Annan certainly remembered that time.
His uncle, whom he had never met and who had never even taken a wife, was killed by the Winter’s Hand during that rescue operation. Later on, Ivan’s father also died of depression because of this.
The Winter’s Hand who decisively killed the hostage was the old man who later followed Maria to the White Tower.
“Who exactly are worms?” Annan asked carefully, “Is there some kind of trap in this room?”
“The [Worm] is not some actual insect that exists in reality, but rather an apparition, a symbol. It is the manifestation of the so-called ‘Serpent that is not a Serpent’ in elven rituals. According to current archaeological research, the prototype of the ‘Serpent that is not a Serpent’ appears to be some kind of gigantic parasite… It lives parasitically upon the earth, just as snakes are born from the earth.”
Zoya explained in a more academic tone, “It is generally represented by concepts such as [parasitism], [invisible pain], [self-eating], and [circulation], etc., which are actualized in this type of ritual. Rituals based on the concept of [silence] would summon darkness, and those based on [luck] would summon dice.”
“The Grail-holding Lady’s ‘Rustless Blood’ is also the blood of serpent, which here refers to the blood of the worm. Since ‘the Serpent that is not a Serpent’ is a parasite of the earth, it is also the blood of stone, the blood of the tree.”
…the earth?
Does this refer to Bone Burying Grandma?
Annan narrowed his eyes slightly.
Speaking of which, the “dark night” gave away part of its power to give birth to the Mysterious Lady. When Bone Burying Grandma was the “Earth”, did it become what She was today without losing any power?
Since the existence of “pleasant blood” was related to the worm… did the worm steal part of the power belonging to the “earth”?
Is it like how the Mysterious Lady possesses a part of the power that belongs to the night?
But this time, it is not a gift, but a theft — representing the [invisible pain].
What about [self-eating] and [circulation]?
“What is the specific image of a worm?” Annan asked.
“It has no real form. In a ritual, it is a self-devouring snake, forming the shape of a circle.” Zoya replied.
…Ouroboros?
Annan’s eyes widened slightly.
Isn’t that Ouroboros?
Zoya continued talking.
“If a black, intermittent ring pattern appears in front of someone’s heart or at the joints at the extremities of the limbs, it can be understood as having been bitten by the [worm].”
“That is to say, he has already died once… but was revived in this manner. Even among ritualists who fear neither heaven nor earth, the worm ritual is a taboo among taboos.”
“Why?” Annan asked.
“That’s because ‘worms’ are contagious.” Zoya replied.
“The worm ritual, rather than being a resurrection ritual, is more like a self-backup. The personality possessed by someone revived through the worm ritual is not the original personality of the deceased, but a mixed personality dominated by the fixed personality of the ritualist… If they continue to kill, continue to perform the worm ritual, they can still pass on the original ritualist’s personality intact.”
“That’s because the ‘parasitized’ revived by the worm ritual do not possess the memories of the ritualist themselves, they only have the personality of the ritualist at the moment of the ritual — he knows what he needs to do. However, he lacks these experiences, even if one wanted to search his memories through a Soul Snatch Spell, it would not be possible.”
“The resurrected person can continue to move for 13 days. After 13 days, the corpse will decay… But, within these 13 days, as long as the ritual is performed once more, the mission can be passed on.”
“It may be slow at first, but once it starts to spread, it will be very crazy — even the ritualist himself may not be able to stop it.”
It multiplies itself like a virus.
Annan understood the situation.
No wonder Austere-Winter officials wanted to destroy this organization.
The Worm Cult was not harmful. However, the taboo ritual they mastered was fraught with danger — a disaster waiting to happen if the situation escalated.
“…But is this ritual a heritage from the elves?” Annan frowned slightly, expressing his doubt, “I feel that this ritual is evil.”
“That’s because this ritual was not originally used in this manner.” Zoya shook her head, “We had already investigated the Worm Cult before Your Majesty was born.”
She was about to continue explaining when she was interrupted by Zorgen.
“Take His Majesty further away first.”
Zorgen did not turn around but whispered to Zoya softly, “Ostoff Dolgoruky revealed his identity on his own initiative. I suspect he may have prepared some traps in the room.”
“How about I go in and take a look?” Suuankou couldn’t help but say, “I can be resurrected.”
“The Destruction Wizard should stand aside and stay further away from His Majesty.” Zorgen said unceremoniously, “I am very experienced, but being with you will drag me down.”
I feel like you are discriminating against the Destruction Wizard.
Suuankou pursed his lips and said nothing more.
Annan, leaning on his scepter, retreated to the beginning of the corridor.
Yet, despite the commotion upstairs, the viscount’s wife and son didn’t respond at all.
The three players looked at each other.
“I’ll head down and keep an eye on them.” Wandering Child whispered.
Citalopram shook her head, “You are not suitable… Your weapon is too large and not easy to carry. I’ll go… I’ll also take the opportunity to chat with the mother and son. Remember to livestream and share your perspective with me, I’ll be keeping an eye out from below.”
“The same goes for you. When you are in danger, just buy time. We will go down as soon as possible.” The Child whispered.
He also realized that this place seemed different from what he initially thought.
This was not a safe house but a dungeon.
If the Worm Cult’s ritual was to imitate the elves… then this whole town seemed to be somewhat off. Not to mention those two family members who gave off a sense of dissonance.
“I will.” Citalopram nodded and walked down alone.
They watched Zorgen press his right hand on the door, his shadow flowing like a living thing, flowing under the crack of the door — this scene reminded Annan of Kafni.
It was just that Zorgen’s control of the shadows seemed to be different from Kafni’s.
If the tentacles in Kafni’s shadow were like limbs, Zorgen’s shadow reminded Annan of an element pool.
—This was like the Spiritual Monk summoning the power of his elements back then.
However, Zorgen was in Silver Rank and probably hadn’t awakened an element yet.
“The elves developed the Worm Ritual not to use them to extend their personalities — elves have many life-extending rituals, and they also have curse energy to use. Moreover, the elves have long lifespans. They don’t need to use this method to ‘copy’ themselves.”
Zoya continued, “In the beginning, it was a ritual intended for research purposes.”
“Its purpose is to replicate your own thoughts into multiple copies… to use multiple ‘individuals’ to utilize the same idea for synchronous thinking.”
…Distributed Computing?
Annan was immediately shocked.
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