In front of the icon of the storm goddess Grimna, the blessed candle flame burned calmly, and the heavenly light from the dome shone around the icon, making the bishop of the city-state in black robes as if bathed in divine grace.

Bishop Valentine raised his head in the light, silently staring at Fanna's still unwavering gray eyes, his words seemed to have some kind of magic, and faintly, Fana heard the gentle sound of waves rising and falling in her mind, followed by a thunderous roar—with the help of external forces, the power of the goddess finally broke through the curtain and exploded in her heart.

Vanna suddenly inhaled, as if she had suddenly returned to land from a state of suffocation in deep water, her chest rose and fell violently, her heart pounded, and the gaze of the gods was overwhelming, and in a semi-trance, she heard Valentine's voice continue to reach her ears:

"The existence of the Lost Country is well documented, and the Omen Dream you encountered is an objective fact, and in the case of these two things, your normal reaction should be to first assume the existence of a threat and then seek a solution - but you have just subconsciously questioned whether the Lost Country really exists, which means that you are subconsciously avoiding the message that the Omen Dream conveys to you.

"Inquisitor, you're kneeling to deny the existence of the Lost Land, and that's evidence of the ship's real existence - it does seem to be close to the borders of civilization."

Vana felt a fine layer of sweat on her forehead, but the "curtain" that had always hidden her and the goddess seemed to have disappeared, which made her feel a lot more relaxed, and the words of the bishop of the city-state made her realize what had happened:

Before I knew it, I had been affected by the Lost Country!

This is the characteristic of many visions or anomalies with terrifying tendencies: they cause the contact to be cognitively confused, to subconsciously ignore and deny, and to be unconsciously affected more and more!

This kind of subconscious neglect and denial is the instinctive reaction of intelligent beings to protect themselves, and it is a dangerous avoidance mentality, but when they come into contact with the anomaly, this instinctive reaction will become the source of paralysis and carelessness, and eventually lead to themselves unconsciously becoming victims of visions and anomalies!

As an Inquisitor who often deals with supernatural powers, Vana knows all about this knowledge, but she never imagined that she would fall into such a "psychological trap" - her strong willpower would not have any effect?

"I don't know when I was affected," she said calmly, and in the presence of fellow devout bishops, she did not shy away from the weaknesses she had exposed this time—it was normal for them to fall into psychological abnormalities due to anomalies or visions, and shame and concealment were useless, "I came here straight after waking up from the Omen Dream, and I didn't talk to anyone, I didn't touch any books or antiquities, and I didn't think I was eroded by the outside world in the process." ”

"But you did show a deliberate avoidance of the Omen Dream just now...... So the effects should have happened earlier," the Bishop stared intently at Vanna's face, as if he was observing the changes in her eyes and the fluctuation of her breath at any moment, "Have you been exposed to anything unusual lately?" That could have come from the Lost Country...... Pollution, in advance, leaves an anchor in your subconscious. ”

"Recently ......" Vana frowned, and then suddenly remembered the "sacrifice" that had fallen at the scene of the Black Sun Sacrifice, the green flames that flashed under the other party's eyes, and her own severed finger.

Her eyes widened and she looked at the bishop reluctantly: "The day before yesterday, I led the team to clean up the Black Sun Sacrifice Ground in the sewers, and since I came back, have you reported that there is no nameless pollution at the site?" Has there ever been a report of a contaminated 'sacrifice' on site? ”

The bishop shook his head: "...... No, you sent those cultists to church and went straight back. ”

Vanna thought to herself: "Did anyone else who participated in the operation that day report this?" ”

"No reports have come from - all of the eucalyptus scrolls have only recorded anything related to the Dark Sun heresy."

Under the icon of the goddess, the bishop looks at Vanna, who also looks at the bishop.

"It seems that we have found the point at which Pollution first 'came ashore,'" the Bishop exhaled softly, his expression still calm, but there was a strong power brewing in his eyes as if a storm was coming, "In the name of my lord Grimona, Inquisitor, do you still remember that night clearly and completely?" ”

Vanna took a deep breath, "In the name of my lord Grimna, I still remember all the details of that night. ”

The bishop nodded, turned and lit the special incense, and then placed the bronze incense burner at the foot of the icon and said in a calm voice: "What happened? ”

So Vanna recounted everything that happened in the sewer ceremonial ground—she didn't miss a single detail, and with the help of the sacred incense, her memory and mind became clearer than ever, and the experience of that night was as clear as if she had come again......

She still remembered that the sacrifice suddenly opened her eyes, she remembered that the green flame jumped in the eye socket of the sacrifice, she remembered that the flame fell on her finger, but she was purified by herself, and on the way back to the church, she silently told herself that the pollution had been thoroughly purified, the pollution had been thoroughly purified, and the pollution had been thoroughly purified......

She was muttering to herself all the way, and all the guards who walked with her were muttering to themselves!

No one felt that there was anything wrong with that!

In retrospect, it was a horrible, strange scene—a bleak night, a squad of church guards walking through the silent streets, each whispering the same sentence to themselves until they returned to the church.

In the process, however, they still thought they were doing things normally: guarding the heretics they had just captured, cleaning up the filthy sacrificial scene, and escorting the cultists on their way back......

“…… The spiritual flame falls on the soul, and the physical purification that comes with cutting off the limbs is ineffective, and all you get is deceptive comfort - the correct thing to do is to immediately light the spices, sprinkle the ground with holy oil to set up a temporary holy place, and then call on the power of the goddess with a prayer ritual to perform the purification of the 'spirit'. ”

“…… It's my fault," Vanna said in a heavy tone, "I should have been more vigilant and alert. ”

"It's a mistake, but it's not a mistake," the old man shook his head, "you have great strength, but as a judge you have a little less experience after all. Luckily you are now free from the influence, which means that the 'contamination' that remained on that sacrifice at that time was not too strong, and it only interfered with you on a psychological level...... From the incense ritual just now, I can roughly judge its strength. ”

He paused, as if to weigh and judge something: "The guards who were acting with you at the time should have been less affected, they were just standing around you, and the influence should have faded quickly with the prayers in the church.

"Overall, although the pollution you were exposed to at that time was dangerous and weird, because the source has been cut off, the follow-up effects are not terrible, according to your performance just now and the feedback of incense, even if you don't come here today, you will notice something wrong in a few days.

"What we need to worry more about than this is the future."

"...... in the future," Vana repeated the last word of the bishop, her expression slowly turning serious.

Yes, in the future, this matter is not over.

The picture revealed by the dream of omins is a warning from the goddess that what he has been exposed to so far may only be a prelude to a storm.

"The Lost has not been seen in the realm of civilization for many years, and many people believe that it has returned to subspace and become one of the many shadows in the deepest part of the world, but now it seems that Captain Duncan is still obsessed with the real world."

Bishop Valentine said slowly, turning to look at the icon of the Storm Goddess.

"A century ago, the Lost Land crashed into the depths of subspace, and although there is no clear evidence, many eyewitness reports mention that there was a large storm hovering in the nearby seas at that time, and the ship's fall was affected by the storm in some way......

"The storm is the authority of my lord."

Vanna frowned, "Do you think that Captain Duncan is going to ...... Vengeance against God? ”

"It's hard to say - even for the ghosts who have returned from the subspace, it is unthinkable to seek revenge from the gods, the gods reside in the kingdom of God, the kingdom of gods is hidden above reality, and everything in the world only has the truth of falling from the top of the world, I have never heard of anyone who can reverse the way to the 'kingdom of God' higher than reality......

"But if that Captain Duncan is seeking revenge on my lord's agents on earth...... The odds are great.

"The Holy Cathedral of the Storm patrols the world on behalf of the Lords of the Infinite Seas, and spends most of its time navigating hidden passages where no one can find it, compared to ...... The city-state of Poland is the largest anchor of the Storm Goddess in the world, apart from the Cathedral of Storms...... It is also an anchor of faith that everyone can visit.

"From that point of view, it's only natural that the vengeful ghost chose to land in Plain."