Lu Yuan glanced back while being dragged along by the swarm of insects.
The bronze pillar’s pressure was still ongoing, with dark gold light radiating from the pillar in all directions. Every inscription on the bronze surface was glowing, several times brighter than usual.
Within the range covered by the pressure, the severed limbs of the Serpentine Amalgamation that hadn’t yet died were twitching and writhing on the ground, though their movements were much slower than before. The bronze pillar’s passive defense was suppressing all mutated creatures.
However, the bronze pillar could not suppress things further away.
Dozens of tunnel entrances near the cavity were completely filled with greyish-white bodies. Greater ghouls surged out of every opening, their density so high that the individuals behind simply crawled over those in front to swarm into the cavity.
More infected individuals contaminated by the Forest Seed were mixed among them, the blue-grey roots particularly conspicuous against their greyish-white skin.
The corpse-rot fungus on the surrounding rock walls was also experiencing issues. The fungus mats that had previously been charred clean by Adrian’s holy light were regrowing at a visible speed. Greyish-white hyphae burrowed out from the rock crevices, spreading across the ground and creeping toward the interior of the tunnels at a rate several times faster than before.
Lu Yuan noticed this anomaly. The activity of the fungus mats had been triggered by something. He wasn't sure if it was a side effect of the bronze pillar’s pressure or a change deep within, but the hyphae were spreading fast enough to catch up with their retreat.
“Everyone, retreat!”
Adrian’s voice came from behind. The old Archbishop had not retreated with the swarm; he remained where he was.
The tome above his head snapped open, and the light of the Holy Eye surged. Golden holy light poured down from the pupil, enveloping the entire back half of the cavity.
All greater ghouls that drew near were covered head-on by the holy light. Their greyish-white skin blistered and charred instantly under the radiance. Thick, acrid smoke rose from their flesh and carapaces, accompanied by a sizzling sound.
Those closest to him collapsed and rolled on the ground, the skin on their chests and abdomens festering in large patches to reveal withered internal organs.
But the ghouls behind continued to charge forward, trampling over the charred remains of their kin. As one wave fell, the next immediately stepped up, their shrieks merging into a cacophony that filled the entire space.
There were too many of them; the speed at which the holy light scorched them could not keep up with the rate at which they flooded in.
Lu Yuan looked back at Adrian as he was being dragged by the swarm. The old Archbishop’s face had turned visibly pale, the speed at which the tome’s pages turned was slowing, and the light of the Holy Eye was gradually dimming. He wouldn't be able to hold out for long.
Out of the corner of his eye, Lu Yuan caught an unexpected sight.
As the Great Ascendant was being swept away by the swarm, his right hand had been dragging something. His metal fingers were tightly clutching a severed piece of the snake's body—one-eighth of the Serpentine Amalgamation after it had split. The surface, a weave of greyish-white flesh and wooden fibers, was still faintly writhing. It was still alive.
Lu Yuan didn't know when he had torn this thing from the Serpentine Amalgamation. It might have been during the interval when the roots were being scorched, or perhaps even earlier.
The Great Ascendant’s silver-grey eyes were cast down, watching the twisted, struggling fragment in his hand as the metal components of his face slowly rotated.
The swarm dragged the four of them through the tunnel they had come from. Beneath their feet was the ground Adrian had purified earlier, the charred fungus ash emitting a dry, cracking sound as they stepped on it.
Yet even on the ground soaked with holy water, new hyphae from the rock walls on both sides had already begun to spread toward the center.
In the latter half of the tunnel, the Descendant formation came into view.
The moment the Great Ascendant saw them, his silver-grey pupils constricted. Something was wrong with the state of the Descendants.
During the time they had been standing by in the rear, traces of blue-grey roots had appeared on their mechanical joints to varying degrees. Some were only covered by a thin layer of hyphae on the surface, but in a few severe cases, the roots had burrowed through the joint gaps into the interior, intertwining with the metal structures.
They had been contaminated simply by standing in place and waiting.
Lu Yuan looked at the roots on the joints of those infected Descendants, and a realization clicked in his mind.
The concentration of Forest Seed within the corpse-rot fungus here was much higher than on the surface. Or, at this depth, the two had already merged to produce some kind of new pollutant.
This deduction sent a chill down his spine.
Greater ghouls feared bronze, but the Forest Seed treated bronze as food.
If the corpse-rot fungus and Forest Seed had merged to possess the ability to devour metal as well, then the mechanical bodies of the Descendants had no protection whatsoever in this environment.
The Great Ascendant didn't even look back at the infected Descendants. After his silver-grey eyes swept over them, he did only one thing: he issued a string of short, sharp commands to the Descendant formation that Lu Yuan couldn't understand.
The few Descendants with lighter contamination immediately turned and ran toward the surface tunnels with the retreating team. All the others remained in place.
The Descendants who stayed behind lined up in a row, blocking the middle of the tunnel.
Their mechanical arms began to transform simultaneously, the alloy shells splitting along preset seams as the internal structures folded and expanded outward.
The transformation of the left arm revealed a gaping thick barrel. Its surface was etched with intricate alchemical patterns, and an eerie blue light seeped from the grooves.
The right arm transformed into a thinner barrel, the muzzle glinting with a dark copper metallic sheen.
None of them except Lu Yuan had ever seen the Descendants deploy their full armament: alchemical flamethrowers and copper-cased incendiary rounds.
Eerie blue flames erupted from the thick barrels of the left arms. Fierce tongues of fire spread through the tunnel, creeping along the ground, the rock walls, and the ceiling simultaneously, turning the entire passage into a burning corridor.
The first row of charging greater ghouls was swallowed head-on by the flames. Their greyish-white flesh instantly carbonized and curled in the eerie blue heat, and their skeletons melted and collapsed in the fire.
The barrels of the right arms immediately followed up.
Copper-cased incendiary rounds flew out one after another, exploding as they struck the bodies of the ghouls in the rear. The copper shell fragments embedded themselves into the flesh and continued to burn, causing damage far more severe than ordinary fire.
The flames and copper shells wove together in the tunnel to form an impenetrable barrier, the eerie blue firelight illuminating the rock walls of the entire passage.
A heatwave surged from behind; Lu Yuan could feel the sudden rise in temperature even from dozens of paces away.
The tunnel had been cut off by a wall of eerie blue and copper.
Adrian took this opportunity to retreat from the rear. The old Archbishop’s face was pale, the holy light of the tome having receded to its minimum. The Holy Eye had retracted into the pages. His pace was still steady, but his breathing had become much heavier.
The Great Ascendant ran forward without looking back, his right hand dragging that still-writhing fragment of the Serpentine Amalgamation while his left hand signaled everyone to run faster.
He did not glance back at the Descendants left to cover the rear; the metal components of his face operated with calm precision.
Lu Yuan followed the team as they retreated toward the surface tunnels, the sound of their footsteps echoing through the passage.
Behind them, the eerie blue firelight still flickered. The Descendants’ flamethrowers and barrels continued to fire, and the shrieks of the ghouls gradually grew faint within the flames.
The tunnel extended upward, and the air was slowly becoming drier.
The fragment of the Serpentine Amalgamation in the Great Ascendant’s hand was still twisting, its greyish-white flesh slowly contracting and expanding. The wooden fiber skeleton writhed beneath the skin; it was still alive.
The firelight behind them grew more distant.
The Descendants’ flamethrowers were still operating, their eerie blue light dancing deep in the tunnel. Occasionally, the muffled sound of a copper-cased incendiary round exploding would drift from that direction, dampened by layers of rock until it was nothing more than a dull thud.
The shrieks of the ghouls could no longer be heard clearly; only a continuous humming remained caught in the echoes of the tunnel, indistinguishable between the swarm of insects or distant roars.
Lu Yuan followed the team upward.
Beneath their feet was the ground Adrian had purified earlier, the charred fungus ash emitting a dry, cracking sound as they stepped on it.
The tunnel extended upward. The slope wasn't steep, but the continuous ascent made their breathing heavy.
The air was better than before; the sweet rot was fading, and the metallic tang of rust had thinned. The frequency of the grey-white text jumping at the edge of his vision had significantly decreased, a clear sign that the pollution was lessening.
As Lu Yuan ran, his eyes swept over the Blue Knight near the front of the group, and he noticed a detail.
Water was seeping from the inside of her cloak.
Tiny droplets of water slowly seeped from the surface of the fabric, coalescing into a thin water film that flowed slowly along her arms and shoulder guards. As it flowed, it constantly swirled, picking up stains and fragments of shredded meat from the fabric and wrapping them into the stream.
Then it dripped from the hem of her cloak. The droplets that hit the ground were a murky greyish-brown.
She seemed to possess some transcendent ability of water control, which she used to cleanse the filth from her person.
Lu Yuan watched for a few more moments. After fighting the Serpentine Amalgamation for so long, the Blue Knight had inevitably been covered in spores and pulpy debris, but wherever the water film flowed, it left the area so clean that not a single trace remained. Her light blue silk gloves had regained their original color.
By the time the team passed the first fork in the tunnel, she was spotless. Her grey-blue cloak hung neatly, and even the tips of her hair were dry.
Lu Yuan withdrew his gaze and looked toward the front of the group.
On the rock walls on both sides of the tunnel, new greyish-white hyphae had already begun to grow where the fungus mats had previously been charred by Adrian’s holy light. Fine threads burrowed out from the rock crevices, spreading toward the middle of the tunnel.
But the speed was not fast. Before they could cover the ground, the team had already stepped past.
As they neared the second fork, Adrian’s voice came from the rear.
“Is it absolutely necessary to bring that thing in your hand?”
The old Archbishop watched the fragment the Great Ascendant was dragging as they walked. The greyish-white flesh was still slowly contracting and expanding, the wooden fibers writhing beneath it. The entire section hung from the Great Ascendant’s metal fingers, its root ends occasionally probing outward.
The Great Ascendant’s silver-grey eyes shifted toward him. “Rare specimen.”
Adrian did not respond.
Three steps later, the Great Ascendant added another sentence.
“An eerie that can devour copper... has never appeared before.” His gaze fell on the fragment in his hand, something rotating within his silver-grey pupils.
“There are eeries that can render copper ineffective, and those that can weaken copper’s suppression over them. But one that treats copper as food and directly gnaws through it... this is the first time I’ve seen it.”
“The Ascension Society needs to prepare for this.” He paused. “I’m taking it back for study.”
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