Ugh, ugh!
A chilling swamp, like ink dripped into water, spread across the tender, pink skin of Version 1.0F.
The blackness, marching like the dead, devoured the delicate textures, swallowing them mouthful by mouthful, writhing tirelessly. Faint specks of pink melancholy danced in the darkness like startled bees.
The windows, which had always shone with white light, gradually sank into the gloom... Amidst the dark, clucking sounds, it felt as though invisible hands were knocking on the windowsill from the outside.
Hiss, hiss...
The bright candle lamps on the ceiling flickered on and off, alternating rapidly before finally snapping off with a pop like a short circuit, plunging the room into darkness.
"Hey, you guys!"
Alain hurried to Mita's side, wrapping his arms around the shoulders of Cute Mita and Cool Mita.
Prankster Mita followed suit, supporting Mila by the shoulder. Together, they gathered the three of them onto the sofa.
"Urgh, hng... it hurts so much." Cool Mita's brow was furrowed tight, a flush of red spreading across her cheeks.
Cute Mita's condition wasn't much better; her brow was locked in pain, sweat constantly seeping out, only to evaporate with the heaving of her chest.
But Mila's condition... was the worst.
"Hah, hah, hah... Alain, Alain..." She leaned limply against the back of the sofa. It was as if the bones in her entire body had melted, leaving only skin and muscle to support her frame.
Alain saw Prankster Mita looking around in panic, wrinkles of worry appearing on her usually smiling face amidst the chaos of Version 1.0F.
"Alain, what exactly is going on?" Prankster Mita walked over quickly, subconsciously grabbing the corner of Alain's coat.
The young man looked at the limp girls, his voice heavy as he spoke.
"We... have been discovered. Discovered by the person above Monika... 'Miss'."
At this moment, the situation struck like a thunderclap—it was the worst-case scenario.
He hadn't calculated at all that the seventeen Modified Entities stationed in Version 1.0F were not just there to stabilize the game version... but also to use Version 1.0F as a base of operations to launch an invasion of the Game World.
Version 1.0F was the first version occupied by the Corrosive Entity, and it corresponded to those seventeen versions that had been severely corroded...
So, it made sense why the Corrosive Entity wanted so many versions. It wasn't just for its own power.
Assuming a single version can accommodate a maximum of seventeen Modified Entities, then for every additional version the Corrosive Entity obtains, it can proceed to corrode seventeen new versions. In this way, it can layer and stack continuously... until the entire Game World is occupied by the Corrosive Entity.
Returning to the seventeen Modified Entities in Version 1.0F... they were likely under the direct jurisdiction of Monika's superior.
And their loss of these seventeen Modified Entities meant that the news of Alain and the others invading Version 1.0F would be sent directly to Monika's superior, bypassing Monika herself. Straight to "Miss".
Since the versions of Monika, Cool Mita, and Mila had already been seized by the Corrosive Entity, they naturally became meat on the chopping block...
Thus creating the current scene.
"My dear, can you think of any solution on your end?" Alain took a deep breath, quickly calming himself, and asked into his headset.
The voice on the other end of the headset pondered for two seconds, the tone stripping away its usual gentleness...
"Alain, it's what we've always done."
Mita told him in the most tactful tone possible.
Alain understood instantly.
Defeating the Corrosive Entity would salvage everything.
Of course, the girl's true meaning was actually—
[We have no retreat left, we can only move forward... we have to move forward.]
If they didn't defeat the Corrosive Entity, not only would the Mitas before him suffer, but they would soon die.
And in a flash, the enemy would establish a firm foothold again, re-deploy the Modified Entities, and continue corroding the versions... making all their previous efforts go to waste.
Rumble—
At the same moment, the friction of the entire room shifting through space gradually fell silent, locking dead tight once again inside the Corrosive World.
The seventeen overlapping bodies acting as stakes had been cleared by him; logically, Version 1.0F should have returned directly to the Game World.
But the reason for all this was very simple.
Alain looked around at the girls, then surveyed the room.
The current version no longer showed a single drop of brilliant pink light; it was uniformly pitch black.
Pitch black outside the window, pitch black inside the window; the wallpaper was pitch black, and the furniture was similarly pitch black.
The three Mitas suffering on the sofa were also pitch black... their silhouettes barely visible.
This was "Miss's" punishment for their transgression, and also a provocation to Alain.
He seemed to hear someone whispering in his ear:
[Look at this. All of this is because of you. It is all...]
[Your fault.]
Alain shook his head quickly.
This black substance rendering the room carried various emotions of despair; even Alain was somewhat affected.
"Prankster, come here." He reached out to the girl.
She nodded and obediently stood in front of him.
Then, Alain sent her an apologetic look and kissed her on the brow.
The girl was slightly surprised, but she closed her eyes in trust.
Amidst the fragrance of Mita's lips, Alain's consciousness gradually became clear. When he looked at the three girls on the sofa, he could distinctly see their outlines and their pained expressions.
The room was no longer a patch of gloom; line after line of pink traced the shapes of the furniture.
Everything could still be saved.
With a shift in thought, Alain clarified all of this.
He gently released the girl. His clear consciousness did not vanish; instead, a great fire ignited within it.
"You don't want to stay in a safe place and just watch me."
"Mhm!" Prankster Mita nodded, complying with Alain's wish, and took the three Mitas to leave his side for the moment.
Alain focused his gaze on a patch of dense darkness.
There, he could clearly feel it undulating...
A moment ago, it was like the tides under the moon, ebbing and flowing. Now, it was like crashing waves, roaring loudly.
Something there wanted to descend into Version 1.0F.
He gripped his greatsword tightly and turned his head to gaze at everyone among the Mitas.
Prankster Mita struggled to support and move them, placing them in a corner that wasn't as dark.
Mila lifted her eyes with effort, staring at Alain, and smiled. "Why is your expression so ugly?"
"Because you guys are in pain."
"Hmph..." The bespectacled girl turned her head away. "You've already done enough. I've seen it all..."
Her small hand rested on a pillow beside her, stroking it... as if stroking a memory.
"Thank you for doing so much for us."
"If you want to say thanks..." Alain stopped looking at them, turning his head back to stare at the surging blackness that was about to transform.
"Save it for when we get back."
The blackness condensed into a hand—five fingers, each composed of an arm. And upon those arms, palms were formed by more hands, and upon those palms, five fingers were formed by five more arms...
Repeating like this, layer upon layer, stacking endlessly, it finally... constructed a black "tree" before Alain's eyes.
A black tree composed of hands, arms, and fingers.
Just like its actions, it wanted to control everything in the Game World, swallowing everything it could or could not eat.
Filling the sky and blocking the earth...
The Corrosive Entity.
___
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