Ritual

As the giant blade materialized, Xi Wading moved.

At this moment, Xi Wading is no longer the commander.

It was not a spear, but an unstoppable weapon!

The golden figure charged directly into the Fishmen, its giant blade sweeping across, leaving Flesh in its wake.

The three-meter-tall Fishmen was like paper in front of him, cleaved in two with a single sword strike, black blood gushing out and internal organs scattered all over the ground.

Only a straight path of blood remained behind him, with piles of severed limbs and broken bones on both sides.

Xi Wading was too fast; the monsters didn't have time to react.

The Holy Armor Army soldiers advanced slowly while maintaining their formation, covering his flanks.

As the Holy Armor Army advanced deeper into the enemy lines, the golden light emanating from their bodies diminished considerably. However, this did not affect the tacit understanding between the troops. Spears formed a forest, piercing through any who managed to escape.

With Xi Wading's frontal breakthrough, Alice's advance on the flanks became even faster.

Each time her Thunder Hammer struck, a burst of lightning accompanied it, claiming the life of a Fishmen.

On the high platform, Hans directed the Hidden Sentry to continuously fire, and Alchemical Crossbow Bolt rained down on the monster horde. Blue Flame spread across the Fishmen, emitting piercing screams.

This was a one-sided massacre.

The number of Fishmen is decreasing sharply.

The warehouse is right in front of us.

The atmosphere inside the warehouse was extremely tense.

The dimly lit space was filled with the salty smell of the sea, and the ground was covered with intricate runes. Dark red candlelight flickered in the corner.

A dozen or so people in gray robes knelt on the ground, chanting ancient prayers in a low voice.

In the center of them, a figure draped in Deep Blue robe stood before the altar.

His human hand had completely Mutation into tentacles, and it was now hovering above a box wrapped in black cloth, guiding the flow of some kind of power.

The ceremony was already halfway through.

But the sounds of battle outside were getting closer and closer.

A gray-robed man rushed in, his voice filled with fear. "My lord! The Holy Armor Army has broken through the second line of Defense Line! That golden monster... we can't stop it at all!"

The high priest didn't open his eyes; his voice came from under his hood, like a bubble rising from the bottom of water. "Couldn't stop it?"

"Yes... and there's that woman with the hammer, she's charging straight this way!"

The high priest remained silent for a moment.

Then he opened his eyes.

"Looks like... we'll have to move it up."

He raised his tentacles, drawing an arc in the air.

Outside the warehouse, the rain suddenly intensified.

Lu Yuan noticed something amiss.

The drizzle turned into a downpour, with large raindrops pounding against the armor, making a dense, crackling sound.

Even more strangely, when the rain fell on the Fishmen, their movements actually became faster.

The bluish-gray scales shimmered in the rain, as if they had been infused with new energy.

Then, the singing began.

Ethereal, distant.

It seemed to come from the deepest, most distant part of the ocean, passing through the bottomless sea and endless darkness, finally falling into everyone's ears with the raindrops.

The melody had no lyrics, yet it inexplicably made people want to listen to it.

I want to get closer.

I want to sink into that dark sea.

Lu Yuan shook his head, easily shaking off the influence of the singing.

He was able to do it because he had an extremely high level of rationality as a safety net, but the Holy Armor Army and the Night Watcher did not.

As the song began, the golden light emanating from the Holy Armor Army soldiers dimmed, as if suppressed by something.

Xi Wading's giant blade was still being swung, but the concentrated light was no longer as dazzling as before.

The military formation began to falter.

The Fishmen, already lacking in reason, completely lost it at this moment.

What was initially a fairly orderly charge turned into utter frenzy; they roared and howled as they charged recklessly towards the Holy Armor Army's lines.

Some Fishmen were pierced through the chest by spears, but they defied the corrosive golden light, grabbed the spear shafts and charged forward madly, forcing themselves to stand in front of the soldiers and bite off their necks.

Some Fishmen had their arms cut off, but they still ignored it and used their enormous bodies to charge wildly at the army formation.

They have lost their instinct to survive.

Or rather—the song made them forget everything, including death.

The Holy Armor Army's advance slowed significantly, and their previously unstoppable offensive was abruptly halted by this frenzied counterattack.

Alice's lightning continued to flash, but her speed slowed down. It wasn't because she was exhausted, but because the enemy was too frenzied, forcing her to devote more energy to defense.

Just then, something even more terrible happened.

The human believers embedded within the Fishmen's body simultaneously ceased their prayers.

A fervent smile spread across their faces.

"For my mother..."

The believer's body began to melt and dissolve.

Starting with the skin, the whole person felt like a candle meeting Flame.

But they didn't scream.

Instead, they were singing.

Their voices blended into the ethereal melody, making it even clearer.

Flesh turned into a dark red liquid, flowing out of the Fishmen's body, and a foul stench enveloped the entire area.

The liquid did not fall to the ground, but instead floated into the air and gathered into a dark red cloud.

The next moment.

Red rain began to fall from the sky.

Blood rain.

When it lands on the ground, it doesn't seep in, but rather gathers and spreads.

The entire battlefield had turned into a dark red Swamp.

At this moment, the song and the blood rain intertwined, creating a scene resembling hell.

Meanwhile, a faint, stabbing pain was also emanating from Lu Yuan's mind in the distance.

At the edge of my field of vision, gray and white text flickers:

[Encountering a complex form of mental Contamination: "Song of the Deep Sea" and "Blood Tide Sacrifice"]

[Characteristics: Songs erode willpower, Blood Marsh corrode the body; the effects of Contamination are amplified when these two effects are combined]

[Weakness: Requires continuous chanting to maintain; breaking the ritual's core will terminate it]

[Sanity: -2, 32/70]

[Sanity III: +1, 22.2/70 (Experience)]

Lu Yuan frowned. He was affected to this extent even before he was in the center. What about the Night Watcher? They didn't have the Protective Barrier of the Holy Armor Army.

The situation on the battlefield took a sharp turn for the worse with the appearance of blood and song.

Despite the lingering golden light emanating from the Holy Armor Army, their feet were mired in Blood Marsh, making each step incredibly difficult.

Xi Wading's golden light struggled in the Blood Marsh. He tried to pull his foot out, but the Blood Marsh clung to him like a living thing, refusing to let go.

Alice slammed her hammer down on the head of the charging Fishmen, causing the monster's head to explode and Flesh to splatter everywhere. At the same time, the surrounding Blood Marsh enveloped them.

In contrast, the Fishmen were like fish in water in the Blood Marsh, their speed increasing rather than decreasing, moving freely through the crimson waters as if they had returned to the Deep Sea.

But the Night Watcher wasn't entirely unprepared.

Alice pulled a small bottle from her waist, uncorked it, and tilted her head back to drink it down.

The pale blue liquid went down my throat, and a cool sensation spread from my stomach, instantly fading the whispers and hallucinations in my mind.

"Drink the medicine!" Hans's voice came from the high platform.

The Hidden Sentry members followed suit, taking out small bottles they carried and tilting their heads back to gulp them down.

The Night Watcher's movements were noticeably more stable. Although they couldn't match the protection of the golden light emanating from the Holy Armor Army, they were at least able to barely withstand the corruption of the Song of the Deep Sea.

Mary stood high above the base, her silver aura expanding frantically in an attempt to counteract the effects of the song and the Blood Marsh. But her face grew paler and paler, and blood trickled from her nose and down her chin.

"Damn it... I can't hold on much longer..."