The old man you see with your phone is highly suspicious.

"Yes, it will definitely work..."

……

“No wonder this place is called ‘Wraith Island’…” the baron murmured, holding a round iron medal in his hand. Although the design was different, he could tell the problem at a glance.

This is a standard medal that only the military can have, and it is usually awarded to young soldiers after they have made meritorious contributions.

He knew this thing all too well; in fact, his family had made their fortune this way. His ancestors had earned titles through meritorious service, and they still kept their ancestral medals enshrined in their home.

"What's wrong?" Xue Dinglu asked.

“This island may have once been a battlefield. My description may not be very clear, but this should have been the territory of a nobleman, and that castle was the nobleman’s fortress. However, they encountered an invasion by a foreign race or a large pirate group. The nobleman began to think of resisting, perhaps with the army of the great lord, and a long battle was fought here…” the baron explained his speculation.

Although many things here seem to have disappeared under the rules, the occasional discovery of noble awards, some broken weapons, and traces of battle all testify to his conjecture.

"Could it be that the so-called 'strange' things are actually those who died here?" the noble lady said.

"Perhaps..." the baron replied casually, handing the rusty piece of iron to Xue Dinglu.

Xue Dinglu took a look, and he didn't realize that it was a noble medal or something like that. This was mainly because he didn't know much about the nations and civilizations within the subspace.

Let alone the barrier of the real universe separating them, even on Earth, the cultural customs of two civilizations separated only by a strait are completely different. They even have a look of utter disbelief when they see the customs on the other side.

Not to mention the differences in civilization here.

"This baron seems to have something special; his mind is sharp enough, unlike this... 'princess,' whose thinking is rather rigid and inflexible," the Mimic King commented.

"This is normal." Xue Dinglu didn't feel anything was wrong; he just thought, isn't this common sense?

The group continued searching for clues, but instead of finding any trace of the veterans, they discovered many stories about this "Island of Vengeful Spirits".

The island has a flowing freshwater lake, which is also home to a large number of "marine" creatures that live in freshwater.

The island might even be the result of an extinct volcano rising up, with the freshwater lake being the crater from which lava once erupted. The entire island is a small basin that became a freshwater lake due to excessive water accumulation, flowing into the sea through several fissures.

This place is truly a treasure. The soil here is even suitable for farming, and with the addition of fresh water, a lord can easily support dozens of people on this island by cultivating the land. To support more people, one would need to rely on material aid from outside the island.

It is clear that a war took place here, a battle involving hundreds of people, which proves that the island was invaded.

They even discovered a collapsed underground passage and found the body of a soldier wearing leather armor and carrying a wooden shield.

"Indeed, this island was destroyed in the war." The baron began to analyze. "It's really strange here. Normally, the soldiers would have collapsed and surrendered, but they seem to have fought to the death until the entire army was wiped out."

"Perhaps the other side is the kind of guy who doesn't accept prisoners and has a bad reputation, which is why they chose to fight to the death," Xue Dinglu said casually.

The sun was about to set, but today they had only found these clues, without any trace of other senior figures or the steps to break the ritual. They could only return to the castle with solemn expressions.

"There seems to be something over there," the Mimic King casually remarked.

Xue Lude broke away from the group and teleported directly there, where he found a diary in the cellar.

[Obtained the cursed "Pseudo-Noble Phantasm - Bloody Princess's Diary"]

【Bloody Princess's Diary (D-rank pseudo-Noble Phantasm): It can induce everyone around it to go berserk, greatly enhancing their physical abilities and combat awareness.】

Note: The diary states, "I didn't want to marry this good-for-nothing who only stays on the island, so I had a courtesan take my place and thus married him here..."

Xue's Law: "..."

Wow, that's a lot of information...

He might have sensed that the ritual he was experiencing was related to the story that took place on this island. After all, it was too coincidental that three people appeared in the diary's notes, which could be identified as "princess," "prostitute," and the last one was unknown whether he was a martyr or a monster.

This is already an explicit statement.

Xue Dinglu even felt that he had understood a lot of things. He was always the type of person who could make bold guesses with just a little bit of information and then carefully verify them.

It's highly likely that the princess was betrothed to a nobleman on this island, but she looked down on the island's lord. So, on the day of the betrothal, she switched her identity with a courtesan, making the nobleman believe he had married a princess when she turned out to be a courtesan.

Then the princess started to expose the matter and used it to cancel the engagement. The kingdom even sent a small army to negotiate and try to resolve the issue.

However, for some unknown reason, a fierce battle broke out during the negotiations. The two sides fought a life-or-death struggle, which resembled a riot, and in the end, the entire force was wiped out.

Judging from the fact that this treasure can drive those around her into a frenzy, it's likely that the Blood Princess intended to take the opportunity to kill this nobleman and escape her arranged marriage. However, she seems to have overplayed her hand, and she herself died here.

Even with only this much information, Xue's Law can roughly piece together the key points.

Regardless of whether it's right or wrong, at least we have an explanation that seems reasonable on the surface.

This corresponds to the requirement of four people in the ritual.

Princesses, courtesans, martyrs, and monsters.

In this story, the princess and the courtesan are clearly defined, but the martyr and the monster are less clear. Perhaps the lord of the island is a monster in human skin, and the leader of the kingdom's army is a martyr, which is why the princess refused to marry him even at the cost of her life, and why the kingdom's army discovered the secret of this place and launched a relentless monster extermination campaign.

Xue's Law roughly outlines its key points.

"Things have come to this, it's getting dark, let's go back and rest." Xue Dinglu put away the diary and said this.

……

After a simple meal of bread and water, the atmosphere among them was quite quiet, but this time there was no commotion or hysteria.

At this moment, the second "princess" who was about to die seemed to have accepted her fate. She sat silently next to Xue Dinglu and said, "Thank you, Father..."

If only I were... a pure and innocent princess...

As she thought this, she silently made herself a little distance away, because she knew that she was incredibly filthy right now, the kind of filth that would be burned if placed in the sunlight.

"Um……"

She then fell silent, the light of the Holy Light Orb still illuminating her, and drowsiness slowly crept in.

In the middle of the night, she suddenly heard music. She was very familiar with the music; it was the music that her mother often played when she was still a princess. It was so familiar and so ethereal.

She felt as if she were still dreaming, and her body moved uncontrollably as she got up and took steps, one after another, towards the castle's attic...

Chapter 454 Bloodstained Knight

The castle's stairs are covered in dust and bear the marks of time; every step you take emits a fungal smell.

With each step the "princess" took, she seemed to get closer to the music.

It wasn't until she reached the rooftop, under the moonlight, with the surging tide and the wind blowing through her hair, that she seemed to finally wake up. When she opened her eyes, she saw the bright moonlight and the empty rooftop.

"No, what's going on? Why did I go upstairs? And why did I come here?" In an instant, an endless stream of questions and fears overwhelmed her already limited mental capacity.

She knew she wasn't a very smart person, so she was "smart" because she knew that since she wasn't very bright, she would follow the smartest person who could protect her the most, so that at least she wouldn't hold them back and could fight for one of the few remaining chances of survival.

But now, why am I here, knowing full well that I shouldn't be alone?

The sea breeze, carrying the scent of the sea, blew against her face, and she didn't dare to move at all... She froze completely on the rooftop, her back soaked with cold sweat.

In fact, if she could see the monster playing the music here, she wouldn't be so afraid. But now the sound should be right in front of her, so why is there nothing there?

She was completely filled with fear.

"Drip..." A drop of cold liquid fell onto her neck.

She shuddered and could only stiffly and laboriously raise her head to look at the long pole beside her that seemed to be a flagpole...

However, a corpse was impaled on the flagpole, hanging there completely. When the corpse struggled to raise its head, it saw a face exactly like its own, twisted and contorted in pain.

"Ah!" A shrill scream echoed throughout the entire castle.

The Baron, who was already in a light sleep, immediately woke up. When he opened his eyes, he only saw Xue Dinglu hurrying upstairs, so he immediately followed him.

"What's going on? Why would that smart, pragmatic woman choose to go upstairs alone?" His mind was immediately filled with this question.

Although they didn't spend much time together, he had clearly spoken with this "princess." She was a very pragmatic woman, and indeed, she was a noblewoman. That noble air of striving to save face for herself was something no one else could pull off.

Despite her limited intelligence, her pragmatism makes this sycophantic slacker not so disliked.

But why would someone like that choose to go upstairs alone?

He couldn't understand it, so he could only desperately climb the stairs.

At this moment, Xue Dinglu arrived upstairs but did not find the noble lady. He looked out and found that she had fallen from the building, her chest completely pierced by the flagpole outside the castle.

"Illusion-type props?" Xue Dinglu said casually.

And as he reached out, he grabbed the noble lady who had been clinging to the edge of the castle.

“Thank you, Father…” she said, but when she turned her head, she saw herself impaled on the flagpole…

"Take a nap. Everything will be over when you wake up," Xue Dinglu said calmly.

The next moment, the noble lady's soul slowly closed her eyes, as if she had been hypnotized.

Xue's Law also placed it into the Holy Grail, placing it in a corner of the Holy Grail.

Then, while the noble baron was still trapped in the endless climb up the stairs, he had the Mimic King shield himself from all detection around him.

"The third of the seven evil beasts of humankind, the beast of comparison, represents the root of human evil: jealousy, comparison, and envy of others. The beast of comparison—Ishtar!"

A phantom image of an ancient Babylonian goddess slowly appeared behind her, like a star in the sky, and at that moment, she merged directly into the body of this noble lady.

Ishtar, the ancient Babylonian goddess of the stars, was the daughter of the sky god and the moon goddess. She represented the noblest princess in Sumerian mythology, a goddess who ruled over the stars, the earth, and the harvest, and who could ride the bull of heaven and was invincible in battle.

Meanwhile, Ishtar also has a name that is more familiar to modern people: Lucifer!

Her name means "star" in the ancient Babylonian language. After the Mesopotamian river valley was occupied by those inherently evil promised races, these people modified Sumerian mythology, vilifying, demonizing, and distorting the original Sumerian gods.

They insulted and distorted the culture of another civilization, labeled it with their own, and wrote it into their own classic, the Book of Job.

Therefore, Ishtar became Lucifer, one of the seven beasts representing the evils of humanity, such as jealousy and competitiveness.

As the Book of Job became Zeus's spoils of war, all the human evils recorded in it became the "villains" of Zeus's rituals, and in Zeus's original plan, he would become the only new god.

And without these rebellious humans and evil monsters, how could the greatness of this one and only God be highlighted!

Zeus had even originally intended for his brother Hades to replace Lucifer in his position.

However, none of this mattered to the princess of the stars. Whether it was Ishtar or Lucifer, she was always the princess named "Star," and at this moment, she was completely integrated into the body of this unjustly deceased "princess."

"Second step of the ritual complete!" the voice of the Mimic King rang out.

The prophecy representing the "princess" has come true.

"Bang!" The door was violently kicked open.

The baron, panting heavily, rushed to the rooftop. He was drenched in sweat and his face was filled with anxiety as he asked, "What happened?"

Xue Luding could only shake his head silently. When he arrived at the edge of the castle and saw the corpse on the flagpole below, he collapsed to the ground as if all his strength had been drained.

The sound of his panting, like that of a bull, echoed from the rooftop. His heart was pounding violently, whether from fear and anger or from having rushed to the rooftop with no energy left to spare, he didn't know.