White City, Golden Rose Palace.Rudolf III's chamber was a bit crowded today, and this special room, which never received more than three visitors at the same time, was an unusual reception for many people - three of the king's sons and daughters sat beside him, his two important ministers, the Grand Duke of Lune and General Grohn, on the other side, and the "Ancient Guardian" sat opposite him.In addition to these people, there were two other people who were also in the room.One was the history and naturalist tutor of the princes and princesses, the famous scholar of the kingdom, Alfred, a somewhat chubby old gentleman, with a white beard hanging on his simple black robe, the whole person looked very kind, he sat next to Hao Ren with a smile, and kept looking curiously at the famous "ancient guardian".The other stood behind the king, a mysterious woman covered in a black burqa, tall and thin, without saying a word, standing there like a piece of wood that could not speak, even her face was hidden under some kind of shadow that seemed to be a magical effect, her face could not be seen from any angle, Hao Ren could only judge the gender of the other party by the figure vaguely exposed under the burqa, and guessed the identity of this mysterious person: this person's breath concealment kung fu was surprising, It's easy to lose sight of her presence even if you stare in her direction, and even if you notice her, you'll quickly forget it as soon as you turn your face, which isn't magical, because even Hao Ren's magic immunity talent doesn't have an effect on her aura.This is probably a secret agent of the kingdom, or a secret knight of the king, or some other character like that, in short, she is not a simple person, and her presence here is enough to prove the significance of this conversation."
First of all, I want to speak," the first to break the silence was not the king or Hao Ren, but Veronica, the princess who had been a little angry since just now, "I know you are all wary of cultists, but you have just made an ancient guardian who saved my life and protected the Westfrontier Fortress a target of suspicion, which makes me intolerable - Talos has always built his country with justice and reason, when did we become cowards who were frightened by a group of cultists and only suspected others indiscriminately?"
”"It's just me who is suspicious of the ancient guardians," Grand Duke Lu said lightly, his expression unchanged for ten thousand years, "It has nothing to do with Your Majesty and General Grohn, if Her Royal Highness the Princess has any opinions, she can vent to the old minister alone." ”Veronica glared, "I'm not venting, I'm just questioning." ”Hao Ren didn't expect that Her Royal Highness the princess would be so concerned about his own affairs, and he couldn't help but be a little moved in his heart, but in fact, he didn't care so much about this misunderstanding - there was still inexplicability and unhappiness at the beginning, but after vaguely guessing the truth of the matter, he didn't care.As an inquisitor who wanders between the mortal and the divine, a mere kingdom of Talos has about zero influence on him, and he is looking at Kolo, not any of Kolo's kingdoms and individuals, as long as they don't interfere with what he's doing.However, there was still a necessary statement, and he waved his hand: "Veronica, don't be so excited, I don't care."
I can see that you're in a lot of trouble, and I'm afraid it's not a small problem, so I can understand that. ”Rudolf III glanced at Hao Ren silently, and there was a hint of appreciation and gratitude in the depths of his eyes: "Thanks to the Guardian's deep righteousness, we are indeed in trouble—then let's make a long story short, I don't know how much the Guardian knows about the 'Annihilation Secret Order'?"
”Hao Ren was stunned: Why is it a new term?"
What are you talking about annihilating believers?"
He shook his head, there was no way to talk nonsense about these things, so he simply didn't make them up, "I don't know, I haven't heard of them." ”Veronica was surprised: "But this cult has existed since ancient times, and they were not famous a thousand years ago. ”Hao Ren blinked, feeling that this TM was more embarrassing......
But fortunately, the characteristics of "memory loss" and "confusion of common sense" of his ancient guardian are well known, and this issue is not the key, so the people present did not delve into it, but the old scholar Alfred explained on the side: "Annihilation Secret Cult, they are probably the oldest cult in the world, and even the scholars of the Holy Realm specialize in this group, and think that they are as old as the chaos in this world - they are lured to fall.
The mortal who fell was a madman who stepped into chaos step by step, and since the evil giant Lokmadon exhaled his last breath, his breath had polluted the ancient mortals, creating the first annihilation believers. ”Princess Ania took over the words of her mentor: "The Cultists of Annihilation are fanatical believers who worship chaos and regard the evil giant Lokmadon as the 'truth of the world', and they believe that the fate of the world is to step into chaos and darkness, which is the fundamental purpose of the goddess of creation to build the world of Kolo, and order and light are nothing but occasional ripples in the development of the world, but the mortals and their civilizations born in this ripple regard this ephemeral order as the truth, which is the 'original foolishness'."
They believe that the behavior of mortals to continue order and fight against chaos is to prevent the world from developing in the right way, which is the source of Kolo's suffering, and they believe that it is the endless chaos war that has caused Kolo to be torn apart and brought great suffering to this land, and they have their own set of lofty 'ideals' to correct these 'mistakes', that is, to end the resistance of mortals and put the whole world on the right track. ”Veronica rolled her eyes: "To put it bluntly, it is to cause destruction everywhere and find ways to make humanity lose the chaos war." ”Hao Ren listened carefully to the narrative about this cult group, to be honest, he was no stranger to any cult group, and he was not too surprised after hearing about this annihilation secret cult: Cultists, they are all like that, how crazy they are.He was just a little curious: "Their ideas are quite fresh and refined, but aren't they themselves mortals?"
”"yes, so they see themselves as targets that need to be 'purified,'" Veronica said, spreading her hands, "that's what makes them the most insane, they don't even let go of themselves when they go crazy."
I've heard that the 'Code of Annihilation' of the Annihilation Cult also clearly says that when the end of the world comes, all Annihilation believers should immediately destroy themselves to please Lokmaddon, do you say that the guy who is crazy to this extent, is there any logic?
”Hao Ren listened and nodded again and again: "Well, I know, they really beat themselves when they go crazy." ”Ordinary people may feel unimaginable when they hear about such a crazy cult group, because the actions of these fanatical believers are not only illogical, but also seem meaningless.Ordinary cults always use the only chance of redemption in the end of the world as a deceptive bargaining chip, making believers believe that their madness can save them from some kind of disaster or get far more than human rewards, but this annihilation secret religion, their teachings point to the only destruction - believers will not be saved in the end of the world, but must be destroyed, they see themselves as things that need to be purified, and believers do not get anything from this belief at all.Instead, they are doomed to lose their lives.But Hao Ren was not too surprised by their deranged teachings, for he knew that there were many unspeakable powers in the dream plane, and these powers were spiritual poison to mortals, even if they were heard, enough to drive determined people crazy.If that evil giant Lokmadon is the embodiment of this power, then it is not surprising how mad his followers are."
I think you already know what happened to Ania and Andrew," Rudolph III said in a low voice, "although no clear evidence was found in the end, all the clues show that there is a shadow of annihilation of the believers behind this incident, and what happened today confirms this." ”Hao Ren immediately understood: "Veronica ......"
"That's right, Veronica's distress in the Westside is not accidental," Rudolph III's face was gloomy, "In the White City, it was the alchemist found by Lu Enqing who cured Ania and Andrew's evil disease, and in the West, it was the Guardian who protected Veronica, if not, the consequences would be unimaginable." ”"The defeat in the Western Territory is due to the Chaos Tide and the withdrawal of the Order, could it be that those Chaos Cultists can have such great energy to control these factors?"
Grand Duke Lune shook his head: "Those cultists themselves are inextricably linked with the forces of chaos, even if they can't control the tides of chaos, they can still use the tides of chaos to make their own plans, as for the withdrawal of troops in advance, the ...... of the Order's state will be withdrawn in advance" The Grand Duke said, looking at Rudolph III with an inquiring gaze.The king nodded, and let out a sigh: "Say, these things will soon be no secret. ”"The Royal Mystic looked out over the Sanctuary from the Tower of Mysteries and observed that the light of Asuman at the top of the Sanctuary had been extinguished."
Ania and Veronica exclaimed.Obviously, these two princesses, like Hao Ren, only learned the news at this moment.
(To be continued.) )