Deep underground.

The Spirit Palace and the Ghost Palace were still glowing faintly.

The Bone Clan warriors came in a steady stream, their bone blades slicing at the protective barrier. The sound of the blades scraping against it was painful to hear.

Sean and Claude stood in the center of the hall, their faces full of worry.

"How much longer can we hold?" Claude asked, his voice hoarse.

"Three more hits at most." Sean said, taking a quick drag of his cigarette.

He was already exhausted. The 20 star marks that represented his Legend stage 5 star status were vanishing one by one.

Monet stood behind them, his twelve wings trembling slightly.

After so long, General Monet had not only been healing General Duerer, but also supporting Sean and Claude, and managing the whole battle. His own small body wasn't getting any smaller.

At that moment, Sean turned to face Monet. His eyes were full of determination. "I'll hold the rear. You take as many as you can and get out."

General Sean patted General Monet on the shoulder. "Don't let Golden Sand City become a graveyard for the Military Committee."

Claude was standing nearby, about to speak, but Sean waved his hand.

Claude saw Sean's lips move slightly. It was a secret signal they had made when they were young. "Take care of the kids for me.

Claude pressed his lips together and nodded. "Don't worry, after you, she'll be my wife!"

Sean glared. "Go to hell! Then you can die with me too!"

Claude smiled. "That's the way it should be!"

"Monet, take Duerer and Malcom and go. I'll stay behind with Claude," Sean said. After speaking, his white hair turned a bit paler, and another star mark went out.

Sean turned toward the entrance of the hall. The Bone Clan warriors were attacking the barrier wildly.

He lifted his hand slightly. "Ghost Palace, disassemble."

The palace collapsed. Rune lines turned into energy and flowed into Sean's body, and the barrier disappeared.

The Bone Clan warriors rushed in.

Sean spread his arms. The power of the ghost core surged inside him, and his body became transparent. Blue light patterns appeared under his skin.

His eyes turned completely black. He recited a sorrowful spell: "In the name of the dead, with the blood of the night watchman... core, return to the one who belongs."

"Go!"

Claude pulled Monet and ran toward the passage.

Monet looked back. He only saw Sean lying in the middle of the Bone Clan warriors.

A black mist rose from Sean's transparent chest and floated toward Monet, then into his palm.

Monet's hand felt hot, and he swayed but stayed standing.

"Sean!" Claude's voice trembled.

He caught Sean's falling body. That body turned into bright blue light that shot out in all directions, hitting every Bone Clan warrior and turning them into piles of blood.

Monet clenched his hand tightly. Only one sentence remained in his mind: "Don't let Golden Sand City become a graveyard."

He looked into the deep of the passage and spread his twelve wings. "I won't let you die in vain!"

In the cave tunnel.

Logan's blood tree armor was trembling. He had just sensed that wave of energy, and he sighed, saying, "General Sean is gone."

General Darwin felt something was wrong and asked: "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Keep moving forward!" Logan said in a low voice. He didn't want General Darwin to feel the pain right now.

On the other side, Natalia whispered to Elena: "What just happened?"

Elena whispered back, "General Monet is stable, but it seems he has merged with General Monet's original essence. General Sean's consciousness just disappeared, but his mind imprint has already taken root in General Monet's Soul Sea. Strange..."

Elena was watching the battlefield and added, "General Monet and General Claude are moving deeper."

Darwin was behind Logan. His nanorobots were constantly scanning for energy traces and gave another alarm.

General Darwin analyzed the signals and frowned. "The remaining nanorune energy is getting stronger. It's definitely the waveform of the Order Rebuilding Protocol!"

"Order Rebuilding Protocol?" Logan looked at General Darwin, confused.

General Darwin sighed. "The Tribunal of Judgment used to do similar experiments on me and Philip. They turned humans into machines, and rebuilt the order of life and mechanical power."

Logan didn't say anything after hearing that.

He believed such experiments had long been banned.

But right now, he was more worried about what was going on underground.

Deeper in the passage, Monet and Claude were running fast.

With Sean's mind imprint as the source, Monet's sensing range had doubled.

The ghost core gave him new senses, allowing him to clearly feel the energy waves around him.

"There's red mist on the left path," he stopped and warned, "It's a trap."

Claude stopped too and frowned. "Can we go around?"

"Come with me on the right," Monet said without hesitation, turning immediately.

The two moved quickly, avoiding the main group of Bone Clan warriors that were chasing them.

"How far from Logan's coordinates?" Claude asked in a low voice, tired.

"Still eight hundred meters," Monet said, then sighed. "There's a Bone Clan puppets gathering point on the way. Can't go around. We have to go through it."

He looked at the blue mark on his palm, the last thing Sean left him. "Maybe, with this ghost core, we can try."

"Let's go." Claude said without hesitation and took off running.

At the Bone Clan gathering point.

Claude's way out was simple—just fight straight through.

The remaining star marks on his back lit up in an instant, creating a ring-shaped shockwave.

The Bone Clan warriors froze. Monet's mind attack cut in, piercing the core energy points with precision.

With just one wave, a large group of Bone Clan warriors in front of them were sent flying by the two generals working together.

"This won't last long." Claude said, his voice urgent. "I can do it two more times at most."

"Two times is enough." Monet said. He fully spread his twelve wings, and the blue mark on his palm shone brightly.

The ghost core's energy poured out, forming a blue energy wave in the passage. The Bone Clan's bone armor began to crack, and the green lights in their eyes went out one by one.

Before Claude could act, the second wave of Bone Clan warriors was already broken.

"You... oh... Sean's a favoritist!" Claude stared at Monet in shock.

"Who asked you to chase his wife?" Monet said in a low voice.

He could feel Sean's mind imprint working deep in his mind, supporting this attack.

The last group of Bone Clan warriors surrounded them. Claude and Monet looked at each other—both were at their limit.

"Together." Claude said.

"Together." Monet nodded.

Claude burned his last three star marks at the same time, creating a white-hot beam that cut through the front line.

Monet followed, and the ghost core's energy turned into hundreds of mind needles, piercing the core of each Bone Clan warrior.

With a bright flash of white light, all the Bone Clan warriors turned into piles of broken bones.

Claude dropped to one knee, breathing heavily.

Behind him, all his star marks were gone. His hair had turned completely white, and he looked twenty years older.

Monet helped him up. The ghost core's power was still swirling inside him, but it was almost done.

Monet looked toward the light at the end of the passage and said through gritted teeth, "We can make it out."

At that moment, Monet's watch suddenly came back online. A voice said, "We're connected, General Monet! Logan is coming to pick you up. Please hurry and meet up!"

Monet's mind gave a jolt. "Got it."

He helped Claude up and the two of them stumbled toward the final exit.

In the cave tunnel, Logan stopped and looked toward the end of the deep pit. "Something's coming!"

In the underground platform.

Duerer leaned against the wall, his hair completely gray.

Solon and the six supporters behind him were all injured, with blood on their lips.

In front of them, the Bone Clan leader led a group of elite warriors, who never gave up, no matter how many times they were beaten.

Solon didn't know how long they had been fighting. All he knew was that his sword was completely dull.

With a hoarse voice, Solon said: "General Duerer, we should retreat! We might have a chance to kill that big mushroom only on the surface."

"Okay." Duerer said, his voice strangely calm. He turned to the six of them, his face expressionless.

"You go through the left crack. It leads to the surface." Duerer said, stepping forward two steps and standing in front of Solon. "I'll stay behind."

"No!" Solon said, worried.

"It's an order!" Duerer said, not loud, but firm and unchangeable.

He pointed to the crack in the left wall. "It's wide enough for people. Go now."

Solon bit his lip, bowed to Duerer, and led the six into the crack.

Duerer watched them leave until their last figure disappeared. Then he turned, facing the coming Bone Clan warriors. "Come on."

Behind General Duerer, twenty-eight star marks were spinning. Their light was quickly fading.

It wasn't natural loss—it was being burned on purpose, turning life into Mental Power.

The first star mark went out. Duerer's Mental Power exploded, sending Bone Clan warriors ten meters in front of him flying.

When the third one went out, a familiar appeared and turned into a light shield in front of him.

By the fifth, the shield broke.

At the seventh, Duerer felt Monet's energy getting farther away. He smiled, looking satisfied—the information was safe.

At the tenth, a smile appeared on Duerer's lips. "Monet, don't let Golden Sand City become a graveyard."

As the last few star marks burned, Duerer's mind sent out a wave, passing through the rock and soil toward Monet.

At the fifteenth, the Bone Clan leader himself joined the fight. With Taron and the elite warriors, they surrounded Duerer.

Duerer never stepped back. He raised his hands, and his Mental Power formed two light blades. "Cut!"

The blades swept across, cutting through the nearby Bone Clan warriors. More enemies came in.

At the twentieth, Duerer's left leg was pierced by a bone blade. He didn't fall. He moved forward and tore a hole open.

At the twenty-third, his right arm was hit. The light blade disappeared.

At the twenty-fifth, Duerer lost his balance. He leaned against the wall, feeling his life fading.

When the last star mark burned out, Duerer softly sang a battle song. The melody was strong and powerful.

Finally, the twenty-eighth star mark went out. Duerer fell.

"By the name of the dead, by the blood of the night watch... the core, return to the one who belongs," the same words echoed in the passage.

Soon, Duerer's body turned transparent. Blue-black mist rose, and Duerer's mind imprint passed through the rock and soil, chasing after Monet.

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