"What's wrong?" Victor asked, confused.

William raised his head, and his words were filled with uneasy fear: "My lord! This...... The outer skin of this scroll is not cowhide...... Nor is it a sheepskin ......."

"Is that a boar skin or a deerskin?" Edgar said, looking indifferent.

"Both...... Neither! This...... It's not made of animal skins at all...... It's human skin! ”

"People...... Person...... Skin? You what? Did I hear me right? ”

Young Master William Einfurt accentuated his tone and said word by word: "You heard it right...... The cover of this scroll is made of human skin! ”

The gendarmes were taken aback; "Na...... There are such vicious people in the world! ”

William held the scroll in his hand, as if this thing was a little hot:

"I was skeptical at first, but I looked at it several times and compared it to my own skin, and you see, these fine folds and the distribution of sweaty pores are all human characteristics! It must have been soaked in some secret recipe potion to keep it intact for so many years. ”

The militia and vigilantes were also frightened, and each jumped back a step: "Mine! It's terrible! They kept making crosses on their chests and kept murmuring, "I still have children, and I want to live a few more years!" Gods forbid! The demons are gone! ”

In this dark and strange castle, and the discovery of a scroll made of human skin, it is inevitable that you will be afraid.

Princess Edgar was the only one who was not frightened in the slightest, and not only that, but she also picked up the scroll with interest and admired it with a big grin:

"Wow! That's pretty cool, too! I've never seen human skin, and it feels ...... It feels pretty good. ”

Victor forced himself to compose, and in order to rally the group, he began to calm the others:

"Okay, okay, even if it's really made of human skin, this scroll is just a dead object, and it won't suddenly jump up and give you a knife, anyway, it's this thing that glows on the top of the tower, just open it and see."

Edgar untied the rope attached to the scroll and slowly opened it;

Sure enough, the paint on the inside of the scroll glowed blue in the dark night, a bit like the light emitted by fireflies, but it was much more eerie, allowing everyone to see what was depicted on the scroll without the help of a torch.

As the scroll was gradually opened, a long picture scroll unfolded in front of them,

The picture scroll depicts a hellish, completely horrific scene-

A horde of horrific monsters are devouring living human bodies, their sharp teeth chewing on bones, their claws pulling out soft entrails, their mouths open and feasting, their hooves trampling the broken flesh.

The eyes of those monsters are reminiscent of goats, because their pupils are crossed by lines.

The monster's skin was rough and rocky, covered with disgusting sarcomas and lumps, and in addition to terrifying fangs and claws, it also had bat-like wings on its back.

They eat as easily and happily as humans chewing toffee gummies, without any moral and ethical constraints, only endless wild killing.

In the center of the scroll is a witch-like figure from a fairy tale.

It was a withered old woman, her lips wrinkled back into her mouth after her teeth had been lost, and her shriveled and folded skin covered with age spots, and her dead fish-like, cloudy, whitish eyes, all of which made her look like she was a hundred years old, and she looked like she was about to die at any moment, but for some reason, her expression was quite determined.

She stood at a large, charm-carved stone table, a soft, peaked cloth hat, a loose robe, a shriveled and withered hand holding a string of rosaries, and a strangely shaped knife in the other.

On the stone table lay a beautiful girl dressed in a garment and wearing a garland on her head, her chest and abdomen had been cut open by the old woman with a knife.

Her liver lay flat on a tray next to her, and a disgusting-looking monster shaped like a large spider was waiting patiently, apparently waiting for the old woman to put the girl's entrails on a plate and wait to enjoy the tribute to herself.

This is an iconic, ancient scene of human sacrifice in the dark ages, and the most terrifying thing is that the young girl's pale and weak face showed no pain or reluctance, and she actually showed a happy and calm smile, which seemed to prove that she participated in the sacrifice voluntarily, not forced.

As the painting was fully unfolded, the scroll was pulled to the end, with a few lines of fine writing on the edges, which looked like the strange writing on the castle's inner walls.

"Ceylonese again! I'll translate it for you! ”

William seemed quite excited, and the opportunity to prove himself had come again, especially in front of Edgar, and he had to perform well.

He took out a magnifying glass from his bosom, pointed to the words on the scroll, and read:

“

Yes!

Blood!

Art!

Death!

It's all so beautiful!

A feast for the demons!

It's the pomp and circumstance of the 100-year-old Wizards' Gathering, the Night of Volpagis.

I'm so lucky to be able to experience it for myself!

Every time, wizards from all over the world come to the dark forest in the middle of the continent of Yawen to meet.

They used their sacred sacrificial swords to make many offerings to the demon lords,

The most basic tributes were cattle, sheep and poultry, and the best tributes were humans, who, according to their theories, had some demonic blood flowing in their bodies.

In addition to enjoying the tribute and revelry, the demon lords will also take some human babies, not to eat them, but to take them into captivity in their own dark otherworld, just as we humans keep poultry and cattle and sheep in captivity.

Unlike those stupid Templars, our great faith brings tangible benefits to itself!

The loyalty of wizards pays off for real miracles.

The Demon Lords reward their followers with immortality, immortality from disease, and dark magical powers far above mortals.

And the price, only blood is needed.

After the sacrificial ceremony, the sorcerer introduced me to one of the female demon lords, who was pleased with my poems and paintings, and asked to be a guest in my home.

I was chosen!

What a glory!

I'm going crazy! Perhaps, I'm crazy!

Great Demon Lord Zajarasbad! Thank you for your deignation to come to the Humble House,

Long live the great Queen of the Dark Cave!

I beseech you to grant me an immortal body, and I will be your faithful servant...... Serving you for the rest of your life...... Her Majesty the Queen,

Banzai!

Banzai!

Hooray!

This painting commemorates the night of the great Volpeggis Wizards' Carnival.

—Loyal servant, Adair Haskar Lindenburu, 11 March 723, Night. ”

William finished reading the last line of the scroll, and with apprehension, he rewound the scroll, and the blue light disappeared in front of everyone.

The gendarmerie knight asked, "Are all the scenes depicted in the picture really happening?" ”

Young Master William shook his head: "I don't know, but I think these are all fake, since ancient times, paintings depicting demon worship and the sacrifice of evil gods are not uncommon, they are all rhapsodies of religious artists, just imagine, if these evil monsters really run rampant in the world, the weak human race should have been extinct a long time ago." ”

"Who is the writer of this scroll?" Victor asked.

"Adel is a cross of Velstad and Sylviniarao, half of our countrymen, and in those old times he was a very famous traveler and troubadour.

His life is legendary, he lived through the years of the Great Plague, traded with desert camel caravans to the East, fought with mercenaries, and traveled all over the world, he was a devout Templar in his youth, and when he was old he converted to the pagan religions of the South.

His early poems and paintings were relatively popular, but his later works were often accompanied by an uncanny madness, which led to later art critics calling him 'the mad poet Adelle' or the 'dark bard'.

In short, his works have been recognized as absurd and curious works by the art world, just take a look at it, don't take it seriously. ”

At this point, William Einfurt suddenly choked, as if he had been stuck in the throat by a huge fish bone, and his expression was uncomfortable.

Edgar patted him on the back with concern, "Are you alright?" William? ”

"You...... You know...... What is today's date? ”

Edgar blurted out, "March 10, 1723, what's wrong?" Is there anything wrong? ”

William's hand holding the scroll trembled involuntarily: "The record on the scroll is that the night of the Wizard's Carnival, the night of the Wizards' Carnival, was recorded on March 11, 723 AD. ”

William looked uneasily at the moon outside the window, and the thick lenses of his glasses could not hide the fear and uneasiness in his eyes.

Victor finally realized what William meant, "Now! Damn it! It was that ominous day! He hurriedly took out his pocket watch and looked at it:

"It's 23:57, and in three minutes, it's March 11th, exactly a thousand years after the date on this scroll!"

William nodded uneasily, "That's right, it's coming soon, the day of the witch carnival once every hundred years—the night of Volpeggis." ”

Since he had been going upstairs and downstairs just now, coupled with the high tension in his expression now, Victor's shirt was already soaked with sweat, he put away his pocket watch, and after a little thought, he said:

"I'm afraid...... It's all ...... A conspiracy that has been planned for a long time! What a coincidence!

Illegal entry of foreigners attacks our patrols...... Breaking into this dark castle, the blood stains that disappeared inexplicably, and the magic array on the outer wall...... Also welcome... This strange human skin scroll...... The coincidence of the date, and the horror biography recorded above.

All kinds of signs show that this case is not simple, no matter what the hell appears in front of us, we must deal with it very carefully......"

The tall and muscular Baron Victingströndhold gritted his teeth and looked down at his pocket watch.

"Tick ...... Tick...... The "tick ......" gear drives the pointer to jump.

Time passed inexorably, every second was torment, and everyone was waiting for the moment of zero o'clock.