It was Marcus.
At this moment, except for his head, the rest of Marcus was completely mechanized; his flesh had almost entirely fallen away, revealing the precision metal skeleton and gears beneath.
He carried Lu Yuan on his shoulder.
The mechanical skeleton was still burning.
The high temperature seared through the clothes, burning directly into Lu Yuan's stomach.
His skin was scorched, and his flesh was curling.
Pain, a heart-wrenching pain.
But Lu Yuan couldn't even let out a cry; his consciousness was blurred to the extreme, leaving him to only let Marcus carry him as he sprinted out of the passage.
With every step Marcus took, the mechanical parts emitted the sound of grinding friction.
But his speed did not slow down, and he continued until he charged out of the passage.
At the same time, the expressions of the grey-cloaked figures on the altar changed drastically.
"You..."
"You actually blasphemed the Mother!!"
The voices of the grey-cloaked figures were sharp and frantic.
"Unforgivable! Unforgivable!!"
But before they could finish their words, their figures began to twist out of control; their bodies swelled and deformed, as if something was being drained from them.
Invisible forces imprisoned them there, leaving them to struggle frantically.
Alice had also approached the winding upward passage by now.
Because the tentacles were no longer writhing, Alice finally had her hands free.
She saw Marcus charging out while carrying Lu Yuan and immediately went to meet them.
"What happened to him?!"
Marcus did not answer; he simply handed Lu Yuan over to Alice.
As Alice took Lu Yuan, she instantly felt the high temperature beneath his clothes and the smell of scorched meat.
Her expression changed, but she didn't ask further questions, pulling Lu Yuan along as she sprinted toward the entrance of the ore mine.
On the other side, a Descendant also picked up Marcus, quickly evacuating with the mechanical monster that no longer looked human.
The Arbiter lay at the base of the altar, nearly scrapped.
Cracks covered its metal body, steam pipes were severed, and liquid sprayed everywhere.
Ed, Gray, Leonard, and two deacons rushed up, grabbing the Arbiter's limbs and desperately dragging the heavy iron hunk away.
As everyone was running upward frantically, the temple shook.
No.
The entire island was vibrating.
The passage began to collapse.
Ores fell from the ceiling, hitting the ground with loud crashes.
But even more terrifyingly, those Deep Blue ores began to re-solidify.
They grew from the walls, the floor, and every angle, threatening to fill everything within the cave.
The ore was spreading, its speed growing faster and faster.
"Hurry! Hurry!" Alice's voice was a roar.
Everyone sprinted with all their might.
The passage behind them was being filled inch by inch by the ore.
The steps beneath their feet began to crumble.
Philip was at the very front, the light from his holy emblem still flickering, lighting the way for everyone.
Alice carried Lu Yuan, following behind Philip, with the Descendant bringing Marcus right after them.
Only the several people dragging the Arbiter were left at the very end.
The entrance to the ore mine was just ahead.
Light filtered in.
It was the sky outside.
Philip was the first to charge out.
Then came Alice, carrying Lu Yuan...
The moment they all charged out of the cave, a massive roar echoed behind them.
The ore had already filled the cave; the entrance leading to the underground temple was sealed once again by the blue-glowing Deep Blue.
Everyone collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath.
The sunlight was blinding.
When Lu Yuan was dragged out of the ore mine, his consciousness was mostly blurred.
He was laid flat on the beach by Alice; the moment his back touched the ground, the intense pain made him let out a muffled groan.
His vision was blurry, and his ears were buzzing; Lu Yuan could only vaguely distinguish the moving figures around him.
The surroundings were a mess.
Marcus's mechanical body had completely stalled; the mechanical eyes that had originally flickered with red light were now dim and lifeless, the gears had stopped turning, and there wasn't even a trace of white mist in the steam pipes.
He was like a discarded iron shell, left to be carried on the shoulder of a Descendant.
The Arbiter's situation was not much better.
That massive body slumped on the ground, the runes on its back completely extinguished, and the steam pipes were damaged in several places, revealing the charred metal skeleton inside.
Ed and Gray propped up its arms from either side, while Leonard and a deacon pushed from behind; the group's combined effort was barely enough to move this steel behemoth.
Philip knelt not far away, somewhat drained of strength, with his hands supporting himself on the ground, his whole body trembling.
His holy power had been exhausted, his face was pale, and he didn't even have the strength to stand; the remaining deacon crouched beside him, equally weak.
Alice was the only one still able to move normally; the physical strength granted to her as a Flesh transcendent far exceeded that of ordinary people.
She stood in the middle of the group, her gaze sweeping over everyone, quickly assessing the current situation.
After that heart deep within the cave stopped beating, the entire island became eerily quiet, leaving only the sound of everyone's heavy breathing.
The beach beneath their feet no longer writhed, and those tentacles that had once surged from underground had all stopped extending, as if all their strength had been drained.
The blue light at the entrance of the ore mine also dimmed; the originally blinding ores now only emitted a faint fluorescence, looking as if they could turn back into ordinary stones at any moment.
Alice looked up toward the distant sky.
Dark clouds were gathering.
They surged from all directions, as if something were driving them.
The originally blinding sunlight was swallowed bit by bit, and the sky darkened at a pace visible to the naked eye.
A storm was coming.
Alice looked around and made a decisive judgment.
"Get on the ship," her voice was hoarse. "Leave immediately."
The process of boarding the ship was somewhat clumsy; after Alice and Gray carried Lu Yuan onto the deck, they had to lend a hand to help carry the Arbiter. The Descendants staying on the deck did not help, keeping watch by the fire on their own.
By now, the waves had begun to surge, and the Abyssal Hunter started to rock with the tide.
The Descendants settled Marcus and the Arbiter in the cabin one after another; Marcus's mechanical body was placed in a corner, motionless, like a pile of scrap metal.
The devices that could once emit steam and red light were now completely silent; only an occasional sound of metal contracting from the cold proved that it was not yet entirely scrapped.
The Arbiter was leaned against the bulkhead, its massive body occupying half the cabin.
That layer of thick armor was full of dents left by tentacles, and several places had even been pierced, revealing the intricate pipes and gears inside.
Lu Yuan was handed over to Gray by Alice.
"Tend to his injuries," Alice dropped these words and hurried toward the captain's cabin.
Gray nodded and laid Lu Yuan flat on a bunk.
The burn on his abdomen was more serious than imagined; his clothing and flesh were fused together, so Gray had to use a dagger to carefully cut away the fabric.
Lu Yuan felt as if he were half-awake and half-asleep; his body seemed to have disappeared, and he vaguely heard the movements around him.
"Some of the flesh has become necrotic," Gray's voice was low. "It needs to be cut away."
Gray didn't care whether Lu Yuan heard him or not and began to work; his movements were very skillful, removing the necrotic tissue, applying medicine, and bandaging the wound in one smooth motion.
After treating the wound, Gray looked at Philip in the corner.
"Philip, can you move?"
Philip barely looked up, his face still pale, but he still braced himself and stood up.
He and the deacon walked to Lu Yuan's bedside, placed their hands on his chest, and their lips moved slightly as they recited a short prayer.
A faint golden light seeped from his palms, so weak it was almost invisible, but when it landed on Lu Yuan, it caused his drifting consciousness to instantly return, followed by pain—a tearing pain.
"This is all I can do," Philip withdrew his hand, his voice weak. "My holy power needs time to recover."
Gray nodded and didn't say anything more; they had done everything they could, and now Lu Yuan could only rely on himself.
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