Wooden fibers and flesh began to reweave, the distinction between the left and right mutants blurring until it was impossible to tell which part belonged to which.
Bones were recast, organs reorganized, and muscles reconnected.
The entire process took very little time, happening so fast that the onlookers could barely react.
The Amalgamation took form before their eyes.
It was a size larger than the original mutants.
The wood grain on its skin was deeper, and the cracks at its joints were more numerous. Through every fissure, one could see the internal fibers and networks writhing incessantly.
It stood up first.
Then, a substance erupted simultaneously from countless ruptures across its entire body.
A massive cloud of spores sprayed out, nearly engulfing the entire street.
Bolen reacted instantly.
The old man tapped his cane on the stone slabs three times in rapid succession.
“Oom!”
Three dark gold inscriptions rose before him, connecting into a low wall that served as a waist-high partition.
The barrier blocked most of the liquid flying toward him. The black-green droplets slammed into the inscriptions with a hiss, vaporizing instantly from the high heat.
Haimeng was no slower. At the moment the spores erupted, a melodious tune rang out from his lute.
The music enveloped Lu Yuan, Hank, and their group, intercepting all the spores.
However, Bolen’s side wasn't as fortunate; the width of his barrier was limited.
Out of the corner of his eye, Bolen caught Kail’s position.
“Move!” the old man shouted at Kail.
Kail froze for a split second.
That was all it took.
His shoulder was left protruding just outside the protective range of the barrier.
A single drop of contaminated liquid flew from the Amalgamation’s scattering trajectory.
Lu Yuan saw it.
He was too far away to shout a warning in time.
Splat.
The liquid landed on the fabric of Kail’s shoulder and seeped in.
Kail’s body stiffened.
He didn't make a sound.
Bolen turned and saw what happened.
“You stup—”
The old man didn't finish his sentence.
Just as Kail was hit, a muffled groan came from Milo’s direction on the perimeter.
Lu Yuan glanced toward Milo.
Milo had been keeping watch at the alley entrance. The eruption of the Amalgamation was so sudden that he hadn't had time to retreat behind Bolen’s barrier.
A single spore had grazed his arm.
The skin blistered instantly.
Dark green pustules swelled on his forearm at a visible speed.
Milo gritted his teeth and remained silent, but he staggered back a step, his knees buckling slightly.
At the edge of his vision, grey-white text jumped out.
【Target Detected: Kail (Knowledge transcendent) (Contaminated)】
【A human being parasitized; death appears imminent.】
【Target Detected: Milo (eerie transcendent) (Contaminated)】
【The same fate, though the timeline is slightly delayed.】
Lu Yuan’s expression darkened.
Bolen turned back to see Kail clutching his shoulder.
The old man froze for a moment.
Then, his expression changed.
The calm, analytical look of a rank 3 Inscriptionist vanished.
It was replaced by a surge of fury rising from the depths of his chest, even the light in his eyes shifting.
His rank 3 aura no longer spread out quietly as it had before.
The inscriptions on the surface of his cane lit up all the way to the back of his hand and up his forearm. The dark gold patterns spread along his skin as if anger itself were growing out of his body.
The old man turned to face the Amalgamation.
He slammed his cane heavily onto the stone slabs.
“Oom...!”
The stones shuddered.
At the exact moment Bolen turned, Lu Yuan’s peripheral vision caught another movement.
The fourth member of the Ascension Society raised his gear short-blade.
He leaned forward, as if intending to bypass the Amalgamation from the flank.
His target was Kail and Milo.
Lu Yuan recognized the movement. The Ascension Society’s protocol for dealing with the spread of contamination was ruthless: if someone was hit, regardless of whether they were an ally, they were to be dealt with on the spot.
It was their most cold-blooded rule.
The fourth man’s blade was already raised, and he had already taken half a step forward.
Crossing the distance past the Amalgamation would only take half a circle.
A metal hand from a mechanical arm reached out from the side, pinning the fourth man’s wrist.
Lu Yuan’s gaze met the man with the mechanical arm in mid-air.
The man didn't look away; his eyes were filled with mockery.
It was as if he were saying: This is the price of meddling.
Lu Yuan’s expression grew grim. Clearly, the Ascension Society knew something and had banked on the Nightwatchers handling the spread themselves.
Meanwhile, the Amalgamation began to stir again.
Its two cores had fused into one larger core.
Through his Specialized Research, Lu Yuan could see it clearly.
The dark green core from the chest of the original left mutant and the small core that had emerged from the debris of the right mutant had now merged into a larger mass.
The position was still slightly below and to the left of the breastbone, but its volume had nearly doubled.
The core began to expand.
The internal aura was surging.
The networks across the Amalgamation’s entire body glowed simultaneously. Dark green specks of light flickered deep within the flesh that was gradually becoming fully woodenized, one after another, as if something were constantly accumulating inside the body.
The mutant’s body temperature rose sharply, and a burnt, cloyingly sweet scent began to permeate the air.
The Ascension Society member who had been struck in the chest by the branches earlier scrambled backward.
“Retreat, now!”
It was rare for the Ascension Society to call for a retreat.
His voice carried a bone-deep fear, the kind born from seeing predecessors die at the hands of such a thing.
But the mutant gave them no chance. Branches whipped out frantically, forcibly pinning them down.
Lu Yuan didn't even need the grey-white text; through the vision granted by the Knowledge Worm, he could see the green aura exploding at a visible rate.
“This thing is going to blow!”
Although the civilians had hidden in their homes, if this thing exploded, the entire street and the houses on both sides would be covered in spores.
This included Kail and Milo.
And it included themselves.
Lu Yuan’s hand was already pressed against the central cylinder.
Haimeng moved.
A string of extremely low, continuous notes fell from the lute.
The rhythm of this sequence was as heavy as a hammer strike. Every note felt like a stone dropping onto a drumhead—dull, thick, and heavy.
Lu Yuan felt the stone slabs beneath his feet vibrating slightly in time with that rhythm.
The Amalgamation’s expansion halted.
The brightness of the glowing networks stabilized at a certain level, ceasing its climb.
The rapidly rising black-green energy inside was forcibly jammed, though only for an instant.
Bolen, consumed by rage, had already gathered new inscriptions.
Ghostly blue patterns shot through with gold enveloped both the Ascension Society and the mutant.
In the next moment, a visible light showered down. Though it looked as warm as the morning sun, it was as sharp as a knife.
The branches on the surface of the restrained mutant were peeled away strand by strand.
Wooden flesh mixed with bone was ‘sliced’ off piece by piece.
“Roar!”
The mutant shuddered instinctively.
At the same time, the two Ascension Society members were also suffering. Though Bolen wasn't deliberately targeting them, they were caught in the indiscriminate assault.
Their specialized clothing and exposed flesh were gradually peeled away.
Large sections of flesh and tissue melted in the air before they could even hit the ground.
The mechanical structures beneath were revealed, and even those showed signs of slight corrosion.
In the next heartbeat, Lu Yuan pressed his thumb into the largest hole at the center of the cylinder.
A sliver of Sanity seeped in through his fingertip.
【Sanity: -1... 108/140】
The central Sanity slot lit up.
A bullet materialized out of thin air.
It was a full size larger than the copper-cased incendiary rounds in the outer ring.
It was pure white and glowed with its own light.
Intricate inscription patterns flowed across its surface, their design very similar to the angel wing patterns on the barrel of Flame, as if it were a part that had grown directly out of the gun.
Of the four Ascension Society members, only one reacted.
The man with the mechanical arm.
His mechanical eye swiveled.
The internal lenses rotated, focusing on Lu Yuan’s muzzle.
The existence of that bullet.
An aura that didn't belong to any conventional weapon.
The other three Ascension Society members were still retreating, completely failing to notice that the ammunition in Lu Yuan’s hand had changed.
Only the mechanical arm was watching.
The cylinder clicked into place.
The central bullet was automatically chambered.
Lu Yuan raised his gun.
He aimed at the position slightly below and to the left of the Amalgamation’s chest.
The vision provided by the Knowledge Worm allowed Lu Yuan to see clearly: the mass of the dark green core was right there, a core that was slowly overloading.
He pulled the trigger.
Bang.
It sounded as if something erupting from the muzzle had torn through the air itself.
The muzzle flash was pure white.
The bullet cut through the air, trailing a short white streak of light under the streetlamps.
It struck the core in the center of the Amalgamation’s chest.
The moment the bullet embedded itself into the wooden surface...
There was no warning.
Starting from that core, a burst of blue-white alchemical flames exploded outward from within the Amalgamation.
It was swallowed whole from the inside.
The self-destruction process was completely severed.
The overloading core didn't even have a chance to trigger its explosion before it was devoured by the flames brought by the white bullet.
Wooden fibers withered and carbonized simultaneously.
The thick branches began to shrivel from their tips, as if all moisture had been sucked out of them.
The semi-woodenized body collapsed in the blink of an eye, turning into a charred, twisted wreck.
Then, it shattered.
With a clatter, the entire Amalgamation broke apart into a pile of charcoal and scorched debris, collapsing onto the stone slabs.
The two Ascension Society members who had been struggling at the front finally felt the ‘sharpness’ around them dissipate.
They glanced at the fallen Amalgamation.
Then they looked at Lu Yuan and Bolen.
A flash of anger crossed their eyes, but in the end, they didn't dare speak.
Lu Yuan didn't look at them.
He holstered his gun and turned, walking straight toward Kail and Milo.
Lu Yuan knelt before Kail.
The youth’s face had gone mostly pale, his lips devoid of color. The area on his shoulder where the contaminated liquid had seeped in was beginning to turn black.
Dark green networks were faintly visible under the skin, extending from his collarbone toward his chest.
Lu Yuan stared at the wound on Kail’s shoulder. His mind dove deep into his consciousness, activating 【Forbidden Lore: Specialized Research】.
Grey-white text flickered frantically in his vision.
【Forbidden Lore: Specialized Research Activated】
【Analyzing Target Characteristics: Forest Seed (Early Stage/Parasitic Type)】
【Status Analysis: Spores containing the "Forest Seed" brand have diffused through the host's bloodstream, nourishing themselves on the host's vitality.】
【Deducing Formula...】
【Solution Generated: Hope's Solution (Optimal Version)】
【Principle: Neutralize the mental imprint of the "Forest Seed" with the aura of "Hope," supplemented by high-level holy water to peel away the parasitic structure, and flame-type herbs to accelerate the cauterization and decomposition of the remaining inoculation fluid.】
【Estimated Success Rate: 81%】
【Note: The source of "Hope" is limited to the seed in Room 7 of C-District. flame-type herbs have not yet been identified.】
【Solution Generated: Purification Suppression (Stable Version)】
【Principle: Use seed aura to neutralize the mental imprint and high-level holy water to peel away the parasitic structure. Lacks an accelerant; takes effect slowly.】
【Estimated Success Rate: 41%】
【Note: Must be completed before the heart is infected; requires continuous suppression of the spread with holy water in the interim.】
【Solution Generated: Holy Water Topical Application (Emergency Version)】
【Principle: Temporarily delays the spread of the inoculation fluid; cannot eradicate it.】
【Estimated Success Rate: N/A (Delay only)】
【Note: Must transition to the Optimal or Stable version as soon as possible after use, otherwise assimilation will still occur.】
...
Lu Yuan’s expression didn't change as he read the string of text.
However, his heart sank slightly. The probabilities were a bit low.
Rate on N.U.
