Chapter 82

Lumian was startled and had no time to dodge, so he could only let the无形的力量 fall upon him.

He immediately felt warmth, and his body was filled with courage, as if he had finally welcomed the sun in a winter where he lacked clothing.

Apart from that, he felt no abnormalities, just as he had experienced in the castle yesterday afternoon.

Hmm, as a "Dancer," I wasn't harmed? Lumian couldn't help but turn his head to glance at the short Rayne and the terrifying Lya, and noticed that no black mist or green smoke rose from their bodies.

Immediately after, Valentine, in his light form, created holy water and dripped a few drops on Lya and Rayne, but the two still maintained their altered appearances, showing no signs of improvement.

"Purification and exorcism are ineffective?" Lumian asked.

He wanted to understand why some things were possible and others were not, so that he would know what situations to avoid and what situations he could pretend nothing had happened.

Rayne briefly explained to him: "Purification and exorcism are not omnipotent; they require the corresponding force to be within the evil domain, such as the aura of corruption and all undead. The latter may not necessarily be evil, but they are out of sync and incompatible with the real world, needing to return to the spirit realm, so they can still be purified and exorcised."

"Just like our definition of evil deities is mainly based on their behavior, the power of evil deities is not necessarily evil."

Lumian roughly understood and asked thoughtfully, "Fate, uh, power, does not belong to evil and does not represent corruption?"

So it can't be purified or exorcised?

"Yes." Valentine had already confirmed this through his previous attempts.

From this, it seemed normal that he could withstand the halo, but why did the holy water activate the black thorn symbol on his chest, making him hear that terrifying voice? Because the pollution within the seal currently does not belong to him, and is not in harmony with him, making his body impure, so it needs to be purified? Lumian speculated in his mind.

He originally wanted to use Pierre Berry, the shepherd, as an example to ask if the physical changes were also within the evil and corrupt domain, but the current situation was urgent and did not allow for a slow discussion.

Lumian tried to walk towards the basement door.

After taking two steps, he suddenly heard a buzzing in his ears, faintly hearing a voice that seemed to come from an infinite distance yet was close at hand. However, it was not clear, very vague, just making his chest slightly warm and his mind a bit confused.

This was very similar to the state he was in when he saw the "noodle man" dance.

This confirmed for Lumian that the black thorn symbol on his chest was partially activated.

He quickly turned his body to look at Rayne, Lya, and Valentine, and found that they showed no abnormal reactions.

Lumian was a bit disappointed. He had thought that the two major symbols on his chest would have some degree of suppression and weakening effect on Beyonders, but it seemed that they only targeted the monsters in the dream ruins, especially those who had received the blessings of the owner of the black thorn symbol.

Of course, he was unsure if fully activating the symbol on his chest would affect the surrounding Beyonders.

"Has my state changed?" He asked Lya and the others.

"No." Lya and the others shook their heads simultaneously.

Lumian nodded slightly, basically confirming two things: one, the black thorn symbol on his chest, or rather, the evil deity's pollution sealed within him, indeed helped him "resist" the abnormalities in the basement.

Two, he had been quite lucky just now, being influenced by the "present" power.

After waiting a few seconds, Lumian tried to take a step diagonally forward.

The warmth in his chest did not weaken, maintaining the same intensity as before.

"Has it changed this time?" He asked Rayne and the others again.

Lya was the first to shake her head: "No."

Lumian quietly exhaled, muttering to himself: "With the protection of the black thorn symbol, I can move freely here, just like Pierre Berry and the others..."

"Wait, the head priest hasn't received the blessing yet, and he doesn't have the thorn symbol! How did he safely reach the altar before?"

Thinking about this, Lumian vaguely understood something and looked at the ground.

With the light emitted by Valentine, he saw many chaotic footprints that ordinary humans couldn't see.

Most of them were scattered everywhere, but they roughly followed a certain pattern, extending all the way to the front of the altar.

Lumian immediately overlapped his position with the nearest part of the footprints, and the warmth in his chest began to slowly weaken.

This meant he had returned to the "present."

Indeed, there was a safe path, a path in the "present"! Lumian suddenly became very happy because this was a trace that the powerful Beyonders Rayne, Lya, and Valentine had not discovered, but he, the small "Hunter," had found.

This reminded him of something his sister Orolle had said: "Each path has its own strengths. Before the demigod stage, in certain situations, a Sequence 9 of one path might be more useful than a Sequence 5 of another path."

Lumian had felt a bit inferior and depressed over the past two days because he had almost no role to play in front of the powerful Beyonders, always being in the position of a guide and being protected. Now, he finally regained some confidence.

Finding subtle traces in reality is a specialty of "Hunters"; you can't do that, can you?

Of course, Lumian didn't forget that Orolle had added: "But some paths are good at everything."

He reined in his thoughts, turned his body, and directed Rayne, Lya, and Valentine.

"Walk one step directly towards the altar."

Rayne and the others were clearly puzzled and didn't fully trust Lumian, but they followed his instructions without asking why.

Lumian had to explain: "Look at the ground; there are many footprints. They were left by the head priest's group, marking a safe path!"

Rayne, Lya, and Valentine, who lacked the corresponding abilities, barely discovered some traces with the help of the "Sun" light and believed Lumian's words—there were many "Hunter" Beyonders in the official Intis, and they had cooperated to some extent, knowing that some sequences were very good at finding subtle traces.

Following Lumian's guidance, they all stepped onto the safe path.

Almost instantly, Lumian saw Rayne grow rapidly, Valentine become darker, and Lya's face gradually return to normal.

They had returned to the "present," no longer in the "past" or "future."

Step by step, Lumian easily returned to the group along the safe path.

He smiled and said, "Don't make a mistake again; another change in state might be irreparable."

He was mimicking Rayne's tone, finding it very suitable for the current scene.

In the past, with his personality, he would likely have directly mocked: "Haha, are your eyes blind? You can't see such obvious traces? Another mistake and you're done!"

Lya touched her face and sighed, "We'll follow you."

Lumian didn't humbly decline; he carefully identified the footprints on the ground, step by step, approaching the altar.

This was not as smooth as when he returned, because it didn't matter if he made a mistake, but it did for Rayne and the others.

This time, the silver bells on Lya's body did not ring.

Until the four of them reached the altar, they rang, sometimes slowly, sometimes intensely.

"There's danger, but we can find a way to avoid it." Lya, with sufficient experience, gave her interpretation.

Rayne immediately nodded, "We won't touch anything here for now; we'll just observe."

Lumian had already focused his gaze on the altar above.

It was concave at the bottom, as if designed to hold something, with disordered gray-white candles, small bottles of transparent liquid, and a tightly closed wooden box inside.

Among them, the most noticeable was a black garment.

It was a robe with a hood.

In front of this garment, in the center surrounded by other items, was a symbol composed of thorns, forming a circular pattern.

Each part was twisted, completely black, as if coated with some strange paint, giving the impression of slow movement.

As soon as Lumian saw this symbol, he felt dizzy and heard a continuous ringing in his ears.

Rayne "hmm"ed, and a bit of dawn-like light naturally appeared around him.

This helped Lya and Valentine suppress their mental confusion.

"Don't look at that symbol too much," Rayne said in a deep voice.

Lumian quickly shifted his gaze to the side.

The dizziness and ringing in his ears gradually subsided.

The altar seems to be like this; let's look around for anything else... Lumian was about to say this when he heard Lya ask Rayne, "Will your dawn light stimulate the altar?"

Ah? Lumian quickly turned back, subconsciously looking at the altar again.

Ding ding dang dang, the silver bells on Lya's veil and boots rang intensely and urgently.

Almost simultaneously, the black hooded robe on the altar stood up as if worn by an invisible person.

Whoo!

A cold wind swirled, and Lumian saw multiple transparent faces appear under the hood.

They were all distorted and emitted strong feelings of hatred, clustering together to form a strange and terrifying head.

One of the faces was very familiar to Lumian; it belonged to Raymond, pale and swollen, with blood tears in the corners of his eyes.

Lumian didn't have time to look closely and quickly took two steps to the side, hiding behind Rayne.

"Save us! Save us!" The transparent faces spoke simultaneously, their sharp voices like countless needles piercing the souls of Rayne and the others, making them want to faint.

Valentine, in the best condition, spread his arms.

A pure, holy, and ethereal flame-encircled light beam instantly descended from the sky, landing on the black hooded robe worn by the invisible person.

The light exploded, and Lumian and Lya instinctively closed their eyes.

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