CHAPTER 646: CHAPTER 433: I’LL NEVER BE A MERCENARY AGAIN! (PART 2)

When these negative emotions accumulate, it makes one feel like the only difference between them and this group of monsters is the monsters’ ugliness.

The greatsword slashed down, severing the monster in front of it in two under the heavy pressure of the blade, with blood spraying everywhere.

According to previous restarts, the greatsword would soon turn to slay more monsters.

However, this time, Elsa, who held the greatsword, sighed, moved her wrist, but the greatsword still did not rise again.

She was tired, truly exhausted.

If she didn’t genuinely burn with emotion, she felt she couldn’t protect the Eagle Group, but to do that here felt too costly.

"Hraaa—"

Gus’s roar came from beside her, wielding a broken longsword, but still fighting the monsters fiercely, his anger evident in his voice for all to hear.

Elsa felt a bit envious; if only she could erase her memory of the previous battles every time they restarted, maybe she could keep fighting?

That was just a thought.

Saving the Eagle Group had already become an impossible task in her eyes; if only she were a speed-type adventurer, she might have succeeded.

She turned to look at Sali, only to find him looking back at her as well, both silent.

They both saw deep exhaustion in each other’s eyes, the kind of weariness from being forced to play a never-ending battle game.

For a moment, thoughts of giving up arose in both their minds.

This Painting World was too tormenting; they truly didn’t want to enter it a second time, and definitely not again in the future.

At this moment, there was almost nothing left of the massacred Eagle Group, the giant hand opening as it usually did, as if it were routine.

But unlike before, this time both adventurers thought of giving up, not wanting to fight anymore, and here, it was tough for the monsters to kill them, so...

Suddenly, they found the scene before them turned to an image, the giant hand opened, turning into Dark Wing’s Griffith who flew out, standing before Gus who was tightly held by the monsters.

"Griffi—"

Gus was about to say something, but the person opposite waved a hand, and a naked woman, held by the monsters, was brought before him.

This woman was the Chiliarch of the Eagle Group, also one of Gus’s friends, even a mutual affection between the two could be said.

And under Gus’s enraged gaze, Griffith seized the woman and performed an extremely wicked act of desecration...

This time, Sali quickly covered Elsa’s eyes, but it’s not that simple; even with eyes closed, the image would still appear in the mind.

"Griffith!"

Gus’s beast-like roar echoed in this Hell, and he stomped off the arm bitten by the monster with his broken sword, driven by rage to attack Griffith, but mortal attacks had no effect on the ascended Griffith, something Elsa herself had verified.

But the next moment, Elsa’s eyes widened again.

Although the movement was slight, she saw Gus’s broken sword was actually getting closer, little by little, to Griffith!

It seemed it was about to break through the invisible defensive force field to strike at the opponent, and his roar reached the most heart-wrenching level!

"Hollow—"

But with just a glance from Griffith, Gus was instantly sent flying, landing in the sea of blood made up of his comrades’ corpses.

This single glance dealt more damage to him than all the monsters’ cumulative attacks before, as he struggled continuously on the ground, his body slowly rising.

But the next moment, the monsters swarmed over, engulfing the man’s body completely.

Amidst the monsters’ roars, the man’s furious shouts, and the taunts coming from somewhere unknown, all sounds mixed together, yet it gave a sense of silence.

Suddenly, the scene shifted to the sky, moved to a pitch-black Sun under a sky made of human faces.

That black Sun suddenly cracked open a gap.

....

"Crackle....."

The sound of burning wood came, and Sali slowly opened his eyes, feeling an indescribable fatigue all over.

The bright sunlight fell on him, a gentle breeze brushed past his ear, then he realized he was back at the Fire Transmission Ceremony.

A great sense of peace emerged.

It felt just like returning home, nothing could provide more safety than a bonfire, if anything, it could only be the bonfire at the Fire Transmission Ceremony.

"Want some, for strength recovery." Elsa handed over a large white egg roasted on the bonfire, easily recognizable as a Happiness Egg.

Looking at it made Sali feel a wave of disgust.

But, because it was Elsa who offered it to him, would eating it perhaps make her a bit happier?

Forcing himself to suppress the disgust, he took a bite of the Happiness Egg, suddenly clarity flashed in his eyes.

"Good, delicious..."

While eating the Happiness Egg, he asked, "Did we lose, got kicked out?"

"Yes, we lost."

Strangely, why didn’t this time the Painting World squeeze them dry before letting them out?

"What was the last crack?"

"Don’t know, the image ended there."

"I see."

After eating the last piece of Happiness Egg, Sali felt his body and mind somewhat healed, fatigue somewhat alleviated, and his clever intelligence reoccupied the high ground, saying: "I have a guess."

"Perhaps, when we allowed thoughts of giving up, it was already determined we were losers, which is why the despairing image showed at the end."

"If we could keep fighting, might we wait for some turn of fate? Like that final crack, it gave me a feeling of hope."

Put simply, Sali realized that if they could persist, perhaps the final image of the Painting World would differ from what they saw, that hope surely would be born out of extreme despair?

"I don’t think the story will end like this. Sain has never narrated a story entirely devoid of hope."

Many think the stories exhibited by the Sain Dungeon are all negative and oppressive, but Sali noted that every oppressive story ends with a spark of hope.

Perhaps what Sain wanted to convey wasn’t mere dire straits, but the light within them.

Thinking about it like this brings an almost encouraging feeling, absolutely filled with positive energy.

Sali had several thoughts, eager to see if they could have a good effect in the Painting World, but unfortunately, he seemed to lack someone now to help him realize these ideas.

Elsa had already replenished her strength, her eyes still bore traces of battle fatigue, but action wasn’t an issue.

She stood up, tossing the eggshell into the bonfire as fuel, and said:

"This time I must leave the Light Eagle Group."

Indeed, no one would want to remain a mercenary after experiencing this Painting World, at least not for a long while!

This is the impact a story can impart!

And the subtle feelings brought to Elsa by Gus and Griffith made her all the more unwilling to continue staying in the Light Eagle Group, no one could stop her departure from the Light Eagle Group.

Sali heard the determination in her tone, initially about to habitually persuade, he suddenly experienced a fit of intensive coughing, spitting up a bit of Happiness Egg yolk.

It was because he ate too fast and it got stuck.

When he regained his composure, he couldn’t bring himself to say the persuasive words, it felt like his mindset had undergone a slight change.

In the end, he just sighed, and said:

"I’ll go with you."