Chapter 1132: 119. Reluctance

If Alan’s appearance had been a basin of cold water poured over the flames in everyone’s hearts,

then Theresa’s rage was a spark... no, a thunderclap, making the doubtful, confused Pioneers remember their original resolve once more.

“We are Pioneers.”

Who knew how many people murmured those words in their hearts at the same time.

“We are the ones who still have not given up on moving forward, in the darkness, in the fog.”

“Despair did not crush us, so... some antique of uncertain authenticity sure as hell won’t either!”

“For... the light!”

“For the light!”

Their roars pierced through the fog, as though they meant to shatter this dense black night completely.

The Pioneers were roused once more, their momentum like a rainbow piercing the sky.

“I’m going too.” Beside Marcie, Landa suddenly stood up and said.

“Huh? You’re just going like that?”

“I can’t hold things up anymore. I have to let Lord Theresa see the real light.”

She did not even dare meet the roaring man’s eyes, afraid that doing so would make her weak. Landa wiped her face, hid the gleam of tears inside the edge of her blade, then hoisted that enormous firewood machete onto her shoulder and charged first toward the Goddess of Night on the distant divine throne.

“...Wait for me!”

Marcie was one beat slower. She felt that charging like this might be a little too brainless... but then she looked at Landa’s back, then turned to glance at Muen, who was still tangled up with the hero Alan, gritted her teeth, and grabbed her own hoe as well.

“I don’t care anymore. I’m going all in!”

At a time like this, schemes, plans, and whatever method of attack all already seemed irrelevant. The Goddess was within reach, and the strongest enemy was being held down. What could be simpler and more direct than turning into pure reckless idiots and rushing right up to the Goddess?

Just charge, and that was the end of it!

...

“Haha, did you see that?”

Theresa was covered in blood. In the battle just now, he had already lost half his body, and he was hanging onto a single breath entirely by willpower. By all rights, he should have been that weak now, yet he was still pointing at Marcie and Landa’s backs and laughing loudly.

“Did you see that? Those two little Trainees rushed to the very front! You grown men who call yourselves Pioneers, did you see that? Don’t tell me you’ve got less guts than those two little girls!”

“Shut up!”

A male Pioneer walked over and lightly kicked him, his expression ugly. “No matter what, we’re not going to be outdone by two Trainee brats.”

“Then hurry the fuck up and help them!”

Theresa turned his head, hot tears running down his cheeks. “Are you really going to let the girl I like be buried with me? Damn it, if something happens to her, I’ll curse you bastards for the rest of your lives.”

“...”

The male Pioneer exchanged a glance with the Pioneers beside him, and his expression softened.

“Don’t worry, Theresa. Something like you deserves to grow old alone... whether you’re alive or dead.”

“I really fucking thank you all.”

“No need. We’re companions, after all.”

“Get lost!”

“...”

Wind blew past, drying the tear tracks at the corners of Theresa’s eyes.

He struggled to lift his head and look over, only to discover that it was not wind, but the airflow stirred up by the many Pioneers launching their final charge.

The man who had always come and gone like the wind could only watch from far away at this crucial moment, letting that wind blow him into a sorry state.

“Damn it. If I’d known, I should’ve turned her down first back then.” Theresa gnashed his teeth. “The president... no, I should say that brat Theodore was right. With a great battle ahead, talking about feelings is a huge taboo. It’s way too easy to plant a death flag for yourself.”

Thinking of President Theodore, Theresa lifted his hand with difficulty... now, even the motion of raising a hand had become extremely hard for him.

He fumbled around inside his clothes and slowly took out a small cloth bundle.

Inside were tea leaves.

The tea leaves Theodore had distributed before they set out.

Theresa had never liked tea in the past. Every time Theodore invited him to drink tea, he had never drunk it.

He felt that he already ate enough bitter things in his daily life. There was no need to treat himself so harshly even when it came to luxuries.

He liked sweet things. He liked sugar. Unfortunately, sugar was even more precious than tea leaves. Even he, the famous top Pioneer Bear King Theresa, had not tasted it in ten years.

“In the end, this damn depressing stuff is all I can use.”

Theresa gently opened that neatly wrapped cloth bundle, placed the tea leaves inside directly into his mouth, and chewed.

In an instant, bitterness wrapped around a rich fragrance and poured all at once into his mouth. It was as if he had found support again, and even his gradually scattering consciousness became a little clearer.

“Damn it. It’s actually not bad...”

Theresa let out a long breath. He was actually somewhat glad his injuries had not reached his lungs. Otherwise, there was no way he could have felt this refreshing fragrance before death like this.

He still could not die.

Theresa groped around, trying to use the little magic power he had left to seal the wound that was still bleeding nonstop.

Although that did not do much of anything.

But how could he die now?

His lover, his friends, and so many of his companions were fighting for Annabawei’s light, while he... had not even seen the moment that light fully arrived.

He had heard that more than four hundred years ago, when night and day had still been normal, there could even be more than ten hours of sunlight in a single day.

Back then, everywhere had been green, the land fertile, and all kinds of sweet things could easily be grown.

He really wondered... what that felt like.

He wanted so badly to experience it...

Theresa slowly closed his eyes... and that closing seemed as though it would last forever.

“Dead?” a voice suddenly said.

“You’re the one who’s dead!”

Theresa abruptly opened his eyes and glared over furiously.

It was a Pioneer he knew. His injuries were also too horrible to look at now, nearly half his chest bitten empty, but even with such wounds, he still staggered over and snatched a few tea leaves from Theresa’s hand.

“Give... give me a couple leaves.” When he spoke, air leaked from his chest. “It hurts like hell...”

“Don’t you have your own?”

“Used it all up already, damn it.”

The tea leaves were chewed, fragrance spreading, and that person’s face clearly showed relief.

“You’re really fucking hard to kill!”

Theresa cursed and grumbled. This guy had lost nearly half his chest and was still forcing himself to hold on here. Couldn’t he just hurry up and die? He even came over to steal Theresa’s tea leaves!

“Aren’t you the same? Better to die early. Saves you the pain.”

That person rolled his eyes too. With only half a body left, Theresa could still hold on this long. It was disgusting enough.

But... though they said those things, the two people who had drawn together, dying yet not quite dead, both understood their own obsession with absolute clarity.

The final moment was about to arrive.

The fate of all Annabawei would also soon reach its turning point.

Complete light was about to fall upon this land that had been tormented by darkness for hundreds of years.

At a time like this... who would be willing to die?

...

...

“So you’re the legendary First Pioneer, the hero Alan.”

Muen tilted his head hard, trying to peer through the gaps in the knight’s slightly thinner-looking visor and see what the person inside the armor actually looked like.

It was not worship. It was just that Marcie, that girl who had to become a fan of every Pioneer first, had been muttering about him the whole way here, so he really was curious what kind of person this Pioneer was.

Of course, what Muen was even more curious about was...

“The person who once gravely wounded the Goddess and took back part of the light for this place—why is he standing on the Goddess’s side now? Marcie said that after you took back the light, you explored the fog as a Pioneer, right? What did you see in the fog?”

“...”

Alan did not answer. The gaze revealed from beneath the visor still carried clear madness and brutality.

His mind had already been unclear for a long time. At most, he would occasionally blurt out a few inexplicable words.

Only, as the Pioneers over there advanced, he also became gradually more restless. Even while still in the midst of intense battle, his attention kept sweeping toward the Goddess behind him from time to time, as though he wanted to break away as quickly as possible and go protect the Goddess he had once gravely wounded.

“No... Lady Goddess... cannot let anything happen... cannot...”

Seeing that Alan wanted to run, Muen’s figure flashed, blocking his retreat.

Their roles had switched.

Although Time Stagnation would be neutralized by the mysterious power on the armor, the time-slowing Muen used on himself was still effective. So no matter what, if the other side wanted to escape his entanglement, that was impossible.

How could the person best at running away let someone else run away?

“How touching. It’s very obvious that your current madness is affected by the Goddess to some degree, and yet you’re still going to give up on the mission of killing me and go protect her?”

Muen toyed with the blade in his hand and sighed.

“What a pity. The two of us, an outsider traveler and a ghost from the old era, both seem to have no right to participate in this matter anymore. So how about we obediently stay here and watch, waiting for their own story to come to an end?”

“Outsider... move... die... move... die!”

Killing intent surged, and the patterns on the armor became increasingly vivid.

But Alan’s words were still disjointed. This hero of Annabawei from several hundred years ago had now become like this, and it really made one sigh.

“All right, all right. I know what you’re trying to say is that if I don’t move, I die. But after fighting for so long, haven’t you realized one thing yet?”

Muen’s aura suddenly shook, and in an instant, he reached a state almost synchronized with Alan.

“Thanks for the sparring. It’s been a long time since I fought an opponent evenly matched with me. But now... I need to resolve this matter quickly too.”

“If I’m slower here than they are over there... with that girl Marcie’s personality, I think she’ll look down on me.”

“Former hero... round two begins.”

...

Marcie took three steps as two, swung her hoe, and first knocked to the ground an evil believer who had been blown away by the aftershock of Muen and Alan’s battle just now and was still dizzy and unable to tell north from south. She did not even go back to finish him off with the blade and simply continued forward.

There was no time to do that kind of small thing anymore. Ever since arriving here, Marcie had been observing, and she had discovered that the Goddess on the divine throne most likely did not have much strength left to stop an attack. Otherwise, she would not have suddenly recalled half of those evil believers just now.

That number of evil believers, plus that Lord Alan—if it had all been together, even that guy... probably would not have been able to win.

So now, the Goddess was completely in a weakened state.

Faster... faster. Soon, she would reach the Goddess, accomplish the great feat no one else had accomplished, and become an unprecedented great hero!

“Little girl... stop!”

An evil believer suddenly blocked the way ahead.

Marcie sighed. Without another word, she raised her hoe and smashed it down. After Muen’s previous training, she had long since become completely different from before!