Why can't humans do it too?

Even if they deliberately changed direction, they could still meet again? Surprised, Suer lowered his body. For a moment, he even wondered if Okan still had some power left in him and Xinke, but then he dismissed the idea.

Okan is merely a forging god, not a god of fate; the concept of a divine species is singular and pure.

"Die!!!"

Judging from its appearance, it had lost its mind. The goblin was angrily unleashing its power at Xinke, but even so, it still cautiously avoided getting close to Xinke.

Where are his teammates?

If Sull remembers correctly, these goblins were exploring in pairs... Were they already killed?

I don’t know what arrangements Xin Ke made before she was completely unable to use the elves, but Su Er was even more convinced that it was wise of her not to act rashly at that time. Even after she could no longer connect to the elf corridor, she was able to turn the tables and kill a pair of goblin species that could go all out with the backup plan she had hastily prepared. Xin Ke is indeed powerful.

Suer's gaze flickered as he looked down. This section of the slope was relatively flat, with no obstructions whatsoever. This forced Xin Ke to weave back and forth, unable to pass through in a straight line at top speed. If he wanted to do something, his chances were numbered.

Sul kept clenching and unclenching his fists, unable to even savor the complex emotions he felt. Everything in his memory was flashing by, but it finally settled on the hand that Xin Ke had pushed him away—at that time, the number of elves she could use was rapidly decreasing, wasn't it?

How many ways had she lost the chance to survive because of the self-imposed inertia-counteracting technique she used? Such an extremely self-centered person hadn't forgotten these things...

Suer felt as if a lump of air was stuck in his chest, making his heart pound with a suffocating, throbbing sensation.

Simply gambling on probability, even if the goblin dares not approach Xinke out of fear, it can attack countless times, while Xinke can only make one mistake—the blade of light that grazed her arm sliced ​​open her robe, and blood gushed from Xinke's right arm, revealing a horrific wound.

"Hahahaha, die—"

The joy of hitting his enemy made the goblin, whose mind was already stretched to the limit, laugh wildly. Before his cathartic shouts had finished, he suddenly wondered why the sky had suddenly turned dark, and this became his last thought before he died.

Bang! ! !

With great effort, he lifted a rock about half an arm's length long, aimed at the location of the goblin, and leaped down. As if playing basketball, he adjusted the slight direction and forcefully slammed the rock onto the goblin's head.

Even after taking conventional measures to absorb the impact, Suer still felt as if his internal organs had been squeezed tightly when he fell. He grimaced in pain and, before he could even steady himself, gritted his teeth and picked up the stone again, forcefully striking the unconscious goblin on the head once, twice, until he was certain that the goblin was truly dead.

The tension in his mind and body suddenly eased, bringing a sense of fatigue. Su Er took deep breaths, feeling the lingering pain as his internal organs gradually returned to their proper places due to the tremor. He saw Xin Ke not far away, who had stopped rolling around and was now smiling at him.

Good afternoon, Mr. Monkey!

Chapter Ninety Accumulation

A strong sense of incongruity.

Too much leisure.

Xin Ke greeted her with a light, elegant, and full voice, as if she were having afternoon tea in her own backyard or bumping into a friendly neighbor during an evening walk. Her voice remained steady and unwavering.

Blood continued to seep from between her fingers as she covered her wound, but the woman seemed completely oblivious. Suer inexplicably felt a kind of inexplicable madness, even a hint of fear.

"...Are you crazy?" He wanted to laugh, but he only managed a forced smile as he gave a dry reply to the greeting.

"It's just a courtesy~", Xin Ke said with an innocent smile, even squinting her eyes happily.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but found that there were too many things he wanted to ask. In the end, Suer could only shut his mouth, staggered to his feet, clutched his stomach, and walked to Xinke's side.

Suer tore another piece off the already tattered robe and quickly bandaged Xinke, not even considering disinfection or sterilization, trying to stop the bleeding as quickly as possible.

We can't stay here too long. Given the speed of the goblins, even if they've traveled very far during their previous search, they'll definitely converge as quickly as possible after receiving a signal from their companions.

Supporting each other, the two moved even faster. Even though their elven forms were imprisoned, Xin Ke's physical strength was still greater than Su Er's. Rather than Su Er helping Xin Ke escape, it was more accurate to say that Xin Ke was carrying Su Er away. Many places that Su Er couldn't jump onto were crossed by Xin Ke jumping up first and then pulling him up.

It felt as if a pack of wolves was chasing him from behind. This invisible pressure made it impossible for Suer to concentrate on conversation. He could only urge himself on endlessly, not daring to stop for a moment, until his strength could no longer support him.

"...Speaking of which, Mr. Monkey really does have a lot of different ways of addressing me, doesn't he?"

“Miss Nirbalen, Nirbalen, Shinko…”

"Oh, I just remembered. I had already given the third order forbidding people from speaking in my ear, but Mr. Monkey still shouted in my ear once when we were down there."

?

Is that true?

"...Are all forest elves as talkative as you?" To be honest, at first, Suer didn't even want to pay attention to this lively forest elf who didn't seem to be running for her life, but the woman kept chattering on and on as if she was completely unaware of his resistance.

Especially the last thing she said, Suer even had to think carefully before she remembered when she was talking about it... and who was she talking about?

“I was just so bored,” Xin Ke replied frankly.

“…With this effort, we might as well walk faster,” Suer rolled her eyes, making no attempt to hide her frustration. “The way we address each other is completely irrelevant. I only used names in emergencies to avoid wasting time.”

Suer was indeed extremely agitated at this moment. He wanted to part ways with Xinke again, but he backed down when he saw Xinke reach down from above, gesturing for him to grab her hand.

A moment of impulse.

There wasn't much time to think; the image simply flashed through his mind. By the time he realized what was happening, he was already jumping off the rock, his body moving faster than his thoughts...

Is regret what's lingering in my heart now?

"Ah~, it seems it's almost time," Xin Ke suddenly stopped and looked up at the sky, muttering to herself.

"?"

The goblins have caught up?

Before Suer could ask Xinke the reason for her sudden sigh, the next second after he turned his gaze away, several bursts of blood appeared out of thin air on Xinke's body. Her already injured abdomen, calves, and even the most dangerous spot near her neck and shoulder, the light golden-haired forest elf was instantly covered in a layer of blood mist, turning her entire body crimson, as if she had lost her last bit of strength and collapsed forward.

This is... an unknown attack?!

Suer's pupils contracted sharply, his nerves tensed to the limit in an instant. He hurriedly helped the limp Xinke up and then scanned his surroundings—there was nothing there!

"Cough, cough, it's just... it's just time to go," Xin Ke said, her injuries so severe that she was spitting out blood as she spoke, yet she still had a smile on her lips.

"What's going on?! No, you'd better not say anything yet," Su'er hurriedly tore off another large piece of the tattered robe. The weathered robe could no longer cover Xin Ke's body. Su'er kept scanning Xin Ke's body and everything around her.

Even he himself noticed that his hands were trembling at this moment. Because of the fear of this unknown attack, he tied the robe belt that was bandaging Xin Ke's wound backwards.

"Hey, don't panic so much, haha," unlike Su Er, who was so nervous he was about to break, Xin Ke remained completely unconcerned. The woman even lay back on the ground, teasing Su Er's reaction, "This is the first time I've seen Mr. Monkey so flustered, isn't it? This kind of emotion is a bit strange~"

"What? Is it because you've fallen for someone as perfect as me? You're actually getting nervous because your enemy, whom you wanted to kill, is hurt? Mr. Monkey, after all, is just a male creature that acts only on his genitals~, hee hee~"

The woman kept spitting blood as she spoke until the very end, a feat that truly impressed even Suer, whose forehead was bulging with veins from her words. If he hadn't been so busy, he would have stuffed a rag into Xinke's mouth and gagged her.

Even with injuries like this, you still can't shut up, huh?

Why force yourself to tell a dirty joke during such a tense and serious moment? How did you come up with such a narcissistic answer? Where's your shame?

What are the forest elves thinking?

“…I told you not to be so nervous,” Xin Ke said, her chest heaving as she watched Su Er constantly looking around warily. “It’s just that the spell’s duration has ended, and the injuries that were building up before have started to show.”

As she spoke these words, she raised her arm, which had been hidden under the sleeve of her robe—her previously fair arm, apart from the dust that had stuck to it, was now covered with green patterns that she had never seen before. These were the words of the forest elves, but Suer could only recognize a few of them.

Chapter Ninety-One Agreement

The pattern that was supposed to extend to the wrist has now only reached the forearm, with a very obvious break and a visible missing part... So this was a spell inscribed before the use of elves became completely unusable?

Suer suddenly understood what Xinke meant by "the time has come"—it seemed that this woman's simultaneous confrontation with two goblin species, killing one and severely injuring the other, was not without cost; she had simply used magic to stabilize her physical condition, only unleashing it all at once after the magic's duration ended.

"How much more powerful magic can you use? How many times? Can you heal yourself first?" After a moment's thought, Suer asked seriously.

"Huh? You understand quickly? You can only use Triple Magic once at most, and you can't use it for healing. Those moles should still be behind us." When talking about this, Xin Ke couldn't help but become a little more serious. Her gaze remained fixed on Su Er's eyes, as if she were an audience member enjoying a play.

Compared to her current predicament and her own injuries, Xin Ke seemed more interested in Su Er's reaction and the choices he would make.

Suer has already finished bandaging Xinke's new wound.

Silently standing up, Su Er took a deep look at Xin Ke, who was still lying on the ground, and his mind was filled with chaotic thoughts.

"...Let's make a deal."

Taking a deep breath, Suer stretched his hand downwards.

"Agreement?"

Xin Ke tilted her head, looking puzzled.

“Even managing to escape from a depth of ten thousand meters, the great Miss Nirbalen surely wouldn’t want to perish in a place like this, would she?” With her outstretched hand still there, Sue quietly said, “I will help you survive until you regain your strength… based on humanity’s experience surviving in this apocalyptic world. And you, after regaining your strength, will need to discreetly and without being discovered by other humans, appropriately helping them to better survive in this world, while ensuring their independence and autonomy, and never intentionally harming them…”

"Including, but not limited to, leaving behind items that can be used by humans and have the effect of concealing spirits, methods to increase the production of edible plants without spirits, etc... How about that?"

There was only one thing he needed to do, but he rattled off a long list of demands on Xin Ke. This unequal contract didn't make Su Er feel embarrassed at all, and even his previously excited breathing gradually calmed down.

He already knew he couldn't leave Xin Ke here... such a choice was no longer possible the moment he subconsciously jumped out of hiding.

Riku and the people in the village had been kind to him, and so had this cruel forest elf before him. Suer couldn’t ignore what she had done—he just felt that even in such a world, he still needed to guard the light that existed deep in his heart.

That might be what kept him guarding his own identity and the fence that made him different from any other life.

"...You should know, right? Such an agreement doesn't have any magical power; it's just a verbal game," even Xin Ke herself asked, puzzled.

"Nirbalian".

With a brief and unexplained answer, Suer simply nodded sullenly.

He believed in Xin Ke.

Given this forest elf's proud nature—to the point of disdaining even real gods and her own creator—she would certainly not break a promise made in her own name.

Suer firmly believed this.

"Hahaha... Hahahaha!"

Suddenly, he coughed up blood and chuckled softly. The laughter gradually grew louder. No one knew what Xin Ke was thinking. Su Er had no idea that this forest elf had thoughts different from the rest of the world. He just waited quietly.

Finally, a hand stained with its own blood rose up and gripped the palm that Suer had been waiting for so long.

"...I agreed."

--------------

A burning pain throbbed on my face, appearing as if it were spreading, but before the pain could worsen, a hand wiped it away.

"...No, there's more and more black ash." Finally stopping, Su Er panted slightly as he looked around, trying to find a place to hide.

Xin Ke was lying comfortably on his back. She was the one who had wiped away the black ash that had fallen on Su Er's face. One of the injuries that had broken out earlier involved her tendons, so Su Er had to carry her to keep moving forward without slowing down. Fortunately, Xin Ke's weight was not surprising. In fact, Su Er felt that she was only slightly heavier than Nona, but it still increased his physical exertion.

There were no complaints; it was part of the agreement.

The robe, which had been torn multiple times, could no longer completely cover the two people's figures; it had become more like bandages wrapped around Xin Ke's body.

The surroundings were empty, with almost nowhere to hide. If they continued to move forward in this black ash, they would probably be corroded to the bone before they even reached the safe spot.

The surrounding land looked as if it had been bombarded by a meteorite, but what was unusual was not the meteorite crater, but the cracks that radiated outwards from the circular bomb crater. These traces of war had been there for many years, so much so that the ground beneath them had been slightly eroded by the wind and sunken inwards, though not deeply.

It's also not spacious.