Ordinary fantasy adventure in Faerûn

Chapter 435: Melkor's Vision
It did not take too long to prepare for the ceremony. The place was filled with corpses and skulls, and this environment was perfect for establishing communication with Melkor.

Under the command of the Soul Master Kressa, the zombies began to pick up qualified bones from the ground and build them into pyramid-like piles of corpses.

Although the name of the Corpses seems to be mindless zombie corpses, they are actually not like that. They are undoubtedly living people. The Corpses are ordinary believers with the lowest status in the Death Cult. No matter what kind of ceremony the cult holds, the arrangement of the scene is left to the Corpses. When these Corpses have completed the construction of the ceremony frame, the Skull-Floggers who are higher than them also surround them.

They surrounded the ritual venue built by the corpses, holding specially made skulls with cold candlelight in their jaws and eye sockets, and chanted hymns in praise of Melkor, the god of the dead, around the ritual venue.

"The Smile of the Pale Skull!"

"Regret of a Broken and Remaining Body!"

"The turmoil of thousands of dead!"

"King of bones! God of the dead! Ghosts lingering in the mausoleum! Lord of graves and years, dust and dusk! Your humble followers, pray that you lower your gaze!"

The chanting of the believers became more and more intense, and a dim smell of withering wafted out from the surrounding bones. It was the negative energy fluctuation unique to the God of the Dead. Melkor had begun to notice the situation here, and at this moment, Catheric Thom also walked into the center of the ceremony, raised his hands and looked up to the sky.

"My Lord Melkor! The King of Skeletons! The Lord of the Dead! Your loyal followers are begging for your guidance! Please send down your oracle and guide us to break through the obstacles!"

"Catheric——"

A withered, old and hoarse voice suddenly came into Catheric's ears. On the pile of skulls in the middle of the pyramid, an intact human-shaped skull suddenly burned with a dim flame. The skull floated and then slowly drifted in front of Catheric. The will of Melkor was revealed in this skull.

"My lord!"

The believers around him immediately knelt down on the ground, and even Catheric immediately knelt on his two knees.

Although the general was kneeling, his spine was still straight, which preserved his last dignity, but his head was humbly lowered, because the gods must not be disrespected. As the chosen one of Melkor, Catheric could only humbly listen to the teachings of the god of the dead.

"My voters - I know your concerns, but don't worry or be alarmed. The difficulties you think are not real problems. On the contrary, these tiny tadpoles are the beginning of our rise."

The skeleton carrying the will of Melkor continued to speak.

"My Lord, please forgive my ignorance. I don't understand. The number of Mind Flayer tadpoles produced by the Mastermind is getting scarce. If this continues, our original army..."

"Keseric, my chosen one, an army of mind flayers has never been the most important thing. Those soulless monsters have no value in my eyes, but those tadpoles, those tadpoles infected by Karsus's crown have infinite potential. I have already foreseen the future..."

"Great Master, what kind of future will that be?"

"The birth of a new god, Catheric, the crown of Karsus has the potential to turn mortals into gods, and when its wearer becomes a monster, this potential has been magnified to an unimaginable degree." "My master, do you mean that the Mastermind will become a new god? A true god that is controlled? How is this possible..."

"Catheric, my chosen one, you must remember that the future is a vague and foggy road. Even we, the true gods, dare not claim to be able to control the direction of fate, but we can still make a certain degree of prediction about the future with our transcendental vision. And this time, I have a hunch that the deal between Catheric, Bane, and Baal has changed."

Melkor suddenly changed the subject.

"I can feel that those tadpoles are being transformed by Karsus's crown, just like the transformation of the main brain. This is an evolutionary process leading to the unknown. When this process is over, these tadpoles will surely have the power to transform decay into magic! My chosen ones, the only thing you have to do now is to wait, wait for a suitable opportunity, and when the time is right, directly seize control of the main brain from the other two chosen ones."

"Are you asking me to find a chance to break the alliance between the two of them? ... Whatever, this alliance is full of loopholes anyway, and there is no trust between the members. Even if there are restrictions on the contract, it is not difficult to betray each other under the interference of the gods."

"As you command, my Lord. I...I will wait for the right time."

Catheric lowered his head humbly again. Melkor once gave him a gift that no other gods could give him, which was his daughter. Melkor made her heart beat again, and in return for this gift, Catheric also offered his infinite loyalty. If necessary, he was even willing to judge the death of all Faerûn for Melkor.

"Very well—but not before that."

Melkor's skull suddenly turned 180 degrees, and his vision was directed towards a deep, dark cave, which was less than 200 meters away from him.

At that moment, Noshil, who had transformed into an invisible little devil and had just been hiding in the cave for ten seconds, was instantly discovered by the Lord of the Undead.

"Let's kill that little thief who's been snooping around first, Catheric. He was chased here without being discovered. I'm a little disappointed in you, my chosen one."

'! How is it possible?! Something has been spying here! I didn't even notice it!'

"I'm sorry, my Lord, but that little thief won't live much longer, I assure you."

……

"What bad luck that this happened to me. I made so many preparations to avoid being discovered, but I was still discovered before I could launch the raid..."

Noshir sighed helplessly. There was nothing he could do about it. He believed that his preparations had reached the limit of a mortal's ability, but facing the gaze of a god, even if he hid in another dimension, he would probably still be seen through.

"In the end, you still have to force it!"

(End of this chapter)