Chapter 656: The Ritual
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was the middle of summer, and yet the northern area of the suburbs was still cool. A group of people was assembled at the empty field behind the house, lighting candles, drawing the summoning circle and setting up the ritual items. It looked it some sort of heretical gathering. Hao Ren looked on as Lily was busying herself with the preparation. "If someone were to see us pulling this stunt, who you think would come first, the police or the mental hospital staff?"
"Probably the mental hospital." Wuyue said as she lifted a leg and shook her body. Even when she was in human form she could not shake off her habits of being a snake. "If I was a normal person and saw a bunch of middle aged people summoning a vampire with a serious look on their face, I'll definitely call the mental hospital..."
Nangong Wudi suddenly sighed. "Never thought that I, a demon hunter would actually join in on this. In the past, this is demonic."
"What are you talking about?" Lily spat back without a tongue. "You are already married to one no? Don't be so uptight."
Lily said as she prepared the summoning circle. No one knew where she gotten the limestone from as she drew a crooked five pointed star summoning circle. The more Hao Ren saw it the more awkward it felt. "You think it'll work? Your five pointed stars have four crooked points... and the last one is a curved edge?"
"Whatever works!" Lily was clearly excited. "I have placed the ritual items, now lets get someone to bleed."
Hao Ren gave the items that Lily had placed on the five pointed star a suspicious look. "Where did you get all of these from? Will they work?"
"Of course they will. I gathered them myself." Lily pointed towards the items on each corner of the summoning circle. "The dried mistletoe leaf is from my own specimen collection that I made while travelling, the bat fangs I got them from the wild. The limestone's a plenty here, the ashes of a woman's hair is mine...It hurts me to even do that."
Hao Ren was flabbergasted as he heard before remembering that one of the ritual items was a black mountain goat skin, but he only saw a petite leather shoe on it. "...I thought we need black goat skin? Where did you get the shoe from?"
"The shoe is mine, and at any case the shoe box says it's mountain goat skin.... Come to think of it there should not be any difference between that and a black mountain goat skin."
Even Y'lisabet who came to join in on the fun was stunned. The little brat facepalmed. "If she could really summon something that'll be quite an achievement."
Nangong Wudi continued to sigh. "If all sorcerers were like her, demon hunters would have a very easy time..."
Hao Ren initially a little worried about testing the grimoire. He was afraid that it might actually summon some ungodly beings out into the open. While not much of a threat, but it will still be a problem. But after seeing how Lily's doing things he swallowed his worries whole. With how the husky was doing things, even if she were to set up this in the middle of town, the only thing that she will be summoning is the city's enviromental officers...
"Let me see..." Lily grabbed on to Hao Ren's arm as she peeked at the illustration. "Hmm.. the positioning is correct... the summoning circle... seems alright... the moon is full... oohhhh, everything is ready. So lets give it a try, Mr Landlord?"
As Hao Ren just about to step forward, Nangong Sanba could not help but to warn him. "You sure you're gonna go ahead with this summoning ritual?"
While the grimoire may be some gibberish nonsense to a common man, it is no plaything in the eyes of a demon hunter. The grimoire from the dark ages contained real heretical and forbidden knowledge. Every demonic or divine name on it resonated with the power of a living otherworldling or the remnants of their powers, and such rituals usually ends up creating more trouble. Such tomes were prevalent a few hundred yearas back, and many a kingdom or fortress was destroyed due to the uncontrolled use of such tomes; there were even records of large scale catastrophies linked to the grimoires. Not to mention quite a few nobles or heretics seeking hidden knowledge were possessed by evil spirits when they opened the grimoire. There's no absolutely safe way to handle these things.
Hao Ren shrugged. "With Lily's childsplay of a ritual, what can she summon anyway? And this ritual was supposed to summon Vivian..."
Nangong Sanba pondered for a moment before keeping quiet.
Hao Ren and Lily stood on the opposite corner of the summoning circle. Baring her fangs, Lily looked at hger finger. "So I really need to bleed myself... I feel its such a waste all of a sudden."
"Fine by me." Hao Ren had already shut off part of his shield and had also lowered the reinforcing nanomachines within his body to bleed himself. "You only need three drops."
Lily replied with a "Oh" before giving her finger tip a bite. Hao Ren followed suit at the same time.
Fresh blood dropped on the floor and Hao Ren looked at the summon circle before him. The crooked five pointed star did not stir. "Seems like it failed. It was a whole load of nonsense I tell you."
Lily showed her fingers as she retorted. "That's because my skin regenerated before a drop even left the wound!"
Everyone present was stunned as Hao Ren spoke under his breath. Her werewolf constitution actually showed its prowess now!
"Lets try again!" Lily excitedly wagged her tail. "I'll bite harder!"
Hao Ren went along as they tried again, and it was only to proof that the husky had no control of her regenerative ability. As she bit her finger tip, and before she could pull her fangs out, the wound had sealed itself. This situation left everyone in tickles. Even Nangong Wuyue couldn't help but take a jab. "Looks like you'll also face problems in performing a blood pact with someone."
Lily stared stupidly at her finger before clenching her teeth and turning back to run into the house to get a straw. "Lets try again Mr Landlord! I'll stick a straw in once I bite, I don't believe it'll keep regenerating!"
Cold sweat immediately appeared on Hao Ren's forehead as he pushed the crazy husky aside asking for volunteers. "Anyone wanna take her place? Or else this husky will stick a straw in her."
Nangong Sanba looked about before stepping forward with some self-awareness. "Seems like it's only me then."
The half-baked demon hunter's regenerative abilities was not as overpowered as the werewolf and the summoning ritual's last step was completed. Yet, when the third drop of blood hit the floor, the summoning circle still did not stir. There were no magical aura around, nor any supernatural phenomenon occuring that they could see. And of course. Vivian was still at home.
"Didn't work?" Lily flipped the grimoire about. "There's magic in it. It shouldn't be fake. I heard from Battie that sorcerers back then, as unreliable as they were, will not inscribe a useless spell in a book. Their grimoires were their legacy."
Y'zaks crossed his arms as he shook his head. "If you were to draw the four other points of the star properly it should probably work... they are all wavy. You think a magical circle can be drawn at whim?"
"Is it because that the ritual requires human blood?" Lily was still studying the girimoire, refusing to believe it was her crooked summoning circle being the cause of failure. "Lets get humans to try this out?"
Hao Ren looked about before something dawned upon him. There was no humans around him!
His place was a veritable zoo of otherworldlings...
"This..." Hao Ren shook his head. "We have everything here but humans."
"Then forget it." Lily looked down dejectedly as she passed the grimoire to Hao Ren. "Maybe try this again when we somehow manage to get two packets of human blood from the hospital."
Hao Ren felt that none of the husky's suggestions today actually made any sense, but remembering that it was a full moon, he didn't dare to hope that the husky would be maintaining her logical thought process. He took the grimoire from her and simply flipped a few pages open. "Yeah... the book is real."
What Hao Ren did not notice that, he was standing right in the center of the circle, and as the grimoire opened, the light of the full moon shone upon the illustration of the 'Summoning of the Blood King'.
Cold air started forming on the pages of the grimoire as an eerie red glow started eminating from the pages of the grimoire and started spreading.
The summoning ritual did not fail. It was missing an important requirement. The book being on the energy focal point!
And now, the ritual activated.