Chapter 160 The Lament of Aurora

Han Xiao and his party retreated from the battlefield, returning to the main base of the interception circle at the rear, which had not yet been reached by the World Tree army and was untouched by the flames of war.

The rear forces of the three major civilizations and various other forces had formed a long queue, with batches of them entering different high-dimensional Apocalypse Teleporters, withdrawing to the explored universe.

The group boarded an evacuation main ship, waiting for their turn in line while monitoring the battlefield in real time.

They saw that the three major civilizations had already begun to consolidate their forces, quickly cutting their losses, with the battle lines formed by starships retreating like a receding tide.

Kang De watched for a while and shook his head. "It seems the three major civilizations have completely decided to abandon the interception circle."

"Fighting to the death is useless, only increasing casualties. Retreating is only natural," Manison said indifferently.

"But with this retreat, we can no longer prevent the World Tree from approaching our territory. Sooner or later, we will have to fight on our home turf, falling into their rhythm of using war to sustain war."

Kroen tilted his head. Since the revival of Rêve and the others, he had become more talkative, rarely displaying his previous aloofness.

The group casually chatted about the situation, using it to calm their emotions after the recent bloody battle.

Han Xiao did not join their conversation, instead watching the ritual of many spiritual ability users unsealing Aurora.

After watching for a while, he suddenly noticed that many Beyond Grade As were starting to sweat, and couldn't help but wonder. He asked, "What's the progress now?"

"There's something strange," Kesuye said, pinching his forehead, his tone astonished. "We've weakened the seal by more than ninety-five percent, leaving only a thin layer, but we've encountered unprecedented resistance. The last bit of the seal's crystalline wall has suddenly become indestructible, as if infinite power is supporting its existence."

"Is that so?"

Han Xiao raised an eyebrow, immediately thinking of the characteristics of Phantasmagoria – Heart Lock.

It seemed that targets affected by this move would fall into a dream woven from desires, and the more they took it seriously and the more they longed for it, the higher the intensity of the seal would become.

He carefully looked at Aurora. As the seal was broken layer by layer, her expression was no longer blank. She was now closing her eyes, her brows tightly furrowed, revealing a slight look of pain, as if saying, "Don't disturb me while I'm daydreaming."

Could it be that her subconscious sensed the threat of the dream disappearing, so she took the illusion more seriously, actively stabilizing the seal and resisting the unsealers?

What was she dreaming about that made this woman willing to sleep forever and unwilling to wake up?!

Han Xiao's mouth twitched, and he helplessly withdrew his gaze, patting Kesuye. "Then can you unseal her after all?"

"Don't worry about that. Although the seal barrier is much stronger, we're all working together, and we'll eventually grind it down," Kesuye said without looking back.

Han Xiao had no choice but to trust him and wait patiently by the side.

After a long while, Kesuye and his team suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, their faces filled with joy, and they were about to announce their success.

But before they could say anything, Aurora suddenly opened her eyes, waking up from her unconsciousness, and let out a shrill cry:

"No—"

The sharp scream startled everyone, and even the many Beyond Grade As who were analyzing the situation not far away stopped chatting and looked over in surprise.

The awakening of the healer was supposed to be a happy occasion, but everyone was startled by this cry, their hearts twitching, and they were completely bewildered.

Seeing pairs of surprised and uncertain eyes staring at her, Aurora suddenly came to her senses and quickly stopped speaking. Her expression was still somewhat dazed, as if she hadn't yet adapted to leaving the dream, and was trying to distinguish whether this was reality or illusion.

However, as her senses and memories gradually aligned, Aurora slowly confirmed that she had truly awakened this time.

At this moment, Han Xiao stepped out from the crowd, stood in front of Aurora, reached out and touched her head, and asked with concern, "Your mental seal has been lifted. How do you feel?"

Aurora looked up at Han Xiao, her delicate face suddenly turning as red as fire. She quickly turned her head to the side, her gaze dodging, and stammered:

"I'm fine… How are you?"

"What problems could I have?" Han Xiao was curious, seeing her strange expression. "What did you dream about in the seal?"

"I… I…"

Aurora was speechless, twisting and turning, seemingly unwilling to say.

At this moment, Hela walked over and patted her head, her tone dissatisfied.

"I'm asking you a question. What did you dream about? Why aren't you even opening your memories to me?"

"D-Don't ask! It's nothing important anyway…"

Aurora glanced at Hela, then retracted her gaze in shock, remembering the experiences in the dream, her face becoming even more flushed, as if it were about to bleed.

Seeing her strange behavior, Han Xiao and Hela exchanged surprised glances.

However, since Aurora didn't want to talk about it, they didn't bother to force her. Now that she had woken up, there was no need to delve into those minor details. Perhaps it was a secret she couldn't reveal.

Han Xiao gave Aurora an injection, checking her condition. Seeing that her stats had returned to normal, he stopped dwelling on Aurora's dream.

The crowd saw this and stepped forward to express their concern, squeezing Han Xiao and Hela to the side.

Aurora's emotions gradually returned to normal, but she still didn't dare to look directly at Han Xiao. Suddenly remembering something, her expression turned serious, and she asked, "You're all here, so has the battle ended? What are the casualties?"

As soon as she finished speaking, the expressions of the crowd slightly froze, and they began to sigh, the atmosphere quickly becoming somber as they told her about the battle situation after she had fallen unconscious.

Hearing about the losses in this battle, Aurora was shocked, then felt a little guilty, and said in disappointment:

"I'm… I'm sorry. It was my carelessness in falling for the enemy's trick, failing to be of use, and causing more people to sacrifice themselves…"

"It's not your fault. It was the enemy's methods. You're just a victim." Han Xiao rubbed her head, his palm sliding through her soft golden hair.

"But if that enemy uses this trick again next time, I'll…"

Han Xiao waved his hand, interrupting her, and said with a smile, "Don't worry. The Tree King who attacked you has already been imprisoned in amber by me, and will never threaten you again."

"You're still so good to me… Cough cough."

Aurora spoke subconsciously, but halfway through, she suddenly remembered that this wasn't a dream, and quickly stopped speaking, lowering her head and coughing to hide the unusual emotion in her eyes.

However, the crowd didn't notice her expression and began to sigh to themselves.

"It's thanks to Black Star for capturing that Tree King. Otherwise, the next time we fought, if they sealed Aurora again, we would have suffered heavy casualties like today," Milizaus shook his head.

Guzaer sighed softly. "From this point of view, Black Star has eliminated a hidden danger this time, which is already good. It's just a pity about those sacrificed comrades…"

"Don't say that. Since the enemy has this method, they would have used it sooner or later, so our casualties were inevitable. And when the enemy first revealed this move, Black Star seized the opportunity to capture him, minimizing the losses for the future. It's a great contribution," Begel immediately said.

Hearing this, the crowd thought about it and also found it quite reasonable.

This was the enemy's trump card, and Black Star couldn't have prevented them from using it in advance, so there was no way to blame him. And eliminating this hidden danger on its first appearance was already the best possible outcome.

While the crowd was sighing, Ames stepped forward, touched Aurora's head, breathed a sigh of relief, and said with a light smile:

"It's good that you're okay. That's more important than anything."

"Teacher, I… I'm sorry."

Aurora lowered her head timidly, her face flushed with shame and guilt, not daring to look up.

Ames misunderstood her meaning and comforted her, "It's okay, don't blame yourself. Although you didn't use your abilities to protect me, it's not your fault. I'm doing fine, aren't I?"

"Ugh…"

Hearing this, Aurora became even more embarrassed, twisting her hands together, burying her head even deeper, almost wanting to bury her head in her deep cleavage like an ostrich.

Just then, the evacuation team finally reached their turn, and the crowd stopped chatting.

They saw the spaceship entering the high-dimensional Apocalypse Teleporter along with the fleet. The two huge mechanical rings began to rotate, the light connecting into a single piece, flashing suddenly and sending everyone back to the Shattered Star Ring.

…

After Han Xiao and his party withdrew from the battlefield, the situation developed as Simon had said. The defense lines of one war zone after another were breached, and the World Tree army advanced rapidly from various areas, spreading quickly, resulting in a snowball effect. The interception circle, as if eroded, gradually became riddled with holes.

Because the interception circle was beyond salvation, the three major civilizations did not continue to conscript Beyond Grade As to join the battle, and no longer insisted on direct confrontation. They kept shrinking back, withdrawing troops and equipment, and recovering costs to avoid being completely swept away by the World Tree fleet.

This process lasted for about ten days before the World Tree army completely broke through the interception circle. The three major civilizations also withdrew all the fleets and equipment that could be recovered, and destroyed the fortifications that could not be taken away in place. The interception circle, which had been built for a year, was left with only countless pieces of metal debris floating in the universe, like a man-made asteroid belt.

In the explored universe, the high-level officials and command headquarters of the three major civilizations held a post-interception circle disappearance operation meeting.

Among all the Beyond Grade As, only Han Xiao listened in as a representative.

In the huge conference room, the leaders of the three major civilizations listened to the military's report with tense expressions. Simon, as the commander-in-chief of the interception circle, was presenting a strategic analysis:

"...The interception circle has been completely dismantled. We have lost the biggest barrier to stop the World Tree from advancing, and the war has entered a new stage.

In the past year, we have sent engineering teams, moving from the interception circle towards the Shattered Star Ring, constantly setting up traps and fortifications along the way, all for this day. When the World Tree moves towards our territory and enters the vast area of strategic depth, we can carry out harassment and interdiction.

Although we can't stop them from advancing, we can at least delay their travel speed…"

At this moment, Marbrus interrupted him, tapped the table, and asked, "This is just a temporary solution. Can't we find a way to build another interception circle?"

Hearing this, Simon shook his head and sighed, "Forgive me for speaking frankly, but before we find the World Tree's main body, all tactics are just temporary solutions… To build another interception circle would require a large investment of resources. I believe that after this experience, the World Tree will use the same means to launch a strong attack next time, and our forces will suffer heavy losses again, which is exactly what they want.

And the location is also a problem. Most of the areas in this strategic depth are unexplored for us as well. We can't go there at will. The earliest engineering teams can only build a new interception circle within a year's journey from the World Tree, and time is too tight.

And if a new batch of engineering teams starts from the border of the Shattered Star Ring, there would be enough time to build an interception circle, but…"

"But what?"

Louis asked.

Simon frowned and said truthfully, "The general staff is not very supportive of this plan. Through the speed and drift time of those Kundas survivors, we have calculated the approximate range of the World Tree from us. At their travel speed, it is estimated that it will take about eleven years to reach our territory. With our interdiction and delay, this number will be extended, but not too much."

The Hierarch of the Arcane Church immediately questioned, "Eleven years… That's enough to build a more solid interception circle. What's wrong with that?"

"It is possible, but the general staff believes that it is a better choice to clear the fields in the border area. Using destructive means to develop the border of the Shattered Star Ring, which has not yet been completely explored, squeezing out the planetary resources in these areas, and then actively turning at least five star clusters into barren space belts, leaving not a single hair for the World Tree, and building a defense line here.

After all, this is our home ground. This will not only facilitate mobile support from the rear, but also greatly reduce the area of the defense line, saving unnecessary troop consumption. Moreover, the battlefield is closer to home, which can also stimulate the resistance belief of the entire universe.

If we set up a new interception circle in an unexplored area separated by countless distances, the loss of our troops would be too great. We would inevitably be dragged into the attrition war that the World Tree is good at, which would be even more unfavorable…"

Simon explained in a deep voice.

Hearing this, many high-level officials present whispered, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of this plan.

The leaders of the three major civilizations showed thoughtful expressions. After a while, they turned to look at Han Xiao next to them and asked, "Black Star, what are your thoughts?"

Han Xiao shook his head and said, "I don't have many opinions, but the clearing the fields approach is very necessary. Instead of leaving those planets for the World Tree to devour, it's better to drain the pond to get all the fish, using planet destroyers to develop the planets on the border of the Shattered Star Ring so that the enemy can't get supplies. That way, even if they attack, we won't lose too much."

He had done what he could. Compared to the extremely terrible start in his previous life, the situation of the three major civilizations now was countless times better. In terms of warfare, he couldn't offer more advice.

After all, the war between the three major civilizations and the World Tree had taken a completely different turn from his previous life, and he couldn't be sure of the final outcome of each plan. The best choice at the moment was to trust the professional military personnel.

'At the shortest, the World Tree will be able to invade the three major civilizations' home turf in eleven years… This period of time is the final preparation period, and we must grasp it well.'

Han Xiao let out a breath, his thoughts fluctuating.

During the World Tree's journey, the three major civilizations' harassment and interdiction operations probably wouldn't require high-level combat power, meaning that Beyond Grade As like them wouldn't have to be on standby all the time and could freely arrange their schedules.

He planned to set aside some time to vigorously cultivate those Beyond Grade A seeds, hoping to give birth to more Beyond Grade As, and at the same time, make Karote grow up as soon as possible.

On the other hand, he could also take the opportunity to settle down. The experience provided by the players would definitely be enough for him to break through level 360 and complete his advancement within a year.

And the strongest time for a Mechanic wasn't the moment he advanced.

Only after using the power after advancement to completely update his mechanical legion and mechanical equipment would be the most peak moment for a Mechanic!

The final eleven years of preparation was a rare opportunity for him to digest his advancement power!

After these two encounters with the Tree Kings, Han Xiao had already noticed his current shortcomings. Although he was sure to win against the Heart Tree King or the Town Tree King in a one-on-one fight, everyone was a strong person at the same level, possessing their own trump cards, making it almost impossible to quickly defeat the opponent. The battlefield environment was complex, and the mechanical troops were the biggest target, with too many interference factors affecting the exertion of combat power.

Although his energy level was very high, he was still essentially a peak Beyond Grade A, without any qualitative change. Only by possessing the power of sublimation could he solve this problem.

"When we fight next time, I hope to give the World Tree a 'surprise'!"

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes.

However, these thoughts were only fleeting and were suppressed by him at the bottom of his heart.

He was very clear that the most important task at hand was not these plans, but to wait for the Oathkeeper to gather the new Sanctuary keys, enter the Sanctuary again, and use the truth of the revival to strengthen the entire Beyond Grade A group's belief in participating in the war!