"There, whenever I pass through the gate and enter the moon's dwelling, my shell shall remain outside the door—"
Holding his Scepter aloft, the High Priest's face suddenly took on a fanatical expression. A strange tremor entered his hoarse voice.
Strange phosphorescence bloomed like flowers. With the pitch-black Altar beneath the High Priest as its pistil and the three small Altars bearing sacrifices as its petals, it followed the lines and grooves engraved across the cave floor, completely illuminating the entire cavern.
Upon the ancient rocky walls, empty grooves gradually filled with light, revealing a massive Ritual Magic Circle nearly a thousand meters across! Moreover, if a mage were present, they would clearly see that this was merely the core portion of some enormous Mystic Ritual Array!
"l'a~y'a~"
Within the cave, the Heretic Cultists in tattered robes suddenly began chanting in unison. The syllables were monotonous, yet incomparably loud.
Specks of phosphorescent fire rose from the grooves in the ground, which brimmed with ghostly light. They darted through the cultists' ragged robes like miserable green fireflies crawling out of corpses.
The steaming phosphorescence cast dancing, murky shadows among the figures, making the entire ritual scene appear terrifying and sinister.
As the ritual continued, some kind of power was imposed upon the sacrifices atop the three small Altars.
Their sleeping faces twisted in pain. At the same time, the essence of Eighth Rank power began continuously spilling forth, adding a trace of brilliance to the Altars' light.
"In that distant place where even the sun has been forgotten, hidden pilgrim, your radiance surpasses that of old—"
The Green Phosphorescence within the cave continued to intensify, extending along the grooves connected to the cave walls toward places far away.
On the island's ancient cliff walls of reliefs, the eyes of enormous Stone