"Boom, boom. A faint thunder came from the sky, and the maidens in the fortress looked up at the sky strangely. The original night sky was clear and deep, with three moons shining in the night sky, and the brightest silver lady, Mia, silently looked down on the earth in the clear sky, sprinkling her own moonlight full of life and light into the world. However, one moment the sky was clear, the next moment it was cloudy, and the dark clouds that appeared out of nowhere suddenly obscured the night sky, and the thunder in the dark clouds seemed to be about to drop rain at any time. Dark clouds that appeared out of thin air stubbornly floated over the island, blocking the bright moonlight and making the island even darker.

"It's strange that it's suddenly cloudy. The three girls withdrew their gaze from the sky, and Lina muttered in a low voice, "At the moment when the dark clouds appeared just now, there seemed to be a very awkward feeling, did something happen?"

"You feel it, too?" Freya said in surprise, "What about Vivien?

"Yes, I have that too. Vivien nodded: "It is obvious that it feels like an unknown energy suddenly expanding, although it only swept over our bodies, but because the energy is too large, our bodies will naturally react." ”

"Hey, come here. Lina, who was still lying on the grid observation port looking at the sky, suddenly exclaimed: "Come on, look at the controlled sea tribes outside, the eldest sister should have succeeded." ”

The maidens were once again lying together on the grid, the battle outside the fortress had quietly stopped, all the enemies were no longer attacking the defensive fortress, they turned in unison to face Catherine's direction, knelt on one knee, and put their heads on their chests with one hand, like a group of soldiers summoned by the king, who were paying the deepest respect to the king.

"Eldest sister, have you succeeded?" Looking at this group of motionless controlled sea clans, the eyes of the three girls were shocked, and Lina couldn't help but shout loudly: "Are you okay? ”

However, no one answered, only Lina's lonely cries echoed across the empty island. Lina's face became ugly, she bit her lip hard, thought for a while and said, "Maybe something happened, I'm going to go over and take a look." ”

"Let's go together, we don't feel at ease if you go alone. Vivien put the huge blue backpack back on, picked up the staff and said, "It seems that the enemies outside will no longer attack us, everyone go together, you are not the only one who is worried about the eldest sister." ”

"Let's stay here for now. Freya also prepared a little: "Let's not dismantle it first, in case something happens, it can be regarded as a way out here." ”

Freya opened the door to the fortress, and the three maidens cautiously walked out of the fortress. The controlled sea tribes that surrounded the fortress didn't even look at them, let alone attack, as if they didn't exist. After standing at the edge of the crowd for a while, and seeing that no one was attacking them, the three girls began to walk tentatively towards the crowd. The crowd is very dense and crowded, and if you want to pass through it, you will inevitably bump into the controlled sea tribe around you, but even if you are touched, the controlled sea tribe will not react like the statue, and only after squeezing them down, will they get up from the ground and return to their original posture and become a statue again.

The further they went, the more chills the girls felt in their hearts, and everything around them was so weird. Although the previous battle had brought heavy pressure to the hearts of the girls, the pressure brought by this strange scene in front of them was indeed countless times that of the previous ones, and the girls suddenly felt that they would rather face the controlled Sea Clan who were frantically attacking than face these statue-like people.

The distance of more than forty meters is not far, and even if it is through the crowd, it only takes three or four minutes. A few minutes later, the maidens made their way through the controlled sea tribes and finally met Catherine again.

Compared to when she had left the fort, Catherine was in normal condition, showing no signs of injury other than being covered in mud from the excavation. She was now sitting in the pit she had dug out, her hands clasped over her legs, her chin resting on her knees, half-looking up at the clouds in the sky and the silver moonlight shining from the edge of the clouds in the distance. Her face was blank, her eyes were empty, and she seemed to be thinking about something all the time, and she didn't react at all to the arrival of the three girls.

"Whew. Seeing that Catherine was not in any danger, Lina breathed a sigh of relief, approached Catherine's side and shouted: "Big sister, big sister, come back to your senses, let's come to you together, wake up, wake me up." ”

Under Lina's loud call, Catherine finally seemed to wake up from her sleep, looked at the three girls in a trance, and only reacted to what happened for a long time, and said in surprise: "Why did you run here, the enemy?"

"The enemy is bowing down to you. Freya said, "It looks like you've already got the quest item." ”

"Yes, I've got it. Catherine's eyes shrank, her face was strangely open, and in the center of the silver handarmor lay a small black horn. Catherine stared at the horn with a complicated gaze and said, "This is what we are looking for, the culprit responsible for this situation, the artifact known as the Nightmare Spirit." ”

"So small?" Lina, who was the most curious, looked at the small horn in surprise, and couldn't help but slowly reach out to touch it. Catherine opened her mouth to say something, but in the end she said nothing. However, Lina was disappointed, the small horn seemed to be an illusory image, and her fingers passed directly through the horn, and she didn't touch anything: "Hey, what's going on? Why can't I touch it? Is this the defensive reaction of the artifact, only its owner can touch it?" So, big sister, you are already its owner?"

"Indeed, the moment I picked it up, I was already its owner. Catherine had just known that there was such a thing, but her expression was a little imperceptibly happy, and she nodded, "So you can't touch it?" ”

"Sister, something is not quite right with you. Lina's face slowly became serious, and Vivian and Freya on the side also became very serious, Lina asked softly, "You won't be controlled by it, right?" ”

"Poof. Catherine couldn't help but laugh out loud and shook her head: "Your imagination is too rich, it is not aimed at humans, how can I be controlled by it?"

"But you're really abnormal. Freya also said, "From the time I saw you until now, you have been in a trance, and your face is very strange. Is there something special going on? Just say something, everybody is worried about you. ”

"It's really nothing, you're thinking too much. Catherine shook her head and said, "I'm in a trance because of something else. ”

"But you just called out the name of this thing, Nightmare Spirit. Lina asked, "Don't say that you just came up with it, this excuse is not credible at all, how did you know its name?"

"That's one of the reasons why I'm in a trance. Catherine smiled bitterly and whispered, "I already know what happened to this artifact. ”

"Oh, oh, it turned out to be the information memory that came with the artifact. Lina was finally relieved and sat down next to Catherine: "What happened in the first place to make your face so ugly and tragic?"

"It's bloody, guess. Catherine smiled bitterly and began to speak softly: "Our previous speculation is correct, this is indeed an artifact of the Church of Nightmares and Fears, made by Timos himself, and his purpose in creating this is for war, war between gods. ”

"As early as the end of the Third Age, the battle between the gods entered its most intense phase, and then the earth shattered and the world was on the verge of collapse. The dragons were no longer in control, and they had to sacrifice half of their people's lives, and got in touch with Yara-sama, who took pity on his creation, so he put down half of the world he had created, rushed back to repair the broken world, and then set a ban outside the world, so that the gods could no longer freely enter the mortal world. ”

"In this battle of the gods, except for a few neutral gods, almost all the gods have participated in the war, and Timos is no exception. However, he was at a disadvantage in the war, and his church power was constantly being squeezed and devoured, and the faith that belonged to him was constantly plundered. No one knew that he was actually a visionary deity, long before the dragons sacrificed themselves, he had deduced the possible course of events after that, and he also knew that if this continued, by the time the Quaternary Age began, his church would be completely destroyed sooner or later. ”

"He wants himself, but the gods on his side are also at odds with each other, and he can't entrust things to any of his allies. Therefore, he came up with a plan to set his sights on the mildest of the kindle, or rather the free-spirited Sea Clan. ”

"So he created this Nightmare Spirit?" Vivien looked up from her notebook, stopped writing, and said, "To drag the Sea Clan into the quagmire of war? no, to forcibly turn the Sea Clan into his ally?"

"Sort of. Catherine smiled sarcastically and sighed, "Actually, the Sea Clan has a weakness, and when Khaleto created them, he set their faith to be too religious, so he gave Timos this opportunity. In order to achieve Timos's goal, the Church of Nightmares and Fear held an unprecedentedly large blood sacrifice, in which 20,000 fanatical believers cut off their own flesh and blood around a huge sacrificial circle, while chanting prayers until they were no longer able to harm themselves due to blood loss and pain, and then the high priests helped to cut off the remaining flesh and blood, and finally killed these self-sacrificial fanatics. ”

"It's cruel. Several girls had unbearable looks on their faces.

"Oh, yes, it's cruel. The girls just listened, but Catherine seemed to have witnessed the scene with her own eyes, and said with a wry smile: "However, they are all voluntary, and it is really incomprehensible." (To be continued.) )