The Author’s POV

Chapter 280: Return [1]

Clang—!

The moment my sword met the core, a dull metallic sound rang out as my sword vibrated from the shock. Accompanying the sound was a small ripple that began to spread all over the Monolith. 

As the ripple spread, all forms of noises began to stop, as countless eyes directed themselves towards me. 

Crack—!

Not long after, a subtle cracking sound rang out. Lowering my head, terrifying energy enveloped the area around me, making it hard for me to breathe. 

"Hueeek" 

A strange noise escaped from my mouth as I tried my best to breathe. Unfortunately for me, the more time passed, the more difficult it became for me to breathe. 

That was to be expected though.

Compared to back in the dome, the core here was of a higher grade. If back then it took multiple <S> ranked heroes to stop containing the explosion, this time, <S> ranked weren't enough. This type of explosion required the aid of multiple <SS> ranked individuals. 

The pressure was too terrifying. 

"Haaa..haaa.." 

Even then, under everyone's stares, and powerful pressure, I remained calm.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly started circulating the mana inside of my body. More specifically, towards the ring on my hand. 

The ring was something that I had gotten from Luther, and it was the same ring that Thibaut had.

The Monolith ring. 

The ring that teleported people to the Monolith, or more specifically the VIP portal area. The room that I had been to previously.

It was because of the ring in my hand that I did not worry about the aftermath of destroying the core. As long as I had it, I could quickly escape from a dire situation. 

'Come on, hurry up!'

Even then, it required some time to activate. 

Channeling my mana and staring at the ring on my finger, I prayed that it worked faster. Time was tight, and I knew that right now, my life was hanging by the thread. 

If in the next seconds the ring did not work, then everything would be over. 

"How dare you!"

Suddenly, a thunderous roar that shook the building reverberated. Startled, I looked towards the distance.

For a split second, my heart stopped, and my eyes blacked out. 

My breathing which was already rough became harder. With my hands on my face, as I lifted my head and stared into the distance, the first thing I saw was a pair of cold and chilling eyes that looked back at me with unprecedented bloodlust. 

'I'm going to die.'

Upon meeting those eyes, the only thing I saw was my imminent death.

'This is it'

I thought as I stared into those eyes that seemed to be able to see through my very soul. Never before had I felt death so near to me. Not even when I was trapped inside of the lab for eight months. 

"No! I can't die!" 

For a split second, I had almost given up. However, recalling everything that I had gone through to get to where I was, I felt indignant. How could I die like this?

There was no way! 

Clenching my teeth, and snapping out of my delusion, I found that blood was falling from the side of my mouth and eyes. Even then, not once did I stop channeling the mana inside of my body. 

My eyes never separated from Mu Jinhao in the distance.

Glaring back at him, I suddenly watched as his body disappeared and reappeared a couple of meters away from me. A small smile appeared on my lips as I watched him reappear not far from me. 

He was too late. 

Suddenly, the ring on my finger glowed, and my body slowly turn into fine particles as all my senses disappeared. Then, under Mu Jinhao's terrifying glare, my body slowly started to fade away. 

"Huaaaaa!" 

The last thing I heard before I lost all of my senses, was Mo Jinhao's blood-curling scream. Then, everything turned back and my body disappeared completely. 

SHUUUUA! 

***

Moments before.

Standing behind Amon, with heavy breaths, Monica muttered.

"Haaa…Haaa…why aren't they coming?" 

By now the armor on her body had become extremely faint, and her hair was a complete mess. With one of her eyes closed and with blood dripping down from the forehead, Monica was on her last rope. 

In her hand was a white orb that pulsated in a rhythmical manner, with threads of mana encircling it.

It was the teleportation artifact that could bring them back to the Union. 

For a while now Monica had been injecting her mana into the orb. By now, she was close to activating it, but there was a problem. The other Union members had still not arrived yet. 

Staring at Amon who was standing in front of her, Monica's voice raised. 

"Damn it, Amon. Didn't you tell them to retreat?" 

"I did." 

Amon weakly shot back as he held onto the black shield in front of him. Just like Monica, his state was also not good, as his body was riddled with injuries. In fact, it was terrible. 

Though others couldn't see it, Amon could feel that most of his internal organs had been damaged to the extreme. He estimated that it would only take one more move from either Tasos or Mu Jinhao to kill him. 

To make matters worse, the shield in his hand was now filled with cracks. Any minute from now, and he estimated that the shield would give out. They were pressed for time. 

"Damn it!" 

He cursed as he thought of his circumstances. 

Despite the fact that he was called the unbreakable shield, under Tasos's and Mo Jiahao attacks, his shield which was famed for being sturdy enough to withstand the combined attack of multiple <SS> ranked heroes at once, was starting to break. 

This was the first time it had ever happened to him, and it came off as a shock. 

"What should we do?"

Disrupting Amon out of his thoughts was Monica who worriedly muttered. 

"If they don't come back soon, what should we do?"

From how things were, they were not going to last any longer than a minute. Yet, there were still no signs of the other members showing up. 

Amon knew this well, hence why after hesitating for a bit, he firmed his mind and said. 

"…we have no choice but to leave them behind." 

"Leave them behind?" Monica's brows knit. "Are you suggesting we escape by ourselves and leave the others behind?" 

With a bitter smile on his face, Amon nodded his head. 

"I know what you're trying to say, but we have no choice. It's already too late, I can't hold out for any longer." 

What he was saying was the truth.

His body was on the verge of breaking down at the moment, and if they didn't escape soon, he would die.

CLAAANG! 

"Huek!" 

Suddenly another beam shot towards Amon. Reacting in a swift manner, with the aid of the shield, Amon was able to defend the attack, however, right after defending the attack, he instantly puked a mouthful of blood as he took a knee to the ground. 

"haa…haaa.." 

"Amon!" 

"Prepare the portal!" 

Amon glared at Monica as he raised his hand to stop her from approaching him. The only reason he had managed to survive this attack was because it was from Tasos who was much weaker than Mo Jiahao. 

"khhh."

Biting her lips till they bled, Monica silently nodded her head and did as Amon said. 

"You two finished talking?" 

Mo Jiahaos's voice rang out. 

With his cold gaze locked on Amon from the sky, Mo Jiahao raised his hand.

As he raised his palm, the mana in the atmosphere quickly converged towards it as a large translucent hand appeared in the sky. A frighteningly powerful ripple began spreading in the air as Mo Jiahao's clothes fluttered wildly in the air. 

"Monica!"

Staring at the large handprint in the sky, Amon shouted. 

"Almost!" 

Channeling all over her mana in the orb in her hand, a small portal slowly started appearing in front of her. 

Staring at the portal that was forming above, Mu Jinhao obviously did not sit still. Lowering his hand, he shouted. 

"It's time for you two to d—Hm?" 

Feeling a powerful fluctuation coming from the distance, Mu Jinhao stopped his attack and turned his head. Once he did so, his brows jumped up as his face became incomparably solemn. 

Below him, Monica and Amon too felt the fluctuation coming from the distance. Turning their head and staring towards were the source of energy was coming from, to their surprise they found a lone individual standing next to the core of the portal. 

With a sword in his hand, he slashed towards the core. 

Clang—!

A simple, yet dull metallic sound rang out. It was a simple sound that could be heard everywhere around the battlefield, there was nothing particularly special about it. 

Yet. 

Once this sound rang, the whole battlefield became still as everyone stared towards the direction of where the sound coming. More specifically, towards a certain person wearing a Monolith uniform and had a burned face. 

Next to him a tremendous pressure slowly enveloped the surroundings, increasing with each passing second. 

"Hm?" 

Feeling a powerful fluctuation coming from the distance, Mu Jinhao's face contorted rapidly. Glaring towards the person responsible for the disaster, his voice spread like a furious rolling thunder. 

"How dare you!" 

No longer caring about Monica and Amon, Mu Jinhao's body disappeared, reappearing right before the gate. However, to his shock, the youth suddenly disappeared from where he was standing. 

"Huaaaaa!" 

Mu Jinhao's thunderous roar once again sounded, spreading towards the surroundings. Glass broke, and many of the weaker individuals spat blood and fainted on the ground. 

Glaring towards the surroundings, Mu Jinhao swore out loud. 

"Whoever you are, I will make you pay for what you've done!" 

Then, spreading his hands, a terrifying ripple began to spread as a massive light blue sphere began to envelop the area around the portal. As the barrier was enveloping the portal, Mu Jinhao looked down and saw all of the Monolith members looking at him with confusion. He instantly became enraged. 

"What are you standing there like idiots for? Help me contain the explosion!" 

Startled by his voice, all of the people from the Monolith immediately put their hands on the translucent shield and channeled their mana into it. Instantly the shield became sturdier.

Whilst they were doing that, the people from the Union took advantage of their distraction and made a run for it. If there was a time to escape, now was the time. 

"Vice-leader!" 

This obviously did not go unnoticed by the people from the Monolith as they all looked at Mu Jinhao. 

"The people from the Union are leaving, what do we do?" 

"Leave them be, we don't have time to look after them!" 

The explosion that would come as a result of the cracked core was not something he could contain by himself. If the Union members retaliated, then things would turn out for the worst for them, and a tragedy would occur. 

As the Vice-leader, Mu Jinhao couldn't allow this to happen. Thus, he chose to let them go. The members of the Monolith also understood this, therefore, although reluctant, they could only watch them leave. 

"Quickly, pour more mana into it!" 

"Yes." 

As Mu Jinhao and the Monolith members were trying their best to contain the explosion, the members of the Union quickly ran out of the building and joined up with Amon and Monica. 

"Is this all that is left?" 

Staring at the members that had just returned, Monica noticed that out of the fifteen people that they had sent, only six had remained alive. 

Lowering his head, a caucasian looking man with brown hair stepped forward and said.

"Yes, unfortunately, these are all the remaining survivors, everyone else died." 

"…I see." 

The losses were much bigger than she had expected. 

"Monia what are you doing!? Is the portal ready?"

Amon shouted as he urged Monica to hurry up. 

At the moment his complexion was extremely pale, and even though they were no longer under attack, his injuries looked to be worsening every second. 

"On it." Staring at Amon, Monica lightly threw the orb in her hand in the air. Suddenly the portal that was in front of her stabilized completely. "Quick, I can't hold out for much longer." 

As the portal opened, Monica urged everyone to get in. Because it consumed a lot of mana, Monica was not able to hold the portal for long thus why she was urging them to go. Who knew if the Monolith people would chase after them. 

"Yes." 

The others could also tell what Monica was thinking. Furthermore, Monica's complexion was rapidly paling, they knew that they had to hurry up to get out. Thus, each member quickly entered the portal in a hurry. 

"Khuk…I'm going in." 

"Mhm." 

The last person to step into the portal was Amon, who limped his way into the portal. His eyes at the moment were half-closed, and he looked extremely frail. Staring at him, Monica thought that in his current state, anyone could probably beat Amon. 

VUAAAAM! 

Eventually, Amon also entered the portal, and silence prevailed over the surroundings. 

"I guess it's my turn now." 

Glancing at the portal, Monica walked towards it. However, just as she was about to enter it, her footsteps halted. Even though her mana was rapidly depleting, something was bothering her. 

Looking back towards the Monolith in the distance, Monica's brows knit tightly. 

"That aura…" 

She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but recalling the burned-up individual responsible for breaking the core, Monica felt that he was oddly familiar. 

With her special skill, Monica had the ability to be able to detect what sort of art they practiced. As such, she could tell who was who with her skill alone. 

No disguise could work on her. 

Therefore, ever since noticing a familiar feeling coming from the burned-up individual in the distance, Monica's mind couldn't help but wonder about the identity of the individual.

Yet, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't recall knowing anyone that was alive had a similar aura to the man from before. 

"Just who is h——!" 

As she was thinking, It was then that Monica suddenly recalled something as her eyes shot wide open.

Abruptly turning her head and staring towards the Monolith in the distance, Monica's mouth opened slightly. 

"It can't be…."