Chapter 199 The ceremony begins
Wang Zhifan, who had a strong premonition that there might be something wrong with Purification Ritual mentioned by Baron Rogue, then walked up to Sandra and talked to her, reminding her in a subtle way that Purification Ritual might be a scam or a cover, and asked her and the entire team to be careful.
The reason why he did not speak too directly was because he did not have much prestige or presence in this task team. Everyone obviously trusted Baron Rogue. He, an outsider, directly said that Baron Rogue might have a conspiracy, which could easily lead to less than ideal consequences.
This is also because he is not 100% sure that something bad will happen next. Maybe what Baron Rogue said is true, or half truth and half lies lead to a relatively good ending, and then he will become a clown in the way.
What made Wang Zhifan a little speechless was that he found that Sandra, the female Warrior, didn't know whether it was because she trusted Baron Rogue too much or because she was born with a brain that was not flexible enough in terms of language understanding. However, she failed to hear the reminder in his words, and simply thought that Wang Zhifan was here to remind her to pay attention to the test Purification Ritual mentioned by Baron Rogue. There was no doubt that Baron Rogue might have bad motives.
"Forget it... maybe my feeling is not right... but you still have to be cautious."
In view of this, Wang Zhifan stopped caring about others. He quickly walked outside the church and used a little shelter to complete the alternation between himself and the Dream Self clone. The Dream Self clone took his place. While moving around here, he activated Ghost Shadow Shoes's ability to burrow into the ground to reach a distance. He chose a rooftop in the distance and put on Wind-Hiding Hat to hide himself, and quietly observed the progress of Purification Ritual here.
In this way, even if there is a problem with the ceremony that Baron Rogue is about to start, it will only affect his Dream Self clone and not easily affect him. He can take corresponding countermeasures whenever there is any trouble.
"Next, let me testify whether my premonition is correct or not."
After everything was ready, Wang Zhifan hid on the top of a building far away from the church and waited for Purification Ritual to be turned on. Except for controlling the position of Dream Self's clone at the scene, he no longer paid attention to anything else.
In the church, Sandra had already placed Omniscient Crystal on that Dark Altar according to Baron Rogue's instructions, waiting for Baron Rogue who was far away from Rogue Town to use it to open Purification Ritual to the so-called contaminated holy objects.
During this period, she also emphasized the test in Purification Ritual mentioned by Baron Rogue to a total of thirty other professionals and players, so that they could prepare for battle.
The NPC professionals were actually a little dissatisfied with the sudden addition of such a link. After all, they originally thought that they could complete the task by just looking for things, but in the end they had to fight monsters again. The players were more accepting mentally. Maybe they felt that the rewards from killing the four elite monsters were not good enough before, and they wanted to take advantage of the team to slay another wave of monsters.
When these people in the center of Aifilan Ruins were preparing for battle, what they didn't know was that thousands of kilometers away in Rogue Town, Baron Rogue, who had put on noble and gorgeous aristocratic clothes, was also arranging people to prepare for a battle.
At this time, he had already boarded the black and gray High Tower altar, which was specially built with a lot of money and manpower. He stood on the relatively flat top of the altar, like a noble priest who was about to hold a prayer ceremony for the gods.
"Go and inform those outsiders and tell them that as long as they help you protect Rogue Town's safety, I will give each of them a piece of precious equipment."
Baron Rogue, who was standing on the top platform of the black and gray High Tower altar, turned his head slightly at this moment and looked at an old mage waiting beside him and said. This old mage was one of his personal guards when he met with professionals and players in the tavern a day ago. It can be seen that he is one of his capable men.
"Okay, Lord Baron, we will do our best to assist you in completing the great ceremony."
The old mage bent down, then turned around and climbed into the nearby High Tower spiral staircase and rushed to the bottom of High Tower. Immediately, only Baron Rogue was left on the entire platform.
"Hehehe... I have finally waited for this day... I didn't expect everything to go so smoothly..."
Unexpectedly, Baron Rogue, who was alone, could not help but let out a low laughter that was somewhat inappropriate for his status. If anyone could hear it nearby, they would definitely be surprised by the sudden change in the style of this aristocratic middle-aged man who usually gives off a wise and modest image.
He then raised an apple-sized crystal ball in his hand to his eyes, staring at the somewhat blurry scene revealed in the crystal ball. It seemed to be a very evil altar, exuding a deep and terrifying dark atmosphere, but in his eyes, it seemed as if a goddess descended to earth and fascinated him.
"That's it... that's it! It's the same as what I saw when Aifilan's top executives were preparing for the ceremony!"
"But they are too greedy and stupid... A group of mere high-level professionals actually want to become gods in one step... Even if they sacrifice most of the world and attract Demon Tide, they are doomed to fail!"
"But I'm different! I'm not as greedy as them, and I'm not as stupid as them! What I ask for is not much! I only need one thousandth of what they pray for! No! One millionth is enough! If you are wise and kind like me, you will definitely succeed!"
Baron Rogue stared at the crystal ball that was brought to his eyes, looking at the Dark Altar presented inside with fascination and contentment. He kept talking to himself excitedly. Although he deliberately lowered most of his voice, people could still feel his excitement and desire, as well as the extreme restraint he exerted to suppress his excitement.
After being dazed like this for a while, he returned to his original dignified aristocratic demeanor. He lifted the crystal ball in front of his eyes and gently placed it on the top of a pillar in front of him. That was where the key sacred object of this High Tower altar was placed, if there really was a sacred object.
Shifting your gaze from the High Tower altar to Rogue Town below, you can see that the atmosphere here has become a bit chilly.
Teams of Rogue Town security guards took turns walking through the empty streets. All residents were required to stay at home and were not allowed to wander around at will.
On a certain street, three players suddenly appeared. One of them was a thin Assassin player wearing black clothes and covering his face. The two were gunners holding guns. They were walking on the street with vigilant expressions while talking to each other.
"I said, we gave up the mission to Holy City and chose to do this mission of guarding the town. Did we make a wrong choice? The atmosphere in this town now makes me feel that this mission will be difficult. Maybe it will be easier to go to Holy City, at least there will be a lot of helpers."
One gunner complained to his companion next to him with a hint of annoyance.
"Haha, it's great to have this mission! Yesterday I thought we were going to rush into the street, but I didn't expect that Baron was so particular that he directly forgave us for our behavior and even issued a new mission for us, treasure-level equipment, tsk tsk, I specifically went to inquire about it, and it is far better than the high-quality equipment. It is probably what our players call Excellent Tier equipment. Do you think the task of obtaining Excellent Tier equipment will be easy?"
The other gunner was obviously completely stunned by the excellent reward promised by Baron Rogue, a piece of Excellent Tier equipment, something he rarely saw on the forum. If he could really complete the mission and get one, he could literally take off on the spot.
"Don't be too optimistic, you guys. I went to investigate last night and found no warehouse for Rogue Town to store Excellent Tier equipment. I suspect that the baron is lying to us."
Assassin, a thin, black-clothed and masked man who rarely spoke, then spoke, expressing his suspicions about the person who issued the mission. It was the kind of suspicion that was derived from investigation.
But the Gunner player who spoke before was not happy to hear this, and he immediately retorted:
"How could it be so easy for you to find the place where others put treasure-level equipment? Besides, if you really don't believe in this mission he issued, why don't you leave early? Just go to Frost Harbor and find someone to customize it yourself."
"Stop arguing, the ceremony should start soon, the shield is up!"
Another Gunner player interrupted their conversation at this time and pointed to the edge of the basin where this town is located. In a full circle around that, you can see that the huge magic circle mask that once blocked their escape has formed again, blocking Rogue Town's connection with the outside world of the basin.
"Hey... why did you upgrade the shield? Is it necessary to open the shield for this mission?"
The interrupted gunman player suddenly became suspicious when he saw this. He didn't remember anyone saying that this method was available during this mission.
"Maybe to prevent outside monsters from attacking?"
His fellow shooters then offered their guesses.
"But the monsters around this town have been almost wiped out by the guards."
The Assassin player next to him immediately shook his head.
"In my opinion, they may have raised the shield to prevent people inside from escaping... I knew there was something wrong with this mission, so please pray for yourselves."
He then said something in a cold tone, and his figure quickly entered the Invisibility state.
"Look! There seems to be a shield raised around High Tower!"
The gunner player who first noticed the rising shield around the town then pointed in another direction, where he could see a black and gray High Tower that was said to have been built recently. A white mask quickly appeared around it, completely sealing it off and completely isolating it from other parts of the Rogue Town.
"This... something is really wrong... The entire town is surrounded by a light mask, which can be said to be a defense against enemies from the outside. Now, what is the purpose of the baron isolating himself from the town? Is it to defend against threats from within? Will the enemies in this city defense mission be so strong? Do they need to activate two layers of defense?"
When the gunner player expressed his confusion, on the High Tower altar in the distance that had been wrapped in a photo mask, Baron Rogue, dressed in gorgeous aristocratic clothing, had officially begun his great ceremony. He knelt down on the High Tower platform, opened his arms with enthusiasm, and looked up to the sky and chanted:
"Great Lord of Hell! Your humble servant offers you the most brutal battle! To pray for your blessing!"
"O noble Dark God! Your loyal believers dedicate their most vivid lives to you! In exchange for your blessings!"
"Supreme Endless Abyss! Your devout people offer you the strongest pain and hatred! Please grant me the essence of sublimation!"
"Sacrifice ceremony! Begin!"
As the owner of Rogue Town started the entire ritual through a series of lengthy spells, at the same time, Rogue Town and Aifilan, who were thousands of miles away, both experienced great changes.
First of all, here at Rogue Town, the peace of the town that was originally protected by the light shield was instantly broken. Dark fissures appeared out of thin air inside the town, and countless ferocious and bloodthirsty monsters emerged from them! Astonishingly, an extremely large number of monsters were summoned directly into Rogue Town! Started a cage fight with the entire town's residents!
On the other side of Aifilan, about thirty professionals and players waiting in the ruined church suddenly saw the Omniscient Crystal placed on Dark Altar emitting an evil red light. Then they heard endless vibrations and roars coming from all around outside the church. It turned out that the monsters in the entire Holy City ruins were enraged and attacked them together!
"This... this! What's going on?! Aren't we going to hold Purification Ritual! Why did we suddenly anger the monsters outside! This is a naked murder of us!"
Some NPC professionals immediately screamed in fright and anger. I don't blame them for being so rude. The main reason is that this situation is extremely bad. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a fatal disaster! There are more than a million monsters in the entire Holy City ruins, and there are quite a few very powerful beings. They were able to come all the way here only by moving carefully with the help of Omniscient Crystal. But now that all the monsters have discovered their location and are attacking them, it is almost impossible for them to leave Aifilan! "Fuck! That bastard baron! He actually tricked us like this! I will beat him into a hornet's nest when I get back!"
"CNM! It's us who are purifying this Purification Ritual! We were deceived by that bastard Baron! I'm afraid he didn't want to silence us!"
The players suddenly felt the huge pressure of doomsday. They really did not expect that this mission would have such sudden changes. Baron Rogue, who had always left a good impression on them, actually started liquidation after they completed the mission!
"Impossible! It's impossible for Lord Baron to do this!"
The female Warrior Sandra suddenly found that there were endless monsters coming around her. At this time, her mind was almost blank. She couldn't believe that the kind and wise noble in the hearts of Rogue Town people would do such a thing, and couldn't help but scream.
At the same time, Wang Zhifan, who was hiding on the roof of a building far outside the church, also frowned deeply.
"Why did that guy do this? Just to silence us? Could it be that he has already achieved his goal through us?"
He didn't understand why Baron Rogue, who was leading all of this, suddenly killed him. After all, the other party had paid a lot for their Holy City trip, providing rare equipment and arranging a convoy. Even Omniscient Crystal was brought over to assist their actions. But now they have lost their value without even seeing the shadow of the sacred object?