Chapter 180 Sacrifice and Dream

The blood offering of the day was brought into the hall.

Richard stood beneath the high platform, next to the "Dreaming Skull," watching the gray-robed cultists push two elves forward. His expression, like everyone else's, was calm with a hint of anticipation.

The two elves, a male and a female, wore tattered clothes that revealed numerous scars from repeated torture – not just the wounds left by the "sacrifice," but also the marks from previous "research" and "testing" on the Dreaming Skull.

They had been numb when first brought into the hall, but upon seeing the "Saint" and the Dreaming Skull beneath the high platform, terror crept into their eyes. They struggled weakly, but the Saint on the platform merely twitched an eyestalk, and the two elves were paralyzed, losing all resistance in the Saint's gaze. Then, a gray-robed cultist with a sharp knife stepped forward.

The ceremonial dagger gleamed brightly. Under the annihilationists' gaze, filled with hidden anticipation, the blade cut into the flesh of the two elves – arms, thighs, back, all non-lethal areas, as if deliberately inflicting the greatest torture and pain while preserving life. The "Bleeder" skillfully and silently cut the sacrifices.

Unable to even groan or struggle under the Saint's gaze, the male and female were held stiffly by several gray-robed figures beside the heavy cart. Only the sudden twisting, grimacing expressions on their faces showed the terrible pain they were suffering. Blood flowed from the newly inflicted wounds, seemingly drawn by an invisible force, floating in defiance of gravity to gather in a series of "blood reservoirs" on top of the heavy cart.

The blood flowed in the grooves, towards the black goat's head carved from what looked like wood.

The moment the blood touched the Dreaming Skull, a terrifying aura and astonishing power erupted from the goat's head!

The annihilationists closest to it instantly felt the burst of power. Richard felt as if countless overlapping screams and roars were drilling directly into his brain, tearing at his soul, rampaging through his mind. He saw the black goat's head seemingly come to life, shaking violently from side to side. A powerful, malicious, and chaotic will seemed to awaken, and Richard could feel its gaze sweeping across the hall.

The Dreaming Skull had awakened.

The two elves used as sacrifices had already fainted. The gray-robed figures acting as "assistants" immediately dragged them aside, while the gray-robed cultist who had performed the bloodletting ceremony raised the ceremonial dagger high, shouting with manic joy –

"I have been recognized! The Lord will accept me—"

The next second, terrifying distortion descended upon the Bleeder. Under the gray robe, the sound of flesh separating and bones crushing echoed. The cultist's clothes billowed as the components of his entire body were instantly corrupted, mutated, and pulverized. In an instant, countless tentacles seemed to grow from under his robe, and countless cracks and throats appeared on his face. Yet, this intense pain seemed irrelevant to him. The fanatic shouted in joy, calling out the Holy Master's name until his life faded and his body fell heavily to the ground.

The Bleeder's "martyrdom" meant the ritual was a complete success.

"Take the two 'blood offerings' down," the Saint on the high platform immediately ordered. "Keep them alive for the next bloodletting.

"Collect the blood flowing from the reservoirs and distribute it to the gathering points in the various city-states for use in the dream entry rituals.

"Those who have been chosen, come forward and touch the Dreaming Skull. Your time has come."

The Saint's orders were immediately carried out. The two weakened elves were dragged out of the hall, leaving two glaring streaks of blood on the ground. Other cultists came to the bizarre "goat's head," collecting the elven blood that had come into contact with the Dreaming Skull – this blood now possessed the power to open the dream realm. Though not as powerful as the Dreaming Skull itself, it was enough to guide the user's spirit into the dream of the Nameless One when combined with a ritual. It would become a key material for those hidden brethren in the city-states to perform dream entry rituals.

But the most important explorers still relied on the "elite priests" who directly touched the Dreaming Skull.

Richard took a deep breath and stepped forward, placing his hand on the Dreaming Skull's goat horn.

The screaming once again pierced his mind. A terrifying pressure erupted from the goat's head, and a horrific power swept over him. In an instant, the annihilationist felt his mind rapidly leaving his body. He "saw" his perspective rapidly rising, and the surroundings quickly darkened. He saw his flesh and blood body falling backward, being supported and carried away by his comrades…

In a daze, he also saw a strange rabbit doll. The rabbit doll tiptoed beside his body, seemingly hiding itself in the shadow of his body to avoid the Saint's gaze…

A rabbit? Why is there a rabbit?

Richard was briefly puzzled, but the next second, he forgot the question.

The dream of the Nameless One opened its doors to him.

……

The transformation had occurred.

Duncan could clearly feel the shift in "atmosphere" – although the scene before him seemed little changed, he knew that after the clock struck nine, this "reflection of the Vanishing Sail" had become another… "thing."

The clock on the opposite wall was mirrored again, the counter-clockwise hands now moving clockwise. Other objects in the room that had been mirrored because they were facing the mirror also subtly changed. The sense of dimness lingering in the air faded considerably. Outside the window, the hazy, blurred deck and ship's rails became clear again. Beyond the rails, the sea and sky resembling the spirit world disappeared, replaced by the familiar, boundless darkness and mist.

This was no longer a "reflection." Now, it was the goat-headed dream sailing in the dreams of Sylandis – another Vanishing Sail.

However, Duncan's focus was not on the ship for the moment.

"...Those cultists' method of using the 'Dreaming Skull' is actually pouring elven blood on that goat's head," he said with a complex and subtle expression. "And they actually made it work…"

Agatha's voice came from the mirror beside him – after the "transformation" occurred, she returned to the mirror: "From the scene Rabbi described, it's less like the ritual succeeded and the 'Dreaming Skull' was activated, and more like the Dreaming Skull was enraged and executed the people performing the ritual – and they think this 'execution' is an honor.

"It seems that the elves who were used as 'sacrifices' will not be in mortal danger for the time being. The cultists will keep them alive as a stable source of blood – but before this ritual 'matures,' perhaps many elves used as 'sacrifices' have already died on that ship…"

Duncan didn't speak for a moment, just nodded with a grim face. After a few seconds, he glanced at the mirror not far away.

Agatha's figure was reflected in the mirror. Apart from that, the mirror no longer reflected the scene of the real-world Radiant Star – Lucrezia's figure had naturally disappeared as well.

She, who stayed in the Port of Gentle Breeze, should have entered the "dream" at this time.

"Lucy, what's the situation on your side?"

"It seems that the Vanishing Sail's departure from Port of Gentle Breeze cannot prevent the dream of the Nameless One from happening – I've returned to this forest, and Shelley is with me," Lucrezia's voice entered Duncan's mind. "I've also contacted Rabbi. It's still parasitizing that cultist and hasn't been exposed yet."

Duncan was silent for two or three seconds: "...What do you think of the 'ritual' they performed?"

"A group of crazy and stupid people using crazy and stupid methods to deal with fragments of the ancient god. The thinking is skewed, the method is wrong, and the cost is high – but they have achieved the results they wanted to some extent. As a scholar, I don't understand or approve," Lucrezia said with a complex expression, her tone seemingly carrying some resentment. "It's like a group of idiots banging on a faulty difference engine with sticks and actually fixing the machine. It's simply…"

She "simply" said for a long time, finally squeezing out a sentence: "It's simply a disgrace to intelligent creatures!"

Duncan said quietly, "But they succeeded – even though the method seems like courting death."

Lucrezia's expression immediately became even more complex than before.

Noticing the resentful expression on the face of this "witch" lady, Duncan did not continue to stimulate her, but imperceptibly changed the subject: "It seems that there is more than one goat's head, but there are probably not many with complete sanity, maybe only my 'first mate'."

Then he paused, thinking as he continued: "It's also because the 'goat's head' in the hands of those cultists doesn't have complete sanity that their outrageous ritual had a chance of success – the 'Dreaming Skull' only makes instinctive reactions to external stimuli, and one of its instinctive reactions happens to help that group of annihilationists open the door to the dream of the Nameless One.

"It's still unknown whether this set of 'operating methods' was blindly figured out by the annihilationists themselves, or taught to them by those mysterious preachers of the end, and even if we figure out the annihilationists' path to 'dream entry,' the method by which those 'sun followers' enter the dream of the Nameless One is still a mystery…"

"Could those guys who follow the Black Sun also have a 'goat's head'?" Lucrezia subconsciously thought of this possibility.

"Anything is possible – but my intuition tells me it shouldn't be that simple," Duncan frowned, shaking his head as he thought. "So far, there are only two types of sun followers who have entered the dream of the Nameless One. One is the 'sun offspring' who showed up once at the beginning, and the other is those human-like but non-human 'sun remnants.' Ordinary sun priests and followers as humans have not appeared, and whether it is a 'child' or 'remnant,' they are not human.

"They are 'excrescences of the ancient gods' whose mental structures are very different from humans.

"The way these guys enter the dream of the Nameless One may be completely different from that of the annihilationists."

(Seeking monthly tickets during the double period!)

(End of this chapter)