Blue light flooded from all directions; it was too bright.
Lu Yuan couldn't help but squint his eyes, trying to see ahead, but in the next moment, he froze.
Ore. There was ore everywhere.
Those translucent blue crystals were layered on top of each other, stacked into walls, condensed into pillars, and more.
Lu Yuan's pupils shrank slightly; it wasn't just stacking.
It was an encasement.
Through the light refracted by the ore, Lu Yuan saw outlines.
The outlines of stone pillars.
Dozens of stone pillars, even sturdier than the Iron Whale, were hidden beneath the encasement of these translucent ores; something was faintly carved on the pillars, distorted and unclear in the blue light.
Those were runes; Lu Yuan recognized that style.
Similar symbols had been carved on the altar in his Strange Dreams; it was the Deep Sea Church.
Lu Yuan's gaze followed the stone pillars upward, higher—there, behind the ore, sat a towering, dark temple.
Its scale was far beyond imagination; the dome supported by the stone pillars vanished into the darkness, with the blue crystals wrapping the entire building like a cocoon, runes flickering in the refraction like an ancient kingdom slumbering in the deep sea.
Majestic, solemn, and even terrifying.
Lu Yuan finally understood at this moment.
This place was never a mine, and these ores were not some mineral deposit.
These were the secretions of that "Mother"; the wounded "Mother" was recuperating in this temple, secreting these crystals to wrap herself and the temple together, layer after layer, for an unknown number of years.
Until today.
Until they broke in.
Lu Yuan's breath hitched for a moment.
【You have entered the temple】
【You have glimpsed something that should not be seen; you have taken a difficult step in your exploration of Forbidden Lore】
【Sanity III: +10... 15/70】 The greyish-white text jumped; the long-dormant Sanity experience points leaped forward by a significant margin.
He had no time to think carefully, because he saw the center of the cave.
It had been cleared, revealing the black rock ground beneath, as if someone had deliberately cleared an area for a ritual within this space enveloped in blue light.
And in the center of that area, a stepped altar stood tall.
The altar was pyramid-shaped, rising layer by layer, at least seven or eight levels high, with every level covered in runes that glowed faintly under the blue light.
Behind the altar, a wide passage extended further into the depths.
That passage was also carved out, the ore on both sides neatly cut; the end of the passage vanished into the darkness, its bottom invisible.
The heartbeat was coming from there.
Standing at the top of the altar now were three grey-cloaked figures; they faced the cave entrance as if they had been waiting for a long time.
The one in the lead spoke slowly.
His voice carried a strange rhythm:
"Welcome, guests from Gelimu Port." As he spoke, a murky blue light flickered in his eye sockets. "Mother has been waiting for you."
Marcus's mechanical eye flared with a brilliant red light, his gears spinning rapidly.
Alice had already raised her warhammer, lightning leaping and crackling upon its head.
The Arbiter's chest device began to preheat, emitting a low hum as steam billowed from its gaps.
The Descendants fanned out, their arms transforming, weapons ready.
The Church deacons held up their holy emblems, and golden light began to gather.
But the grey-cloaked figure did not move.
He simply stood upon the altar, looking down at everyone as if looking at a group of prey walking into a trap.
"But to see Mother..."
He paused.
"At least, survive first."
The moment the words fell, the ground began to shake—not the slight tremor from the heartbeat, but a true earthquake.
A vibration as if the entire underground space was about to collapse!
【Warning: Traces of a large-scale ritual detected; abnormal biological signatures exist underground...】
The sudden shaking made Lu Yuan stumble; Gray grabbed Lu Yuan and then stepped in front of him protectively.
Dense cracks began to appear in the ground around the altar, with viscous blue liquid surging from the fissures.
Then, countless tentacles surged frantically from the cracks.
Their size was larger than anything seen on the way, with the lowest parts even being as thick as an adult's torso.
They twisted and coiled frantically, countless tentacles wringing together until they piled into a mountain of flesh, their surfaces writhing constantly to gradually form a coiled cocoon-like object.
The heartbeat was accelerating.
Thump, thump-thump—
That mass of winding, interwoven tentacles had reached several meters in height, but it was still growing and spreading; occasionally, something would open and then close within that pile of flesh.
Was it an eye?
Lu Yuan tried to look away, but he had already seen it.
【Witnessed Deep Mutation: ██】
【Warning: Sanity check in progress... Check failed】
【Sanity: -5... -5... -5... 45/70】
His Sanity dropped like pouring water; it felt as if something was tearing his brain apart, whispering, murmuring, and calling from the depths of his consciousness—
Lu Yuan's vision blurred.
The images before him were twisting; Lu Yuan heard the song of the deep sea calling him, urging him to walk over, to touch that mass of flesh, to—
"Ugh—"
A muffled groan came from beside him.
Lu Yuan's consciousness was pulled back slightly; he forced his head to turn, only to discover that it wasn't just him—everyone around him was experiencing a severe Sanity collapse.
Gray was down on one knee, clutching his head with both hands, his body trembling violently.
Alice was half-kneeling on the ground, supporting her body with her warhammer; the lightning light flickered uncertainly, her lips were pale, and bloodshot veins were spreading from the corners of her eyes.
Ed and Leonard had already fallen, curled on the ground and letting out groans of pain.
And it wasn't just them.
Even the modified Descendants were having problems.
Some clutched their heads, others knelt; even their mechanical arms twitched uncontrollably, suppressed moans came from beneath their crow-beak masks, and their bodies under their black robes were convulsing.
Even Marcus's movements had frozen.
Pain flashed in his human eye, and the red light of his mechanical eye flickered violently, the sound of gears turning becoming intermittent as if being interfered with.
Everyone was being eroded by the pollution.
Lu Yuan forced himself to stay upright, looking around.
Only one person was still standing.
Philip.
But his condition at this moment was also extremely precarious; his face was deathly pale, his eyes tightly closed, and sweat dripped down his temples; his hand was pressed hard against the holy emblem, with pale golden light flickering around him like a candle in the wind, liable to go out at any moment.
But he was still standing.
"Philip!"
Lu Yuan shouted with all his might, his voice hoarse:
"What are you waiting for!"
Lu Yuan didn't know what other methods Philip had, but at this point, only the Church had any hope of protecting the people around them.
Philip's body jolted upon hearing this, as if suddenly waking up; his bloodshot eyes swept over his surroundings, and with a grit of his teeth, he pulled a scroll from his robe.
The scroll was yellowed all over, its edges showing faint scorch marks, and the runes upon it emitted a dim golden light.
In the next moment, Philip tore it open.
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