Black Dragon Mountain is an extinct volcano that has erupted, the city is divided in a ring on the edge of the crater, and below the mountain are tribes close to the clans, starting from the mountainside, the citizen city-state with slaves cultivating the land. But in the end, the Temple of the Dragons ruled everything.

The place below the crater that should have been a magma lake is now covered with black volcanic ash, and in the most central area, a classical temple carved with a dragon soaring god soars into the sky, and the open pillar structure allows people to see the dragon statue inside from a very long distance, and the hideous dragon's mouth spits out a huge beam of flame that has not been extinguished for many years, and the light shines on the Black Dragon Mountain.

At the edge of the temple were sixteen large stone pillars half a meter in diameter, and at the top of the pillars were huge discs with a diameter of two meters, which Herman could tell at a glance that they were torches. It was supposed to breathe flames like the dragon's mouth, shining ten miles of the city-state, but for some reason, it was now extinguished.

Looking down, he saw that there was a black stone pillar with a diameter of five meters and a height of more than six hundred meters under the temple, supporting the temple, and there were eight huge bridges connecting the city around it.

Hideous black dragon statues with huge wings can be seen everywhere in the city, and the dragon god seems to be a folk custom rather than a religion.

(If it weren't for the power of magic, ordinary humans wouldn't have been able to build such a great building in just a few hundred years!) I don't know what went wrong in Gloom Crystal City, and I didn't even care about extinguishing the torch. ）

After leaving the Dragonscale Tribe, Herman didn't leave hastily, he needed a map, or a caravan to go to Mountain Flame City, and no matter how much he didn't need a guide, he could do it.

But after entering the city, Herman learned that there were caravans in Gloom City, but they were all in the hands of the temple, and the temple of the dragon was a powerful force integrating economy, politics, and culture.

In the past, Gloom City would send two caravans to other city-states every year to trade, but the caravans hadn't appeared for a long time, and I don't know why.

As for the map, it is a military secret, which is in the possession of only the temple, not to mention the guide.

There was no way, Herman could only temporarily live in Gloom Crystal City, but fortunately, the above-ground and underground power stones were hard currency, and the power stones kicked by Herman came in handy.

A few days later, the Dragon Servant Army began to recruit soldiers, and all the school-age children on and off the mountain were brought by their parents, this was the only chance in their lives that they could come into contact with Douqi, and Feiqi's grandson naturally would not miss it, and of course, Hope was also successfully selected.

After the conscription, it is the dragon god sacrifice.

Before entering the barracks, the reservists will enter the temple in the middle of the volcano to worship the dragon god and receive blessings from the priests. At that time, citizens in both urban areas can also go to the sacrificial square to watch the ceremony.

This is the biggest festival in the entire city-state except for the day of the dragon's arrival, because the dragon temple will select the dragon messenger at the sacrifice ceremony, and the lucky ones who are selected will have the opportunity to become priests, that is, wizards with extraordinary powers, which is the highest goal of all the city-state citizens to send their children into the dragon servant army.

On the day of the sacrifice, the sixteen torches around it all erupted into a raging flame, and the pillars of fire that rushed to the sky were full of light, illuminating the black dragon mountain within a radius of ten miles as bright as day, and many dark creatures hidden at the foot of the mountain screamed and left, and the volcano up and down suddenly let out a deafening cheer.

In a dark world, fire is hope.

Only a city-state capable of making torches can prosper and thrive, without fear of the erosion of dark creatures. Every year, the sixteen torches are rekindled, and the citizens of the city-state regain their confidence that the city-state has not yet fallen, and it is they who cheer so much.

Herman entered the square in the midst of the crowd and watched as the priest stepped out from the foot of the dragon statue, a drooping old man and two young men and women dressed in costume.

As a vague wave enveloped the audience, Herman was convinced of the wizarding status of these men.

(The spiritual power of the old wizard led by him is not weak, almost on par with Claire, and he doesn't know what level of cultivation is the construction method.) ）

Herman knew that wizards also had methods for cultivating spiritual powers, and their value was more valuable than the containment method, and even gifted wizards had to do many tasks for wizards to obtain advanced spiritual world construction methods.

The combat power of a wizard is linked to witchcraft and magic, and both require spiritual power to perform both, so the more advanced the spiritual world construction method, the stronger the wizard who cultivates it.

At this moment, the most honorable old wizard in the square selected ten young children in the expectant eyes of the citizens, and the crowd suddenly erupted in several cheers.

"It's my son. Hahaha! ”

"My daughter has also been chosen, and she will become a priest in the future!"

Several pairs of richly dressed citizens were in high spirits, showing off to the people around them, and the people near them carefully echoed them. Regardless of the status of these parents, when their children entered the temple, it was really a carp leaping into the dragon gate and becoming the nobles of the city.

Herman's eyes flickered as he looked at the priests.

At least a little more than a month had passed since the end of the mission, and he was most worried that it would be difficult if the dwarves were unwilling to open the door of space for him alone.

Hidden in the shadow of the dragon statue, the temple is brightly lit and the stone walls are brightly colored, depicting the various deeds of the dragon protecting the city-state and expelling the demonic beasts, and the huge temple is not guarded by a single guard.

In the deepest part of the hall, a pale-faced middle-aged wizard sat on a high platform, and three young men and women dressed in priests' robes stood below.

A moment later, the old wizard, who had just appeared outside, returned to the hall and reported to the middle-aged man, "Tell the high priest that the sacrifice ceremony has been completed. ”

The middle-aged wizard nodded slowly: "Hard work Anderson, go arrange the affairs of the reserve and the wizard apprentice." ”

The old wizard bowed down and said, "How dare you speak of hard work! The hardest thing is you. The sacrifice is over, and you don't have to keep the torch anymore. ”

Only the priests knew that the extinguished sixteen torches were forcibly condensed by the High Priest with magic, and every minute and second would consume the High Priest's massive spiritual power.

But the middle-aged wizard shook his head: "It's okay, I'm making the people of the city-state happy for a while, there have been more and more high-level demonic beasts in the neighborhood recently, and they have been scared for a long time." Take advantage of the opportunity of the sacrifice to let them breathe a sigh of relief. ”

"The High Priest is merciful." Anderson bowed again, sighed and left.

Everyone in the temple knew that the problems faced by the city-state could not be solved by lighting a torch temporarily.

And on a high mountain thirty miles away from Dark Crystal City, darkness still shrouded everything, but the darkness here made those third-order demonic beasts dare not approach.

In the darkness, a group of tall and strong Abyssal Horned Demons and well-armed knights formed a strange team, and in front of the team, it turned out to be a member of the Abyss Hermitage.

And the leaders of them turned out to be Adonis and Osmond's master and apprentice.

Osmond stood behind his teacher Adonis, even breathing carefully, for fear of attracting the wrath of Adonis if he was not careful, during this time, there were no less than ten unlucky people who were swallowed by this flesh and blood witch teacher, and Osmond never wanted to become one of them.

Adonis is in a bad mood for forgiving, since the space gate guarded by the two was destroyed by the dead soldiers of the Holy See, the master and apprentice have been criticized in various ways within the hermitage, even Adonis's mentor status is not exempt from responsibility, in order to make up for the merits, Adonis took the initiative to ask for troops to attack the Gloom Crystal City, which is on the verge of extinguishing the flames, this piece of fat, Castlevania has coveted for decades.