The Cultists paid no attention to their dead companions; they stood there, looking at Xia De, with a vague posture of surrounding him. With three Ring術士, they could draw with an Orthodox Church Ring術士 team. Xia De knew there must be something more powerful inside the damp chapel, so he didn't let his confidence swell enough to risk another attack.
He held the last remaining Merman Fat Priest hostage, then glanced at Darkness and his companion. The two naturally stood with the Merfolk. But Xia De wasn't flustered; the sea breeze coming from behind him indicated that there was definitely another path beyond the stone wall:
"Everyone back off, or I can't guarantee I won't pull the trigger."
He said loudly, having put on a mask before infiltrating in his robe, so he wasn't afraid of being recognized.
The Fat Merman held hostage by Xia De, surprisingly, showed no intention of struggling. It continued to chant its prayers, as if Xia De didn't exist at all.
The Scarlet Cult Cultists all looked at Xia De as if he were a madman. But upon closer inspection, Xia De could see that everyone's lips were moving; they were also praying.
A strange sense of unease made Xia De a little surprised:
"Are there any traces of abnormal elements?"
"Yes, look at the ground."
His eyes looked down. Due to the previous attack and the resulting deaths, the Merfolk's blood continuously seeped downwards, and after entering the sewage on the ground, it vaguely seemed to overlap with the patterns beneath the water's surface.
And with the Merman Old Priest's buzzing prayer, held hostage by Xia De, there was no need for the voice in his ear to remind him. The increasingly dense blasphemy element had already transformed into tangible silver light emanating from the ground.
Xia De suddenly understood:
"I killed them, which is actually equivalent to sacrificing them for the ritual. How could such a thing happen? Wait, these guys, did they originally plan to commit suicide, which is why they didn't care about the manor being surrounded?"
Thinking that he couldn't wait any longer, Xia De gritted his teeth, pulled the trigger directly, and shot the old Merman who was still praying. The annoying buzzing prayer stopped abruptly, but then the prayers of the remaining Cultists suddenly grew louder.
Xia De turned and ran towards the stone wall where the holy emblem was placed.
It was impossible to escape the way he came; there was still a Ring術士 of unknown level in the wine cellar. And since wind was blowing out of a hole in the wall, there must be a path behind it.
"Don't let him escape!"
A voice came from behind him. Although Xia De couldn't see behind him, "she" could.
"Now!"
"Raglai's Leap!"
The attacks of curses and Miracles coming from behind him missed, striking the stone wall in front, breaking through the rugged narrow passage hidden behind it, while the holy emblem rolled into the collapsed debris of the stone wall.
Xia De's figure appeared at the corner of the wall, then he lunged towards the narrow path, rolling neatly, and had already slipped inside.
"Chase him!"
Darkness probably wanted to gain the Cultists' favor, so he arrived at the damaged chapel stone wall faster than anyone else.
"Don't chase!"
But the person behind him called him back. Turning to look, it was the only Hexacle Arcanist among these Cultists. It was he who blocked Xia De's Silver Moon Slash, preventing things from getting worse.
"No need to chase."
He knelt down, respectfully taking the intact holy emblem from the rubble. After kissing it, he handed it to the Merman behind him.
Seeing Darkness's confusion, he frowned, looking into the Darkness of the rugged passage, and explained:
"This path behind the stone wall may indeed lead outside. This was a passage we used to transport sensitive materials many years ago when we occupied the manor. But sixty years ago, when we abandoned this manor, we sealed a Document-level relic inside, which is a siren."
"Document-level? Siren?"
The middle-aged man wearing red gloves immediately retreated:
"Are you sure that person just now will definitely die at the siren's hands?"
"Of course, although it's Document-level, it was sealed using a lot of power. There have been no problems for sixty years, but now even our Church can't say what's happening inside. Since he walked in himself, we don't need to worry about him."
The man then looked sympathetically at the Merman Priest's corpse on the ground:
"We originally planned to draw lots to decide the self-sacrifice slots. Never mind, the ritual is complete, and there are ten minutes until sunrise. Let's leave too."
"Wait."
Darkness, with his withered yellow short hair, stretched out his hand:
"What about what you promised me?"
The Hexacle Arcanist waved his hand backward, and the living Merman immediately searched a box from his companion's corpse. Handing the brass-colored ring from the box to Darkness, the latter's face showed an expression of ecstasy.
"Incantation."
The Cultist reminded him, very curious about what Darkness was going to do.
"Of course! The transformation of stillness and silence is the manifestation of hidden power!"
He took off his red gloves in front of everyone. After chanting the incantation, he put the ring on his right index finger.
The skin on his palm squirmed and split open, and that terrifying mouth appeared. As the mouth and sharp teeth moved, it actually spoke:
"I feel blood and fear, this is truly good."
The mouth laughed loudly. The terrifying language it used seemed to have the power to directly pollute the environment, making the Scarlet Cult Cultists constantly feel nauseous and dizzy. This was certainly not delarion common language, nor even human language; no one understood it except Darkness.
Seeing this bizarre scene, not only the Scarlet Cult Cultists, but even Darkness's companion, the short, bearded man, showed expressions of discomfort.
He subconsciously took a step back, seeing a large shadow covering Darkness. His lips moved, but he didn't voice his doubts.
Their original goal was merely to exchange flesh and blood nurturing techniques for the Merfolk's promise to help them leave Coldwater Port. The poet-level relic, the fish training ring, was a private deal proposed by Darkness.
Subsequently, the group began to clean up the traces of the ritual and used Miracles to bombard the narrow stone crevice behind the wall Xia De entered, causing it to collapse. Finally, they collected the bodies on the ground, allowing the flesh and blood to be more evenly distributed on the carved ritual traces.
About seven or eight minutes later, just as the Cultists were about to leave, they suddenly heard clear footsteps coming from the exit of the damp chapel:
"Who's playing with steam bombs in my basement?"
This was a woman's voice.
(Xia De running)
Xia De was running wildly, or more accurately, he was running while calculating the time for spatial jumps forward.
The wall was like a naturally formed crevice, and the winding path prevented him from being directly attacked by those behind him. But the feeling of having his back to the enemy was truly hair-raising. Xia De could only run forward as much as possible, occasionally turning around abruptly to slash out a beam of light behind him, and then, regardless of what happened behind him, continued to flee.
He ran like this for a full five minutes until he saw the end ahead, then stopped, lying on the flat stone surface below to listen, but no footsteps came.
"Didn't they chase? Or is it that the front is actually a dead end?"
But at this point, Xia De couldn't retreat, and it was better if the other party didn't catch up. Perhaps Miss Aurora would arrive here soon due to the steam bomb explosion.
Finding his own way out while waiting for the Witch's rescue, that was Xia De's true intention.
Now that he couldn't retreat, he continued forward. And ahead, human creations finally appeared: an iron door. A small opening, large enough to deliver an envelope, was made in the door three-quarters of the way from the ground, as if a normal door had been installed upside down.
The wind was blowing out from the door crack and the small opening on the door. It was fresh sea breeze, and considering that Aurora Manor itself was by the sea, it was very likely that the door led to a seaside cave or similar place.
"But if it's really that easy to find an exit, why didn't the Cultists chase?"
Xia De looked at the iron door in confusion. This door must have been there for some years; the rust on its surface was very severe. He could barely make out a pattern that had once been on the door, and after careful discernment, he realized it was the holy emblem of the Evil God, the lord of the scarlet spiral.
"This door was placed here by the Scarlet Cult."
He approached the door slightly. A strange sense of unease made him not dare to open the door directly, but instead asked in his mind:
"Is there anything unusual?"
"Not yet."
"Then..."
There was no handle on the door. Xia De, out of breath, pressed his hand on the rusty iron door surface and immediately felt that the Miracle, 【Key of the Door】, could be used, which meant that this door was actually locked. But the difficulty of unlocking it was not great, just a bit harder than Mr. Jude's safe.
"Could it be that the Cultists outside thought I couldn't open this door, which is why they didn't pursue me with peace of mind?"
He couldn't figure it out. After a more careful inspection, he actually found a series of incised ancient runes under the rust on the edge of the door frame.
After translation, Xia De confirmed that these were incantations used for sealing. Only the most dangerous seals would have this level of incantation written on them.
"What exactly is behind this?"
He looked at the door curiously. Under the Moonlight, the door remained dark. Xia De thought for a moment and decided not to rashly open this strange iron door. He turned to leave, wanting to see what the Merfolk outside were doing; perhaps Miss Aurora had already arrived.
Unexpectedly, after only two steps, along the passage, an explosion and the whistling wind caused by air pressure turbulence rushed in directly.
"Oh!"
The force of that strange wind was so great that it directly blew the unprepared Xia De flying, and with a clang, he hit the iron door behind him.
At the same time, due to this explosion and the strong wind, the entire passage actually began to vibrate. Xia De sat stunned in front of the door, listening to the continuous sounds of collapse from afar.
The passage from the damp chapel to this door collapsed. The collapse stopped dozens of steps away from Xia De, and the rising dust made him cough continuously.
Now, even if he didn't want to open the door, he had no choice.
