Chapter Summaries

Lu Yuan joined the Night Watchers’ battle and killed the caster, but the caster’s death triggered a curse that transformed the gray-robed attackers into Deep-Sea Kin. As the Night Watchers’ line began to break, Captain Alice returned and helped turn the tide.

• Mary led the Night Watchers’ counterattack, but the gray-robed men strengthened themselves with the blessing of the Deep Sea and fought the defenders to a stalemate.
• Lu Yuan learned that Mo Shui was injured, left her to guard the hall, and charged into battle to kill the chanting caster.
• Mary opened a path for Lu Yuan, who shot the caster; the Deep-Sea Barrier disappeared, but the caster’s corpse released a curse that mutated the gray-robed men into Deep-Sea Kin.
• The transformed Kin tore into the Night Watchers’ defensive line, and Lu Yuan watched a fellow Night Watcher die as his sanity fell.
• Alice returned in a lightning-charged strike, halted the Kin’s charge, and joined Mary and the Night Watchers in a coordinated counterattack.

Lu Yuan and the Night Watchers repelled an assault on their base, but the Deep Sea Church also attacked the Ascension Society and Grim Port’s inner city. After Lausen’s warning that the attack was only the beginning, Old Morgan ordered the Night Watchers to recover and prepare for what came next.

• Lu Yuan used Time Bestower and his revolver to stop the familiars from feeding on unmutated cultists, while Alice killed a swollen familiar and the remaining creatures retreated.
• The Night Watchers counted five dead and twelve seriously injured, and Lu Yuan restored some of his depleted Sanity with the Holy Water Cup.
• Old Morgan returned bloodied and reported that the Ascension Society had also been attacked, its laboratory destroyed, and an alchemist ambushed.
• A Night Watcher reported that the inner city had been attacked and that Viscount had summoned Old Morgan to a meeting.
• Lu Yuan told Old Morgan that Lausen had become a Deep Sea Church priest and warned that the attack was only the beginning, adding that most people aboard the Iron Whale had become nourishment.
• Old Morgan ordered everyone to return to the base for treatment, told Alice to strengthen the guard and deploy every Hidden Sentry, and asked Mary to list the casualties before he went to Viscount.

After the battle, Lu Yuan told Old Morgan about his Strange Dream and Lausen’s warning that Grim Port might soon fall. As Old Morgan left for an emergency meeting, Mo Shui warned Lu Yuan that he might have to join an investigation at sea, while Lu Yuan worried that repeated Strange Dreams were draining his sanity.

• Old Morgan asked Lu Yuan to recount his Strange Dream in detail before heading to an emergency meeting with the Viscount and other major factions.
• Lu Yuan described the Strange Dream and revealed that Lausen had attained Transcendence, become a priest, and warned that the Iron Whale’s passengers would become nourishment and Grim Port might not hold out much longer.
• Old Morgan recorded the intelligence, warned Lu Yuan not to overdraw his sanity, and left to attend the meeting.
• Lu Yuan checked on Mina and Brent, then went to rest in a temporary room.
• Mo Shui told Lu Yuan she would accompany him if the meeting sent him to sea, but Lu Yuan refused because she had not recovered and Mina could not safely leave.
• Lu Yuan realized he would likely have to join the voyage because his Strange Dream had given him only one experience point while reducing his sanity limit by four.

The Viscount convened Grim Port’s factions to assess the Deep Sea Church’s attack and evidence of a ritual to awaken ancient beings. They agreed to investigate the island and the Iron Whale’s wreck, with the Abyssal Hunter departing at dawn under the Ascension Society’s lead.

• Old Morgan, Griffith, Samuel, and the military representative reported casualties from the Deep Sea Church’s simultaneous attacks.
• Old Morgan shared Lu Yuan’s intelligence about the Strange Dream island and Lausen’s warning, while Griffith linked the island to living ore from the Iron Whale.
• Samuel cited Church records of ancient beings sleeping in the Deep Sea and warned that the cultists might be preparing to awaken them.
• The Viscount ordered an investigation of the island and the waters where the Iron Whale sank, and said he would request the Holy Armor Army to secure Grim Port.
• Griffith offered the Abyssal Hunter and the Ascension Society’s main combat force, while the Night Watchers and Church agreed to provide support.
• The Viscount ordered the expedition to depart at dawn.

Lu Yuan agreed to join a dangerous maritime investigation to find the source of his Strange Dream, while Old Morgan and Alice arranged the expedition. After saying goodbye to Mina and Brent, Lu Yuan followed Old Morgan to the armory to prepare for the voyage.

• Old Morgan told Lu Yuan that the Night Watchers and the Ascension Society would investigate the Iron Whale wreck and a possibly ritual-linked island, leaving at dawn the next day.
• Lu Yuan volunteered for the expedition because the Strange Dream was eroding his sanity and its source was on the island.
• Alice took command of the Night Watcher team, while Old Morgan told Mary to remain at the base and recover.
• Lu Yuan warned Brent to stay at the base and promised Mina that he would return; Mo Shui told him to come back alive.
• Old Morgan brought Lu Yuan to the armory, where Alice was already selecting equipment.

Lu Yuan and Alice prepared for the voyage, receiving specialized weapons and explosives from Old Morgan before boarding the Ascension Society’s armored ship, the Abyssal Hunter. There, Lu Yuan assessed the Society’s heavily augmented leader and guards, including a formidable steel creation called the Judge.

• Lu Yuan and Alice selected supplies, and Old Morgan gave Lu Yuan two powerful Complete Exorcism Gunpowder spheres while warning him to throw them as soon as he activated them.
• Gray, Ed, and Leonard joined the group, collected their equipment, and traveled with Old Morgan and the others to the docks.
• Lu Yuan arrived at the Ascension Society’s armored steamship, the Abyssal Hunter, and watched assistants carry Mithril and other supplies aboard.
• On deck, Lu Yuan analyzed Marcus and three beak-masked mechanical augments, learning their traits and vulnerabilities.
• Lu Yuan examined the massive Judge, identified it as a high-grade alchemical creation, and saw that it was standing by on the ship.

The Abyssal Hunter carried the Night Watchers, Ascension Society, and church toward the island, while Lu Yuan suspected the Ascension Society already knew its location. A tense meeting set the factions’ duties, leaving the Night Watchers sidelined as the ship neared an increasingly polluted sea.

• Marcus warned the Night Watchers to retreat if they encountered an irresistible force, and Philip said the church would cooperate but reserved the right to withdraw.
• The three factions boarded the Abyssal Hunter, and Old Morgan saw them off as the ship departed Grim Port.
• Lu Yuan examined the Ascension Society’s precise chart and told Alice that it suggested they might already know the island’s location.
• Marcus assigned the Ascension Society to lead exploration, the Night Watchers to perimeter security, and the church to rear support and purification.
• Philip asked Alice whether Old Morgan had given her instructions, and she denied it before Philip remarked that Marcus’s arrangements seemed suitable.

Lu Yuan and the others traveled aboard the Abyssal Hunter toward an unnamed island, enduring the night under an alchemical protective array. The ship reached the island’s waters, where a high-tier Source of Pollution and large numbers of watching mutated creatures threatened them.

• After the meeting, Lu Yuan inspected the Ascension Society’s sea chart and noticed warnings of mutation in the surrounding waters, though his sanity remained unchanged.
• At night, Marcus activated the Abyssal Hunter’s protective array, and Lu Yuan slept through a quiet Strange Dream that reduced his sanity limit.
• The next day, Lu Yuan’s warnings detected a high-tier Source of Pollution ahead as the unnamed island appeared beneath dark clouds lit by eerie blue flashes.
• Marcus, Alice, Gray, and the church’s Deacons prepared as the ship approached the island and Lu Yuan recognized the oppressive aura from his Strange Dream.
• The Abyssal Hunter entered the island’s turbulent waters, where large shadows of mutated creatures lingered beneath the ship without attacking.

Lu Yuan and the others reached the wreck of the Iron Whale on a polluted island, where they encountered a corrosive slime creature carrying a human head. As the creature attacked, a Born charged in to confront it.

• Lu Yuan’s group found the wrecked Iron Whale and disembarked on an island whose pollution steadily drained sanity.
• Marcus sent Born to search the ship, while Lu Yuan and Gray entered the captain’s quarters.
• Lu Yuan spotted a mutated slime creature with a human head and warned Gray before it attacked.
• Lu Yuan’s bullet dissolved in the slime, and Gray’s sword was badly corroded as he defended Lu Yuan.
• The creature unleashed a Mental Shock, and a Born charged it despite the slime corroding his robe.

Lu Yuan and Born killed the Corrupted in the captain’s cabin, where Lu Yuan discovered evidence of Gao Wen and the Priest’s failed attempt to contain the contamination. The captain’s log revealed that creatures had crawled up from beneath the ship, and Lu Yuan realized Alice and the others were in danger below.

• Born burned the Corrupted while Lu Yuan shot the captain’s head, killing it; Lu Yuan recognized a scar on the remains and identified them as the Iron Whale’s captain.
• Lu Yuan gave Gray a silver dagger to replace his corroded sword, then searched the captain’s cabin while Gray stood guard.
• Lu Yuan found a destroyed sealing array made with Church and Night Watcher symbols, along with Gao Wen’s badge and a blood letter describing the failed plan and warning not to touch the ores.
• Lu Yuan found the captain’s log, which recorded the crew’s strange symptoms, the array’s destruction, and creatures crawling up from beneath the ship.
• Lu Yuan realized Alice and the others had gone below the ship and might be in danger.

Lu Yuan, Alice, and their allies broke through a Deep Sea Church barrier and found a blood-sacrifice ritual in progress. When they attacked the gray-robed ritualist, the hanging corpses began merging into a Flesh Aggregate, which was still forming as the chapter ended.

• Lu Yuan and Gray followed the blood stench and whispering to Alice, who was blocked from entering the lower-deck cabin by a barrier that absorbed Transcendence powers.
• Philip purified the Deep Sea Church barrier with Holy Light, allowing the group to enter the cabin.
• Lu Yuan and the others found twenty-three corpses arranged around a blood-filled ritual, while a gray-robed man chanted to the Great Mother.
• Alice and Born attacked the ritualist, but he animated the corpses and used their remains to form a Flesh Aggregate.
• The ritualist retreated behind a shield of flowing black blood as the merging corpses continued to assemble.

Lu Yuan and the others destroyed the Deep Aggregate, then pursued the gray-robed man onto the island. As they surrounded him, the beach began to writhe and the sand intervened to protect him from the Judge’s attack.

• Alice, the Born, the Deacons, and the others joined forces to destroy the Deep Aggregate, while Lu Yuan tried to shoot the gray-robed man.
• The gray-robed man fled through a hole in the cabin after a Born’s crossbow bolt knocked him down, and Alice, Lu Yuan, and Gray pursued him onto the island.
• Marcus ordered the group to capture the gray-robed man, but the sand surged around him and forced the Born back.
• The Judge fired a crimson beam at the gray-robed man, and the sand shifted him aside before the beam burned a charred hole through his body.

Lu Yuan and the others discovered that the island was alive and that its buried tendrils were spreading pollution. Despite the danger and the cannons’ overheating, the group decided to venture deeper toward the island’s core.

• The gray-robed man was swallowed by the sand, and Lu Yuan drank Intermediate Holy Water to restore his Sanity.
• Alice pulled Lu Yuan and the others aboard the Deep-Sea Hunter as something moved beneath the beach, searching for them.
• Marcus ordered the ship’s rune-inscribed cannons to bombard the island, exposing writhing tentacles identified as extensions of a hidden main body.
• Alice asked whether the group should turn back or continue, and Marcus chose to proceed to investigate the gray-robed man and the ore source.
• Philip agreed to continue because the Angel could not see the island, and Lu Yuan nodded in agreement.

Alice’s team advanced across the island toward a cave covered in tentacles while the church laid Purification Barriers. Philip told Lu Yuan that the Deep Blue Ore was connected to the Eerie, and the group reached the cave just as a familiar heartbeat-like roar sounded from within.

• Alice ordered the team to bring all remaining Holy Water and establish barriers along a retreat route, while Marcus kept one Born aboard the ship to provide fire support.
• Marcus led the Ascension Society at the front as the group advanced along the cannon-blasted path, with the Night Watchers in the middle and the church laying barriers behind them.
• Philip showed Lu Yuan a piece of Deep Blue and asked whether he had seen it in the Strange Dream; Lu Yuan recognized it as a contaminant, and Philip said it was connected to the Eerie.
• The group reached a cave surrounded by decaying wooden houses and dense red tentacles, and a roar from inside sounded like the heartbeat Lu Yuan had heard in the Strange Dream.

Lu Yuan and the others advanced into a living mine filled with Deep Blue, whose growing presence damaged his sanity and severed Philip’s connection to the Angel. They reached a vast, roofless chamber where the Ore-covered ground pulsed beneath their feet.

• Marcus led the group into the mine while Alice warned Lu Yuan to stay close and retreat without looking back if danger arose.
• Lu Yuan recognized the Deep Blue in the walls as Eerie secretion and felt his sanity deteriorate as the group went deeper.
• Marcus ordered the Alchemy Lamp extinguished when the Deep Blue grew bright enough to illuminate the mine by itself, and he showed excitement at the abundant reserves.
• Alice sensed danger everywhere, while Philip said the Angel’s gaze could not reach the mine.
• The group continued through increasingly thick tentacles and expanding passages until they reached a vast chamber with endless darkness overhead and a floor covered in pulsing Ore.

Lu Yuan and the Grim Port party reached a Deep Sea Church Temple, where a gray-robed figure warned that they had to survive before meeting the Mother. A mass of tentacles emerged and contaminated the group, leaving Philip to tear open a glowing scroll.

• Lu Yuan recognized the blue crystals as secretions from the injured Mother, which had encased the Temple and its stone pillars.
• Lu Yuan saw a stepped altar and a passage leading toward the heartbeat, where three gray-robed figures welcomed the visitors from Grim Port.
• A gray-robed man warned the group to survive before they could see the Mother, and a quake split the ground around the altar.
• A huge mass of tentacles burst from the cracks and formed a growing, writhing cocoon, severely contaminating Lu Yuan and the others.
• Lu Yuan shouted for Philip to act, and Philip tore open a yellowed scroll glowing with golden runes.

Philip used a scroll to grant the group the Blessing of the Sky, briefly shielding them from contamination, while Marcus ordered Judge and the two Born to attack the aberration. The Holy Light barrier faded, leaving the group exposed again as Alice, Gray, Philip, and the deacons fought to protect them.

• Philip activated the scroll, raising a Holy Light barrier and restoring the group's sanity and strength with the Blessing of the Sky.
• Marcus ordered Judge to remove his restrictions and open fire on the aberration.
• Judge transformed his weapons and charged into the creature, while the two Born flanked it and one collected its blue blood.
• Philip warned that the barrier was nearing its limit, and the Holy Light vanished as the group became exposed to contamination again.
• Alice joined Judge's fight, Gray defended Lu Yuan with his weapon, and Philip and the two deacons raised a small Protective Barrier.

Lu Yuan and the others discovered that the Deep Sea Church's Mother’s heart was the source of the pollution and the Strange Dream. As the heart awakened, Marcus revealed his fervent desire to approach it.

• The Judge, Alice, and the Born fought the tentacles, and the Born died after saving the Judge from being dragged away.
• Lu Yuan noticed the gray-robed figures were controlling the aberration while watching the passage behind the altar.
• A powerful heartbeat made the ore transparent, revealing an enormous heart at the end of the passage and triggering a warning that the source of the pollution was awakening.
• Philip identified the heart as the Mother worshipped by the Deep Sea Church, and the gray-robed figures began worshipping it instead of controlling the aberration.
• Marcus moved toward the heart, revealing that he had been hiding his true purpose.

Lu Yuan and Marcus reached the entity hidden behind the Temple’s ore passage, where Marcus pierced its heart and collected some of its blood. As the entity fell dormant, Lu Yuan also gathered a sample before collapsing.

• Marcus rushed past the tentacled abomination toward the passage behind the altar, and Lu Yuan drank Holy Water before following him.
• Lu Yuan used the Time Bestower and Exorcism Gunpowder to burn back the tentacles blocking the path.
• Marcus smashed through the tentacles in the blue-ore passage as Lu Yuan followed, suffering worsening sanity loss.
• At the passage’s end, Lu Yuan and Marcus saw the vast entity behind the ore, and its countless eyes drove Lu Yuan’s sanity toward collapse.
• Marcus endured the entity’s influence, pierced its heart with a golden needle, and collected some of its blue blood as the eyes and tentacles fell dormant.
• Lu Yuan collected blood from the heart, then collapsed as a mechanical hand seized him.

Marcus carried Lu Yuan out of the underground temple as the island shook and Deep Blue ore sealed the mine behind them. The survivors boarded the Abyssal Hunter to flee the approaching storm, while Gray treated Lu Yuan’s severe burns and Philip used his remaining Holy Power to restore his consciousness.

• Marcus carried the badly burned Lu Yuan out of the passage, and Alice took him toward the mine entrance while Born and the others evacuated Marcus and Judge.
• The island and passage collapsed as Deep Blue ore filled the cave, and Philip led the survivors out before the mine entrance was sealed.
• Alice ordered everyone to board the Abyssal Hunter as the island fell quiet and dark clouds gathered overhead.
• Gray cut away Lu Yuan’s necrotic flesh and bandaged his burns, then Philip and a Deacon used their remaining Holy Power to revive his consciousness.