I'm really not a Sanctuary Warlock.

An idea came to mind.

Can't kill them all? Can't find them? Then just give up looking.

We might as well destroy this canyon as well.

Lynn's heart suddenly raced.

This idea is crazy and crude, but it makes perfect sense logically.

The Plague Core is able to keep escaping because the canyon is its lair and the corpses underground are its escape route.

As long as the canyon exists, it will always have a place to hide.

But what if the canyon itself is destroyed?

Have the temple guards stand on the cliff top and pour holy light down from above, purifying the entire canyon, along with all the undead, all the corpses, and the thing hidden within it.

Under that level of coverage, it had nowhere to escape.

"We must get out first."

Lynn's gaze swept quickly across the cliff face, finding the narrow, barely passable path he had taken to get there.

"return."

He gave orders to the temple guards.

The golden giant stopped wielding its spear and walked to Lynn's side, like a moving castle.

Without hesitation, Lynn stepped directly onto the temple guard's hand.

The huge fingers closed together, supporting him steadily.

"Send me up there."

The temple guard raised his arm, lifted Lynn high, and then leaped upwards.

The spirits of the dead at the bottom of the valley began to stir.

Almost simultaneously, all the corpses that had been standing stiffly turned their heads.

Thousands of empty eye sockets stared at the tiny human in the temple guard's hands, but not a single undead stepped forward.

Faced with the unparalleled divine aura of the temple guardians, these lowly undead could only stare blankly, emitting soft grinding sounds.

Lynn stood in the palm of the temple guard, looking down at the sea of ​​the dead.

These things pose no threat.

What really bothered him was the plague core, which was hidden in some corpse.

Will it try to stop him from leaving?

The temple guards carried Lynn up rapidly, the rocks and cracks on the cliff face rushing past in their field of vision.

To Lynn's surprise, no attack came.

The valley floor was very quiet.

The spirits simply raised their heads and quietly watched him leave.

It's too quiet.

Lynn was even more on edge.

It's impossible that the Plague Core didn't know what he was going to do.

When an opponent chooses to retreat, what is the smartest thing to do?

Pursuit? Interception?

Or... do you have other plans?

There's no time to think about it.

The temple guards had already crossed the edge of the cliff top.

Lynn jumped off the temple guard's grasp, his feet landing firmly on the solid ground at the top of the cliff, and he let out a long breath.

"Lynn."

Lisa rushed up and looked him up and down.

"Are you injured?"

"No."

"How's it going down there?"

“Not good,” Lynn replied briefly.

Anna sat next to the unicorn. She didn't stand up, but just looked up at him, waiting for him to continue.

Lynn walked up to Anna and squatted down.

"The Plague Core controls the undead in the entire canyon. Its level cannot be identified. It doesn't fight me head-on. It specializes in parasitizing the undead and hiding inside them. There are also countless corpses buried underground. It's impossible to kill them all."

"So I decided to change my playing style."

Lynn stood up and turned to look at the canyon crevice behind him.

The grayish-purple mist continued to rise slowly from the bottom of the valley.

"It hides in the canyon, so I can't do anything about it. But what if I destroy the entire canyon?"

Lisa frowned.

Anna's gaze changed slightly.

"what do you mean……"

“Have the temple guards stand on top and attack from the outside.” Lynn looked at Anna. “The holy light will purify the entire canyon, including all the corpses underground.”

Anna did not answer immediately.

She looked at the narrow chasm, a hint of assessment in her eyes.

"Can your temple guards carry out an attack of this scale?"

"can."

Anna nodded.

"Then let's leave it at that."

Lynn turned to face the canyon, preparing to give orders to the temple guards.

Just then, he sensed something was amiss.

The strange sensation did not come from the outside, but from his own body.

It felt like a cold hand touched the back of my neck.

Lynn was stunned.

He subconsciously raised his right hand and touched the back of his neck.

There was a touch of dark purple on my fingertips.

Lynn's pupils contracted slightly.

He looked down at his arm.

On the inside of my left arm, three dark purple spots are slowly emerging from under the skin, like ink stains seeping up from the depths of my flesh.

He recognized the color.

The plague marks on the bodies of the refugees on the road were exactly the same as these.

When did you get infected?

Lisa wasn't worried, because Lynn himself had a way to cure the plague.

Lynn stared down at the dark purple spots on his arm, his mind racing.

when?

He recalled the entire process from bottom to top. At the bottom of the valley, he had been wearing an invisibility cloak and had remained hidden behind rocks the whole time without directly contacting any undead.

He dodged the attack from the Plague Core using the Fog Concealment Technique.

When was that?

When the temple guards lifted him out of the canyon.

During those few dozen seconds of ascent, he was exposed to the grayish-purple mist surging up from the valley floor.

At the time, he found it strange that the Plague Core didn't stop him.

Now he understands.

Because those seemingly harmless grayish-purple mists are actually a plague.

The Plague Core had been waiting for him to pass through that grayish-purple mist from beginning to end.

Lynn stood on the cliff top, the wind blowing up from the canyon, carrying a faint smell of decay.

He closed his eyes and focused his consciousness into the panel.

[Available Sanity Points: 0/75]

The summoning of the temple guards had exhausted his available sanity.

Activating [Tide Moon's Blessing] requires 20 sanity points.

An option popped into his mind.

What if you overdraw your sanity points?

Available sanity is essentially the sum of sanity increases and decreases. What does exceeding this limit mean? He didn't know.

You may have a splitting headache.

It might awaken something even more terrifying.

It could be worse.

But he had no other choice.

If he doesn't do it, he will be slowly devoured by the plague until he dies, because the plague on him is obviously more destructive than that on the refugees.

We can't delay any longer.

Lynn took a deep breath.

He locked onto the Sirens' mark in his mind and poured all his spiritual power into the long-dried-up passage.

"【Xiyue's Blessing】".

A silver light burst forth from his chest, as if someone had ignited a star in the heart of his body.

Anna suddenly looked up from a dozen paces away.

Silver specks of light surged from Lynn's body, slowly spreading outwards. When these specks landed on his skin and touched the dark purple spots, the spots emitted a soft crackling sound, as if branded by a red-hot wire, and quickly faded until they disappeared.

From arms to neck, from skin to soul.

The silver light stripped away and purified every trace of the abyssal plague clinging to his soul.

The process lasted less than ten seconds.

But in those ten seconds, Lynn felt more pain than he had experienced in his entire life combined.

The price of overdrawing one's sanity is like someone repeatedly scraping and grinding one's spirit with a sharp knife; with each cut, one can feel the edge of their soul shattering.

The moment the silver light dissipated, Lynn's legs buckled, and he collapsed to his knees.

He braced himself against the ground, panting heavily.

My vision blurred for a few seconds, then slowly returned to clear.

He looked down at his arm.

"It's back to normal."

Lisa rushed over, knelt down on one knee beside him, and put one hand on his shoulder.

How are you?