Chapter 219: Helping Seedlings Grow Too Quickly

The Abyssal Colossus's massive body bore axe wounds so deep that the dark green tissues inside were visible.Its chest had been blasted open into a gigantic molten crater!

It felt fear.

Facing two opponents of equal level.

It no longer dared to stay!

The Abyssal Colossus let out a roar filled with unwilling resentment.

Its multiple arms flailed wildly, stirring up the black mist all around.

Its enormous body quickly retreated into the rolling mist, eventually disappearing completely.

With their leader defeated.

The remaining low-level Mist Creatures were scared out of their wits, emitting various terrified shrieks as they scrambled to retreat into the mist like a receding tide.

Ye Hongyu and the other warrior launched furious attacks against these low-level Mist Creatures.

A single casual skill.

Could wipe out large swathes of Mist Creatures.

But there were simply too many of these creatures.

About sixty percent still managed to escape into the mist.

South Cang Fortress.

Its current appearance...

Shattered buildings, scarred earth everywhere, flames burning in all directions.

The flames around Ye Hongyu gradually receded, and the Heavenly Phoenix Phantom vanished.

Qin Hanyue also hoisted his massive battle-axe onto his shoulder, and the weapon disappeared.

The two exchanged glances and nodded slightly.

The Abyssal Colossus specialized in physical durability, and both knew that even going all out, they couldn't kill it.

Or rather, they couldn't kill it before it retreated into the mist.

After all, the mist was right behind it.

As a Calamity-level Mist Creature, even this relatively slow-moving one was far faster than low-level Mist Creatures.

With such a massive body, just a few steps would take it back into the mist.

Not a single Mist Creature remained on the battlefield.

The mist slowly dissipated.

Sunlight shone through again, feeling so warm.

"Dean Ye, the crisis here is temporarily resolved."

Qin Hanyue looked at Ye Hongyu, cupping his fists and speaking solemnly: "But the fortress faces multiple crisis points. Other defensive lines at various fortresses are under heavy pressure and urgently need reinforcements. I cannot stay long. I entrust this place to your guardianship."

Ye Hongyu similarly returned the gesture with cupped fists: "Brother Qin, proceed with confidence. I will handle things here."

"Take care."

Without further words, Qin Hanyue transformed into a stream of light and sped off toward another direction.

He came quickly and left just as fast.

Seeing Ye Hongyu's gaze fall upon him, Su Zhan immediately put on an extremely excited expression, vigorously waving both hands: "Dean Ye! I'm over here!"

Ye Hongyu slowly descended, quietly watching him.

"Dean Ye, and that senior from earlier, thank you so much!"

Su Zhan quickly stepped forward and bowed: "If you hadn't arrived in time, I... I would definitely have died here.

These monsters... suddenly swarmed out in such numbers... Xie Xi... she stayed behind to cover our retreat... and now... her whereabouts are unknown."

Why mention covering the retreat?

To add one final achievement to this young lady's record.

Defending home and country, plus protecting comrades-in-arms.

Su Zhan's tone was sorrowful.

This wasn't acting at all, but came from the heart.

He might have lost an important comrade.

Humans have emotions.

Su Zhan considered himself quite rational and didn't place excessive importance on emotions.

But this applied to strangers.

For his true friends, he would treat them with genuine sincerity.

Yet he never expected that coming to South Cang Fortress would lead to such a situation.

Ye Hongyu's eyes sharpened as she released her spiritual sense, instantly enveloping the entire fortress.

Her spiritual sense swept over every inch of land.

Searching for any possible traces of life energy.

A moment later.

Ye Hongyu withdrew her spiritual sense, her brow slightly furrowed.

Within the range of her spiritual sense, there was no sign of life energy belonging to Xie Xi... I'm afraid that child was truly in grave danger.

Ye Hongyu looked at Su Zhan, her voice softening somewhat: "Being alive is what matters. Return to the safe zone first. The academy will handle the aftermath."

Su Zhan suddenly lifted his head, the previous gratitude gone.

Staring at Ye Hongyu: "Dean Ye, you're one of the academy's decision-makers. I just can't understand why you would send us freshmen to a place like this?

We could have been receiving more systematic training at the academy, steadily improving our realms.

When we're stronger, we could naturally fight the Abyss better! But now?

This isn't tempering, this is suicide!"

Su Zhan grew increasingly agitated as he spoke: "Xie Xi, she had an SS-grade Life Soul! Dean, you understand better than I do what that means. She had the potential to reach the Ocean Realm in the future! Even if she didn't achieve that, reaching the peak of the Abyss Realm would have been no difficulty for her!

A future peak Abyss Realm expert, dead because of this inexplicable combat experience!

My comrade died because of your decisions!

When someone's gone, everything's gone.

The same goes for people from other academies. Who's to say how far they could have gone in the future? How much better they could have contributed to Daxia? You decision-makers are trying to force growth.

Pushing us seedlings who haven't truly matured yet into the cruelest storms, expecting us to reach for the sky overnight?

And the result?

The seedlings don't grow, their roots break! Xie Xi is the perfect example!

She could have become a towering tree, but now she's broken in these ruins!

There are hundreds of such examples at South Cang Fortress alone. How many examples are there across southern Daxia? How many across the entire Daxia!?"

Su Zhan couldn't hold back anymore.

These words came entirely from his heart, without a trace of performance.

He felt regret and sorrow about what happened to his comrade.

This young lady.

When he first saw her at the academy, he only thought she came from an astonishing background, with a proud and dominant personality, carrying an aura that kept people at a distance.

Later he discovered she just wasn't good at expressing herself.

After all, with her powerful background and the environment she grew up in, it forged such a personality, making her accustomed to using coldness and commands to maintain distance from others.

On the contrary, she treated her recognized teammates with genuine sincerity.

When distributing resources, she would give her share to those who needed it more.

When Qin Bai wanted to interrogate them, she could have stayed out of it, yet she firmly chose to stand by her teammates' side, firmly stood by his side.

Now.

Su Zhan truly couldn't hold back.

The words that spilled out of him now barely passed through conscious thought, all emerging from his heart.

Such a comrade—cold on the outside but with her own convictions and warmth inside, a companion with limitless future potential...

Now dead so easily because of a flawed decision from above, because of mistakes by decision-makers like Ye Hongyu?

Died without a sound, not even her body to be found?

Xie Xi's death could have been avoided!

She could have shone with dazzling brilliance in the future.

Now she died without any value.

It had been so long, so very long, since Su Zhan had vented his true emotions so unrestrainedly like this.

Since coming to this world, because of his Aberrant identity, he had needed to carefully disguise himself every single day.

He feared being seen through, feared being eliminated as a freak, feared the unpredictable future.

Every step was taken with trepidation, as if walking on thin ice, terrified that a single misstep would lead to eternal damnation.

This unending pressure, day and night, almost suffocated him.

And now, the massive impact of Xie Xi's sacrifice.

The doubts and anger toward the academy's decisions.

All the accumulated negative emotions erupted completely!