Since the Earth Goddess Sect lost its authority, many strange sects have emerged at the bottom of the Disa Alliance. They secretly tamper with the teachings of the Earth Temple, promote the doomsday and eternal life, and use intimidation and fraud to control believers and gather power.
The rise of half-elf folk sects filled the faith vacuum caused by the loss of the Earth Temple. They grew rapidly and once shook Highland City's dominance over the Alliance.
The nobles of the highlands believe that the founders of folk sects are die-hards who left the Earth Temple and have irreconcilable conflicts with the noble families of the highlands. As a result, the Alliance Council mobilized elite private soldiers from various prominent families to suppress civil sects. The leaders of civil sects and key members who infiltrated the military and political system were bloody purged.
Then, the Alliance Council promulgated laws strictly prohibiting the private spread of faith among the people. Several popular popular sects subsequently collapsed.
However, the burning pyre is not so easy to extinguish. Even if the old priests who are hostile to the Alliance Council are slaughtered by famous private soldiers, there will be latecomers who will find that spreading the faith and forming a sect is a shortcut to fight for power.
The key is that the Earth Goddess is not a true god and cannot bestow extraordinary powers on her followers. The great sage Marv can codify the goddess sect, and other careerists can certainly follow suit.
Folk sects turned from light to dark, took root in the poor class, secretly preached, and their scope of influence was limited to lower states, gradually becoming an underground force similar to gangs and thieves.
The old priests of the Earth Temple have been purged many times, and the current folk sect has nothing to do with the old priests. In order to survive, large and small folk sects have moved closer to famous families intentionally or unintentionally, or at least they dare not openly confront the famous nobles. As long as the folk sects honestly defend their territory and do not spread their beliefs across regions, the Alliance Council will turn a blind eye to them.
The Eternal Sleep Sect is one of them. However, its scope of spread includes multiple city-states, and it has touched the limit of tolerance of popular sects among highland noble families. It is an evil sect that must be completely eradicated. However, the actions of the Eternal Sleep Sect are very secretive and almost unknown to people. The targets it preaches to do not care about their status, but give priority to those half-elves who are in desperate situations and have no other way out.
Captain Rhodes of the Iron Cross also joined the Eternal Sleep Sect by chance. Otherwise, how could he, a servant whose master's family was wiped out, suddenly transform into a slightly famous slave trader?
It was the Yongmian Sect who first helped Rhodes develop the slave trade business, and then he was recruited by the famous Yinpanjiao clan. It can also be said that Rhodes is the nail in the door of the Yinpanjiao Sect’s famous family.
No one knows how many nails like Rhodes there are in the Eternal Sleep Sect. Rhodes himself didn't know the details of the Eternal Sleep Sect. He was neither fanatical nor loyal to the sect. It seems that the Eternal Sleep Sect does not need these. In other words, the "Eternal Sleeper" worshiped by the Eternal Sleep Sect does not care whether the believers are pious or not.
Because He is the "true God", a true God who is evil but can also bring benefits to believers.
Rhodes didn't dare to betray him at first, but later he didn't want to betray him. If he secretly delivers slaves with excellent physical fitness to the sect, they will be rewarded, for example, a "living secret medicine" that can bring the dead back to life.
Of course, the price of this "living secret medicine" shows how evil the "Eternal Sleeper" is.
The tentacle worms in the "Living Secret Medicine" will absorb the flesh and blood of the host, continue to grow, and gradually replace the host's muscles, bones, internal organs, and finally the brain. The host's strength, speed, toughness, and recovery capabilities have all been unimaginably improved, but after his brain was replaced by the tentacle worm, he became a clone of the "Eternal Sleeper".
This is a point of no return.
Rhodes would never use the Eternal Sleeper's "living secret medicine" unless absolutely necessary. However, he is now besieged by the Bone Collector orcs and injured himself. The only one he can count on, Vertok, has become arrogant and unapproachable.
Rhodes thought about it and felt that he could not place his hope of survival on Wiltok's compassion. So, he decided to take a gamble.
This started a few months ago. At that time, after Rhodes discovered Wiltok, he planned to introduce him to the Eternal Sleeper Cult. But he was selling barbarian slaves in the plantation, and heard from the female shaman that there was a god living in Wiltok's body. Rhodes was dubious until he was chased by the Bone Collector this time. Wiltok showed many extraordinary abilities, especially when he saved Deputy Captain Huck and greatly increased Huck's strength.
Other professionals might not think much about it, but as an evil god cultist, Rhodes has other opinions.
Anyway, with the strength of a third-level swordsman, he can neither escape danger nor capture Vertok, so he might as well take a big gamble.
Rhodes deliberately fought a second time, lacerated his wounds, put himself in danger of death, and begged Vertok for salvation. If you can get the favor of the other party, you can follow a "true god", and his situation will definitely be much better than in the Eternal Sleep Sect.
Rhodes lost the bet, and Wiltok ignored his prayers.
The offspring of the "Eternal Sleeper" are mercilessly devouring Rhode's flesh and blood, turning them into nutrients for growth. This process is actually not painful, but it can cause panic to the host. Rhodes clearly felt a slippery tentacle swimming inside his body, wrapping around his spine. He couldn't move, couldn't even lift a finger.
Rhodes was most afraid of the tentacle occupying his head. Although this situation was inevitable in the end, the occupation time could be immediately, several years later, more than ten years later, or even longer. The Eversleeper will allow him to continue living as long as he proves his worth over a mindless puppet.
Rhodes prayed to the "Eternal Sleeper" in his heart and promised to give Him the best sacrifice. Regardless of whether the "Eternal Sleeper" heard it or not, he had already described Vertok as a sleeping god.
However, how could he really understand the details of Wiltok, let alone the true face of the "Eternal Sleeper".
Sometimes, people are more like devils than devils, and they like to use deceptive means to seduce others. As long as they can arouse the potential desires of the other party, the truth can easily be ignored by both parties.
The next morning, Wiltok woke up from hibernation, and Huck told him that Captain Rhodes was dead and asked him to go and have a look.
Professional swordsmen have strong attack power but relatively fragile bodies. Rod suffered severe internal injuries and a major blood vessel rupture. He has neither the gift of self-healing nor the top secret medicine that can save his life, so he is basically certain to die.
Wiltok was not surprised by this result, but Rhode's body did look abnormal.
The leader of the Iron Cross Regiment was lying flat on a cushion of branches, with a large pool of dark red blood underneath him. In fact, while he was still conscious, he had already lost so much blood that it was difficult to save him.
Under normal circumstances, Rhodes died of massive blood loss, and the surface of his body should be pale and bloodless. What Wiltok saw was a stiff, skinny body with blackened skin, like a mummy that had shrunk severely after many years of death. What's even more puzzling is that the head and face of the mummy are still intact. Although the cheeks are sunken and there are spreading black lines, at least the facial features can be seen to be that of Rhodes.
Captain Rhodes had lost his breath and heartbeat, and his gray and empty eyes stared straight at the sky. With his extraordinary perception, Vertok determined that he was dead and showed no signs of life. However, such a strange death situation is difficult to explain with common sense. The surviving half-elves gathered around here, silently.
For the members of the Iron Cross, Rhodes was their companion day and night, and his death was inevitably sad. However, when the Iron Ten Regiment crossed through the Shadow Forest, many members died tragically under the fangs and claws of the Shadow Beast. Now that it is Rhodes' turn to die in battle, it can only be said that he is unlucky, and the living people have to find a way. Stay alive.
The strange death of Captain Rhodes aroused everyone's uneasiness and suspicion.
"The leader... looks like he died of starvation. Even if he died of starvation... his body wouldn't turn black, right?" The only remaining professional swordsman in the Iron Cross Regiment muttered, slightly nervous.
"It looks like he was poisoned." Level 4 Archer Lisen said while stroking the beard on his chin.
He showed the scimitar used by the ferocious gnoll to Wiltok and said: "The gnoll bone collector was killed by Lord Harker. This is the scimitar it used to cut Captain Rhodes... ...We checked the captain's wound at that time and found out that the knife was actually very hard. If Master Huck hadn't taken action in time to pull Captain Rhodes away, Rhodes would have been cut in half by this knife. But none of us expected that the jackal's The machete may have been smeared with poison."
The scimitar used by the ferocious gnoll was made by goblin craftsmen. The quality of the knife was very poor. The surface of the knife was faintly green and looked like it was smeared with poison. But Wiltok, who is proficient in blacksmithing, knows that the greenish color of the blade is due to too many impurities and has nothing to do with toxins.
He took the scimitar and inspected it again, shook his head and said, "Gnolls like to eat the meat of their prey. They generally don't use poison on their weapons... Goblin throwers are used to soaking stone bullets with feces. Captain Rhodes' situation It’s not poisoning.”
Because this team had prepared two large wooden rafts in advance, no one has been hit by goblin stone bullets so far. The appearance of Rhodes' body seems not to be directly related to the orc bone collector.
"Well, this is definitely not poisoning!"
Dark hunter Max echoed Wiltok's point of view. He looked left and right, as if he was on guard for something, and then asked in a low voice with a serious face: "You have all heard of the vampire, right?"
The Vampire, a vampire monster widely circulated in the Disa League, frequently appears in absurd, terrifying, and bizarre stories. There are countless versions of the legend about the vampire, and their descriptions are also unique. But one thing they have in common is that the vampire will suck the flesh and blood of half-elves, and its victims will turn into skinny mummies.
Many half-elves believe that vampires are real, and Max obviously also believes that there is such a thing as vampires. Max is in his fifties, has a lot of life experience, and is still a talker. He told several stories about vampires vividly and vividly, as if he had experienced them personally and witnessed them with his own eyes.
Not to mention, the condition of Captain Rhodes' body is relatively in line with the common perception of half-elves on vampire demons.
Everyone was stunned, but Wiltok didn't believe those vampire incidents at all. He interrupted Max and asked: "How many stories you told, the victims are all dead, that vampire demon Who spread the story of the murder? Did the vampire himself tell others?"
Max was startled for a moment, then nodded seriously and said, "Maybe, the vampire really told it, otherwise how could these stories be spread?"
"Well, I've also heard that vampire demons can transform. They can take on the appearance of their victims, and even the victims' relatives and partners can't tell them apart." Huck said with a solemn expression.
The half-elf professionals all began to look at each other, looking at each other with eyes full of vigilance, caution and scrutiny. At this time, none of them dared to move, for fear of being misunderstood as a vampire who had sneaked into the team.
The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became weird, even a little scary.
In civilized countries without belief in the true God, there will always be many superstitions about monsters and monsters. It is said that rumors only stop at the wise, but how many people can be called wise?
Even powerful half-elf professionals are not immune to this. Because of this, Wiltok seems to be incompatible with everyone. He didn't take the rumors of the vampire demon seriously, so he couldn't understand how bad this incident would affect the people around him.
Of course, it’s still unclear who is right and who is wrong.
Wiltok didn't bother to pay attention to these half-elves with big eyes and small eyes. He pulled out a fine iron dagger, knelt down, and was about to attack Rhodes' body.
Leeson of the Iron Cross Regiment was shocked when he saw this, and asked quickly: "Mr. Wiltok, you... what are you going to do?"
While untying Rhode's leather armor, Wiltok said without raising his head: "I am going to dissect Captain Rhode's body. Maybe I can know why his skin and muscles are black, and why his body is Became skinny in a short period of time?”
The professionals of the Iron Ten Regiment all changed their faces when they heard Wiltok's words. It was Max who reminded him from the side: "Vell, Captain Rhodes is dead."
Wiltok stopped what he was doing, tilted his head and looked at Max sideways, and asked: "What do you mean? Didn't he die just now?"
The Earth Sect claims that the Earth Goddess created all living beings from soil, but collected underground rocks to create a race of rock elves and half-elves. The half-elves believe that the Earth Goddess will introduce the soul of the Disa half-elf into the Kingdom of God, and only when their body is complete can their soul be complete. Therefore, after death, one should be completely buried underground and return to the embrace of the goddess.
Half-elf adventurers especially value this. Wiltok caused public outrage by wanting to dissect Rhodes' body in public, at least the professionals of the Iron Cross Regiment couldn't accept it.
They all stared at Wiltok with unkind expressions. Huck was furious and was about to scold him when Max quickly said: "I mean, we should bury poor Rod. This is the last thing we can do for him."
After hearing this, Wiltok shrugged his shoulders indifferently and said: "In that case, forget it... Could you please dig a hole to bury Captain Rhodes. May he return to the embrace of Mother Earth."
