Sanctuary Paradise

Chapter 843 'Fruit'

World Fortress, Blackthorn Main Ship Command Room.

"A brilliant speech, Black Sword Sir!" A heartfelt voice of praise rang out from under the giant star map projection. In the main seat, the major looked at Xin Lailai in front of him, clapped his hands and smiled, "Indeed, asking Black Sword Sir for help was an exceptionally correct decision."

"It's just a few empty words, nothing special." Xin Lailai shook her head, unconcerned. "If someone else came, with 'insiders' arranged in advance, the effect wouldn't be much different."

"Hehe, even so, having you, Black Sword Sir, carry out this step is indeed the best option, isn't it?"

“I don’t deny that.” Xin Lailai said, glancing at the screen and watching the figures begin to move, a deep look flashed in her eyes.

"Black Sword Sir thinks, how many of them will survive this battle?"

"More than half, I guess."

"That's quite an optimistic answer, Black Sword Sir. It's a bit different from your previous style of response."

“I’m just stating the facts, and there’s no contradiction.” Xin Lailai said, glancing at the rapidly scrolling messages on the public channel. Her dark pupils seemed to reflect the figures of those who fought bloody battles. “Emotions can create illusions, but down-to-earth accumulation and experience gained through repeated life-and-death trials will not.”

“For them, this war is like a flame. Some will be tempered into gold in the flame, while others will turn to ashes,” Xin Lailai said, looking at the star map above her head. Her eyes flickered slightly, and she said calmly, “I don’t think they are kindling that will be easily burned to ashes by the flame, nothing more.”

"Hehe, on this point, I surprisingly agree with Black Sword Sir~?" The major chuckled softly, his eyes narrowing slightly, a deep glint flashing in his dark golden pupils. He then looked down at the star map before him and said, "Alright, let's end this pleasant chat here. Black Sword Sir, could you please inform your two companions to come over?"

“They’ve arrived.” Xin Lailai said, looking at the two spatial portals that had just opened beside her. The next second, the figures of the Death Bearer and Yamu walked out of the portals one after the other.

"Yo~! Captain Hei, you've finished discussing business?"

"I guess so. How are your preparations going?"

"It's alright." "Well... so-so, I guess?"

Yamu shrugged and said casually, while the major in the main seat chuckled and said, "Hehe, seeing the three of you so energetic has given me, the commander, a lot of motivation too."

"Well, I do think that you, Commander, have always been quite motivated."

"Haha, that's quite an honor," the major laughed, then, under the gaze of the three, he gently pushed up his round-framed glasses, squinted slightly, and looked at the star map in front of him, a dangerous glint flashing in his eyes. "Since the three of you are all ready, then... let's get down to business today!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the huge star map located under the projection device began to rotate and enlarge rapidly.

"As you three can see, thanks to the tireless efforts of the three of you, along with the two hunters and the Ranger, we successfully completed the defense line for this expedition 68 hours and 35 minutes ago."

The channel, shimmering with elemental light, expanded continuously from the darkness, and large areas of white began to erode the abyssal regions separated by elemental barriers as it sped forward.

"At the same time, during your 68 hours and 35 minutes of rest, with the help of the Abyss Purification Device, the 'fruit trees' you planted have grown smoothly as expected."

On the star map, pure white elemental layers resembling flower petals bloomed around each stronghold, purifying the abyssal erosion areas located inside the flight path as the time rapidly passed. From a distance, it looked like a large tree that had grown rapidly to a state of lush foliage.

"And now-"

Finally, with a dazzling white light, a colossal, pure white tree, entirely composed of elemental layers, took root in the abyss, transforming into a massive defensive line with a radius of 169.37 light-years. This completely isolated the surging ocean of figures from the outside, leaving only the planets and worlds within, their darkness rapidly fading from the elemental light, and—

—That dark area, which continuously releases abyssal energy from within the elemental barrier to resist the erosion of the elemental light, looks from afar like 'fruits' on a pure white giant tree.

"Gentlemen, the time to reap the 'fruit' has come!"

……

A hole in the abyss.

In terms of the name, this is just a simple and easy-to-understand explanation.

In fact, if we use formal terminology to refer to it, then it, along with the Abyssal Rift, the Abyssal Void, and even the Abyssal Gate, all have only one name:
"Abyssal spacetime distortion point (also known as 'abyssal wormhole')"

This is the full academic term for the Abyss Hole. Just as the literal meaning suggests, once the abyss energy in a certain area accumulates to a certain degree, it will undergo severe spacetime curvature under the influence of excessively high-density abyss energy, forming an abyss wormhole that can directly connect the abyss region located outside the astral plane with the interior of the astral plane, continuously supplying abyss energy in.

Since the abyssal wormhole is a creation formed by severe spacetime curvature, more than 99.99% of known spacetime-related methods cannot truly restrict it.

Even the 'time-space freeze' performed by the park itself can only stop its continued expansion, but cannot directly close the time-space tunnel it forms. The only effective method is the 'time-space annihilation' that exists in the park's original regulations and can completely destroy the entire space-time and even its corresponding astral region, like cutting out bones to cure diseases.

However, the cost of doing so would be a permanent reduction in the spacetime volume of the astral plane, a method that would never be used unless absolutely necessary. Therefore, until the first Abyssal invasion, there has only been one instance in the entire astral plane where spacetime annihilation was used to destroy the abyssal wormhole from the outside, and the cost of that was the complete collapse of the secondary true reality.

Therefore, attempting to bypass the abyssal wormhole itself through spacetime methods and block the abyssal energy from entering the astral plane by severing the spacetime tunnel it forms is almost an impossible task in terms of difficulty.

After ruling out this method, there is only one way left to destroy the abyssal wormhole—

That is to destroy the high-density abyssal energy that led to the formation of the abyssal wormhole.

Destroy, seal, scatter, transform... any method is acceptable, as long as the high-density abyssal energy that caused the formation of the abyssal wormhole can be destroyed, thus destroying the abyssal wormhole in that area.

The only challenge lies in... how to destroy this abyssal energy, whose density is high enough to cause spacetime distortion.

Even setting aside the various anomalies caused by the high-density abyssal energy, the massive amounts of abyssal creatures surging from the abyssal passages, and the terrifying erosion brought about by the high concentration of abyssal energy, the energy itself, as the highest level of energy in the astral plane, is already beyond the reach of normal means once it has accumulated to such a density.

This is also one of the important reasons why many worlds are completely helpless when faced with abyssal wormholes. If it is a small abyssal rift, it is fine, but once it rises to the level of an abyssal hole, for those natives who do not have the top-level elemental technology of abyssal suppression devices and abyssal purification devices, the high density of abyssal energy itself is a nightmare that can drive them to despair.

Of course, theoretically speaking, even if it comes to that, as long as a sufficiently powerful Child of the World can be cultivated in the first instance, and the Child of the World can bear the World Lightning with their own blood of destiny, and rely on burning their blood of destiny to make the power of the World Lightning break through the world's limit, there is still hope of destroying the Abyss Hole.

However, while that's the theory, for worlds that are facing an abyss invasion crisis for the first time, many are already exhausted just from resisting the first wave of abyssal creatures. How many worlds have the energy to cultivate a powerful chosen one after that and escort him to the Abyss Hole where a large number of abyssal creatures are stationed?

Therefore, after taking all the current worldly factors into account, the only remaining answer to the question of expecting the world's native inhabitants to close abyssal wormholes of the Abyssal Hole level is basically:
No solution.

Yes, it is almost impossible to expect a world that has opened the Abyss Hole to close it on its own.

However, if we change our perspective and focus on surviving the hole in the abyss, we will find many ways to do so.

As a special spacetime channel that exists only because of high-density abyssal energy, if the world in which the abyssal wormhole exists collapses, its stability will inevitably be severely affected.

In other words, if a world can survive the opening of the Abyss's Gate, it means that it must have found some kind of balance between the Abyss's Gate and its own survival. And this balance, when projected onto the world's internal situation, often signifies a certain outcome—

"Abyss civilization...tsk, that's a troublesome term just to think about." Inside the pitch-black teleportation pod, Yamu, who was quietly reclining in the capsule-shaped compartment, listened to Xin Lailai's report, sighed with a worried expression, and gently rubbed his temples. "Speaking of which, how many Abyss Holes do we have to deal with this time?"

"17."

"17... Well, I can only hope that there are fewer of these guys who have sided with the Abyss and survived by coexisting with it."

"By the way, Captain Hei, are you really alright?"

"?"

“Talent, your damn talent, although I don’t really want to expose your shortcomings, you should know that it’s easy to encounter this type in a world parasitized by the Abyss Hole, right?” Yamu said, pausing briefly, glancing at Xin Lailai before continuing, “That kind of civilization that has tried its best, risked everything, and only found the path of coexisting with the Abyss to survive.”

“Although I know you won’t go easy on me, Captain Black, your damn talent is still there. If you experience too many of these things in a short period of time, it will probably still have some impact on you, right?” Yamu said. Upon hearing this, the Death Bearer beside him also slightly opened his eyes amidst the striking blue special effects and glanced in the direction where Xin Lailai was.

Xin Lailai's actions were clear to the Death Stalker, who also understood that the other party had zero spare pieces by his side to help stabilize the situation. But as Yamu said, the other party's talent was ultimately an unstable factor.

"I've discussed this with Zero, but... based on my personal assessment, fully immersing myself in this talent doesn't pose a significant threat to me at the moment."

"Really? Captain Black, you're not kidding me, are you?" Yamu looked at Xin Lailai suspiciously.

“I have no interest in joking about my own life.” Xin Lailai glanced at Yamu and said calmly, “According to my observation and confirmation with Ling Yuzi, the effect of fully immersing oneself in a target with high willpower will be significantly weakened.”

"According to my and Lingyuzi's estimates, unless you experience thousands of the worlds you just mentioned at once, or inexplicably spend hundreds of years in one world, it probably won't even trigger the effect of the talent imprint, let alone affect me."

As Xin Lailai spoke, she glanced at the text on the talent interface that hadn't changed since the DanMachi world, calmly took a screenshot of it along with her willpower data, and sent it to Yamu and Zhisi. Then she quietly waited for their reactions.

"Let me see... Pfft! Holy crap! Your willpower is on fire, isn't it?!"

"How about we try something different?"

"Well, forget it then. I only had a miserable childhood, but you're practically living in an endless sea of ​​suffering. The sooner you die, the sooner you'll be reborn." Hearing Xin Lailai's words, Yamu's face twitched slightly, and he refused without hesitation. At the same time, the worry between his brows also dissipated a lot.

Although the opponent's talent is indeed a ticking time bomb, the presence of 154 points of willpower plus zero points is undoubtedly a good calming medicine.

At least, even he had to admit that, given the other party's current temperament and willpower, unless he really encountered the absurd situations the other party had just mentioned, it would be impossible to shake the other party's mind by simply immersing himself in this talent, which was at most at the B-level.

[Warning: We are about to arrive at the designated coordinates. Please prepare for spacetime turbulence!]

Suddenly, a cold notification sound rang in their minds and on the teleportation pod's broadcast, causing all three to pause. After exchanging glances, they nodded slightly and simultaneously swallowed the 'Time-Space Oscillation Slow-Release Liquid' prepared by Xin Lailai. The next second—

boom! ! !
A terrifying shockwave, so powerful it could shatter the eardrums and internal organs of an ordinary second-tier contractor, erupted, causing the three to groan in unison, feeling as if the world before them suddenly began to spin.

"I freaking... no one told me it would be this bumpy!!"

"..."

"Just bear with it, we'll be landing soon. Consider it practice for spatial resistance."

"Hey, Captain Hei, you're a fucking bastard! (beep!!)"

Before Yamu could finish speaking, a piercing buzzing sound exploded in the minds of the three, turning all the sounds around them into a sharp, screeching noise that sent chills down their spines. Then...

A shockwave, no less intense than the previous impact, erupted, and the entire teleportation chamber suddenly shook violently before deforming and caved in at a visible speed, right before the eyes of the three people.

[Alert: High-intensity attack detected on the teleportation pod. Emergency defense activated shortly (beep—!!)]

The cold notification tone abruptly stopped. At the critical moment, a ring of golden light erupted, enveloping the three people from the rapidly disintegrating teleportation pod, before colliding heavily with the object attacking from below amidst a deafening roar.

Boom! ! !
[Hint: Abyssal Spawning Creature · ??? (Aberrant) has been killed]

[Note: As the treasure chest retrieval function is currently disabled, there will be no treasure chest reward for this kill.]

……

(End of this chapter)