Chapter 155 Appearance (Two chapters in one)
Of course, the most important reason for daring to enter the unknown temple to explore is based on Ryan's rapidly growing strength.
Ryan glanced at the panel:
Name: Ryan Kalan
Occupation: Wizard Apprentice (Extraordinary) lv4 (132/1000)/Knight (Extraordinary) lv4 (57/1000)/Beast Tamer (Extraordinary) lv3 (12/500)/Blacksmith lv4 (329/1000)
Constitution: 18
Strength: 16
Agility: 16
Spirit: 20
Remaining attribute points: 3
Remaining skill points: 4
Looking at the last 3 and 4 in the attribute column, Ryan couldn't help but think of a sentence, 'Store food at home, don't panic'.
In addition, as Ryan's mental power broke through 20 points, his mental activity and perception sensitivity have greatly improved.
Therefore, although Ryan can feel that there is some danger lurking in the dilapidated temple in front of him, he can also faintly feel that this danger does not seem to be so strong that he can't resist it at all.
So, after weighing the possible dangers and opportunities, Ryan nodded and said,
"I have no objection, but, Priest Rudolf, I suggest that the night watchmen and security guards should not go in."
"How about letting them be responsible for the guard outside?"
Priest Rudolf smiled slightly, nodded, and said, "Of course."
Hearing this, many night watchmen breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, after just seeing the fighting power of the evil knights, they already knew that this time they were facing a mysterious event. The fighting power of these monsters was difficult for even the Templars to deal with.
Not to mention ordinary people like them, it was really difficult to play any role.
"Ryan, I want to go too. I haven't found my brother's other battle axe yet." Lagre walked to Ryan's side, and said with a pair of beautiful eyes with an extremely expectant look.
"This... It may be very dangerous inside. I will help you keep an eye on your brother's weapons, and my suggestion is that it will be safer for you to stay outside."
Ryan could understand Lagre's urgency, but compared to the dangers in the temple, he was more hesitant.
"I'm not afraid of danger! Besides, I will protect myself." Lagre raised the blood-marked steel shield in her hand and said.
"Okay, but you follow me closely. If something goes wrong, retreat immediately." Seeing this, Ryan knew that he couldn't convince Lagre, so he nodded and reluctantly agreed to Lagre's idea of entering together.
In the end, after discussing with Ryan, Rudolf decided to let the seriously injured Templar Knight and all the night watchmen and security guards stay outside the temple.
Rudolf, Ryan, Lagre and three Templar Knights, a total of six people, entered the temple to explore.
After a short rest and preparation, the group of six slowly entered the dilapidated temple garden.
Originally, this should have been a very beautiful garden. After experiencing the wind and sun for an unknown amount of time and no one taking care of it, the gray-white granite wall has almost collapsed at this moment.
The walls were covered with vines of various shapes, such as creepers, roses, and ivy. They looked lush and green, with a sense of heaviness after being baptized by the long river of time.
In the garden, there were no more delicate flowers planted and cultivated artificially, but various wild weeds and shrubs. Occasionally, one or two tall trees could be seen, growing luxuriantly.
From the outside, if it weren't for the collapsed granite walls, there would be no signs of any artificial gardens here.
"Ryan, look." Lagre pointed to the ground.
Because she had been paying attention to whether there were weapons left on the ground or in the corners of her brother and the team members, Lagre immediately discovered some kind of dragging marks on the ground.
As soon as Lagre finished speaking, everyone's eyes focused on the ground where her finger pointed.
"This is the trace of heavy objects being dragged." A Templar knight half-crouched down and checked.
"Not only are there heavy objects, but there are also scattered bloodstains on the surface of the soil. These should be traces of dragging corpses." Ryan, who was sensitive, also looked carefully and added.
In this temple ruins where birds and beasts have disappeared, it seems that only the three evil knights are capable of dragging corpses. Ryan thought to himself.
Before, he thought that the evil knights only attacked and killed invaders in this area.
It turns out that they also collect and drag the bodies of the enemies after killing them into the temple.
This is a bit interesting.
Collecting flesh and blood?
Why does it look so similar to the blood sacrifice ceremony of the Black Flame Church?
"There are also here." Another Templar Knight walking in front pointed to another newly discovered dragging mark.
Everyone hurried forward and checked again.
Sure enough, the traces here are more obvious.
"Could it be that the evil knights are collecting human corpses for some evil ritual?" The slightly injured Templar Knight thought about it and said a possibility.
"No, it's not necessarily just human remains."
"This trace is obviously much wider, it seems to be caused by dragging the body of a wild animal. Look, there are hairs in the mud. This kind of thick and long hair is unlikely to be human."
Ryan picked up a black hair with mud and as hard as a steel needle and said.
Since his mental power continued to grow, Ryan's perception level has also risen. With his current perception, he seems to be able to easily discover some details that were easy to ignore before, which makes Ryan very happy.
"Ryan is right. This kind of hair, if I am not mistaken, should be the bristles of a violent wild boar." Rudolph nodded.
At the same time, he recognized Ryan's meticulous observation.
Careful and sensitive observation is also a manifestation of strength.
"Collecting flesh and blood, or collecting corpses, it seems that there should be an altar inside, but I don't know if the sacrificial ceremony has been successfully held."
"In addition, everyone should be vigilant and be careful." Rudolf reminded with a serious face.
Everyone nodded, tightened their weapons in their hands, and continued to move forward.
After passing through the garden full of weeds and vines, what appeared in front of everyone was a tall building similar to the Parthenon in ancient Greece in Ryan's previous life.
However, this temple seemed to have collapsed for a long time because it was too old. Like the wall of the garden, various vines have wrapped it up, and the entire appearance is like a green hill.
Most of the more than ten tall Doric-style columns outside the temple are still standing tall, as if silently telling of its former glory and majesty.
"I seem to have seen this kind of temple before," Priest Rudolf murmured in a low voice, with a thoughtful expression on his face.
Ryan looked around and found that the dragging marks on the ground were more dense.
It seemed that the final destination of these marks, similar to the dragging of corpses, which gathered from all directions, was the ruined temple hall in front of him.
Especially on the ground at the entrance of the temple hall, the dragging marks were superimposed many times, forming a trace that was obviously thick and slightly concave, similar to a stream merging into a river.
Ryan thought about it, and walked to the outer wall of the temple covered by vines and observed it carefully.
Generally speaking, if it is a temple, there should be some patterns on the outer wall. Ryan thought to himself.
Generally, these patterns are used to record the great deeds or grand battles of the gods they worship. After all, gods need faith and worship, and murals are one of the effective ways of propaganda.
Soon, Ryan found something.
Under the cover of the vines, there are many linear patterns on the outer wall.
"Sizzle!"
After Ryan directly tore off a bunch of vines, a very special pattern appeared in front of him.
The pattern was drawn with simple lines. The most eye-catching one was an extremely tall tree. The pattern of the little man under the tree was dozens or even hundreds of times taller than the other one.
Obviously, this represented a huge tree, and what stood out was the tree's height and majesty.
On the other side, there were hundreds of little men painted, who were offering sacrifices and praying under the tree, with humble movements.
At this time, others also saw the sound of Ryan tearing off the vines, and immediately came over.
"Is this a tree?" A young Templar Knight said in surprise.
"That's right!" The voice of Priest Rudolf came from behind.
"I think I should have guessed the origin of this temple. This is the iconic pattern of the Mother Tree Sect!"
"The Mother Tree Sect was active a long time ago. It was recorded in ancient books thousands of years ago. It is said that it was an ancient sect that existed in the distant ignorant era."
"However, about two thousand years ago, when the empire was first established, it was identified as a cult and wiped out by the empire. Although I heard that some scattered believers were spreading it later, it has basically been extinct for many years." Rudolph briefly introduced the Mother Tree Sect.
"In addition, the main doctrine they preach is that life originated from a strange mother tree from the void. It is this mother tree that brought vigorous vitality to the world, so everyone must worship and believe in the mother tree."
"It sounds like there is nothing wrong with this Mother Tree Sect?" Ryan asked, stroking his chin.
"I don't remember the specific reason for its annihilation. It seems that it was because of the overly bloody sacrificial rituals and the pursuit of absolute autonomy. These two reasons should have led to its annihilation by the empire." Rudolph thought for a while and answered.
"I see." Ryan nodded.
In his opinion, the bloody sacrificial ceremony should not be the point.
The point is the latter's 'seeking autonomy'. If the empire is strong enough, it will never allow autonomy. What is the difference between this and splitting off and becoming an independent country.
"It seems that this should be the ruins of a temple of the Mother Tree Sect."
"No wonder, the tops of the helmets of these evil knights all have the shape of tree crowns. It seems that this kind of helmet should be a tribute to the mother tree." Ryan thought for a while and continued.
"That's right!" Rudolf nodded.
People are always particularly afraid of unknown things.
When everyone knew that this was the ruins of a temple of the Mother Tree Sect thousands of years ago, they seemed to be much more relaxed and no longer as tense as before.
Soon, everyone followed the dragging traces and walked towards the hall of the temple.
"Hey! This is my brother Harald's battle axe!" Lagre walked quickly to the half-collapsed door of the temple and exclaimed.
Ryan looked at Lagre's position and sure enough, another moon blade battle axe was left here.
Judging from the marks on the ground and the landing point of the axe, it is very likely that Harald was not completely dead when he was dragged here, so he was still holding the battle axe in his hand.
Thinking of this, Lagre, holding her brother Harald's battle axe, looked at the temple hall with a glimmer of spirit, as if containing a little hope and expectation!
"Be careful, I feel that the evil breath in front is getting stronger and stronger, right in the temple hall." Priest Rudolf stared at the temple hall in front of him and reminded with a serious face.
"Okay, Priest!"
The three Templar Knights were holding swords and shields in the front, while Rudolf, Ryan and Lagre were behind, and the six people slowly walked into the dim hall. As soon
as they entered the hall, everyone's pupils shrank!
The main reason was that the scene in front of them was too bloody and too shocking!
A dense forest of flesh and blood appeared in front of everyone. There were intelligent creatures such as humans, ogres and gnolls, as well as the corpses of some other beasts. The corpses of these beasts were extremely large, as if they were all ferocious beasts in their lifetime.
But at this moment, these individuals who were very strong in their lifetime were all skewered on thick and sharp branches like skewers.
At first glance, these corpses seemed to be just corpses, but when everyone approached, goose bumps instantly stood up.
It turned out that the heads or upper bodies of these intelligent creatures and beasts were still basically intact, but the flesh and blood of the lower body had been strangely mixed with the tree trunks, forming a spiral structure that was like the "Tianjin hemp flower" that Ryan had seen in his previous life. It was just that the
"blood and flesh hemp flower" in front of him was half gray bark and half bright red flesh and blood, and like a twist, it was intertwined and integrated together.
This scene, in the dim hall, under the mottled light and shadow, gave people an indescribable feeling of nausea, horror and weirdness.
"This is the remains of my brother!" Lagre's eyes were red, pointing to a tall human corpse on a thick tree trunk that had been twisted and entangled with the tree.
"It looks like this should be a simple altar, and some kind of sacrificial ceremony is about to be performed." A Templar Knight said in a deep voice.
"It shouldn't be that simple." Ryan looked at the scene in front of him, and always felt that it was not just a simple ritual for sacrifice.
In addition, he also had a clear understanding of the "bloody sacrificial ceremony" of the Mother Tree Sect mentioned by Rudolph.
Just as Lagre and several Templar Knights were about to step forward and observe carefully.
Suddenly, a "rustling" sound came from behind the team, listening to it, like the sound of dense snakes crawling and rubbing against the ground. At the same time
, as the sound rang out, the light in the already dim temple hall suddenly became dimmer.
Everyone immediately turned around and found that the half-collapsed door behind them when they just came in was now covered with dense and thick vines that were wriggling like live snakes.
"Keng!"
A Templar Knight quickly drew out his knight's sword and was about to cut through the vines. Suddenly, everyone turned their heads again and looked at the forest of flesh and blood in the center of the temple hall.
Because everyone felt a palpitation, and a huge and obscure breath seemed to be awakening rapidly!
The next second, the dense forest of flesh and blood suddenly trembled, and the flesh and blood that were twisted and twisted on the branches also trembled. At this time, the core skill "Danger Sense lv3" began to frantically warn Ryan!
Ryan narrowed his eyes and immediately pulled back Lagre in front of him!
Before he could say anything, with a "boom", the ground suddenly exploded, and an extremely huge monster jumped out from the ground!
"Boom!!!"
Hiss!
Lagre's beautiful eyes suddenly widened twice, her mouth slightly opened, and she took a breath of cold air.
What kind of monster is this!
Everyone realized that the flesh and blood forest was not a forest, but the roots of this giant monster.
That's right, it was the roots!
The other party can be seen as growing upside down.
The main body of the flesh and blood forest was hidden underground, and the roots grew upside down on the ground, twisting and twisting strangely with the various flesh and blood corpses dragged by the evil spirit knight.
This giant monster seemed to use these energy-rich extraordinary (violent) corpses as nutrients.
But Ryan had a feeling that the corpses seemed to be more than just nutrients for the other party, as if they were fused into the other party's body.
An environment that is too dark is definitely not conducive to the team's battle. After all, most people do not have Ryan's "dark vision" ability.
Therefore, as Priest Rudolf waved his right hand, a divine spell similar to a flare lit up in front of the monster.
In an instant, everyone saw the main body of the monster in front of them.
The other party's main body was a huge wooden stake with a diameter of two or three meters and a length of seven or eight meters, surrounded by densely growing roots of different thicknesses that were fused with flesh and blood.
The winding roots of different shapes and sizes stretched for more than ten meters, so this was a giant monster with a body length of nearly twenty meters.
It was the first time that Ryan had seen such a huge monster!
In addition, he also found that even on the roots that were not wrapped around the corpse, in addition to the original gray root epidermis, there were also blood-red biological muscles and fascia that were entrenched and exposed.
It seemed that these roots had just digested the corpse?
These red flesh and blood fascia seemed to be still active, expanding and fluctuating all the time, like a heart, and at the same time, slowly oozing red liquid.
This monster that looked like neither a plant nor an animal made people's scalps numb.
As the air flowed, Ryan immediately smelled the stench and rotten smell coming from his nose, but he didn't know whether this rotten smell came from the red flesh or the roots themselves.
"Blood and flesh tree spirit!" Priest Rudolf suddenly thought of something and blurted out.
Since he knew from the murals in advance that this was a temple site of the Mother Tree Cult, Rudolf immediately associated it with the monster when he saw it for the first time. Soon, he remembered the origin of this monster!
"This is the flesh and blood tree spirit recorded in the book. It is a guard used by the Mother Tree Cult to protect the Supreme Mother Tree!"
"It is said that it is usually in a dormant state and requires a large number of extraordinary creatures to be sacrificed to wake it up. I didn't expect that there would be a flesh and blood tree spirit guarding here!" Rudolf said quickly.
"If there is a flesh and blood tree spirit here, does it mean that there is something related to the Mother Tree here?"
"Boom!"
The sudden attack interrupted Rudolf's narration.
I saw dozens of huge root systems entangled together, suddenly smashing towards everyone, and everyone hurriedly rolled to avoid it.
Including Ryan, no one in the team planned to try to confront each other head-on to test the opponent's strength.
Because the opponent's body is too huge, the weight alone is estimated to be as high as tens of tons, which is completely different from the size of humans.
This is like a strongman among humans, who would not be stupid enough to try to wrestle with an elephant.
The flesh and blood tree spirit in front of him is ten times the size of an elephant.
In addition, judging from the opponent's attack just now, although its body is huge, its movements are extremely flexible and swift like a monkey.
Facing this huge monster that is more than ten meters long and cannot be hugged by several people, and has dense flesh and blood roots growing all over its body, Ryan, although holding an indestructible force, did not know how to start at once.
After a little thought, Ryan quickly switched weapons and replaced the pig-headed hammer with a glimmering giant sword!
Obviously, facing this monster with many roots, you can't even attack its body without shaving its head and hanging a beard first.
At this time, the huge body of the flesh and blood tree spirit that missed the attack began to change.
The two thickest roots, like arms, straightened its huge upper body, and the hundreds of roots at the tail were entangled together to form a tail similar to a giant snake.
The top of the tree stump suddenly tore open a bloody mouth that was several meters long, like a giant rift monster.
The next second, the opponent, like a crocodile, rushed towards the slightly injured and slightly slower Templar Knight with an extremely fast sprint and death roll!
"Boom!"
The Templar Knight who was unable to dodge was actually swallowed directly into the body of the flesh and blood tree spirit by the suddenly opened bloody mouth.
The whole process was so fast that the young Templar Knight disappeared from this world before he could even scream.
This made Rudolf instantly shocked and angry!
He took out the high-level divine scroll in his arms without hesitation and tore it immediately!
"Divine Art: Sword of Judgment!"
With Rudolf's angry shout!
Suddenly, a five-meter-long light blue sword with a sharp tip facing forward appeared in front of him. It was emitting violent energy fluctuations.
The energy sword appeared very abruptly, completely out of thin air, and in less than a blink of an eye, this light blue giant sword attacked the blood and flesh tree spirit as fast as lightning!
The blood and flesh tree spirit, which had just devoured a Templar Knight, seemed to be still savoring the "delicious food". Its huge body had no time to react, let alone dodge.
"Puff!"
The tree stump of the blood and flesh tree spirit was instantly pierced by the light blue energy sword, leaving a large hole the size of a washbasin, transparent from front to back!
Seeing the divine power of the priest Rudolf, the other two Templar Knights who had just been immersed in the shock and grief of losing their companions could not help but be overjoyed!
The next second, a violent roar resounded through the hall of the temple.
"Roar!!!"
The blood and flesh tree spirit, which had just devoured a Templar Knight, was howling in pain at this moment, and its huge body kept rolling, extremely painful.
Ryan looked at the divine spell in amazement.
As expected of the church, the foundation is strong. The attack speed of the light blue giant sword was too fast and the power was quite strong.
Even he didn't know if he could dodge the attack.
If he couldn't dodge
the blood and flesh tree spirit, the fate at this moment was the best explanation of the power of divine spells.
However,
Ryan's keen perception found that although the blood and flesh tree spirit could not resist the attack of the sword of judgment, it was seriously injured but not dead after resisting the attack!
No, not only was it not dead, its wounds were gradually healing!
Many of its tiny roots were withered and broken at this moment, falling to the ground and quickly turned into a piece of dead wood, and the flesh and blood originally wrapped around the roots also turned into rotten meat in an instant.
But this process seemed to be quickly repairing the body injuries of the blood and flesh tree spirit by absorbing the life and energy of the roots.
Although there was a lot of light blue sword energy left on the wound, as more and more roots died, a certain strange energy was born in large quantities, causing the light blue energy on the wound to be quickly offset by the strange energy.
The bloody tree spirit's body, the basin-diameter penetration wound just now, was shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye.
With the blessing of dark vision, Ryan could still clearly see that the inner wall of the bloody tree spirit's penetration wound was growing countless finger-thick flesh, which was quickly repairing the wound.
However, this scene was not noticed by others because of the extinguishing of the light magic.
In particular, the two Templar Knights closest to the bloody tree spirit saw the opponent's roots fall to the ground and turn into dead wood, and felt that the powerful divine magic just now should have destroyed the bloody tree spirit.
The rest, just need to wait for the bloody tree spirit to slowly die in the screams!
Ryan immediately shouted and warned: "Be careful! The flesh and blood tree spirit is not dead!"
"It is recovering quickly, hurry! Keep attacking!"
"Huh?" The two Templars turned their heads to look at Ryan in confusion.
The other party was clearly howling miserably, and a large number of roots had broken off and fallen off, so why is he still not dead? -
One minute ago.
When Rudolph tore open the high-level divine scroll "Sword of Judgment".
"Hey! Such a strong energy fluctuation!" The black-haired female elf who was also on the road in the Night Song Forest quickly stopped.
And the direction she looked up was the ruined temple where Ryan and his team were.
"This kind of energy fluctuation, eh! There is another energy, this seems to be..." After thinking for a while, the black-haired female elf's beautiful eyes widened and her face showed surprise.
After a little thought, she immediately adjusted the direction of advance and quickly advanced towards the direction of the ruined temple.
It seems that she felt that it was not fast enough.
The next second, her tall figure suddenly disappeared from the spot, and she turned into an eagle, quickly soaring into the sky and flapping her wings to fly.
It's the middle of March, please give me your monthly tickets, thank you! ^_^
(End of this chapter)
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