It suddenly stopped struggling, the entire length of its serpentine body going still at once as it abandoned its attempt at individual resistance.
The Serpentine Amalgamation’s body suddenly whipped once, and its entire frame emitted a low-frequency rumble. This vibration, emanating from deep within its flesh, resonated through the rock walls and echoed in all directions. Lu Yuan’s heart sank; it was calling for its kin.
Adrian heard it as well. The old Archbishop shouted at the top of his lungs, “Hurry! It’s summoning reinforcements!”
The Blue Knight’s rapier lunged three times in rapid succession, each strike slamming into the roots connecting the snake’s body to the bronze pillar in an attempt to peel it off completely. On the other side, the Great Ascendant used his alloy fists to smash through two thick roots, the metallic impact against the wooden structure producing a dull, cracking sound.
Under the agonizing stimulus of its roots being torn away, the Serpentine Amalgamation’s entire body suddenly split open, cleaving in two from head to tail. Then it continued to divide—two became four, four became eight—until the entire snake had fragmented into seven or eight thinner serpentine bodies within seconds.
Each one was about the thickness of an adult’s arm. In the instant of the split, Lake’s swarm, which had been covering its surface, was forcibly shaken off. Dark brown meat-worms fell from the air like rain, splattering across the rubble-strewn ground.
Lake’s form re-solidified from the swarm, a look of surprise on his face. He clearly hadn't expected the amalgamation before them to possess such an ability.
The seven or eight slender snakes danced through the air, their attack speed several times faster than before the split. Large amounts of spores sprayed from the severed ends of each snake, and grey-green dust quickly filled the cavity, its concentration soaring until it was visible to the naked eye within seconds.
At the edge of Lu Yuan’s vision, the grey-white text jumped out:
【Strong pollution source detected. Please stay away.】
He pulled a bottle of purification potion and a bottle of antidote from the tool bag at his waist. He uncorked the purification potion and downed it first, followed immediately by the antidote, then pulled the mask from his collar to cover his nose and mouth.
The speed of the divided slender snakes increased drastically, and because their flesh was reinforced with wooden branches, their destructive power had actually grown.
As they whipped through the cavity, the sound of them breaking the air was audible.
The snake bodies were like long whips, frantically attacking the Blue Knight and the Great Ascendant. Three lunged from the front, two circled from the sides, and the rest lashed out wildly from the periphery, churning the entire cavity into a mess of flying shredded meat and spores.
The Blue Knight gripped her rapier with the faint red patterns, her light blue cloak fluttering behind her. She did not retreat a single step in the face of the lunging snakes. The snake bodies, moving as shadows nearly invisible to the naked eye, were as nothing to the Blue Knight.
Despite the attacks being as dense as rain, she parried every single one! The moment a snake body came whistling through the air, it was precisely intercepted by the Blue Knight’s unassuming rapier.
The Serpentine Amalgamation seemed to have fixated on the Blue Knight! Eight snake bodies danced frantically, the dense spores and flying flesh nearly forming a wall that completely enveloped her.
But it was useless!
The sword web was woven as densely as a torrential rain, forcibly blocking every single attack as crimson sword qi swirled around the blade.
With every parry, the killing intent radiating from her grew stronger.
It was at this moment that the ground suddenly began to vibrate. A massive number of heavy footsteps poured into the cavity from the surrounding branch channels—so many that it was impossible to tell if there were dozens or hundreds.
Lu Yuan turned toward the path they had come from. The light from the march lamps illuminated the intersection, where greyish-white bodies were surging out of the tunnels. One greater ghoul after another charged into the cavity, with even more behind them. The first few ghouls showed obvious traces of blue-grey roots; the amalgamations had arrived as well, and there was more than one.
Everyone’s expression changed. The Serpentine Amalgamation’s summon had worked, and the reinforcements had arrived faster than anyone had anticipated.
The Blue Knight’s rapier continued to dance, the crimson sword qi coiling around the blade and weaving an increasingly dense net around her.
Eight snake bodies slammed down simultaneously. The tide of greater ghouls pouring in from dozens of branch channels had already covered half the floor, their greyish-white bodies squeezing inward layer upon layer. The rubble beneath their feet was crushed to powder, and a foul-smelling wind mixed with grey-green spores surged forward.
The speed of the reinforcements far exceeded their estimates, but the Blue Knight’s killing intent was rising right along with them.
Her sword speed continued to accelerate. The trajectory of the rapier in front of her was now so dense it was a blur. The crimson sword qi grew thicker and more intense with every parry. The red glow that had previously clung to the blade began to spread outward, forming an impenetrable sword web within a three-pace radius around her.
The sword qi shredded everything. The force of the snake bodies’ lashes was deflected, splattering flesh was cut into even smaller fragments, and even the grey-green spores drifting in the air were ground into invisible dust within the range of the sword web.
Lu Yuan stood over a dozen paces away. The grey-white text at the edge of his vision flickered repeatedly with warnings about the pollution concentration, but his attention was entirely on the Blue Knight.
From the moment she drew her sword, the pressure she exerted had grown heavier with every parry, and this growth showed no signs of slowing down.
Lu Yuan didn't know where her limit was, but he felt a very clear signal: she was waiting for a specific moment.
The moment the reinforcements surged in, the Blue Knight’s movements suddenly halted. In the gap as the eight snake bodies lunged together, her stance suddenly dropped. Her left foot shattered the stone ground beneath her, and the rapier in her right hand shifted from a parry to a thrust. The crimson sword qi condensed into a brilliant point of light at the sword tip.
Then, she thrust.
A visible shockwave of air exploded from the sword tip. A crimson shockwave radiated outward with her at the center, crushing everything in its path. All the floating spores, flying flesh, and the thick scent of decay in the cavity were swept clean in an instant. The shockwave slammed into the Serpentine Amalgamation’s roots. The thick roots burrowed into the ground near the bronze pillar trembled violently; dozens of the outer roots were severed on the spot, spraying grey-green sap from the stumps. Deep, bone-deep gashes appeared on the thicker inner roots, and the entire root system wobbled, nearly tearing away from the pillar entirely.
The sword qi simultaneously swept across the cavity. The tide of greater ghouls that had just emerged from the branch tunnels was met head-on by the crimson ripples. The upper bodies of dozens in the front row were shredded instantly, while those behind were flipped over by the force of the impact and sent tumbling back into the depths of the tunnels, clearing more than half of them in one go.
The cavity fell into a sudden, brief silence.
The Blue Knight sheathed her sword and stood in place, the rapier hanging at her side. The faint red patterns on the blade were slightly dimmer than before. She turned her head, her gaze sweeping over everyone behind her. That look carried only one meaning: Move faster.
The Serpentine Amalgamation’s attention was completely captivated by the Blue Knight’s strike. The seven or eight slender snakes whipped frantically in her direction, attempting to block the path of her next strike. It was in this opening that the Great Ascendant moved toward the roots.
His footsteps were extraordinarily light—completely mismatched with his metallic frame. The brightness of his glowing white eyes was dimmed significantly as he nearly merged into the shadows at the edge of the cavity, circling along the rock wall to the side of the Serpentine Amalgamation’s roots.
His right hand lit up the moment he neared the roots. A faint red glow emerged from the gaps in his alloy fingers, and the scorching efficiency of his mechanical system caused the temperature of the metal surface to soar, distorting the air in an instant.
He slammed a palm onto the thickest main root. The wooden fibers on the root’s surface carbonized and blackened instantly. The Great Ascendant’s palm slid down the surface of the root, burning a charred trench wherever it passed as the sap inside boiled and sprayed from the rupture.
He followed up with a second and third strike, each one landing precisely on the gashes left by the Blue Knight’s sword, tearing away the already loosened roots in chunks.
The Serpentine Amalgamation finally felt the true agony of its roots being destroyed.
A sharp scream erupted from all the snake bodies simultaneously. Every slender snake went into violent spasms at once, their flat, eyeless heads gaping toward the ceiling as grey-green spores erupted from their mouths and severed stumps. Within seconds, the concentration soared to a level that even Lu Yuan’s mask couldn't fully filter out.
But the rank 4s present were nearly immune to such things.
Lake’s swarm was a collection of mutants itself; the spores were meaningless to them.
The Blue Knight was surrounded by swirling sword qi, and any spores that came within three paces were shredded.
The Great Ascendant’s metallic frame didn't even need to breathe, and the grey-green dust that landed on his alloy surface was instantly burned to ash by the high heat.
The Holy Eye above Adrian’s head still hung in the air, its light purifying every bit of pollution within its range.
The only ones who truly needed to worry were Agnes, the nun, and Lu Yuan himself.
Lu Yuan had already taken the purification potion and antidote, and with his mask covering his nose and mouth, he could hold out for a short time.
He didn't focus on the spores; he was looking at the bronze pillar.
The Blue Knight and the Great Ascendant had teamed up to destroy most of the roots. The connection between the Serpentine Amalgamation and the bronze pillar had loosened, exposing a large area of the lower-middle section. The dark gold light of the inscriptions was brighter than before; without the constant erosion from the roots, the inscriptions were slowly self-repairing.
But heavy footsteps were starting to echo from the tunnels at the edge of the cavity again.
The tide of ghouls that the Blue Knight had cleared only a dozen seconds ago was already being replenished by subsequent reinforcements. The ground vibrated with increasing intensity, the rubble jumping beneath their feet as even more things approached from the depths.
The window of opportunity was shrinking rapidly. Lu Yuan did not hesitate any longer.
“Send me over!”
He roared toward Lake, his voice cutting through the air thick with spores and the noise of the Serpentine Amalgamation’s screams, landing accurately in Lake’s ears.
Lake didn't ask why. From their first time fighting side-by-side in the North Ward pipe network layer to this deep descent underground, Lu Yuan never did anything without a purpose. If he wanted to go over, Lake would send him.
The Swarming Worms surged out once more from the surface of Lake’s re-solidified body. The dark red stream of insects converged in the air to form a tubular passage, extending from beneath Lake’s feet, crossing over the field of ghoul remains and passing beside the Serpentine Amalgamation’s convulsing roots, straight toward the bronze pillar.
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