What the old bishop said exceeded everyone's most bizarre assumptions, so that no one uttered a word for half a minute after the old man finished speaking. In the end, Hao Ren was the first to break the silence: "You mean, the whole God Has the City of Dependents disappeared?"
"Ninety percent of the urban area has disappeared, and only a small part of the ring-shaped area closest to the holy mountain of Asuman - the side of the gods remains, including the Icon Palace and several subsidiary palaces. Due to the obstruction of the forces of chaos, The scouting team we sent couldn’t get closer to investigate, but only from the outside, it can be confirmed that the holy light of the Icon Palace has been extinguished, and there is not even any breath of life in the whole building.”
Calassius couldn't help taking a breath: "Goddess!"
The high-ranking bishop clenched his hands involuntarily, and then let them go convulsively. Obviously, the shocking news made him lose his mind all of a sudden, so that he felt at a loss what to do.
Under such circumstances, only Hao Ren, who has always maintained a third-party perspective, can ask as usual: "Did you send people to explore outside after that? Are there any remaining cities around the City of the Gods? Are there any remaining cities in the wilderness outside?" Any survivors? Perhaps this will tell us what happened."
The old bishop shook his head weakly: "Of course we have thought about what you said, but the repeated attacks of the nightmare forces have exhausted the surviving priests in Luan City. It is already a miracle that we stick to this cathedral. How is it possible? There is still room to send the second batch of teams. In fact, the first team suffered a lot of casualties. At that time, we organized the reconnaissance team with the idea of desperately breaking through to seek help from the holy city, but now the entire city of gods is not Flying with wings, it is impossible for a new reconnaissance team to set off."
Hao Ren glanced at Karasius next to him. The other party was still in shock and grief, but the high-level bishop still calmed down with his extraordinary willpower. He took a long breath: "We must go to Asu immediately. Man... Mr. Hao Ren, do you have a plan?"
Until now, Calassius has not forgotten the decree he heard from the pope when he set off. He firmly believes that Hao Ren, the "miracle" from the Casuan Temple, is the hope of saving Asuman. Even if the situation worsens, he will Believe it firmly—because this has almost become the only reason for him to continue to persevere. Now that the city of gods has mysteriously disappeared, he needs a pillar of belief to support his actions.
However, Hao Ren didn't answer right away. He just thought about it seriously and asked suddenly, "Bishop Holzman, did the City of God's Blessing cut off its external communication before the chaos completely enveloped the land?"
He heard a suspicious detail from the old bishop's description just now, so he couldn't help but keep asking.
The old bishop nodded.
"At that time, the city of gods has not 'disappeared'?"
The old bishop continued to nod: "It should be like this. At that time, the brilliance from the holy city could still be observed, and the existence of the holy city could also be confirmed through divine divination. It's just that all communication channels have been cut off."
"That is to say, at least before the first nightmare started, the City of God's Familiad was safe and sound, but it was completely sealed off at that time, and then it disappeared mysteriously. No one knows what happened in the process."
Calassius looked at Hao Ren suspiciously: "What did you think of?"
Hao Ren said indifferently: "I suspect that someone has actively cut off the connection between the City of Gods and the outside world. This person can only be the ruler of the city."
"Your Majesty the Pope? This is impossible," Calassius said immediately, "Why would he do this?"
"There are many reasons, maybe it is controlled, maybe it is to protect the holy city, or maybe it is to protect other cities, maybe he is to prevent some kind of evil force from spreading through the magical connection between cities?" Hao Hao Ren raised his eyelids, "I didn't say anything else."
As he said that, he looked at the standing in the corner, and cast a dark look without saying a word: "An, do you have anything to say?"
This woman said before that she had an important mission to go to the sanctuary, but now that she really arrived at the sanctuary, she remained silent like a puppet, as if this place had nothing to do with her, Hao Ren wondered Listen to what she has to say.
An seemed to be wandering away, until Hao Ren called her again and suddenly woke up, her hood moved, and a hoarse voice came from it: "Before going to Asuman, I want to take a look at those who have fallen into nightmares. What is it like?"
Hao Ren and Calassius' eyes fell on Bishop Holzman, and the old man nodded happily: "Of course."
Although the surviving priests of Luan City can only stay in the cathedral at present, they never give up finding a way out from the predicament, so the research on the nightmare phenomenon is always ongoing. They found the person in the nightmare from the city and took him to an outbuilding behind the cathedral, trying to find a way to cure the nightmare and reverse the erosion, but so far they haven't made any progress.
Hao Ren and his party saw the sleeping citizens of Lu'an. There were a dozen of them lying neatly on both sides of a long room. Several low-level assistant priests were taking care of these "living corpses". As weird as a morgue.
The building was originally a medical hall attached to the cathedral.
People who have been eroded by the nightmare of chaos look no different from ordinary people. They just lie quietly, their breathing is extremely slow, but their vital signs such as heartbeat are normal, as if they are ordinary people falling into sleep. Some unidentified tubes extended from their quilts and connected to the metal utensils next to the hospital beds. There were milky white halos and runes floating in the utensils. These seemed to be medical equipment used by the church based on divine power.
Since the old bishop still had to stay in the underground palace to preside over the overall situation, the priest Bernstein who received everyone before served as a guide and commentary again. He explained the situation of the sleeping citizens: "This is what happens to people who have fallen into a nightmare. They look like ordinary living people, but their souls are hovering between reality and fantasy. The shadows born in the world are wandering in the city outside, very like the soul is out of the body, but the usual summoning magic or tranquilization can't work."
An walked slowly among these "living corpses", carefully checking the condition of one or two of them from time to time, without saying a word.
Hao Ren couldn't help but asked her, "Did you find anything?"
"Their souls have fallen into the 'other side'," An whispered, "It is not their souls that wander in the city outside, but just phantoms refracted from the 'other side'. Dreams are weaker. However, those illusory shadows are a great threat, because they carry the breath of "the other side", which is a precursor to the imprisoned person breaking free from the shackles and passing through the barrier. The more those shadows move in the real world, the barrier will The more fragile it is, the more breath will leak out, which will greatly accelerate the speed of the prison's collapse."
Hao Ren didn't expect An to be able to say so many words when he opened his mouth, and he was immediately taken aback by the long and indistinct words of the other party. He stared: "Can it be translated into a common language?" What's on the other side?"
The dark hood lifted slightly: "The other folded part of Kolo, the cage of eternal exile, holds Lokmarton's Abyss of Oblivion."
Father Bernstein, standing behind Hao Ren, gasped.
"You said that these people who fell into the nightmare were actually sucked into the prison of Loch Marton?!" Hao Ren stared at An, "Then their actions in the prison were projected into the real world, turning into shadows wandering in the city ?”
"exactly."
Lily couldn't help poking An's cloak: "Hey, how do you know so much?"
"When I get to Asuman, I will confess everything, but now is not the time."
Lily rolled her eyes: "Tch, I don't like to talk."
Hao Ren looked at the sleeping citizens and lightly touched Lily's arm: "I don't know how this sleeping phenomenon is related to the nightmare monster you caught."
"Why don't you bring it here and ask?" Lily's ears trembled, "It was able to communicate normally last time. But most of the time, it can only speak on its own initiative, and it doesn't seem to respond much to outsiders' inquiries."
Father Bernstein keenly heard the word "monster" and immediately asked, "Nightmare monster? Have you ever caught the culprit that caused the nightmare?"
"It was caught on the Ansu Continent. The attack on the border of the Talos Kingdom was related to that monster," Hao Ren briefly explained. People have imprisoned the monster in the grove outside the city, and they can bring it here at any time."
The priest became nervous when he heard this: "Outside the city? Guarded? Will there be an accident?"
Now the dark magic power of the sacred land is rampant. Although the power of chaos is temporarily forced outside the barrier, the minions of chaos have penetrated everywhere. It is not safe in the city, let alone the wilderness outside the city that is far away from the shelter of various temples. Therefore, the priest was taken aback.
Hao Ren smiled slightly: "No problem, they all have divine weapons."
Isn't it a magical tool, a pinch of dog hair per person.
But it may also be that Hao Ren's luck is not going well today. As soon as he finished speaking, the communicator with him suddenly lit up.
After connecting to the communication, a panicked cry sounded: "Aw, ow, ow..."
Hao Ren was wondering, when Lily snatched the communicator over, "Send someone who can speak human!"
There was confusion on the other side of the communicator, and then a church knight spoke in a hurry: "Head wolf, something is wrong with that monster!"
Hao Ren really wanted to slap himself on the face: This is a slap in the face! He just couldn't tell the problem.
"What's the situation?"
"It's... evaporating!" (To be continued~^~)