Together with the soldiers and officers scattered around the perimeter, the Northern Legion numbered three hundred and forty-eight men, all of whom were captured and captured by the dwarves and vengeful cultists. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info This was originally an elaborate trap against them, and even the feud between the two dwarven clans was used as smoke to confuse them, and under the joint arrangement of the two seemingly cooperative allies and even their own people behind them, they certainly didn't have the slightest chance of getting lucky. Like a farmer's lambs, they automatically walked to the butcher's knife and plate prepared for them without warning.

Even some of the *** beggars and bards who they had specially arranged here to let the caravan relax their vigilance in order to prevent leaks were all arrested and extinguished, which only helped the dwarves and vengeful cultists to reduce their burden, so that they did not have to be distracted by this, and could concentrate all their energy on catching them all, which was indeed the case.

The biggest accident so far was that in the previous conflict, nearly ten soldiers were killed, and twenty or thirty soldiers were seriously injured, which was far less than the casualties of the dwarves. Except for those who died, all who still had the breath were arrested, confessed one by one in front of the vengeful followers, recited the prayer of vengeance, and then beheaded.

Even if it was just a simple ritual and prayer, there were more than 300 people who made the whole ceremony very long, and it lasted until after dark. The vengeful cultists gathered supplies for the Northern Legion and lit several huge fires and hundreds of grease torches, illuminating this bloody land as bright as day.

The ritual gradually came to an end, the blood of more than 300 people completely soaked the gravel ground, the corpses and severed heads were piled up like sacrifices, and only a few believers chose to take the heads away like the middle-aged man at the beginning. By this final stage, most of the captives of the Northern Legion had completely collapsed, except for some crazy ones who could speak incoherently and laugh a few words, and basically their whole bodies were paralyzed and silently dragged out and slaughtered.

After hours of killing, even the dwarves who watched and waited began to look tired, some huddled in a nearby building and dozed, others focused on looting the supplies and money of the Northern Legion. However, the hundreds of vengeful cultists did not show any fatigue, and were engrossed in the revenge ritual from beginning to end. Not purely because of hatred, the cultists who had stabbed their enemies did not slacken, their spirits had been integrated into the whole ritual, and they watched the process with full attention, as if each cultist was sharing with each other the revenge that belonged to one person.

In the center of this bloody gravel field, the high priest of the Vengeance God Cult was undoubtedly the focus of the ceremony. As the high priest continued to accept the masks soaked in the blood of the enemies after the revenge of the believers, and then the mask itself crumbled and annihilated in his hands, the blood of the enemies volatilized and steamed, and the belief in revenge, the satisfaction after revenge, seemed to have all melted into the mask on his head. The strange aura emanating from him and the mask grew thicker and deeper.

Finally, the last captive soldier of the Northern Legion was beheaded in wailing and weeping, and an old man who had been raped by the soldier and killed his daughter tearfully removed the bloody mask and handed it to the high priest. As before, the mask shattered, and the flesh and the finished hatred sublimated into the mask on the high priest's face.

Just as if a mysterious but unknowable but real circuit had been completed, the strange and far-reaching and hideous smell of the high priest suddenly became many times stronger, and under the swaying light of the surrounding fire, it was like a demon god who suddenly appeared, swallowing a hideous aura that did not belong to this world.

In the distance, the dwarves, who had been lazy and lazy, jumped up like rabbits that had been pricked in the ass, and looked at the place in droves, some of them snarling with weapons in their hands, and this breath made them instinctively feel danger and unease. The vengeful cultists all around them fell to their knees, their foreheads resting heavily on the blood-soaked rubble, and they were all absorbed in the breath that was intimately connected to their own hatred, their own actions, their own minds, and themselves.

"Mr. High Priestess, are you ready?" said Stephanie, but only twenty or thirty meters away before standing still. That breath also made her feel extremely uncomfortable, and as a mage, she could feel the laws of the world around her that had been distorted by the will of people. The anger of all the people in this vicinity, the anger of all living beings, and the instinct to fight back after being hurt will be greatly strengthened, and even their revenge itself will be more powerful, and the minions bitten out by the stabbing weapon will be more destructive even if it is as powerful, and even better luck, easier to hit and more lethal.

Unlike the temporary, superficial distortion of the arcane through the magic web, it is deeper and deeper, and it seems to have a tendency to gradually stabilize and permanent. This was the prototype of the Lesser God Domain. The convergence of desires, beliefs, and actions that uphold this belief to change the material world is strong enough that it begins to have a reverse effect on the laws of the world.

This is the most incredible thing about man, the most different from other beasts. No matter how ordinary it may seem, how vulgar and stupid, the essence of each person's soul is faintly connected to the deepest mysteries of the world. This is the first principle that every life arcane apprentice needs to know, and in a broad sense, even the entire arcane spellcasting system, the theoretical basis of the entire magic web forge. Stephanie, who witnessed this situation for the first time, was deeply impressed and re-understood.

However, with the level in front of him, it is still far from truly shaping a secondary god, at most it is only a door, and there is still a considerable distance from the real end.

Fortunately, there is an omnipotent arcane that can make up for this distance.

In the face of the female mage's inquiry, the high priest was silent, as if he was carefully understanding the current state of feeling, and only after a while did he reply: "Do you think this is enough now, and what are the chances of success?"

"If I open it, it will definitely have a much higher chance of success than that of Mr. Zhang under your command. Stephanie glanced at the middle-aged Western-ethnic man not far away, he was the only Vengeance Cultist who did not kneel down and immersed in the ritual, the difference in identity was one thing, and it was obvious that there was a greater role than participating in the ritual. Although she had known that there were people in these Westerner cultists who could use arcane arts, the level of arcane use of this middle-aged Westerner still surprised her slightly. But that's all, Ye Luzi's hard work is at most the practice of skills makes perfect, and profound basic skills and academic theories can only be accumulated by relying on orthodox inheritance.

"But I can't give you a positive answer about what the success rate must be. Although she knew that she should try to give the other party confidence at this time, as an elite in the R&D department, Stephanie still stated it from a very objective perspective.

"The birth of a lesser deity was a great event even in the Age of Empires, and it was my first encounter with this kind of arcane. Although it has been carefully simplified by our long, the effect of the arcane should be guaranteed, but your ritual here is only basically up to the mark, so there is still a certain amount of uncertainty. ”

"I know, it's still not enough, is it? After a moment's silence, the high priest nodded. "If we can wait a few more years, or if there are more enemies for this festival, we can naturally get a little bigger...... But I don't have time, and now this opportunity is very rare, you know......"

"Yes, other times, you won't find anyone to perform this arcane for you. This is a rather risky act after all, not only for the execution of the arcane itself, but also for the troubles of the major temples in the future... No high-ranking mage would want to. Stephanie glanced at the Westerner, whose eyes were closed and unable to move, at the feet of the High Priest. Of course, she would not say that this was also a very rare opportunity for her to seize this goal with the help of this high priest. Otherwise, judging from the course of the previous battle, it would be difficult to do it by yourself no matter what, and maybe you would have to ask the two vice presidents to do it.

"Yes. The High Priest's voice grew deeper and deeper, with unquestionable determination. "So let's get started. ”

"Wait, wait, my friend. I've heard you guys talking, and it just so happens that I have a great suggestion. ”

The high-pitched, hoarse, and strangely accented voice of the leader of the Golden Stone sounded not far away, and the dwarf, who was still covered in blood, but had dried up from red blood to brown bloodstains, and looked like a giant stout version of a man-eating rat, walked over. Some of his bent arms had returned to normal, and he no longer limped between walks, and the dwarven priests of the Raging Wind Clan had treated him with divine magic, and the recovery effect between the same elemental divine techniques was far better than simple flesh healing.

"The smell here is really, really good, it's the smell of revenge. The goldstone leader shook his nose, he was also a cleric, and his perception of this was much sharper than that of a mere arcane mage. "I just heard you're in need of more revenge, don't you? At this point, there is no need for a specific ritual, just revenge, right?"

Stephanie didn't say anything, not even looking at the dwarf who exuded a violent and evil aura. The High Priest nodded and replied simply, "Yes." ”

"Very good, there's a lot of revenge here. The leader of the golden stone smiled and stared fiercely at the wind at the feet of the high priest on the ground. "For example, this person killed many of my compatriots, and the two priests of the Blackstone clan were killed by him. Before, he had used illusions to confuse me, and then he had smashed me with the old priest's stone, and I had enough reason to take revenge on him. ”

"This man can't do it. He was the 'cargo' that the mage had booked. The High Priest directly refused, and added. "It's worth 1.8 million Aukin, and there's one more condition I can't refuse. ”

"Okay, okay. I can tell that you probably won't let this valuable cargo fall into my hands. Then I can have other revenge that I can use for entertainment. The leader of the golden stone gritted his teeth and nodded, it seemed that he had expected this for a long time. He turned and shouted a few dwarven shouts into the distance, and immediately a group of dwarves approached with a group of men.

At this time, the only people left were naturally those who were only in the caravan. The mercenaries of the caravans were basically dragged by the dwarves, but among them was a richly dressed and exquisitely dressed middle-aged man, who was none other than the Mage Dundell of the Edward caravan. Although his clothes had already been crumpled, his curly hair was all wet with sweat and stuck to his forehead, the powder on his face was soaked with sweat, his face looked pale as paper, and he walked staggeringly, but at least his demeanor was calm compared to that of other mercenaries, or he tried to maintain a kind of calm.

"What do you want to do?" Stephanie frowned.

"It's none of your business, little mage. The leader of the golden stone glared at the female mage sharply, and a dangerous light shot out of his small eyes. "You have to be glad that the little human ghost of the Northern Legion has not died, and you must be glad that you still have some effect on Mr. High Priest. Otherwise, I definitely don't mind tearing off your flesh piece by piece, or even more finely, and crushing every bone in your body by the way, as I did with that fat man, because you are a mage. ”

"You ......" Stephanie gasped and glared back at the dwarf viciously.

"If he really wants revenge, then it will be beneficial for the current ritual. The High Priest added lightly beside him.

“...... Well, well, you're right, it's really good for this ritual..."The mage's face flushed, but she finally understood that this was not the time to clash with such a barbarian. This ritual is not only crucial to these vengeful cultists, but it is also of great significance to the Revival Society, and one of the arcane props used in it is not trivial, even if it is the only one in the Revival Society.

"Alright. It's a shame that this human mage didn't even try to escape with arcane art. Actually, I've been waiting for it. The Goldstone Leader turned to look at Master Dundell. Like the other mercenaries, he was roped up by the soldiers of the Northern Legion, and the arcane items on his body were searched by battlemages.

With a flick of his hand, the special rope tied to Master Dundell's body was all broken. The Golden Stone Leader was not worried about the mage's possible counterattack, and without the assistance of any arcane items at this distance, it was impossible for him and the High Priest to escape from the hands of both him and the High Priest.

"Well, as a reward for not escaping, I can give you a chance to take revenge. The leader of the golden stone pointed to the other mercenaries. "You see, these are the guys who held you back and didn't let you escape. I remember you took them in before, right? But you humans are disgusting to be able to take revenge on you at the last minute. Of course, even if you broke through the blockade of the Northern Legion at that time, there were still guys from the Angry Wind Clan waiting outside, but there were still some opportunities, didn't they? You can roast them in Arcane right now, dissolve them in acid, whatever you like. ”

The restraints on his body were untied, and the pain that seemed to tear at several joints and a dozen knots gradually subsided, and Master Dundell breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that his consciousness that was almost completely overwhelmed by the pain had finally returned. Of course, it is impossible to really bind a high-level mage with ropes alone, and the Northern Legion does not prepare special shackles for mages, but experienced battle mages still have their own means, and they tie the ropes tightly after tying them with special techniques, so that the bound people are always in unbearable pain, if it is a mage, especially for academy mages and ordinary nobles like Mage Dundell who have not experienced enough actual combat training, it is extremely difficult to concentrate on performing arcane arts. Coupled with one or two perceptive battle mages guarding it, it can be regarded as an extremely efficient earthen method.

Finally freed from the shackles of pain that almost made him go into shock, the first thing Dundell did was to straighten out his messy hair a little, and then his clothes were barely neatly tied, and then he looked at the mercenaries next to him who were basically paralyzed with fright, of course, there were two or three of them with fierce faces, but either way, it could only make a slight mockery appear on his lips. Then he turned his head, looked at the dwarf with a hideous face next to him, and said lightly, "I refuse." Their lowliness is their lowliness, and it is not worthy of my response......"

With a click, the hand of the leader of the golden stone quickly reached over and seemed to be just a slight squeeze on Master Dundel's hand, and Master Dundel's hand directly became a blurred mass of flesh of incomprehensible shape, and fine bone spurs were scattered everywhere.

Ah screamed halfway, Mage Dundell covered his wrist and knelt down, and the pain that had just dissipated swept back with several times the speed and force, almost making him unconscious.

"You refuse? How dare you refuse? What do you use to refuse?" The Golden Stone Leader said in an exaggerated and curious voice and expression to the mage who was almost fainting, foaming at his mouth and flying in all directions along with the stench emanating from his mouth. "Didn't I hear that you arcanists are all very intelligent, very intelligent and noble, and look at us savage races as if they were animals? How could you come to such a stupid conclusion?

"I'm not talking to you about conditions, Venerable Mage. Even if you were obedient like a lamb and slowly scorched, slowly corroded and dissolved these guys with arcane art, or some other means, did you think I would let you go? No, you must be dead, and I will not let you go. At most, it will be for you to contribute a little bit of vengeance to Mr. High Priest, so that you can die a more relaxed and happy death. You will do it, you will definitely do what I say, and if you don't do it, I will torture you until you do it. ”

Stephanie twisted her head away, her fists trembling slightly. It's not that she hasn't killed people or seen bloody rookies, and that doesn't mean she likes or is used to this kind of scene. It's just that sometimes some sacrifices have to be made for the sake of the great goals of the Renaissance Society, and she tries to avoid harming the innocent, and even killing people sparingly, and the previous massacres make her instinctively disgusted, even if they can be said to have deserved them. Now this dwarf barbarian's behavior is simply challenging the bottom line in her heart.

On the contrary, the mercenaries next to them had strange expressions, and when they witnessed the slaughter of pigs and chickens in the distance just now, the panic in their hearts was actually worse than that of the Northern Legion soldiers who knew that they would die, and many of them were already complaining to each other that they should have joined forces to resist a long time ago, maybe these dwarves and cultists would not waste their strength against them. Seeing such a scene at this time, the feeling in my heart is simply indescribable.

Holding his bloody wrist on his knees and gasping for breath for a while, Master Dundell slowly straightened up, tears and snot and sweat mixed with the powder on his face, but he still tried his best to straighten his body, trembling and looking around, not finding the face he expected but did not want to see. He smiled with satisfaction, looked at the face of the Jinshi leader in front of him, shook his head weakly, and said, "True dignity and pride cannot be conquered by violent torture and the fear of death, how can you, a barbarian who only succumbs to bloodthirsty instincts like a wild beast, understand. ”

"Hey, it's good, it's good. Instead of being angry, the Golden Stone Leader smiled grimly and waved his hand into the distance. "Bring me those little cubs! I'm going to try some of his dignity and pride. ”

"Stop! how can this be revenge?" Stephanie gritted her teeth as she looked at the dwarven leader, almost holding back a fireball thrown on the bloody face.

"Revenge, of course!mage!" the goldstone leader affirmed as if he was about to grit his teeth. "Ever since I was twenty-eight years old before I picked up the hammer, I have seen my parents, my friends, my brothers, and my people die at the hands of you mages! I have seen them wail in the flames as the two mages discuss how high their muscles and bones can withstand while slowly roasting them into two charred corpses! I have seen them dissolved alive in acid! I've seen countless times they've fought golems with flesh and blood, chopped into pieces all over the ground, and it's only because your goddamn arcane needs the resources of the earth, we need our gems, and they need to enslave us to mine! all because of you bastards who think they're noble! I swear to Mother Earth that the whole point of my life is to make you pay! Let every stray piece who uses that damn arcane feel pain! Physically, psychologically, everything will make them miserable!"

"His motives and his will are all derived from the oppression and injustice he has suffered, and his actions are all to soothe the anger of the past. The High Priest's voice sounded faintly beside him, and the eyes behind the mask were closed, as if to carefully distinguish the smell of the air. "This is indeed revenge. ”

Now that the high priest has opened her mouth, the mage can't say anything more. Soon the mercenaries were thrown back, and the three teenagers were carried by two dwarves and dumped on the blood-soaked gravel floor. These teenagers, who had barely seen the world except for the academy and their own family, had long been frightened by this bloody and terrifying scene, and when they saw their teacher's appearance, only Angelo, a big-faced boy, still had some look in his eyes, and the other two were sluggish and the other was crying on the ground, and it seemed that their spirits had collapsed.

Master Dundell smiled miserably, shook his head, and said in a trembling, but as calm and kind voice as he could to the three teenagers, "I'm sorry, boys. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. This is my last lesson for you, listen. As a mage, as a nobleman, the most important thing is not your status, your possessions, or what kind of arcane arts you can perform, but your own inner dignity and pride. That is the essence of you as wise and moral beings, and the most fundamental difference between you and those who are lowly. As long as you can truly find the dignity and pride in your heart, you will find that death, fear, pain and suffering, is only a short and superficial ......."

"Enough!"

A sudden scream burst out of Stephanie's mouth, and tears could not help but flow from the eyes of the female mage, she looked at the high priest and said, "These three apprentice mages must not be harmed. I had already made a deal with this mage to exchange the three of them for his inventory of 200,000 Okin at the Academy of Magic. The agreement between the mages cannot be violated. ”

"Oh?" the High Priest's eyes opened behind the mask, and he seemed to smile, looking at the female mage with a rather playful look, and asked, "Really?"

"Of course it's true. Stephanie replied earnestly. "The Revival Society is in dire need of this material right now. Moreover, if I violate the agreement between the mages before, it will cause my mental fluctuations to be extremely unstable, and it will also have a great adverse effect on the arcane that is about to be executed, at least compared to the accumulation of this little revenge ritual, it is very uneconomical. You don't have to worry about them leaking the news, I will ask our Guild's archmages to erase their memories with arcane arts when I bring them back. ”

"Huh. All right. The priest chuckled softly. At this time, Feng Yinqiu, who had been closing his eyes under his feet, also opened his eyes and glanced at the female mage.

"Well, friend Jinshi, you heard it too. You can let these three young men go. ”

The leader of the golden stone had a gloomy face, glanced viciously at several people, and finally nodded slowly. But in the next moment, he suddenly jumped forward and reached out, and there was a bloody beating heart in his hand, and Master Dundell finally collapsed to the ground completely like an empty pocket, and the red blood quickly spread out around him, and then mixed with the already somewhat dry blood on the ground around him.

"Dig out his heart like a tiger, that's how it works, right?" The leader of the golden stone pinched, and the heart in his hand became a puddle of flesh and mud. "This time I have killed so many people and sacrificed so much, please be sure to teach me your magical combat skills, so that I can dig out the hearts of these damned arcanists more in the future. ”

The High Priest looked deeply at the dwarf who exuded this strong violent aura, and did not say anything, but nodded slowly.

At the High Priest's feet, Feng Yinqiu glanced at Master Dundell's corpse, let out a long breath, and then closed his eyes again. Angelo, a big-faced boy on the other side, threw herself on the ground, crying with her other companion and seemed to faint at any moment.

Stephanie was already in tears and trembling all over, but she knew she couldn't do anything and had nothing to say. There's no way she's really going to save this mage, and she can't even find a suitable reason. In this far-reaching plan, the mage's life is nothing more than a pebble accidentally falling into a gear, and being crushed and destroyed is the only fate.

It's just that even if she knows this truth clearly, it's useless, no matter how she convinces herself that this is an inevitable result, this is an inevitable part of the plan, this emotion is just because she has not experienced enough, and the anger, sadness, and desolation in her heart still can't stop coming from all sides like a tide, wave after wave. The image of the mage, the words spoken, almost exactly overlapped with the image in the depths of her memory, pulling the scars of that time until now, and then bursting out together.

"Your Excellency, Renaissance Master, since your promise is still there, it is better to focus on what we are about to do. The voice of the high priest seemed to sound in the sky. "Or if your spirit is indeed showing signs of instability and you feel that it will affect the next arcane procedures, then why don't you let my people come?"

"No need. I'm fine. Stephanie took a deep breath, she didn't forget what else she was going to do, which also gave her a new strength and pillar. She turned to the three teenagers, whether they could hear her or not, and said, "You three watch carefully." Even if your memories are erased in the future, take a good look at this time, your teacher has just told you about the dignity and pride of mages, and what you will witness now is the greatness of the arcane. Both are enough to imprint into your soul and live forever with yourselves and the world. ”

Reaching into the space pouch around her waist, she slowly pulled out the thing she had prepared and held it in her hand, a deep and boundless arcane fluctuation that seemed to breathe with the world gradually permeated.

At the feet of the High Priest, Feng Yinqiu opened her eyes suddenly, staring at the thing that the female mage was holding in her hands, which was a simple and gorgeous scroll. In his perception, the scroll was illusory like a blurred illusion, yet it was condensed like a world.

"Eleven Rings of Arcane, the Divine Law of Oro Green. ”

The female mage pronounced the name of the scroll syllable-by-syllable, syllable-by-syllable, as devout as any deity believer. It was at this time that she had a faint experience in her own heart of the mentality of those pastors whom she had been extremely dismissive of and felt extremely stupid.

The High Arcane, Thou art the brightest light in the world, may thou guide my path, may thou harness me, may thou give me the strength to keep all sorrow and sorrow away from me. (To be continued.) )