The soldier wearing the uniform of the Imperial Corps received a blanket and a cup of warm honey water. He held the water cup and spoke in a still trembling tone about the horrific experiences he and a group of survivors had experienced these days:
"The atmosphere in the city has been wrong since a long time ago. There are more things to see in the army than civilians. Those black sword knights gathered together, took over more than half of the command, and issued a lot of strange orders, such as
Let us move the foundation stone of the city outside the city and bury it...
"Later they banned external communications, saying it was because of special controls during the war. Then the barracks began to be separated into zones. We were divided into brigade formations. They sent out brigade after brigade in order, saying it was to perform tasks, but they didn't do it at all.
Whenever any large group was seen leaving the camp, those who had been 'sent out' seemed to disappear out of thin air.
"Then the teams that were 'sent out' came back again. I saw them from a distance and felt that they had transformed into something else from the inside...I don't mean their appearance, their appearance was still the same as before, but their eyes
It's very strange, there is something wrong all over my body.
"There are more and more disappearances in the city, and everyone starts to have nightmares. The nightmares are just like reality. In our dreams, we see monsters with countless eyes and countless limbs. Sometimes when we wake up, we even
You can see those eyes on the wall. Some soldiers began to feel scared and thought they were cursed, so they went to their commander. The commander took the soldiers to find the magicians to "lift the curse". The next day they
They were brought back and they looked normal, and there was no sign of having nightmares when they were sleeping. But I was even more scared because I felt that they were no longer sleeping at all... they just lay there all night long.
He lay there all night, pretending to be a normal person sleeping.
"I know a man named White, who is from the same hometown as me. He used to be very dishonest when sleeping, but after he was taken away and came back, he would lie upright in bed every night without turning over or snoring...
"One time I woke up at night and saw White lying there straight again. I went over and took a look, and I found that his eyes were open! He stared at me and kept looking. He didn't speak, but I
I know for sure that his voice is in my head!"
The surviving soldier began to tremble. His words were messy, trivial and complicated, and Constance had to cast a little spell on him to soothe his spirit: "Calm down, calm down, those monsters are dead. Let's get to the point. What happened next?
"
"I'm scared, I'm scared... The day after that, a Black Sword Knight came to me and said he had a special mission for me. They said that a cursed plague broke out in a neighborhood, including me.
A group of soldiers went to help 'deal' with the people infected with the plague. When I got there, I found that something was wrong. There was no sign of the plague at all. They were just blocking the entire street, and then letting the black sword knights go in to kill people...
…
"I looked for an opportunity to run away. It was not difficult to run away. I couldn't believe it at the time. They didn't care at all that I ran out, and they had obviously discovered me. At that time, I looked back and saw them clearly.
They all stood there, looking at the place where I was hiding. Everyone's face had no expression, just like a puppet... Later, I ran to the city and found out why this was happening.
"When we were closed and quarantined, there were not many normal people in the whole city. At first, they secretly infected and spread the infection. After almost half of the people were replaced, they started arresting people on the street openly. But when it came to me
On the day of my escape, almost everyone in the city had turned into 'them'! It was the same no matter where I ran, I couldn't escape their eyes at all, their eyes were all connected together!
"But I still found some survivors, those who were with me. Your Royal Highness, you can't imagine how surprised and happy I was at that time. They were originally hidden in a broken factory. There were many people at the beginning, but
Later, some people heard some noises in their sleep. Those who were not determined immediately got up after hearing the sounds and walked into the night outside the factory. However, those who walked out never came back, so the remaining people
I had to tie myself to a pillar before I dared to sleep, but even so, there were still fewer and fewer people. Some people disappeared as if they were swallowed up by nightmares out of thin air. By the time I found them, there were only so many people left.
.
"Not long after that, the Black Sword Knight began to lead the soldiers to do the final 'cleaning' of the city. At that time, more than 90% of the people in the city had turned into 'them', and the remaining normal people could not hide at all.
The soldiers showed their swords and openly dragged those normal people who had not been transformed for various reasons from their hiding places and killed them on the street, while others looked on with expressions on their faces.
Hungry look…
"Because I used to be a soldier, I noticed this in advance, so I took everyone out of the factory and fled. I found a way to bypass the soldiers' eyes and ears, and lost a few more people in the process... But in the end we found
There is a large cellar under the church, and the entrance to the cellar can be sealed, so we hid in it until today."
The chaotic narration of the surviving soldiers finally came to an end, and Constance sighed softly: "It's so planned and logical... So those monsters in the semi-transformation stage are more terrifying than those after complete transformation. What is terrifying is the wisdom."
With the narrative ability of the surviving soldier and his current mental state, it is difficult for him to vividly describe the horrific experiences of those past days, and he will not have any exquisite rhetoric and metaphors to increase his persuasiveness, but just from what he has said
Anyone can imagine what a terrible scene it is. The whole city is being "alienated" little by little. The eerie atmosphere becomes more obvious and serious every day. Everyone is gradually turning into a monster.
And the force that caused all this is so powerful that it is impossible to resist.
And there is nowhere to escape because the monsters have blocked all roads leaving the city from the beginning.
This is only the first month of the War of the Change of Era. If the original historical trajectory is followed, the nightmare of this world will just be a prelude.
"It seems that you don't know what blocked those corrupting forces and allowed you to survive in the cellar." Leah looked into the soldier's eyes. She could judge the truth and falsehood of every sentence he said.
There may be clues hidden behind it, but from the soldiers' thoughts, she could not find any reason to explain the final survival of these people. They were not strong-willed enough to resist the erosion of madness. In fact, after so many days of torture,
, the spirits of these people have long been extremely fragile. Not to mention the power of madness, even just one nightmare derivative is enough to corrupt their spirits. "The reason should be the cellar itself."
"These are the only things that can be found in the cellar," Kaim led several northern soldiers to pile up some debris. "If there is nothing here, then maybe there is something similar to an enchantment in the structure of the cellar...
…”
The soldiers of the North moved out everything from the cellar that looked like it might have special powers. Even things that seemed unlikely to have special powers were moved out. Broken clay pots, moldy swords, old statues of gods, ritual objects
, all kinds of messy things were spread out on the ground.
But fortunately there are not many of them: it seems that the church was not very wealthy originally.
Constance and Leah stepped forward to inspect those things. They both immediately diverted their attention from the religious artifacts: the former obviously had no interest in the so-called gods, while the latter analyzed them from a more professional perspective.
The so-called God of Day and the God of Night should not go together...
Leah's eyes were suddenly attracted by a shiny object among the debris.
Constance's eyes were also attracted by the object with a special sense of presence. She stretched out her sword to pick up the object and frowned slightly: "What is this..."
Before she could see clearly, Leah suddenly exclaimed in a low voice: "Eh?!"
What Constance picked up on the tip of the sword was a very small silver-white wide armband. The style of the armband was very gorgeous. The widened edge made it look a bit like an arm guard. There were
The method of hollowing out fine lines depicts complex runes and images of animals and plants, but its size is obviously not suitable for adults, and is more like an ornament worn on a child's arm.
Hearing Leah's voice, Constance couldn't help but glance at the "little girl" next to her who was full of mystery and had all kinds of incredible powers. As a result, she somehow connected the other person with the armband in her mind.
Together.
In terms of size...it seems appropriate?
"This..." Constance looked at Leah uncertainly, "could it be yours?"
Lia was about to shake her head in denial, but then she seemed to think of something, and said without confirming or denying: "I just look a little familiar. Is there anything of mine... in a local church like this?"
?”
"I just think the sizes are pretty close," Constance picked up the armband and made a gesture on her arm. Of course, she would definitely not be able to put it on if she was wearing armor, but even if she wasn't wearing armor, this armband wouldn't fit her.
"Obviously for children..."
Leah: "..."
"Bring it to me and let me see." After holding back the veins on her forehead, Leah said stiffly and stretched out her hand to Constance.
"Promise to you."
Constance handed over the armband, and the moment Leah's fingers touched the armband, a loud bang suddenly sounded in the sky.
The two of them looked up in shock at the same time.
It seemed as if a huge crack had opened in the sky. The dark red twisted crack was very similar to the Gorgon Abyss. In the crack, countless floating wreckage, shining fires, and thunder-like beams could be seen.
Criss-crossing between those shadows, explosions burst out continuously from the depths of the sea of clouds.
And a faint, long white river-like luminous strip traverses the chaotic world behind the gap.
Leah was shocked and immediately removed her hand from the armband.