Four Split Personalities

This was the reason why Motan had strictly forbidden them from accelerating on their own: this team was like an unfathomable body of water, where one misstep could easily lead to the annihilation of the entire force.

But there was no choice, from a broader perspective, the Knight Order was, without a doubt, the strongest core fighting force of the joint troops with the highest potential for significant victory. Motan had to maintain their combat strength as much as possible and maximize its value, which meant letting them charge several more times.

And since they were to charge repeatedly, besides the three frontline zones, it was essential to have a position where the knights could rid themselves of disturbances, recover their strength, regroup, and have enough space to accelerate.

The Armored Interception Force was that position.

Therefore, facing the mutants who were no longer dense but still significant in number, they had to hold their ground, to the very last moment, until the third phase of the Requiem was over or until they were completely overrun—there was no third option.

Everyone present was acutely aware of this, yet they still came.

If it were not for the limitation of the number of participants to reduce potential complications, there would likely have been even more volunteers.

This was not because truth, goodness, and beauty; selflessness and devotion; responsibility and courage; sacrifice and conviction are the norms of this world. On the contrary, the vast majority of people are incapable of such actions. It’s precisely for this reason that those radiant figures shine even more brightly at critical moments.

Here is an inadequate comparison: if one were only to watch the news, one might feel that airplanes are exceedingly dangerous modes of transport, with incidents seemingly occurring every so often. However, the reality is that airplanes have a much lower accident rate than trains or cars, though it must be said, their fatality rate when accidents do occur is excessively high...

And because airplane accidents are rare, when they do happen, they are extensively reported on. If planes were like cars, experiencing dozens to hundreds of accidents daily...

Well, in that case, probably no one would dare to fly.

Anyway, those specifically mentioned volunteers are extremely rare, so rare they’re comparable to the accident rate of airplanes, hence why they stand out so prominently. It is not because they are in vast numbers or in a large proportion.

Just think about it, there are several hundred thousand survivors in Misha County combined, while the joint forces total just over two thousand individuals. The proportions in this comparison should make the situation quite clear.

Heroes, no matter the era, are unlikely ever to be mainstream.

That’s why those individuals deserve our respect, to be commemorated, and to be depicted.

...

Game Time PM 15:39

Big Ear Mosquito, who had just retreated and rested for less than two minutes, once again bravely charged forward. Although his physical strength value was less than 30% and the effects of the life potion were beginning to decline, he still staggered onto the battlefield, replacing two NPC warriors; a pair of young adventurers in love, or rather, a couple of young adventurers who had recently become lovers. They were originally the main force in two adventuring teams going in completely opposite directions but had serendipitously come together in the joint forces. Due to their exceptional skills, they were both selected for this Armored Interception Force and have been fighting a bloody battle with those endlessly swarming mutants until now.

The reason Big Ear Mosquito rushed up to replace them was not that his physical condition was much better, but because he felt that, as a player, becoming a ’hero’ was a relatively low-cost endeavor. So it was better to volunteer more enthusiastically, given that one might need to ’sacrifice’ at any moment.

After all, his sense of pain had been dulled beyond measure. Even if he was dragged away and gnawed on, the pain wouldn’t be too unbearable; it would be like inadvertently offending the neighbor’s big wolf dog.

And no matter how severe the death penalty was in the game Realm of Innocence, if he could exchange his two months’ achievements for the continuation of someone’s life for twenty or thirty years, it seemed to be a fair deal.

[Wait a minute, aren’t they NPCs? Aren’t they just data? Why am I thinking about ’twenty or thirty years of life’?]

After using his longsword to knock several mutants back by simultaneously smashing and hitting them, Big Ear Mosquito suddenly came across this thought.

"It feels like a loss when you think about it this way!"

Muttering under his breath, he still charged forward with an [Intercept] to the Lizardman youth nearby, using his nearly shattered shoulder armor to block a clawing swipe and countering with a backhand strike that disarmed the Mutant’s arm, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the ground, "Forget it, all I seek is a clear conscience from his mother... "

Self-proclaimed ’current small-time hoodlum’ Big-Eared Mosquito tugged at the corner of his mouth, feeling like this was the most splendid moment of his life, with no close second for the time being.

...

Game Time PM 15:42

The joint forces’ heavy armored interception squad suffered their first fatality, a Half-beast warrior whose stomach had been ripped open by two large gashes, ceased breathing quietly at the forefront of the position. He had hidden his fatal injuries to the end, hoping to save some Magic Power for the clergy in the rear, whose eyes were red with rage yet who had to calculate carefully to provide treatment for everyone.

Game Time PM 15:47

In the following five minutes, the number of sacrifices within the heavy armored interception squad quickly breached into double digits. Under successive waves of the Mutants’ assaults, seven players and four NPC warriors fell in quick succession at the front lines. Had it not been for the high Priest of the Fertile Sect who timely used two large area Healing Divine Techniques to relieve some pressure, this number might have doubled again.

At the same time, the Holy Knight Order that was undergoing the third charge also suffered casualties...

A warhorse whimpered as it crashed heavily to the ground; its hind leg had been fiercely bitten by a Mutant half a minute earlier, losing a significant chunk of flesh. Though the well-trained mount still desperately galloped for thirty seconds under such circumstances, a few Holy Knights from the sects of Dawn and Abundance tried to stabilize its injury with some emergency Divine Arts. Unfortunately, its speed inevitably slowed, ultimately being dragged down by the clawing and tearing of seven or eight monsters.

"May the gods protect you!"

The Knight roared loudly as he fell, then somewhat clumsily got back to his feet, half-kneeling beside his companion who had breathed more out than in, gently stroking its mane while he threw his nearly three-meter-long lance onto the ground, drawing the Cross Sword from behind, and calmly watched the dozens of Mutants closing in, "Come on..."

This was a midpoint between the enemy engagement area and the mountain pass, at a fair distance from both sides, where nearly a thousand Mutants were unevenly distributed. The stranded knight had no chance of reaching safety alive, and the moment he hit the ground, he was prepared to die in battle.

His comrades would not stop their charge. No well-trained knight would act so sentimentally and would never rescue a straggler at the expense of substantial casualties.

He was well aware of this, so the ’May the gods protect you’ he had shouted was less a reminder for his comrades to keep charging and not stop, and more a comfort to everyone, a consolation from a man doomed to die to those who were alive.

Then, as Gerbin had said before, take a final bow in a way that any knight would yearn for.

"And you, my dear."

He slowly closed his beloved horse’s eyes, which were no longer in pain, and smiled, "The gods be with you too."

The next second, the young Knight, wielding his Longsword, leaped toward the monsters only a few steps away from him.

His gaze was clear and bright, his pace swift and strong, and his back as straight and upright as a javelin.

Even as he was completely engulfed by the countless Mutants, his smile remained as spirited as ever.

Chapter 441: The End