Descendants, and... Godan!

But after thinking it over, Maria nodded slightly.

"He doesn't attack you proactively, but He constantly instills fear in you. He traps you, but rarely intervenes... Perhaps, that's why you're trapped."

"Huh?"

"That's not important. What's important is that if you want to leave here, you might need to calm everyone down... What they excel at is influencing individuals with the power of the collective. Everyone's confusion has come together to form the barrier that's trapping you here..."

Maria blinked. She was quite familiar with the methods of those in Great Ones, the simplest of which was to transform emotions into tangible power.

Gordan must have used this method to bind the people of Kazdel.

"This..."

Maria's words had a somewhat charlatan-like quality, leaving the crowd somewhat confused.

Fortunately, Theresa was standing nearby, grasped the key point.

"You mean if we can make everyone stop fearing Gordan, maybe we can leave this place?"

"Um."

"But... what should we do?"

Beside her, Kal'tsit raised a question... Maria's words were simple, but... even now, there are still quite a few people alive in this shelter, and getting them to overcome their fear is no easy task.

The simplest and most direct way is to put on a show and rekindle everyone's confidence.

But...

"This method is still too slow."

Maria frowned and gave her answer.

Kal'tsit's method was standard, but it wasn't what she wanted.

This left everyone somewhat puzzled.

Maria's gaze, however, fell on Theresa.

"We need your help with this..."

"Huh? Me?"

Theresa held up her finger and pointed to herself, somewhat confused.

372

Chapter 372 Descendants, and... Gordan!

"I?"

Theresa paused for a moment.

She didn't understand why Maria would mention her at this time.

Admittedly, she does have considerable prestige among the people, and if she were to step forward, it might truly rekindle the faith of many.

But is that confidence... really enough for them to escape this hellhole?

"It's still a little short... it can't do that."

Kal'tsit, standing nearby, understood what Maria meant.

She wanted Theresa to influence others by Civilization's Continuance, forcibly causing them to lose their willpower, thus helping everyone escape this hellish place.

After all, at that time, no one will have self-awareness, so naturally there will be no emotions like fear.

However... while this plan is feasible, it also presents a problem.

With Theresa's power, she simply couldn't influence anyone in the entire shelter!

"She needs tools with amplitude power..."

Kal'tsit made her judgment.

But... at this moment, what could possibly amplify Theresa's power?

There seems to be only one answer.

"We need Originium... a lot of Originium!"

Ultimately, Theresa's influence, in a sense, is still Originium Arts, and as long as it is Originium Arts, then Originium can be used for enhancement and amplification.

Therefore... as long as there are enough Originium, Theresa can achieve the result she initially stated.

"Kazdel's Originium reserves aren't very large, and we're not yet adept at extracting energy from these resources, so there aren't many Originium reserves throughout Kazdel."

Theresa now understands what everyone means, but unfortunately, she didn't store up much Originium in Kazdel during her reign.

Although Kazdel is now considered to be urbanizing, its early stages were so chaotic that Kazdel development hasn't been great, let alone the technologies that involve Originium... While they exist, they are certainly not mainstream.

Because of the low demand, the Originium reserves in Kazdel are actually not much, far from meeting the needs of the people.

The situation seems to have reached a stalemate again.

But in the midst of this stalemate, Maria coldly raised her head.

"Transformation..."

"Um?"

"Originium can be increased, right?"

Maria ignored Theresa's dazed expression and instead looked at the Doctor and Kal'tsit.

Maria spoke only after receiving their nods.

"Then let people repeatedly use Originium Arts to actively convert it into Originium!"

"This?!"

Everyone was stunned by these words.

They stared at Maria in disbelief, finding it hard to comprehend how she could say such a thing.

"You mean... you want them to pay with their lives?"

Theresa clearly had never considered this plan... or rather, she had thought about it, but deliberately avoided thinking about it.

She is the Demon King, and she has a duty to protect her people.

But Maria clearly did not have such concerns.

There's only one thing she needs to do...

Hunting Great Beast!

"Let them die to save more people, or we'll all stay here together..."

Maria's voice was calm, even carrying a hint of cruelty.

This was already the extent of her mercy. If she didn't care about Lamaline and the others, she wouldn't even have told them the solution; she would have gone directly to Gordan and intercepted him here!

As for how much of a commotion the battle will cause... and how many people will die as a result of her fighting... that's not something Maria would consider.

If everyone just calms down and thinks about it, they will understand why Maria did what she did.

But... understanding is one thing, actually carrying it out still put a lot of pressure on everyone.

The Doctor, however, agreed with Maria's assessment.

"This is the necessary method... sacrifice is unavoidable."

The Doctor and Maria share the same idea in some ways.

She was someone who, like everyone else, didn't care about her own life or death, only about the safety of the community.

After all, she was chosen to ensure the continuation of civilization. Although she might consider whether her own civilization should destroy another, if the question were simply categorized as a group, her answer would be quick.

It has to be done!

"This..."

Theresa pursed her lips, looked at the people in front of her, and then her gaze fell on Theresis, who hadn't spoken yet.

She seemed to be trying to find support from the other person.

But... unfortunately, in this respect, Theresis shared the same thoughts as everyone else.

"If this is the only way..."

He kept his head down, trying his best to avoid looking into his sister's eyes.

He also supported Maria's proposal.

But he didn't expect that his words would give Theresa another idea.

"So... if there were other options, you would support them too, right, Theresis?"

Theresa gradually calmed down.

"If this method can achieve less sacrifice."

Theresis took a deep breath and replied.

So far, Maria's method is the best one available.

He knew Theresa had no better solution...

"Then I have a suggestion..."

Theresa spoke immediately, and everyone's attention turned to her.

"Other methods?"

Theresa's chest heaved slightly, her fists clenched, her restless heartbeat a testament to her resolve. Maria frowned, but remained silent.

"I have another idea!"

"..."

"..."

Theresa reached out her hand, slightly closing it, but without actually touching it.

And just as her palm came a little closer, a black, spiked crown appeared within it.

Black Crown... or rather...

"The Civilization's Continuance..."

The Doctor frowned and uttered a word that only Maria and Kal'tsit could understand.

But she still didn't understand why Theresa would bring this out at this time.

Theresa's idea was also very simple.

"Over the years, I've been studying the Black Crown, which has accompanied us Sarkaz through countless years. I've seen many things, and through it, I've seen much more... I know there's something hidden inside it, and if we obtain it, we might be able to control Originium..."

Theresa spoke, her tone grave.

These words immediately made the Doctor realize what the other person was talking about.

The First Originium, the core controller of the Originium Project, Ananna!

She instinctively turned her head to look at Kal'tsit, her questioning gaze seemingly asking if she knew this.

Kal'tsit's expression was also somewhat shocked.

She knew there was some strange and inexplicable relationship between the Sarkaz, the Black Crown, and Ananna, but she never imagined that Ananna was actually hiding in the Black Crown!

But what she couldn't understand even more was why Theresa would bring this up at this time?

Could it be...?

"I will retrieve it. Perhaps, with it, we can achieve our goal of putting everyone at ease?"

Theresa spoke, but her eyes remained fixed on everyone present.

Because she knew that this matter was not handled as she usually would, where she could make a decision on her own.

Everyone present is indispensable!

Kal'tsit and the Doctor both had complicated expressions. After a moment of silence, they exchanged a knowing glance and lowered their heads, indicating that they would not participate in answering the question.

They chose to abstain.