Blue Sword

Mia runs in the dark shadow world.

She did not mention the full speed of a wartime sprint, but sprinted forward in a somewhat even and effortless manner.

However, the envoys had traveled several days before, and even at her current speed, it was impossible to finish the journey in a few hours.

Therefore, she had to alternate shifts with Paige. When she is tired from running, let Peggy come out from the Fire Island.

Mia rested on her back and covered her whole body with shadow abilities to protect Paige from the corrosive damage of the shadow realm. After all, she did not have the ability of the "shadow" sequence.

And Paige has the "flesh and blood" sequence, and her endurance for long-distance running is much greater than Mia, so the two abilities can complement each other.

Neither of them encountered a group of rats along the way. It seemed that these creatures, under the guidance of the mastermind behind the scenes, did not choose to move along the right path.

Of course, the purpose of Cang Qing Sword is not to chase them, but to get to Mingxing City as soon as possible.

It was getting light. Mia, who stayed up and walked all night, could only release the state of the shadow world, and then went to Hearth Island to catch up on her sleep.

Paige continued to move forward with the demiplane fragments. The "flesh and blood" ability prevented her from sleeping or feeling mentally sleepy, so the heavy responsibility of traveling fell on her shoulders.

That afternoon, Peggy rushed back to Berg Village and finally saw the first batch of rats.

When the girls of Cang Qing Sword came out of Hearth Island, they were shocked to see thick black smoke rising over the beautiful Berg Village on the lakeside - it seemed that the desperate villagers were using smoke to drive away the rats. Fire ignites one's own house.

Eleanor was about to rush forward quickly, and Ask quickly called for the team to follow:

"Be vigilant during the support process, be careful that the opponent's body is nearby!"

Everyone formed a fighting formation and broke into the village, only to realize that the large army of rats had left, leaving only a small number of rats feasting around the corpses on the ground.

There were no screams or calls for help. Probably everyone was dead. The surrounding houses were all engulfed in fire, and black smoke gathered over the village like a black curtain at a collective funeral.

From the corner of her eye, Eleanor even saw a small figure, lying with her mother on the edge of the burning ruins opposite. The little hand that once offered flowers to her has now completely lost its temperature, and the five fingers have been gnawed bare by mice. of.

She felt a pain in her heart and turned her head away, not daring to confirm further.

Several kerosene cans were thrown out and then exploded by Mi'er's bullets. Medea conveniently added a few flames, and turned these corpses and the rats on them into fuel for the raging flames.

"By the way, where's Hood?!" Nora suddenly reacted.

Everyone felt a chill in their hearts immediately and hurriedly moved towards the lake shore.

Hood's house was built by the lake in the most scenic location in Berg Village. Everyone attended his wedding in the forest at the door.

Rushing out of the woods, everyone saw that the exquisite three-story building had also been engulfed in the raging fire. Eleanor, wearing power armor, fearlessly rushed in first, quickly found Hood and Maria lying on the living room floor, and rescued them from the fire.

"They are not dead yet! Nora!" Elinor shouted in panic, "Nora!"

After carefully laying the two of them flat on the ground, Nora also rushed forward. When she saw the scene in front of her clearly, she suddenly felt the urge to vomit.

Maria had been dead for some time. Her lower body was completely eaten by rats, and only half of her abdomen was left. There was a palm-sized fetus connected to it by an umbilical cord, and her head was also chewed off.

Hood's eyelashes trembled slightly, and he seemed to still have a weak breath. He hugged the dead Maria with his left arm, and held the charred and bloody sword in his right hand. His legs under the knees were also gnawed off by rats. A fragment of half a stubble of bones was exposed.

Under Nora's healing touch, he finally slowly opened his eyes and said weakly:

"Cang Qing Sword... Captain, you are here..."

"We're late." Asik whispered.

"It's okay." Hood shook his head with difficulty, "Thank you, Captain... for coming to say goodbye to me on my last journey..."

"Hood, don't speak yet." Nora's voice also trembled, "Your body is still very weak, with burns and toxins..."

"Nora, don't worry about me..." Hood said slowly, blood spilled from the corners of his lips, "I had no intention of continuing to live..."

"These terrifying rats...are the conspiracy of the Wolf family that you are talking about, Captain?" He laughed miserably, and liquid slid down his cheek from the corner of his eye. "It's ridiculous. You have warned me a long time ago. I naively thought that...disaster would not happen to me..."

"If I could learn swordsmanship from you like others... maybe I wouldn't be in this situation..." The dying Hood coughed a few times, and black blood sprayed out from his mouth, "Ah Sk, you are right... Once war comes, there will be no way for the weak in this world... to survive..."

He used his last bit of strength to hold Maria's body tightly in his arms:

"Give me some relief, Ask..."

"……kill me."

Ask was silent for a long time, then stepped forward with his sword pressed.

"Asker..." Nora looked at him with a pale face, already realizing what was going to happen next. She wanted to speak to dissuade her, but no words came out, as if her throat was blocked by something heavy.

"Hood. In the next life, give birth to a good child with your Maria, and don't be born in an era of frequent wars." Ask said slowly.

"Yeah." Hood looked at him weakly, as if trying to force a smile, but failed.

"If there is a chance." Asik pulled out his long sword, "Find a more reliable godfather for your children."

"good."

The long sword stabbed cleanly through his scarred body. His face convulsed in severe pain, and then turned into relief-like calm and relief.

Hood's cloudy pupils looked tenderly at the dead Maria in his arms, and opened his lips slightly:

"Don't be afraid, Maria...I'm coming for you...We will be together, forever..."

His voice soon became inaudible, and his pupils became dilated.

Dead.

Eleanor stood back and watched him die in silence. Her limbs became cold again, just like she had witnessed the death of innocent people countless times before, so cold that she could hardly feel the temperature.

If only we could have found out earlier.

If only we could have arrived earlier.

Maybe just...

"Fuck." She seemed to be mentally exhausted, freed from the tormenting regret and heavy sadness that was about to turn into a demon, and slowly squeezed out a word through her teeth.

Hood's departure is also in the outline. This ending has been decided from the time he was involved in the second involvement (yes, just for convenience). His death taught the girls in the group that the world is not as tender and bright as it seems - they have not seen the darkness because someone blocked it out. And the cruel reality, as Asker said, in this world, only becoming stronger can solve all problems.