Zong Jiu took the staff from the servant's hand, which was respectfully handed over to him.
The entire body of the cane was made of an unknown incense wood, and the top was inlaid with an incomparably large sapphire, reflecting a clear halo. When he held it in his hand, he felt that it was very heavy.
The magician weighed the staff in his hand and found the Duke's family emblem engraved on the staff.
The butler lowered his head and only dared to look at the sapphire.
This lowly human would never know that this was the Hope Gem, known as the "Heart of the Sea" in the Empire. It was also the family heirloom of the Duke's family.
His Highness the Duke had absolute power, so there was no need to explain the meaning behind this cane.
As long as the staff was in his hand, even the royal family couldn't give orders. The staff was the same as the Duke's.
However, Zong Jiu didn't seem to be flattered at all. He spun the staff in his hand and threw it back to the butler without hesitation.
The butler was so scared that he trembled with fear. He hurriedly went to catch it, fearing that the cane would fall to the ground and leave a mark on it. If that happened, even ten of his heads wouldn't be enough to chop it off.
"Tell him that I don't need it."
After saying this, Zong Jiu left without looking back. He didn't want to see the butler's expression.
This was the Duke's territory and no commoner would dare to cause trouble in the noble's territory. Under the devil's orders, no servant dared to stop him. Thus, Zong Jiu left the huge manor without a hitch.
After leaving the manor, he quickly put on a disguise and hurried towards the circus.
Because he didn't want to take the human carriage, there weren't even bicycles in this era. Thus, Zong Jiu had no choice but to walk.
The Duke's manor was in the center of the capital. It was very close to the capital and not far from the circus.
It was night time and it would only take a few minutes to reach if he ran.
Zong Jiu frowned. "Sub-system, can you contact Tokumon?"
Tokumon was separated from him. The two of them shared a system, so they should be able to contact each other through the sub-system.
[Although it is against the rules of the game for trainees to contact each other privately, but …]
Obviously, the subsystem also remembered that it was now a grasshopper on the same line as these two trainees.
Therefore, it was silent for a while, and then secretly made a joke. [You can use the navigation skill. Every time it succeeds, you can refresh the coordinates of the other party.]
Zong Jiu smirked and started to spin the ten-sided die.
.....
On the other hand, Tokumon's situation was not much better.
He was crouching down and creeping into the kitchen of the Underground Farm.
Due to the lack of raw materials, the chef went to the slaughterhouse to hasten the delivery of the food, but he was nowhere to be found.
Now, there was only a fire burning on the stove in the kitchen, as well as some bloody pieces of meat used for the side dishes. Other than the colorful bottles and jars on the table, it was unbelievably quiet.
Fortunately, there were many baskets for food. Each of them was taller than a person, and they were filled with things.
For example, there was a basket of cabbages next to Tokumon, another basket of carrots, and another basket of potatoes next to it.
The Yin Yang Master was holed up in this large pile of food, shrinking deeper and deeper.
For some reason, Tokumon felt that it was slightly strange.
After running out of the cult's basement, he used the invisibility item again and ran for his life.
But for some reason, perhaps because he had been running, he did not have time to think about it. Now that the Yin Yang Master crouched down and thought about it carefully, he realized that there were many problems.
It seemed that the people chasing after him were too casual.
They were so casual that the two Black Cloak Cult members that he saw at the beginning did not even appear. All that appeared on the road were Ox-Head and Horse-Face. Gradually, there were even fewer people chasing after him …
Thinking about the conversation he overheard in the conference room not long ago, Tokumon felt that something was not right.
After thinking for a while, the Yin Yang Master spun the ten-faced die and listened.
Before there was a walking Magician to absorb his luck, his luck could be called stowaway. He might not be able to hit every time, but at least he was slightly better than the average person.
[Your throw result is 13/20. Listening successful.]
[You feel that your hearing has suddenly become sharper. You can easily hear the sounds in the corridor behind a wall.]
"Hey, did you see the husky that ran away?"
"I didn't see it. Okay, okay, it's about time to go back and report. The leaders of the cult said that we don't have to chase too far. Just scare them a little. They won't be able to escape on the day of the carnival anyway. "
"Indeed, prey that has been branded early on. As long as the magic circle is there, they won't be able to escape the hands of the cult leaders on the day of the carnival. Let's go, let's go."
.....
Tu Yumiemon was startled. "Whoa!" His brain connected with a certain line.
His eyes widened. Only then did he realize that he had overlooked a very fatal problem.
He and Magician were both summoned to this super S-level dungeon. This was confirmed by the system.
Yin Yang Masters had summoning spells, but they summoned shikigami.
This type of summoning spell, regardless of whether it was from the East or the West, had obvious similarities.
For example, if the summoned person couldn't resist the first time …
Of course, they wouldn't be able to resist the second time.
No wonder when he eavesdropped on the conversation between the two survivors of the cult, they said that it didn't matter if the Duke sent Magician back or not. There was still the magic circle anyway.
"How could I forget this? I'm a Yin Yang Master. It's more like I'm an idiot."
He was so angry that he hit his head with his fist. "It's over, it's over. If this is the case, those survivors must have marked me and Magician. Ahhhhh, but I don't have the ability of a Yin Yang Master. What should I do now —"
"Pfft, yes, you're quite stupid."
Just as Tsuchimikado was in tears and lamenting why he was still so unlucky even after getting rid of his Onmyoji ability, Magician's lazy voice suddenly sounded above his head.
Tokumon froze for a moment, then jumped up.
"Holy shit, when did you get here? You scared me to death! "
He was startled. He only reacted when he saw Zong Jiu's mocking expression.
"… You kept running. Do you know how many Navigators I had to throw to find you?"
Zong Jiu was furious at the mention of this.
He didn't know what Zhuge An did to their luck. After Zong Jiu and Tokumon were separated, his own luck became extremely unstable.
It wasn't easy for him to succeed on a die, but Tokumon's coordinates changed again, causing Zong Jiu to run around.
It was true that he had disguised himself, but many animals saw the Duke's family emblem on his suit and thought that he was some big shot, so they let him in.
Zong Jiu didn't expect that after he threw the staff back, he would be able to benefit from the puppet NPC controlled by the Devil. It was quite miraculous.
However, he would be an idiot if he didn't take advantage of the situation. He didn't want to take advantage of it.
Thus, Zong Jiu strutted into the underground farm like a big shot, looking for Tokumon in the vicinity.
"Alright, now's not the time to talk about this."
In a few words, he briefly recounted what he had experienced throughout the day and night. "What about you?"
"Me …"
Tu Yumiemon said with a sad face, "We have a location set by the survivors. No matter where we run to, as long as they draw a magic array on the ground on the day of the carnival, they can summon us there at any time."
This was indeed bad news. Especially when Zong Jiu asked the sub-system, which also said that all the skills of the ten-sided die were useless against the anti-summoning spell.
"Don't worry." Zong Jiu put his index finger on his chin and fell into deep thought. "You're saying that almost half of the survivors from 20 years ago didn't die, and even went into hibernation to establish a cult that worships an evil god?"
The Yin Yang Master nodded. "The animals in this dungeon firmly believe in an evil god called Sada Hegara. The Sussex Manuscript says that Sada Hegara is just an incarnation, and that she has a higher body. However, even the manuscript says that worshipping this Evil God is an act of complete madness, because from the moment one worships the Evil God … one's mind will be corroded by an indescribable darkness and insanity, and one will become insane. "
"But they still believe in her unswervingly. Every ten years, they will prepare a festival. In fact, the festival is a ritual used to sacrifice to the evil god. It is said that only when a satisfactory sacrifice is chosen will the evil god show mercy and grant the believers' wishes. "
This didn't seem right.
The survivors in the Infinite Loop rarely believed in anything, and even if they did, it was impossible for them to believe in an evil god. Even 20 years ago, these survivors wouldn't be so crazy as to preach a cult in a scary dungeon.
Unless … this S-level dungeon had a tradition of believing in cults and evil gods.
Just as Zong Jiu realized this, the sub-system sent a warm notification.
[Key clue triggered. Inspiration check, please.]
Zong Jiu's luck was good again beside Tokumon.
[Your throw result is 21/35. Inspiration check successful.]
[Some memory fragments that were hard to notice suddenly connected together in your mind. Some details that were previously ignored also happened to be pieced together along with this clue. Thus, you seemed to have a new and extremely bold speculation about the situation in front of you …]
Accompanied by the cold mechanical voice of the sub-system, Zong Jiu suddenly remembered something that he and Tokumon didn't pay attention to when they were searching for clues in the underground farm.
For example … when he stood on top of the farm and looked down, he saw an obviously oversized pigsty. No matter how he looked at it, it didn't fit the size of a small human. There were many buildings that didn't make sense and weren't even suitable for animals, but for humans. There were also some strange facilities in the underground farm. Everything seemed to be in sync with the real world.
Zhuge An once said that all scary dungeons originated from the real world. No matter how absurd it was, it couldn't be separated from the real world.
However, something was clearly wrong with this world. It had gone too far.
With the success of the inspiration check, Zong Jiu felt like he had been blessed by the gods.
"Wait, you just said that if I summon the evil god, I can succeed in fulfilling my wish?"
They were suddenly dragged from the Light Dimension to the Dark Dimension, and the darkness that filled this dungeon was everywhere like a plague. Crazy animals, cruel rule, sick class system and concept.
The survivors who were suddenly cut off from the main system and left in the dungeon volunteered to become the mainstay of the church. They even practiced black magic and planned to hold another ceremony. Even … devout faith.
Under what circumstances could the survivors who didn't have any faith willingly and devoutly believe in the evil god and rack their brains to summon the evil god a second time?
Unless …
"Then tell me, twenty years ago … Is it possible that the Evil God has already been successfully summoned once?"
He saw it with his own eyes.
And, it fulfilled a wish.