Chapter 112: Resurrection of the Giant Crab

“Hmm!” Rigel of Orion responded softly, then slowly reported, “Though we survived, the injuries are severe. We’re down to about thirty percent of our combat strength.”

“That’s relatively good compared to Dismas Mask’s condition—that’s truly dire.”

“Most likely, he’s completely lost his ability to fight!”

Upon hearing this, Camus finally noticed that Dismas Mask’s ‘body’ was showing faint signs of life once more.

But the vital signs were so weak, like a candle flickering in a fierce wind, ready to be extinguished at any moment.

“Arudiba, Camus, I am truly sorry. It’s my failure—I couldn’t defeat that evil god, nor destroy their pyramid in time. This is why we are in this predicament!” Dismas Mask lay on the ground, communicating telepathically with them.

“No… this is not… your fault alone… it’s our collective… failure,” Arudiba weakly comforted.

“Brother Arudiba, what’s wrong? Why does your telepathic energy feel so diminished?” Dismas Mask quickly asked.

He had been surrounded and attacked by several black flame hounds, his golden armor nearly melted away and his injuries severe. Yet despite this, he had managed to cling to life—for now.

But Arudiba seemed even worse off than him, which was deeply worrisome.

Hearing this, Camus snapped to attention. Arudiba’s weakness was beyond what seemed normal.

Without a word, both men increased their telepathic transmissions northwestward, probing Arudiba’s status with their sixth sense—Root Realm Awareness.

Soon, a familiar and fading microcosm appeared within their perception.

“Arudiba, how… how…” Camus’s heart ached deeply as he ‘saw’ this. Words failed him.

There was no hope left—no intervention from a goddess could reverse this.

“Death… is inevitable for all… Don’t grieve… What matters most now… is destroying those two divine gates…” Arudiba answered feebly.

Dismas Mask’s mood grew heavy; he did not know how to respond.

Camus paused, then spoke slowly, “Daedalus and I are injured but can barely form the Athena Exclamation battle formation. However, Dismas Mask is gravely wounded, and Rigel is also seriously hurt. There’s no way we can form the Trinity battle formation.”

“What? You intend to use Athena Exclamation? Are you mad?” Dismas Mask was shocked.

“Do you have a better plan?” Camus retorted coldly.

“I…” Dismas Mask instinctively wanted to argue but racked his brain in vain for a viable alternative.

“Stop arguing… Time is running out… I will summon Centaurus to aid you… he can heal your wounds…” Arudiba said again.

“Centaurus? That guy can heal our injuries?” Dismas Mask was the first to voice his doubts.

He’d met Yin Seventeen of Centaurus before but had seen no sign of any outstanding medical skills.

Unfortunately, Arudiba withdrew his telepathic connection without responding further.

On the northwest battlefield, after a brief discussion with the two Gold Saints, Arudiba telepathically instructed Yin Seventeen beside him, “Dismas Mask and the others are severely injured… urgently require your nectar for healing…”

Then he turned to Mayura of Peacock, giving her orders as well.

“Mayura… you must go with Centaurus…”

“But sir, what about you?” Mayura asked anxiously.

Arudiba replied calmly, “There’s no hope for me… You need not stay here any longer…”

“Go… to where you are meant to be…”

“But…”

Seeing Mayura’s reluctance, Yin Seventeen quickly urged, “Senior Mayura, we must go! Staying here serves no purpose!”

“Dismas Mask and the others are still waiting for our help!”

The situation was settled here; lingering could mean death at the hands of the two descended deities.

They urgently needed to leave this dangerous place.

Hearing this, Mayura’s spirit lifted.

There was no point in staying—what good could come of it?

“Let’s leave!”

She cast a deep glance at Quetzalcoatl and Xilotl atop the pyramid, then transformed into a streak of green light flying due south.

Yin Seventeen followed closely behind.

“What are they doing? Leaving behind even their comrades’ bodies?” Xilotl looked on with confusion, unaware of the Saints’ internal response plan.

Though the three Gold Saints communicated telepathically for some time, their pure consciousness exchange was incredibly rapid—expressing thoughts in a second, a millisecond, even a microsecond—without cumbersome verbalization.

Thus, their telepathic exchange lasted only a few seconds or a dozen seconds by outside reckoning.

To Xilotl, it seemed they had just opened the temporal gate, and suddenly Yin Seventeen and company departed.

Nearby, Quetzalcoatl fixed her gaze on the pillar of light before her. “They must have found some way to deal with the current situation.”

She could think of no other reasonable explanation.

“Then I’ll just chase after them and kill them all now!”

“Forget it! Don’t do anything unnecessary!”

Xilotl was about to pursue, but Quetzalcoatl stopped him.

The golden-haired goddess said, “We have spent much of our strength; our time in this world is limited.”

“We should use the remaining time and power to guard the temporal gate and wait for it to fully stabilize.”

“Nowhere else to go.”

With that, a confident smile graced her elegant face.

“Yes, my goddess!”

Xilotl acknowledged her and abandoned any thought of pursuit.

Meanwhile, as Yin Seventeen and Mayura rushed toward the southern battlefield, Camus withdrew with Daedalus of the Throne of the Immortal King to rest, curious.

“Dismas Mask, earlier I saw you and Rigel dead—how did you suddenly come back to life?”

Their microcosms were completely extinguished, lifeless—certainly the state of corpses.

That sudden ‘resurrection’ was bewildering. He did not recall either Dismas Mask or Rigel possessing such an ability.

“That, of course, was my doing!” Dismas Mask said proudly, excited.

“That Death God was formidable indeed!”

“I took advantage of his distraction and used corpse energy to send Rigel’s and my souls into the Yellow Springs Pass, creating the illusion of death. That’s how we barely escaped with our lives.”

Normally, pure souls entering the Yellow Springs Pass would never return. But he was an expert in manipulating souls.

By using corpse energy, he counteracted the underworld’s summons, preventing their souls from descending.

Fortunately, Xilotl hadn’t vented his anger on their ‘bodies.’ Otherwise, even if their souls returned to the living world, they’d be nothing but lost spirits.