Super Righteous Player
Chapter 730 - 271 The Worm_1

Chapter 730: Chapter 271 The Worm_1

——He ultimately failed to push open the study door.

For at the very moment Viscount Dorgoruki uttered these words,

a sinister, disarticulated demonic arm made of pure shadow suddenly stretched out from the shadow cast in front of the study.

It seemed slow but acted fast, quickly emerging from the ground and grabbing Viscount’s face — as this demonic hand violently pushed the Viscount backward, away from Annan, it also slammed him harshly against the wall on the other side of the corridor!

By chance, the other side was a stone wall held together with cobblestones. Struck in the back by the slick stones, the Viscount almost lost his breath and convulsed subconsciously as he was pinned against the wall by the disarticulated shadow hand.

"...You’d better explain yourself first, Your Excellency the Viscount,"

said a very light and deep whisper, sounding from behind Annan as if he had just woken up.

Zorgen’s eyes were now fully open.

Those silver-gray pupils were extremely cold, with a halo of azure light burning in them, seemingly radiating frost.

The whole corridor was covered with faint traces of frost, and the area close to the ground was cold as an ice cellar.

"Hehehehehahaha..."

The viscount with the scar on his face could not help but laugh out loud.

It was a thoroughly liberating laugh, as if he had finally let go of something else.

But his laughter didn’t last long.

——"Ugh."

He was slowly lifted from the wall by the disarticulated shadow hand and held in mid-air.

Then with force again — the shadow hand slapped Viscount Dorgoruki back against the wall.

This time Zorgen applied a bit more strength, enough to make the Viscount cough up a mouthful of blood involuntarily.

A mouthful of dark red, thick and filthy blood.

The kind of blood that belongs only to the dead.

Zorgen’s expression changed slightly, and he turned to look at Zoya.

"Check his neck, wrists, and ankles,"

Zoya considered for a moment, then quickly replied, "And the skin over the heart."

Soon, a disarticulated shadow hand stretched out from each person’s shadow — they swarmed up and completely tore the Viscount’s clothes to shreds as he continued to laugh maniacally.

As expected, they found a broken black thread around the Viscount’s throat, concealed by his chin when at rest, about six to seven centimeters in length—looking like the suture marks of an ellipsis one might see when two pieces of cloth are joined with a crude stitch.

And on his left chest, they found another broken thread... forming a black ring the size of an egg tart.

Upon seeing these marks, Zorgen, without a word, twisted the Viscount’s throat.

"...These are marks of being gnawed by ’The Worm,’"

Zoya explained in a low voice, "He is already dead."

"The Worm... What is that?"

Annan furrowed his brow and asked in a low voice.

He had been wondering about the matter of "the Door of the Worm and the Cicada"..."Cicada" represented the path of sublimation, so what was "The Worm"?

And now he knew that "The Worm" was a "Beast of Change." With this in mind, the "Gate of the Worm and Cicada" signified the gates before the "Path of Ascension and Transformation."

Annan was somewhat surprised—knowledge about "The Worm" that even he wasn’t aware of was in the grasp of the Winter Hands and these northern nobles who were neither Transcendents nor Ritualists. Judging by Zorgen’s reaction, it probably wasn’t some sort of secret...

"This should have been explained by Lord Ivan, but he underwent dragon transformation too early and too swiftly,"

After confirming Viscount Dorgoruki had died once more, Zoya rapidly explained, "This is the Worm Cult, which we exterminated once many years ago, only to see it reemerge... indeed, just like worms."

She whispered to Zorgen, "Do you still remember the layout of the city? There might be many more such groups lurking within..."

Annan asked in confusion, "The Worm Cult?"

"They have no official scientific name nor are they an official sect; it’s just what Winter calls them... They refer to their own actions as ’Chasing Worship of the Non-Snake.’

"Zoya summarized broadly, "This is a group of zealous elf enthusiasts.

"They believe that elves, who naturally become silver Transcendents at maturity and cannot fall because they skip the bronze stage, are a noble race superior to Aryans.

"Furthermore, they think the existence of the Fallen is because other races are not as noble as elven blood—they consider other races to be ’demon spawn’, the root of all sin and vice, simply because they are not elves. If everyone became an elf, there would be no more Fallen or demons being born.

"This group searches the world for elven relics, purchases large quantities of antiques from the era of elves, imitate the elven way of life, all in a bid to find a way to transform themselves into elves... and the more extreme members are even pursuing a method to transform everyone into elves."

As Annan listened, his expression became increasingly strange.

It sounded kind of funny, yet he couldn’t quite pinpoint the humor...

"...But according to my memory," Annan contemplated before replying, "didn’t the elves migrate here from the east?

"There were Fallen there too, if I recall correctly."

"They don’t care about that. I actually think that it’s precisely because elves are extinct that they are so fervently chasing after elven blood."

Zoya shrugged her shoulders and said, "Their ideology is that the world is so sinful and everything is because ’the race isn’t good enough.’ If they could restore elven bloodlines, reinstate elven rulership, and revive elven customs, then humanity wouldn’t be filled with so much ugliness and tragedy."

...It probably wouldn’t work, brother.

What you’re seeking... probably isn’t the blood of elves, but rather magical spells, right?

The golden age of the elves prospered not because of their noble lineage, but because of magic— a resource that could grant you anything you wanted with a clap of your hands...

By activating spells, you could skip the ’raw materials’ and ’process’ and directly obtain what you needed. This process was swift and clean, producing no waste gases or waste material, requiring no large workforce, only designers to make use of it.

It’s like having creative mode enabled.

Back then, nearly every town in the empire had built a Curse Cellar, ceaselessly extracting magic. Most people didn’t even need to work to have abundant life resources, and thus, there sprang up large numbers of singers, poets, those who exercised, and those who invented things.

The so-called glorious classical culture of the elven empire could simply be described as "entertainments invented by people with too much time on their hands."

Under such conditions, of course, there would be no disputes and no sin. If not for the fact that extracting magic rapidly caused worldwide environmental degradation, this could even be considered a mode of ascension.

But fussing over elven blood... really is meaningless.

Unable to help himself, Annan asked, "Have they ever seen an elf?"

"Of course not. I think if they had seen elves, they wouldn’t be so fanatical. They’re just searching for original sin,"

Zoya commented.

She sighed, looked at the somewhat puzzled Annan, and explained, "You know, the time when Duke Ivan and his brother were kidnapped? That was the work of the Worm Cult.

"At that time, they demanded the release of a political prisoner—that prisoner was a high-ranking member of the Worm Cult."