Rumble!

A thunderous bang exploded in the depths of his consciousness, and Morris lost control of his state almost instantly—even in the sheltered state of isolating his main consciousness and solidifying his mind, he was still swept away by the spreading impact, and faltered in the terrifying wave of information that followed!

In an instant, he was standing behind his side

The "psychological perspective" spun around, and he could no longer see the words in his mind in his vision, only feeling that the endless fog was swirling and rising, and the words he had just read were like a swarm of out-of-control bees crashing and gnawing in his memory, tearing at the part of his personality, and he even forgot his name for a while, and the only thing left in his mind was the name he had seen at the last second-the Dark Holy Lord.

However, in the next moment, this feeling of whirling was suddenly stopped by something, and Morris felt that his consciousness was dragged back to the real world by an incomparably powerful force, and in this one

In the process of "dragging back", he saw many arrays of flickering lights appear in the dense fog, and in the middle of those many lights, there was a largest red light source.

This scene seemed to be a glimpse thrown at him by the god of wisdom, Lachem, but in the next second, those array lights quickly dissipated and turned into a raging wave;

Immediately afterwards, the great wave turned into a pale cloud of dust and smoke that disintegrated before his eyes, and the delicate pale ashes were like the ashes of saints, sprinkling down on him;

Then, those pale dust and smoke burned in mid-air again, turning into a falling rain of fire, which condensed countless dazzling and crimson flames, as if they were about to burn him completely!

But just before the crimson flames fell on him, Morris saw that all the fire was suddenly dyed with a layer of dark green—the raging and bursting fire instantly became gentle, and fell beside him little by little, and one of the flames touched his shoulder, and he immediately felt someone slap him hard, and the next second, he suddenly opened his eyes, and realized that he had returned to his body.

The effect of consciousness isolation and mental solidification was forcibly ended, and he once again returned to this world from the critical state of madness.

And the moment he regained consciousness, Morris resisted

The urge to "take another look" forced the big black book in his hand to close.

His movements were quick, but even so, the book turned violently for a few pages before it was closed, and in the corner of his eye, some shaky words came into Maurice's vision with an extremely strong impression, one by one, with a sentence that seemed to be a strong obsession at the time of death:

"We will return to the purest and most holy origin."

The large black book was completely closed, and Morris panted violently as he thought of the words he had seen at the last moments.

Vana immediately noticed the abnormality here, and approached in two steps:

"How are you?"

“······ The daily life of a scholar, dealing with deadly knowledge, and then surviving," Morris gasped and reached out to Vanna,

"It's okay, I'm still me—help me up."

As soon as he got up, he asked again:

"How long has it been?"

"A few seconds," Vana replied with a nod,

"I just saw you open the book and look at it a few times, and you swooped

Close it as your spirit continues to turmoil, and undiscernible shadows begin to emerge in the fog around you. ”

"······ in a few seconds" Morris tugged at the corners of his mouth, but in his mind he remembered that he was on the verge of losing control

The strange scene I saw when I dragged it back.

In the next second, a deep and majestic voice appeared in his mind:

"Morris, what's going on with you?"

Morris was stunned, quickly straightened his expression, and responded in his heart:

"I was reading a blasphemous book seized from the Annihilation Cultists and accidentally got contaminated - Captain, you were the last to pull me back?"

"Well," Duncan responded,

"Just now I suddenly sensed that your mind was under attack, so I checked the situation with the help of the 'mark' left on you. You just said you seized a profane book? What's going on? Are you still with Vanna? Where are you now? ”

"Vanna and I are together, we are still operating in the upper city, and we have discovered that some of the Annihilators have entered the real world under the cover of the fog and are manipulating some of the fakes to attack the city-state - we have just found and eliminated one of the controllers," Morris immediately responded, then gathered his thoughts again and continued,

"The situation is very strange, the corpse of the cultist after his death appears to be fused with the original substance, which seems to be some kind of extreme 'transformation', and as a result, he carries with him a black nameless book, the contents of which are ......"

Morris stopped abruptly, his tone becoming extremely cautious, while carefully controlling his thoughts:

"The contents of the book are disturbing, and I have only had time to read a small part of the original text of the holy book narratives that I had copied from the previous 'crow, and I was contaminated. I'm sorry, but there's only so much to report now - I can't recall the details right now. ”

Duncan's voice was silent for two seconds, then it sounded again:

"It's okay, safety first, don't keep remembering what you see. Bring the book with you and report back to me in person. ”

Maurice breathed a sigh of relief:

"Yes, Captain."

At this moment, Vana on the side suddenly

"Opening":

"Captain, what's going on over there?"

"Alice and I are on the second waterway—it's quiet here."

Deep underground near the center of the city, at an intersection somewhere on the Second Waterway, Duncan looked up at the empty corridor in the distance.

A thin layer of fog was floating above the hallway, clinging to the dark dome, and it seemed to appear out of thin air, and it was getting thicker and thicker over time—but it wasn't serious compared to the surface of the city-state, which had been completely covered in fog.

"I'm waiting for the fire to be in place."

Use

The "imprint", he said to Vanna in his heart.

"Tinder?" Vanna's voice sounded a little confused.

"The dens of the Annihilation Cultists are not in the real world—Mirror Frost is their home base," Duncan said slowly.

"Whether it's the Sea Mist Fleet, the Frost Navy, the city-state guards and the guardians of the Church, the 'invasion' they eliminated in the real world is only slowing down the process of the mirror image rising, and only by doing it from the side of the mirror image can we really solve the problem this time.

"Agatha has gone with the tinder—she'll find the heretic's lair, and then I'll help her set that place on fire."

Vanna's response was visibly hesitant for a few seconds:

"That'······ Is there anything we can do? ”

"Just keep hunting in the fog, destroy all the fakes you see, find out who controls them and hunt as many as you can," Duncan said,

"It makes sense to slow down the invasion, you're buying time for Agatha and relieving the pressure on her."

Vanna immediately responded:

"Yes, I see!"

A few seconds later, her voice came again:

"Also····· … Now there may also be a fake 'gatekeeper in the city-state, in action, and there doesn't seem to be any reaction from the church's side, you think......"

Her voice sounded hesitant.

Duncan already knew about the fake, even better than Fanna.

After all, he had already established contact with the real Agatha.

"Don't worry about that," he replied after a moment of silence,

"You don't have to deal with her – but if you meet her, you can help if the situation needs to."

Vanna was visibly stunned for a few seconds, and then her tone was filled with consternation:

"Help?! Help that 'fake,' ”

"Don't forget, not all fakes are under the control of the Annihilationists, and the most prominent of them have a will of their own," Duncan's tone remained calm,

"Gatekeepers don't become puppets of heretics easily, and of course, it's up to you to judge for yourself when the time comes."

"Yes, I see, Captain."

This time, Vanna's response was tinged with a strange solemnity.

It was as if it was her sense of mission as an inquisitor, in this moment with that one

"Gatekeeper" has a subtle resonance.

Contact with the followers is over.

Duncan exhaled softly, then raised his hand, a small flame lit up in his fingertips.

He stared at the flames, and after a moment he whispered:

"Agatha, do you think, 'She, is it really going to be what you think?'

A cold and hoarse voice rang out from the flames:

"Yes."

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because I believe in myself."

"But that's just a copy of you," Duncan said calmly,

"There will be small differences between you, and that difference may cause her to make decisions that are different from yours."

"But you didn't order your followers to eliminate that 'hidden danger,'" Agatha said.

"You trust my judgment too."

Duncan was silent for a few seconds before sighing softly.

"There was a human named Brown Scott who proved to me his humanity in the 'fake, and that humanity is still in effect in the 'fake' – so this time, I don't mind believing it again."

"What if······ I mean, what if, what if, too, my judgment is wrong? Your trust will be wrong·····"

"It's okay, it's all trivial."

Is it a trifle......

In the cold, damp sewer corridor, Agatha lowered her head and glanced at the small flame still burning quietly in her palm.

The faint heat escaping from the flames seemed to be the only temperature she could feel in the world—beyond the firelight, she felt as cold as a grave.

That

The voice of the "Captain" came again:

"Agatha, what's going on over there?"

"I'm still moving forward, I'm almost there, I can feel it, it's very close."

"I'm talking about you, your voice doesn't sound the same as it used to be."

Agatha stopped.

She lowered her head, and all she could see was her scarred body, and the wounds that no longer bled out.

"It's okay," she whispered, with a gravely coldness in her voice,

"It's all trivial."