Chapter 579: Back To Back.

While everyone’s attention was focused on Thoren, the situation on the defense line was becoming grim with each passing second.

The number of beasts pouring from the Abyss gateway showed no sign of decreasing; if anything, the tide was growing more intense.

Massive creatures continued flooding forward like an endless current. Their roars shook the ground beneath the soldiers’ feet as they surged toward the defense line.

Some were covered in thick scales; others carried fangs and claws capable of tearing through steel.

Among them were winged beasts, multi-headed beasts, and creatures large enough to crush several soldiers underfoot.

The defensive weapons kept firing.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Thermal weapons echoed across the battlefield, waves of scorching energy tearing through the incoming beasts.

Yet even with the military and the hunters on the wall combining their firepower, the tide kept advancing.

The soldiers were exhausted; their uniforms soaked in blood.

Some had suffered serious injuries; others had already fallen.

Medics moved frantically between them, dragging the wounded away while shouting for more supplies, but there were too many wounded, too many beasts, and no end in sight.

The General stood near the center of the wall, his expression growing grimmer as he watched.

"Keep firing!" His voice thundered across the battlefield.

"We need to stop as many as we can!"

The General was not naive to think, they could successfully defend against the beast tide. Many would enter the city but that was not his concern.

As long as they could hold back the majority of the beast tide, his mission would be considered successful.

The soldiers gritted their teeth and kept firing.

They were terrified, but none of them dared retreat. If the line collapsed, the beasts would flood into the city in waves.

Then, just as the soldiers braced for another wave, something strange happened inside the Abyss gateway.

The space around it began to twist inside out.

And slowly, a figure stepped out slowly and simply stood there for a moment.

"I’m back," he muttered, genuine happiness in his voice.

He dreamed of this day many times and now, he was finally back.

Back home.

The grin on his face couldn’t be hidden. He wanted to raise his head and screamed to the sky but he managed to control his impulse.

’I should control my image.’ He mused, grinning like a fool.

Taking a deep breath, he controlled his emotion and turned his head. Behold, the scene before shocked him to his core.

His smile faded as his eyes moved across the battlefield: the blood, the corpses, the defensive wall, the soldiers, and, worst of all, the beast tide itself.

Confusion and disbelief spread across his face.

’How could this be?’

Previously he had been too happy to notice the deadly battle before him. All he thought about was his successful return to the surface and how to meet his family.

And now...

He stared at the endless beast tide rushing toward the defense line and his eyes widening slightly.

’This shouldn’t be possible.’

He had entered the Abyss through this very gateway.

He knew how things normally worked, and a beast tide of this scale should never have appeared here, not without some kind of abnormal event.

Yet the scene before him was undeniable.

Thousands of beasts were rushing forward, trying to crush the army defensive wall and enter the city.

Looking at the defensive wall, it was already soaked in blood, soldiers fighting for their lives.

Instantly, his confusion vanished almost as quickly as it came.

There was no time to think about causes.

People are dying in the hundreds.

His hand moved, and a longsword appeared in his grasp.

The moment his fingers closed around the hilt, his entire presence shifted, the warmth and happiness gone, replaced by the cold determination of a fierce swordsman.

He took one step forward, then vanished.

Boom!

The ground where he’d stood cracked from the force and a streak of light flashed across the battlefield.

The nearest massive beast had no time to react before the sword tore through its body with ease.

Blood exploded into the air as the creature split apart.

He didn’t stop.

He didn’t check.

He didn’t look back.

What came was another strike.

Boom!

A second beast fell in two.

Then another.

Then another.

His movements were so fast the soldiers could barely track his figure, catching only flashes of sword light cutting through the tide.

Like a sword immortal descending into the mortal world, he moved through the battlefield with terrifying ease, cutting down the beasts as though they were nothing more than ants.

None of them survived a single strike.

Some tried to attack from the side, but their claws had barely reached him before a flash of light cut them down.

A winged beast dove from above with its jaws opening wide to swallow him whole, only for it to be cut in one strike and split from head to abdomen before crashing to the ground.

Another beast charged from behind; without even turning, he swung his blade backward and pierced its skull, dropping it instantly.

The beast tide that had been surging relentlessly toward the wall began to lose momentum. The soldiers watched in disbelief.

For the first time since the battle began, the beast finally met their match.

On the wall, a sergeant slowly lowered his rifle, staring at the battlefield as though he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.

"Who is that?" he muttered, the barrel still hot from continuous shooting.

Around him, other soldiers stared.

None of them were ordered to stop but unable to look away.

A single person was cutting through the beast tide faster than the entire defensive line could manage.

"Who is that?" Another soldier asked.

"I don’t know."

The questions spread down the wall.

The General stared at the battlefield too, disbelief written across his face. Thoren had already given a huge shock that he had yet to recover from. And now, another awakener ascended from the abyss, showing power that was impossible to fathom.

The General narrowed his eyes.

There was something familiar about the man’s appearance, but before he could place it, another change rippled through the battlefield.

The Abyss gateway trembled again, and every soldier turned toward it as the space around it twisted once more.

The General’s expression shifted.

"Another one?"

Slowly, a second silhouette emerged from the distorted rift, and this time the entire wall was silent.

The first figure was still cutting through the beast tide, yet someone else had just stepped out of the gateway behind him.

The soldiers exchanged glances, no one quite understanding what was happening.

One person returning from the Abyss was already unusual.

Two, almost back-to-back, was something else entirely.

The General’s grip tightened, his eyes fixed on the new arrival and his breathing grew heavier.

’What is happening?’ He couldn’t help but think.