dream gave Sophia an order.

'Blow it!'

[Detonating explosives.]

*BOOM*

With a signal, explosives that were embedded in the ceiling of the Dwarven city went off, sending tremors through city. Thousands of tons of dirt all came crashing down, and the big blue sky above them sent down pillars of light. 

'Launch the bomb!'

Dream gave another order, and without words, Sophia sent a signal to the Orbital railgun in space above them. 

This was the big finale of Dream's plan. He was going to seal off the existence of the Haven with a nuclear bomb! And not just one, but 12!

The nukes were soon launched, and once they were, everyone was put on a clock. They either escaped, or died with the demons. And this is exactly when Dream gave the signal to everyone.

"Now! To the ship!"

Dream shouted into the channel once more. With that order, everyone gave one last shove to the demons they were fighting and suddenly turned away from them, going full speed towards a certain location in the city that had been marked beforehand. There sat a ship aimed at the sky that was just waiting to explode with power. It was a special ship too, created by Dream just for this occasion. It boasted the strongest defensive abilities and speed of any ship he had ever created.

With that last shove, they created space between them and the demons. Nobody looked back as they shot into the ship. 

Once inside, the enchantments within targetted them and locked them in place with mana. Nobody even had the power to resist the enchantments as they were so weak, not that they would anyway. 

Within mere seconds, everyone was boarded. The thrusters of the ship activated and went full blast. However, there was a problem. 

'The demons are gonna stop us...'

Dream thought as his mind was accelerated. When he scanned around them, he saw the few hundred class 4 demons charging towards them from the side. They hadn't been able to get them off their tail for long anyway, and now, the demons were about to stop the ship from even getting off the ground.

Not only that, but there were more class 4's coming down from the ceiling. They had noticed the explosion and the hole it created, and decided it was a better route than the cave. Even the weaker demons were throwing themselves down the hole, causing the sky to literally rain demons. 

Seeing all this, Dream knew that it would be impossible to escape just by flying out. 

'Guess I was too optimistic.'

Shaking his head, Dream unlocked himself from the ship and quickly left it, flying outside. 

"Aegis!"

"My lord!"

When outside, Dream let out a mighty shout. It instantly garnered a response, and in only splits of a second, Aegis's heart left the Tree and appeared next to Dream's soul. Moments later, unprecedented power exploded out from his body like a magic bomb.

"Launch the ship!"

[Roger!]

Dream gave the order as he activated his skills to their utmost. His influence spread for miles around, and all the demons around them were not only stopped in their tracks, but blown away from the launch path of the ship. However, this took a huge toll on his soul, and he immediately felt like passing out. 

But it wasn't for naught. While the demons were blown away, the ship blasted off into the sky during that narrow window with sonic booms, shockwaves, and streaks of plasma. In only seconds, it escaped into the atmosphere with all the class 4's on board. 

With that, Dream was in the dwarven city surrounded by demons that were charging back at him, all alone. Well, at least he thought he was.

"You don't really think you can send us off like that, do you?"