Although Vaan hasn’t explicitly stated what they should do, his words resonated with everyone’s thoughts.

Ever since they fell into the Umbral Edge, escape and survival had been the only drive and purpose for their living. They had never given much thought to anything else, nor did they have the luxury.

However, now that they have uncovered the terrible secret hidden in the Dead Lands, how could they still selfishly think about escape and survival?

The problem was much bigger than themselves, concerning the wellbeing on the entire Chaos.

If the final result of constant fleeing was to be exhausted and hunted, why not take a stand to resist? To fight back?

At the very least, their death would have some meaning.

Even if they were weak, unable to contribute much, and wouldn’t even be remembered for their sacrifice, they felt that they could still gladly dive into the abyss for the greater good.

The Dead Lands were raising terrifying armies to wipe out the world of the living, and the outside world had no idea about it. Since they couldn’t escape anyway, it was up to them to ruin the enemy’s plans.

Heck, it was probably not just limited to the Dead Lands.

The other parts of the Umbral Edge under the jurisdiction of the Outerworlders were also likely gathering strength for the final war.

"It’s time to decide whether we will take a stand and fight, to thwart the Outerworlders’ goals in the Umbral Edge, or just keep escaping, struggling to survive meaninglessly," Vaan said.

Empyrean Oceanheart was moved by Vaan’s words.

It had not been easy to reach her current status as an Empyrean God. But throughout her life’s journey, her rise had been driven wholly by self-interest. Even matters related to the Mermen Domain or the Myriad Sea God Palace involved her self-interest and were never wholly free of it.

However, now she was presented with a different choice: to stand up for something much greater than herself.

Foolish as it may be, rationality wasn’t always right; sometimes, they should listen to their instincts. Chaos had always been at war with the Outerworlders. No one could sit on the sidelines and simply watch.

Everyone had to be involved.

"Fighting, we definitely have to do." Empyrean Oceanheart nodded before adding, "However, even if we must fight, we have to fight wisely."

"The Dead Lands clearly possess overwhelming numbers and strength. Just taking on a single swarm poses a significant challenge for us, let alone the controllers behind them."

"Under these circumstances, what can we actually do to affect the bigger picture?"

"That is indeed a good question," Vaan acknowledged before saying, "A head-on confrontation is naturally impossible, unless we want to die a quick death. With our current situation, we stand no chance of delivering significant damage to the Outerworlders."

"Our abilities are restricted, our resources limited, and our manpower is also few in numbers. We can’t communicate with the outside world or call upon its aid. Also, we are surrounded by danger."

"Countless odds are stacked against us, but we are not necessarily hopeless," Vaan said.

His words made everyone’s hearts feel heavy, but his last sentence surprised them.

Did they still have hope?

"The Umbral Edge is vast, full of strange things and even rarer resources. Not everything has to be used against us."

"If we can learn to utilize the Umbral Edge’s resources against itself, everyone will be quick to realize that we do have a far better fighting chance than we thought. Weak and few as we are, we, too, can still cause significant waves and damage to the Outerworlders."

"However, right now, we are pressed for time. The other survivor shelters need our help. We have to save them all."

"Alright."

Although Empyrean Oceanheart and the others had their doubts, they quickly followed his decision.

Questions could be asked later.

With Divine Lord Vaelith’s confident guarantee, the Ashstar Outpost Survivors readily abandoned their shelter, bringing everyone on board the Azure Wanderer.

Moments later, the Azure Wanderer immediately set off.

On the bridge, Vaan opened the starchart and began making various points along the boundary wall of the Dead Lands. These designated points were all shelter locations he had discovered when he was exploring the Astral Soul Realm.

Whether they were abandoned or still occupied, they would only know once they arrived at these points.

"I’m all for saving the survivors, but what is our purpose in doing so, and why are we pressed for time, Sir Vaan?" Divine Lord Vaelith hesitantly asked.

Although he was immensely grateful to Vaan’s group and wasn’t in a position to dissuade him from his kind intentions to save others, he was also aware that making all these future trips would consume a lot of energy.

"It’s actually no big secret if you give it some thought. We already know that the Sentinels treat every survivor shelter as a livestock-rearing base," Vaan casually mentioned.

"However, the Ashstar Outpost is not as populated as your Proud Ember Tribe. Yet it was also due process to harvest around the same time. Why do you think this is the case?"

Once this question was raised, everyone’s expression shifted.

Time was running out.

Although no one could tell the exact reason, they immediately realized that the Sentinels in the Dead Lands must have issued a premature harvesting command to the Undying Fiends.

Something must have happened, demanding a lot of biomatter.

As such, Undying Fiends’ attack wouldn’t be limited to the Proud Ember Tribe and the Ashstar Outpost. Other survivor shelters near the Dead Lands were also bound to be attacked or were already under attack.

"For every survivor we save, we are preventing the Sentinels from producing thousands of Undying Fiends," Vaan stated.

If they calculated based on entire survivor shelters, then each one could create billions, or even trillions, of Undying Fiend Clones.

Such overwhelming numbers were equivalent to small swarms.

Since they were capable of intercepting the Undying Fiend Patrols, why wouldn’t they try to stop the Dead Lands from amassing more military strength?