In the mouths of Alexandra and all the souls that together make up the "will of the family", the details of the arrangements made by the Black Sun Society in the Ernst family are finally revealed.

The time when Countess Alexandra died and "became" the will of the family is more than two hundred years ago.

In fact, at the time of her death, the will of the souls hidden beneath Ernst Manor had been tormented by the rituals of the Black Sun Society for a long, long time, and as a latecomer, Alexandra's knowledge of this place also came from her more distant ancestors.

"It was a really strange feeling......

Alexandra described how she felt when she had just passed away: "I thought that the human soul would return to this world as the Dharma Council and St. Steele's Cult of Life had said, but I soon found that under the power of that ritual I had reawakened and I began to think and feel everything around me......

The countess's smile was a little bitter, "At that time, I didn't realize what was going to happen next."

"The Eternal Rite that has been set up here is always at work, it is like a huge mill, and our souls are the grains into which it is crushed and grinded, and all the deceased will eventually become like that......

"Turning into a swarm of rats?"

"Yes, rats."

Xiug looked at the rats gathered in the room, although their bodies were strange and deformed, but they did not show any aggressiveness, and then at the legendary countess in front of him, who had barely constructed her body with magical power, and squeezed out a smile.

"So those magic ornaments in the hotel room ......"

The countess said dissatisfiedly, "Grandpa Bernhardt, don't forget, that poor boy of Ludwig was also a general, but he didn't survive the erosion of the secret rite!"

"So, in the brief gap when the ritual was missing, the rats that housed the fragments of our souls finally succeeded in manipulating our own will, so all the members who were still awake gathered together and made a bold resistance...... We have launched an attack on all the members of the Underground Mansion and the servants and assistants who serve them."

"I'm sorry, I don't want you to remember those pasts, but this process might help me in my decision-making future...... After all, I also have those ancient sorcery and magic in me."

"Of the members who have successfully escaped the control of the Secret Machine, I am the most clear-willed, so I make decisions for you most of the time...... Occasionally, members who are relatively stable will control a part of the rat colony to probe the outside world."

"About three years ago, right? Sorry, we're not sensitive to time."

"Yes, including me."

"So you finally succeeded?"

At this point, Alexandra hesitated, apparently unsure of what words to use here.

Listening to Alexandra's narration, Verin's face became a little ugly, she remembered the scene she and Shug had encountered in the spiral staircase before, if those rats were indeed some kind of ferocious magical creatures, it would be acceptable, but after knowing that there were actually countless human spirits and wills in the bodies of these beasts, Verin instead felt a strong sense of powerlessness.

….

"In other words, the fourth and fifth floors of the underground mansion are actually controlled by you now?"

The Countess explained, "The situation was so rushed that we didn't know when the Secret Ritual would be restored, and we didn't know exactly what we could do to solve these problems once and for all, so we had to do everything we could to destroy everything in front of us, and in the end, we succeeded in destroying the Secret Circuit on the fourth and fifth floors of the Underground Floor...... But after that, the rest of the ritual was successfully restored, so we were confined here."

"Can you tell us more about that?"

Before she could finish speaking, there was a sudden sound from under the chair where Wei Lin was sitting, after a large number of mice had opened their mouths

At the same time, the sound was very chaotic, but it could be vaguely heard as a low and hoarse male voice.

The feeling of being hunted by a wild beast is very different from being preyed upon by your own kind.

"The members of the association who are responsible for maintaining the ritual tell us that the permanent ritual that is set up here is actually the 'Mother Earth, the Rite of Grace, and they believe that the benevolent 'Mother Earth' will bestow her power on the Blessed Ones through this ritual, and that 'Mother Earth's Mother will also give all the participants of the ritual the power to live and make them their own......

Apparently, the Ludwig she was talking about was the stone statue that the two had seen earlier in Room 203, and as Alexandra had said, the famous General Wattle did not survive the influence of the Esoteric Rite as they did, but instead turned into an instinctual rat colony.

Alexandra glanced at Shug in astonishment, then nodded, "The races favored by the gods, that's how they interpret it."

"I think your efforts have been in vain...... My grandfather had noticed something strange here, and it was because of him that I came here."

"Didn't the Society think about repairing the Secret Rite?"

"Yes...... That's the word."

The Countess whispered, "There is no way we can resist the change brought about by the ritual, so we will eventually be forced to accept it."

The Countess smiled, and then said, "At first I thought it was an ordinary slumber, but when I awoke from my slumber and found myself bound in my own stone statue, then I began to feel pain, my spirit was cut by a sharp thread, it was forced to split into countless individuals, and I began to hear the screams of rats in my soul......

"Indeed."

"I feel like my will is being divided into infinite parts, I want to control them, but I don't know where to start, those rats have their own instincts and ideas, they want to eat and devour everything in front of them, like real beasts, and my own thoughts can't compete with them."

He had thought that the behavior of the rat herds that were clearly being manipulated by the human will was very strange, and now it seemed that the source of this strangeness was the conflict between the interference of the power of the secret rite and the human will itself - if Alexandra was right, then these predecessors of the Ernst family did care very much about the descendants of the family, but the human will could not compete with the secret power of the ancient gods, this was already their limit.

….

"What are they here for?"

So Xiuge whispered, "Dependents?"

"Hmm...... I knew that only a soldier could have such courage and brains."

So Xiuge raised his hand and pointed to the corridor outside, "So according to you, all the rats that appear here are essentially the ancestors of the family?"

"I understand, kid...... It was a terrible process, but I remember it very clearly."

"If, according to you, this entire underground mansion should be full of rats that have been devoured by people, it looks like something happened next?"

This topic obviously saddened Alexandra a little, and she shook her head, "It's just that our power is waning, and once we leave here, we will begin to be influenced by the Secret Rites again, and the wild ones that lurk in the rat colony will be revived...... In that case, Jacob and they could easily have done serious damage to the children of the family, even me, now with some quirks, I have gathered these lamps to remind me that I am still a 'person' who needs light."

"Do you remember the process?"

"He's a general, too?"

The countess sighed helplessly, "Haven't you already reached a consensus? What we really need are great people who know magic, especially sorcery, and now that they are in front of us, please don't repeat those words!"

Alexandra patted it gently

Hands, and the sound of rats was immediately heard in all corners of the room, and Shug saw a large number of rat figures emerging from them, and they did not attack, but were quietly lined up, as if in formation.

Wei Lin nodded, "Because the destruction of the ritual was caused from within, if the Black Sun Society wants to restore it, it will have to rebuild a considerable part of the underground mansion...... This is a defect that exists in most permanent rituals, and it seems that the 'Mother Earth', as the Association speaks, has no way to escape this limitation."

"What did you mean not long ago?"

The hoarse voice said, "It's a pity that there are still too few soldiers and officers in the family who can become soldiers and officers, if there were more of them, maybe this dilemma could have been solved a long time ago!"

Alexandra sighed, "We have thought of many, many ways, we use our power to exert influence on those sent by the association and turn them into our own servants, and at the same time, Jacob, Christina, and they are constantly trying to get the message out here, they want to disrupt and interfere with every heir selection ceremony as much as possible, but we don't know if such efforts will be useful."

"It was very chaotic and everybody was ...... Together, like an ocean, we all know what we have to do, not only do we need to attack the magic-wielding casters of the Society, but we also need to find a way to deal with the other family members who have been completely lost in their beastly instincts."

The countess nodded, "But the Society sees this process as a blessing."

….

"That's right."

"More than a hundred years ago, they tried, and the Society emptied the 'four basement floors' at great cost, and the family members who lived in it were also wiped out by the Society, but they had no way to repair the damaged circuit."

"I don't know, they don't seem to be planning to re-repair the ritual and haven't set foot on our level again, but again, we don't have the means to track and interfere with their actions in detail...... The last remaining rites are still influencing us, and during that time, many members have completely lost their will."

The hoarse voice known as Bernhardt angrily retorted: "As the brain of the army, as the commander of the army, he couldn't learn how to defend himself, and was killed by a crystallized cannon while patrolling the position...... Oh, what is this?"

It is difficult for the two of them to know the exact course of the incident through words alone, but judging from the look on Alexandra's face, it must have been an important victory for the deceased who were forced to split their souls and spirits.

"Son, who is in power now?"

"If I'm not mistaken, he's taking more action, and if all goes well, maybe the Ernst family will be able to get rid of the shackles and influence of the Black Sun Society in the future, at least on the surface."

"It didn't work, but it wasn't a failure......

She elaborates on how she felt: "It was then that for the first time I felt so deeply the influence of the Tantric Rites that the Society spoke of, and I felt as if I had become plant seeds that had been sprinkled into the soil, and they were taking root, sprouting, and gradually being molded into the form of rats."

Alexandra sighed, "I have been in that state of chaos for a long, long time, perhaps for years or even decades, but one day, 'Mother Earth, the operation of the Secret Rite seems to have been severely disturbed.'"

Shug turned his head to look at the gathered group of rats, and replied, "My grandfather, Zeke Ernst, was the former marshal of Walter."

After listening to Alexandra's account, Shug nodded a little heavily.

Shug silently calculated the time node in his mind, and then he realized that three years ago should be an important time when the Black Sun Society regained its influence on the Ernst family and began to plan the events in Salem City, and it was at that time that his original body was forcibly persuaded to leave the Voice School of Magic and Wizardry and was sent to Salem City.

"Yes."

"Yes, yes

The ones who were able to detect these anomalies were destined to be spellcasters who had mastered magic and magical powers, so that they could identify important targets that were needed...... And those children who are weak in mind and are susceptible to the erosion of the secret rites will also be expelled and eliminated by Jacob and the others."

"Alright, Grandpa Bernhardt."

The Countess nodded in affirmation, "After that, the Society seems to have abandoned the underground mansion and the maintenance of the 'Mother Earth, the Secret Rite, and it was not until recently that their members visited again."

"You said he?"

The rats under Viline's chair made a dissatisfied noise, and although they didn't have eyes, they could clearly "see" Xiuge's appearance: "Hmph, carrying a crystalline gun on your back, it's like that, but ......."

Before he could finish speaking, a shadow flickered on Shog's shoulder, and with his call, Snick, the Running Rat that had been hiding in the metal disc, was summoned, and as soon as it appeared, it hissed in a threatening manner at the room full of "aliens", which made Bernhardt, who was already judging Ug, shut up.

All the members of the Ernst family, including the countess, caught a very familiar feeling in this mouse with three long tails.

(End of chapter)

Zero doctors