The diviner with brown short hair also spotted the two figures in the shadows, hesitated for a mont, but did not step into the bush. Miss Luisa's dress was relatively simple, but Miss Annette's long gown could not risk being scratched by the bushes:
"Here's your champagne."
She said with a smile to Miss Luisa, then looked at Shard as if she was observing a rare animal:
Your adventure continues at empire
"Hamilton Detective? Good evening. Dr. Schneider ntioned you in his letter. So, the doctor actually found a new Gifted One? Did he really use so precious Relic to overdraw his own luck?"
The opinions about Dr. Schneider were really surprisingly unanimous.
After exchanging greetings, Shard briefly went over the events of the evening again. Miss Annette, the diviner, did not show the sa surprise as Miss Luisa:
"In that case, I actually have sothing to say."
She seed a bit too calm.
"What else is there?"
Miss Luisa asked hesitantly.
"Actually, I shouldn't be telling you this. It's information from the Prophet's Society, and by the rules, I shouldn't disclose it to others. But since we're all here, I can't let you walk into danger unknowingly... Do you not want to know the reason why Lady Lassoya is attending the banquet, as the detective ntioned?
Is she really here just to accompany her lover, influenced heavily by that Relic Ring?"
Miss Annette's index finger gently tapped the glass she held pinched between her thumb and slender middle finger.
"What's the reason?"
Shard already had a bad feeling. With such strange luck around, it would be disappointing if nothing significant occurred on this surreal night.
"They want to combine a Sage Level (Level 2) Relic, 'God's Gift Box,' with an Angel-Level (Level 1) Relic, 'Blood of rcury,' which requires even stronger materials for support. Lady Lassoya's presence at the banquet is for one of these materials. The 'Blood of rcury' plan is to summon the Evil God, 'Lord of the Blood Feast,' within the Lakeside Manor's mansion.
They need the power bestowed by the Evil God."
"Lord of the Blood Feast?"
Miss Luisa said in surprise.
"Evil God? His arrival?"
Shard did not even know what expression to make.
The night the professors arrived at his ho, he had heard of this Evil God and knew about the cultists' collaboration with 'Blood of rcury.' He just didn't expect that 'Blood of rcury' would actually call Him, and that it would happen tonight.
Miss Luviya remained calm, seemingly believing that the situation was still under control:
"I only found out just now when I went to get the champagne. The Society passed the information to
and advised
to leave here as soon as possible. But don't worry, the ritual to summon the Evil God won't take effect until eleven sharp. The True God Church must have received the news by now, and it's expected that Circle Sorcerers of Ten Rings or more will soon arrive."
Shard pulled out his pocket watch:
"It's now twenty past ten tonight."
"Dorothy, I'll enter the mansion with you and get Priest Augustus and the doctor out. Detective, you stay here. Leaving rashly might raise suspicions, but also don't get close to the mansion.
According to the information, cultists will primarily engage the True God Church's Circle Sorcerer squad, and the 'Blood of rcury' mbers who ca to execute the plan include not only the 'Silver Light' Lassod you ntioned, but also a high-ranking Circle Sorcerer known as 'Heart Collector.' Be very careful."
The diviner with brown short hair lifted her slender pale neck and downed the champagne in her hand, then with a rip sound, she tore her skirt and petticoat, making her expensive gown into an ordinary dress suitable for movent. Miss Luisa also nodded, raised both hands to gather her carefully styled blonde hair at the back of her head, then forcefully snapped off the heels of her shoes.
Miss Luisa turned to Shard:
"Detective, rember, under no circumstances approach the mansion tonight. If we all die, it's your responsibility to inform the Academy of the situation."
"Is that a possibility?"
He asked with a hint of worry.
"We must consider all possibilities, this is a common practice, and we cannot refrain from saving the doctors and the priests. Hamilton Detective..."
The brown-haired diviner, Luviya Annette, gazed at Shard, and only then did Shard notice that the lady's eyes were a light shade of purple. The purple color was stunningly beautiful, inducing an illusion of being drawn deep into it. Although purple eyes can occur naturally, they are extrely rare:
"I am a diviner, destiny is revealing to , another part of
is also warning . I see an abnormal fate trajectory on you, sothing significant will definitely happen tonight, please be cautious."
Thus, Shard watched as the two ladies hastily departed. That feeling, as if sending won to the battlefield and being powerless oneself, was truly distressing.
"I am still too weak, powerless to do anything."
As he watched their graceful backs disappearing, Shard could not help but think. But before the voice of the woman inside him could comnt, he rembered sothing he had forgotten to ntion: there were elents related to the Evil God near the grape arbor.
"Could that place be a node of the ritual?"
According to the history textbooks, the Circle Sorcerer System was ford in the latter part of the Fifth Era. Unlike the Arcane Technique and Sorcery, which only exist in contemporary tis, "rituals" have been part of mysticism since ancient tis and have functioned in both past and modern power systems.
However, in the Sixth Era, due to the convenience of Arcane Techniques and Sorcery, Ritual Studies gradually declined, with only a few individuals still researching it.
But this does not an rituals are useless, although they require advanced preparation, usually involve imnse consumption of materials, and need to et stringent conditions, the effects of large-scale rituals are usually irreplaceable.
Just like summoning an Evil God, sothing that no Arcane Technique or Sorcery can achieve alone, it requires a ritual. And since it is a large-scale ritual, it absolutely won't be confined to a single table or room.
If the information from the Prophet's Society is correct, and the "Blood of rcury" is indeed so dangerous, then the scale of the ritual to summon the Evil God could easily cover a small area of the garden from the vast Lakeside Manor.
"Maybe I could try disrupting the ritual's setup in the garden."
Shard found a focal point and was pleased that he might play a role and do so without risking danger. He had already t a relatively friendly Deity of Bygone Days in the past space-ti and didn't want to encounter an Evil God in the current one.
Upon returning under the grape arbor, the young poet who had been there earlier was gone. Now, there was only a middle-aged man dressed in fashionable burgundy attire sitting at the stone table, flipping through a small book with one hand.
Shard approached, intending to find so excuse to make the middle-aged man leave, facilitating his search for a way to disrupt the ritual. Unexpectedly, the middle-aged man set down his book, turned towards him with a smile, and spoke first:
"I've been waiting for you for a long ti."
This was not Tobesk's accent; this man wasn't local.
"Waiting for ? I'm sorry, sir, but do we know each other?"
Shard said in surprise. He was still so distance from the stone table under the grape arbor but had already stopped:
"A Circle Sorcerer?"
He asked inwardly, and the woman's voice inside him responded:
[Yes, quite a high level.]
His heart seed to skip a beat, but anxiety did not show on Shard's face:
"I think you've mistaken
for soone else."
As he said this, wanting to turn and leave, the man called out to him, still smiling, but Shard felt a chilling danger, as if facing a prid shotgun.
The man's malice was no longer hidden:
"No, I haven't mistaken you. It's you I'm looking for. Although I don't know your na, don't know your identity, don't know your profession, don't know your address, I am indeed looking for you..."
He rolled up his left sleeve to reveal his arm, black as if charred:
"Has your luck run out? The gift of fate, now it's ti to repay!"
Reviews
All reviews (0)