Kraus’s voice came from in front of Lu Yuan.
“You only saw one?”
Lu Yuan looked in the direction where the special individual had vanished and nodded.
“I only sensed the aura of one.”
Kraus acknowledged this with a slight nod. Lu Yuan clearly couldn't provide any more definitive information. He fell silent for a moment.
After the special individual fled, the greater ghouls on the battlefield surged even more fiercely, crawling up from the breach one after another.
However, those infected by the Forest Seed quietly retreated.
The uninfected ones remained at the front, holding the line as if they had received an order to act as meat shields to cover the retreat of the infected ones.
They had already learned basic tactics.
Kraus didn't need to step in again; the attendant cleared out the remaining ghouls single-handedly. However, using his abilities on such a wide scale was a burden. He pulled an unknown potion from his robes and downed it, and his heaving chest gradually stilled.
As the last ghoul fell, the sudden wave receded, its end almost laughable.
The square was a complete mess. A thick layer of shredded ghoul meat and wooden fragments of the Forest Seed covered the ground, and large areas of the bronze floor were scorched—the bronze had clearly lost its original power. The remains of the massive amalgamation had transformed into chunks of green crystals scattered near the sinkhole. The air was thick with the stench of charred flesh and blood, and faint fires still flickered on the ground, casting light onto everyone’s faces.
Everyone waited for Kraus to speak.
Kraus didn't hesitate as he surveyed the carnage.
“We’ve confirmed there are intelligent individuals among the ghouls. This is only the beginning.”
“Furthermore, I strongly suspect this counterattack was a premeditated assassination attempt. It fled only because it didn't expect us to assemble so many Fourth Rank experts at once.”
No one replied.
What Kraus said was highly likely to be true. An Rank 4 eerie that understood how to carry out an assassination had to be snuffed out as soon as possible.
Kraus continued.
“We can't wait any longer. We’re going down now, according to the plan and preparations we made.”
Everyone nodded.
Adrian closed his tome, the holy light withdrawing between the pages as the bronze cover snapped shut with a thud. He nodded, stood up, and brushed the dust off his robes.
“Very well.” The old Archbishop paused. “However, since this variant possesses intelligence, it won't let us descend so easily. Bronze City must be protected—I suspect it will attack the surface while we’re diving.”
“Arrangements have already been made,” Kraus said with a nod. “The surface can hold for a while.”
“Fine, then let’s move.”
The Blue Knight sheathed her rapier, and the light blue threads retracted from the surface of her armor. The faint mist around her dissipated, washing away all the stains.
She stood by the sinkhole, her brow furrowing slightly as she peered into the dark opening below.
The brief clash earlier had clearly allowed her to gauge the weight of that special individual.
Margaret, on the other hand, approached Kraus with excitement.
“In that case, what are we waiting for?”
Kraus said no more. He walked to the edge of the breach and peered down.
A foul stench billowed up from the sinkhole, carrying the scent of rot and earth. From the depths, the receding hisses and footsteps of the ghouls could already be heard.
Without another word, he simply opened his hands and was the first to jump down.
His figure vanished into the darkness.
The Great Ascendant followed immediately, his mechanical legs propelling him downward.
Adrian tucked his tome under his arm, gripped the rope at the edge of the breach with one hand, and leaped, sliding silently into the hole. The Blue Knight followed closely behind, carrying the coffin-like containment vessel.
The attendant jumped straight from the edge, his long robes snapping in the wind.
Margaret took one last look at the surface, her lips curling into an irrepressible smile, and then threw herself in.
Lu Yuan stood by the breach, watching their figures disappear into the darkness one by one.
He no longer hesitated and leaped into the sinkhole as well.
Lu Yuan was the last to land, and the sensation beneath his feet was surprisingly soft.
It felt like stepping on a layer of wet, sticky substance—it was hard to tell if it was mud or flesh. The stench of rot mixed with earth hit him immediately, making him frown.
The others had already gathered. The last bit of daylight from the sinkhole was about fifteen meters above them, shrunk into a grey-white circle.
Broken copper blockade lines hung from the edges of the opening, dangling in sections, their ends covered in dense tooth marks.
This was a large void created by the secondary collapse.
The ground was uneven and pitted, covered everywhere with marks of dragging and clawing. Deep grooves extended from the center of the void into the surrounding darkness, some deep enough to swallow half a calf. The greater ghouls had crawled back and forth here so many times that they had thoroughly plowed the ground.
The grey-white text in the corner of Lu Yuan’s vision remained quiet, not displaying the “extremely strong” warning.
He breathed a sigh of relief and used the silver light radiating from the Great Ascendant to examine his surroundings.
Patches of greyish-green scavenger fungus were embedded in the rock walls of the void, their fuzz spreading across the stone. At this moment, however, the fungus was shrinking back into the shadows, its fuzz curling into the rock crevices as if something wrong was approaching.
In just a short time since the seal had loosened, this collapsed area had grown into an independent little world.
No one could say where so many greater ghouls had come from.
Kraus stood at the front, his eyes fixed on the darkness in the distance.
Lu Yuan followed his gaze.
On the other side of the void was a dark tunnel leading further down. Deep within the tunnel, a faint red silhouette stood in the darkness.
It was the special individual. Not only had it not fled, but it was standing there quietly, waiting for them.
“That thing... seems to be waiting for us?” Kraus’s voice carried a hint of confusion, his eyes never leaving the red silhouette. “Is it trying to lure us inside?”
He didn't rush to make a decision, turning his bone ring half a circle on his finger.
“Should we follow?” He seemed to be asking the group, but also himself.
The Great Ascendant and Adrian exchanged a glance. One’s mechanical eye flickered slightly while the other gave a faint nod. The attendant remained silent, which signaled his lack of objection.
The Blue Knight adjusted the container on her shoulder, her hand resting near her sword hilt. Margaret surveyed the surroundings with an air of indifference.
Kraus looked away.
“Let’s go,” Kraus said. “If it wants to lead the way, let’s see where it wants to take us.”
With Kraus leading the way, the entire team began to follow.
Seeing them follow, the red silhouette turned and vanished into the depths of the tunnel. It didn't move quickly, always keeping itself at the edge of the group’s vision and slowing down at every turn to wait for them.
The path was surprisingly easy to traverse.
The patches of scavenger fungus on the ground retreated to both sides, clearing a path in the middle.
The greater ghouls that should have pounced from the holes in the collapsed walls also shrank back, their ghostly green eyes peering from the openings as they watched the group. Not a single one dared to venture a step further.
However, Lu Yuan quickly noticed something was wrong. Only the path beneath their feet was being cleared.
The path was only open where the red silhouette had passed. The branching paths and darkened sinkholes on either side were still packed with ghouls, their glowing eyes layered upon one another.
A few of them even had greyish-green roots wrapped around them, pinning them firmly in place.
That thing was herding them, only allowing them to take the path it indicated.
Kraus’s brow furrowed deeper, and the expressions of the others in the middle of the group also soured.
A strange light flashed in the Great Ascendant’s mechanical eye.
“The brain of this thing...” A click came from the gears in his throat. “Is it really just a greater ghoul?”
Despite the shock, the fact remained: there seemed to be a highly intelligent entity beneath the Abyss.
Kraus wasn't just blindly moving forward.
Trailing at the back, Lu Yuan caught sight of five pale green phantoms behind Kraus, floating in a staggered, blurred formation.
When they reached a fork in the path, one of the phantoms quietly detached itself. It didn't follow the team but remained by the fork, its outline gradually fading until it merged into the shadows of the rock wall.
One of the five phantoms was gone, leaving four.
At almost the same time, a subtle movement seeped from beneath Kraus’s feet—green crystals flowed out from under him, slowly spreading along the patterns of the ground.
Where they flowed, they left a very faint trail that darkened in an instant, nearly impossible to see without looking closely.
Clearly, Kraus was making preparations for their retreat in advance.
Kraus wasn't the only one with this idea.
As they rounded a corner, the Great Ascendant used the opportunity to flick his wrist and tuck something into a crevice in the rock wall. He was so fast it was almost impossible to see. They were clearly all preparing for the worst-case scenario.
Lu Yuan walked at the very end of the team.
He clutched a ghoul brain core in his hand, its grey-brown shell pressed against his palm, emitting a faint aura from the dense eerie inscriptions covering it.
He had brought seventeen of them on this descent. With the aura wrapped around him, he was like a “fellow member” to the ghouls all over the ground, making it harder for him to be singled out.
As for why he hadn't given any to Kraus and the others, the reason was simple: they already had their own means...
A large amount of grey-white text floated before his eyes, all of it warnings about the ghouls on either side of the path.
As they delved deeper, Lu Yuan sank his consciousness into the depths of his body.
The two linked key fragments were still there. When his intent touched them, they gave a weak response. Lu Yuan was confirming that he could pull these two to his side whenever he wished.
Another matter was what truly chilled him.
He tried to use the grey-white text to observe the red silhouette ahead, but the thing moved too fast. The time required for the observation seemed exceptionally long, so much so that every time he was about to get information, it would slip away.
‘What exactly is it...’ He stared at the flickering red silhouette. ‘It seems I’ll only have a chance once Kraus and the others engage it.’
However, not having to fight along the way, while eerie, had one unexpected benefit.
The further they went down this path, the more likely they were to encounter untouched bronze pillars. If he could touch a few more, he could gather more fragments.
Thinking this, Lu Yuan’s pace actually quickened slightly.
Rate on N.U.
