Myth: The Spiritual Dominator

North of Thuringia.

The night grew darker, the clouds obscured the moon, and the northern city without magic lamps became even darker.

It was midsummer and few people would light a fire at night. After all, this place was close to the north, but not that far north, so it inherited the dryness of the north and also had the heat of summer.

Just one spark is likely to be enough to burn down an entire city block, so after suffering losses in the first few years of the city's establishment, the locals no longer do such things.

bang bang bang-

There was a brief knock on the door, and with a creaky sound, the door of the warehouse opened a crack.

brush--

"Who are you!"

The burly man in black, with the sword pointed at the neck of the intruder, had no idea that he was walking on the line between life and death.

He just looked at the strange young man outside with caution. No one should come here at this time. If it weren't for the statue in the other party's hand, he would probably chop it down without hesitation.

"Mrs. Savile sent me here - huh - I mean, can you let me in first? It may not be safe outside now - it will be even more unsafe if you stab me with a sword."

The voice of the person who came was short and urgent, as if there was a knife behind him ready to chop him down at any moment. The big man in black hesitated for a moment, but still let the other person in.

Just like Mrs. Summer's previous judgment, the big man in black also thought that if it was the church and the paladins who came, then they should just attack directly, and there was no need to pretend to be friendly with them by holding the statue. As for the non-church forces, what was the reason for them to come and cause trouble for them?

To put it bluntly, their current targets are limited to the royal family and the Church of the Goddess of Wisdom. Apart from them, even many of the great nobles in Athens turn a blind eye to their actions.

"Tell me, what happened? Who are you, Mrs. Summer? Why are you and the statue the only ones here?"

Although he already had a bad premonition, the burly man in black still asked.

"I don't know," the young man looked a little sad. "Madam noticed something was wrong, but she said it was too late for her to leave. Others would not let her go, but few people know me... She asked me to bring the statue here and asked you to finish your business here and then withdraw from Thuringia."

"What are you going to do? Is there anything I can do to help?"

“…No need, just give the statue to me, Lachi, keep an eye on him.”

He waved to the back, and no one knew whether he believed it or not. The sturdy man in black took the statue and walked inside.

Another man in black came over, scimitar in hand, staring at the young man's every move at the door.

"Got it. I'll keep an eye on him... Boy, if the news you brought is true, then maybe you have a chance to receive God's blessing with us. You're really lucky."

"But you're not going to verify my identity again? I mean, is it that simple?"

The young man looked at the burly man in black walking away and asked with a little surprise.

"No need... As for why, you will understand once you become one of us."

The tall and thin man in black called Laci obviously had no intention of explaining. He just stared at the young man who came unexpectedly, making sure he didn't make any unusual movements.

According to the original plan, they were going to offer sacrifices two days later, on the birthday of the Queen of Heaven in the mortal calendar - although the eternal gods did not care much about birthdays, believers needed to care.

This is also the reason why they have not left even though they know someone is chasing them.

But two days earlier is better than two days earlier... No matter if this person is a real apprentice or a person with other intentions, since he has returned the holy statue of the gods, there will be no problem.

The sacrifice will be performed, and after that, even if they all die here, they will surely gain eternal life in the kingdom of the Queen of Heaven.

What's more, as long as they obtain God's grace, they may not die.

……

Deep in the warehouse, there is a temporary ceremony hall.

Lying on the cold stone platform, Andrea could clearly hear her own heartbeat.

'Andrea', translated as 'manly, elegant and beautiful' in Greek, was what her father had always expected of her. But since the premeditated sea attack, until she woke up from the coma six days ago, she had come to this warehouse in an unknown place.

The holy power from the goddess was firmly locked inside the body by another servant of the god, so that she couldn't even resist the cold.

She knew what she was facing, and she knew why it was happening—at least part of it.

'Two more days.'

Andrea thought to herself, her smooth golden hair scattered on the stone platform.

This date was heard from the conversations of the people around her, and they did not avoid her. In fact, these other gods' clergy did not do anything to her, nor did they dare to do anything, because her identity was so important.

Unfortunately, what makes her important is not who she was, but who she is about to be—as a living sacrifice to God.

"In the rituals established by Olympus, human sacrifice is clearly not allowed. Only the primitive natural spirits in the north and the believers in the lower world have done such things. Now, in order to target Athens, the Queen of Heaven's sect is willing to violate the ban of the King of Gods?"

She couldn't understand it, but Andrea couldn't even speak. She could only stay on the cold stone platform, looking at the dome of this remote warehouse.

stomping on...

The quiet environment was broken, footsteps were heard from a distance, and then Andrea heard the conversations of people around her.

They encountered a problem, it seemed that they were discovered, and were preparing to carry out the ceremony ahead of schedule...but if you think about it carefully, it's about time they were discovered.

The team that attacked her split into eight and fled in different directions. No one expected that such a weak team would be responsible for escorting her.

Being inconspicuous certainly wouldn't attract the kingdom's attention, but it also meant that they would probably not even be able to deal with the normal clearing teams. Their only way to survive was to obtain the gods' blessing after completing the sacrifice.

Then pray that you will not be caught up by the angry king of Athens, otherwise no blessing will work.

'I still hope he can calm down.'

The thought flashed through her mind, and Andrea, who was tied up and unable to move, felt a little sad.

My father should still be looking for me... Her death is bound to intensify the conflict. If my father does something irrational in anger - he will definitely do so, then no one knows what will happen.

Perhaps Athens, which had just prospered for less than a hundred years, would be engulfed in war, but they were not sure of defeating their opponents now.

"What are you thinking about, little princess?"

The sound came from far away and soon, Andrea saw the leader of this team, an old man who looked to be in his seventies.

He looked down at her, and Andrea, speechless, chose to glare back with wide eyes.

"Oh, you have inherited your father's courage, little princess, even though you are only twelve years old - but unfortunately, you do not have his strength."

With a dry smile, the old man in sacrificial robes placed a statue next to Andrea, or rather, in the middle of the stone platform.

"The Great Mother of Resurrection will be pleased by this, and it would be even better if the King of Athens chose to raise an army to the West."

"Okay, let's start the ceremony. Although midnight is not the time that God prefers, we can't care about that now. May God protect us."

"Yes."

The sound of scattered footsteps was then heard in the warehouse. The framework of the ceremony had already been set up here, and now all they had to do was take out those extraordinary materials that had a shorter effective time.

The air was filled with the fragrance of lilies and pomegranates, the essential oils extracted from these two plants. The Queen of Heaven loved these two plants the most, as they symbolized "nurturing" and "fertility" respectively.

The faint candlelight was lit, and the believers below the stage were dressed neatly. For a moment, this storehouse used for living sacrifices seemed to become holy, as if songs were spreading in the air.

Then the next moment, Andrea saw the statue beside her light up slightly, and the sounds of sacrifice from the people below resounded at the same time.

Their expressions were serious and solemn, and their voices were in unison, but for some reason, Andrea felt as if she was hallucinating.

It seemed as if more than one voice was speaking, and something was not right about the prayers she heard.

"...share the power equally...Sir"

"..."

"Here... sacrifice..."

"..."

The voice went from silent recitation to a high pitch, and as he lay on the platform, a feeling of detachment surged through his body.

This is a sign of the soul leaving the body and also the process of the sacrificial ceremony... However, at this moment, Andrea felt as if she heard two sounds, one from below and one from the statue next to her.

The former was like a poem, in fact, reporting to the gods their own achievements and the objects of sacrifice. As for the latter... Andrea closed her eyes after listening to it.

It was like a chorus, a hymn to destruction.

"..."

"The leader of billions of demons."

"The source of the fall of the heavens."

"The mother tree of flesh and blood that devours all worlds."

"I ask for your hearing, for your attention, and for you to open the door to the kingdom."

……

Warehouse door.

Perhaps it was the faint sounds of sacrifice coming from inside that made the tall and thin man in black, who had been on guard the whole time, relax a little.

Once the ritual begins, it is almost impossible to interrupt it. The only difference is whether the effect is good or very good.

"Speaking of which, fellow believer."

With a curious look on his face, Ryan looked in the direction inside.

"I have never come across this kind of thing before, and I don't know what the general response process is - but if I use the rituals of worshipping righteous gods to worship evil gods, will there be any bad consequences?"

"Your question is very dangerous... Never mind. It's not like someone has done this before. You'd better learn from it. If you host a sacrificial ceremony yourself in the future, don't make any mistakes in the arrangement."

There was no problem so far, and the man in black also believed the identity of this unexpected visitor. He thought about it and warned seriously:

"If you're worshipping a righteous god but you use the wrong ritual, then it depends on the mood of the god - but if you're worshipping an idol of an evil god, then there's basically no other outcome."

"Since the ritual is not correct, it generally won't attract the power of the object of sacrifice - but it's only physical, not spiritual. You should know that during the sacrifice, the believer's spirit is highly unified with the ritual, and only in this way can they communicate with God."

"I understand, thank you for reminding me."

Ryan nodded politely, feeling that he had learned some new-age knowledge.

He actually wanted to carve the name of the Midgard Serpent into the statue, but considering Hera's authority and style, he changed it to another one.

Of course, this kind of operation is not something that most people can do. Even Ryan can only perform this trick on this temporary little statue.

"But then again, why didn't I know that Theseus, who was raised by Poseidon's followers, had a daughter? In later myths, the four children of this Athenian king and his three wives seemed to be princes, right?"

"And from the documents I read before... he doesn't seem to have a very good relationship with the Sea God."

He always felt that something might have gone wrong here, but Ryan didn't dwell on it too much.

The little princess who was almost sacrificed is in there, we can ask her later. Moreover, Theseus is different from other heroes in mythology. Although he has the common problem of heroes, he suddenly wants to do something big, such as kidnapping a foreign princess, or even going deep into the underworld to kidnap Persephone, but he is still very capable of internal politics.

In the original trajectory, he abolished the town councils in various places, unified them into the city-state council of Athens, ceded some rights to the nobles, and thereby improved the status of citizens... and in this changed history, he probably strengthened the control of the city of Athens over its subordinate cities, balanced the contradictions between the divine-blood nobles and the citizen class, and was a more or less intelligent ruler.

In comparison, Hercules might be able to beat him in combat, but his brains were not enough, at least politically.

While he was thinking, the prayers deep in the warehouse stopped abruptly, and then a sound like the howling of a wild beast came from inside.

The tall and thin man in black was suddenly startled. He didn't know what happened inside, but this was definitely not the flow that a priest should have...

whoosh-

A dagger shot towards the man in black from Ryan's direction like an arrow. He recognized at a glance that this was the effect of the second-ring universal magic [Archery].

Most low-level divine spells have no direct killing power. The effect of [Archery] is no different from shooting a long arrow.

He could have dodged it by simply turning sideways, but the man in black then saw a finger pointing at him.

The third-ring universal magic of the Hell system, [Fear]!

In an instant, fear emerged from the bottom of his heart, and the tall and thin man in black subconsciously turned around and ran. Then the next moment, the dagger pierced his chest directly from behind.

"When rookies fight each other, the key is to strike first."

He took two steps forward and pulled out the dagger.

Ryan wiped the blood with the other person's clothes and walked into the warehouse.

The next step is to kill these mentally traumatized lunatics and obtain some materials, including an Athenian princess who was somehow captured as a sacrifice.