Chapter 1 Jin Qiang Wei Palace, Bai Cheng

Rudolph III's private chamber felt somewhat crowded today. This special room, which never accommodated more than three visitors at a time, had exceptionally welcomed many people: the king's three children sat beside him, his two important ministers, Duke Lorn and General Groln, sat on the other side, and the "Ancient Guardian" sat opposite him.

Besides these people, there were two others in the room.

One was Prince and Princesses' history and natural science tutor, the kingdom's famous scholar Alfred. He was a balding, chubby old gentleman with a white beard hanging on his simple black scholar's robe. He looked very amiable. He sat next to Hao Ren with a smile, curiously examining the famous "Ancient Guardian."

The other person stood behind the king, a mysterious woman cloaked in black. Tall and thin, she stood there silently like a mute block of wood. Even her face was hidden in a shadow that seemed to be a magical effect, making it impossible to see her face from any angle. Hao Ren could only judge her gender by the vague figure revealed under the cloak and guess the identity of this mysterious person: this person's aura concealment was surprisingly good. Even when staring in her direction, one would easily ignore her presence, and even if you noticed her figure, you would quickly forget it as soon as you turned your face away. This was not a magical effect, because even Hao Ren's magic immunity talent was ineffective against her aura concealment.

This was probably a secret agent of the kingdom, or the king's secret knight, or some other similar role. In short, she was not a simple character. Her appearance here was enough to prove the significance of this conversation.

"First, I want to speak," Veronica said, breaking the silence. The princess had been a bit angry since the beginning, "I know you are all wary of the cultists, but you are listing an Ancient Guardian who saved my life and protected the Western Fortress as a suspected target. I find this intolerable—Taros has always been founded on justice and reason. When did we become cowards frightened by a group of cultists, suspecting others at random?"

"It is only I who suspects the Ancient Guardian," Duke Lorn said indifferently, his expression unchanged for ten thousand years, "It has nothing to do with His Majesty and General Groln. If the princess has any objections, she can vent them on this old minister alone."

Veronica glared, "I'm not venting, I'm questioning."

Hao Ren didn't expect this princess to be so concerned about his affairs, and he was a little touched, but in fact, he himself didn't care much about this misunderstanding—he did feel inexplicable and unhappy at first, but after vaguely guessing the truth, he didn't care anymore. As an inspector walking between mortals and gods, the mere Kingdom of Taros had virtually zero influence on him. He was watching Colo, not any country or individual of Colo, as long as these things didn't interfere with what he was doing.

However, a necessary statement was still needed, he waved his hand, "Veronica, don't be so agitated, I don't mind. I can see that you are in trouble, and this trouble is probably not small, so I can understand."

Rudolph III silently glanced at Hao Ren, a hint of appreciation and gratitude in the depths of his eyes, "Thank you for the Guardian's understanding, we are indeed in trouble—then let's get straight to the point, I wonder how much the Guardian knows about the 'Annihilation Sect'?"

Hao Ren was stunned: another new term?

"You mean those Annihilation Cultists?" He shook his head. He couldn't make up these things, so he simply didn't bother, "I don't know, I haven't heard of them."

Veronica was surprised, "But this cult has existed since ancient times, their reputation was not small a thousand years ago."

Hao Ren blinked, feeling that this was quite embarrassing…

But fortunately, his "memory loss" and "confusion of common sense" as an Ancient Guardian were well known, and this issue was not critical, so no one delved into it further. Only the old scholar Alfred explained by the side: "The Annihilation Sect, they are probably the oldest cult group in this world, even the scholars of the Holy Domain have specially studied this group and believe that they are as ancient as the chaos in this world—they are mortals who have been tempted and fallen, madmen who are gradually stepping into chaos. Ever since the evil giant Lockmarton breathed his last breath, his aura has corrupted ancient mortals, creating the earliest Annihilation Cultists."

Princess Anya took over her tutor's words: "The Annihilation Cultists worship chaos and regard the evil giant Lockmarton as the 'truth of the world.' They believe that the fate of the world is to gradually fall into chaos and darkness, and this is the fundamental purpose of the creation goddess building the world of Colo. Order and light are just accidental ripples in the process of world development, and the mortals and their civilizations born in these ripples regard this temporary order as the truth. This is the 'original foolishness'. They believe that the behavior of mortals in continuing order and resisting chaos is hindering the world from developing along the correct path, and is the source of Colo's pain. They believe that it is the endless chaotic wars that have caused Colo to be divided and brought great pain to this land, and they have their own lofty 'ideals' to correct these 'mistakes,' that is, to end the resistance of mortals and let the entire world fall into the proper track."

Veronica rolled her eyes, "In short, they just go around causing destruction, trying to make humans lose the Chaotic War."

Hao Ren listened carefully to the description of this cult group. To be honest, he was no stranger to any cult group, and he wasn't too surprised after hearing about this Annihilation Sect: Cultists are all the same, doing whatever is crazy. He was just a little curious, "Their ideals are quite fresh and refined, but aren't they also mortals themselves?"

"Yes, so they also regard themselves as targets to be 'purified'," Veronica spread her hands, "This is the most insane part of them, they don't even spare themselves when they go crazy. I heard that the 'Annihilation Codex' of the Annihilation Sect also explicitly states that when the end of the world comes, all Annihilation Cultists should immediately destroy themselves to please Lockmarton. Can you say that a guy who is crazy to this extent still has any logic?"

Hao Ren nodded repeatedly after hearing this, "Yes, yes, I know, they even hit themselves when they go crazy."

Ordinary people might find it unimaginable after hearing about such a crazy cult group, because the behavior of these fanatics not only has no logic, but also seems meaningless. Ordinary cults always use the only chance of salvation in the end of the world as a bargaining chip to bewitch people, making believers believe that their crazy behavior can allow them to avoid some disaster or get rewards far beyond human beings. However, this Annihilation Sect, their doctrine points to the only destruction—believers will not only not be saved in the end of the world, but are also existences that must be destroyed. They regard themselves as things to be purified, and believers do not get anything from this belief at all.

Instead, they are destined to lose their lives.

But Hao Ren wasn't too surprised by their misguided doctrine, because he knew that there were many indescribable forces in the Dream Plane, and these forces were spiritual poison to mortals. Even just hearing about them was enough to make even the most steadfast people go crazy.

If that evil giant Lockmarton was the representative of this kind of power, then it was no wonder that his followers were so crazy.

"I think you should already know what happened to Anya and Andrew," Rudolph III said in a low voice, "Although no clear evidence was found in the end, clues all show that there are shadows of Annihilation Cultists behind this matter, and what happened today further confirms this."

Hao Ren immediately understood, "Veronica..."

"That's right, Veronica's danger in the Western Frontier was not accidental," Rudolph III's face was gloomy, "In Bai Cheng, it was Duke Lorn who found the alchemist to cure Anya and Andrew's illness, in the Western Frontier, it was the Guardian who protected Veronica, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable."

"The failure of the Western Frontier battle was caused by both the Chaotic Surge and the withdrawal of the Theocracy, could those Chaos Cultists have such great power to control these factors?"

Duke Lorn shook his head, "Those cultists themselves have inextricable connections with the power of chaos, even if they cannot control the tides of chaos, they can use the tides of chaos to formulate their own plans. As for the premature withdrawal of the Theocracy..."

As the Duke spoke, he looked at Rudolph III with an inquiring gaze.

The king nodded and sighed, "Speak, these things will soon no longer be a secret."

"The royal arcane mages looked towards the Holy Domain from the Tower of Mysteries and observed that the Asu-man light at the peak of the Holy Domain has been extinguished."

Anya and Veronica exclaimed in unison.

Obviously, these two princesses, like Hao Ren, were only learning about this news now.