The corpses were piled up at Roland's feet.

The bodies of the girls, the bodies of the murderers of the girls.

The causes of the girls' deaths are varied, and it is like a homicide exhibition.

strangulation;

Drown;

burning;

Slash;

Dismember;

beast bites;

- Almost all the methods of killing that the human imagination can reach are concentrated here, as if silently telling how brutal human beings can be.

The causes of death of the killers are quite consistent.

All were beaten or strangled with their bare hands, and all were killed by Roland.

The corpses of the girls with their heads and chests smashed and their necks turned in strange directions overlapped each other, an exhibition of death that stretched infinitely like a maze of kaleidoscopes and mirrors—overly detailed apparitions that rendered the colors of madness into Roland's spirit little by little.

"Ha, ha......"

Obviously, it was a spiritual world that should not feel fatigue, but Roland was out of breath, and his whole person staggered, and every step was crooked, as if he was marching in the mire.

Fakirs?

Practitioners?

Soldiers on the march?

Refugees on the run?

It's even more miserable than that.

The dejected boy raised and lowered his feet aimlessly in the pile of corpses, stumbling forward like a broken machine, constantly repeating meaningless monotonous movements.

Mentally pushed to the limit, he was only one step away from the "moving corpse", if it weren't for the only trace of reason and spirit left, Roland would probably have gone crazy.

Being able to support it to this point can be said to be a sign of his mental strength.

However, no matter how strong the steel is, it will break if it is bent and straightened repeatedly, and no matter how strong the human spirit is, repeated attacks on weaknesses will usher in collapse.

Therefore, people have to seek some reliance and sustenance.

"Roland. ”

Minerva, with a shy face, appeared in front of Roland.

Roland, who was about to be crushed physically and mentally, looked at the shy girl in front of him blankly, and imprinted every word she said in his mind.

"Protect me. ”

“...... Good. ”

"Roland. ”

"Roland. ”

"Fool Roland. ”

"Brother Roland. ”

One by one, the girls appeared, repeating the same request softly or with a high tide.

- Protect us.

- Stay with us.

- We have to have a lot of children, and we will be happy together.

The boy staggered over to the girls, fell to his knees with a sluggish expression, and hugged Minerva, Valrhona, Gloria, and Venia...... It's like a sinner who meets a savior who forgives him and doesn't hesitate to accept their request.

Humans who are thrown into endless darkness will subconsciously seek out the light, even if it is a faint halo. When forced into mental isolation, people will cling to even the slightest hope, and even have no time to discern and think about what they are clinging to.

"I will protect you. ”

"I'll be with you. ”

“...... and many and many children. ”

Roland let out a dying moan, looked up at the girls' smiles, and answered the question numbly.

"Whatever you want to do?"

"Yes. ”

"No matter who you will die or not?"

"Yes. ”

"Whoever you're going to kill?"

"Then protect us now. ”

A short knife appeared in the void and swung it towards Minerva's neck.

Roland's body immediately and unconsciously moved.

Pushing Minerva away, Dirandar stabbed forward.

Even though his mental state was not good, Roland's skills were not affected. The touch of tearing muscles and organs traveled from the tip of the sword to the palm of his hand, and the sword struck the attacker's left chest with precision, piercing from behind, the pulse of the heart along the metal.

"Huh?"

Roland's hands trembled, and a drop of cold sweat ran down the corner of his sideburns.

"Caspar?"

The best friend still had an uninhibited and wild smile on his face, and his body fell back a little along Dirandal.

"Roland, thank you. ”

Minerva hugged Roland tenderly.

"Roland, thank you. ”

"Roland, thank you. ”

"Roland, thank you. ”

"Roland, thank you. ”

The apparitions of the girls appeared and disappeared, and the gentle and thoughtful acknowledgments rang in his ears one after another, causing a whirlpool in Roland's mind.

"I, I, I, I...... I killed Caspar?"

Roland stared down at Dirandal, who was clenched in his hand, dark red blood splashing to the ground along the trembling tip of his sword.

"I, I, I...... Just to save Minerva, I had to ......"

Incoherent, a miserable wail that was not even an escape overflowed from his mouth.

Just for them—

The consciousness that has been forced to have no way to escape clutches this sentence, like a person about to drown grabbing driftwood.

As long as they're safe, as long as they can protect them, as long as they're with them - you don't have to think about anything, you don't have to listen, you don't have to look, you just touch something other than the girls and you're scarred and miserable, so just think about how to protect them.

That's all there is to it!

The teenager's mind is gradually covered with a single color. Hesitations and doubts are discarded from thinking, only black and white are left in the field of vision, and values are unified into a single and clear mind.

- Protect the girls.

- Hug the girls.

I'm afraid this is not only the result of Sloss's oppression of Roland, maybe this is a kind of expectation in Roland's heart, and he has been repeatedly chased and beaten to cause gaps in the composition of the spirit, and the ideas that he would never say or show in normal times are out of the grip at this moment, and they may be liberated and expressed.

Just like the mother who lost her child. Just like her mood of wanting to resurrect her dead son even if she gives up everything, even if she gives up facing reality. Reputation, morality, manners...... All of them are abandoned, and there are only people who are cherished in their eyes, and they are extremely afraid and angry about losing each other.

Maybe when the girls gathered around him one by one and walked with him on the road to fight against Li Lin, he had such thoughts in his heart.

It is true that this is selfishness, but it also comes from good intentions, and it is a natural idea as a human being.

At this moment, Roland was forced by this mood to have no way to escape.

In order to stop the collapse of his existential meaning, he voluntarily stopped thinking. Even if he just leaves it alone, he will take the initiative to condense his values and thinking on the girls.

There is no need for oppression and inducement, and with the narrow line of sight that has been curtailed, Roland himself will complete the rewriting of himself, and become the sowing machine that Sloes expects only to reproduce.

In other words, the brainwashing is nearing completion.

###############

Dead land with nothing.

Valrhona has only one assessment of the landscape as far as her eye can see.

Even the no-man's land of the Rhine front, fed with shells and corpses, the desert and permafrost known as the forbidden zone of life, are more alive than here, and the surrounding area is empty, silently rejecting all life, not even the wind and the sound, only the gray-white sand, and the horizon that is so wide that it makes people fearful.

"This is the spirit world?"

Valrhona's voice was filled with confusion and shock.

This is an imaginary spiritual world formed by the connection of Sloth and Roland.

The world of the two spirits should be full of chaos and color, and the contradictions and resonances should weave a complex and intricate picture.

However, there was nothing but desolation, only dead silence before Valrhona's eyes.

It's just like ...... What a bad omen for her.