Sanctuary Paradise

Chapter 849 Analysis
What on earth... happened?
[WARNING: Cross-region communication is temporarily disabled due to element layer interruption!]

[WARNING: A massive increase in abyssal energy concentration has been detected in the current area. All members in the area are advised to immediately evacuate to a safe zone!]

Boom!

When the white-haired boy realized what had happened, the warning from the mark rang out along with the sounds of the abyss torrent colliding with the elemental barrier.

Is this... the disaster that Brother Black Sword was talking about?

Bell stared at the oppressively dark sky, a chill running down his spine. The next second, a cold warning exploded in his mind:
[WARNING: Signs of numerous abyssal rifts have been detected. All members currently in the area are advised to immediately evacuate to a safe zone!]

Click, click, click—!

The sound, like a mirror cracking, jolted Bell back to his senses. Without thinking, he immediately shouted to Stargirl and the others beside him:

"Everyone! Retreat to base immediately!!!"

"Roar--!!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a large number of spiderweb-like cracks tore open in mid-air. One after another, ferocious and twisted abyssal creatures roared and rushed out from them, rushing towards the protected area of ​​the abyssal suppression device where everyone was located. This caused Xingnu and the others to change their expressions. Without any hesitation, they followed Bell and rushed towards the stronghold behind them.

"Walk!!!"

"Miss Soulmoon! Go to the vicinity of the Abyss Suppression Device! Minimize the suppression range! Otherwise, it will only attract more abyssal creatures! We'll be responsible for stalling for time."

"Miss Star Girl, please go and defend the top to prevent them from attacking from above!!"

As the urgent shout subsided, Bell, fully aware of the situation, pressed the emergency button on the inside of the door and quickly gave instructions to Star Girl and the others.

[Warning! Warning! Emergency defense system activated. The current outpost is about to sink!]

The next instant, a piercing warning blared from the base's broadcast system. The once interconnected base gates slammed shut with a bang, instantly transforming the base, which had resembled a post station, into an impenetrable steel fortress. Then, the entire base began to sink rapidly amidst a violent shaking.

Emergency defense system.

This is knowledge that every contractor participating in the expedition will be forced to learn.

When faced with an emergency beyond the scope of the situation and unable to contact the outside world, simply activating the emergency defense system within the base can temporarily transform the base into a small fortress, extending the time that the contractors within the base can endure during the disaster as much as possible.

only……

'Don't appear, please don't appear—'

In the hall where only he, Saintess, and Sia remained, Bell stared at the outside situation displayed on the screen, watching the rapidly shrinking suppression zone and the army of abyssal creatures charging towards the stronghold amidst a hail of artillery fire. He subconsciously clenched his fists.

As a defense mode designed to deal with emergencies, this system itself has no design flaws, but it does have a flaw that is not exactly a defect.

That is... once it encounters an abyssal energy impact that exceeds the limits of the abyssal suppression device, it may be unable to prevent... the abyssal rift from forming inside the stronghold.

Of course, if that were all, it would be fine. After all, even if there are abyssal rifts, it doesn't mean that the abyssal creatures within them have the ability to break through the rifts despite the restrictions of the abyssal suppression devices.

The problem is that, often, the abyssal creatures behind the cracks that can withstand such immense pressure are...

[WARNING! Abyssal rift detected, along with a large number of extremely high-risk life forms. Detecting the exact number...]

—It will also be exceptionally high!!!
Click! ! !

There was no chance to react.

"Everyone——"

From hearing the park's warning, to seeing the abyssal rift suddenly appear in the hall, to the premonition of a life-or-death crisis erupting, Bell felt he only had time to look up and let out that hysterical roar:
"run!!!"

In an instant, the world seemed to freeze there, leaving only the white-haired boy's arm desperately reaching forward to block, the blonde little girl's astonished expression, and the white-clad saintess struggling to unleash a defensive spell.

Until the next moment arrives.

boom! ! !
In an instant, a crimson beam of light, radiating an incredibly terrifying sense of oppression, erupted from the abyssal rift that appeared out of nowhere, accompanied by the chilling warning from Paradise, instantly filling the white-haired boy's entire field of vision—

[Detection complete. Current number of secondary overlord units: 12; number of overlord units: 3]

……

Bang——! ! !
An unusually heavy thud echoed through the room as the iron fist, encased in black armor, slammed heavily against the wall as if in a fit of rage, earning the black-armored general a gloomy, expressionless look.

"Anomaly characteristics - backtracking, haha, what a backtracking trick! What a trap!!!"

A chilling murmur, radiating overwhelming killing intent, fell, revealing the black-armored general's current state of mind without any attempt at concealment.

Abyss Civilization.

That single word was enough to maximize the killing intent in his mind as a member of the Blackthorn Legion, not to mention that he had just learned from Xin Lailai that this disaster, which could cause heavy losses to the entire Blackthorn Legion, was likely orchestrated by that unknown abyssal civilization.

“I understand Mr. Blackthorn3001’s anger, but for now, we’d better calm down.”

"I...no, you're right. I'm sorry that you all saw me lose my composure."

After throwing a punch as if venting his anger, the black-armored general with the number 3001 engraved on his badge took a deep breath, calmly looked at Xin Lailai and the others in front of him, and apologized:

"Lord Blacksword, please give your instructions. Before we set off, the Commander instructed me that if this situation occurred, command of the Blackthorn Third Legion would be transferred directly to you."

"Goodness, that fat... cough, that commander-in-chief is quite thoughtful, isn't he?" Yamu, standing to the side, looked at Blackthorn 3001 with some surprise upon hearing this, clearly not expecting the other party to so decisively hand over command to them, who were outsiders.

"The commander likes to consider everything from the worst-case scenario, that's all."

"Hehe, that's certainly very much his style," Xin Lailai chuckled softly upon hearing this, then looked at the pitch-black scene outside the ship's window, squinted slightly, and murmured, "But, as for command..."

Gaining command of an entire legion division would normally be a tremendous asset, but in the current situation…

"Speaking of which, Mr. Blackthorn 3001, is the Legion's warp drive still usable?"

"It is possible, but the Kashinom route is now fully occupied by abyssal energy again, which will greatly reduce its efficiency compared to before."

"Hmm, to be more specific?"

"1.36 to 1.47 light-years per day, this should be the current maximum speed we can travel."

"I see. It seems that charging straight in won't work..."

"Does Lord Black Sword have any countermeasures?" "No, not yet. To be honest, given the current situation, the three of us and a legion are practically powerless."

Xin Lailai narrowed her eyes and spoke, her dark pupils filled with an unusually cold gaze.

That's right, there's nothing we can do.

This is the reality they are currently facing.

The outer echelon is powerful, the Blackthorn Legion is powerful, the World Fortress is powerful... but the problem is, no matter how powerful they are, there are limits to everything.

They can destroy a world in a day, wipe out an abyssal civilization in a few hours, and stand firm against an army of hundreds of thousands of abyssal creatures, but they cannot instantly return to the world fortress when communication and shipping routes are cut off, cannot save this 169.37 light-year-long battle line in this race against time, and cannot make the elemental barriers that have been converted into abyssal energy flow back again.

"Tsk tsk, I wonder if we're just incredibly lucky or incredibly unlucky? If we hadn't run into this thing here beforehand, it probably would have directly infiltrated the astral plane and participated in the cycle of the elemental barrier in the entire third-tier world layer, right?"

Yamu, standing to the side, gazed at the distant scene and clicked his tongue in amazement, his face displaying an unusually complex expression. Xin Lailai, upon hearing this, did not refute anything, seemingly acknowledging the other party's words.

To be fair, although their current situation is extremely bad, if we analyze it from the perspective of the scale of the crisis, just as Yamu said, it is actually a stroke of luck that they ran into the trap set by that unknown abyss civilization during their expedition.

Otherwise, if these abyssal energies, contaminated with retrograde energy, were allowed to infiltrate the astral plane and participate in the elemental interlayer cycle of the entire third-order world layer, the resulting disaster would not be the small-scale disturbance that has only affected a hundred light-years at present.

From this perspective, the divination by the person who carried out the death, which predicted that the retreat would cause even greater problems, can be considered a perfect omen...

Wait a minute? The divination came true?
In an instant, as if suddenly realizing something, Xin Lailai turned her head sharply and stared intently at a scene in another direction, a multitude of thoughts flashing through her mind.

Not only him, but also the Death Keeper and Yamu beside him seemed to suddenly realize something, and their breathing subconsciously paused.

Divination.

That's right, divination.

Given the current situation, two of the three divination results they initially received have already come true, perfectly proving the accuracy of those two divinations. Therefore…

"Moving forward may actually offer a glimmer of hope."

As if realizing something, a low murmur fell, and Xin Lailai stared intently at the scene below. Her gaze suddenly shifted, and she murmured, a chilling, deep light flashing in her dark pupils:
"Hehe, is that so?"

"Everyone, what's going on here...?"

“Excuse me, Mr. Blackthorn 3001, it seems I need to correct what I said earlier.” Blackthorn 3001 looked at this scene with a puzzled look in his eyes, while Xin Lailai suddenly chuckled, a cold and crazy look flashing in her pupils.

"I'll take this back. It's not us who's been driven to a dead end, but... the other side that laid these holes in the abyss!"

other side?

"Lord Black Sword, are you saying that the Abyss civilization is......"

"Ah, yes, it is they who are truly powerless."

"Hehe, thinking about it carefully, we should have discovered it from the very beginning, Mr. Blackthorn. Tell me, why did they have so many opportunities, yet they precisely chose the moment we entered Island 14 to launch this disaster?"

"This... I'm sorry, Lord Black Sword, I'm not good at making decisions."

"The answer is that they're in a hurry."

"I don't know how they knew our movements, but if it were me, if I had to start this disaster anyway, I would definitely do it when we first entered Island 1, instead of waiting until we had explored all the way to Island 14."

"And since they didn't do that, there are only two possibilities."

"First, the backtracking takes time to activate, so they were just ready by the time we entered Island 14."

"Second, they are waiting for some kind of advantage that will amplify over time, so they want to drag it out as long as possible."

"In the former case, the timing is too coincidental no matter how you look at it. But if it's the latter, Mr. Blackthorn, if you were in his shoes, what would happen to make you suddenly decide to attack when the longer the time goes on, the greater the advantage would be?"

"When you are absolutely certain of winning, or when you have no other choice."

"That's right. Only when they are absolutely certain of winning, or when they are forced into a corner, will the side with the advantage of having the second move make a move in advance."

"So, Mr. Blackthorn, do you think that before this disaster broke out, we had an absolute advantage over the other side?"

Xin Lailai glanced at Blackthorn 3001 beside her and said with a smile. Upon hearing this, the black-armored general's pupils contracted slightly, clearly understanding what was going on.

An absolute advantage?
Upon closer examination, this is clearly impossible.

You see, he personally witnessed how these three monsters destroyed 13 Abyss Holes in just one month. And according to their description, the contaminated energy was gushing out of the Abyss Holes. At that time, the development didn't seem like the enemy was establishing an absolute advantage.

in other words……

"They...don't want Lord Black Sword to destroy the Abyss Hole on Island 14?"

"No, you've got it backwards, Mr. Blackthorn. If they really didn't want us to destroy the Abyss Hole on Island 14, they wouldn't have waited until we entered Island 14 to make their move."

“And since they’ve chosen to do this, it means that what they’re truly afraid of is actually…” Xin Lailai paused, narrowed her eyes, looked at Blackthorn 3001 before speaking in a gentle yet chilling voice:

"We didn't destroy the Abyss Hole in Island 14!"

"And, Mr. Blackthorn 3001, this is the last question. You just said that from now on, command of the Blackthorn Third Legion division has been completely handed over to us, right?"

"Then, I'd like to ask..."

"If I asked you to pilot the Blackthorn warship into the Abyss Hole and ensure its successful passage through the inner abyss passage, could you... do it?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Blackthorn 3001 abruptly raised his head, looking at Xin Lailai, who was also staring at him with unusually cold eyes. He clearly realized something, and his breath caught in his throat. Then—

He laughed with unusual ease.

"Heh, Lord Black Sword... you really are just as the Commander said, an incorrigible fellow like us?"

"So, Mr. Blackthorn, what's your answer?"

"It is our honor, Lord Black Sword."

……

(End of this chapter)