Page 57
Hastur sighed regretfully.
"It's hard for me to tell whether that spiritual creature is good or evil. It's best to stay away from it."
"You are right, but this Earl Richard is my next-door neighbor. We will meet again sooner or later."
"..."
Maric was silent for a while, and still felt that it would be safest and easiest to report it directly to the Church of Darkness.
At this moment, Earl Richard came over again, enthusiastically conveyed his ideas to Hastur, and invited Hastur to join them.
"I don't have anything sad to say right now." Hastur refused at first, then said, "I agree that only by letting the dead souls rest in peace can they find happiness in the afterlife."
Earl Richard understood the meaning of his words and extended an invitation: "We will be nearby tomorrow night and the night after tomorrow. If you are interested, you can come and have a look."
"We will definitely come."
After receiving a positive reply, Earl Richard became more hospitable and enthusiastic, and invited Hasta and Maric to his estate for two days many times.
Hastur smiled and declined the invitation to go directly to the lair.
Around three o'clock in the morning, all the excitement gradually died down. Earl Richard organized people to put out the bonfire with mud and clean up the traces of the activities.
Hastur asked curiously, and Earl Richard told them that the Lord they believed in liked the tranquility after the excitement, and after the sacrificial dance was over, His believers should not disturb His peace.
Soon, the sky began to brighten, and Earl Richard led his men away. The huge toad-shaped spiritual creature also disappeared after the bonfire was extinguished.
Hastur and Maric, who stayed where they were, looked at each other and couldn't help but sigh at the wonder of last night.
"They look pretty normal, if it weren't for that spiritual creature." Maric gave his evaluation.
"He is an earl. If he really wanted to perform some evil ritual, he would have attracted the attention of the church long ago."
"I hope so." Maric nodded. Seeing that Hasta looked energetic, he asked curiously, "You didn't sleep all night. Aren't you tired at all?"
"…I was too excited."
Back near the lake, Hastur pretended to be very tired and suggested going back to the manor to rest so that he would have the energy to attend the party in the evening.
Maric went to check on his zombie squad to see if anything unexpected had happened.
At Aster Manor, Butler Neil had a complicated expression on his face when he saw Hastur covered with leaves and grass clippings.
What's so fun about camping in the wild? In such a densely forested area with mountains and forests, there are so many mosquitoes, snakes and rats that you can't sleep well at night.
Where can you sleep more comfortably than on a big bed at home?
He did not interfere too much, thinking that Hastur was still young and liked to seek excitement.
In the evening, Hasta again suggested camping in the wild, and then he and Maric played cards for two hours around the lake with a campfire.
During this period, a zombie joined in, making it three people, and played a few games to fight evil.
But the zombies have limited IQ. Faced with this relatively high-end gameplay, their intelligence obviously cannot keep up. They cannot distinguish between teammates and enemies. They throw bombs when there are bombs and play whatever big cards are the most powerful.
Around twelve o'clock at night, the surrounding temperature dropped and the faint whistle sound was heard again from the depths of the dense forest.
Hastur and Maric finished their card game and followed the source of the whistle.
Finally, we found Earl Richard and his group who had prepared a bonfire. There were about the same number of people as last night, about a dozen or so.
Seeing Hastur appear as promised, Earl Richard came forward happily to greet him.
After a few pleasantries, Hastur asked curiously, "Why is the ceremony being held in a different place tonight than last night?"
Chapter 57: The Messenger Between the Living World and the Dead World
"A sacrificial site that has been used once is no longer clean. The Lord likes cleanliness and hates filth. He is the Lord who guides sleep. Only a clean and refreshing environment is suitable for serving as His kingdom of God on earth." Earl Richard introduced with piety. With.
Maric nodded, not doubting that he was there, Hastur secretly paid attention.
This time, Hastur and Maric came earlier, just in time to complete a sacrificial session.
At the beginning, they all sat cross-legged on one side of the bonfire, closed their eyes and chanted songs to praise the Lord.
"The souls of the dead wandering around the world with nowhere to rest.
We need guidance, we need salvation, we need the gift of the Lord.
O Lord, Lord of Sleep in the Realm of the Dead.
Please cast your compassionate gaze and send your blessings to lead the way forward..."
After reciting the song ten times, Earl Richard ended the first part.
The second link is the summoning ceremony, which was presided over and completed by Earl Richard alone.
Surrounded by everyone, he looked pious and drew a mysterious and complex rune on the ground, consisting of several curves, three circles, and four straight lines.
Hastur stepped forward to take a look, twitched the corners of his mouth slightly, and stepped back to the side while suppressing his complaints.
What kind of summoning rune is this? It's obviously an ordinary pattern that Earl Richard saw somewhere and drew randomly. It just looks very bluffing.
Earl Richard then took out three candles that had been prepared. The black candle was placed in the upper left corner, the red candle was placed in the upper right corner, and the last ordinary candle was placed in the center.
This scene surprised Hastur. The meaningless rune just now made him think that Earl Richard's occult knowledge was poor, but the placement of these three candles did meet the needs of ritual magic.
When he saw Earl Richard taking out rotten grass, corpse flower, night vanilla, sleep flower and other plants, and placing them respectfully and neatly, he was inexplicably shocked.
He was now certain that Earl Richard must have mixed the God of Death and the Goddess of Night together to form what he thought was the Lord of the Dead.
Plants with a strong smell of death, such as rotten grass and corpse flowers, are loved and favored by the God of Death.
Night vanilla and deep sleep flower are the favorites of the goddess of night.
Before it was over, Earl Richard carefully took out a fist-sized crystal ball from his arms and placed it in the center of the three candles.
After preparing all this, Earl Richard began to recite the incantation devoutly.
"I!
I call in my name!
A spirit that dwells in the depths of the void, a mysterious creature that likes darkness and tranquility, a messenger that wanders between the world of the living and the dead. "
When Earl Richard finished reciting the incantation in ancient Hermetic language, a strong wind blew in the void, which was gloomy and cold, and the swinging candles were dyed with deep blue light.
The huge spiritual creature that looked like a toad appeared again last night, coiled up and looked down at Earl Richard and others below.
Richard stood up and bowed respectfully towards the location of the spiritual creature.
Among the attendees gathered in a circle outside, five people took out brass whistles and blew them. Soon, five more spiritual creatures with smaller sizes appeared.
The surrounding temperature dropped again, and a gust of wind made people feel chilly all over.
"It's done!"
After completing this, Earl Richard was very happy, and the surrounding participants also praised the Lord's eyes coming from the world of the dead to the human world.
Maric was well-informed, but he was still shocked by this scene.
A ritual magic was messed up, but it was still successful in the end?
He wanted to know how this Earl Richard and this huge spiritual creature could coexist harmoniously for so long?
There is no contract signed, but he can be successfully summoned every time, and there has been no unexpected incident.
This is too much luck, right?
There are also five brass whistles that can summon five spiritual creatures. Could they be some kind of sealed artifact?
That's not right. If it were a sealed object, the negative effects alone would not be bearable by this group of ordinary people.
Hastur was also shocked by Earl Richard's operations. What a talent!
The third part is dancing and offering sacrifices around the bonfire to please the gods.
Maric still did not join in. Hastur took the initiative to join the dancing team without waiting for Count Richard to invite him, which made Count Richard very satisfied.
There are three rounds of this sacrificial dance, each with its own symbolic meaning.
The first round of sacrificial dance is to please the gods, let the gods listen to their small wishes, and have their wishes fulfilled.
The second round of sacrificial dance is for the deceased relatives, hoping that their souls can rest in peace through dance.
The third round of sacrificial dance is for yourself. The dead souls need to rest in peace, and the people still living in the world still need to move forward. They need courage, blessings, and the luck to be able to finish their lives.
After the three rounds of sacrificial dance, Hastur and the people around him began to discuss the deeds of the Lord of the Dead and their respective sad stories.
At three o'clock in the night, the grand and mysterious ceremony ended again, and Earl Richard once again sincerely invited Hastur and Maric to visit his manor.
"If I can witness a miracle tomorrow night, I think I will change my faith."
Hastur did not finish his words, but gave Earl Richard a signal that he might join.
"Yes, the Lord will show miracles and give equal blessings to every believer."
Earl Richard was happy to lead his team to leave. Before leaving, they still put out the bonfire and cleaned up the scene.
"It's unimaginable, unbelievable, that he can survive until now!"
With no outsiders present, Maric let out a series of sighs.
Hasta hid his smile and asked puzzledly: "Is there any problem?"
"Of course there is a problem! The problem is huge!"
"Is Earl Richard parasitized by some evil god or demon?"
Maric waved his hand and said: "It's not that serious. He, how should I put it, is a lucky guy. The main problem does not come from him, but from the huge spiritual world creature."
Hastur showed an expression of humbly asking for advice, and Maric took two steps back and forth: "There are indeed friendly creatures in the spiritual world, but the ritual magic that Earl Richard just performed did not specifically mention being friendly and harmless. Wait for words.”
"A spirit that dwells in the depths of the void, a mysterious creature that likes darkness and tranquility, a messenger that wanders between the living world and the world of the dead."
“There are indeed spiritual beings that fit this description.
But they are not necessarily friendly, and more likely to be evil, terrible creatures with malicious intentions. "
"Especially the one about messengers who travel between the living world and the world of the dead. I have never heard of any friendly creatures coming out of the world of the dead."
"Hmm...you should understand the ancient Hermetic language, right?"
Hastur said modestly: "I can understand part of it."
"Then you have to study harder. If you want to enter the extraordinary world, ancient Hermes is a very important mystical language. If you have the ability, you must also master such mystical languages as Elf and Giant."