Chapter 117: The Great Collapse

“Miss Vilyric, are you saying…?”

Edwina, who had been silently listening, couldn’t help but ask.

“Well, as they say, shoot the horse before you shoot the rider, capture the king before you capture the thief. In this matter, tracking its course and tracing its source to grasp the key is the most important.”

“Oh! I see now!”

The Holy Knight seemed to have an epiphany, immediately pulling out the “Quotations” saved in her Holy Emblem and began scribbling furiously, leaving everyone glancing at each other, wondering… what on earth did she understand?

That evening, back in the embassy room, Vilyric sat at the table, gazing out the window at the towering spire that seemed to pierce the night sky, lost in thought.

Philena still hadn’t returned, and it seemed this discussion, involving the attitudes and actions of various countries, had abruptly cut through all the pleasantries and reached the core of the painfully unexpected disaster…

It appeared that tonight, that guy wouldn’t be getting any sleep, and neither would some queen far away.

As for what to do on her end…

What she had previously referred to as “tracing the root” actually pointed to the Earth Mother Goddess Xi Fu and the God of Sky Minerva as potential breakthroughs.

At this point, she was nearly a hundred percent sure that the Abyss, or the Abyss Beasts, must have some close connection with these two. In fact, looking at how the Abyss Beasts quickly perished after she killed that Abyss Worm, perhaps it wasn’t necessary to eliminate all of the enemies to resolve this disaster.

But talking is easy; the real problem is how to do it.

The God of Sky was elusive, likely not even existing in this world, and today that mysterious white-feathered Tira clearly told Vilyric that she could find no trace of the deities in this city.

Although Vilyric didn’t fully believe her words, she felt that Tira’s attitude at that moment was incredibly firm, as if she had some backing.

Setting that aside, if the God of Sky truly couldn’t be a breakthrough, the only possibility the Priestess could reach out to would be the scattered memories and fragments of the Earth Mother Goddess.

The girl glanced at the seemingly ordinary, dull gray stone statue that lay on the table.

Meeting Xi Fu Lin was purely by chance and currently her easiest, if not only, lead, but due to that accident on the Island of Spris, she had fallen into an indefinite slumber.

“What a hassle…”

Vilyric sighed helplessly.

If only there were a way to wake this girl up in advance.

… Actually, there is a way.

The reason Xi Fu Lin had fallen into slumber was merely that some tweaks had been made to that book without any words, and the memories and information contained within were too vast for her at the strength of her then divine fragments to endure.

Thus, she needed to sleep in order to gradually absorb the content and recover from the shock it had caused.

Therefore, all that was needed was to find new divine fragments and fuse them with Xi Fu Lin, and she would naturally wake up soon.

Moreover, the fragment had to be strong enough; after all, although the small amount of fragments from the Abyss Worm’s head did manage to be absorbed, they didn’t bring Xi Fu Lin back.

“…I understand the logic, but where on earth am I supposed to find them?”

……

In the wake of the disaster on the Island of Spris, and with the various pieces of intelligence brought forth by the Winged People from their battles with the Abyss over the years, the nations of the world finally recognized the seriousness of the situation through overnight discussions and reached a consensus before dawn.

No matter what, they must contain the Abyss disaster in the south and prevent it from breaking out of the Wasteland area.

After all, while this land has many countries, its population is relatively sparse. If it spreads north, whether to the densely populated United Kingdom, the rich and vast Holy Empire, or the eastern regions, the population density would multiply.

If they were to lose ground, not only would millions, tens of millions, or even more innocent lives be slaughtered, but the Abyss Beasts would grow to a despairing level, and then it would truly be a global disaster.

After all, it has been confirmed that the creatures of the Abyss indiscriminately attack all life in this world; no one can remain safe.

The United Kingdom, Holy Empire, Ost Empire, along with the local Kingdom of Azure, the five largest nations in this world, all except for the northernmost Ice Country, moved swiftly through the night.

Additionally, many small nations in the Wasteland area, along with the Beast Kingdom in the west and those nestled between the larger nations, also responded, providing various forms of support to the front lines.

However, due to many factors, this segment of forces couldn’t reach the battlefield immediately. The true backbone of the defense line still came from those countries in the far south of the Wasteland. Even the Kingdom of Azure’s emergency transport of supplies via spatial transfer would need several days to arrive in batches.

With troop deployments led by the United Kingdom and Holy Empire, bordering the Wasteland, armies and strong individuals began pouring into that area from another direction, preparing to engage in battle with the terrifying monsters they had never seen before.

But the strength of the Abyss far exceeded everyone’s expectations.

The armies of several small nations bordering the Kingdom of Azure were overwhelmed in just a few days, defeated by the surging Abyss Beasts before their reinforcements had even arrived. The makeshift defense lines they hastily erected couldn’t provide any obstacle and crumbled like dry twigs.

Wherever the Abyss Beasts passed, not a bird remained, life was extinguished, and no living creature could escape or hide under the monsters’ keen senses; it was as if they existed solely to slaughter.

In three days, the Kingdoms of Fuyagil, Leven, and Kace, along with several other nations in the southern Wasteland, were completely annihilated, and over ten million residents who couldn’t escape were turned into food for the Abyss Beasts.

The crumbling frontline retreated to central regions like the Bolt Kingdom and Nobos Ironblood Empire, barely holding their ground with the help of the finally arrived reinforcements and hastily constructed fortifications.

But this was not a long-term solution.

The Abyss Beasts didn’t need supplies; they could easily convert any life they saw into energy and grew stronger the more they fought, while the armies had to consider food, supplies, medical care, and even morale among many other aspects.

After several major defeats, the countries finally realized that sending ordinary soldiers against the Abyss Beasts was pointless; at least elite warriors of level 10 or above were required to even slightly stand a chance against the most ordinary of them.

   

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