Ring of Fate

Chapter 831 Same kind?

The drum beats continued to thump, thump, thump, and each beat resonated with Lumian's heartbeat, making Lumian feel so uncomfortable that he wanted to spit out blood.

He endured the discomfort, and faced the "rain" of cold liquid. Under the gazes of countless people and amidst the strange, thin laughter, he continued to move forward firmly.

One step, two steps, three steps, and Lumian's vision, which was extremely dark due to the bandages, suddenly lit up with a blood-red color.

It was a red plain, and an army of undead creatures in iron-black armor were marching towards them.

“The first nightmare I had after I started studying?” Just as this thought flashed through Lumian’s mind, he discovered that the scene “in front of him” became fragmented, with images of a burning palace, a forest of thunder, a mountain of corpses and bones, and a team of blindfolded experimenters walking in an orderly manner superimposed on it.

These all came from the nightmares he had been having during this period.

Lumian immediately realized that it was not because the bandage had lost its effect, allowing him to see what was happening in the hall, but rather that he was affected by some force, causing hallucinations that were difficult to distinguish between reality and falsehood.

At the same time, the dull voice echoing in his left ear no longer told the knowledge from books. It became sometimes sharp and sometimes hoarse, and it was unclear what it was roaring.

Lumian immediately felt the palm of his right hand become hot and stinging.

The remaining aura of the "Blood Emperor" Alistair Tudor was touched!
Then, the mark from the "Underworld Man" became colder, suppressing the violence and madness that seemed to be about to break out, and Lumian also felt a slight burning sensation on the left side of his chest.

“Is this just a hodgepodge…” Lumian habitually laughed at himself in his heart.

With this change, the dripping cold liquid became softer, like a pair of eerie, wet hands caressing the body.

The thumping of the war drums no longer hit the rhythm of Lumian's heartbeat, and the gazes that came from nowhere had lost the meaning that made Lumian's scalp tingle. The thin, tickling low laughter turned into soft and moving singing, looming.

Lumian was stunned for a moment and had a vague guess.

He maintained a moderate pace and walked towards the depths of the hall as marked by the map in his mind.

The "raindrops", the drum sounds, the gazes and the singing all remained unchanged, allowing him to walk unusually smoothly.

"This is because the pollution I suffered when I came into contact with the sealed materials of '0-01' and learned those knowledge was stimulated by the dangers in this hall, which made me fall into the hallucinations composed of those nightmares. And they also made me recognized by the dangers here and regarded as one of the same kind, the same kind that was also severely polluted by '0-01'?
"This also caused the remaining aura of the Blood Emperor to be activated, and the seal of the Dark Man and Mr. Fool also had a chain reaction. If it weren't for these, I would have really become one of the dangerous people around me, and become a real experimenter...

"Well, did Mr. Fool's seal passively play a role in confusing perception and concepts? The judgment that people with similar levels of contamination are equal to our own people can be derived from the law of similarity in mysticism, or it can be the result of exploiting loopholes..."

Lumian's thoughts gradually became clear. He raised his right hand, pressed his left chest, and muttered to himself silently, teasing himself:

"Praise Mr. Fool!
“Thank you Archbishop Hraberg, for the power that comes with knowledge!

“Learning makes me happy!”

Lumian listened to the strange roar coming from his earphones, trying to figure out what information the sound contained, while keeping moving forward quickly to avoid triggering dangers that he could not see.

He estimated the number of steps and distance, constantly comparing them with the map in his mind, and finally arrived at what should be the exit of the hall.

At this moment, the nightmare scenes in front of Lumian's "eyes" changed.

He seemed to have reached a very high place, looking down at the mountain made of corpses and bones.

His sight kept moving downward, past the pale flames and dark red light burning in the corpse's eye sockets, past the rotten flesh and pale bones, to the deep red and almost black ground, and to the iron-black armor.

The same black figure was reflected on the metal surfaces of the armors.

Lumian saw the figure clearly:
That's Guy, the bespectacled, gentle serial killer!

This exile who was sent to Morola together with Lumian, Julie and Les went somewhere unknown after reading books in the Church of Knowledge for a while, and Lumian never met him again!
The figures of the Guys on the metal armor seemed to have sensed Lumian's gaze and suddenly raised their heads to look upwards, but they quickly lowered their heads again, as if they had just made a wrong choice out of instinct.

The broken images in front of Lumian's "eyes" disappeared and no longer appeared.

“Guy?
"His shadow was reflected on the surface of those iron-black armors... They were like mirrors...

"Is he the 'man in the mirror' who sneaked into Morola?"

Lumian's eyes, which were covered by white bandages, suddenly widened.

He quickly compared Guy's figure with the "man in the mirror" figure he saw in his previous nightmare:
Most likely it’s the same one!
"It's actually him... and he knows how to go to the Church of Knowledge to study... Has he already arrived at the area around the mountain of corpses?" Lumian suddenly felt that Guy, the "man in the mirror", might be as troublesome and difficult as Albus Medici, Julie, Celeste, and Vanak.

Lumian thought back to the scene he had just “seen” and felt that there was something wrong with his perspective:

"At the top of Corpse Mountain?

"Looking down on everything...

"Do I share the perspective of '0-01'?

"Yes, being severely contaminated by 0-01 means becoming its puppet. From the current situation, those at a high level in the Hunter Path can share power, damage, vision, hearing, and feelings with the members of their team...

"Did '0-01' treat me as one of your own just now?

"It didn't give me the same power as it did to Vanak, which means it doesn't particularly 'recognize' me... If I really finish reading the rest of the books and master the corresponding knowledge, will the pollution reach a critical point, allowing '0-01' to regard me as someone who has completely surrendered, as a complete puppet and its limbs, which I am not? In this case, it is indeed easier to get close to it and think of a way to leave a mark.

"This is similar to what I guessed before. The purpose of the test is to measure the degree of pollution, the body's tolerance and the balance of various pollutants in my body...

"I really need to get full marks on this. If I conceal something and Archbishop Heraberg makes a mistake in his judgment, I will be the only one who will suffer a tragic consequence... Then I will either really become a puppet of '0-01', or die here because of insufficient contamination...

"Knowledge is indeed power, and knowledge is indeed hidden wealth!"

Lumian couldn't help but curse Julie and Celeste - these two "witches" raised by sows prevented him from completing his studies!
Things had already happened, and he could only curse as he passed through the hall exit.

After walking for dozens of meters along the corridor marked on the map in his mind, Lumian suddenly felt a lot of movement on the side and heard the sound of wind caused by a heavy object.

Holding the calcium carbide lamp and the "abscessed hand" head, he lunged forward and rolled to avoid it.

Pong!
The sound of something heavy hitting the ground echoed.

With the help of this voice, Lumian quickly sketched out the appearance of the "enemy" in his mind:

That's a giant sword!
As for the one in the underground mausoleum carrying a huge sword and not feeling alive, Lumian can only think of a doll!
"I was attacked by a soldier puppet in the corridor?

"Hey, we are the same kind, we are all soldiers of '0-01'!"

As Lumian was surprised, there was a whistling sound of wind and the huge sword chopped down again.

Lumian, who was completely blind, activated the black mark on his right shoulder and flashed behind the attacker who looked like a soldier.

At the same time, some knowledge from the book "Making and Maintaining Dolls" emerged in his mind:

"The puppets used in the underground mausoleum are all two meters tall and made of steel...

“Weapons come in four types: greatsword, sledgehammer, spear, and bow and arrow…

"The weakest part of the puppet is its neck. This is not only a problem with the mechanical structure, but also an inevitable development caused by the pollution in the underground mausoleum..."

As the relevant knowledge flashed through his mind, Lumian jumped up, pulled his chest muscles, stretched out his arms, raised his right fist, and swung it at the back of the neck of the soldier figure he had constructed in his mind.

His fist burned with layers of compressed white flames, which finally landed on something hard and cold.

With a clang, compressed white flames were injected into the puppet's neck.

Lumian used the force to flip backwards in mid-air, and a loud explosion echoed from inside the puppet's body.

"Harvesting" completed in the form of fire injection!
A clanging sound was heard, as if several heavy metal fragments fell to the ground.

As Lumian stood firm, Albus's voice appeared in his ears:

"Can you see?"

This member of the Medici family has a strange metallic quality in his voice.

Albus is here too? Did he witness the battle where I harvested the puppets with precision? Lumian's right hand quietly reached into the Traveler's Bag and responded to Albus Medici with a smile:
"You can see it, too?"

Albus's metallic voice sounded from another place:
"I can't see myself. I'm blindfolded like you, but I can use the power of the puppets here to share their vision."

This is a manifestation of the power of the high-ranking people in the Hunter Path... A gift from the Red Angel? This gift can actually be used to get the puppet of "0-01"... According to the "magician", the Angel King once ruled "0-01"... Lumian deliberately snorted and said:

"You were the one who ordered the puppets to attack me just now?"

Albus changed his position again, and seemed to be using different puppets to make sounds:
"This is a test. Only those who pass the test are qualified to work with me."

"Are you worthy enough to cooperate with me? Why do you think I want to cooperate with you?" Lumian made a disdainful sound.

Albus smiled:
"That 'witch' has an item on her. A very dangerous item. If the two of us don't cooperate, she will probably defeat us one by one."

(End of this chapter)