The cost of transferring the secret world was so high that Sonia and Diya were a little reluctant to do so. However, they were very willing to give up Vichy and suggested that Ash take away Vichy's sky garden.
They didn't mind Vichy getting themselves into trouble, but they didn't mind Vichy's future being ruined even more.
There is no contradiction between being willing to carry a venomous snake and pulling out its fangs. Even if Ash didn't need to use the secret world, they would suggest taking away Vichy's sky garden - cutting off all Vichy's thoughts and making her live a peaceful life as a maid, which would be good for everyone.
Vichy bit his lips in anxiety, but he said nothing, just staring at Ash fiercely, like a kitten whose food was snatched away. Ash finally rejected the proposal, and the reason he gave was that he would not participate in the battle, and the existence of the world secret domain would not have much impact.
Everyone knew that he was just expressing his attitude towards Vichy, but Sonia seemed to have caught a loophole in his words and asked seriously: "You really won't participate in the battle?"
"If we weren't forced to fight..."
"In other words, if there is any possibility, you will not take the initiative to step into danger?" Sonia stared into Ash's eyes: "No matter what happens, you will choose to protect yourself first?"
Weisser also asked: "Even if it's just for us, you will try to come back intact, right?"
"You promised me something," Diya clenched her fists, "you must come back and fulfill it!"
Even Vichy said, "...it's time for you to learn to be cruel."
…
…
They are all very clever magicians.
In fact, Ash never imagined that he could hide it from them. The fighting power he displayed in the Senluo God War was too abnormal, and the contrast in strength before and after was too great. Sonia and the others knew there was a problem just by thinking about it.
Since Ash didn't say it on his own initiative, they didn't ask. Ash gave them the highest trust, and they responded with the greatest understanding. From the most greedy Vichy to the most curious witch, everyone tacitly kept their mouths shut.
But the truth is actually very easy to guess: Ash was clearly able to defeat three gods alone, but he had to explode at the last moment when he was desperate, which shows that this was a trump card with a price so high that he dared not pay easily.
Therefore, when Ash entered hell again, the girls finally couldn't sit still anymore. They used indirect words, chicken soup and hints just to get a promise.
A promise that Ash would not use this trump card for others.
If there was a one in ten thousand chance, Ash certainly wouldn't want to sell his heart. He had used up two of the four chances, leaving only the last two, and the progress bar for the advent of the Final Five had been completed by 50%.
He was already halfway across the death veil.
The fourth time means death, and the third chance is the last margin of error. Logically speaking, Ash should save the third time for when he is in a desperate situation, such as when the Star Supreme descends to the earth to capture him... This is also what Sword Princess and the others think. The most important trump card should be used to protect themselves.
What Sonia and the others are worried about is that Ash will protect others at all costs.
In order to stop this habitual offender from making the same mistake again, Sonia even put herself on the line as a bargaining chip, almost using moral kidnapping to ask Ash - there are so many beautiful girls waiting for you to come back in reality, so don't make trouble in hell, just come back after looting, and let them watch me and you being close, okay?
That's why the Death Maniac asked if Ash could breathe a sigh of relief if they were a step slower.
If the demigod of Hell had lost, if Igula and Xavi were dead...
Ash had never thought of such a thing before, because he never had the right to choose. He could only live and fight desperately. He took whatever he could grab and what he could carry. What was the point of cherishing a life with nothing? But unknowingly, he was no longer the rootless duckweed in the Broken Lake. As an empty container, he had filled it up completely, and could even consider...giving up some of the less important past.
If possible, everyone wants to carry all the important things on the road. But the journey is not always smooth, there will always be a time to lighten the burden, and you always have to choose what is important and what is more important.
This has nothing to do with morality, it's just fate.
Ash followed the Death Maniac in confusion, not even noticing that she stopped, and passed through her phantom. The Death Maniac hooked Ash's neck from behind, and instantly pressed him to the ground with her bouncy body, gritting her teeth and saying, "Didn't you hear me shouting at you to hide!?"
Ash looked up as if awakened from a dream, and saw that they had reached the end of the snow country. In the distance of the horizon, he saw hundreds of thousands of black dots, as dense as a swarm of flies covering the sky.
"That's... the Forsaken?" Ash held his breath. "This number... even if we pull all the demigod magicians born in the magician world together as cannon fodder, there won't be this many, right?"
"One world line isn't enough, add up dozens of them and you'll have one."
Death Maniac said quietly, "On the eve of the apocalypse, it is often a time when powerful people emerge in large numbers. It is normal for tens of thousands of demigods and dozens of God Lords to emerge in just a few decades... But in the end, they all ended up in the stomach of Ouroboros, becoming the Forgotten and conquering civilization for it."
"Even the Forsaken reserves were vomited out. It seems Ouroboros has become impatient."
Even though he was so far away, Ash didn't even dare to breathe, for fear of being discovered. Even if the Forsaken used only 1% of their forces to deal with him, Ash would be in big trouble.
"Hundreds of thousands of Forsaken..."
Ash murmured, "How did the Hell Demigods hold on until now? Even if it was a war of attrition, their source of power and source crystals should have been exhausted, right?"
The strength of the Forsaken is no different from that of the living, except for one more feature: unlimited power! Each Forsaken is a soldier with unlimited endurance. They can be quickly eliminated in a single fight, but if they gather together to fight in a large army, any demigod force will be worn out and drained!
"What era is it, and you are still using traditional methods of warfare?" Death Maniac chuckled and leaned close to Ash's ear and said, "You have borrowed the miracle of the gospel, right? See what's going on inside."
Ash nodded, and a book suddenly appeared in front of him. As his source power was consumed rapidly, scenes in the distance appeared on the pages.
Wonder Gospel!
A huge black curtain was seen stretching across the front of the Forgotten Legion. Other sequences were bombarding the black curtain crazily, while thousands of vanguard troops at the front were setting up all kinds of defensive miracles to form an indestructible mobile fortress, invading the black curtain bit by bit.
But just as they were invading the gap in the black curtain, an extremely bright white light emerged, and the vanguard troops were like winter snow meeting hot summer, annihilated one after another. The vanguard troops composed of thousands of demigods were defeated here silently, without even a ripple!
"This is..." Ash was inexplicably surprised.
"A secret world." Death Maniac said, "And it is a new secret world of light and dark that was built within this month. I have seen it in other world lines. It is called "Dawn Morning Star"... This kind of secret world has no productivity at all. All its power is concentrated on destruction and damage. It is a true secret world of killing."
"This is the way to fight against the Forsaken. There is no need to waste source power and source crystals. Since the Forsaken will continue to die, we can use the Killing Secret Domain as a wall and watch them crash into it and die one after another!"
Ash saw other scenes from the edge of the gospel: the vanguard troops passed through the "Morning Star" from the air at the fastest speed, but they were soon teleported back to their previous position. No matter how many times they tried, they could not move forward, just like mosquitoes that could not break through the mosquito net no matter what.
"'The End of the World is Within Reach', the Secret Killing Domain in Space." Death Maniac said: "The Hell Demigods gathered all their resources this month and urgently created five Secret Killing Domains to build a defense line. They themselves hid in them and continued to think of ways to strengthen the power of the Secret Killing Domains."
"What you saw was the last desperate struggle of the gods of Hell," she said, "but it is also the greatest masterpiece that Hell is proud of—"
"The fortress that will never fall."