Chapter 1 Other traces

Other people searched the abandoned old house from top to bottom, but apart from the crumbling walls and the corpses of cultists everywhere, those crazy followers of Lokmahton left only one piece of seemingly valuable evidence.

A black and red evil altar.

The altar wasn't large, with a radius of about two meters. It was constructed from some indescribable, mysterious substance that looked like loosely structured volcanic rock, but was unusually hard and exuded a bone-chilling coldness. Twisted runes were drawn in blood on the altar, and these runes appeared blurred against the altar's already black and red substrate. But if one stared closely, the runes seemed to break free from the surface, causing dizziness in anyone who gazed upon them. Beside the altar, two piles of ashes could be seen – humanoid ashes.

The form of the ashes couldn't help but evoke some creepy associations.

"...This is a substance from the depths of Chaos, corrupted by the tainted blood of Lokmahton," Karasuth said, crouching down in front of the altar, his face filled with disgust as he touched the surface of the altar with his finger. "Only those cultists who have become half-demons can summon such a thing from the void through a channeling ritual. No wonder they chose to settle here: the Chaos Rift is a weak point in the border of Order. Here, their connection to the Chaos World becomes closer, and they can even summon such evil things directly from the Chaos World."

"What's this platform for?" Lily poked the edge of the altar with her paw curiously. "Is that blood on it?"

"The altar is just a medium, used to communicate with the dark forces of Chaos. They use living people as sacrifices," Karasuth frowned as he glanced at the two piles of humanoid ashes beside the altar. "These lunatics, they're probably using descendants of saints with Holy Domain blood… This blood is enough to please Lokmahton and allow that source of all evil to bestow unimaginable power."

Hao Ren stroked his chin, connecting the clues together: "They may be using this altar to borrow power from Lokmahton, and then use it to bind a 'divine artifact' that they can't control."

"Divine artifact?" Karasuth immediately raised his head. "What do you know?"

"Of course, I know. That 'divine artifact' is what they stole from me," Hao Ren spread his hands. Faced with a stranger he had just met, he didn't rashly tell the truth. "Among the fleeing cultists were a brother and sister named Willie and Lavinia. They were originally Annihilation believers lurking in the Talos aristocracy. Later, they tricked me into stealing a disc from me. They thought it was some kind of 'Radiant Disk'."

He didn't expect that the high-ranking monk would widen his eyes as if he had seen a ghost after hearing these four words: "Radiant Disk?! How could you have this holy object in your hands? Is it really it?!"

"They 'think' that thing is the Radiant Disk, I didn't say it was," Hao Ren shrugged, and then asked curiously, "Speaking of which, this Radiant Disk sounds like a very important thing? What exactly is it, that it could make this group of cultists make such a big fuss?"

A hesitant expression appeared on Karasuth's face, as if he was considering whether this matter was a secret of the Holy Domain, but before he could figure it out, Lily patted his arm: "Uncle, just tell us! My landlord definitely has a way!"

Karasuth considered his health bar and the head wolf's strength, and immediately decided to tell the story.

"The Radiant Disk is an ancient divine artifact that has been lost for thousands of years. It is said to be a key that can deflect and open the 'Reflection Realm' under Mount Asu Man, and enter another level of this world. In ancient legends, the 'Reflection Realm' is also a secret path to the eternal prison suppressing Lokmahton, but this secret path has been sealed by the power of the Goddess of Creation. Even if mortals can open it, they can only observe it from a distance and cannot approach it."

"A prison for Lokmahton?" Hao Ren thought that things were indeed similar to what he had guessed, but he didn't show anything strange on his face. "Isn't it said that Lokmahton had already been torn apart by the security system left by the goddess during the first jailbreak, and only his echo remained in the world?"

Karasuth's face was gloomy. At this moment, he thought of those words that the "Nightmare Shadow" said in a brief state of rationality, those words pointed to a chilling secret. After hesitating for a moment, he glanced at the head wolf and Hao Ren: "What I am about to tell you is one of the oldest secrets in this world. Even in the Holy Domain, only the upper echelons of the Holy See are entitled to know."

As soon as the female knight Tridis heard this, she immediately spoke up: "Then should I retreat first?"

"No need," Karasuth sighed and waved his hand. "Secrets are only meaningful to specific people at specific times. Looking at the current situation, I don't think there is any need to keep it secret anymore. Lokmahton is not dead, he has never died from the beginning."

Hao Ren had already guessed this before, so he was not surprised. Lily didn't think there was anything scary about it at all, and she had heard about this from Karasuth before, so she was also indifferent. However, apart from them, most of the people present showed shocked and unbelievable expressions, even including some monks from the Holy Domain.

Obviously, their level in the Holy Domain was not enough to come into contact with this secret.

Karasuth coughed twice and simply said everything in one breath: "Lokmahton's power is unimaginable to mortals. Only the power of the Goddess of Creation can suppress him, but it is only suppression: the evil giant has never truly died, but has only lost his body in the real world, and has been imprisoned in an eternal prison called the 'Abyss of Oblivion' in the form of nightmares and negative energy. His spiritual body survives completely in that cage, rather than wandering in the Sea of ​​Karnos in a fragmented form as told in myths—this statement was originally just to appease the believers, but now it has become the 'truth' that everyone in the secular world firmly believes in."

Hao Ren nodded silently, expressing his understanding of Karasuth's words.

After all, most of the people in this world are ordinary people, and not everyone can accept the heavy and dark truth.

"The Abyss of Oblivion is a world ruled by nightmares and twisted shadows, located deep in the Sea of ​​Karnos, but it is not the 'deep' in the conventional spatial sense," Karasuth continued to explain. "It is in the foundation of our world, an area that mortals cannot set foot in. Apart from the ancient prison guards and the sentry posts of the ancient Holy Spirit, there is only nothingness outside the prison, but this prison is not completely isolated from our world..."

Hao Ren interrupted him: "That is the Reflection Realm you just mentioned, it is the bridge connecting the real world and the nightmare world?"

The high-ranking monk nodded silently.

"So...those cultists plan to enter Lokmahton's prison?" Hao Ren raised his eyebrows. "What are they planning to do? Break him out of prison?"

"This is also what I can't believe," the high-ranking monk's tone was unusually suppressed. "There is still a final barrier between the Reflection Realm and the Abyss of Oblivion, that is the divine power of the Goddess of Creation. It isolates the passage between the evil giant and the mortal world. Usually, Annihilation cultists can only borrow a little power from the Abyss of Oblivion through rituals, which is already the limit. How could those cultists think that they have the ability to directly penetrate the barrier?! They can't even get in themselves, let alone bring Lokmahton's soul out of that world!"

Hao Ren nodded as he listened, but suddenly, a lightning-like thought flashed through his mind: "What if the divine power barrier left by the Goddess of Creation fails?"

Karasuth stared at Hao Ren with wide eyes.

"The Light of Asu Man..." Hao Ren said slowly, "How long have you been away from the Holy Domain?"

The high-ranking monk hesitated, suppressing the uneasiness in his heart: "It has been more than a month... Because the major teleportation arrays have been blocked by the Chaos Storm, we can only take the magic airship, and it took us more than half a month just to cross the Sea of ​​Karnos, and then it took another half a month to cross the Ansu Southern Border with the head wolf."

"Sure enough, you don't know what happened in the Holy Domain after that," Hao Ren sighed. "According to the situation detected by the astrologers using national-level detection spells, the Light of Asu Man above the Holy Domain has been extinguished, it happened less than a month ago, at that time you had already left the Holy Domain."

The monks of the Holy Domain were all stunned on the spot.

"How could it be...so fast..." Karasuth murmured to himself.

"It seems that the situation in the Holy Domain was already wrong before you left," Hao Ren raised his eyebrows. "Then the withdrawal of troops from the Church State can also be explained."

Karasuth's face was pale: "Alarmist, alarmist... If what you said is true, the cultists must have made all the plans to release Lokmahton's evil soul, they are fully capable of entering the Abyss of Oblivion, and even bringing the evil giant's soul out!"

"Maybe it's not that bad yet," Hao Ren laughed at this time. "The 'key' in their hands is fake."

"Fake?" The high-ranking monk didn't react for a moment, but soon understood what the other party meant. "You said the Radiant Disk in their hands..."

"I don't know what the real Radiant Disk looks like, but the one they stole from me is definitely not," Hao Ren said with a smirk. "If they use that thing to open the door, it will be a lot of fun."

Karasuth blinked. The surprise came too suddenly, even with his temperament, he had to calm down. But after the surprise, there was still worry on his face: "Even so, the extinguishing of the Light of Asu Man is still a major event, without the protection of the Eternal Holy Light, the Holy Domain is in danger."

Lily looked at Hao Ren, and then at Karasuth: "Uncle, don't you want to go home and see? Your old home is booming."

The big dog's words are still so simple, direct and heartfelt.

Karasuth took several deep breaths, and it took a lot of effort to calm down. His eyes regained their firmness: "If the Light of Asu Man has been extinguished, then even if the entire Holy Domain investigation team withdraws, it will only be a drop in the bucket, but if the Pope and the bishops are still holding on, then our mission may be to save the last hope of the Holy Domain."

"Mission?" Hao Ren asked casually out of curiosity.

Before Karasuth could speak, Lily had already jumped up with a shout: "They are going to a place called the Barren Wasteland to find a relic called the Kasu An Holy Temple! They said there is light there!"

Hao Ren was stunned: "Kasu An Holy Temple? Why does it sound a bit... Oh crap?"

As soon as Lily saw his appearance, she immediately came up to him: "Landlord, landlord, do you know this place?"

Hao Ren stroked his chin, finally connecting all the causes and consequences together.

He stroked his chin: "Karasuth, right... The light you are looking for, if there are no accidents, should be what I smashed out."