Lu Yuan whipped his head around.
In the next instant, a barrier condensed by Timekeeper descended upon Adrian.
【Sanity: -40... 146/140】
Almost simultaneously, he activated Guard once more.
【Your Sanity limit -40. Deduction failed due to Sanity anchor being locked.】
【Sanity: +50... 196/140】
This instant's consumption caused Lu Yuan's Sanity to settle at 196/140, but at the same time, a massive sensation of detachment surged from the depths of his mind.
The originally placid river of Sanity was now raging violently. The massive surge of Sanity that had appeared out of nowhere made this already narrow 'river' teeter on the brink of collapse.
At that exact moment, the blessings on Lu Yuan shattered with a bang, and the swirling golden light instantly faded away.
Immediately after, grey-white text surfaced.
【You have received the gaze of an unknown source.】
【Your blessing has been revoked.】
Lu Yuan froze at the sight, immediately realizing he could only hold out for five more seconds at most.
Behind Adrian, a silhouette had already charged forward, reaching straight for the Archbishop's back. However, just as that hand reached the halfway point, it was frozen solid by Lu Yuan's Stasis.
Margaret had already lunged forward. Water swirled around her body as she threw a punch, instantly forcing the thing back.
At the same time, she seemed to have discovered something interesting.
“Finally, what I've been waiting for.”
As Margaret spoke, the surrounding air grew increasingly dry.
The water vapor around Margaret began to swirl.
The water vapor was tinged with a bright crimson, like blood, and mixed with wisps of mist carrying green spores. The moisture she could draw upon had long since been polluted.
Yet Margaret did not care in the least. With her transcendent attributes, these filthy things could not harm her at all.
Behind Adrian stood a special individual whose body was tinged with green.
Lu Yuan swept his gaze over it. It looked almost identical to the previous special individuals, with only one difference—it had one extra feature: Parasitized.
【Target Detected: Ghoul (Atavistic) (Catalyzed) (Forbidden) (Parasitized)】
【A ghoul chosen by a special existence. Having undergone countless long trials, it has finally grown into its current form. Perhaps it has the potential to reach the level of the Ancestral Ghoul. However, it also seems to be parasitized by something.】
Looking at this set of descriptions, a chill ran down Lu Yuan's spine.
The ghoul catalyzed by that piece of flesh underground had actually been polluted by the Forest Seed in turn.
This meant that the infectious pollution of the Forest Seed was actually superior to that of the piece of flesh.
Moreover, the behavioral logic of this ghoul was clearly different from the previous two.
The moment it faced Margaret, the ground began to tremble. A massive number of plant roots crawled toward them, and branch-like growths as thick as arms snaked up from the ground like serpents, coiling toward Adrian.
It was not as straightforward as those other special individuals; it behaved more like a... Rank 4 existence.
But Adrian was no pushover either.
The old Archbishop cast a backward glance at the thing attacking him, then looked at Lu Yuan.
In those eyes, the original benevolence faded bit by bit, replaced by a trace of coldness as a faint wisp of black flashed within them.
Yet, in the end, he did not deploy any of his hidden means.
The holy light on his body simply grew increasingly scorching, and the phantom behind him erupted into raging flames, twisting even the surrounding air with intense heat. The plant roots that had not yet reached him withered away at a visible speed.
Standing close to Adrian, Lu Yuan did not feel much of the heatwave.
He instantly understood that this was something similar to mithril; it did not harm the physical body, but rather targeted spirituality and the eerie. Its destructive power against such forces was far beyond the physical level.
“Don't worry about me. Focus on dealing with that thing.”
Seeing that she did not need to worry about Adrian, Margaret lunged toward the special ghoul without a moment's hesitation.
Seeing that its sneak attack had failed, a trace of astonishment flashed across the special ghoul's horizontal-slit eye. It had apparently not expected its attempt to end so anticlimactically.
Looking at Adrian with the towering phantom behind him, it shifted its gaze to Lu Yuan, who stood nearby.
Then, without any hesitation, it turned and fled.
Yet, just as the special ghoul prepared to retreat, it realized that a faint water film had enveloped its rear at some point.
Margaret had cut off its escape route.
The moment Margaret had sensed something behind her, she had already quietly set up her trap.
She gave it absolutely no opportunity now. As the water vapor swirled, a stream of visible, crimson moisture was forcefully extracted from its body, merging into the mist around Margaret.
Then, with a near-fanatical smile on her face, she lunged straight at the bewildered special ghoul.
Meanwhile, on the Blue Knight's side, the special ghoul whose limbs had been severed but was still charging forward seemed to realize this was futile. A flash of crimson light suddenly burst from its horizontal-slit eye, carrying a trace of an ancient, archaic aura.
It abruptly turned to look at her. The moment the high-speed Blue Knight met its gaze, her consciousness seemed to be pulled away. Her speed plummeted instantly, leaving her seemingly frozen mid-air.
However, the special ghoul ignored her. Its objective was clear. Its blood surged violently, and black-and-red blood spun into threads in the air, reattaching its severed limbs in an instant.
The moment its limbs were reattached, it charged straight to the Great Ascendant's side.
The Great Ascendant immediately detected the incoming special individual. Knowing he could not afford to be careless, he did not hesitate. His body temperature spiked violently as silver flames flared, and steam hissed from his joints. The silver-white energy beam from his chest shot forth with a roar, intercepting the special individual.
Yet, this one's combat instinct was clearly far superior to the mass of flesh that had been minced earlier.
It had no intention of clashing head-on. Its body dissolved into a spray of blood mist, passing straight through the light beam. The Great Ascendant's devastating strike only vaporized a few stray drops of its blood.
In the next instant, the blood mist coalesced back into human form, a look of sheer contempt flashing in its horizontal-slit eye.
Almost simultaneously, its bloody palm clashed with the Great Ascendant's fist. With a deafening boom, the Great Ascendant was forced back several steps.
The Great Ascendant's physical strength was not superior to this creature's.
Lu Yuan could see clearly that in terms of physical combat, perhaps only the Blue Knight could match it, or rather, only the Blue Knight, enveloped in so many blessings, could barely contend with it.
The special individual grabbed a mass of flesh on the ground.
As if possessing a consciousness of its own, the mass of flesh instantly merged with it, coating its body.
Its already hunched frame bloated in the blink of an eye. Twisted, overgrown flesh, interspersed with charred patches, writhed across its body to form a crude layer of armor.
The Great Ascendant did not step forward to stop it, because he realized he couldn't.
Over on Kraus's side, wrapped in golden light, Kraus completely ignored the corrosion around him and forced his way to the side of the other special individual.
Yet, this one's consciousness was not as developed.
It even moved on all fours, looking very much like a wild beast, or a common ghoul.
It opened its maw and let out a roar, intending to stun Kraus, but the golden light on Kraus's body flared intensely, shielding him from most of the impact.
Enhanced by the acceleration Lu Yuan had provided, Kraus's speed spiked sharply, allowing him to narrowly evade the fan-shaped range of the roaring shockwave at an awkward angle.
At the same time, another Kraus had already flashed behind the special ghoul, and a longsword formed of green crystals slashed down with a roar.
Crack.
Yet, the expected sound of armor breaking did not come.
The special ghoul's defense was absurdly high, and its combat instincts were so sharp that it saw through the afterimage behind it in an instant, realizing it wasn't Kraus's real body. It spun around and lunged straight for the real Kraus.
The moment bone armor materialized on Kraus, the two collided.
On the Blue Knight's side, she had already broken free from the paralyzing stasis.
But this time, her target was not to intercept the special individual locked in combat with the Great Ascendant, but to charge straight toward Kraus.
Clearly, she knew her limits—she could not handle the creature fighting the Great Ascendant.
But why hasn't this acceleration faded yet?
Meanwhile, the special ghoul fighting the Great Ascendant had no intention of prolonging the battle.
Even as it tried to shake off the Great Ascendant's harassment, it retreated toward the direction it had come from.
The moment the Great Ascendant closed in, it suddenly lashed out. Its flesh exploded outward, transforming into countless spikes that forcefully drove the Great Ascendant back.
Taking advantage of this opening, its figure flashed and vanished into the dark breach.
Almost at the exact moment it disappeared, a massive tangle of roots erupted in front of the special individual fighting Margaret, forcefully breaking through the water film she had set up.
Under the cover of the roots, its somewhat withered body gradually retreated into the darkness.
The moment they vanished, the massive horde of ghouls that had been waiting in the tunnels seemed to receive an order, beginning to flood into this void frantically.
At that exact moment, a massive heartbeat suddenly reverberated from the deepest depths of the darkness.
Thump, thump, thump.
As if hearing a command, the roaring ghouls let out a deafening howl in unison.
Their speed spiked violently, and the surrounding pollution began to spread at a visible rate.
At the same time, the effect of Lu Yuan's Timekeeper finally faded.
【Sanity: 135/140】
The true hunt had begun.
While Lu Yuan's diving team was surrounded underground, up on the surface of the Bronze City, the guards suddenly felt the entire ground tremble.
In the next instant, reports flooded in almost simultaneously from all the small, previously collapsed fissures besides the main sinkhole—greater ghouls had begun to invade.
Near the boundary between the inner city and outer city, a massive sinkhole split open. The Nightwatchers stationed there stood absolutely no chance.
The moment Lake, who was presiding over the command center, received the transmission, his figure vanished instantly. Enveloped by a swarm of Swarming Worms that filled the air, he rushed toward the sinkhole.
Rate on N.U.
