Chapter 149 : Chapter 149
Chapter : 149
The brief exchange of gazes felt like my illusion. The person on the high platform still maintained her lofty, somewhat divine posture, overlooking all living beings.
However, the students tied up behind her all showed expressions of terror. In their eyes, the people who had taken them and tied them up like this had inexplicably burst into tears.
This did not give them much sense of security; instead, it intensified the unease in their hearts.
The distance was a bit far, so I couldn't check Rowena and the others' personal panels from so far away. Naturally, I had no way of knowing why these people, who were not weak, had fallen into such a predicament. However, I was sure that they definitely had a few debuffs on them right now.
Should I try to get closer to check? Or should I be more conservative and just wait for Penelope and the others to arrive?
I hesitated.
They cried for about a few minutes. I saw the [Sorrow Resonance] on my status bar disappear and knew that the next stage was about to begin. Before the person on the high platform made their next move, it was best for me not to act rashly.
Sure enough, the surrounding black-robed people gradually stopped their quiet sobbing, and the entire underground space fell silent, once again making me feel a strange atmosphere.
I frowned and only then noticed the surrounding environment. My attention had been drawn to the person on the high platform before, and I hadn't had time to observe the surroundings. Later, I was affected by the debuff and had to spend a lot of energy to restrain the constantly surging emotions in my heart.
Only at this time did I discover that this underground space I had been in was very strange. The stone pillars around were carved with strange patterns, and the ground was also uneven. Although I couldn't see the full picture, I had a faint feeling: this land seemed to be carved with some kind of formation.
And the circular high platform surrounded by the black-robed people had a base built of black stone, also carved with complex patterns. Several small fire towers were cleverly placed on the four sides for lighting.
Compared to a high platform specifically for chanting, this was more like some ancient altar.
Especially behind the person holding the scepter, there was also a ritual object that looked very much like a sacrificial vessel. It was a full two meters high. The distance was a bit far, so I could only see that the exterior of the vessel was carved with an evil dragon. The features of its fangs and fleshy wings were too conspicuous.
However, I still wanted to say that the dragon race really wasn't that ugly. Could you please respect this race that often produced handsome men and beautiful women!
Compared to the elf race, which mostly consisted of beautiful and slender youths, the dragon race, whether in dragon form or human form, was full of a sense of power. They really weren't as ugly as the carvings.
Divik and Isabelle were the most obvious examples.
The person on the high platform tapped her scepter. After enjoying the scene of the people below making a fool of themselves, she was finally satisfied. The firelight in the nearest fire tower flickered, and the flickering firelight fell on her black robe, casting her shadow even longer.
She slightly raised her hand, and the black-robed people below became even quieter, preparing to listen to the teachings of the gods.
"Our master, the great will that guides us, has now been silent for too long, too long."
"Oh, Eternal Lord! We urgently need His return, to awaken from the abyss of time, to descend upon the world again, and to protect His devout believers!"
The voice of the person on the high platform was full of piety. Every word, every syllable, carried a bewitching flavor, like the abyss extending an invitation to those who gazed upon it.
Fall together.
"Only through sacrifice can He see our pain."
"Only with blood can He feel our piety."
The black-robed people below began to numbly repeat these two sentences, making my hair stand on end.
I think I know what these people are going to do next!
As if to prove that my guess was not wrong, a black-robed person next to me, at some point, took out a dagger and swiped it across his own arm.
In an instant, blood splattered, and a drop of warm, scarlet blood hit the side of my face. The smell of blood that rushed to my face made my stomach churn, and I almost gagged.
That cut was very deep. The torn flesh and the faintly visible white stung my eyes, making the expression hidden under my mask turn a little ugly.
Most of these black-robed people had yellow names, and only a few had red names. This meant that the vast majority of the people here listening to the teachings and being bewitched into self-harm were originally from the neutral faction.
In this world, being neutral didn't mean they might become bad people; it more simply meant: they didn't belong to the same faction as me.
It didn't mean they were bad people.
According to the game's judgment of the neutral faction, killing units of the neutral faction did not increase experience.
In a sense, it could be seen that the game did not encourage me to attack neutral NPCs either. This also showed that the neutral faction did not mean they would become bad people.
And for such a group of yellow-named people to be bewitched into self-harm by an evil cult in the name of the Demon King right under my nose made my scalp tingle and made me uncomfortable.
This cut seemed to be a signal to start. More and more black-robed people, chanting "Only through sacrifice can He see our pain." and "Only with blood can He feel our piety.", cut their own flesh, letting blood splatter everywhere. For a time, the entire underground altar was filled with a thick smell of blood.
I finally knew where the faint smell of blood I had felt on the ground came from.
And the black-robed people who had done this looked at the blood flowing from their bodies, all indifferent, still numbly chanting those two sentences, letting the blood fall to the ground and merge with the magic formation on the ground.
Strange, terrifying.
This was my most realistic evaluation of this scene.
The person on the high platform, however, was very satisfied with this. She tilted her head slightly and glanced at the increasingly terrified students of Sigret. After discovering the fear and despair on their faces, she was extremely satisfied.
She once again raised the scepter in her hand and slammed it hard on the ground, making a thud.
"The slumbering Eternal Lord has not responded." She said with great regret, "Why is that?"
This sentence was like a drop of clear water into a pot of hot oil, immediately causing the self-harming black-robed people below to be terrified. The two sentences they were chanting finally stopped, and they began to repeat, "Why?"
"Why?"
"Why!"
"Why..."
The low murmurs were like thunder, exploding in my ears, making me a little dizzy for a moment. I covered my ears, enduring the dizziness, and rummaged through my backpack, found the refreshing potion prepared by Robin, and chugged it down.
A wave of coolness washed over me, and my still somewhat chaotic mind instantly cleared up, as if I had drunk a can of mint juice concentrated a hundred times. My whole person felt 'clear' from the inside out, a complete chill to the core.
I gritted my teeth and felt this chill that made my scalp tingle, and thought to myself: The effect of this refreshing potion prepared by Robin is too exaggerated.
However, the feeling of dizziness was indeed washed away by the side effect of this refreshing potion.
...Wait, since this is called a refreshing potion, could this chilling feeling be the positive effect of the potion itself?
The black-robed people repeated the word 'why' like they were possessed, as if they had been collectively bewitched.
The person on the high platform did not hesitate to give them the truth of 'why': "Because you are too weak. Your sacrifice, your blood, is completely unworthy of our noble master."
"Our sacrifice, our blood, cannot call forth our master!"
Enduring the chill to the core, I couldn't help but grind my teeth after hearing these PUA words.
This is complete slander, slander!
Hearing this, the black-robed people became even more panicked, and some even showed expressions of despair.
"No..."
"I can offer more piety and blood..."
"Eternal Lord, please have mercy on us..."
"What should we do..."
"Please save us..."
Fear, panic, unease, despair.
The entire underground altar was filled with various negative emotions. There seemed to be items or magic formations here that could amplify people's emotions. In just a few words, a group of possessed people actually began to fear.
This time, even when the person on the high platform struck the scepter again, it was of no use, because the people were already completely immersed in panic.
"Quiet—"
"Our great Eternal Lord does not like overly noisy believers."
This sentence really hit the sore spot of the black-robed people, directly making all the black-robed people shut their mouths and all look at the person on the high platform with pleading eyes.
"Our great master does not like your blood and is unwilling to protect you. In the final analysis, it is because you are too weak, and your sacrifice is meaningless."
"But—"
"You can find more powerful sacrifices to offer to the Eternal Lord. The more powerful the sacrifice, the more our great master will have mercy on you, and only then will he protect you!"
As her voice fell, I could clearly feel the black-robed people around me rekindle their hope...
Saying the word 'hope' was really ironic, but it was true.
The black-robed people who had already fallen into 'despair' were all reignited with new 'hope'. They didn't even spare a glance at their own tattered flesh and the constantly gushing blood.
I really suspected that if they continued to bleed like this, they would die directly from excessive blood loss.
"And one of you, Agana, has done very well!"
"She has found so many powerful and plump sacrifices for our great master."
"Such an excellent believer, the Eternal Lord will certainly not be stingy with his merciful gaze, watching you who have offered your loyalty."
The person on the high platform pointed her scepter in a direction. In the place pointed to by the scepter, a black-robed person very proudly and proudly puffed out his chest, receiving the envious and jealous looks of the people around.
And on the high platform, the tied-up students of Sigret all showed looks of hatred, and some even had a look of daze from being betrayed.
I also looked in that direction. Although the person named Agana was also shrouded in a black robe, I still glimpsed the truth from the other party's personal panel.
This was actually—also a student of Sigret!
This discovery shocked me. I didn't know if this Agana had become a student of Sigret and then was bewitched into a black-robed person by this Eternal God Cult, or if she was originally a member of the Eternal God Cult, ambushed in Sigret Academy, just waiting for the outdoor training to trick all her classmates over.
No matter which possibility, it sounded too terrifying.
It was frightening.
It also meant one thing: Sigret Academy was not as safe as I had imagined, not as impenetrable.
At this time, I had to admit that one of the sentences in the brainwashing phrase just now was right. This world was full of lies and deceit.
"Now, let us offer a delicious sacrifice to our great Eternal Lord together!"
As the sound of the scepter hitting the ground sounded again, the black-robed people began to cheer.
My nerves were tense. I watched as several black-robed people walked onto the high platform, picked up one of the tied-up students, and a black-robed person took out a dagger and quickly stabbed the student a few times.
The student's mouth was stuffed with cloth and couldn't cry out in pain, but his body obviously struggled a few times before weakly hanging down.
Me: !!!
From my distance, I could see the health bar above the student's head dropping at a relatively fast speed.
Seeing that those black-robed people were about to hang the student who had been stabbed a few times on the ritual vessel in the center of the altar, and were also preparing to stab a second student in the same way, I knew I couldn't wait any longer.
I didn't know how much time it would take for Penelope and the others to arrive, but the person who had already been stabbed would definitely not be able to wait for Penelope and the others to arrive.
I knew that it didn't matter if I didn't act in this matter. After all, my mission was only to find and rescue my companions, and the only ones recognized by the system as my companions were Rowena and William.
No one would blame me for this, because this Eternal God Cult was obviously not something I could fight against one against a hundred.
But I couldn't get over my own hurdle.
Because these black-robed people were using the name of the Demon King.
Tsk, killing people in the name of the Demon King, and blatantly using human lives for sacrifices, did they ask me, the Demon King?
With a flick of my wrist, several [Fire Emblems] appeared at my fingertips. I threw them with skill. The passive skill [Phantom Finger Technique] lit up, and those few [Fire Emblems] all landed in the places where the red names were gathered.
With a snap of my fingers, those few [Fire Emblems] were instantly detonated.
"Boom—"
"Boom boom—"
Several explosions in a row, the loud sounds accompanied by miserable wails, resounded throughout this underground altar.
This sudden explosion disrupted the actions on the high platform. The few batches of black-robed people closest to the source of the explosion couldn't help but cry out in alarm. This sound affected the surrounding people, and suddenly the black-robed people below became a little restless.
But it didn't turn into a chaotic mess, which also confirmed my guess, because these people had all been brainwashed. They could even offer their own lives to the 'great master', so what were a few explosions?
On the stage, an important sacrifice was being carried out that would determine whether the 'Eternal Lord' would have mercy on them.
On the contrary, on the high platform, the person holding the scepter was a little panicked. Compared to the calm black-robed people below, that person's lofty attitude had disappeared, and she almost stumbled and fell due to the explosion.
This scene was truly a bit comical.
"Who! Who dares to do such a sacrilegious thing at such an important sacrifice!" Seemingly forcing herself to calm down, the person on the high platform shouted sternly, "Come out! The Eternal Lord will not forgive you."
At the mention of the Eternal Lord not forgiving them, the brainwashed black-robed people finally showed a bit of fear and began to look around, searching for the abominable person who had ruined the sacrifice.
I grabbed the black robe on my body, tore it off, and threw it into the air. At the same time, the dark red cape with Joker's characteristics hidden under the black robe billowed up, rustling in the airflow from the explosion.
"Excuse me."
This voice wasn't loud, but it resounded throughout the entire underground altar, and also exploded in the ears of the person on the high platform.
"Although I don't know if this is really an important sacrifice—"
A patterned mask flew high into the air in a parabola and landed with a clatter on the high platform.
At that person's feet.
She took a step back in panic, clutching the scepter in her hand, and looked at the mask at her feet with suspicion and uncertainty, afraid that this mask would also produce the same terrifying explosion as just now.
Fortunately, it didn't. Her gaze then rose, and at a glance, she saw the culprit who had done all this—
Chestnut-colored long hair billowed and turned with the dark red cape. A person wearing a black formal suit and a feathered mask that nobles would only use at a ball appeared abruptly among a group of black-robed people, like a black swan that had accidentally wandered into a group of black rats.
Although they were both black, the innate noble air of a swan could not be concealed. One could tell at a glance who was the rat hiding in the stinking ditch and who was the swan dancing gracefully on the stage.
"But I know."
"This sacrifice of yours, the Eternal Lord will definitely not like."
The corners of my mouth twitched into a stiff line, and I spat out a few syllables coldly and harshly. My fingertips caressed the [Fire Emblem], "He even hates it extremely!"
As soon as these words came out, the surrounding black-robed people immediately panicked. Hearing that their master might hate them because of this, they all showed expressions of 'how could this be' and looked at the person on the high platform with pleading eyes.
The person on the stage was stunned when she heard this, and then glared angrily, "Who are you? What nonsense are you spouting there!"
I took a step and walked towards the high platform. The black-robed people around me parted like the Red Sea, making way for me. At this moment, everyone's eyes were on me.
Some were bewildered, some were terrified, some were panicked...
Only one person's eyes widened.
That was William, who was also tied up on the high platform, gagged, and was about to become the next sacrifice.
He looked at Joker with the red cape and mask, his eyes wide. Although his mouth was gagged, he cried out this person's name in his heart in astonishment.
[Joker]!
William could forget anyone, but he could never forget this person.
This person who called himself Joker had caused a huge scene at his twenty-third royal brother's birthday banquet half a year ago, blew up countless palaces, shot and killed the fifth prince Feu, and Joker's accomplice had even cut off that part of his father, the king of Bartovita...
These things shocked William. He had never thought that one day his father and king would flee in such a pathetic state...
Nor had he ever seen such a wonderful expression on his second royal brother's face.
This scene deeply stimulated William. He had been taught by his mother since he was a child and had never thought of rebelling against the orders of his father and older brother. They were always high and mighty, beings he could never reach.
Even though he had lived in poverty since he was a child, living a life that was completely unlike that of a prince, William could not blame his father and king for these things.
And on that day, in his heart, the image of his father and older brother quietly collapsed because of Joker's appearance.
To put it more seriously, this was as terrible as a collapse of faith.
Alice, who had grown up with him, admired such a terrible person so much, which made William completely unable to understand what Alice was thinking.
But, how could Joker appear here?!
Was he going to do something shocking here again?
This thought flashed through William's mind, but he quickly realized that if it weren't for Joker's appearance, he probably would have been stabbed a few times and then hung up there to await the arrival of death.