After that narrow-necked glass bottle appeared, the "night sky" overhead seemed to have changed.
A series of soft murmurs echoed throughout the hall, making Bernadette and Odis realize that even if they didn't perform the ritual pointing to the evil god, the ritual had already begun on its own.
However, they can only hide behind the magic circle for now and dare not make any rash moves.
Once they leave the protection of the magic circle, their thoughts will be "distorted" by unknown forces.
Although they could slowly walk away like before, their location was too far from the gate, and at that speed, it might take them more than ten minutes to get out.
And ten or so minutes is enough for the ceremony to complete on its own.
If the evil god merely glances in their direction, they will all be in grave danger, especially Odis, who is a Sequence 7 and could very well lose control on the spot.
Odis stared at the magic circle for a while before saying, "The fastest way to save ourselves now is to perfect this magic circle and completely seal this ritual."
"Yes, you only need to fill in seven occult symbols."
As Odis said this, he took out his spiritual materials and a soft pen that he always carried with him: "I need your help."
He said, "We cannot leave the mystical symbols in front of us, otherwise we will lose the protection of the magic circle."
"And we can't use extraordinary abilities that consume too much spiritual energy. In that case, do you have a way to write the specified symbols in the place I designate?"
Bernadette thought for a moment and said, "Okay."
Odis warned again, "Don't use extraordinary abilities that consume too much spiritual energy, otherwise they will definitely be 'distorted'."
"I know," Bernadette said calmly. "Put the pen and the glass bottle containing the spiritual materials on the ground."
Odis did as he was told and quickly put it on the ground.
At this moment, the "murmurs" in the hall became more pronounced, the thin mist in the narrow-necked glass bottle began to shimmer with a faint light, and the stars above their heads became very deep, as if they were the real starry sky.
The pen at Odis's feet suddenly stood up on its own and hopped away from the protection of the magic circle.
Bernadette said, "Yes, this pen has no thoughts and cannot be 'distorted'."
Or rather, the "distortion" of that unknown force is limited, and can only affect living beings.
Otherwise, Bernadette was using extraordinary abilities to control the pen, and theoretically, such extraordinary abilities should also be able to be "distorted".
It's also possible that the sealing array blocked part of the influence of that power.
There wasn't time to explain it clearly, so Bernadette tried it out and immediately asked, "Where is the first symbol located?"
"Draw this symbol over there!" Odis opened his notebook and drew the corresponding symbol.
The pen and the glass bottle bounced and hopped until they reached their designated location.
Then the glass bottle unscrewed its cap by itself, and the soft brush, dipped in spiritual material, drew the corresponding symbol in the position designated by Odis.
Because the magic circle was already activated, the symbol emitted a faint light immediately after it was drawn.
This made Bernadette's spirit sense that a large area of the hall would no longer be affected by that force.
With each finger and each drawing, by the time they reached the fifth symbol, the murmurs in the hall were already driving Odis and Bernadette crazy.
At the same time, the light from the narrow-necked glass bottle in the center gradually rose, as if it were about to merge with the starry sky.
There was an evil gaze, as if it were looking this way.
However, the connection with the starry sky has not yet been formally established, so the owner of the gaze cannot yet project power here.
When the sixth symbol was drawn, the light emitted by the slender-necked glass bottle dimmed, and the evil gazes seemed to have lost their target and looked away.
Odis breathed a sigh of relief: "Draw the last one there, draw this symbol."
As the next symbol was drawn, the light emitted by the mystical symbols in the magic circle suddenly became illusory, forming a layer of illusory light above the hall.
After this layer of light appeared, all connections between the slender-necked glass bottle and the starry sky were severed, and the starry sky was no longer so deep, gradually turning back into crystals.
The light emitted by the slender-necked glass bottle also disappeared, and the thin, ethereal mist inside could be seen again.
The light emitted by the magic circle began to fall and gradually faded until all the light disappeared, and the hall returned to the state it was in when the two people first entered.
Odis and Bernadette, one picking up spiritual materials and a pen, the other the sleeve they had just torn off, quickly retreated from the hall. Odis then activated the magic circle on the door again, closing the two heavy stone doors.
Only then did the two of them glance at each other.
Bernadette said, "That was close."
Although she didn't know where the danger just now came from, it was extremely advanced! If the magic circle hadn't been made complete, even if she was a "master of prophecy," she would definitely have been affected by some unknown contamination.
They might even have to pledge allegiance to an evil god in order to save their lives.
After the two checked their own condition and confirmed that they were not contaminated, a pair of illusory wings sprouted from Bernadette's back and covered her and Odysseus.
Whoosh~
The feathers on the wings rubbed together, then became almost transparent and quickly disappeared, along with Odis and Bernadette in the corridor.
After the two of them left, a phantom symbol representing stars suddenly appeared in the corridor.
From this symbol, a surging, tranquil power descended, and the stone door at the end of the corridor suddenly disappeared bit by bit, as if erased by an eraser.
Soon, the two stone doors, along with the hall, disappeared.
Immediately afterwards, the symbol radiating starlight also disappeared.
The corridor was still the same corridor, but at its end, it had become a huge void.
...
No. 66, Rose Street.
In the living room of this townhouse, a pair of illusory wings suddenly appeared. The wings opened, and Bernadette and Odysseus appeared in the living room.
Back in familiar surroundings, Odis finally felt completely at ease: "I'll go make a cup of tea."
"Okay." Bernadette raised her hand and sat down in the restaurant to wait.
While waiting for the water to boil, Odis, taking advantage of Bernadette's inability to see him, used "meditation" to enter the "wilderness of knowledge".
The moment he entered, Odis regained all his knowledge about the starry sky, the Outer Gods, and the primal matter.
First, he "recalls" that Terensost must have been contaminated by the source substance "Disordered Country," because there are traces of that source substance contamination on the "Terensost Brass Book."
The secret chamber we encountered today must be the place where Trensust communicated with the Outer Gods.
The Outer God He was in contact with was the "Uncertain Mist," and the mist stored in that narrow-necked glass bottle was related to this Outer God.
Recalling this information, Odis made a conjecture: After becoming a god, Trensost had been searching for the "Land of Chaos" that corresponded to him, and for this he did not hesitate to establish a connection with the "Uncertain Mist." Later, it is unknown whether the "Uncertain Mist" betrayed Trensost, or whether Trensost's preparations were inadequate, but in any case, this "Night Emperor" was corrupted by the "Land of Chaos" and ultimately perished under the siege of the six gods.
With that thought in mind, Odis stopped thinking about it, because he had ventured to the "Wilderness of Knowledge" to check his own condition.
The contamination from the Outer Gods is highly sophisticated and very subtle; perhaps neither you nor Bernadette's spirituality can detect it.
Using her position in the "Wilderness of Knowledge," Odis checked her spirit body and breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that there were no problems.
After a moment's thought, he realized that it was the imperfect magic circle that protected him and Bernadette.
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
Otherwise, having already sensed the gaze of the Outer Gods, they could not have remained untainted.
Without time to think it through, Odis immediately returned to the real world and continued boiling water.
"What were you doing just now?" Bernadette had appeared at the kitchen doorway without anyone noticing.
Odis felt guilty and was startled: "Why do you walk so quietly?"
Bernadette smiled and said, "I noticed you seemed to be deep in thought about something, so I didn't want to disturb you."
Odis breathed a sigh of relief: Bernadette sensed that something was wrong with me, but she couldn't tell that I had entered the "wilderness of knowledge".
So he said, "I was just thinking that the magic circle is not perfect. If we perform a ritual pointing to that evil god, we will definitely be corrupted by the evil god."
Bernadette nodded: "I have the same idea, and I think the person who performed the ceremony is very likely the 'Night Emperor' himself."
Odis paused for a moment before putting the tea leaves into the teapot: "Then everything makes sense. The Night Emperor was corrupted in that hall, which led to the subsequent attack by the gods."
At this moment, the water finally boiled. Odis poured some hot water into the teapot and rinsed the tea leaves: "That narrow-necked glass bottle must belong to an evil god, or the mist inside is from an evil god."
"Over the long years, it gradually eroded the sealing array. When the time was right, such as when an outsider broke in, it began the ritual of establishing a connection with the evil god on its own."
"Well, that doesn't mean it has thoughts; it might just be out of 'instinct' that it 'hopes' to re-establish contact with that evil god."
"So our response was absolutely correct; we perfected the magic array and completely sealed the narrow-necked glass bottle."
"Otherwise, even if we escape, the presence of the evil god in the depths of Backlund would be a terrifying prospect!"
As he spoke, he refilled the teapot with hot water, and after the black tea had steeped for a while, he poured a cup for Bernadette and then poured one for himself.
Bernadette took a sip of tea and said, "I can sense that the magic array in the hall is quite different from the one at the entrance."
"It is different." Odis also noticed this: "The magic circle in the hall uses an extraordinary property of at least demigod level as its power source."
"That's why such a powerful seal could be created."
Then he exclaimed, "How extravagant!"
Unfortunately, even if they found that extraordinary property, they couldn't take it away. Otherwise, the magic circle wouldn't have such a strong sealing effect, and that narrow-necked glass bottle would have gradually eroded the surrounding area.
If the timing is right, it might even influence someone who is near that area, causing that person to take it away.
Bernadette put down her teacup and smiled, "So, the only thing we gained from this exploration was learning some secrets about the 'Night Emperor's' history."
"Hmm, you also observed the intricate magic array of the Quaternary Period, which is more than what I discovered."
Odis hummed in agreement, thinking to himself: Actually, I already knew about the history of Trensost, but that secret chamber provided evidence for some of my speculations. However, the magic circle of the Fourth Age did indeed yield me considerable gains.
Thinking of this, Odis added, "I think I understand why those mystical symbols are so special."
"If I'm not mistaken, those symbols should come from the stars, not from any civilization, but from some evil god and his followers."
"The Night King needed to use these symbols to communicate with the evil gods, so He possessed knowledge about these symbols and used that knowledge to create the 'lock'."
This is essentially an unbreakable "lock" because in the real world, almost no one knows the meaning of those symbols.
However, Odis's research on mystical symbols, focusing on both the meaning and function of these symbols, allowed him to decipher the "lock" in just twenty minutes.
This method of breaking the spell is unique because even if the evil god has followers in the real world, they are unlikely to be proficient in magic arrays. So even if they understand the meaning of those symbols, they would still be at a loss in front of the stone gate.
Thinking of this, Odis grinned and once again thought to himself: Knowledge is power.
At this moment, he noticed that Bernadette was also distracted, and Odis's gaze involuntarily drifted to the "mysterious queen's" bare arm.
The skin on her arms was fair and delicate, and looked very soft.
He thought to himself, "The 'strong woman's' arms are also quite graceful, not at all muscular and powerful."
Bernadette snapped out of her reverie and glanced at Odis: "Is it pretty?"
"It looks good." Odis nodded earnestly.
"Alright, let's get down to business." Bernadette, without any of the reserve expected of a young girl, said with an air of "I'm not afraid to be seen," "I suddenly realized that everything that happened today… I feel…"
Odis was taken aback: "You don't think... it's a coincidence, do you?"
That would be terrible! 0-08 seems to be right here in Backlund.
"No." Bernadette frowned. "I feel like… like someone deliberately let me discover that place, and then made us completely seal away the danger there."
Odis took another sip of tea. He had felt something was strange when Bernadette said she had accidentally knocked over a stone tablet and discovered the corridor.
But it doesn't seem like 0-08 is at work. Neither it nor its current owner are "Guardians of Backlund" and won't "arrange" for someone to take the initiative to eliminate the potential crisis in Backlund that poses no threat to them.