Chapter 199
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 199
Chapter Title: Moon Watcher's Warning
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Luna's expression had looked deadly serious, but regardless, my mind was filled solely with the need to know more.
"You have to explain what that thing is."
"How the hell did you even get tangled up with it?"
"It just kinda happened."
"……."
In the silence, as Luna pondered, she suddenly grabbed my hand tightly.
"Leon, that's dangerous. I can't explain it properly, but it doesn't belong to this world."
"It's not like I sought it out on purpose."
"Promise me. You'll avoid getting involved as much as possible."
"I'll try."
It was a promise I couldn't really keep, truth be told. Red moon phenomena might occur elsewhere—I had no idea—but every single one so far had happened right around me, and in the process, I'd witnessed the deaths of those nearby.
Wait a minute. When you look at it that way, doesn't that make me some kind of plague god?
'Archive.'
[Confirmed.]
'Why the hell does this damn red moon keep happening around me?'
Of course, it was still better than it cropping up everywhere else.
[No clear facts confirmed. However, it is presumed that certain conditions trigger the red moon's encroachment.]
Fair enough, then.
"Anyway, take a look at those two."
"Just knocked out. They'll wake up after some time."
If Luna said so, then that was that.
After handing the fainted Sacheon siblings over to the knights, I scanned the surroundings.
There didn't seem to be any further threats.
"I'm gonna check if Coral's side actually called for backup."
"Me too."
Maybe because of the red moon incident, she was sticking by my side even though she didn't need to.
As she'd said, just one brush with it was enough to know how dangerous it was, so I didn't bother saying anything extra.
"Hoo……."
Surprisingly, Coral's reinforcements had already arrived nearby.
But.
Not a single one among them was alive.
The site of their total annihilation was gruesome.
Roughly 30 to 40 in number.
The problem was…….
"All killed by one person."
The traces left on the corpses were terrifyingly clean and swift.
And I knew exactly one person capable of leaving marks like that.
"The leader of the Moon Watchers. Looks like she was here."
The Moon Watchers. Their exact goals were unknown, but they seemed to know something, and they eliminated those who needed to die to prevent certain events from unfolding.
Of course, I had no intention of sympathizing with their logic right now, nor any reason to side with them.
That said, there was no reason to make enemies of them yet, and the fact that they kept annoying cultists in check was a bonus.
"They haven't been dead long."
Luna glanced over the neatly felled corpses and said curtly.
In other words, the Moon Watchers had left this place not long ago.
And yet, almost no traces remained.
The leader of the Moon Watchers clearly had more hidden cards than I'd anticipated.
At that moment, a faint presence registered.
"Looks like someone's still hanging around. Since we're at it, let's chat. What wind blew you here to stir up another bloodbath?"
I directed my question toward a seemingly empty tree.
Luna narrowed her eyes and muttered.
"Doesn't feel human. Definitely."
The response came immediately.
A figure in a black robe and mask appeared before me as if carried by the wind.
The leader of the Moon Watchers herself—the one person, aside from Luna, whom I'd have to risk my life to fight.
Her voice was distorted, making it hard to pin down her identity, but as Luna said, she exuded an otherworldly vibe that didn't feel like a normal human.
"No need to fret. More importantly, nothing happened here?"
"Not yet."
"Strange…… That shouldn't be possible……."
I quietly sized her up as she spoke.
Not a scratch on her, not a hair out of place. I didn't know the exact level of the fallen, but they were clearly strong forces, and she'd massacred them single-handedly.
"The Sacheon Family has allied with the cultists."
"I heard about the Blood Cult or whatever. That why you came to punish them?"
"Among other reasons, they can't be left alive."
Her firm explanation piqued my curiosity.
"How big is that hit list of yours, anyway?"
They didn't kill indiscriminately; they targeted those on their list who started posing real threats.
Yet rumors of assassinations by the Moon Watchers trickled in now and then, suggesting the list was far from short.
"More than you think. That's all you need to know."
"You do whatever you want, huh."
Still, I had no reason to harm her—it was just intuition, plus clashing head-on would cost us dearly too.
"Don't cross the line. I've let you slide so far because the ones you've killed actually seemed worth killing upon investigation. Cross it, and we won't sit idle."
She scoffed at my warning.
"Don't forget your name's on that list too."
"That's your call. Not everyone on it ends up dead, right?"
I spoke with conviction, having grasped their patterns to some extent.
"Take good care of those Sacheon siblings. They'll be key to humanity's survival down the line."
I shot back.
"In what way?"
"To be specific……."
She trailed off, then vanished completely.
I was left stunned for a moment, unable to process it.
Luna gaped blankly at the spot where the presence had utterly disappeared, and I scowled deeply.
"That damn……."
She'd thrown my own trick from before right back at me.
Her presence was long gone by now.
The Shadow Dragon Baril poked his head toward me the instant he spotted me, so I patted his neck, and he let out a short growl before vanishing into my shadow in a flash.
"Everything alright?"
"Yeah, no issues."
The people, quite intimidated by Baril's presence, sighed in relief the moment he disappeared.
Even Expert-level knights apparently struggled with a dragon's ambient pressure.
After giving the relieved knights a short break, Luna and I stood before the rift.
With only five inside, my entry wouldn't be an issue.
But Luna was different.
"What're you doing?"
"Just curious exactly when the penalty kicks in. Does even a hand count?"
She looked at me like I was pathetic.
"You'll cause an accident."
As she said, exploration was still underway inside.
That said, no danger signals had come from the Death Knight I'd assigned to Melissa.
And for good reason.
With conditions in place, satisfying them allowed a clear—and Melissa was an overpowered existence with zero regard for such boundaries.
It bothered me how easily it was progressing, faster than expected.
This wasn't why I'd sent her in there.
Suddenly feeling mischievous, I grabbed Luna's small, pale arm and shoved it into the rift before pulling it back out.
-Gah?! What the—!
Through the Death Knight, I felt Melissa jolt in surprise as her attack suddenly met resistance, then slice through the enemy.
Checking now, I could clearly sense the difficulty had spiked.
I'd threatened to ground her outside the territory if she slacked or failed, but…….
What I saw through the Death Knight's eyes inside the rift flowed far too smoothly.
Luna stared at me like, What the hell is this guy doing?, but I'd already grasped the situation firmly.
Let this continue, and barring a major disaster, she wouldn't even get proper training.
Games that are too easy aren't fun.
Shove! Pull!
I kept dipping her hand in and out, chuckling, until Luna's face twisted and she raised her other hand.
Wham!!!
She smacked the back of my head.
"Are you insane?"
"Ow!!"
"Definitely lost it."
"If it's too easy, she won't train properly."
"What's the situation like in there?"
"Like a damn picnic."
I'd hoped to fine-tune the difficulty by using how the rift's level surged the moment any part of Luna entered, but she was offended and refused to play along.
"This feels bad."
From her grumpy, dissatisfied look, it wasn't just about Melissa's safety—she seemed stung by the implication that she was "old."
Whatever the outcome, my little prank with her hand had nearly given Melissa a few heart-stopping moments, forcing her to tackle it seriously.
Yes, that's more like it. Battlefields are unpredictable spaces where anything can happen anytime. That's why an overwhelmingly leisurely pace like what I'd seen earlier through the Death Knight was absolutely no good.
Still, Melissa gaining some confidence in her skills was a positive sign.
Finally, with Melissa felling what seemed to be the boss—a massive armored guardian—I disconnected from the Death Knight's view.
"It's over."
Soon after, the rift pulsed violently, spitting out Melissa and the other four.
It released a massive burst of energy, then scattered and vanished.
"What, you were here? What about outside?"
"All sorted. What'd you get?"
"Dunno. Not sure what this is……."
Melissa showed us the small horn flute in her hand.
"This is……."
"If you don't know, just blow it."
She put the horn flute to her lips and blew. A deep tone resonated.
Bwooooooo…….
The sound vibrated the air around us, startling the others, but surprisingly…….
Nothing happened.
"What? Nothing?"
"Just decoration?"
"Well, not every ancient relic has powers."
As they speculated, I asked.
"Nothing else?"
"Nope."
Then what the hell were Coral and his crew making such a fuss over raiding this place for?
Fine, the black dragon egg might explain it, but Coral hadn't been after that. The Sacheon Family maybe, but their target was definitely this horn flute.
"Luna, any idea what this is?"