Chapter 196: City Apocrypha

Chapter 196: City Apocrypha

She would have been excited if not for her fathers next words.

“The vanguard will be setting off ahead of schedule,” Lord Sinwen said while her mother looked on with a smile. “Astrid, you’ll be with the rearguard to reinforce the Apocrypha command. If it falls, we will have no foothold within the city. Your... army, will remain here on Rebirth for defense.”

Astrid understood. She wasn’t yet strong enough to join the grand nobles and her eldest brother. Gritting her teeth, she nodded. She gave the order to Kreka, and the Great No-Eyed One to remain on Rebirth.

Astrid wasn’t disappointed with having to be in the rearguard. Astrid knew how important it was, no, she was annoyed that she still didn’t have the strength to help her mother, or father. Despite her progress being terrifying.

Once Astrid understood, they gave Kaylan a few orders, then they moved. Each of them had unique skills to move. Lord Sinwen stepped in the air, as if he was lord of the skies. Milana stood atop a dark cloud with crows flying all around her, while Tennyson simply stood on water from his mana control.

“My sweet daughter.” Eli grabbed hold of Astrid in a tight hug. “Don’t do anything rash, okay?”

“Mum.” Instead of fighting it, she leaned into the embrace. Accepting it. Astrid took everything in, from the smell of her gentle perfume, to the warmth she provided. “You know me. How can I possibly cause trouble?”

“Oh you always find a way.” Eli smiled in response. “Take care.”

She leapt up, causing the entire battleship to groan in protest. She was about to fall back down, but Lord Sinwen caught her. Her mother didn’t have a movement technique.

They all moved at high speed, tearing through the air. Crashes from the sound barrier rocked her eardrums and in the blink of an eye, they disappeared into the horizon.

From where Rebirth was located, the city wasn’t too far away. It was already fast approaching the end of the year, and the higher ups were already preparing for the city expedition. Close, but it would still take the warship a couple days to reach their destination.

Astrid had already told her father that the awakening of the Leviathan would take three days. Of course, that was just their estimation. If it was sooner, then... Astrid shook her head. She had to remain positive. Positive that they would make it in time to stop them.

The trip to the city was uneventful. A few hundred spawn were slaughtered on the way, but Astrid didn’t even have to lift a finger. Well, not that she usually did anyway as she relied upon her psychic powers, but it was because of the Leviathan’s Fury.

Her cannons obliterated anything that got close. Of course, it wasn’t alone either. They were in a convoy of hundreds of different warships and together, they were the rulers of the seas.

The Leviathan’s Fury and its convoy rested a good distance away from the bubbled city below. One, one couldn’t enter from the top as death would be obvious from the fall, and two, apparently the headquarters lay to the south.

Kaylan turned around from the bow of the ship. “We are the back-up for this mission. We provide provisions and information travel for the vanguard. Some of you will protect the information channels back to Rebirth, others will be on the walls.” His voice was cold, emotionless, but for Astrid, she was already long used to it.

He continued, “Don’t go thinking you’re a hero, because you’re not. Most of you have never entered a city before, so let me tell you this; it’s entirely different down there. Monsters have evolved beyond normal means. They’re bloodthirsty and will stop at nothing to rip you to shreds.”

Astrid and her team focused on the left side of the semi circle wall. She focused on creating lances made of psychokinetic energy. Just from their tough hide and high level, she could tell that she needed something with more penetrative power.

The lance formed in her palm in an instant. Blasting it forward, it screeched through the air, and pierced the apes skull. It continued through and thudded into the beast behind it.

The monster looked down at its wound. Red seeped down, but then its glowing green eyes gazed at Astrid.

Astrid snorted. She grabbed hold of its eyes and pulled them out with a powerful yank. A dual, simultaneous explosion followed, but even it didn’t manage to destroy its skull. The unique effect granted by her Eyeball Pulling ring was no longer enough.

Amongst her team, it was her and Daniel who killed the most. Astrid because of her overwhelming strength, and Daniel since he could bypass whatever natural armour they had thanks to his unique skill.

Like a knife through butter, Daniel’s blade sliced an ape from armpit to shoulder in a blink of an eye.

Astrid noticed that her side was the weakest. Utilising her mana without care, she managed to hold them back. She was entirely caught up in the war, and before she knew it, two whole hours were spent massacring the beasts.

Mana container running on empty, the battle stopped. The retreating screams of apes, and then silence took over as they disappeared into the distance.

Taking a breath, she started regulating her mana, speeding up the regeneration process. But her mind twitched. Something was approaching from a distance, and it was big.

It wasn’t just her that thought so. Since this was a city expedition, there were a lot of people that were stronger than her. She even remembered a lot of their faces from different balls they had attended.

Many of them were nobles, but there were still a lot of commoners amongst them in their team. After all, strength wasn’t discriminated against if they could achieve it.

Hands were readied on their weapons, mana swirled. They were all preparing for whatever was coming.

Stomp after stomp, it approached. A storm of green mana erupted from the distant monster as if it was the centre of a storm.

It didn’t take it long for it to rear its enormous head over the battlefield. The ape was the size of a multistoried building.

Roaring, the air groaned in protest. Astrid hurried to erect a barrier and so did the other mages to protect the ears of everyone behind the wall.

It grabbed hold of a rock, then threw it forward in a haze of green. In an instant, it blasted a hole straight through the solid wall that they had created, sending people flying. The wall broke, sending shrapnel into the surroundings, some embedding into flesh.

The monster approached.