Since the Earth Goddess Sect lost its power, many strange sects have emerged from the bottom of the Disa Alliance. They secretly tamper with the teachings of the Earth Temple, promote the doomsday and eternal life, and use intimidation and fraud to control believers and gather power.
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The rise of half-elf folk sects filled the faith vacuum caused by the loss of the Earth Temple. They grew rapidly and once shook Highland City's rule over the Alliance.
The highland nobles believed that the founders of the folk sects were die-hards who had left the Earth Temple, and that they had irreconcilable conflicts with the famous highland families. Therefore, the Alliance Council mobilized elite private soldiers from various famous families to suppress the folk sects. The leaders of the folk sects, and
Key members who infiltrated the military and political system were bloody purged.
Then, the Alliance Council promulgated laws that strictly prohibited the private spread of faith. Several popular folk sects subsequently collapsed.
However, the burning pyre is not so easy to extinguish. Even if the old priests who are hostile to the Alliance Council are slaughtered by famous private soldiers, the latecomers will find that spreading the faith and forming a sect is a shortcut to fight for power.
The key is that the Earth Goddess is not a true god and cannot bestow extraordinary powers on her followers. The great sage Marv can create a goddess sect, and other ambitious people can certainly follow suit.
Folk sects turned from light to dark, took root in the poor classes, preached secretly, and limited their scope of influence to lower states, gradually becoming underground forces similar to gangs and thieves.
The old priests of the Earth Temple have been purged many times, and the current folk sects have nothing to do with the old priests. In order to survive, large and small folk sects have intentionally or unintentionally moved closer to the famous families, at least they dare not openly confront the famous nobles. As long as the folk sects are old
They honestly guard their own territory and do not spread their beliefs across regions. The Alliance Council also turns a blind eye to them.
The Eternal Sleep Sect is one of them. However, its scope of spread includes multiple city-states, which has touched the tolerance limit of the highland noble families towards folk sects. It is an evil sect that must be completely eradicated. However, the actions of the Eternal Sleep Sect are very secretive and are almost invisible.
It is well known to people. The targets it preaches to do not care about their birth status, but give priority to those half-elves who are in desperate situations and have no other way out.
Captain Rhodes of the Iron Cross also joined the Eternal Sleep Sect by chance. Otherwise, how could he, a servant boy whose family was exterminated, suddenly transform into a slightly famous slave trader?
It was the Yongmian Sect who first helped Rhodes develop the slave trade business, and then he was recruited by the famous Yinpanjiao family. It can also be said that Rhodes was the nail in the door for the Yongmian Sect to break into the famous Yinpanjiao family.
No one knows how many people like Rhodes the Eternal Sleep Sect has. Rhodes himself does not know the details of the Eternal Sleep Sect. He is neither fanatical nor loyal to the sect. It seems that the Eternal Sleep Sect does not need these. In other words, the Eternal Sleep Sect does not need these.
The "eternal sleeper" who worships faith does not care whether the believer is pious or not.
Because He is the "true God", a true God who is evil but can also bring benefits to believers.
Rhodes didn't dare to betray him at first, but later he didn't want to betray him. If he secretly delivers slaves with excellent physical fitness to the sect, he will be rewarded, for example, a "living secret medicine" that can bring the dead back to life.
Of course, the price of this "living secret medicine" shows how evil the "Eternal Sleeper" is.
The tentacle worms in the "Living Secret Medicine" will absorb the flesh and blood of the host, continue to grow, and gradually replace the host's muscles, bones, internal organs, and finally the brain. The host's strength, speed, toughness, and recovery ability have all been unimaginably improved, but
After his brain was replaced by a tentacle worm, he became a clone of the "Eternal Sleeper".
This is a road of no return.
Rhodes never wanted to use the Eternal Sleeper's "living secret medicine" unless he had to. However, he was now surrounded by the Bone Collector orcs, and he was injured. The only one he could count on, Wiltok, became arrogant and difficult to get close to.
Rhodes thought about it and felt that he could not place his hope of survival on Wiltok's compassion. Therefore, he decided to take a gamble.
This started a few months ago. At that time, after Rhodes discovered Wiltok, he planned to introduce him to the Eternal Sleeper Cult. However, he was selling barbarian slaves in the plantation and heard from the female shaman that Wiltok's body lived in
He was a god. Rhodes was dubious until he was chased by the Bone Collector. Wiltok showed many extraordinary abilities. In particular, he saved Deputy Captain Huck and greatly increased Huck's strength.
Other professionals might not think much about it, but as an evil god cultist, Rhodes has other opinions.
Anyway, with the strength of a third-level swordsman, he can neither escape danger nor capture Vertok, so he might as well take a big gamble.
Rhodes deliberately participated in the second battle, lacerated his wounds, put himself in danger of death, and prayed for Vertok's salvation. If he could get the favor of the other party, he could follow a "true god", and his situation would be certain.
Much better than in the Eternal Sleep Sect.
Rhodes lost the bet, and Wiltok ignored his prayers.
The "Eternal Sleeper" child body is mercilessly devouring Rhode's flesh and blood, converting them into nutrients for growth. This process is actually not painful, but it will bring panic to the host. Rhodes clearly feels a slippery tentacle swimming inside the body.
He couldn't move, wrapping around his spine. He couldn't even lift a finger.
Rhodes is most afraid of the tentacle occupying his head. Although this situation is inevitable in the end, the time of occupation can be immediately, a few years later, more than ten years later, or even longer. As long as he can prove
His own value is higher than that of a puppet without intelligence, and the "Eternal Sleeper" will allow him to continue to live.
Rhodes prayed to the "Eternal Sleeper" in his heart and promised to offer him the best sacrifice. Regardless of whether the "Eternal Sleeper" heard it or not, he had already described Wiltok as a sleeping god.
However, how could he truly understand the details of Wiltok, let alone the true face of the "Eternal Sleeper".
Sometimes, people are more like devils than devils, and they like to use deceitful means to seduce others. As long as they can arouse the other party's potential desires, the truth can easily be ignored by both parties.
The next morning, Wiltok woke up from his sleep, and Huck told him that Captain Rhodes was dead and asked him to go and have a look.
The professional swordsman's attack power is powerful, but his body is relatively fragile. Rhodes' internal organs were severely damaged, and a main blood vessel was ruptured. He has neither the talent for self-healing nor the top secret medicine that can save his life, so he is basically certain to die.
Wiltok was not surprised by this result, but Rhode's body did look abnormal.
The leader of the Iron Cross Regiment was lying flat on a mat of tree branches, with a large pool of dark red blood under his body. In fact, he had already lost too much blood while he was still conscious, to the point where it was difficult to save him.
Under normal circumstances, Rhodes died of massive blood loss, and the surface of his body should be pale and bloodless. What Wiltok saw was a stiff, skinny body with blackened skin, as if it had shrunk severely after many years of death.
The mummy. What is even more puzzling is that the head and face of the mummy are still intact. Although the cheeks are sunken and there are spreading black lines, at least the facial features can be seen to be that of Rhodes.
Captain Rhodes had lost his breath and heartbeat, and his gray and empty eyes stared straight into the sky. With his extraordinary perception, Wiltok was sure that he was dead and there was no sign of life. However, such a strange death state was difficult to find.
To explain it with common sense. The surviving half-elves gathered around here, silently.
For the members of the Iron Cross, Rhodes was their companion day and night after all, and his death was inevitably sad. However, when the Iron Cross crossed the Shadow Forest, many members died tragically from the fangs of the shadow beasts.
Under the claws, now that it is Rhodes' turn to die in battle, it can only be said that he is unlucky, and the living people have to find a way to survive.
The strange death of Captain Rhodes aroused everyone's uneasiness and suspicion.
"The leader... looks like he died of starvation. Even if he died of starvation... his body wouldn't turn black, right?" The only remaining professional swordsman in the Iron Cross Regiment muttered, slightly nervous.
"It looks like he was poisoned," said Level 4 Archer Lisen, stroking the short beard on his chin.
He showed the scimitar used by the ferocious gnoll to Wiltok and said: "The gnoll bone collector was killed by Lord Harker. This is the scimitar it used to cut Captain Rhodes...
...We checked the captain's wound at that time and found out that the knife was actually very hard. If Master Huck hadn't taken action in time to pull Captain Rhodes away, Rhodes would have been cut in half by this knife. But none of us expected that the jackal's
The scimitar was smeared with poison."
The scimitar used by the ferocious gnolls was made by goblin craftsmen. The quality of the knife was very poor. The blade was faintly green and looked like it had been smeared with poison. But Wiltok, who was proficient in blacksmithing, knew that the green blade was due to too many impurities.
The reason has nothing to do with toxins.
He took the scimitar and inspected it again, shook his head and said: "Gnolls like to eat the meat of their prey, and they generally don't use poison on their weapons... Goblin throwers are used to soaking stone bullets with feces. Captain Rhodes' situation
It is not considered poisoning.”
Because this team had prepared two large wooden rafts in advance, so far, no one has been hit by goblin stone bullets. The appearance of Rhodes' body seems not to be directly related to the orc bone collectors.
"Well, this is definitely not poisoning!"
Dark hunter Max echoed Wiltok's point of view. He looked left and right, as if he was on guard for something, and then asked in a low voice with a serious face: "You have all heard of the vampire, right?"
The Vampire, a vampire monster widely circulated in the Disa League, frequently appears in absurd, terrifying, and bizarre stories. There are countless versions of the legend about the Vampire, and their descriptions also have their own characteristics. But there is one thing
It is common for vampires to suck the flesh and blood of half-elves, turning their victims into skinny mummies.
Many half-elves believe that vampires are real, and Max obviously also believes in the existence of vampires. Max is in his fifties, has rich life experience, and is still a talker. He talked about several vampires vividly.
The rumors about demons were as if he had personally experienced them and witnessed them with his own eyes.
Not to mention, the condition of Captain Rhodes' body is relatively in line with half-elves' common understanding of vampires.
Everyone was stunned, but Wiltok didn't believe those vampire incidents at all. He interrupted Max and asked: "You told several stories, and the victims were all dead. That vampire incident...
Who spread the story of the murder? Did the vampire himself tell others?"
Max was startled for a moment, then nodded seriously and said: "Maybe, the vampire really told it, otherwise how could these stories spread?"
"Well, I've also heard that vampire demons can transform. They can take on the appearance of their victims, and even the victims' relatives and friends can't tell them apart." Huck said with a solemn expression.
The half-elf professionals all began to look at each other, looking at each other with alert and scrutinizing eyes. At this time, no one dared to move, for fear of being misunderstood as a vampire who had sneaked into the team.
The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became weird, even a little scary.
In civilized countries without belief in the true God, there will always be many superstitions about monsters and ghosts. Rumors are said to stop only the wise, but how many people can be called wise?
Even powerful half-elf professionals are not immune to this. Because of this, Wiltok seems to be out of tune with everyone. He did not take the rumors of the vampire demon seriously, and he could not understand how bad this incident would affect his companions.
Of course, it’s still unclear who is right and who is wrong.
Wiltok didn't bother to pay attention to the half-elves who were glaring at each other. He pulled out a fine iron dagger, knelt down, and was about to attack Rhodes' body.
Leeson of the Iron Cross Regiment was shocked when he saw this, and quickly asked: "Mr. Wiltok, you... what are you going to do?"
While untying Rhode's leather armor, Wiltok said without raising his head: "I am going to dissect Captain Rhode's body. Maybe I can know why his skin and muscles are black, and why the body is there."
Become skinny in a short period of time?”
The professionals of the Iron Ten Regiment all changed their faces when they heard Wiltok's words. It was Max who reminded him from the side: "Vell, Captain Rhodes is dead."
Wiltok stopped what he was doing, tilted his head and looked at Max sideways, and asked: "What do you mean? Didn't he die just now?"
The Earth Sect claims that the Earth Goddess first created living beings from soil, and then collected underground rocks to create a race of rock elves and half-elves. The half-elves believe that the Earth Goddess will introduce the soul of the Disa half-elf into the Kingdom of God, while her own body will be intact
, the soul can be complete. Therefore, after death, you should be completely buried in the ground and return to the embrace of the goddess.
Half-elf adventurers especially value this. Wiltok caused public outrage when he wanted to dissect Rhodes' body in public. At least the professionals of the Iron Cross could not accept his approach.
They all stared at Wiltok with unkind expressions. Harker was immediately furious when he saw this, and was about to scold him when Max quickly said: "I mean, we should bury poor Rhodes. This is what we can do for him."
The last thing he did."
Wiltok shrugged his shoulders indifferently and said: "In that case, forget it... Could you please dig a hole to bury Captain Rhodes. May he return to the embrace of Mother Earth."