Chapter 1020 Ceremony Hall

Hao Ren didn't know what it was that the Thirteen Saints released, or what ceremony they held, but some things were certain: the news about the original sin of divine blood that Hasu brought back from Ancatero Territory To make the saints feel fear, they must have known about this original sin for a long time, or at least understood it, so they took hasty action. They found a "sacred artifact" from Corpus' ancient relics and activated it, but this ritual caused an unexpected "monster" to awaken from the nightmare and attack everyone unprepared. "Infected" the garrison in the entire Corpus space.

This influence is deep and difficult to detect. It does not rigidly control the thoughts of saints and elders, but allows the controlled people to change their thinking patterns while staying awake, allowing them to think they are doing things soberly and sensibly. After the incident, a series of unreasonable actions were taken, such as arresting elder demon hunters including Hasselblad, and conducting a general purge of demon hunters from all different factions.

During this entire process, the saints never left the ceremonial hall, and all their instructions were conveyed through the heralds and attendants waiting outside the hall. No one knows what state they were in during those days, no one knows whether they had completely broken down mentally and succumbed to the voices in their heads. Judging from the orders they gave, their temperaments had changed drastically at that time, but they never left the hall. Based on Bedolis's last words before his death, Hao Ren guessed that the purpose of their staying in the hall was to trap "that thing" At the ceremony site.

"This is very contradictory." After hearing Hao Ren's analysis, Vivian was full of doubts. "They followed the 'instructions' to start a civil war, but at the same time they stayed in the hall to suppress the 'monster'? Are they being controlled? Still not under control?”

Hao Ren looked at Claude: "Where is the ritual ceremony hall? The truth will be revealed when you get there."

"On the top floor of the tower, closest to the residence of the First Saint," Claude nodded, "That is the energy center of the clock tower in the spiritual world, and it is also the tangled point of time and space in the entire Corpus. When various rituals are held, At that time, there will be a powerful mysterious force focused right above that hall, and I think that energy should not have dissipated until now - so only a small number of people can enter. Too many people may cause the vortex to collapse."

La Nina reminded from the side: "We have taken care of all the energy nodes in Corpus."

"The energy of the Ceremony Hall is provided by the Spirit World Bell Tower itself," Claude shook his head. "Although we don't know where this energy comes from, it has been very stable for thousands of years. We use it to Drives most of the facilities in the upper area of ​​the tower.”

"It's a shame that you can safely use this kind of thing with unknown origin and unknown power for thousands of years." Hao Ren shook his head and looked at the people around him, "Okay, Vivian, Lily and Lao Wang, you three will follow Come on, and then there are White Fire and Tutanin. Including me, there are six people in total, shouldn’t they be ‘exceeding the standard’, right?”

Claude blinked: "No problem, as long as you don't use any magic or weapons that make too much noise to fire at the ceiling."

Lily and Vivian immediately looked at Hao Ren in unison, and the latter shrank his neck: "Why are you looking at me?"

"Don't blow up things casually," Yzaks patted Hao Ren on the shoulder, "I don't really smash meteorites anymore."

"I..." Hao Ren pointed to his nose, "That's all my technical work, okay! I have a lot of capacity, but I'm always very precise, okay!"

Little Elizabeth was a little unhappy after she found out that she was excluded from the team, but the little devil girl is very sensible even though she is young. After all, she is a genius child who can replace her father in commanding the Demon King's City. In this case, she is also very knowledgeable. She stayed and searched the rest of the tower with La Nina.

Claude led Hao Ren and his party out of this gloomy banquet hall and headed down a secret spiral ramp to the place where the ceremony was originally held. After leaving the hall, Hao Ren looked at the shackles on Claude: "Seriously, do you really want to wear this set of things to move together? This is not suitable for combat."

Claude raised his hands. Most of the chains on his body had been removed. Only two arms were still wrapped with heavy rune shackles: "Even now, I still have the urge to kill each of you." Man, I'm only able to suppress this urge because it's a little less powerful now. The runes keep my magic flowing, and it's only when I'm in a fairly weakened state that the thing in my head can. Calm down a little. I guess that thing operates on magic or the... vitality of the host."

"You were a dangerous person before, and your magic power was stronger than anyone else's. That's why La Nina used this special device on you. It seems that this was the only way to dispel that thing in your mind," Yzaks He chuckled, "Hey - but this won't last long."

"I hope we can put an end to this mess in the ritual ceremony hall," Hao Ren sighed, and suddenly remembered something when he saw Tutanin walking behind him, "Wait a minute, I suddenly remembered that Bedolis was there before the accident. Did you give Vivian’s blood crystal to you?”

He reminded everyone that the beginning of his and his friends' involvement in this matter was the Blood Crystal Stone - Bai Huo risked his life to break out and gave it to Vivian, which triggered the subsequent events. A series of events.

Did Bedolis have a premonition of everything today before he held the "ceremony" with other saints?

Then why didn't he stop his companions and instead held the ceremony together?

"Every saint has a special power. Saint Bedolis can see the future. It is very messy and obscure, but he does have a premonition," Tutanin sighed softly, "However, his ability is not enough to change Destiny. I believe he had a premonition of this disaster in advance, but he didn't know that the problem would arise in that ceremony-perhaps he even felt that the ceremony was the key to avoiding disaster. In any case, things happened, and he tried his best to We can only leave a glimmer of hope, we can't ask for more."

The secret passage leading to the ritual ceremony hall was very long, extending forward in the darkness as if there was no end. Due to some kind of spatial distortion, Hao Ren was not even sure whether he was going up or down when walking in the secret passage. Move Downward. Because he was bored, he continued to ask Claude some questions: "You showed a strong tendency to attack when you saw Vivian, but none of the other demon hunters of the cult we captured had this situation."

"To be honest, I don't know what's going on," Claude shook his head honestly, "I know about 'The Countess Who Brings the Red Moon', but I have no additional hatred for her...except for the impulse of hunting instinct. Today was the first time I met this legendary vampire, but as soon as I met, I felt that I had to kill her. This was a mission, an impulse...even scarier than the hunting instinct. It was completely It took over my whole mind. Seriously, I didn’t want to experience it again. It was the first time in my life that I felt like I couldn’t control my body. It was a terrifying experience.”

"The biggest difference between you and other cult warriors is that you stay with the saints all year round, and you are the only demon hunter who can directly talk to the first saint," Vivian said calmly, "Stay next to that kind of person. , this is enough to make you different, you may become more susceptible to spiritual attacks, or you may be in sync with the minds of the saints. When they are shocked during the ceremony, you are also "hidden injured". By the way, do you still remember why you wanted to go to the front line alone? You are the attendant of the First Saint. Logically speaking, you don’t have to go to the front line. In theory, you should stay here and become one of the walking dead. .”

Claude shook his head: "I don't remember. I only remember that I was controlled by an impulse to 'purify heretics'. This impulse became stronger and stronger. It was probably the reason that drove me to leave the tower."

"In short, your extra aggressive tendency toward Vivian is a dangerous symptom. We recommend that you cooperate with us in conducting some... medical examinations after this incident is over." The data terminal suddenly emerged from Hao Ren's pocket. , "We have dealt with all kinds of super beings that can affect the mind. If you don't want to leave any surprises in your mind, it is best to have a comprehensive physical examination."

Claude was shocked when he saw the data terminal: "What is this!?"

"A... high-tech equipment, don't worry about it," Hao Ren grabbed the terminal back. At the same time, he found that the passage had reached the end, "Is the ceremony hall ahead?"

At the end of the passage is a small courtyard, with ancient faded stone pillars supporting the towering vaults. On both sides of the courtyard are bottomless dark abyss: in this tall tower with a strange spatial structure, this terrain is not surprising.

In front of everyone, there is a huge door made of metal and engraved with complex patterns.

"There is indeed energy fluctuation behind the gate. It is very powerful. It is in a three-level alert state." The data terminal projected a blue light to scan the gate. "In addition, signs of space distortion were detected. It is initially judged that a continuous space gate is opening. Perhaps It’s about transmitting energy into the hall.”

Hao Ren lowered his voice subconsciously: "Where are the signs of life? Where are the mental fluctuations or other traces of consciousness?"

"No, no life response has been found, nor is there any form of intelligent activity."

Yzaks slowly transformed into the form of the Balrog, and he walked to the door with heavy steps: "The body of that 'monster' is really still here?"

"Perhaps 'it' has no thinking activity, or even life characteristics. It is a thing that is close to a natural disaster. We have solved such incidents before, right? For example, the angry spirit." Hao Ren also stepped forward and pressed his hand on the door. "Lily, put spicy sticks in your mouth, Vivian, prepare lightning, white fire, and Tutanin. I leave the long-range support to you. But be careful, don't attack easily unless you are attacked - the monster may still be attacked. There's a ritual that controls it, and we want to prevent it from being self-defeating and getting it out completely."

After saying this, Hao Ren took a deep breath and stared at the huge metal door in front of him.

The monster released by the saints from their nightmares may be entrenched in the room behind the door. An unknown, powerful monster that may come from the Day of Killing Gods. What will it look like? What kind of existence would it be? Is it a living thing? dead? Phenomenon? Or just a curse?

Hao Ren and Yzaks pushed towards the door at the same time, and the heavy metal door slowly opened with a loud and scary sound.

"...Terminal, call the battleship, we may need some technical support."