Golden light exploded.
A phantom rose from the scroll.
It was hazy and blurred, yet it exuded an incomparable aura of holiness.
The silhouette of six wings appeared faintly in the light; in the next moment, the holy light spread.
Like a tide, it diffused from Philip's position in all directions, enveloping everyone within.
The tentacles stopped at the edge of the holy light.
It was as if an invisible barrier was keeping the pollution at bay.
Lu Yuan felt the whispers in his mind vanish.
His headache eased, and his vision became clear once more.
【You have received the Blessing of the Sky】
【Effect: Immune to partial pollution for half an hour, Sanity resilience significantly increased, body strengthened】
【Sanity: +10... +5... +3... 58/70】
The greyish-white text flickered continuously as his Sanity rose at a visible rate.
Lu Yuan took a deep breath, feeling strength return to his limbs.
Everyone else was also free from the danger of a Sanity collapse.
Gray stood up, Alice gripped her warhammer again as its lightning stabilized, and the Descendants wobbled to their feet as their mechanical arms resumed operation.
Only Philip's expression had turned even more unsightly.
He stared at the charred remnants of the scroll in his hand, feeling a sharp pang of heartache.
"Marcus!"
Philip looked at Marcus ahead of him and roared, "What are you waiting for!"
Marcus's mechanical eye swiveled, its red light stabilizing once more.
On his half-human face, a trace of madness appeared, as if he had glimpsed something within the pollution.
"Arbiter."
His voice was cold as iron.
"Release constraints! Fire!"
Upon hearing the command, the Arbiter stepped forward.
The device on its chest completed preheating, spewing steam and emitting a shrill whistle.
In the next moment—
A crimson beam of light shot out with a boom!
It blasted straight toward that mass of unspeakable flesh!
The crimson beam of light tore through the air, instantly vanishing into the blood cocoon formed by the tentacles.
The struck flesh vaporized instantly, letting out a series of hisses as a scorched stench filled the air.
A massive hole was burned through the surface of the blood cocoon; splashing blue blood surged, but in the blink of an eye, it turned into an eerie rising mist.
Powerful as the beam was, the wound it caused was simply too small; it was insignificant before this nearly endless mass of tentacles.
Tentacles surged from the surroundings to fill the void, and the flesh regrew at a visible rate.
But the Arbiter did not stop.
Heavy footsteps crushed the ore on the ground as its entire body continued to push forward, steam gushing from its joints while the sound of turning gears echoed throughout the space.
In the next moment, its armor began to unfold; the metal casing on its back split open, and a row of skeletal structures slowly rose, resembling a sort of folded mechanical spine.
Densely packed runes were engraved upon the metal skeleton, glowing with a dark red light under the heat of the steam.
Its arms simultaneously transformed; the casing of the right arm fell away to reveal a rotating saw blade inside. The serrated edges bore dark red rust and began to spin, the saw blade's rotation accelerating until it emitted a piercing screech.
The left arm extended a thick needle connected to a metal canister at its waist; the silver liquid inside the canister sloshed with every step the Arbiter took.
Boom.
The Arbiter's leg devices vented more violent steam, and in the next moment, its body accelerated abruptly like a cannonball, slamming straight into the mass.
The saw blade swept across, and flesh flew in all directions.
Upon contact, the tentacles were sliced into fragments, with blue blood spraying everywhere.
The Arbiter advanced through the rain of blood, its saw blade spinning incessantly, grinding everything in its path into mush.
Just then, tentacles surged from other angles.
They attempted to ensnare the Arbiter, but the runes on its back lit up.
Dark red light flashed; the moment the tentacles touched the armor, they made a sizzling sound as if scorched by a branding iron, instantly withering.
The Arbiter broke free from its restraints and thrust the needle of its left arm into a thick tentacle.
As the silver liquid was injected, the flesh began to fester and quickly spread outward. The mutated entity let out an even shriller hiss, its entire body trembling, until it finally had to discard that contaminated tentacle.
Yet the Arbiter continued to advance, wielding its saw blade to forcefully carve a bloody path through the thicket of tentacles.
Lu Yuan watched this scene, his pupils shrinking slightly; the Arbiter's combat power had completely transcended the known bounds of the transcendent system.
With indestructible armor and terrifying speed, even two more Alices wouldn't be enough to match it, would they?
He estimated that only Old Morgan's mechanics might be able to go head-to-head with such a steel behemoth.
The Arbiter completely abandoned defense; it didn't even pause when struck by tentacles. Runes flashed as wounds were cauterized shut by steam, and it continued forward.
Using nothing but pure offense, it managed to pin down the constantly twisting tentacles.
At the same time, the two Descendants beside Marcus moved in unison.
One on the left and one on the right, they flanked the sides to coordinate with the Arbiter's assault, their movements as synchronized as if they had been rehearsed.
A long blade sprang from one Descendant's arm, cold light flashing as they intercepted tentacles lunging at the Arbiter's flanks; the blade flashed repeatedly, severing tentacles to clear more room for the Arbiter to attack.
He didn't participate in the fight; instead, whenever blue blood sprayed, he would catch it with precision, his movements skillful and not wasting a single drop.
Marcus stood in the rear, remaining motionless throughout.
His mechanical eye swiveled constantly, its red light scanning the entire battlefield.
But Lu Yuan noticed that his gaze was not on the mutated entity.
"The scroll's barrier... it's almost at its limit!"
Philip's voice came through, tinged with anxiety.
Although the Arbiter's combat power was formidable, it would eventually grow weary; if they didn't retreat soon, they would all be doomed sooner or later.
Lu Yuan looked back and saw Philip's face was deathly pale, veins bulging on his forehead; the holy light barrier around him was thinning like diluted milk, its golden-white glow growing ever fainter.
As his voice trailed off, the holy light receded like a tide, shrinking from the edges toward the center until it vanished completely.
Everyone was once again exposed to the space enveloped in blue light.
【Warning: Witnessed Deep Mutation, Sanity check in progress... Check failed】
【Sanity: -1... -1, 56/70】
The greyish-white text flickered again, and Lu Yuan felt the whispers in his mind resume.
But they weren't as intense as before, and the rate of Sanity loss had slowed significantly; evidently, the previous Blessing of the Sky had provided a remarkably strong buff.
Alice looked at Marcus, who still stood in place, and then at the Arbiter engaged in a hard fight; she gripped her warhammer and charged forward.
"Marcus, you'd better move fast!"
As she spoke, lightning flickered on the head of her hammer; she brought it down, crushing an approaching tentacle.
Alice stood at the Arbiter's rear flank, shielded by the scroll's lingering effects as she blocked most of the attacks coming from behind the machine.
Gray had already leveled a large-caliber weapon, standing in front of Lu Yuan to blast apart any tentacles attempting to ambush him.
Philip and the two deacons held up their holy emblems, barely managing to create a small-scale protection.
Rate on N.U.
