"Everyone, after Kalpas, the heavens took pity on our suffering and have once again sent us two extraordinary individuals!"
The old Sorceress waved her staff, shouting to the villagers below, whose eyes were filled with such fervor that they looked ready to rush up and lick the blood dripping from Kalpas into the vessel.
"I know that in everyone's hearts, you all hate this damned Kalpas with a passion.
This seemingly honest and selfless good man is actually a despicable alien! The meteorite he turned into not only destroyed most of our buildings but also killed our relatives."
The villagers paused, the fervor for Kalpas's blood in their eyes diminishing slightly, replaced by roars of anger.
"That's right! It was that bastard! If I hadn't gone out that night, I would have died with my wife!!" "My child died in their sleep, ahhh!" "That fire, it burned everything I had!!" "I listened to my family's screams, but I could only watch as they were consumed by the flames!"
The old Sorceress raised her hand and pressed down, signaling for everyone to calm down.
Upon her instruction, the angry villagers immediately quieted down. After all, in their eyes now, their families… were nothing compared to the Sorceress and the blood of Kalpas.
Seeing the residents so obedient, the old Sorceress nodded in satisfaction and continued to shout:
"Most importantly, he dared to deceive us with a gentle and peaceful disguise!
When we let our guard down and treated him as family, he tried to kill us by releasing a virus!
It was I! It was we! who saw through his scheme and captured him."
The old Sorceress became agitated, her face turning red. She raised her hands high, her eyes filled with nothing but infinite madness.
"And now for the most, most important part! We have received a sign from the gods and have mastered the ability to absorb the blood of gifted individuals and obtain a portion of their power!!!"
"Thank you, my lord!" "Thank you, my lord!" "Thank you, my lord!"
After the old Sorceress finished shouting, every resident faithfully crossed their arms over their chests, closed their eyes, and thanked the god they had fabricated in their minds.
A non-existent god that the old Sorceress had initially made up to deceive them…
But now, after drinking Kalpas's blood, the residents' minds were no longer normal…
Even the old Sorceress, who knew from the beginning that this was a false god she had created, had gradually become a fanatical follower of the god she had invented after days and days of self-delusion.
After a long speech, the bell for midnight struck.
The fanatical residents, as if doused with cold water, all fell silent instantly, their eyes fixed on the old crone on the execution platform.
"The time has come. Now, begin the ritual!"
The old Sorceress inserted her staff into a mechanism on the execution ground.
Following the sound of grinding gears, the ceiling of the underground base creaked open, revealing the beautiful moon in the sky.
Moonlight shone down from the ceiling, and through the pre-set angles of the base, it illuminated the three figures tied to the execution platform: Kalpas, Elysia, and Ryn.
This was a specially designed mechanism. During the day, the platform would rise, lifting the cross to the ground level so that Kalpas would endure endless exposure to the sun. At night, he would be locked underground to experience freezing temperatures.
"According to what you said, this man is extremely heavy, with a muscle density far exceeding that of a normal person. I estimate he's a humanoid titan like Kalpas, capable of granting us immense strength."
The old Sorceress pointed at the unconscious Ryn tied to the cross and said to the villagers, then pointed to the equally bound and unconscious Elysia.
Unlike when introducing Ryn, when introducing Elysia, a clear greedy glint appeared in the eyes of the old Sorceress and the women in the crowd.
"Look at this beautiful girl, like a little elf from a fairy tale… When it comes to elves, I shouldn't need to say much more, right?
A lifespan of hundreds of years, the most beautiful face in the world, and eternal youth, never aging, and so on…
To be honest, this is the first time this old one has ever seen an elf…"
The old Sorceress couldn't help but stare at Elysia for a few more moments. Although she knew in her heart that elves only existed in fairy tales and couldn't possibly exist now, if an alien like Kalpas, whose blood could grant divine power, existed, then perhaps elves did too.
Next, following the old Sorceress's command, three people holding sharp daggers and three people carrying some unknown drug walked onto the execution platform.
In front of the crowd, whose eyes were practically popping out with desire, the three executioners plunged their daggers into the bodies of Kalpas, Ryn, and Elysia respectively.
Then, the other three applied the drug to the wounds of Ryn, Kalpas, and Elysia. The body's protective mechanism immediately failed, and blood spurted out from their bodies like fountains, landing in the concave vessels below the crosses.
The complexions of Kalpas, Ryn, and Elysia quickly turned a sickly pale due to blood loss.
But Kalpas seemed to be used to it. He just frowned slightly and said nothing.
As for Ryn and Elysia, they were sleeping like the dead, motionless, without any reaction.
Kalpas couldn't help but glance at the two of them. A normal person would have been woken up by such pain long ago, but these two, Ryn and Elysia, hadn't even twitched a finger. They were truly strong…
After half an hour of bleeding, Kalpas had already passed out, but Ryn and Elysia were still bleeding, and it was gushing out more and more like a fountain…
The villagers were momentarily baffled by this situation, subconsciously taking it as a true miracle from the gods.
After all, if they were to drink blood for real, each person would only get a tiny bit... But now, with Ryn and Elysia as two gushing fountains of blood, everyone could probably drink a whole barrel!
The old Sorceress hesitated for a moment, but finally ordered people to start distributing the blood for every resident present to drink.
And while everyone was savoring the blood, among the crowd, there were two peculiar figures, one tall and one short, who not only did not drink the blood they were given but instead gave it to those around them.
Then, these two robed figures quietly retreated to the back of the crowd and squatted in a corner to talk.
These two robed figures, one tall and one short, were none other than Ryn and Elysia…
As soon as he realized something was wrong with the hotel, Ryn had used the Authority of the Herrscher of Sentience to invade the consciousness of everyone in the lobby, extracting their memories to piece together the full story.