CHAPTER 38: CHAPTER 38: WE SURVIVE, AND THEN WE ASK FOR FORGIVENESS

[Your team’s East Outer Crystal has been destroyed! Deploying allied Middle Crystal troops in one minute! Help them!]

"What...?"

Sylvie’s jaw clenched as the announcement echoed through her ears, and the ears of the Blue creeps.

Her fingers started to twitch, instinctively reaching for a weapon that hadn’t yet materialized.

And soon, the Blue ripple pulsing across the Dome’s ceiling faded in her eyes.

East Lane... undefended?

Her thoughts raced once more as she thought of what to do.

But if I leave this crystal...

She glanced at the Crystal behind her, and slowly, she began to calm down.

If the enemy Heroes were focusing their assault on the East Lane, then their Middle and West Lane would be exposed.

And even though the Game has been going on for quite a while now, Ilyana had only died once since it started—she should be respawning in less than half an hour.

"There... should be enough time for her to respawn, right?" Sylvie whispered to herself. "They can’t reach the Middle Crystal that quickly."

She reached a decision, and that was to keep on guarding the Inner Crystal. The value of the Inner Crystal was too great—if this fell, the path to their Spawn Crystal would open to the enemy.

There was also an option to... eliminate all the Red creeps in front of her, but she had already made a promise to herself, and to Adam that she would not hurt anyone else in this Lane.

She wasn’t about to break a promise she made to a dead man.

There was also the fact that even if she killed them all and provided support to the East Lane, a Hero might be hiding somewhere near and was just waiting for the opportunity for her to leave.

She could also just take an allied Creep and blitz through the West Lane, that would at least get the attention of the enemy Heroes—but the problem of someone lying in wait nearby still existed.

Why did the assigned Heroes abandon this lane in the first place?!

The question seared in her mind—that was the issue that started all of this.

Minutes stretched into an uncomfortable silence.

The red and blue creeps started looking at each other, not knowing what to do as they finally remembered that there was still a war going on outside their lane.

Sylvie kept to herself, almost like a statue as she stood in front of their Inner Crystal. But soon, a gasp escaped her lips.

A flicker caught her attention—their Middle Crystal in the East Lane was being attacked.

"What...?" The word escaped her lips before she could stop it. Ilyana should have respawned by now. Even without her crafting abilities, the Echo Smith could defend herself against Heroes. Unless...

"Are they... killing her the moment she steps out of the Spawn Crystal’s vicinity? They’re ganking her?"

The blue pillar of light pulsed again, more violently this time.

And soon, Sylvie’s composure cracked, her agitation visible in the tight line of her mouth, the rigid set of her shoulders. The creeps around her shifted nervously, sensing the change in her demeanor.

Still, she held her position. Five more minutes. Just five more minutes.

And then, when the Middle Crystal’s light flickered a third time, something inside Sylvie snapped.

"You two—come with me!" She pointed at two blue creeps closest to her, who flinched at her sudden command.

And before they could even protest, she had hoisted them over her shoulders like sacks of grain.

"The rest of you, hold this position!" she ordered the remaining blue creeps, then turned to the red team. "And you—no more fighting."

Without another word, she sprinted toward the enemy’s Outer Crystal, causing a boom to erupt at her feet. The creeps she was carrying screamed, but everyone listened as their voices slowly faded away.

The blue creeps left behind exchanged nervous glances as their Hero disappeared from view. And very slowly, they turned toward the red creeps... and the peaceful air that had previously veiled over them was completely gone.

One of the red creeps stepped forward, his voice trembling.

"Please, we... we promise not to fight."

He gestured toward the Inner Crystal,

"But please, let us... just destroy the Crystal. We... we at least deserve that for reaching this far!"

"N-No! Are you crazy!?" A blue creep shouted back, his voice cracking with fear as he rushed to protect their crystal. Others quickly joined him, forming a human barrier before their crystal.

"We’re not going to let you do this!"

Hannah, who was still seated on the ground beside Grace, was at a loss as to what to do. Her eyes darted between the two groups.

She knew she should join her team, but she also didn’t want to fight anymore. She just wanted everything and everyone to stop.

"What do we do?" Grace asked, her voice steady despite the chaos brewing around them.

Hannah hesitated to answer, and right when she was about to open her mouth—someone else already answered.

"We survive... and then we ask for forgiveness."

The voice came from below them—from Adam, who should have been dead. He repeated the very same words that the man from the IBAA told them at the start of the game.

Adam’s eyes were open, clear and focused, as if he were just waking from a nap.

He groaned and pushed himself up to sit, before slowly rising to his feet with Grace’s help. Blood still stained his clothes where Sylvie’s rapier had pierced his throat, but the wound itself had vanished completely.

Hannah’s mouth fell open as she saw this, her eyes wide with shock. "Adam? But... how?"

And soon, the other creeps noticed too.

Both teams froze in disbelief as they stared at the man whom they had just watched die an hour ago start walking.

The Red creeps marching to the crystal halted their steps and backed away, some even pushing their peers as if gesturing to make way for Adam.

"You’re... you’re alive?" Hannah reached out tentatively for Adam’s arm, then snatched her hand back. "I saw you die. We... we all saw you die."