Night of the Full Moon (1)
Night of the Full Moon (1)
──『Act 1: The Night of the Full Moon』──
▶ Unlock Conditions:
1. Survive the prologue.
▶ Clear Conditions:
1. Eliminate the Blood Rock Sect members occupying the 1st and 2nd floors of the dormitory. (Bonus: Protect the hostages)
2. Secure the final villain on the 3rd floor of the dormitory.
3. Purify or eliminate the infected.
※ Complete the above objectives before the moon sets.
※ This content contains scenes intentionally designed to evoke fear. Please exercise caution while playing.
─────
◆
The girls' dormitory of Lichten Academy.
The first-floor common room of Median House.
"Did you hear? Karina from the Reconnaissance Department and Isaac from the Knight Department, well...!"
"Oh my, how scandalous."
Among the clusters of female students, romantic gossip dominated the conversation, as was typical for their age.
They might be students at one of the most prestigious academies, but at the end of the day, they were all at that age.
Romance is a kind of privilege.
Not everyone gets to enjoy it.
Considering Lichten's rather demanding schedule, not having a love life was actually the norm.
Take, for instance, the corner of the common room.
"Haah..."
Mercy Anniston, clutching her Kirtos terminal and letting out a sigh, was a prime example.
Her ordinary, wavy dirty-blonde hair swayed gently with the movement of the terminal she fiddled with.
"How long does it take to reply?"
The text displayed on Mercy's Kirtos terminal read:
【 Free for today only. A prophet acknowledged by the great ones offers a glimpse of your future, free of charge. (3 slots) 】
And below that, the comment she had posted.
[ Mercy Anniston ] : I'm a first-year living in Median House. Zodiac sign is Virgo. I want to date but it's not easy. I got confessed to once, but the guy hits on literally everyone sob When will I finally have a relationship?
"Seriously. It's already been a day. Why isn't there a reply?"
Mercy grumbled, aggressively clicking the refresh button.
Could her Kirtos terminal be broken?
Come to think of it, no Kirtalk messages had arrived today either.
Maybe the magic network was down...
Mercy's shoulders flinched as she shook her terminal.
'Oh, right. I don't have any friends.'
She slumped back against the sofa, deflated.
Just then.
— Vrrr!
Her terminal vibrated.
A reply from the self-proclaimed great prophet had arrived.
"It's here!"
[ To Mercy ] Romance. A fine topic. But you mustn't be too consumed by it. If anything, if you have someone in mind, stay away. Be especially careful when the full moon rises. Hiding will only lead them to you, so I recommend running.
Her eyes wavered as she slowly read each line.
"... What is this?"
Mercy Anniston.
She was a faithful patron of tarot readings, astrology, and anything in that field. And to her seasoned instincts, this reply felt off.
The tone certainly carried the vibe of an astrologer or a tarot reader, but it was an unspoken rule of the trade to sprinkle in a few positive remarks.
But this person just bluntly told her to be careful.
To be careful, and rather than hide, to run.
"...Could this be a real one?"
Those types occasionally surfaced in this business. The ones so confident in their abilities they were utterly dismissive toward clients. The so-called "real deal."
Mercy began to suspect this person might be one of them.
If so, she had to ask.
What she needed to be careful of, and what exactly she was supposed to run from.
- Tap-tap
She quickly typed out a reply and clicked send.
"What? Why isn't this working?"
The button refused to cooperate.
Had the author disabled comments? She didn't think that feature even existed.
A strange situation.
Tilting her head, Mercy hit the back button.
[ The magic network is unstable. Terminating connection. ]
- Beep.
Her Kirtos terminal suddenly shut down.
"Oh, come on!"
Of all times, the network had to crash now. Mercy fiddled with the terminal for a moment before sighing in frustration.
- Huh, suddenly Kirtalk's not working.
- Hey, you too?
- It's not even a scheduled maintenance day.
Judging by the reactions around her, the whole system was fried.
It had been a long time since the Kirtos network went completely dead.
'Come to think of it, something always seemed to happen whenever the network went down.'
To her mysticism-inclined mind, there was definitely a connection.
Mercy rested her chin on her palm.
A posture suited for contemplation.
— Bump
Someone clipped her arm as they passed.
"Gak."
Having been propping up her chin, her head jerked forward at an awkward angle. The strange strangled noise was a bonus.
Mercy lifted her head, ready to snap at the offender.
"......"
Her eyes fell on a girl staring down at her.
Eerie black hair. And bloodshot eyes.
Mercy recoiled instinctively.
Yet the girl continued to stare.
Those red eyes were ominous.
"......"
Then, without a word, she turned and walked away.
Mercy finally let out the breath she'd been holding.
"... What's her deal? No apology or anything."
She jutted her lower lip into a pout, but in truth, it was less anger and more fear. Those bloodshot eyes hadn't seemed human.
'Now that I think about it, there's a lot of kids with red eyes wandering around today.'
Was there a major exam in some faculty?
Just then.
— Rustle.
An inexplicable chill of unease traced a path down Mercy's spine.
The fried Kirtos network.
Kids with red eyes.
The prophet's warning.
Clear signs that something was about to happen.
Gulp.
Mercy swallowed hard and rose from her seat.
"I-I don't know."
Why was she having such scary thoughts?
She must just be tired.
Deciding to just go lie down, Mercy started toward her room.
◆
The incident occurred about an hour later.
— Boom!
The dormitory building shook violently.
Mercy, who had been lying absently on her bed, scrambled to her feet.
"What the?"
As she approached the window to figure out what was going on.
The world outside was abruptly dyed crimson.
"!"
An infinitely ominous hue.
The anonymous prophet's words suddenly echoed in her mind.
Beware the night of the full moon.
Slowly, she lifted her gaze.
A crimson full moon bore down on her from the sky.
Goosebumps rippled down her spine.
I have to run.
The instinct hit her like a physical blow.
— Crash!
She bolted out into the dormitory hallway.
The scenery looked no different than usual.
Except it was utterly empty.
That made it all the more surreal, more chilling.
"Wh-what the hell..."
Screams echoed faintly in the distance.
Carefully, Mercy crept toward the main entrance.
That moment.
— Creeak.
A door along the hallway suddenly swung open right beside her.
"Glug. Glug."
The sound of someone gulping down liquid.
Mercy's head snapped toward the noise, and she frantically clamped a hand over her mouth.
"!!"
A student, eyes horribly bloodshot crimson, had sunk their teeth into another student's neck.
A Blood Rock Cultist.
Scrape.
The thing's head swiveled toward the hallway.
Mercy ducked out of sight in a panic.
'I-I mean, what the hell, seriously.'
She had no idea what was going on.
For now, she just had to run.
If those really were Blood Rock Cultists, taking them on was suicide.
'Just run. Fast.'
Mercy quickened her pace.
Just a little further and she'd reach the central staircase.
She was on the 2nd floor. One flight down and she could escape.
But then.
A spine-chilling presence prickled at her back.
Creeak.
Mercy slowly turned her head.
Her eyes flooded with terror.
At the far end of the corridor.
A cultist, cloaked head to toe in black, was approaching.
"!!!"
Swallowing the scream that clawed at her throat, Mercy ran.
The central staircase.
She practically fell down the steps.
Now the screams echoing all around were vividly clear.
Just a little bit further to the main entrance...
"Grwaaaaah."
A half-blackened cultist blocked her path.
With the one chasing from behind, she was utterly trapped.
Then Mercy's eyes fell on a large storage locker used for oversized items.
'There!'
◆
'Just a little more! A little mooore!'
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Mercy scrambled frantically to the locker.
— Clank! Clank!
Perhaps from long disuse, the locker refused to open easily.
"Pleeease!"
Rrrrrumble!
She threw her whole weight against it, and only then did it slide open. Without a backward glance, Mercy hurled herself inside.
Then, clunk.
"Haaah."
Only after the door slammed shut did the delayed rush of breath hit her.
But she had to stifle it quickly.
— Step.
— Step. Step.
Footsteps echoed outside.
Mercy peered through the narrow gap in the locker door.
A blurry view of the outside.
A few cultists were searching the area, as if sensing her presence.
But the locker seemed to be made of some special material, because they weren't finding it.
The cultists drew closer.
Their advancing corruption seemed to have dulled their intellect.
They wandered aimlessly for a while, then one vanished.
Then the second one vanished.
They had likely moved on to find other prey.
'G-good. If I can just hold out a little longer until help arrives.'
Someone was bound to come. This was Lichten Academy; someone would have assessed the situation by now. Just a little more. Just hold on.
She was steeling her nerves when—
— Step.
— Step. Step.
The sound of footsteps was unmistakably drawing closer.
Not aimlessly, but in a straight, determined line.
The prophecy flashed through her mind.
— Running is better than hiding.
'Ahh...'
Mercy squeezed her eyes shut.
What was she supposed to do?
— Step.
The footsteps stopped right in front of the door.
If she was found, she was dead.
Mercy held her breath with every fiber of her being.
How much time passed like that?
— Step. Step.
The footsteps retreated again.
'...I'm alive. Still, something was kind of weird about that one.'
Mercy peered through the gap at the figure.
A back view slowly receding into the distance.
Through the sliver of space, a glimpse of crimson hair.
And a pair of somewhat elongated ears.
Impossibly pale skin.
Mercy murmured without thinking.
"... Rina?"
Scrape.
The departing silhouette froze.
Creak. The head turned to look back.
Her view through the gap was hazy, but Mercy was certain.
It was Rina.
There was no way Rina Rosewell was a Blood Rock Cultist.
She must have been outside the dorm and brought reinforcements.
Mercy clenched her fist.
And shouted toward her.
"Rina Rosewell!"
The crimson-haired head swiveled around, searching for the source of the voice. It was definitely Rina Rosewell.
"Haah...."
Mercy let out a sigh of relief.
Rina had wandered close by, looking around.
"Rina, over here. Here. I'm right here."
She rattled the locker, and only then did Rina turn to look in her direction.
Rina's eyes met Mercy's, and the corner of her lips curled upward.
- Step. Step.
Rina approached steadily.
"Can you open the door? I can't get it open from in here!"
— Screech!
The locker door wrenched open with a bone-chilling shriek.
Only then did Rina's face enter her full view.
Mercy spoke the words without thinking.
"... Rina?"
Half of her hair had turned a vivid blue.
Between gently parted lips, a flash of teeth glinted, white and ravenous.
And above all else,
those eyes, a horrifically bloodshot crimson.
Rina's gaze met Mercy's, and she smiled sweetly.
"So, you were hiding in there?"