Dago pondered after hearing this, as he also felt there was something wrong with those madmen from the Dark Blood Council.
He gulped down the hot milk and left the Wizard Hall.
He decided to investigate the forest on the outskirts of the Town during the day to figure out what the Dark Blood Council was doing.
He chose an uninhabited spot in the Town and unfurled his mental energy field.
The cold wind glided over his body like water, lifting every inch of his clothes upwards.
He hovered at a height of fifteen to sixteen meters, just enough to see how the houses of the Town formed a grid below him, creating distinct areas.
Dago spread his arms slightly, feeling the changes in the airflow, as if he had become a free bird.
It was the first time he realized his non-human nature, that feeling of looking down on everything from the air....
He flew along the route he used to know, the route he took when he sold venison from his hunts in the forest to the Town.
He flew over the charred ruins of the northern part of the city, and over the bumpy fields on the outskirts of the Town.
Finally, he arrived at the forest he knew best, a network of trees under a lead-gray sky, always shrouded in a thin mist.
Silence was the forest's main theme, a deathly stillness like a vacuum.
There was also a faint scent of blood in the air, along with the smell of decay.
The entire forest was like a terrifying beast that devoured everything, waiting for its prey.
Dago composed himself and flew straight into the forest.
He arrived at his first stop, the former Treehouse Stronghold of the Forest Patrol.
It had now become a temporary den for Black Robe Wizards, with dozens of densely packed treehouses hanging from bare trees.
The bonfire in the center of the clearing had long been extinguished, and the ashes were mixed with blackened bone fragments.
Dago landed and poked at them with a branch, revealing half a finger bone with teeth marks.
The surrounding frozen ground was soaked with blood, frozen into hard, black and red chunks.
The air was filled with a mixture of blood and putrid odors, primarily emanating from a pile of dozens of huge wooden cages.
Inside the wooden cages were scattered large amounts of torn rags and tattered straw sandals, and the teeth marks on the wood were so deep it looked like they had been gnawed by wild beasts.
Dago recognized the fabric patterns as the coarse hemp clothes commonly worn by farmers, and as for the teeth marks, he dared not contemplate the more terrifying truth.
Each wooden cage had the capacity to hold dozens of people, but now their doors were open, and all had been driven in one direction.
Dago chose a seemingly more elaborate treehouse, flew up to it, and kicked the door open.
Inside the treehouse, there was a copper basin, and the blood in it had frozen into a dark brown ice.
A few strands of gray hair were embedded in the ice surface, and distorted runes were carved along the rim of the basin...
The bloodstains in the rune grooves were frozen and shiny, like solidified snakes.
There was also a crude bed by the treehouse, and things hanging on the wooden wall.
Dago walked over for a closer look; they were several human skins, peeled off, stretched, and nailed to the wooden wall.
Eerie incantations were drawn on the skin surface with cinnabar, and some skins still retained the contorted expressions of their final moments.
The eye sockets were empty, leaving only two black holes, with a thin layer of frost accumulated within them.
They slowly writhed, recounting the pain and unwillingness of their lives.
In the Wizarding World, death itself is an event with ritualistic significance.
Dago left the place with a heavy heart, flying into the sky, following the tracks of large groups of civilians.
During this time, he also passed by his home where he had lived the longest in this world, the Shelter stone house.
Unfortunately, it had been destroyed by the Black Robe Wizards, leaving only a pile of stones.
Dago imagined that some unfortunate Wizard, while scavenging the place, might have seen only the bare Shelter and, in a fit of anger, blew it up.
He continued flying along the large-scale movement tracks, heading straight for Moonlight Lake.
After flying through the dense forest and approaching his target, Dago descended, retracted his mental energy field, and dared not cast any spells.
He hid behind a tree on the outskirts of the dense forest and looked towards Moonlight Lake, the sight before him terrifying him to his core.
The tracks of large numbers of civilians extended directly from the dense forest to the shore of Moonlight Lake....
Moonlight Lake had now completely transformed into a blood lake, with a dark purple blood mist suspended in the center of the lake, within which countless twisted blood vessels, eyeballs, and bone fragments churned.
Dozens of Black Robe Wizards knelt in a circle, their hoods low, covering most of their faces.
Only their jawlines were exposed, taut into a cold, hard curve, and their fingertips dug deeply into the mud on the shore of the blood lake.
They were loudly praising Erzog, praying for its arrival and blessings.
The blood mist in the center of the lake was rhythmically rising and falling with the prayers, joyfully devouring all blood offerings in the blood lake.
Each rise and fall splashed tiny blood droplets, which arced through the air but did not fall to the ground...
Instead, they transformed into suspended blood points, weaving a net of blood rain above the Wizards' heads, showering down on them.
The fishy smell of the blood lake was so thick it felt substantial, mixed with the ancient incantations chanted by the Black Robe Wizards.
In the cold air, it fermented into a suffocating stickiness, and even the wind skirted this area, as if afraid of being entangled by the sweet, bloody scent.
The two Wizards closest to the lake began to sway, their shoulders beneath their black robes trembling violently...
Low, incoherent growls rumbled from their throats, as if they had been favored by some power.
The other Wizards slowly raised their hands and pressed their palms onto the bloodstains on the lake shore.
The skin on their palms quickly developed red blotches, the same color as blood, which spread upwards along their blood vessels, covering their entire bodies.
The Wizards began to twist their bodies in pain, their hoods slipping off to reveal faces covered in blood patterns.
Their eyes rolled back, with only a trace of crimson remaining in their pupils, and their lips opened and closed mechanically...
The chanting grew faster and sharper, like countless rusty knives scraping against each other.
As the prayers reached their peak, the blood mist in the center of the lake suddenly shot skyward, solidifying in the air into a giant maw made of congealed blood.
The giant blood maw spewed countless blood points, falling like a downpour on the Wizards' heads.
The Wizards, however, did not dodge, but instead tilted their heads back and opened their mouths, allowing the blood points to fall into their throats.
Their bodies began to swell, their black robes bulging with grotesque outlines, and veins bulged beneath their skin, as if living creatures were burrowing beneath it.
They let out satisfied sighs, their voices hoarse like sandpaper rubbing, mixed with the scent of blood, echoing across the desolate blood lake.
As the giant blood maw slowly descended back into the blood lake, the rocks on the shore were already covered with fresh bloodstains, and even the indentations where the Wizards knelt had become deeper.
They lowered their heads again, their hoods concealing the blood patterns on their faces.
Only their fingertips still twitched slightly, as if savoring the burning power that had just surged through their bodies.
The blood lake returned to its calm state, while deep beneath the surface, the crimson light pulse still slowly beat, as if awaiting the call of the next prayer.
Dago's heart pounded violently; he had witnessed a sacrificial ritual of the Dark Blood Council firsthand.
And if he hadn't been mistaken, one of the two Wizards closest to the lake was Flax, a Dark Blood Council member.
Those kneeling, blood-red Black Robe Wizards who received Erzog's blessing were at least Level 3 Apprentice Wizards.
He quietly retreated into the depths of the dense forest; fortunately, the Black Robe Wizards were still in a state of frenzy and did not notice him.
After running out of the dense forest, Dago flew rapidly towards the Town.
On the way, he also destroyed and froze the temporary Dark Blood Council outpost in the forest.
He dared not make too much noise, fearing to disturb the crazy Black Robe Wizards still at the blood lake.
Under the lead-gray sky, a vast, dense blood curtain, like congealed blood, was slowly spreading from the direction of the blood lake.
Two sun-like objects embedded within it were lifting the blood curtain and flying towards the academy.
Dago saw this anomaly and instantly turned pale with fright.
"This must be them moving the entire blood lake, preparing to sacrifice everyone in the entire academy!"
He speculated in his mind.
He gritted his teeth, determined to get ahead of those madmen and return to the Town to evacuate as many people as possible.
