Chapter 461: Reinforcements

Auric signaled a retreat to Song Xue, Maya, and Stella. Meanwhile, Katarina headed straight to Mathias.

"Sir!"

"!!!" Mathias, who was fighting the Rank 6 beast, couldn’t help but frown.

The Rank 6 beast instantly took action and shot its ability toward Katarina, but Mathias immediately reappeared in front of her and blocked it. "What are you doing here?"

"We are going to retreat, establish a second defense line, and gradually move to the southeast side."

"We can still hold them back here. We shouldn’t fall back so quickly."

Katarina understood it. Since it was a dome, the closer they were to the edge, the more it would act like a funnel. They would soon be completely surrounded, with their backs against a wall.

However, Katarina said, "In the worst-case scenario, Auric will force open the barrier and allow us to get out."

"He can do that?" Mathias was dumbfounded, though Katarina couldn’t see his face because he kept facing the Rank 6 beast and launching attacks to counter it while talking.

His ability might be suppressed in this ruin, but it didn’t mean the gap between the Rank 6 beast and Mathias would disappear.

Mathias didn’t expect Auric to be able to do such a thing. It was a secret, but this was the only way to make Mathias comply.

"No wonder why that boy didn’t sweat even when the beast wave came." Mathias scoffed. "Understood. Let’s go!"

Mathias unleashed his attack one more time to push back the Rank 6 beast before retreating with Katarina.

Song Xue was also confused about the reason, but Auric didn’t plan to say anything to her. She had no choice but to comply, thinking Auric had a plan.

As they fell back to the second defense line, they had an easier time catching their breath. In a way, they could really hold out for another thirty minutes.

However, Auric was merely waiting for the reinforcements coming from the Song family. He didn’t plan to reveal his secret unless it was truly necessary. At the same time, if he exhausted all their energy here, the Song family would have the upper hand after they rescued them.

Eventually, they reached the last defense line.

"Auric, what’s going on?" Song Xue asked. She had no choice but to leap to his building to demand an explanation. They had been falling back for no reason.

Auric asked, "We’re waiting for the reinforcements."

"What?" Song Xue was baffled. She didn’t expect that Auric, despite having all that ability, actually put so much hope in the reinforcements.

She thought that Auric needed a bit more backbone and should show his resolve as a man. However, Auric had calculated everything. When they fell back to the last defense line with their backs against the barrier, they had fought for 26 minutes. They could last for about twenty minutes, so if no reinforcements came, he would bail out and consider the Song family as a disappointment.

However, Auric suddenly turned around as though he noticed something.

"What?"

Auric’s expression turned solemn. "I guess even the Sword Saint loves to watch you suffer a bit."

Lindwurm actually told him that he had sensed a powerful energy in the distance. It was stationary energy, meaning that the Sword Saint had actually arrived some time ago and had chosen to observe the situation first.

"What?" Song Xue was startled. "My master? What do you mean? No one is here!"

Auric simply looked into the distance and said, "Is this the country’s stance?!"

"Wha—!" Song Xue was confused, but before she could react, multiple lights shot out from the distance.

They were not actually light. Instead, they were swords made of pure white energy.

The swords entered the ruin. The energy from the barrier affected it a bit, but these swords were more than strong enough to withstand the barrier for a split second and hit the beasts.

A massive white light soon flew toward the barrier and stopped right outside the barrier.

"!!!" Song Xue finally realized that Auric wasn’t lying. Her master was already here.

"Now, now. I’m just trying to understand the situation instead of recklessly charging in. After all, even after living for a hundred years, this is the first time I have seen a newly formed ruin." The Sword Saint smiled gently.

Auric knew it wasn’t true. If Lindwurm didn’t warn him, the Sword Saint would probably wait a bit longer until they really couldn’t hold it anymore.

"I’m quite surprised by your senses. Well, since I’m already here, I might as well clear them out." The Sword Saint smiled.

He raised his sword above his head. Numerous swords made of pure white energy formed around him. "Sword Rain."

All those swords flew inside the ruin and struck down the beasts.

"!!!" Maya and Stella widened their eyes when all those swords easily killed all the beasts they were facing.

Even Mathias frowned and muttered, "Even the Sword Saint has come..."

"The Sword Saint?" Katarina turned around to catch a glimpse of the Sword Saint.

A Rank 7 human rarely appeared in public. Even the Joker was shrouded in mystery, so it was hard to just catch a glimpse of them. During the training program, she was lucky to watch Joker briefly clashing with the Rank 7 beast. This time, she was fortunate to see the Sword Saint.

In that instant, she understood why Song Xue was superior. Although they were in a different form, the Sword Saint was known as the master of a thousand swords.

He really summoned all those blades and controlled them like she controlled her bullets. Song Xue did the same, but using guns.

*Roar!*

*Roar!*

The Rank 6 beast noticed the strength of the Sword Saint and immediately jumped to the top of the building, ignoring Mathias.

It hopped over a few buildings before launching itself into the sky, planning to hit the Sword Saint.

"What a foolish beast." The Sword Saint didn’t even spare the Rank 6 beast a glance.

The Sword Saint simply swung his blade to the side without even bothering to look.

The Rank 6 beast released all its energy and struck whatever was in front of it. The two energies clashed and produced a massive shock wave, but the clash only lasted for a second before the sword energy slashed through the beast’s claws and its body in succession.

"!!!" Katarina widened her eyes in shock. She never thought a Rank 6 beast would be this easy to kill.

Auric, on the other hand, focused more on the Sword Saint’s appearance. As her father said, Rank 7 humans would undergo a mutation in their body.

Although the Sword Saint looked similar to a human, a big coat actually hung on his shoulders. It was to hide the tail growing from his back. He wore long sleeves because there seemed to be something like a scale on his arms and body.

In a way, everyone would look like him when they reached Rank 7. They might create their own bloodline after reaching Rank 8.

"!!!" Auric widened his eyes as he thought, ’Wait. Don’t tell me... If you reach Rank 9, will you create a new race? Those who have elves as their avatars would have an elven bloodline, which would be activated when they reach Rank 8.

’Then when they reach Rank 9, they will become the progenitors of elves or something? Their bloodlines will carry the same thing, and those who are born from them will be elves or something.’

Auric thought about the Age of Gods.

’Does this mean Maya is Nyx’s descendant? But all humans have different avatars. Or maybe that’s not the case. They have simply been mixed so much that their blood has all races in it. The avatar manifests simply because that is their most dominant gene.

’In other words, Maya has all those genes from elves, dwarves, giants, and other races, but the most dominant one is the gene from Nyx? What about Katarina... a golem? How? Do golems reproduce?’

Auric ended up pondering a big question that he didn’t even know whether it was actually important to him.

Nevertheless, the situation was quite safe, so he could finally rest easy.

The Sword Saint levitated right outside the barrier, looking at Auric. "So, boy. What are you going to do now?"

Auric smiled and said, "There might be more beasts coming, so I will have to find the exit. If you can just stop any beasts from coming in for a while, we can come out."

When the Sword Saint was about to accept, Song Wenling rushed over. "Song Xue!"

"!!!" Song Xue recognized her father’s voice. Song Xue politely lowered her head. "Father."

"What happened?" Song Wenling asked. He could feel the tremendous energy from the barrier, so he knew they were inside the ruin when the barrier was formed.

"I’ll give you the report later." Song Xue nodded. She really needed to leave this ruin first.

The Sword Saint chuckled. "Well, I’ll stop all the beasts that try to come in. So find the gate and leave. Surely, you can do it, right, boy?"

"If there is no path, I shall make the path. There is no gate I can’t open." Auric nodded.

"You are a hundred years too early to play with those kinds of words." The Sword Saint simply leaped to the top of the ruin and sat down. Numerous swords then formed around him as if they were ready to kill any beasts that dared to approach.

Of course, Auric knew that the top of the ruin simply gave him the best view of what he was doing with the gate.

But it looked like there was no other choice. He really had to start searching for the gate.