Today's blood food was brought into the hall.

Richard stood under the high platform, next to the "Dream Skull", watching the gray-robed sect members push the two elves forward, the expression on his face was the same as everyone else, calm and faintly expectant.

The two elves, a man and a woman, were already dressed in rags, revealing the scars from many tortures under the torn clothes—not only from the "sacrifice", but also from the previous "research" and "testing" of the Dream Skull.

When they were first brought to the hall, they looked numb, but after seeing the "saint" and the "dream skull" under the high platform, the look of horror still came from the bottom of their eyes, and they struggled faintly, but the saint on the high platform only shook his eyes slightly, and the two elves lost their resistance in the gaze of the saint - and then a gray-robed cultist with a sharp knife stepped forward.

The ritual dagger was polished, and under the vaguely expectant gaze of the Annihilators, the blade sliced through the flesh of the two elves—the arms, thighs, and backs—all of which were non-lethal, as if deliberately intending to inflict the greatest torture and pain while preserving their lives, and the "bloodletter" skillfully and silently cut through the sacrifice.

The "sacrifice" could not even wail and struggle under the gaze of the saints, and the man and woman were stiffly placed by several gray-robed men beside the heavy cart, only the sudden twisted and hideous expressions on their faces showed the astonishing pain they were suffering at the moment—and the blood trickled down from the new wounds on their bodies, as if pulled by an invisible force, and floated into the air in a gravity-defying manner, and then converged in a series of "blood tanks" on the upper level of the heavy cart.

Blood flowed in the grooves to the pitch-black goat's head, which seemed to be carved out of wood.

The moment the blood and the "Dream Skull" came into contact, a terrifying aura and astonishing power suddenly erupted from the goat's head!

The nearest Annihilation Cultists instantly felt the explosion of power, Richard felt as if countless superimposed screams and roars directly drilled into his brain, as if he was about to tear his soul apart, he saw that the black goat's head seemed to come to life, constantly swaying from side to side in a violent tremor, a powerful and malicious will in a state of chaos seemed to awaken, Richard could feel it, its gaze was sweeping the hall.

The Dream Skull has awakened.

The two sacrificial elves had passed out, and the gray-robed man who was the "assistant sacrifice" immediately dragged them aside, while the gray-robed cultist who was armed with a sharp knife and personally performed the bloodletting ritual raised the ritual dagger in his hand and shouted in ecstasy—

"I'm recognized! The Lord will accept me—"

In the next second, a terrifying twist descended on the bloodletter, and the sound of flesh and blood separation, and bones crushing suddenly came from under the gray robe, and his clothes stirred, and the composition of his whole body was polluted, alienated, and crumpled in an instant, and in an instant, it seemed that countless tentacles grew out from under his robe, and countless cracks and mouthpieces appeared on his face, but this intense pain seemed to have nothing to do with him, and the fanatic shouted for joy and shouted in ecstasy, calling for the prestige of the Holy Lord, until the vitality dissipated, Until his body fell to the ground with a heavy weight.

The "martyrdom" of the bloodlettans means that the ritual has been completely successful.

"Bring those two 'blood foods' down," the saints on the high platform immediately ordered, "let them live well and prepare for the next bloodletting."

"Collect the blood that flows from the blood storage tank and distribute it to the assembly points in the various city-states for the dream ritual at the other meeting points.

"The chosen ones come forward and touch the 'Dream Skull' to prove that your time has come."

The saint's order was immediately carried out, and the two weak elves were dragged out of the hall, leaving two blinding blood streaks on the ground, and the congregation came under the strange "goat's head" to collect the blood of the elves that had touched the dream skull—this blood already had the power to open the dream realm, although not as powerful as the dream skull, but it was enough to channel the user's spirit into the dream of the Nameless with the cooperation of the ritual, and it would become a key material for the people hidden in the city-state to perform the dream initiation ritual.

But the core explorers still rely on those "elite priests" who directly touch the skull of dreams.

Richard took a deep breath and stepped forward, placing his hand on the horns of the Dream Skull.

The scream pierced his mind again, and a terrifying coercion erupted from the goat's head, and the terrifying power swept in, and in an instant, the annihilation cultist felt that his mind was quickly detached from his own body, and he "saw" his own perspective quickly raised, and the surroundings quickly dimmed, and he saw that his flesh and blood were falling backwards, and being supported and carried away by his fellow citizens......

In a trance, he also saw a strange rabbit doll, which crept next to his shell, as if hiding itself in the shadow of his shell, as a way to hide from the eyes of the saints......

Rabbit? Why is there a rabbit?

Richard was momentarily puzzled, but the next second, he forgot about it.

The Nameless Dream opened its doors to him.

……

The conversion happens.

Duncan could clearly feel the shift in "atmosphere" - although the scene before him seemed to have changed little, he knew that the reflection of the "Lost Land" had changed into another ...... "thing" after the clock struck nine o'clock.

The wall clock on the opposite wall was mirrored left and right again, the counterclockwise rotating watch hand was now turning clockwise, and the other things in the room that were mirrored by the mirror were quietly changing, and the dim feeling that was entrenched in the air had subsided considerably, and outside the window, the hazy and blurred deck and the ship's side were clear again, and the sea and sky beyond the ship's side that seemed to be like a spirit were gone, replaced by the familiar, boundless darkness and fog.

It's no longer a "reflection", it's now the dream of a goat's head that sails through the dreams of Sylantis, another Lost Ship.

However, Duncan's focus was not on the ship for a while.

“…… The cultists' method of using the 'Dream Skull' was to pour elven blood on the goat's head," he said, with a complex and subtle expression on his face, "and they did......

Agatha's voice came from a nearby mirror—and after the 'transformation' had taken place, she returned to the mirror: "Judging from the scene described by the rabbin, it is not so much the ritual as the success of the ritual and the activation of the 'dream skull' as it is more like the dream skull being provoked and then executing the person who performed the ritual - they consider this 'execution' to be glorious."

"At the moment, it seems that the elves who are being used as 'sacrifices' should not be in danger of dying for the time being, and the cultists will keep their lives as a stable source of blood - but before this ritual 'matures', there may have been many elves who died on that ship......

Duncan didn't speak for a moment, just nodded with a gloomy face, and after a few seconds, he glanced at the mirror not far away.

Agatha's figure was reflected in the mirror, but the mirror no longer reflected the scene on the bright stars in the real world—Lucrecia's figure naturally disappeared.

She who stayed in Qingfeng Harbor should have entered the "dream realm" by this time.

"Lucy, how's your situation there?"

"It seems that the Lost Country's stay away from Breeze Haven won't stop the Nameless Dream from happening - I'm back in the forest, and Shirley is with me," Lucrecia's voice came into Duncan's head, "I've also contacted the rabbi, and it's still parasitic on that cultist, and it's not exposed yet." ”

Duncan was silent for two or three seconds: "...... What do you think of the 'rituals' they perform? ”

"A group of crazy and stupid people, using stupid and crazy methods to deal with the fragments of the ancient gods, the way of thinking is biased, the method is wrong, and the cost is big - but to a certain extent, they got the result they wanted, as a scholar, I don't understand and don't recognize," Lucrecia's face was complicated, and her tone seemed to carry some kind of resentment, "It's like a group of mentally handicapped people with sticks and knocking on a faulty differential machine, and the result is that the machine is repaired, it's just ......"

She was stunned for a long time, and finally held back a sentence: "It's a shame for intelligent creatures!" ”

Duncan said silently, "But they succeeded—though it seemed like death." ”

Lucrecia's expression suddenly became even more complicated than before.

Noticing the resentful expression on the "witch" lady's face, Duncan did not continue to stimulate her, but quietly changed the subject: "It seems that there is indeed more than one goathead, but I am afraid that there are not many who have complete reason, and there may even be only one of my 'first mate'." ”

Then he paused, and continued while thinking: "It is precisely because the 'goat's head' in the hands of those cultists does not have complete reason that their outrageous ritual has the possibility of success—the 'Dream Skull' only reacts instinctively to external stimuli, and one of its instinctive reactions happened to help the group of Annihilation Cultists open the door to the dream of the Nameless.

"It is still unknown whether this 'operation method' was blindly tried out by the Annihilation Cultists themselves, or taught to them by the group of god-chattering Last-Word Preachers, and even if they understand the way for the Annihilation Cultists to 'fall into the dream', the method for the 'Sun Followers' to enter the Dream of the Nameless is still a mystery......

"Will those who follow the Black Sun also have a 'goat' head in their hands?" Lucrecia subconsciously thought of this possibility.

"Anything is possible—but my gut tells me it shouldn't be that simple," Duncan frowned, shaking his head as he thought, "So far, there are only two kinds of Sun Followers who have entered the Dream of the Nameless, one is the 'Sun Heir' who first appeared once, and the other is the 'Sun Dregs' who look like people and are not human, ordinary Sun Priests and Cultists who are human beings have never appeared, and neither the 'Heirs' nor the 'Dregs' are human.

"They are 'ancient god growths' whose mental structure is very different from that of humans.

"These guys' approach to the Dream of the Nameless may be very different from the Annihilation of the Cultists."

(Ask for a commuter pass during the double period!) ）

(End of chapter)