I am the savior, but I am being asked by Alicia and the others to pay me back.

"Ugh?"

Kitsunayami obviously hadn't thought about this question. She transferred her consciousness to the shikigami and said in surprise:

"Indeed... the evil spirit has no intention of heading towards the sacred forest."

At this point, she became confused again:

"But when the battle started, there was no sign of pollution in the sacred forest. Why did so many monsters appear out of nowhere?"

Listening to Hu Zhaigong's discussion, the panic in Ye Ming's eyes became more and more obvious.

"Could it be possible..."

His judgment was correct. The sacred forest, which had been safe and sound for so many times, could not possibly be attacked without any reason.

But precisely because Ye Ming's plan was indeed perfect, he was terrified by the current situation.

Because Ye Ming realized...

"These monsters and filth are gathering strength outside the battle lines!"

Retreating does not mean being defeated, but rather to gather together, accumulate, and multiply continuously. When the number is sufficient to break through the defense line, they will rush forward all at once.

After a long period of accumulation, the filth and evil became more and more numerous, and their size became larger and larger...

Therefore, the sacred forest, which was originally free from evil spirits, began to see the figures of monsters.

"The target of the disaster has always been us. It has never changed."

In other words, they have accumulated sufficient strength and are about to make a comeback.

"Everyone stop resting! Get ready for battle immediately!"

As soon as Ye Ming finished speaking, an endless black tide swept over.

At that moment, the sky fell.

117. After the Collapse, Encounter with Seele

From beginning to end, Ye Ming did not make any mistakes.

It is right to reduce the defense range, it is right to concentrate superior forces, and it is also right to let Shenlin conceal itself and save manpower...

He just didn't understand one thing:

The goal of protecting everyone has no chance of success from the very beginning.

The so-called... the one that was closest to success:

It's just an illusion that makes the destruction come a little later.

The so-called most promising time:

They simply misjudged the severity of the catastrophe and thought they could rely on wisdom to make up for the gap in strength.

"Damn...damn!"

The overwhelming darkness gathered into a ball, and it even started to rain filth from the sky.

A large number of monsters surged up and were killed one after another by Ye Ming, but he didn't know how to stop the infiltration of filth.

"Uh ah ah!"

The soldiers fell one by one due to the erosion of the black mud, and the defense line soon collapsed.

Ye Ming, who had experienced countless failures, also saw this situation for the first time.

Before this, everyone believed that the filth of the abyss could only be spread through demons.

As long as those monsters can be blocked and killed, the filth will not be able to infect the living.

But now, Ye Ming knows...

Once the black mud accumulates and the pollution reaches a certain concentration, it will fill the clouds and even permeate the air.

A rain, a gust of wind, a drop of drinking water, a grain of stored food can all become a channel for the spread of filth.

We must never give the filth from the abyss the opportunity to grow and multiply.

When he realized this, Ye Ming was the only one left in the entire shelter.

If this was a war of annihilation, the winner would undoubtedly be Ye Ming, who had killed countless demons.

But if the purpose of this battle is to protect the people around him, then Ye Ming will lose completely.

"Ha... Huh..."

After the brutal battle, Ye Ming dragged his tired body and mind and struggled forward on Ming Shen Island, which had turned into wasteland.

A large number of corpses were piled up into mountains, and the freely flowing blood dyed rivers red.

"If we disperse our forces everywhere, the thin defense line will be breached by the monsters."

The whole earth was covered with black filth, and the crows and vultures dared only howl on the branches.

Once these scavengers cannot resist the urge to peck at the corpses, they will be infected by the filth and become part of the black mud.

"If the troops are too concentrated, it will cause the filth to gather together as it is now."

Such a large-scale infiltration is like pouring a bucket of black paint onto white paper.

Even if Ying was here, even if she could cut off the darkness that was pouring down...

The darkness that can be cut off and chopped can still infect the white paper.

"The only way is to disperse the defense line while reinforcing each part so that the disaster has no place to break through."

Thinking of this, Ye Ming suddenly laughed, and his laugh was extremely sad.

"How is that possible?"

In order to achieve this unique solution, you can only choose between Ying, Zhen, and Saigong, and give up one of them to protect the other with all your strength.

"It's all because of you filthy things!"

Every time Ye Ming took a step forward, the black filth would linger at his feet, squirming and twisting, trying to infect his body.

They blocked the army of demons, but were overwhelmed by the filth of the mutation.

Unable to bear the reality of this, Ye Ming spread his wings of light and used the energy of collapse to violently tear apart all the darkness that was approaching.

But his attack not only failed to cleanse the filth from the land, but instead made the black matter more active.

The black mud that continued to gushed out like magma condensed together and formed a terrifying black wave that was about to swallow Ye Ming.

——There is no need to stay here any longer.

The system reminded Ye Ming in time, but also felt that the other party's mental state was in an extremely unstable state.

——There is still one last uncontaminated time node and one last chance.

"Last chance?"

For Ye Ming, this was not a comfort but a warning.

In the absence of a margin for error, it is time to make one last, uncertain attempt...

Or just give up and accept the fact that someone has to be sacrificed in order to protect someone.

——Ye Ming!

Seeing that the filth was about to engulf Ye Ming, the system quickly awakened his dazed consciousness.

"cough!"

At the critical moment, Ye Ming jumped deep into the cliff, and at the moment he distanced himself from the black mud, he activated his ability to travel through dimensions.

However, because his mental state was on the verge of collapse, his coordinates became disordered and he eventually fell into the quantum sea.

As he slowly sank, countless people's voices echoed in his mind:

"The creatures on that land are in your hands."

"I hope you can save them, not me."

"Make your choice."

"No one will blame you."

"Save them, or save everything they love."

These voices became increasingly chaotic and harsh, until all these thousands of words converged into one soul-searching question:

"Ye Ming...who is more important to you?"

···········

"Are you... a being in the world bubble, or an outsider?"

The girl with short black hair discovered Ye Ming. She was looking at the boy in front of her with a worried look on her face on the debris of ruins floating in the quantum sea.

"..."

The silent Ye Ming did not look at the girl. Or rather, although his eyes could include the girl's figure, his eyes no longer had the light called "sight".

"My name is Xi'er. Are you trapped here too?"

"..."

A friendly greeting was met with silence.

"Okay, forget about him."

"Didn't you see what this guy looks like?"

"He's covered in blood. Maybe he's dead."

A voice sounded from Xier's mind. It was another personality in her body.

"But... I don't know why..."

Xier couldn't help but stretch out her hand and wanted to touch the wound on Ye Ming's body.

"Xier always felt that he seemed to have experienced something extremely desperate."

"Just like Xi'er."

The feeling of empathy attracted Xier to get closer to Ye Ming, but when her hand was about to touch Ye Ming's face, Xier pulled her white fingers back.

"Sorry...Xi'er has something important to do."

Xi'er, who was about to abandon Ye Ming, said with great shame:

"If Seele can find Sister Bronya, she will definitely come back to help you."

After that, Seele found Bronya as she wished.

The two met again in the Quantum Sea, immersed in joy and emotion, and confessed their longing for each other.

When her excitement gradually subsided, Seele mentioned Ye Ming's existence to Bronya.

118. The Promise Engraved on the Epitaph

"Tell me more about that person!"

Bronya's heart trembled when she heard Seele's description.

From her perspective, Ye Ming, like Kiana, suddenly disappeared.

Every night, Bronya dreams of Ye Ming, dreaming that Ye Ming promised her that some beautiful things will never disappear.

Even if there is no one around her every time she wakes up, Bronya will not feel pain.

She still remembered everything Ye Ming had done for her in her conscious world. Even the cold wind on the ice field could not take away that warmth.

"Ye Ming...it must be him!"

Every bit of Seele's description of Ye Ming's appearance was like a building block, filling in the framework of Bronya's mind, perfect to the point of fitting seamlessly.

"Does Sister Bronya recognize that person?"

"I once wanted to end my life, but he gave me the courage to keep going."

As she said this, Bronya hugged Seele again.

"He also told me that as long as I live, we will meet again one day."

"..."