Inscriber

The Inscriber?

A branch of Knowledge Path I've never seen before.

Lu Yuan glanced at it again.

The old man's fingers had numerous old burn scars.

Following behind him was a young man in his early twenties, carrying a heavy Toolbox and panting heavily.

Glock had already gone to meet him. "Is it Inscriptionist? Was he brought in by the branch?"

The old man nodded, his voice hoarse. "Coordinated by Headquarters."

The fact that the branch was invited to handle the Inscription project at the level of Wall Runes shows that this hunchbacked old man is quite capable.

"The task," the old man pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his robe and handed it to Glock, "Two things."

Glock took it, glanced at it, and then read it aloud.

"First, repair the rune conduction structure on the corroded copper surface around the Collapse Pit. Restore the coverage effect of the Wall Runes on this area."

"Second..." Glock paused for a moment.

"Inscribe new sealing Inscription along the edge of the Collapse Pit, extending the suppressive effect of the copper underground."

The first floor fell silent for a moment.

"Extend underground?" Boer repeated, "How?"

The old man didn't even look up.

He walked to the map and pointed to the location of the Collapse Pit with his cane.

"The cave walls, with Inscription on them, and a copper conductive structure extending from the ground to the walls, then laid downwards."

"It's like changing the coverage of the Wall Runes from a horizontal plane to a three-dimensional one, covering the top and sides as well. This makes it impossible for those things to stay safe underground."

Boer understood.

"Should we go down into the cave?"

"We need to go down into the cave." The old man nodded. "We'll do it during the day and stop at night. I need someone to protect me."

He turned to look at Glock.

"During construction, at least a full-strength squad will be needed to guard the area around the tunnel entrance."

Glock looked at Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan knew what he was thinking.

Ninth Squad.

Frontal positions.

The team most familiar with the cave entrance.

"Okay." Lu Yuan nodded.

The old man raised an eyebrow.

It seems the Night Watcher lives up to its name.

These kinds of tasks can be accepted on a whim.

"However, I have two conditions." Lu Yuan changed the subject.

"First, I need more support. People, weapons, anything is fine. We don't have enough manpower to handle both."

"No problem," Glock readily agreed.

"Headquarters has transferred a batch of supplies and personnel this time, and the teams that take on the escort mission will receive extra supplies."

"Second," Lu Yuan said, looking at the old man, "I need to be present during the engraving process."

The old man looked at Lu Yuan with a curious expression.

What are you looking at?

"Inscription." Lu Yuan met his gaze.

The old man's gaze lingered on him for a moment.

That scrutinizing gaze,

"You also chose Inscription Studies as your Knowledge Path?"

Lu Yuan did not answer.

The old man didn't ask any further questions.

"Take a look." He turned and walked towards the door. "If you can understand it, that's your skill."

The young assistant, carrying the Toolbox, followed behind. He paused briefly as he passed Lu Yuan, his lips moved, but he ultimately said nothing.

Lu Yuan didn't pay any attention.

They volunteered for this mission not only because the Ninth Squad was most familiar with the cave entrance.

During the time he spent with Laurina, Lu Yuan discovered that even without anyone explaining, as long as someone performed a certain "skill" in front of him, he could gain the corresponding experience points.

He had been interested in Inscription Studies for a long time.

Moreover, it will most likely enhance one's Forbidden Studies.

Inscription Studies and Forbidden Studies both belong to the Knowledge Path.

Inscription are the act of carving knowledge onto material objects, allowing it to have an effect.

Forbidden Studies involve embedding knowledge into one's own cognition, thereby bringing about personal change.

If only we could observe the Inscriptionist's working methods up close...

[Forbidden Studies - Seeker: +0.1...12.8/100]

The experience bar jumped slightly. Just thinking about correlation made it increase by 0.1.

Lu Yuan withdrew his gaze.

Around three o'clock in the afternoon, a horse-drawn carriage came from the direction of the inner city.

It's the standard transport vehicle for the Night Watcher.

A young Night Watcher stepped off the vehicle, carrying two wooden crates and a leather bag.

"Lu Yuan? Miss Laurina asked me to deliver this."

Lu Yuan took it.

The first box contains medicine.

Four bottles of perfect quality Sanity Restoration Potion.

But at the bottom of the box were three small bottles wrapped in soft cloth: an Eeriebane Potion, an Invisibility Potion, and a High-Efficiency Healing Potion.

It was all Laurina's doing.

The second box contained ammunition.

Three boxes of Silver-Plated Bullets, and one box of Copper-Shell Incendiary Bomb containing only twelve rounds.

There was a letter inside the purse.

Laurina's handwriting was still as neat and tidy as ever.

But this time it was longer than usual.

"The quantity of potions has decreased, not because I'm being lazy. The supply of perfect quality Silverlight Grass Essence has run out, and my current stock is only enough to make two more batches. The entire transport line is currently being prioritized for the inner city."

"The situation in the inner city is much more serious than yours. The two pillars of light last night corresponded to two collapses: one below the Old Council Square, and the other near the Waterworks Hub."

"The hole near the old council is more than three times larger than that at the North Spinning District, and the amount of water gushing out is several times greater. The Waterworks Hub are even more troublesome; if the Pipeline there are completely corroded, half of the inner city's water supply system will be rendered useless."

"Headquarters is sending more personnel and supplies to the Outer City, but very few are being allocated to alchemy materials. You should be able to get more weapons and ammunition, but I can only do my best with the potions."

"I got these Copper-Shell Incendiary Bomb from a dispatcher I know. That's all I have; I might not be able to get any more next time, so I'm using them sparingly."

The last line of text was written separately at the bottom of the paper, separated from the main text by a distance.

"Remember not to let your rationality slip too far."

Lu Yuan folded the letter and put it into his inner pocket.

Lu Yuan sorted and organized the potions and ammunition, giving a bottle of perfect-quality Sanity Potion and a box of Silver-Plated Bullet to Boer.

Boer took the item and glanced at the label on the medicine bottle.

"Preserving the perfect quality?"

"Keep it."

Boer didn't ask any further questions.

He tucked the medicine into his pocket and loaded the bullets into his ammunition pouch.

Lu Yuan walked to the window.

The sun had begun to set in the west. The light changed from golden to orange-red, shining on the copper decorative strips of the building opposite, giving them a warm but fleeting glow.

The situation in the inner city was worse than he had imagined.

The Old Council Square and the Waterworks Hub are the Core District of Bronze City.

If the inner city cannot hold out, the defense of the Outer City becomes meaningless.

He glanced at the faint outline of the city wall in the distance.

The energy of the Wall Runes was drained once, and it will take time to recover.

If another attack of the same scale comes tonight, the runes might not even light up.

But the Inscriptionist have already begun their work.

The Inscription extends underground, propelling the power of bronze into the earth.

This is the only proactive offensive method.

It's not a matter of how many Ghoul you kill.

The question is whether or not the leak can be plugged.

Lu Yuan withdrew his gaze.

Outside the window, the Inscriptionist's assistant was carrying Toolbox toward the Collapse Pit.

The sunlight cast a warm glow on his young face.

He looked very nervous.

This is tense.

Because the sun will be setting soon.

And that closed eye will open again.

Lu Yuan turned around and went back downstairs.

They started loading bullets onto the belt one by one.

The third night is coming.

By the time the sun had set, the nuns were already in place.

Four people stood on a high point behind the position, their white nun's robes swaying slightly in the night breeze.

The one leading the group was the same nun from last night, her face calm.

Her gaze swept across the battlefield, finally landing on Lu Yuan before moving away.

Lu Yuan neither avoided the topic nor made any deliberate attempt to show anything.

What's meant to come will come.

"Ready?" Boer crouched behind the barricades, clutching Short Shotgun in his hand.

"Ready."

Night fell completely.

The runes on the city wall lit up.

It's a bit dimmer than last night, but it's still running.

Everyone was staring at the Collapse Pit.

I waited for ten minutes.

There was no movement.

I waited another ten minutes.

Still no movement.

Boer glanced back at Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan shook his head slightly.

Nearly half an hour later, the first roar came from the edge of the cave entrance.

It was faint, as if it came from a very distant place.

Then a Ghoul crawled out.

It's very small.

The skin is so thin it's almost transparent, and the limbs are long and thin, without any keratinous nails covering them.

It is the lowest-ranking vanguard.

As soon as they emerged from the cave, Holy Light descended from the nun's direction.

It wasn't an aggressive beam of light, but rather a thin layer of golden light covering a twenty-meter radius around the Collapse Pit.

The Ghoul's feet stepped on the light membrane, and its skin emitted a slight burning sound.

It hissed and instinctively shrank back, but two more surged out from behind it and pushed it back onto the light membrane.

Boer raises his gun.

"No rush." Lu Yuan pressed down on his gun barrel.

He was observing.

Last night, when the Ghoul surged out, it was as if they were driven by something, rushing forward one after another, regardless of the cost.

But tonight is different.

These vanguard units moved hesitantly and slowly, as if they had been pushed out to test the waters.

Moreover, the quantity is too small.

The first wave only had seven.

The Night Watcher didn't even need to fire all their weapons.

Two gunners fired in a crossfire, combined with Boer's Short Shotgun, and the area was cleared in less than three minutes.

Then I waited another twenty minutes.

The second wave.

Five.

Fewer than the first wave.

Then came the third wave.

Three.

Then, the cave entrance fell silent.

Lu Yuan did not relax.

Boer obviously didn't either.

He moved the Short Shotgun muzzle away from the cave entrance and began inspecting the dark corners on both sides.

"Too few," Boer said in a low voice. "At least forty or fifty came out at the same time last night."

Lu Yuan did not respond.

He was counting the time.

Nearly forty minutes have passed since the last Ghoul was killed.

The cave entrance was deathly silent.

Just as everyone's nerves began to relax, the ground shook.

It's not very big.

But everyone sensed it.

A brief tremor came from the bronze ground beneath my feet, as if something extremely heavy was moving underground.

The spent cartridge on the sandbag bounced slightly.

"What..." Boer didn't finish his sentence.

A sound came from inside the cave.

It is a low, continuous vibrating sound.

It was as if something was slowly rising from the deepest depths, crushing the rock walls and soil along its path with a dull Echo.

The flames of the Marching Lamp all veered in one direction at the same time.

The wind has changed direction.

Previously, the flow was weak, originating from the ground and moving towards the cave entrance.

But now, a stream of air is gushing out of the cave entrance.

It's an aura.

A strong, rotten smell wafted towards us, almost tangibly.

Lu Yuan's vision twitched violently at the edges.

[Environmental Perception: High-risk Source of Pollution detected... Move away immediately...]

His hand was already on the Revolver.

The edges of the opening began to change.

Something didn't crawl out.

It was the cave walls themselves that were moving.

To be precise, it was the Carrion Fungus clinging to the cave walls that were moving.

The gray-green fungal layer that was cleared during the day but spread back at night.

At this moment, it seemed to be activated by some force, expanding outward from the edge of the hole at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The tips of the Fungal Hyphae curl upwards, like countless tiny tentacles, stretching towards the front line.

The speed was more than ten times faster than during the day.

"Holy Light!" Lu Yuan shouted.

The nuns reacted almost simultaneously.

The light in the lead nun's palm suddenly intensified, and a wave of Holy Light rippled out from above, covering an area of thirty meters in front of the cave entrance.

The Carrion Fungus curled up and withered extensively the moment they came into contact with the Holy Light, emitting a dense hissing sound. The grayish-white spores were evaporated by the high temperature, forming a thin cloud of smoke.

Expansion has been temporarily halted.

But the tremors inside the cave did not stop.

It actually got louder.

Then...

A claw emerged from the edge of the hole.

It's too big.

Each of the five fingers is as thick as an adult's forearm, and strong veins can be seen pulsating beneath the grayish-red skin.

The nails are dark brown with serrated edges and keratinized growths.

It gripped the copper ground at the edge of the hole.

The Copper Plate made a squeaking sound as it was gripped.

Boer's face turned pale.

"Large..."

Before he could finish speaking, his second paw flipped up as well.

The entire edge of the opening sagged slightly under its weight.

Everyone's guns were pointed at those two claws.

Lu Yuan's thumb was already on the hammer.

But he did not fire.

He's waiting.

Wait until it reveals more.

One second.

Two seconds.

The two claws gripped the edge of the hole, their knuckles exerting force as if they were pushing upwards.

A huge outline can be vaguely seen rising slowly below the cave entrance.

Everyone on the position stared at the cave entrance, their hearts pounding.

Then it stopped.

The movement of the two claws suddenly froze.

It was like... being stopped by something.

Then the claws slowly released their grip.

Five enormous fingers detached one by one from the edge of the Copper Plate, leaving deep scratches and deformed metal.

A dull thud came from deep within the cave entrance.

Further and further away.

The tremors then subsided.

The cave entrance returned to silence.

Only the ring of Copper Plate that it had twisted and deformed remained, silently proving that what had just happened was not an illusion.

No one spoke on the position.

After a long while, Boer finally let out a breath.

"What the hell is that?"

Lu Yuan did not answer.

He looked in the direction of the nun.

The lead nun stood on high, the light from the Scripture in her hand still steady, but her expression was no longer as wary as it had been the previous two nights.

She was listening intently.

They weren't listening to the sound of the ground.

They were listening to something underground.

Lu Yuan followed her gaze.

Her gaze traveled through the Collapse Pit, downwards, as if she could see through the soil and rock layers to something deeper inside.

Then she frowned slightly.

Lu Yuan couldn't discern what she had sensed.

But that frown convinced him of one thing.

The Ghoul aren't unwilling to come out.

That big guy isn't unable to climb up.

Something called them back.

No sound came from the cave entrance for the rest of the night.

Even the roars disappeared.

It was as if something underground suddenly retracted all its claws.

Daylight broke.

The third night thus came to an end.

There were no casualties.

They didn't even use much ammunition.

This should have been good news.

But none of the Night Watcher standing on the position showed any signs of relief.