Chapter 976 Last Hour [0 hours, 58 minutes] A crowd of three million people had gathered and swarmed at the eastern gate of the Platoon 1 base. The entire base, or rather, stronghold was certainly such a sturdy and complex structure worthy of being built and bearing the name of the Nephilim. However, such sturdiness and complexity were also the reason as to why there was a blockage in the midst of the group of survivors who were passing through the gate. The steep paths, narrow passages, and many traps meant that the survivors whose conditions were mostly only on par with normal adults had a hard time getting through the gate into the base. In the meantime, Roran and Julian were both using the last bit of their stamina to resist the incoming Abyss creatures that were coming ferociously from two different sides. Deafening roars and ear-piercing shrieks resounded through the air as they killed every Abyss creature that attacked them. "Hold the defensive line!! Hold!" Currently, from the initial 180 acolytes who embarked on this endeavor from the Platoon 3 base, only a little over 100 remained and were still fighting to protect the survivors. It was as if the Abyss creatures had gained intelligence and were smart enough to know that this particular gate was the only one they could break into, as horde after horde of Abyss creatures came rushing from north and south side of the base. This unexpected development momentarily caused the two captains to be in shambles as they did their best to hold them all back. "This is taking too long!", shouted Anas as he killed a Lurker. Facing such chaos and endless hordes of Abyss creatures, the Kaleos young noble seemed to be ready to activate his suit's teleportation function anytime now. Fortunately, a moment later, about 100 meters long of the eastern wall of Platoon 1 base that impeded the survivors' moving speed suddenly cracked and crumbled down to the ground like a pile of loose sands. It immediately rid of the complex terrain the survivors had to go through and directly opened a path to the center of the base. Beyond such sight was a dark-skinned acolyte who both Roran and Julian knew well. Abrafo who had just released the artifact that maintained the rune formation and made the 30 meter high metal wall collapse, nodded his head when he saw the gazes of the two. "Get in! Hurry!", said Abrafo to the survivors, beckoning them to move faster. With the obstacles in their path had been removed, the survivors were finally able to quicken their pace and rush into the base. Now, they only needed to run another two miles in order to reach the transport vessel that lies in the center of the Platoon 1 base. The two captains, Roran and Julian, were just about to heave a sigh of relief when they noticed more Abyss creatures, an even greater number than before charging towards them - in particular from the northern side that was now completely exposed. With the means of protection they had – the metal wall – gone, there was no safe option any longer. The acolytes could only grit their teeth and continue fighting the Abyss creatures, escorting the survivors until they all reached and entered the transport vessel. To make things even more difficult, the golden hair girl, Jinkan Nephilim, came flying from the sky and said that she wanted to choose a few of the strongest in the acolytes' ranks to join her for the final battle against the stage 7 Abyss creature. Hearing such words qucikly made Arcana ready to activate his suit's teleport feature and ran away. However, Jinkan seemed to have expected how the kid-looking acolyte would react, since she had come to him before he could make an escape. She brought her face close to Arcana's ear and seemed to be whispering something, and the expression on Arcana's face visibly changed as time passed. In the end, with a heavy expression, the kid-looking nodded his head, agreeing to join the team. The next person Jinkan chose was the Titan bloodline Sigurd, which was honestly the choice everyone had expected. However, the next individual was someone that brought surprise to everyone without exception. One Asian-looking young man, the known taciturn amongst the group, an elite acolyte from the lower realm world Earth – Chumo. Not even a few seconds passed, Chumo's captain, the Roman General Julian, quickly voiced his objection, and this opinion of his was quickly backed up by Thrax. Unfortunately, with just one sentence from Jinkan, saying that the participation of those she selected would help to delay the monstrosity and buy time for the millions of survivors, Julian and Thrax fell silent and no one voiced their argument anymore. Now that they knew what was at stake, the two of them could only hope for Chumo's safety, and vent their frustration on the oncoming horde of Abyss creatures. At the end of the day, 7 people were selected to find a way to stop the stage 7 Abyss creature's advance. Those seven people were Sigurd, Arcana, Chumo, Abrafo, Lyndell, Eeshoo, and Jinkan herself. ꜰʀᴇᴇwᴇʙɴovᴇʟ.coᴍ After delegating the post they had left behind, the seven of them quickly ran towards the northern wall of the base and arrived at the top of the gate overlooking the north. It turned out that apart from the seven of them, Jinkan had also prepared 200 metal golems as extra manpower and a precaution. They all then waited while their attention was completely fixed on the northern horizon. Not long after, Jinkan and the others could feel the vibrations occurring on the sturdy metal walls beneath their feet getting stronger as the rising dust of smoke in the north drew closer and bigger in their view. Their attention was quickly drawn to one particular area of ​​the yellow plain, where a large crack could be seen appearing. Following right behind it was a horde of Abyss creatures numbering in millions. Looking at this sight, Eeshoo calmly stepped onto his special golden disk orbiter. As it gradually flew away from the base, the golden hair young man turned his head to Jinkan and said, "Unless I say so, you don't have to join the battle." Jinkan nodded her head. However, when Eeshoo had flown a distance away, she quickly began to make plans with the other five acolytes she had selected. To their complete surprise, the female Nephilim actually knew everything about their abilities, even the low profile Chumo. They all watched in amazement and astonishment as Jinkan devised a plan that took each and every one of them into account. "Alright, you all will listen to my signal," said the female Nephilim as she finished telling her plan. At the same time, the land two miles to the north suddenly exploded like a volcano. From within, the long-awaited golden Royal Centipede revealed itself, followed by a deafening screech that resounded through the air. Facing it in the air, a figure shone brightly like the sun.