Chapter 1119: 106. Momentum

“So, have you already made up your minds?”

The light vanished, and the room was once again swallowed by night. The drastic change in brightness made Muen unable to see Theodore’s face clearly for a moment. He could only see him standing in the darkness, like an unyielding block of iron and stone.

“It is not that we have made up our minds. We simply have no other choice.”

Theodore sighed softly, his tone complicated.

“In truth, someone proposed this plan ten years ago. After all, as long as we kill the Goddess, we can solve the hopeless predicament that has left us helpless for hundreds of years. We can avoid one person after another falling inside that vast Wall of Fog. Whether for me or for the other Pioneers, that is enormously tempting.”

“But... she is the Goddess, after all...”

The goddess named Night had still been the only faith of Annabawei more than four hundred years ago.

The disasters of these past four hundred years had left most people here with only fear and hatred toward her, but added to that was the authority and power she once possessed, which still remained deep in the hearts of everyone here.

Killing the Goddess was, for most people, even more difficult to cross than that Wall of Fog.

Even if she had already become this way.

Even if she could only sit upon her divine throne now, crying and bleeding.

In Annabawei, how many people would dare point a blade at her?

Perhaps the First Pioneer, Alan, had been one of them.

But aside from him...

“So, just like Lord Alan once did, I can only have no other choice. As for those so-called risks afterward, that so-called success rate, those are nothing but lies we use to deceive ourselves.”

Theodore’s face was full of self-mockery. “It has been more than a hundred years. What exactly is the probability of crossing that Wall of Fog? No one can say clearly. Everyone is merely clinging to a single breath. Once that breath is gone, then it will truly be over.”

“But at the very least, you fought your way to now, didn’t you?”

Muen said seriously, “I can feel your resolve.”

“Then you...”

“I’ll help you. Or rather, I don’t have a choice either.”

Muen shrugged. “The condition the Goddess offered me is something I can’t refuse. After all, that was my goal to begin with. If I don’t complete it...”

Miss Dragon’s bone-crushing claws were not pleasant to suffer.

“Thank you.”

Theodore finally revealed a smile. Perhaps since night had fallen this time, this was the most relaxed moment he had experienced.

“Then please go rest for now. As for the follow-up coordination and arrangements, I will notify everyone as soon as possible.”

“You’ve worked hard.”

“No. This is what I should do. Or rather, as an outsider, Mr. Campbell is the one most worthy of our respect.”

“I already said... I’m only forced by circumstances.”

Muen said goodbye to Theodore and walked out of the room.

As he walked, he was still thinking about what the Goddess of Night had just said. That so-called truth—what exactly was it...

“Mr. Campbell.”

But at the final moment before he closed the door, he heard Theodore’s complicated sigh sound behind him.

“We... are truly despicable, aren’t we?”

“Despicable?”

“Clearly... the Goddess is innocent too, yet we are going to kill her. How is that not despicable?”

“Wasn’t it the Goddess who harmed you all to this state?”

“She was also... forced by circumstances, I suppose.” Theodore’s words carried uncertainty. “Although I don’t know what exactly happened to her when the disaster occurred more than four hundred years ago, she also seems to have had no choice. When communicating with her, I could feel her pain. She was in terrible pain.”

“If nobody has a choice, then what is there to be conflicted about?”

Muen turned his head. “Sometimes, people need to be a little more selfish, a little more ruthless. Otherwise, living in this world would be far too exhausting. Don’t you think?”

“...You are right.”

Theodore held the candle used to communicate with the Goddess in his hand. Hearing this, he froze for a moment, then gave a bitter smile and shook his head.

“Perhaps I should be a little more ruthless. Shaking off this useless compassion earlier would be a good thing for Annabawei... Mr. Campbell, you as well. Please do not have any pity in what comes next. The Goddess, Annabawei, and that child named Marcie—I leave everything to you.”

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

Muen waved his hand, looking casual and free.

“In certain ways, I’m a more ruthless man than anyone...”

...

...

Muen left Theodore’s office and came to the first floor, where he found that quite a few people had gathered in the hall again.

However, unlike the people who had come to sign up and report in during the day, most of the people here now were genuine Pioneers.

They were powerful, their auras deep and strong. There were even a few whom Muen could not help glancing at twice.

“Bear King Theresa... Iron Fist Babel... Blade Musa... Oh my god, am I dreaming?”

A certain die-hard Pioneer fan squeezed among these people, experiencing the most wonderful moment of her life, and almost fainted outright.

“Have some shame.”

Muen’s figure flickered, silently passing through the crowded mass of people and arriving beside Marcie. Along the way, he also rolled his eyes at her. “You’re clearly already a trainee Pioneer yourself, and you’re still this undignified?”

“Hmph. Whether I’m a Pioneer or not has half a copper coin to do with whether I worship them?”

Marcie spoke with complete confidence. “If I betrayed my true heart just because my status changed, wouldn’t that make me no different from the kind of scumbag man who toys with someone and then abandons her?”

“...”

That actually made a damn bit of sense.

“Forget it. It’s good enough that you can still be this energetic.”

It seemed this girl had not fallen into much panic because of night’s sudden descent either. Muen simply swallowed the words he had been about to use to comfort her and casually found a corner to hide in.

The news that he had become a newly promoted Pioneer had already spread. On his way over, he had already felt quite a few gazes nailed firmly onto him.

Among them, there were probably also people unconvinced by this fellow who had somehow inexplicably become a Pioneer. But this was not some satisfying power-fantasy novel about showing off and slapping faces. Under these special circumstances, no brainless person came out to pick a fight.

Almost everyone’s attention was focused on the long, endless night before their eyes.

“Hey, is what’s happening this time troublesome?”

Marcie, who had finished enjoying herself among her idols, quietly snuck over. The fanaticism on her face had already vanished. In the end, she truly seemed like a scumbag man who used someone and then threw them away.

“What are you talking about?”

“Stop pretending. The President called you over, so it definitely had to be something very important.”

Marcie pouted. “I may be petty, but I’m not stupid. I can still understand that what’s happening now is very important.”

Night had suddenly arrived early, after all...

Night was already a terrifying and sensitive concept here. Just now, she could still forcibly pretend to be calm, and she could use her idol worship to numb herself. But once she came to Muen’s side, once she returned to reality, she still could not help worrying.

She had already instinctively sensed that this might be a great crisis...

A storm was coming.

“It’s all right. If you ask whether it’s troublesome, it isn’t really that troublesome. After all, the path has already been decided. What comes next is only completing it.” Muen said indifferently, “Although this matter is indeed a little complicated for you.”

“Really?”

Marcie’s eyes lit up. “Then how exactly do we complete it? Can I help with anything? I’m a trainee Pioneer now too, so I must have a chance to show what I can do, right?”

“Everyone has a chance... I just hope you can be mentally prepared.”

Muen raised his head.

Theodore appeared on the second-floor gallery. He still looked the same as when he had parted from Muen just now. Since it was not daytime, he did not hold that umbrella.

Only, although his appearance and clothing had not changed, his temperament had changed greatly. At this moment, his expression was especially grave, and the gentleness he usually carried was gone. This solemn atmosphere also infected everyone in the hall, causing the noisy clamor around them to immediately fall quiet.

“Everyone, I have something very important to tell you.”

He swept his gaze around the area, then took a deep breath, as if making an enormous decision.

“I hope you can calmly listen to me until the end. This concerns everyone... and the fate of all Annabawei!”

The crowd said nothing, merely waiting silently for him to continue.

And so Theodore began giving a speech to everyone.

He still spoke of the things Muen already knew, about night, about daylight, about the Goddess who was sometimes normal and sometimes insane.

As well as about...

Their future.

Theodore’s tone was highly infectious. When he reached an important part, his eyes reddened slightly, as if he too felt pity for that innocent and pitiful god, as if he too grieved for the nameless people who had died in the darkness over the past four hundred years.

And when he spoke of the road they would walk next, when he spoke of the enemy they would face, his tone became sonorous and powerful, each word striking the ground with weight. It was like hundreds of gongs and drums being struck together, making one’s heart seem to pound violently along with it, filled with strength.

...Good lord. If this had been certain taverns in certain periods of his previous life, this kid would definitely have been good material for studying art.

Muen secretly sighed in his heart while also quietly listening.

This simple speech ended faster than he had imagined. When Theodore’s voice fell, the entire hall was completely silent, so quiet one could hear a falling needle.

Marcie, beside him, had been thoroughly stunned on the spot. Unlike those true Pioneers who had already known some inside information long ago... she, she had guessed that it was something major, but she had not expected it to be this major!

It was major to a rather excessive degree!

Killing the Goddess of Night or whatever—she had never even thought about that!

“Scared?” Muen folded his arms and glanced sideways at this young girl who had only just become a trainee.

“N-No way.”

Marcie gritted her teeth and forcibly pulled her spirit back from that shock.

“Isn’t it just going to fight the Goddess? Anyway, it’s all for saving Annabawei, so it’s no different from exploring the Wall of Fog. We just do it and that’s that!”

“That is the Goddess...” Muen was somewhat surprised. He had thought this girl would stay dumbfounded for much longer.

Just as Theodore had said, for the people here, the word “Goddess” itself represented something unreachable.

For Marcie, who had always loved collecting such information, it should have been even more so.

“Hmph. If you asked me to fight the other great Pioneers, I might hesitate, but the Goddess of Night... I don’t believe in her anyway.”

Marcie waved her small fist.

“If I pull off this job, I can become a true Pioneer, become a real hero, make the long night leave Annabawei, and let everyone eat delicious potatoes... no, delicious bread! If that’s the case, what do I have to shrink back from? I’m someone who aims to become a person like Lord Alan!”

“But...”

Halfway through her grand declaration, Marcie started acting coy again.

She secretly glanced at Muen beside her, her toe continuously tracing over the floor, shy and expectant.

“You’ll help me too... right?”

“...” The corner of Muen’s mouth twitched.

After all that talking, the main point was still clinging to his thigh?

“W-Who told me I only just debuted!”

Feeling Muen’s disdainful gaze, Marcie’s face immediately flushed with embarrassment, and she stomped her feet again and again. “If I had a few more years to develop, this kind of minor matter would definitely be easy as turning my hand over. But this happened too suddenly. I-I can’t help that, okay!”

“...”

Muen said nothing. He only carefully looked over Marcie’s thin body hidden beneath her rough cloth clothing. Although she concealed it very well, how could such clumsy movements possibly hide from Muen’s eyes?

She was trembling.

This girl, who had still been making heroic declarations just a second ago, was now secretly trembling from fear.

And how could she not tremble?

She had been hoping for a bright future, but the night had come faster than she had imagined.

“Remember what you said not long ago?”

Muen suddenly spoke.

“Huh? What?” Marcie froze.

“You said you were going to catch up to me. You said you were going to lead the people of Annabawei out of the darkness. Forgot?”

“N-No way.”

Marcie immediately came back to herself and clenched her fist. “Of course I wouldn’t forget something like that.”

“Good.”

Muen smiled. “Then follow closely. If you fall behind, I won’t specially wait for you.”

“You...”

Light suddenly flashed in Marcie’s eyes.

Clearly, they were within the night.

Clearly, this place was so dim.

Yet that light was so bright.

Bright enough to dazzle.

“Mm!”

She seemed to use all the strength in her body to answer.

“You’re the one who should be careful not to get overtaken and left behind by me, Pioneer Mr. Muen!”

“That’s my line, Trainee Miss Marcie.”

The two looked at each other and smiled.

“...Oh!”

And at this moment, a roar that almost shook the entire small building to collapse suddenly echoed through the hall.

“For Annabawei!”

Theodore raised his hand.

“For true light!”

“For Annabawei! For true light!”

The crowd followed Theodore and raised their hands together, freely venting the anger and excitement that despair had suppressed for far too long.

Unstoppable.