"!"
As if sensing something, Silas suddenly looked down at Sophia Einhorn lying on the ground.
She had suffered a tremendous mental shock in the underground ruins and was currently unconscious.
The moonlight was soft, shining on her shoulders not covered by the gown.
Large patches of her snow-white, delicate skin were tinged with a faint crimson. Backlund at the end of October was damp and cold, and this expensive yet thin gown couldn't provide much warmth.
In the cold wind, she frowned slightly, looking pitiful and delicate.
But Silas's attention wasn't on Sophia. It was on the red phantom that had silently appeared beside her.
It was a blurry shadow with only a rough outline on its surface, as thin as the lowest-level wraith.
Yet Silas felt his scalp tingle, as if he'd seen something extremely dangerous.
His spiritual intuition immediately alerted him that this phantom had an extremely deep connection to that thing in the depths of the underground structure.
However, since they'd now moved far from that structure, the other party's influence seemed negligible.
"No need to be nervous. What you're seeing isn't my true form."
As if guessing Silas's thoughts, the other party chuckled and said, "It won't harm you."
"Swish!"
Silas took a step back, his right hand drawing the revolver from his coat.
Under his vigilant gaze, the phantom crouched down, attempting to reach out and touch the unconscious Sophia.
Traces of bloody tears still remained on her face. The phantom's fingers reached for the blood traces but only passed through her delicate face, touching nothing.
"The precious Einhorn family bloodline, ah. What a pity."
The other party murmured to itself. "However, at least I can use this blood to temporarily project my image from the seal."
What does that mean? This guy has a connection to the Einhorn family?
Silas speculated inwardly but didn't completely believe these words.
The red phantom sighed for a moment, then raised its head, directing its gaze at him.
"..."
The red phantom gazed at Silas for a long time.
"You carry an aura that feels familiar to me."
Although the other party's face was just a blurry patch, somehow Silas felt he saw traces of nostalgia and melancholy on that face.
"To actually be a lucid Shepherd. How long has it been since I've seen one..."
The red phantom murmured softly as if in a dream. "Thousands of years?"
Besides me, this guy has seen other lucid Shepherds?
And that was thousands of years ago?
Silas's eyebrow couldn't help but twitch.
He hadn't forgotten the peculiar scene he'd seen in the hallucination just now—that handsome and powerful red-haired man galloping across battlefields in primordial times, receiving prayers from countless ancestors.
He couldn't even tell if that was an illusion produced in his mind or some kind of ancient memory etched deep in his soul.
If those images were real, then the existence before him might even come from the Mythical Age...
He couldn't suppress such a wild thought.
"Lucid Shepherd, let me ask you, do you still believe in the Lord?"
The red phantom asked Silas.
"..."
Silas looked at the other party cautiously without answering. He wasn't sure which "Lord" the other party was referring to.
The holy scriptures of the Seven Gods all recorded similar creation myths. The Creator returned from chaos, His body transforming into all things in the world, including even the Seven Gods.
Although Silas knew that most of the content in these so-called scriptures was used to deceive believers, there might still be some hidden truths within them.
Facing this strange existence from an unknown era, he wasn't sure which "Lord" the other party meant—the original Creator, the evil god at the apex of the Secrets Suppliant pathway (the True Creator), or some other Lord hidden in history?
"No answer. It seems you don't believe in Him."
The red phantom said with regret.
"Who are you?"
Silas finally spoke up warily.
"If I said I'm just an innocent person caught up in an accident and sealed away, would you believe me?"
The other party laughed mockingly and asked in return.
Silas shook his head.
The terrifying encounter underground just now made him certain this guy was extremely dangerous and definitely not some benevolent existence.
Moreover, he'd felt the strong resentment of the dead there.
The other party had likely died thousands of years ago and, over the long years, had transformed into a dangerous wraith or even a terrifying evil spirit.
This twisted and terrible existence would only harbor extreme malice toward living people.
"Rip..."
Just then, one side of the red phantom's cheek suddenly tore open into a bloody gash, forming a mouth.
That mouth spoke.
"Fool, don't waste time."
"Rip."
The other side of the cheek also tore open.
"Medici, get to the point quickly. Have you been dead so long you've become an idiot?"
The torn wound also produced a voice, its tone full of mockery.
Holy crap...
Silas watched the horrifying scene before him, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
"All right, you two wastes. Quiet, quiet."
The red phantom chuckled, running his fingers across both sides of his cheeks. The bloody marks healed.
"When you were alive, you still weren't my match. Now that you're dead, just behave yourselves.
Don't interfere with me. After all, like you said, there isn't much time."
After suppressing those two voices, the red phantom looked at Silas.
"My time is limited, so I won't say much more to you. Help me out, how about it?"
"What do you want to do?"
"I want you to help me break the seal and let me escape from the underground prison."
The red phantom said, "I died because of someone's ambition and have existed as a spirit for thousands of years. Now I want to be free."
"You should be a Sequence 5 Shepherd, right? If you release me, I'm willing to make a promise to help you obtain the potion ingredients for Sequence 4 'Dark Knight' of the Secrets Suppliant pathway and assist you in completing the ritual.
I can even promise to temporarily become a 'lamb' you shepherd... If you can shepherd a spirit entity at my level, your strength will far exceed other Shepherds."
The other party spoke in a tempting tone.
Definitely a lie.
Silas's expression remained unchanged as he calmly observed the other party.
At the edge of his vision, Ma'am M's phantom appeared again.
She raised one finger and pressed it against her rosy lips. Was this reminding him not to believe, or telling him not to speak?
"So, how should I break your seal?"
Silas asked.
The red evil spirit laughed softly.
"Very simple. Find direct descendants of the Sauron, Einhorn, and Medici families and obtain at least 10 milliliters of blood from each.
Then mix the blood with holy water and sprinkle it into the room where I am. That will break the seal."
"Of course, since you're a Shepherd, there's an even simpler method more suitable for you. Directly shepherd me and let me enter your body.
That way, I can also break free from the seal's restraints and leave this prison."