“How could this be…”
Theodore’s voice trembled slightly.
The scene before her had become exactly what she least wanted to see.
The entire cavern was littered with the charred corpses of dwarves.
The air was thick with a nauseating, pungent smell of burnt flesh and sulfur.
The blazing lava river still flowed, but its surging, dark crimson light seemed restless and agitated.
“Great Artisan God…”
She murmured the name, then let out a small sigh of relief… at the very least, she hadn’t seen the Great Artisan God himself.
“What’s the current situation?”
Muxuan asked with a heavy tone, her expression serious as she looked at the “Molten Heart” in the distance.
She could only sense that within that vast cluster of furnaces, a certain violent force was continuously swelling.
Although another power was suppressing it, it was clearly on the verge of eruption.
But she wasn’t familiar with the operational state of the Wonder Building “Molten Heart,” so she couldn’t judge whether the situation was good or bad.
Theodore adjusted her mood, her tone also turning grave.
“The Molten Heart is operating under extreme overload. The effects [Leyline Resonance – Reinforcement] and [Purification Field – Incineration] are both active.”
Muxuan didn’t need Theodore to explain; she could roughly understand the functions of these two effects from their names.
Since the [Purification Field – Incineration] effect was active, then corruption was impossible.
Frowning as she surveyed the carnage in the cavern, Muxuan analyzed continuously.
No corruption…
Corruption definitely wasn’t the cause of the dwarves’ deaths, and there were no corpses of The Strange nearby either…
If The Strange had fought with the dwarves, there would at least be signs of battle.
“Pope, the Molten Heart can’t keep running like this! I need to go shut it down now!”
While Muxuan was still deep in thought, Theodore suddenly spoke.
Without further explanation, Theodore’s figure shot forward.
She understood well that while the “Molten Heart” could hold on for quite a while longer, if it continued to operate under such extreme overload, the entire “Molten Heart” would be completely damaged beyond repair! In the worst case, it could cause the entire magma pool to erupt, leading to catastrophic destruction of the entire leyline.
“Wait, Theodore!”
Seeing Theodore rush off, Qiansitelin urgently called out, trying to catch up.
Her intuition was screaming warnings.
The air wasn’t just filled with the smells of burnt matter and sulfur; there was also a thicker, darker, more viscous presence seeping out from deep within the furnaces.
But Qiansitelin’s outstretched hand closed on empty air; she didn’t even manage to grab the hem of Theodore’s clothes.
Muxuan also sensed what Qiansitelin had noticed.
She counted the dwarves who had fallen near the core area of the “Molten Heart.”
There were exactly four.
“Exactly corresponding to… the four exhaust vents.”
As if she had figured something out, Muxuan turned and urgently spoke to Qiansitelin, who was about to chase after Theodore to stop her.
“Let Theodore go. We need to deal with these corpses first!”
Muxuan’s voice was very grave.
Qiansitelin didn’t ask any questions—when it came to serious matters, her young lady was often more meticulous than she was.
If she said so, there must be a reason.
Thinking this, Qiansitelin didn’t hesitate.
Following Muxuan’s gaze, she dashed forward at incredible speed.
The target was already clear.
Seeing that Qiansitelin understood her meaning, Muxuan couldn’t help but sigh in relief.
She then moved to the nearest corpse and carefully poked the dwarf’s chest with her crosier.
As the corpse gave a slight tremble, a wisp of black vapor intermittently seeped from the dwarf’s mouth and nose.
‘As I thought…’
Muxuan thought to herself, her expression growing even more solemn.
Initially, she had judged there was no corruption, and indeed, her senses couldn’t detect any abnormality in the corpses… but now she was certain.
It was indeed corruption.
At that moment, Qiansitelin returned, using “Lyrasel” to carry the four dwarf corpses.
Signaling for her to place the corpses to the side, Muxuan didn’t hesitate.
Her crosier gathered a thread of Lightforce, which she then forcefully plunged into the pile of four bodies.
Clang—
A crisp impact sound rang out.
Four pitch-black metal blocks, slick with blood, were vomited from the mouths of the four corpses.
In an instant, Qiansitelin understood her young lady’s meaning.
With the [Purification Field – Incineration] active, it wasn’t hard to guess how the corruption had infected the dwarves.
Muxuan’s face darkened, her tone carrying a hint of mockery.
“These goblins… are truly disgusting.”
“Only they could use a method like this to instantly turn so many dwarves into corpses.”
The reason these dwarf corpses hadn’t transformed into The Strange was probably because the [Purification Field – Incineration] was still active.
Thinking this, Muxuan suddenly looked up toward Theodore’s direction and spoke urgently.
“Go stop Theodore!”
Hearing this, Qiansitelin’s brow furrowed.
Her calves tensed, and she leaped toward the cliff ledge where Theodore was.
There was only one possible purpose for the goblins doing this—to lure the Great Artisan God back!
Although she didn’t know exactly what Theodore’s relationship with the Great Artisan God was, the fact that she possessed the authority to shut down a Wonder Building spoke volumes about her importance.
Qiansitelin’s figure shot toward the cliff ledge at incredible speed, heading straight for Theodore, who was straining to turn a massive valve.
“Theodore! Get away!”
Her shout was faint against the roar of the lava, but it still reached Theodore’s ears firmly.
Theodore’s movements halted.
She instinctively turned her head to look at Qiansitelin, who was rushing toward her.
However, in that brief instant—
BOOM!
The cliff ledge before Theodore, constructed of heat-resistant metal and thick rock, exploded without warning.
An intense mix of sulfur and the smell of rust filled the air as a torrent of dark crimson surged forth violently—far hotter and more viscous than the lava river, as if it were a boiling mixture of molten metal and flesh.
That was no ordinary lava.
The Wonder Building had been corrupted from the inside!!
Qiansitelin’s pupils contracted sharply.
This thought flashed through her mind in an instant, but her figure was already completely swallowed by the dark crimson torrent.
Muxuan’s heart lurched, a flicker of disbelief flashing in her eyes.
‘No… that shouldn’t… no…’
She uttered several low “no”s in succession, then quickly forced herself to calm down.
She truly hadn’t anticipated that the outcome would be like this.
“You must be… His Holiness of the Light Church, correct?”
Just as she was momentarily stunned, a rough voice came from behind her.
“It seems I guessed correctly… even this crisis was within your plans. Perhaps I should say, my arrival was also within your expectations?”
The voice carried a hint of emotion.
Hearing this, a slow smile spread across Muxuan’s face.