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Chapter 400 - 397. “Su Rin, why didn’t you save him!”

Chapter 400: Chapter 397. “Su Rin, why didn’t you save him!”

Sherrod’s hand was tightly gripping the sword hilt, as he seemed eager to make a move to protect the citizens he dearly loved.

"Do not make a move," Su Ming’an issued the second command after the action commenced, "Even if you have the ability to save one person, even if you can lead those around you to break out for a distance, even if you can reach out to help someone who has fallen..."

Su Ming’an moved the loudspeaker aside, keeping his voice from carrying outward: "—you are not to make a move."

"Ah—!"

A burst of blood sprayed up as the core layer was breached by sea monsters, spattering Sherrod’s face with the blood of a soul hunter.

"...Captain." He almost squeezed the word out from his throat.

The soul hunter’s corpse fell at his feet; he did not linger, stepping almost as if on razor blades, struggling to move forward, leaving the corpse behind him.

Upon witnessing such a gruesome scene, his throat was as dry as a desert, his mouth seemed to be on fire, and he even detected the pervasive taste of blood in his mouth.

With just a hint of the Force of Light, he could save a citizen unable to move due to severed limbs, with just a concentration of energy from his sword, he could fend off a sea monster lunging at someone’s neck... He clearly could save many by simply extending his hand, the chasm between life and death seen by others seemed like no issue at all in his eyes.

He was a Knights of Light, upright, compassionate, innately honorable, born to protect the populace, but now, he could only watch them die one by one before his eyes, while he was forced to remain indifferent.

This was more painful to him than a blade chopping into his flesh.

"You cannot make a move," Su Ming’an spoke with utmost calm, "Your light energy cannot recover in time, it must be preserved continuously until the final battle with the King of Sea Monsters—thus, even if you see people dying before your eyes, you must not make a move. Because once the great battle commences, every bit of your energy will be a weapon to suppress the King of Sea Monsters—and if the King of Sea Monsters does not die, everyone you’ve saved will have to die, including you and me, do you understand?"

Sherrod took a deep breath, trying to calm down.

But at this moment, all he could smell was blood.

"What’s wrong with your hand?"

It was then that Su Ming’an noticed the cloth wrapped around his palm, distinctly black and red in color, clearly indicating the blood continuously seeping from Sherrod.

"It’s an old injury from when I was rescuing Miss Lin Yin against the King of Sea Monsters," Sherrod said.

The King of Sea Monsters had impersonated Noel, intending to abduct Lin Yin. At that time, his hands caught her claw, a wound that still could not heal, continuously seeping poisoned blood.

"That doesn’t matter," Su Ming’an said. "Nuoliya’s Red Rose can reconstruct your body, heal all previous injuries, as long as you ensure your soul remains unaffected, it will be fine."

"..."

Sherrod did not respond.

What he cared about had gradually ceased to be the Red Rose, the prop that could make him a player.

At this moment, looking at these massacred citizens, he felt grief almost drowning him.

But he could not wield even one sword. Nor could he save even one person.

Because he could not be certain that every bit of energy he used now might not be the very last straw that subdued the King of Sea Monsters.

As a Knight of Light,

He could not do what a knight ought to do.

He suddenly felt very sad, very regretful, as if something still remained here, needing his protection.

...

[NPC (Sherrod) HE Ending Progress: 70%]

...

Under the envelopment of blue sea monsters, the outermost relics of the barrier were drawing ever closer.

After a hellish fifteen minutes, the originally mighty thousand-person troop had already dwindled to half.

Countless bodies lay on the continually forming white bridge, stained a translucent red with blood.

Among them, if one were to count, it would be discovered that the number of dead Soul Hunters was almost equivalent to that of the residents, even though the population of residents far exceeded that of Soul Hunters, who were expected to be the ones to survive in this chaotic battle.

Yet contrary to expectations, the death rate of Soul Hunters was significantly higher than that of ordinary residents.

Those watching the battle from a high position, some had begun to cry. From one thousand to five hundred, the significant difference in numbers made it unclear if their loved ones and friends had already died in that prolonged fight.

However, at the moment, the progress of the troop was good. With only a third of the distance left to the destination and half of the troop remaining, reaching it had become almost certain.

Standing on the Royal City’s wall, the mercenary player Cyrus used his far-sight skill to observe the distant scene, then withdrew his gaze.

"I’m beginning to regret not taking part in that," he half-joked to his burly teammate beside him.

"Yeah." His teammate nodded, "I heard about the mission rewards, a title with a 5% combat power boost and double experience. With a death rate of one in two, I think it’s acceptable. With our strength, we would definitely be among those who survive."

"Luna and the others are all alive, if we had joined, we surely wouldn’t have died along the way," said their female teammate beside them.

They looked at each other, then sighed with some regret, wondering why they hadn’t stepped onto that city wall just then.

"We should have believed in the Number One Player. The moment he gave that speech, I really wanted to go up there," said another player from the team that had stood on the city wall together.

"I was cautious; I thought that since he needed to sell that speech so hard, to stir up others’ emotions with such intensity, then this Transmarine Operation must be extremely risky, necessitating such a strong move from him... But I didn’t expect it was just a routine speech," said a green-haired trendy girl.

"No one knows what he was thinking... Maybe he just wanted to boost morale before the battle," someone replied.

"Sigh, talking about this now is useless, they’ve already rushed out so far, we can’t catch up," another lamented.

"Sigh..."

Earlier, they had thought that the operation required bait and cannon fodder, and needed the full deployment of the high-ceiling combat power of the Soul Hunter Minister... certainly a mission of certain death. But now, seeing that half of the people were still alive, they immediately imagined themselves among the survivors.

In the world game, the difficulty of instances increased sequentially; if one did not utilize every opportunity to accumulate strength timely in the early phases, a vicious cycle would form, encountering increasingly harder tasks.

They regretted missing a great opportunity for improvement.

...

"Ding Dong!"

Hearing the level-up alert once more, Su Ming’an had now ascended to Third Rank Eight.

The instance didn’t encourage players to gain experience through grinding monsters; it rather motivated them to search for clues, go through the plot, and complete tasks to harvest experience, which was why the system didn’t award much experience for killing monsters.

But even if it wasn’t much, under such experience boosts, it allowed him to skyrocket two levels within a mere fifteen minutes.

Risk accompanied opportunities, as was always the case with the instance system. The more difficult the journey, the greater the improvement it offered him.

He did not know if he could advance to the Fourth Rank after perfectly passing this instance.

One step ahead leads to steps ahead.

If he could advance to the Fourth Rank before the start of the Eighth World, he would hold an absolute rank supremacy over all other top-ranked players. If the Eighth World was a pinnacle player competitive type of world instance, advancing to the Fourth Rank would be greatly advantageous for his final victory.

In the meantime, he had also received a message from Lin Yin. She said she possessed the Breath Tracking skill and had sensed the presence of Sherrod’s sister in the Eastern District.

Su Ming’an had already planned that after this operation ended, he would go and help Sherrod find his sister.

"Lord Su Rin!"

At his side, Duoya, covered in fresh blood, squeezed into the core circle.

The residential layer she belonged to was now in complete chaos, much less organized than before, since many had died.

Her focus was no longer on managing them; the residents had already served their purpose by drawing enough firepower, and now they mostly relied on the defense of the Soul Hunters.

"Ahead, I can’t hear any noise from Karocha!" she pointed at her megaphone and headset, her face etched with anxiety.

She had noticed that up front, the usually quiet figure of the Soul Hunter Minister, had vanished into the vast sea of monsters.

"I suspect he’s been left behind or slowed down, perhaps blended into the crowd. With his strength, he shouldn’t have been killed on the road just now... The journey is almost over, everything seemed fine, shouldn’t we regroup and search within the team..." Duoya’s face was full of anxiety.

Su Ming’an gave her a glance.

He gripped the megaphone by his cheek, bringing the amplifying side close to his mouth.

"Continue forward, do not stop," he said.

His voice was very calm, yet distinctly clear amidst the clash of combat, and after being transmitted, the slightly stagnant team swiftly sped up.

"Su Rin—you—" Duoya dropped the formal ’Lord’ in her agitation.

"Karocha is dead," Su Ming’an replied to her.

Her face, already flushed, froze; then, collapse and disbelief simultaneously appeared in her eyes.

A tear quickly fell from the corner of her eye, quickly dropping onto the blood-stained bridge.

"In such situations, even the strongest can be killed by an unexpected attack," Su Ming’an explained. Just five minutes before, he had witnessed Karocha, because he had charged too hastily, get bitten at the back of the neck by three sea monsters.

Even though Karocha was a minister with over a thousand Combat Power, capable of instantaneously killing the tens of sea monsters in front of him, when his fatal point was suddenly attacked, he couldn’t save his ebbing life.

"Return to your position, quickly, if you die too, our battle line will be further reduced," Su Ming’an moved away from the megaphone.

Every high Combat Power individual is a brick maintaining this defense line.

Once someone dies, others must use their lives to fill the gap, or the line must be compressed, allowing danger to approach closer.

Karocha had died, even the S-rank Soul Hunter Ed was missing; Duoya could not be allowed to die from shock.

If the whole team stopped to search for someone here, it would be a foolish act that would only prolong the conflict.

Human resources are sometimes exhausted.

The longer the delay, the heavier the toll—it wouldn’t be mere trinkets filling the gap, but precious lives.

Su Ming’an knew that as a commander, he could invest in fervor before the battle, using his intense emotions to stir the blood of others. But in war, he must remain absolutely calm.

Some people cannot die; some can die; and some, they must die.

Because in this war, the commander has only one goal, which is victory.

His innate duty was to guide their actions, arrange their endings, sacrifice those who need to be sacrificed, and save those who need to be saved so that the entire team could survive the disaster.

If he deviated from his original decisions due to softheartedness, that wouldn’t be called sensitivity.

It would be called dereliction of duty.

It entailed dragging everyone to death, disregarding all lives.

Meanwhile, by his side, Shadow, whose Mana points were nearly depleted, suddenly staggered.

A mutant sea monster, stronger and more corporal than usual, violently seized his leg, and due to the massive difference in strength, Shadow was immediately pulled down and fell off the bridge!

"—Amber!"

Before she could leave, Duoya witnessed this and her blood-stained face almost transformed with grief.

As Shadow was dragged away, there was no panic on his face; even as he fell, he managed to smile at Duoya on the bridge.

"Goodbye, Auntie Duoya." His smile was natural, as if he were not aware that falling would certainly mean death.

Quickly, endless sea monsters crazily surged up, and in just two seconds, Duoya’s view downward was completely blocked.

"Amber—save Amber! He is the Soul Hunter leader, a powerful force against enemies—"

Duoya’s tears burst forth as she knocked back a nearby sea monster with her sword while loudly pleading with Su Rin, her beautiful features almost contorted.

"Lord Su Rin, save him—you can save him, can’t you—you can—"

Her face smeared with tears, crying miserably, she met Su Ming’an’s nearly indifferent eyes.

Shadow’s Mana points had run out, and his speed and stamina had begun to lag behind the team. Even if Shadow wasn’t dead yet, Su Ming’an would not interfere with his fate; this situation was suitable for him now.

It was just a skill, his assistance in achieving a perfect pass; even dead, he could be summoned again. Su Ming’an wouldn’t confuse priorities. Even he himself could die countless times for a perfect pass, let alone Shadow.

Dying in battle was only natural.

But Duoya didn’t know that. She merely felt that Su Rin had easily given up on a Soul Hunter leader, and even during this delay, the team had already moved on, with the place where Shadow fell getting further and further away from them.

Just as she was about to speak, she saw Su Rin, running alongside, shudder entirely, his eyes revealing intense pain as if he had been harshly slashed.

Blood veined into his eyes, his whole body physiologically trembling, nearly slipping in his run.

When a clone dies, the pain is transmitted synchronously to the original.

The pain of Shadow’s death was indeed being borne by him too.

At this moment, controlling the fate of these people, he suddenly remembered the words once scorned by Princess Tulip to him:

...

"Su Rin, you’ve seen too few tragedies, you do not understand all that I’ve done."

"The situation in Pulaya is not abundant; every battle is necessary, avoiding any would just require filling it with more sacrifices."

"Their deaths must not be meaningless."

"Because there is simply no way to make everyone happy without ’sacrifice’."

...

"I command them."

"I carefully arrange each person’s ending."

"Only in this way—can everyone strive for a better tomorrow."