She finished speaking, took half a step back, and handed the scroll back to the young Nightwatcher.
“The remaining details are all in the scroll.”
Kraus nodded.
“Understood.”
Hilde offered no further comment. She walked toward the north side of the square, near the Church’s temporary chapel, and came to a halt.
As Hilde stepped aside, Kraus turned toward Glock and Margaret.
Margaret stepped out from the back of the line, holding a manifest. Two logistics soldiers followed her, carrying several sealed iron boxes in their arms.
“Supplies for three Nightwatchers have been prepared,” Margaret said briskly. “Ammunition, purification potions, Sanity potions, and copper-cased incendiary rounds. The holy water for the Church nuns is accounted for separately.”
Kraus flipped through the manifest.
“Good, this is enough.”
He handed the manifest back.
“Make sure everyone carries extra copper-cased incendiary rounds. Based on previous intelligence, in a place like that, fire is more effective than a blade.”
Margaret nodded and turned to give instructions to the logistics soldiers.
Lu Yuan stood where he was.
He was carrying all the items Kraus had previously asked him to make. No one asked for the specific count, and he didn't volunteer the information.
He adjusted his coat, making sure the small oilcloth pouches at his waist were secure.
Silence fell over the square. The night wind swept through from the inner city, carrying the metallic chill unique to the copper walls.
The Church’s holy light blockade lit up the surroundings. Pale gold halos spread along the streets leading to the entrance, pushing the darkness of the periphery further back. The Descendant phalanx had already formed up at the edge of the sinkhole.
Lake stood in the shadows on the north side, not saying a word from beginning to end.
Kraus surveyed the square.
Everyone was in position.
Lu Yuan followed his gaze, scanning the area before his eyes settled on the ground beneath his feet. The newly laid copper plates were just a few steps away. Beneath the copper was soil; beneath the soil was rock; and beneath the rock was the pipe network layer, followed by a fracturing bronze network.
As if sensing Lu Yuan’s intent, grey-white text quietly surfaced at the edge of his vision.
【Environmental Perception: Minimal pollution source detected...】
‘Looks like another tough battle is ahead,’ Lu Yuan thought as he read the text.
Just as Kraus was about to order the copper plates to be lifted, the Blue Knight moved.
The woman, who had been standing on the east side of the square the entire time, finally took her first step.
She didn't hurry, nor did she intentionally slow down. Her grey-blue cloak swayed slightly in the night wind as she walked straight to Kraus and stopped.
“It is the Count’s wish that I accompany the team below.”
She spoke only that one sentence, her somewhat bright eyes fixed on Kraus.
Kraus glanced at her, the corner of his eye twitching involuntarily.
‘Quite polite, isn’t she...’
The Blue Knight stood before him, hands folded in front of her, her posture identical to when she had been standing on the east side of the square.
The only difference was that she was now facing Kraus instead of observing from a distance.
Kraus barely hesitated.
“Very well.”
After all, for students who could graduate from the Knight Academy, their combat prowess absolutely crushed others of the same rank. This was indisputable.
Kraus had fought similar knights before... and the results had not been particularly pleasant.
The Blue Knight said no more, turning to retreat to the rear of the diving team.
Lu Yuan watched her walk over. As expected, the Count's Mansion wouldn't send her down just to take a look.
Kraus raised his hand and signaled to Glock.
Glock led two men from the Iron Guard to the edge of the sinkhole. They knelt down and began pulling the retaining pins from the edges of the newly laid copper plates one by one. With each pin removed, a crisp metallic ring echoed in the night.
When the final retaining pin was pulled, the copper plate was completely loose.
Glock and the two soldiers pushed the copper plate to one side.
The heavy metal plate ground against the rubble, producing a harsh, grating sound and revealing a pitch-black opening below.
The night wind rushed into the gap, only to be pushed back by a surge of damp, cold air from below.
Lu Yuan smelled a mixture of earth and copper rust.
Pre-installed metal ladders were visible at the edge of the gap. The iron rungs were embedded one by one into the rock walls of the sinkhole, extending downward until they vanished into the darkness a few meters below.
Kraus looked toward the Great Ascendant.
The Great Ascendant didn't speak. His silver-grey pupils scanned the edge of the gap, and he tilted his head slightly.
The Descendant phalanx moved.
A dozen black-robed mechanical constructs flipped into the gap from the edge of the sinkhole in sequence. Their movements were so synchronized they didn't seem like living things. Their metal joints made uniform clanking sounds against the iron rungs as they descended one by one.
The sound grew more distant and muffled.
About half a minute later, the final metallic thud drifted up from below, sounding very heavy.
The Descendants had landed.
Lake was the second to go down.
When he emerged from the shadows, his short brown hair was half-hidden by his coat collar, and his expression revealed nothing. He walked to the edge of the gap, grabbed the top of the ladder with one hand, and vaulted over.
Adrian was third.
The old Archbishop paused at the edge of the gap, looking back at Agnes.
Agnes gave a slight nod.
Adrian turned and began to climb down slowly, supporting himself on the ladder. The hem of his grey robes brushed against the rungs, sliding down step by step with his movements.
A few strands of silver-white light appeared in the Great Ascendant's eyes, as if he were observing something. Once the light faded, he walked to the edge of the gap.
He glanced down and then stepped directly into the void. The sound of his mechanical skeleton stepping on the rungs was heavy and steady, and he soon disappeared from sight.
Agnes led two nuns down after the rank 4s. After the grey-white hem of the last nun's robe slipped past the edge of the gap, the square fell silent for a few more seconds.
Lu Yuan walked to the opening.
He peered down.
The ladder extended down the rock wall, the iron rungs already marked with wet footprints from those who had gone before. Below was darkness. The light from the march lamps hit the opposite rock wall at a depth of about a dozen meters, illuminating a few old cracks on the grey-brown stone surface.
The grey-white text floated quietly at the edge of his vision. There were no new warnings, which was a good sign.
Lu Yuan grabbed the top of the ladder and climbed down.
The rungs were cold, the chill of the iron seeping through his gloves. Every step was accompanied by a faint metallic clink.
The sky above shrank step by step.
The lights of the square, the Church’s holy light blockade, and the warm yellow line of distant gas lamps were all framed by the gradually narrowing edge of the gap, growing smaller and smaller.
Ten meters. Twenty meters.
The further down they went, the weaker the night wind became. At this depth, the wind was completely gone, and the air was damp and stuffy, carrying a faint, indescribable fishy scent.
Lu Yuan instinctively slowed his breathing.
At a depth of about thirty meters, his feet hit the bottom. The ground was made of copper plates, hard and slippery to the touch. They had clearly reached the pipe network layer.
Lu Yuan let go of the ladder, found his footing, and turned to scan his surroundings.
The place had already been modified. Aside from the ladder shaft from above, the walls of the sinkhole had been reinforced with copper plates.
The copper plates were tightly joined, the seams sealed with molten copper. Simple sealing inscriptions were carved onto the surfaces, their dark gold luster flickering under the march lamps.
Four copper walls, a hole in the ceiling, and another layer of sealed copper plates beneath their feet.
The space wasn't large. The Descendant phalanx was already standing in two rows against one wall. Lake stood in the opposite corner, while Adrian and Agnes stood together with the two nuns behind them.
Lu Yuan’s gaze swept around the shaft.
The light from the march lamps reflected off the copper walls, casting half the faces in brightness and half in shadow.
The Blue Knight was the last to descend.
Her feet made almost no sound when they touched the copper plates. Her grey-blue cloak tucked in slightly in the narrow shaft. She scanned the surroundings, said nothing, and leaned against the copper wall closest to Lu Yuan.
The sky above had shrunk to a tiny speck of light.
At this point, everyone was down.
Lu Yuan looked down at the copper plates beneath his feet.
Like the walls, the plates were tightly joined and sealed with molten copper, showing traces of sealing inscriptions. However, the density of the inscriptions on this level was significantly higher, with finer lines and a tighter arrangement.
Below this was the entrance to the Abyss, the second layer of protection, which was much thicker than the copper plates above. Lu Yuan knelt and rapped his knuckles against it; the sound was dull, and almost no vibration returned.
Lake was already inspecting the fixing structures at the edge of the floor plates. He walked in a circle, his fingers tracing every seam before stopping in front of a recessed latch.
“Here.”
Lake pointed to the latch without further explanation.
Adrian walked over and looked down.
“Once this is open, we will truly be below.”
The old Archbishop’s voice was low. His thumb unconsciously rubbed his cross holy emblem.
Kraus’s voice drifted down from above, the echo bouncing twice off the walls of the shaft before dissipating.
“Open it when you are ready.”
Lake reached out and threw the latch. The metal mechanism released with a heavy clack, and the sealing structure at the edge of the copper plates loosened.
The Descendants stepped forward. Four mechanical constructs simultaneously grabbed the edges of the copper plates and pushed them to the side.
The moment the copper plates moved, a surge of air rose from the gap.
It was heavier and murkier than the previous dampness, a rot-sweet scent that made one want to hold their breath.
Grey-white text jumped out at the edge of his vision.
【Environmental Perception: Weak pollution source detected...】
Lu Yuan’s gaze lingered on that line for half a second.
The concentration had clearly increased, going from “minimal” in the square to “weak.”
He didn't say a word, his eyes scanning the space below the gap.
Once the copper plates were fully pushed aside, the situation below was revealed.
Lu Yuan stood up and directed a beam of light from his march lamp into the opening.
“Wait a moment.”
He turned, knelt down, and untied the oilcloth pouch at his waist.
The objects wrapped in the oilcloth gave off a faint dark red shimmer in the sidelight of the march lamp.
Connected brain cores. Three per group, with dark red connecting lines faintly visible between the cores.
Lu Yuan had brought quite a few.
He pulled out two groups first and walked over to Lake.
Without a word, he handed them directly to Lake. Lake took them and glanced at them, his expression unchanged as he tucked them into the inner pocket of his coat. He had heard from Kraus about the items Lu Yuan was making, but he hadn't expected him to have produced so many.
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