Wasteland Echoer

The areas controlled by the three major churches of the Zine Empire/The Lost Ones, the old Uko Province/new settlement area, Silent Highlands, and the "living area" behind the main palace of the "Silent Star Castle" of the Church of Hope.

Cardinal Merlinal was in a terrible mood. For no other reason than yesterday, since the empire announced the launch of the "Advent of Silence" military operation, until today, she could always hear the sound of cannons at any time. .

The first time was when it was just dawn. Before she had time to take off the bandage on her face, she looked carefully and hoped that the Pope would personally use the sequential monster "MB-99: Seed of Shaping" to reconstruct it for her, making it whiter, tenderer, and more beautiful. With a fair, beautiful, more lustrous and girlish face, a cannonball with a dull explosion actually landed on the edge of the fortress.

If it weren't for the two cardinals and the Pope of Hope who temporarily transferred some elite lost people from the northern battlefield to jointly construct a light blue magic shield with ripples and ripples, I am afraid that the attack of this cannonball would have It was enough to destroy a third of the fortress they had worked so hard to build.

And all day yesterday, while eating with the exquisite palace tableware left over from the Pusius Empire, while crossing the mud-covered ground leading to the "Crimson Moon District", and even going to the very rural place that smelled of feces. When meeting Dylan in Gan's dormitory to prepare for the "Spirit of Joy", she would accidentally hear the sound of cannons, and even each time there would be violent vibrations, like small earthquakes.

This continuous bombing not only tortured her mentally, but even increased the pressure suddenly, making it impossible for her to make any valuable and correct judgments about the war situation.

Helpless, this morning, apart from checking the observation tower high up in the fortress and the magic cover of the hemisphere, she had no intention of doing anything. Instead, she chose to sit under the scorching sun, almost without much life, not much " "People" wander aimlessly on the ground of the fortress covered with bluestone bricks.

Until, in her mind, Sayi, who had blond hair and brown eyes, and a childish face that looked like a harmless child.

Thinking of this, her footsteps suddenly changed direction and walked deeper into the "living area".

Arriving near a slightly dilapidated palace with giant doors open on all sides at the front of the living area, Melina consciously tidied up her demeanor.

After all, her "lover" Dylan has returned here in the past few days. After the first meeting, she didn't even bother to seriously protect the "young dragon" that was all black and seemed to be carved from obsidian.

Instead, she hurried to the palace where she lived and changed into her favorite purple dress like a princess.

It was a dress that looked very expensive at first glance.

The deep purple hue implies the hard-to-obtain natural dye, and the layers of tiny gemstones covering it reflect the sun's rays from time to time, showing a colorful brilliance.

The collar, cuffs and back are all covered with a ball of wolf fur, and even the swaying skirt looks graceful and luxurious, revealing an aura of wealth but not luxury.

For middle-aged men, this kind of beauty is enough and in line with the mood.

Lifting up her skirt, she walked a few steps on the dusty palace ground in high heels. She looked up and saw two men, one tall and one short, kneeling in the middle. They were not very big, with their hands clasped together, praying piously. A "man" praying to the strange statue in front of him.

Slowly and carefully, he took a few steps forward and looked closer.

Melinare recognized at a glance that the "person" in front of her was Sai from the Tenin sect, and followed by Luo Nie, a young man with a mechanical body whose spirit was up and down.

Melinare, who was holding her newborn chin, whose skin was still a little tender and could slightly reveal the blue blood vessels inside, did not want to disturb their prayers, or worship.

She was just very interested in the statue in front of her.

Searching through any books she could remember reading about the Patriarchs and Archbishops, Melinal found no description of such sculptures.

The sculpture didn't look very tall, it was only about one meter tall. It was no wonder that the two children had to kneel down to worship it.

Its surface is very smooth, as if it has been washed by streams all year round. The surface has been covered by a layer of reflective moss, giving it a thick and sticky feel.

The upper body of the sculpture is an eagle's head, with a sun-like irregular ring pattern on top, while the middle half of the body looks like a human being, covered with an ancient central empire-style gauze, half of which is exposed. abs and chest.

The middle finger and thumb of the right hand of the sculpture are close to each other, with the entire palm facing up, as if they are divining something, which has the characteristics of Eastern religion.

But the front quarter of its lower body is made up of twisted octopus-like tentacles, the back quarter is two normal strong human legs, the left quarter is a straight machine, and the right quarter is The last part is filled with weird, irregularly shaped rocks.

Except for the lower part, the statue is entirely made of mahogany, and it does not appear to be very crudely made. However, which god the two children were praying for, Melinaer did not think clearly for a moment.

Her brain was running rapidly involuntarily, and Melinaer, who was even a little overloaded with thinking, suddenly discovered that a faint red halo appeared around the bodies of Luo Nie and Sai who were praying devoutly.

Moving his eyes back, the palace, which originally had a bit of stubborn sunlight pouring in due to the huge doors on all sides, showed a standard and well-defined interlacing of light and dark, like two curtains of opposite colors forcibly spliced ​​together.

But after a painful feeling as if her head had been opened and sharp objects were stirred inside, Melinal was surprised to find that the surrounding light began to quickly fade away, and the dark blue tone belonging to the long silent night enveloped the entire old age. The old dilapidated palace is trying to occupy a territory that almost no one cares about.

Looking up numbly, Melinare actually saw a crimson moon, hanging high in the eternal universe, quietly shining on intelligent creatures who longed for power.

Beyond that, stars begin to occupy the remaining dark blue area.

In an instant, the palace turned into the night sky, leaving only the textured ceramic tiles with cracked patterns that she touched while wearing high-heeled shoes that didn't fit very well, allowing her to retain a slight sense of reality that was worthy of keeping her spirit from collapsing.

"Is it a sculpture with the ability to 'seduce'? Or are these two children sacrificing themselves in exchange?" Melinaer guessed wildly.

She was in no hurry to step forward.

On the one hand, she has seen too many lost people who sacrificed themselves to achieve certain goals. For example, a boy from the Hope Church ten years ago sacrificed his limbs in order to enter the realm of gods, and finally died with a weird smile.

There is also what Luo Nie in front of her told her when she was awake, the [Hunter] Atwood who sacrificed his arms but was abandoned by the "Forest God".

On the other hand, she wanted to spy on the god behind the statue. Even the novelty brought by a weak power was enough to comfort her from the mental stress caused by the constant cannon bombardment in the past two days.

A few seconds later, she realized that everything in front of her was covered with a layer of gauze due to the brilliance of the crimson moon. With the dark blue tone, she couldn't help but feel a little desolate.

Loneliness, indifference, sadness, and desolation, the negative emotions in an instant made her a little depressed, as if she was saddened by a heavy boulder, like the god who could never push the stone to the top of the mountain.

Soon, reason told her that what she saw in front of her should have been unbelievable, at least it was very abnormal in the castle of the Church of Hope.

Her mouth moved, ready to ask the two people in front of her for more information.

However, she seemed to have temporarily lost the ability to speak, and she tried with all her strength to vibrate her vocal cords.

But in addition to the slight flow of air, there was also a sense of spiritual exhaustion that forced her to stop this stupid behavior.

After a moment, the statue in front of her made a crackling sound like a burning firecracker, like a burst of electricity passing through. During the sting, Melina realized that all the scenes outlined by mysterious power had disappeared, except for the two A "child" who has already gotten up.

"I pray for the blessings of the gods and ask Mr. Hit to go to heaven. Although his sins are enough to make him fall into hell, the people in the wasteland can only deal with blood and fire. This is his helplessness. I hope the gods understand. "Luo Nian's green voice came out from his throat, which seemed tactful but full of sorrow.

"Please ask the apostle of the Lord of Machinery at No. 6 and the 'Metamorphosis' at No. 12 to listen to our prayers. Brother Luonie knows that he has been forgotten by the Master of Machinery for too long. He spent a lot of time after leaving the embrace of the gods. An extremely long time. He does not ask for forgiveness from his creator, he only hopes that you can give us the hope of living." Sai's childish voice then came out, with a kind of unreality for a young man. A sense of maturity.

Hope, this is a prayer that lacks hope.

Melina suddenly realized that in most of the books she had read that explained the order of gods, most of them only focused on the first seven "seven first order gods". The information was complex and very detailed. , but for even the top 15 gods, there are parts that are missing to the point of being almost nothing.

She remembered that number 13 is the goddess of light, and is easier to be forgotten and ignored than the Lord of the Dark Night, number 2. After all, the lost people of mankind now do not trust the light, and their respect for the dark night conveys their true feelings. Profit-seeking mentality.

But she had never heard of number 12, and the name "Metamorphosis" seemed even more unfamiliar and unheard of.

Maybe this god is too powerful? Perhaps someone deliberately concealed a lot of specific information? Just like the "Daughter of Tool Yuan", the god in the center of Silent Highlands?

Not until some buried, frozen books and relics are unearthed will His existence be understood?

Melinaer shook her head, with a sad smile on her lips.

She heard that some lost people tried to advance to the next level by directly contacting the gods, but they were not guided and were not prepared to sacrifice to the gods and enter a state of near-death.

Therefore, most of them went crazy, and a few of them exploded to death, were roasted by the scorching sun, and were turned into a pile of powder after being blown by the cold wind at night, forever dissipated under the long night sky.

But Luonie and Sayi's prayers didn't seem to be for themselves.

After clearing the messy thoughts in her mind, Melinaer walked forward with an elegant posture, walked gently to the two of them, faced the back of the weird statue, and asked:

"Can you tell me what happened? Why are you praying to such a strange... strange statue?"

"Hit is dead, and we are praying to the statue of the 'Metamorphosis'." Sai responded in a low voice, forcing himself to hold back the feeling of tears about to burst into his eyes.

"I'm sorry, but I still want to know, was it the tall Sugra [Warrior] who protected you here and was not adapted to the environment of the Lost who died?"

Melina maintains a professional questioning style. When faced with something that urgently needs to be understood, she sometimes chooses to use as complex and detailed a method as possible to match as much information as possible.

After being silent for a few seconds, Sai sighed softly, nodded slightly and said:

"That's him. Sister Melinal, you know, without the protection of the sequential potions developed by humans, humans who come into direct contact with the wasteland will not only become superpowers or 'unintentional people', but their organs will usually... Because it was eroded by the 'mysterious and extraordinary power', it rapidly aged, declined, and lost its activity. Brother Hit did not have the habit of regularly injecting medicine when he was in Sugra. After all, there is a dim dome, and the humans below can survive unscrupulously."

"But he walked out of the 'greenhouse' Sogra and entered the wilderness, losing the protection of the medicine. He persisted in pain for several days, and he just died last night."

"That's right." Luo Nie took over Sai's words, stroked Sai's blond hair gently, as if stroking a cat's smooth hair, and sighed:

"His lungs seemed to be damaged and he lost the ability to extract oxygen from the air. When we found him in the morning, he was staring at the ceiling with angry eyes and his mouth wide open, unwilling to leave this miserable world."

"He also wants to find the answer for his old friend De. He wants to know what kind of existence the god indirectly caused De's death is. He still has many secrets he wants to explore.

In fact, he already knew the murderer who killed De, Wright Sugra, who was also the [Order] Miss Melinaer's Church of Hope wanted to invite. I know something about the secret hidden in him, so Miss, I made an agreement with Say yesterday. "

"What's the agreement? Let's talk about it?" Melinaer asked curiously, looking at Luo Nie, whose mental state was up and down in front of her, and who seemed to be unusually awake today.

"We are going to enter the central area here the day after tomorrow. I want to enter the Lake of Silence and find the legendary temple and arena. I want to sneak into the Vita Water, open the realm where the gods are, and question him personally." Luo Nie was abnormal. replied firmly.

"What are you questioning Him about?" Melina suddenly felt that the Luo Nie in front of her was a bit childish and regrettable, and asked with a wry smile:

"Let's not talk about your mental state. Let's talk about Sai. Can he withstand the destruction of the power of the gods? Can you guarantee that he is not crazy? Well, even if you escape all punishment and actually come to the stone gate, you Without understanding the true meaning of 'The Song of Confusion' and without the blessing of the red magic source, how can you enter there?"

"Fate will naturally arrange it." Luo Nie looked up at the location above the dilapidated palace where part of the mural of the Goddess of Fate remained, and explained:

"I have divined that we will meet the orderer, Wright Socra. Besides, hasn't the old magician already found the correct direction for me to go to the realm of gods?

Moreover, the 'sad' in my body can no longer support this body for longer. When I really become a pile of scrap metal, what is the meaning of my existence? "

"But do you know? Luonie, death is easy, but living is worthy of praise and admiration. Therefore, it is not wise to commit suicide." Melina retorted resolutely.