Roger thought hard, but over the long years, the proportion of that time was compressed to such insignificance that if it weren't for Lorenzo's words, Roger would have almost completely forgotten it.
Stepping forward wearily, he wondered what that thing had come from.
That moment that changed my life.
Gradually, Roger seemed to recall that day. Ever since he could remember, he had been living under the gloomy and oppressive steel sky. He wanted to leave many times, to see the outside world and see the things described in the book.
exist.
But those monster-like secret keepers stopped him one after another, warning him that the outside world had been destroyed, and all that was left were ruins.
It was a desolate and dilapidated world, and there was no need to explore. All Roger needed to do was to work with the secret keepers to maintain this huge library, record the various glories of mankind, and then hold on to such glories,
Die in silence.
Roger was very scared at that time, not that he was worried that he would become a monster like the Keeper, but he just felt sad when he thought that he would spend the rest of his life here.
until……
Until one day, the closed door was opened.
"It's actually been so long."
Roger stopped and muttered in a low voice.
His eyes looked a bit confused, and half of his face had been completely cracked open. Under the fallen skin was not scarlet flesh, but deep darkness, as if his flesh, bones, and even internal organs had been eaten away by the darkness at some point.
All that's left now is just a skin and a clay doll.
There are more and more fine cracks. As the cracks expand, the darkness inside seems to have substance and is constantly overflowing. Black particles can be clearly seen surging, and they converge into smoke and spread slowly.
In this unsettling depth, the sound of peaceful sleep echoed, and from time to time, scarlet threads would open and turn into a hundred red eyes.
"When did I become like this?"
Roger's thoughts gradually stiffened, and he looked around. There were corpses and ruins everywhere. The defense line of the mechanical yard was easily conquered, and the huge industrial area was full of fallen iron skeletons.
Some are large machines that have been abandoned long ago, and some are original sin armors that fell down not long ago.
At this moment, the shocking sound of cannons continued, but most of them did not reach Roger's ears. He was just like taking a walk, thinking while moving forward, and then thousands of troops and horses galloped behind him, and the demons bared their teeth and claws, running over him.
The corpse, running over the steel, roared towards the mechanical yard where the fire was burning.
"Is this what I want to do? Or is it a choice I made under the interference of the Unspeakable?"
Roger thought deeply, but no matter how much he thought, it was difficult to come up with an answer.
He has no extra choice. Even if there is a completely different answer, Roger will not give up all this.
It may be due to one's own reasons, or it may be due to reasons secretly controlled by the Unspeakable...
"Anyway, I can't stop anymore, Adren."
Roger said to himself.
The firelight spread out, and the demons advanced like a tide, engulfing the original sin armor and soldiers guarding the guards one by one. The defenses were constantly crumbling. Every time there was an explosion, a large number of corpses would be thrown up, but with every death, there would be more.
The demon filled the gap and moved on.
There were more and more fine cracks, and Roger's face was like a broken mask. More and more pieces were falling off, and the speed was also increasing. The darkness gradually swallowed up most of his face, leaving only a confused left eye.
, looking tiredly at the water.
He stared at himself.
"Maybe you are right."
It was like a self-confession or confession. Roger couldn't tell clearly. He only felt that his thoughts were getting heavier and heavier, but correspondingly, his strength was also rising.
The last time Roger was this powerful was before he entered the Well of Sublimation, and since then, everything has changed.
"I am a sad idealist, unwilling to accept the cruel reality, but I don't have the ability or method to completely change it and solve it perfectly. I have become more radical and crazy, blindly and stubbornly determined that I don't know whether
Correct answer."
Roger couldn't stop anymore. He had paid so much price, made so many sacrifices, and killed so many people. He had no reason to stop, and no time to reflect on himself.
It can even be said that Roger did not dare to think in those directions. To do so would undoubtedly deny himself and all the deaths and disasters he had brought over the years.
So who do you think you are?
All he can do is keep moving forward, blindly and stubbornly believing in his own path, until he is completely destroyed on this path.
"We'll meet at the end of the road, Adren."
The last fragments fell away, and pure darkness occupied Roger.
In a daze, he remembered Edlen's judgment of him. He said that he was a coward. At that time, Roger still didn't understand why he said that, and he retorted angrily.
Now it seems that Roger understands more or less.
He is indeed a coward. All he can do is be blindly stubborn and dare not make changes or even think about it.
I gave up all thinking and was like a zombie.
…
"Run! Kestrel! Run!"
Merlin ran wildly in the corridor. With Roger's arrival, the vibrations continued and the lights kept flashing off.
He yelled at the kestrel behind him as he ran, urging the passive-aggressive guy.
"I'm running! I'm running!"
Kestrel shouted, his mood could no longer be described with words like terrible.
He was holding a firearm and had a folding knife hanging from his waist.
He was fully armed at the moment, but when he thought about the powerful enemies he might encounter next, Kestrel felt that he was extremely vulnerable.
A mere mortal who can kill a few monsters, Kestrel feels that he is already a so-called hero, but next he might have to face Roger Cruz, the kind that even Lorenzo cannot confront head-on.
A powerful enemy, no matter how much I think about it, I feel like I am sending myself to death.
"Say, Merlin! Is there any secret passage for evacuation here? You old man has had enough life, I want to retire in peace!"
Kestrel screamed. In the past, he could rely on his luck to take advantage of slim odds of winning, but this time Kestrel really couldn't see any hope.
"Retire? With your current attitude, do you still want to retire?"
Merlin shouted, opening dust-covered gates one after another, and advancing towards the depths of the core.
"And retirement? Do you think ordinary people's lives are easy?"
Merlin scolded, he always felt that after this guy Kestrel retired, he would just hang around and wait for death, so it would be better to work hard in the purification agency.
"It's okay... Anyway, I will live well, so you don't have to worry about it!"
The sunny afternoon flashed through his mind, Kestrel said decisively.
"Okay? What do you think you can do when you retire? Go to work and be an ordinary clerk? Do you think you can do it well? What you are best at is hacking and slashing after all. Maybe the place where you retire after retirement will still be in the lower city.
, isn’t this just the same as before?”
"What should I do? Don't I still have the pension from your purification agency?"
"pension?"
Merlin almost laughed in anger at Kestrel. The two stopped in front of another gate. No one had come for a long time. It was locked by rust and dust and opened very slowly.
"If we can't survive this crisis, do you think the purification mechanism can still exist?"
Merlin gasped and continued, "If the purification mechanism is gone, who will pay you your pension? Kestrel."
Kestrel was stunned, he was a little incoherent, and finally cursed loudly.
"Damn it, you black-hearted bastards, what are we going to do now?"
After following Merlin all the way, Kestrel finally remembered that he didn't even know what they were going to do.
Merlin did not speak, but laughed.
Sure enough, I don't know whether to call Kestrel a fool or to praise him as a pure-hearted person. This guy is surprisingly easy to manipulate, and he was completely deceived with just a few words.
"Stop laughing! Old man!"
Kestrel urged, now he is really fighting for a good retirement life, and there is nothing he can do to fall down here.
It was obviously such a crisis, but unconsciously, the atmosphere was unexpectedly relaxed.
"Go to the central control room, where you can control the furnace pillar. We can pour all the preset antimemetic material into it, and then increase the output to let the antimemetic material continue to spread along the water mist."
Merlin explained his plan.
"This will cover the entire old Dunling and reduce the erosion level of the entire city."
"Did you have a premeditated plan?"
Kestrel said that such a plan cannot be without preparation.
"Yes, this is the solution after the war. We will use this method to 'cool down' the war-torn cities, but it seems we have to do this in advance."
"Is this feasible? I mean, is this really going to work?"
The gate opened, and the turbid stale air rushed in, causing the choked kestrel to cough repeatedly.
"This... who knows? You can't sit still and wait for death."
Merlin hesitated for a moment, then said.
"I don't know what change this can bring to the war situation, but it's better than dying in a corner pointlessly."
"So you take me to death with you?"
Kestrel said loudly, and then his voice gradually became lower, and his expression became extremely tangled.
Recalling the ups and downs along the way, Kestrel has passed death countless times. If Death had been weaker, he might have suffered from frozen shoulder.
Suddenly another shock came, like an earthquake, and dust fell in a crashing sound.
Raising his head, high-intensity erosion interfered with communications. No one knows what the situation is in the mechanical institute on the surface. It may still be resisting tenaciously, or it may have been captured. Maybe Roger is now leading his thousands of troops.
Horse, go all the way down the pillar of the furnace. If this is the case, Kestrel and the others really don't have much time.
The kestrel roared like a wild beast, then suddenly raised its head, full of energy.
"Forget it, do what you do, love what you do, lead the way! Old man!"
Merlin nodded to Kestrel, with no expression on his stiff face, and then he took steps and continued to run wildly.
"Sometimes you have to think on the bright side, Kestrel."
"What?"
Kestrel asked.
"Actually, if you look at this kind of death, it's not that bad from another perspective."
Merlin ran along his memory. In the dim light, he could see the dusty signs that guided the way.
"How to say?"
Kestrel entered the state and was fully on guard. He didn't know how to control the pillars of the furnace. This kind of thing had to be left to Merlin, so he had to die before Merlin.
"You are saving the world, and you are now one of the saviors!"
Merlin admired it.
"I think heroes are the only ones worthy of being saviors, and we are just supporting actors off the stage."
Merlin's appreciation did not make Kestrel happy. Earthquakes continued all around, and sharp sounds could be heard vaguely, as if countless sharp claws were scratching at the door.
Kestrel has heard this sound so many times that he can figure out what's going on with his feet.
"It seems that the mechanical institute is finished."
He muttered, looking slightly disappointed.
"So let's put it another way, Kestrel."
Merlin did not feel disappointed because of the fall of the Mechanical Institute. He mustered up his strength and kept moving forward.
"As long as we win this battle, we might really be able to end this dark fate!
If it is said that only heroes are worthy of being saviors, then we are all heroes!"
Kestrel felt a little surprised and asked, "Are you trying to encourage your employees so that they can happily accompany you to death?"
"No, I'm just stating the facts." Merlin's tone was sincere.
"Hero?"
Kestrel tasted the word carefully, then smiled bitterly and said, "It's so strange. I've only heard of its existence in books."
Chaotic footsteps and roars sounded like a tide seeping into the ground. They rushed along the gaps and swallowed up everyone they met on the way. There were muffled sounds as the visitors banged on the door and tried to tear a gap between the steel.
The gap to move forward.
"By the way, will we have a monument?" Kestrel asked abruptly.
Arriving at the last door, Merlin opened the door while looking at the kestrel in confusion.
I saw that this guy didn't yell about evacuating. He leaned against the wall leisurely, looking behind him from time to time to observe the extent of the demon invasion.
"I know that things like monsters should be hidden outside of history, so even if we become heroes, no one will know about our achievements, right?" Kestrel said helplessly. There was no way to show off such a thing, so he
I always feel a little unhappy.
"So, is there going to be a monument? What is Moon Naredo engraved on it?"
Kestrel said to himself.
"That's not right. According to the regulations, you can only leave the code name, right? So you engrave a kestrel?"
Kestrel adjusted his posture, and then said seriously.
"In memory of the heroic, invincible, gorgeous, fearless and great Kestrel," Kestrel modified his vocabulary, perhaps it would have been longer if he hadn't studied before. "Merlin, I can already imagine passers-by seeing this.
How will you react when you see the monument?"
Kestrel's words became more and more outrageous, and in the end even he couldn't help but laugh.
"Will they say with astonishment that the municipal government built such a big monument just to commemorate a 'bird'?"
Merlin didn't react. After a while, he also let out a stiff and hoarse laugh.
"That's a really good bad joke."
"yes."
Kestrel clenched his weapon and looked at the crumbling gates at the end of the corridor.
"I really wish I had the chance to tell this joke to others."
Sharp claws stabbed out along the gaps in the steel, and behind the kestrel, the last door to the central control room also opened at this time.