Duke's gaze passed over Earl and fell on the trembling believers in the plaza.
The middle-aged woman with a broken forehead was still crying softly, her child was squeezed among the crowd, only a dust-covered little hand could be seen desperately waving.
The corpse of the male believer shot dead by an arrow still lay at the edge of the plaza, dark red blood continuously seeped from the wound, slowly flowing along the grooves of the rune stone slab, already touching the edge of the nearest rune engravings.
At the moment the blood touched the engraving, the originally dim engraving suddenly lit up, not a reflection illuminated by a torch, but a dark red glow as if from embers seeping from inside.
Duke was silent for a breath, then turned back to look at Earl and said word by word, "Perhaps there's no need for this ritual. I have some research on ritual formations, I can help you examine what's wrong with this rune plaza."
