[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies":3,"chapter-notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-294":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Notes on Kraft Anomalous Studies",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2283772,4467,"Chapter 294","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-294",294,"\u003Cp>Everyone in the formation broke into a run, following the fleeing source of light through a series of stone doors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After chasing a short distance, Kraft realized belatedly the problem with this action—they were running blindly through an unfamiliar environment, entirely led by the fugitive, with no attention left for their surroundings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even without encountering any preset traps, a moment’s inattention could cause someone to become lost here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He trusted Green understood the danger better, but they couldn’t stop; letting the warning go unanswered might lead to worse consequences. The best course was to capture the man as soon as possible and end this pursuit filled with latent risk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They leapt over coffins blocking their path, climbed up and down steps, and the rapid stops and turns made their knees ache faintly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The winding distance proved harder to close than imagined; though the two sides seemed close, they remained perpetually just out of reach, never grasping the fleeing figure’s back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pursued relied on familiarity with the route to maintain advantage, leaving behind only swiftly fading yellowish light and elongated, writhing shadows cast on the walls—like serpents darting into doorways and corners.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The most difficult part of the chase fell to the apprentice; her stride was too short, often requiring three steps to match two of others’, but her physical advantage kept her from falling behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This further scattered Kraft’s attention, forcing him to take responsibility for monitoring both front and rear, watching carefully whether anyone in the formation might suddenly vanish.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shouts came from ahead, echoing layer upon layer through the interconnected stone chambers—indicating the fugitive believed he had reached a distance audible to his companions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The shout disrupted the guard’s running rhythm; Green surged forward with a burst of speed, closing the gap and driving his sword into the man’s left thigh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The heretic staggered and fell down the stone steps ahead, rolling to strike the side of a coffin in the center of the chamber, emitting a low moan. Green stepped forward, turned his shoulder, and saw a face devoid of distinct features, dominated by fanaticism.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It twisted his facial muscles into an extreme expression of exhilaration, one so intense it briefly overcame both physical pain and fear of the blade at his throat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Where is this place?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A violent laugh, so intense it made his lips spasm, sprayed onto the priest’s face; he laughed until he coughed and convulsed, even as his skin was sliced open, unable to stop—as if the question had triggered the last vestige of black humor in his corroded brain, summoning some abnormal, extreme mental pattern that took possession of his body like a demon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Where?” the heretic repeated, the smile frozen rigidly on his face, exaggerated and stiff as a stretched mask.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a whisper, with the same stiff mouth shape, he uttered a single word, seemingly indifferent to whether anyone understood. Kraft read the lips:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Door】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What door?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The heretic laughed again, extravagantly; this time he choked on something, then spat out half a broken tooth with casual disregard. “The gate... the gate of heaven.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The priest took this as provocation and responded by pressing the blade deeper, but to little effect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A flicker of normal pain and fear surfaced on his face, but was quickly drowned by the fixed smile. “You’re too late. It has already taken them. Cough... but it doesn’t matter. Everyone gets a chance.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His consciousness drained from his body far faster than his injuries warranted; after only a few disjointed words, the unnatural exhilaration faded, leaving only a dull, frozen mask of expression and a sense of release.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A fanatical belief in some idealized vision had anesthetized him, squeezing out the last vestiges of spirit from his shell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This side was temporarily over—but now meaningless. The warning had been answered; footsteps were approaching from multiple directions and distances, impossible to pinpoint.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had anticipated this moment, yet triggering a full defensive response still tightened their nerves. The formation lit torches, drew close, and prepared for battle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wild, flickering light danced in the cramped, twisting space, surging from all sides like a tide—doorway after doorway, closing in, swinging deadly weapons and malice with no strategy and no restraint.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first to arrive was an axe, its rusted blade jagged like a saw, fitted with a newly replaced handle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The longsword pierced the attacker’s body before he could raise it to its highest point; pain failed to fully halt his motion, and his distorted movement still strained to bring the weapon toward its target.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The cultivator narrowly avoided a blow that might have severed his shoulder, drew back his sword, stepped away, and retreated into his comrades’ protective range, letting others deliver the finishing strike to disable the foe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a face bearing the same mold-cast, exaggerated smile, he collapsed before them all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This level of fanaticism inflicted far greater psychological damage than narrowly avoiding the axe’s edge—there was no trace of normal attachment to life, only an inexplicable sense of release.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More enemies surged from all directions; the surrounding space quickly grew noisy and crowded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The heretics’ fearless assaults caused considerable chaos; the Inquisition rarely encountered such opponents among cultists or treasure-seekers—most enemies would retreat and break after being wounded, but these foes showed no trace of the same fear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Intense emotion had reached a pathological level, driving minds and bodies nearly blind, charging headlong at the fully armed professional warriors before them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even though their equipment was abysmal, bordering on primitive, their danger level was extremely high; even Kraft felt some discomfort during his first clash, unlike any attack he had faced before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These attackers charging the formation cared nothing for efficiency; they were willing to trade their lives for even a minor wound to their opponent, indifferent even to whether their actions had any effect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They seemed like the crest of a wave, the vanguard of a dark ocean, driven again and again to crash against the shore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the confined space was no disadvantage to disciplined troops; the cultivators possessed sufficient courage and capable leadership, effectively holding the line.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once the initial assault passed, the Inquisition formation quickly adapted, using the terrain to trap the enemy in narrow corridors, limiting their frontage and leveraging the reach advantage of their longswords.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Green and Kraft moved freely across the battlefield, appearing wherever needed most, maintaining the delicate balance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Brute force might dominate at low levels, but to those with refined skill, it merely offered more opportunities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More opportunities to kill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A few lucky ones slipped through the lines, colliding with apprentices whose short weapons prevented them from joining coordinated attacks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After long hours of trudging through sewers and labyrinths, Kraft felt unusually alert, his body light as if a mudfish long dormant in the dry season had finally breathed in the damp air of the rains.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thoughts once granted and self-summarized surfaced precisely when needed; guided by his superior spatial sense, his nervous system transmitted signals to the correct muscles and bones, converting faint bioelectric impulses into efficient actions that terminated another life system.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Efficient, precise, and marked by a detached superiority that stirred a faint unease in his consciousness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Something’s wrong】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He failed to trace the source of the feeling; in the moment his focus slipped, the waves surging from every direction of the tomb labyrinth had mostly fallen beneath his feet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Supported effectively, the cultivators did not break under pressure; the line held steady.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had no time to celebrate—only the sudden silence felt too fast, as if, the moment the tide tipped in their favor, the sounds from the corridors vanished like birds scattering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unattended torches burned silently on the ground; the tide seemed to have receded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No—it was only the crest. The true cold current rose in silence, calm, gloomy, and irresistible, creeping across the horizon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As noise faded, an odd sound slipped unnoticed into the background of heavy breathing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A concentrated metallic scraping and clanking, like a military column trudging through marshland, slowly sinking—the unsheathed blades and armor, shields clashing, sharp grating sounds bubbling through mud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But it was too dense—dense as if all of it had been fused into a slurry and poured into this narrow space, crawling forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Green pulled out a small iron vial and shook it hard against his ear; the sound inside was dull and viscous.\u003C\u002Fp>",1391,"2026-06-20T02:15:56.940Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","2277179553ab285359365992d0fd72033d46354fcb12167182cd32ec0d00dbff","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-295","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-293",406,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fnotes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-cover.jpg"]