The territory of the Ninth Guardian is a projection of the abyss, surrounded by a deep, malevolent darkness, and the air is filled with a slippery nausea. At the foot of the fire was a suspended island, devoid of vegetation and rocks glowing with a disgusting purple-black glow. There was nothing to see beneath the island, only endless darkness and a twisted black fog that spread all the way to the end of the horizon.

Agni endured his nausea and walked forward. With the pace of the fire, the gravel of the void tumbled, forming a floating staircase that connected the continent not far away, where the Ninth Guardian was located.

Agni carefully stepped on the floating rock, feeling that he could carry his weight, and walked over step by step. However, at this moment, a whisper suddenly sounded in his ear, which made him feel sick, but he couldn't help but listen.

「…… As is often seen, happiness is not what we hope for, and pain is far greater than we anticipate......

「…… There is no purpose in life, only a process, and the so-called ultimate goal is a leisurely ......emotion of nothingness."

「…… My philosophy is unpleasant because I speak the truth......

「…… Life is pain, change is eternal......

Agni was a little dizzy for a while, and the thin whispers didn't seem to be conveyed through his ears, but directly into his mind, and he couldn't help but stop and shake his head.

At this moment, a sense of tranquility rose from the bottom of my heart, and the fire suddenly woke up.

"Be careful, it's the whisper of the Abyss Emperor!" These were the crisp words of Falling Rain, and the Patron Saint Technique allowed her to be regarded as fighting side by side with the Agni to a certain extent.

Agni froze, nodded, and continued to move forward, regardless of whether the rain had seen it or not.

At the end of the staircase was a secluded cavern, and the fire jumped to the flat ground outside the cavern, and as soon as he left the staircase, all the rubble that was the staircase disintegrated, turned into a cloud of dust, and disappeared into the black mist. Agni looked behind the empty man, took a deep breath, and walked towards the dark cave.

……

…………

Eyes of Despair: A Land of Lost Hope and Happiness

…………

……

Behind the cave is endless darkness, no borders can be seen, and there is no direction, whether it is forward or backward, or left and right, all you can see is darkness, and the sense of presence is gradually blurred.

It seems like something is going to be lost......

However, in the blink of an eye, Agni felt his presence again, and the light of the setting sun hit his eyes directly, making him raise his hand to block the sun.

Where is this? Agni had a question in his heart and looked around.

It is a small city, surrounded by ordinary stone houses, far less large than a large city like Cologneburg, but surrounded by a small wall, and probably no larger than a district of Cologneburg.

The sun shone obliquely, dyeing this laid-back town an ominous orange red. As the sun was about to set, people had finished their day's work, and it was time to prepare dinner, when curling smoke rose from the chimneys.

As far as the eye can see, the residents are busy or leisurely. There are women washing vegetables by the river, old men pacing the streets, middle-aged strong men pushing carts home, and old ladies teasing their grandchildren.

No matter how you look at it, it doesn't look like a place to crusade against the defenders! Agni looked around, looking for useful clues.

Two playful children, a man and a woman, caught Agni's attention.

"Let's go back early, Auntie said let me come to you!" The little boy said.

"No, I'm going to the tower." The little girl had a book under her hand, bookmarks on the pages, and a magic device around her neck.

"Lisa! If you don't go back, you'll be beaten in the ass! ”

"Nope! Only today can you do this experiment! Go back when you're done! Lisa said stubbornly, with a straight face, "Xiu, will you accompany me?" ”

"Alright, alright!" Xiu said helplessly, "When I go back, I'll say I didn't find you, so that Auntie won't beat your ass!" ”

As they spoke, the two walked towards the tower.

Agni felt very amused, because seeing these two people, he felt that he had seen his past and Tong Junwen's.

"It's like we ...... when we were kids," Agni muttered to himself, inexplicably close, making him ready to ask the two children about the situation here, but—

“？！” Agni found himself unable to move or communicate with the people around him, and could only observe his surroundings from a fixed angle.

"Let's go...... Let's go! Agni watched the two children walk farther and farther away, and couldn't help but become anxious, trying to keep up with them.

Suddenly, Agni noticed that his perspective began to move, and he was overjoyed, but dismayed to find that he still couldn't move, and only passively followed the figures of the two children.

Today, for some unknown reason, there are especially many crows gathered in the tower, and they stand all over the tower and make ugly calls.

Amid the cacophony of shouts, Xiu and Lisa came to the top of the tower. The sun is almost starting to set, and the orange-red sunlight crosses the top floor of the tower, bathing the entire tower in orange and red.

"The light is just right! It's time to do this experiment! Lisa said happily.

"The crows are all gathered here, and they are noisy." Xiu waved his hand to drive away the crows that landed on the windowsill, but it didn't seem to work, and the crows ignored him.

Lisa took out a few lenses and began to build a structure out of the paper shell, then took out the magic device around her neck and placed it in it.

"Leave them alone, just be careful not to block the light." Lisa said.

"Okay......" Xiu reluctantly picked up a wooden stick and drove away the crows that might be blocking the light.

Lisa's device was set up quickly, using light and lenses to record some data, and it seemed that it would be over soon, but at this moment-

"Quack!" A blood-red crow suddenly landed in front of the lens with its beak wide open, screaming sharply.

"Yikes!" Lisa, who was concentrating on the experiment, screamed in fright, and in a fit of rage, grabbed a rock and smashed it at the blood-red crow, breaking its claws into pieces.

"Flat-haired brute! Dare to bully people! Xiu was furious, and the wooden stick in his hand smashed into the crow's wings, smashing off a few bird feathers.

"Quack! Croak! The crow screamed sharply, and escaped from under Xiu's stick, still circling the tower, making unpleasant noises. The other crows flocked in response, and for a moment the whole tower was surrounded by the terrible cries of the crows.

Frightened by the sound of crows, the two became a little frightened, they had never seen such an imposing flock of crows, as if they were about to rush over and peck at their flesh. The two hurriedly packed up their things, slipped under the tower, and soon ran away. The crows, unable to find their target, continued to scream and disperse across the town.

The mutation began to happen - no, it should have happened a long time ago!

As the sun went down, the town was immersed in darkness, and oil lamps and torches were lit everywhere, but the residents were surprised to find that their friends, their neighbors, and their loved ones, from time to time, suddenly fell to the ground, and they couldn't wake up no matter how screamed, and their whole bodies began to burn. Before they could carry the patient home, the alarm bell suddenly began to ring in a frenzy, and the bell of despair reverberated throughout the town.

"It's the abyss! Invasion of the Abyss! ”

"There are ghouls! There are walking corpses! ”

"Guards! Where are the convoys! ”

Before the panicked residents could react further, their relatives and friends suddenly opened their mouths and bit at them, and in their desperate eyes, they began to gnaw at their flesh and blood, and screams rang out one after another throughout the town.

The high hopes of the inhabitants did not play much of a role, some of them closed their doors, some closed the gates, and more of them just guarded the lord's small castle. With the exception of a small number of escorts whose relatives were not with them, most of them were holding on to their camps, where most of their relatives lived.

"Ready?! We're going to go! Let's go! Fast! Pack everything up! The lord of the small city was frightened, the horror of the abyss invasion was not something that a small lord like him could deal with, at this time he had no intention of protecting the territory, he only thought about escaping.

"But what about the people! The convoy is gone, and they will surely die! A white-shirted knight asked angrily.

"Lords? Consuls...... Forget it, so be it," the lord rolled his eyes and thought of a way to get rid of the knight's reserve, "you lead your team of escorts to organize the people and hold on to the church!" As long as I hold on for a few days, I can bring the main force of the Knights back to kill! I am the lord here, and I am the only one who has the right to ask for the support of the Knights! So I must go, and when I'm gone, all the big and small things in the city will be handed over to you! ”

Although there was still a look of disdain in the eyes of the white-shirted knight, it was better than doing nothing, so he silently saluted and went out with his team.

"Lord, is that good? After all, he's the strongest one of us here. Another white-shirted knight asked.

"I'd rather not follow me if I don't obey!" The lord snorted coldly, "Order, block the city gates!" lest these untouchables run everywhere and get in the way of our course! I've raised them for so long, it's time to repay me! Let their flesh and blood attract the attention of the abyssal monsters! All the convoys are assembled at the northeast gate to protect our escape! ”

With the lord's orders carried out, the inhabitants lost hope of their last escape, and the best outcome was to wait for death in the church with the remaining guards.

Xiu and Lisa stumbled and ran in the panicked crowd, probably because they were too small, the rampaging walking corpses and ghouls didn't notice them for the time being, and several attacks by the ghosts against the crowd allowed them both to escape, but luck will eventually run out of time, Xiu knows very well that he must keep up with the guards and escape from the city to have any hope of survival!

Just as Xiu was holding Lisa's hand and struggling towards the city gate, the bad news came, and several city gates were blocked by the guards! Even the way up to the city walls was blocked by the guards! It is also called to prevent ghosts outside the city from taking the opportunity to attack the city! However, even a child of Xiu's size understands that in this situation, the chaos in the city is the most terrifying, and the residents of the city must be evacuated immediately to save people's lives as much as possible.

"The lord has abandoned us! The leader will use us as bait! Someone cried out in despair from the heights, and all the inhabitants who heard it turned pale, and some even gave up hope of life and jumped into the ghosts screaming.