NOVPUB[Inside the Stone Shrine, Right after Damian sent Sam and Lucian back – Sam's POV]
Sam walked out of the waygate, which was set up in the middle of the shrine city—where small patches of trees had grown over the years, planted by the pigmen. The place was already filled with all the pigmen soldiers who had just been on the wall and had now retreated back here.
Sam saw a line of soldiers going up the stairs to take positions near the empty cannons. All the giant steps of the stone shrine had these laser cannons, and only a few near the top and bottom were being used—the rest were empty. Civilians had already started going up to take position, but now that the soldiers were back, they were ready to do their jobs.
Sam smiled, seeing the eagerness with which the pigmen soldiers were waiting and preparing to ascend. Lucian used a wormhole with her sword, and both of them reached the highest stairs—they had been informed that Mindseer was at the very top of the shrine. Sam barely understood their words, but it wasn't hard to decipher since they had simply used Mindseer's name and pointed upward. The meaning was clear as day.
Coming out beside the giant bell on top of the shrine through a secret door, Sam and Lucian found Maelor, Alex, Grace, and others already briefing Mindseer, Heather, and the King on the details of what had happened. The top of the shrine was protected by a golden shield—another one of Damian's runic steel box-like tools was at work.
The flying monsters had dwindled slightly, giving Heather, the King, and the others some relief from the constant pressure of defending with their laser cannons. The horde had been focused on attacking Damian and Sam himself just moments ago. Still, thousands of flying monsters remained in the air, trying to attack the laser cannon operators before being shot down. Thousands of light lasers flashed all around them, creating a chaotic mess filled with a horrible stench and deafening noise.
"We have to leave. Millions are coming, and the legendary ones can even break the stone structure after a few hits. It's done. We can't hold on," Sam heard Maelor telling Mindseer.
"What about the women and children who can't go?" Mindseer asked.
"Dungeon. Damian sent a waygate cube connecting to the dungeon—he asked you to check if the pigmen have a chance of going there, and if yes, we should hurry and leave immediately," Maelor replied.
Mindseer translated to the three pigmen transcendents, and after a few loud exchanges of words, the King nodded, gritting his teeth. Too many pigmen soldiers had died already. The giant shrine was filled with thousands of corpses, many of which belonged to pigmen soldiers and civilians—they had done their best to protect the cannons, but their numbers were limited while their enemies were endless.
They immediately found a first-ranker pigmen soldier, and Mindseer powered the waygate cube Damian had sent. He had actually sent waygate cubes full of his divine-ranked spatial storage—many of them were mana-generating cubes. Sam, along with Lucian and the others, immediately grabbed one and started refilling their empty mana containers.
They were filling the two containers, but they could not use them fully again. Maybe with external mana threads—but most of them were not good at creating or using mana threads. They just refilled their own mana pool like Sam did and used mana from their bodies. Needless to say, it was a blatant abuse of their second-ranker bodies.
"I can see him at least landing in the sand. Nothing after that.." Mindseer confirmed.
"Why didn't Einar and Evrin come back then?" Grace asked from the side.
"Maybe we're still banned—but someone who has never been in the dungeon before.. can go there and stay?" Alex guessed.
"We don't have time for guesses—it works. Let's gather everyone and leave this instance," Lucian said with impatience. Sam could understand her urgency, though.
He also added, "Yeah, let's hurry. Every second we have is a second fought for by Damian. He's holding that monstrosity—we don't have time.."
Everyone nodded, and they all got to work. Sam and his friends resumed protecting the cannons. The flying monsters were increasing again, and even the land-based ones had come into view. It was only a matter of minutes before they broke through the city wall and swarmed the stone shrine.
The civilians manning the cannons were sent back—their positions were taken by the newly arrived pigmen soldiers. Lucian and Maelor also joined in with Mindseer, instantly doubling the mana cloud output. It now reached the very last step of the giant shrine, constantly powering every single cannon.
The traps they had set up across an 80-kilometre area from the ice wall to the city gates had already killed millions of black pigmen—but there were still far too many for them to handle. They could not hold on for long, even if the Demon Lord never arrived. Everyone left to take up their positions on the shrine to defend the cannons—but Sam did not go.
Instead, he simply walked over to the many wooden benches Damian had built, along with a workshop and a few wooden houses. Sitting down, he pulled out his status tool and activated it.
Will it work this time?
Then, holding an ascension stone in his other hand, Sam closed his eyes and spoke the words. He didn't open his eyes—he was too afraid to see the result. Only when he felt like he had lost all hope, he suddenly felt himself falling.. and then came the splash.
He was inside the dark waters, drowning deeper and deeper before losing consciousness.
It worked? The ascension took a few seconds to activate—he had thought he had failed.
But it fucking worked!
Sam opened his eyes with a bright smile on his face—he was back in the giant ruins, in the middle of a green grassy field.
This was his astral space.
