The Descendant remained motionless.
Its black robe was burned away by the corrosion, revealing the metal skeleton beneath.
It was not ordinary steel, but an alloy gleaming with a dark silver luster; the mucus falling onto it only left faint marks, unable to cause any substantial damage.
"The Ascension Society's augmentations..." Gray spoke with a complex tone upon seeing this, "Truly terrifying."
Lu Yuan had no time to respond because that Putrid Body was struggling frantically.
In the next moment, the Descendant moved.
A mechanical whirring sound emitted from its arm as the metal skeleton began to reorganize; the forearm split open, revealing a brass-colored long tube.
Whoosh—
Eerie blue flames erupted, directly engulfing the squirming mass of mucus; the extreme temperature distorted the surrounding air.
Screeeech—!
The mucus let out a piercing shriek, its entire gelatinous body trembling as its volume began to shrink at a rate visible to the naked eye.
The human head impaled at the top of the mucus opened its mouth as wide as possible, revealing a mangled oral cavity in an attempt to make a final struggle.
But Lu Yuan had already timed it perfectly and raised his gun.
Bang! Bang!
Two alchemical slugs accurately embedded themselves into the head atop the mucus.
The skull exploded, brain matter splattered everywhere, and the mucus instantly lost control, collapsing limply onto the floor with only faint twitching remaining.
But the Descendant did not stop.
The blue flames continued to spray until the mass of mucus was completely carbonized into a pile of charred residue; only then did the Descendant stop the fire.
Red light flashed from beneath the crow-beak mask as it turned to leave with the glowing red-hot brass tube.
Only a burnt, foul stench lingered in the air.
Lu Yuan then stepped forward to look at the remains.
In the carbonized mucus, the face of the human head was completely unrecognizable; one could only faintly see a distinct scar on the jawbone.
That was the captain of the Iron Whale... Lu Yuan had seen it when he was reviewing the information earlier.
【Sanity: -1, 60/70】
"My sword seems to be ruined." Gray took a bottle of holy water and downed it in one go, then looked at the short sword in his hand.
Most of the blade had been eaten away by corrosion, leaving it pitted and nearly useless.
"I have a new one here." Lu Yuan put away his revolver, pulled a shimmering silver dagger from his bag, and handed it over.
Gray took the palm-long dagger and gave it a few swings; though he looked somewhat helpless, he still accepted it.
Lu Yuan's gaze then swept across the captain's quarters, stopping at the area the Putrid Body had been guarding; what was hidden here?
"Gray, keep watch and don't let anything from outside break in."
Lu Yuan signaled Gray to be on alert while he began to search the room.
The room was covered everywhere in that deep blue mucus, but after the baptism of the Descendant's fire, most of it had dried up.
This also allowed Lu Yuan to clearly see the items beneath the mucus; the contents of the captain's quarters were scattered, and there were obvious bullet holes on the walls. It seemed the captain had put up a final struggle.
Lu Yuan knelt down and pushed aside the scattered items on the floor, eventually discovering an anomaly in a corner.
The items there were piled exceptionally high, as if someone were deliberately covering something up.
Lu Yuan carefully peeled away the mucus and cleared the stacked clutter, revealing the floorboards beneath.
A circular array was carved into the floor.
It was about two feet in diameter, with runes that were complex and refined; half were the holy seals of the Holy Church, and the other half were the sealing symbols of the Nightwatchers.
Merging two completely different powers required an extremely high level of transcendent attainment.
But the array had already been destroyed; the runes were broken, the lines distorted, and something had violently torn it open from the outside.
Two items were placed in the center of the array: a shattered silver holy emblem and a mithril dagger broken into two pieces.
【Analyzing...】
【Composite Sealing Technique: Fusion of Holy Church holy light and Nightwatchers sealing techniques.】
【Characteristics: Blocks or purifies pollution in a specific area, but has been destroyed; core materials are damaged. This was a failed resistance.】
Lu Yuan stared at the shattered holy emblem and the broken dagger, reaching a conclusion in his heart.
Someone had tried to stop all of this.
It should have been the priest of the Holy Church and Gaowen of the Nightwatchers... they had teamed up to draw this array.
But they failed. Then again, it was expected; an anomaly capable of tearing apart the Iron Whale was not something a single array could withstand.
Lu Yuan prepared to search elsewhere, but as he stood up, he noticed a small package stuffed into a gap in the floorboards next to the array.
He took out the package and opened it carefully.
Inside was a silver badge engraved with a pattern of a moon and an eye—the Nightwatchers team badge.
On the back of the badge, a name was engraved: Gaowen.
The badge had been wiped clean, making it appear exceptionally piercing amidst the surrounding filth.
The package also contained a piece of cloth with several lines written in blood; the handwriting was scrawled, but still legible:
"The plan failed. Someone betrayed us. The priest is dead, and I won't last much longer."
"They want to use our blood to complete the ritual. Do not come for us, and do not touch those ores."
"Burn this ship. Burn everything."
"Tell Old Morgan... I did my best."
"—Gaowen"
Lu Yuan's expression became complex upon seeing this. Gaowen had chosen to fight to the end. One had to remember Lawson's words—the deep sea would choose sacrifices from among these people, and Gaowen, who had stepped into transcendence, would surely be a prime candidate.
But he hadn't. He chose to team up with the priest to set an array in an attempt to seal the pollution, though they had failed.
Lu Yuan tucked the badge and the blood-stained letter into his coat; these items had to be brought back to Old Morgan.
But for now, the most important thing had not yet been found—the captain's log, or the voyage log.
Such things existed on all long-distance vessels, and most were kept in the captain's quarters; he only hoped it hadn't been burned to ash in the fire just now.
After a period of searching, Lu Yuan finally found a leather-bound journal in a collapsed desk drawer—the Captain's Log.
The preservation of this log was in a dire state; mucus covered most of the handwriting, and only a few pages were barely legible.
Lu Yuan flipped it open and browsed quickly,
"November 25th: Arrived at the target sea area. Discovered a small island not marked on the nautical charts; perhaps there are minerals the port needs there. May we be successful."
"November 27th: Crew members began to exhibit strange symptoms. They claim to dream of the sea or hear singing."
"December 1st: Some crew members have abandoned their human identities! Our situation is extremely precarious, but Gaowen says they still have a backup plan..."
The handwriting on the final page was distorted and deformed, as if written in extreme terror:
"December 3rd: The array was broken. They crawled up from beneath the cabins... Home... We are all going home..."
Lu Yuan closed the log, his face darkening. Beneath the cabins—where was that?!
Wait, Alice and the others had gone down there!
Rate on N.U.
