"Sera. We''ll be retreating into the mine." Nathan reached Sera and immediately turned around, ordering, "You guys. Prepare for a retreat. We''ll coordinate with the people and push away all those aliens until the retreat ispleted."


    Brunhild and the others nodded.


    Nathan rained down the bullets upon the aliens, gradually overwhelming them. Brunhild was holding the rear while Fenrir and the others monitored the entire situation, especially against the mature ss aliens.


    "Go in! Hurry up! Go in!" Flora waved her hand, ordering all the people to go inside the mine. She was apanied by two spirits on her side. The first one was her earth spirit that would reinforce the mine, while the other one was her nt spirit, trying to nourish the tree.


    If Nathan nned to use this tree as a sacrifice, she tried to give it in the form of a much better tree.


    When the evacuation waspleted, Flora raised her voice. "Nathan, Serafina!"


    Nathan nced at them and immediately retreated into the mine, leaving behind their familiars.


    The nt spirit entered first, carrying the tree inside. Due to the small entrance, a portion of the tree snapped, and the leaves were falling down. However, the tree could still enter the tunnel and head into the deeper part of the mine.


    As soon as Nathan and the others entered the mine, the earth spirit raised the soil to seal the entrance. After that, it touched the ceiling and poured everything he had to reinforce this giant mountain.


    Nathan and Sera recalled their familiars that were still outside. Due to the space, Nathan only summoned Anubis in case something went wrong and they needed treatment.


    Nathan asked, "Is there a bigger space in this mine?"


    "I have asked them. There is a big cave inside."


    "Got it." Nathan turned to Sera. "Sera. Help me create the summoning circle. We don''t have time, but please treat it carefully."


    Sera nodded. She was worried that Nathan would end up ruining his future, especially with the fight against venya right around the corner.


    What she didn''t know was that Nathan had wanted to test this in the past. Since his summon was guaranteed to be a divine beast, he wondered if he could use something else instead of a powerful item to summon his divine beast. Although he wanted to give the best treatment to his summoning ritual, he expected there would be a time like this.


    "Flora. We''ll talk to the supervisor. If possible, I want to kill that elephant before we have to face the rest of the enemies. Still, whoever did this really pissed me off."


    "Who?"


    "I don''t know. However, I know it''s a human."


    "Not an alien? The mutant can definitely arrange this kind of thing, no?"


    "Not really. If the mutant is the one creating this situation, the mutant will definitely bring all nine mature ss aliens. The fact that there are only four… five mature ss aliens means the enemies don''t know about the rest of the aliens or it''s a hassle and simply think five of them are enough."


    Flora looked down, falling into deep thought. At first, it looked like she was at fault since there would be a lot of people wanting to kill a royal. However, Nathan and Sera had the same worth as her.


    Hence, she didn''t know who the target was. But she would definitely find out about this and punish whoever dared to do such a thing.


    Anubis, on the other hand, was fixated on the tree that Nathan chose. He couldn''t help but recall what Nathan said when they tried removing the curses on the Sleeping Garden''s base.


    "The fourth familiar needs to be someone strong and skilled and who would allow me to utilize my contract. From all these reasons, I think I know which divine beast will be my fourth familiar."


    "And that is?" Anubis squinted his eyes.


    Nathan smirked. "Tenko or known as the Heavenly Fox. Tenko is a nine-tailed fox or Kitsune who has transcended the limit and be a heavenly being. Nine-tailed foxes are more famous for their illusion, which means I can do what Be does. The illusion will allow me to utilize my contract since I can force the other parties to sign it."


    Anubis chuckled. "I''ve heard from Fenrir that Kitsune is also a shape-shifter and mostly known to turn into a beautiful woman. Is that your main reason?"


    "Do you think I''m such a man?" Nathan looked wronged.


    However, Anubis nodded without hesitation. "Yes, I do. And you can''t make me think otherwise."


    "…"


    Recalling their brief conversation made Anubis realize how much Nathan nned to sacrifice in this summoning. He didn''t know what kind of divine beast he was nning to summon or the defect that this new familiar had. Still, he knew Nathan had just made a big decision.


    Anubis couldn''t help but ask, "Do you need anything? My blood or something?"


    "No. I''ll be summoning him with this tree, my blood, and Nidhogg''s blood." Nathan turned to Flora. "If possible, can you release a powerful ability that can take down the elephant in one strike? You have injured it a bit, so do you think it''s possible?"


    "My earth spirit will be out ofmission since he is using all his Ena to reinforce the mine. I will also need to use a certain amount of Ena to take down the elephant before fighting against the mutant…" Flora muttered before nodding his head. "Alright. I should be able to manage."


    "Thanks!"


    "No. I should be the one to thank you." Flora clenched her hands into fists.


    Nathan smiled as he assured her, "Don''t worry about it. If you still feel guilty, how about giving me their cores? I don''t really mind since I''ll be losing a lot of Ena for the summoning."


    Flora knew it was just to make her happy and free of guilt, but that small gesture warmed her heart. In the royal pce, she had been isting herself because most of them were maniptive. But this small, wholesome gesture was something that kept her sanity intact. With a bright smile on her face, she nodded. "Of course!"


    "We have arrived!"