Chapter 221: The Weeping Serpent (Part 11)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 221: The Weeping Serpent (Part 11)
As Muen’s roar subsided, the world fell into a sudden, heavy silence.
It was as if nothing had happened.
And yet...
Upon that ghostly blue moon, within those countless crimson, hideous pupils, a flicker of very human terror suddenly surfaced.
The moon, of course, did not fear remnant souls or ants.
What it feared was...
BOOM—!
The silence was shattered by a roar that sounded like the end of the world!
An infinite, majestic power from beyond the world barrier followed the lighthouse’s guidance and descended upon this place in an instant!
The void shuddered!
At the edge of Muen’s vision, behind that blue moon, space began to fracture inch by inch, forming countless pitch-black, blade-like rifts.
Then, from those rifts, a searing radiance came surging forth.
It was like a brilliant sun rising on the other side of space. Its blinding majesty was thousands, tens of thousands of times more powerful than Muen’s tiny lighthouse!
BOOM—!
The void shuddered again.
It sounded like someone was using an iron fist to smash a fragile doorway.
More light flooded into the space. Under this unspeakable light and heat, the Dark Moon Mist—which had been roiling like boiling water—was forcibly torn open, leaving several gaping gashes!
Relying on his adaptation to the Crimson Flame, Muen finally forced his eyes open amidst the endless light. Through the cracks where space had been crushed by that sheer, majestic power, he saw it clearly: a giant eye, larger and more hideous than all the crimson pupils of the Silent Moon combined, was staring into this realm with an excited, burning gaze.
It was like a long-starved beast that had finally found the delicious lamb it had been coveting for ages.
The Evil God, the Withered King, had arrived!
...
Crackle, crackle.
Before Muen could even say hello to his old acquaintance, he heard the sound of a thousand mirrors shattering.
One after another, withered hands—looking as though they had been charred to cinders by a raging fire—slowly reached out from the other side of the spatial rifts.
Like a predatory sea anemone, those hands swayed with rhythmic precision, opening and closing in sequence. Like countless tentacles, they lunged toward the ghostly blue moon.
ROAR—!
The moon let out a silent shriek.
Countless pupils spun frantically. The moonlight turned cold and eerie, attempting to block the approach of those withered hands.
Though no sound reached his ears, Muen felt as if his very soul was being torn apart by invisible shockwaves.
Fortunately, the Crimson Flame within him seemed to have been doused in fuel the moment the Withered King appeared. It burned even more fiercely, helping him negate most of the ill effects.
Still, Muen winced in pain, turning to flip the moon the bird.
"Kill it, Withered King!"
【Hmph.】
Muen thought he heard a cold, indifferent snort.
Suddenly, Crimson Flames ignited atop those withered, blackened hands.
Though the flames looked no different from his own on the surface, Muen could clearly feel that the Crimson Flame on those hands was infinitely more terrifying.
As the flames roared, it was like pouring boiling oil into clear water. The ghostly blue moonlight began to tremble violently, and the withered, blackened hands drew closer and closer to the blue moon’s core.
Without any suspense, the Withered King held the absolute upper hand.
Although this was merely a projection of the Silent Moon, the Withered King certainly hadn't arrived in his true form either.
The true body of an Evil God could not descend upon the mortal world; this was a definitive rule. Otherwise, the Silent Moon wouldn't have been forced to abandon its godhood and physical form just to force a descent.
However, even as fellow projections, the Withered King had been steadily accumulating power beforehand. Even his evil cultists had remained silent during this entire incident.
The Silent Moon was the exact opposite. In its pursuit of a way out, it had constantly stirred up trouble, depleting its own strength more than it could afford. Even if they were of the same rank and both were projections, how could it possibly be a match for the Withered King?
As if to validate Muen’s thoughts, the countless withered hands finally seized the blue moon itself and began dragging it toward the other side of the rift.
Combined with that giant, excited eyeball on the other side of the crack, Muen felt like he was watching a burly man grinning as he tried to drag a blue-haired loli out of her room.
Come on, come out and play something fun with Uncle...
The image was bizarrely comical...
Muen twitched his lips and suppressed the strange thought, still not daring to lower his guard.
The moon wouldn't give up that easily.
Sure enough, amidst the Withered King’s tentacle play... no, amidst the dragging of the Withered King’s countless withered hands, the Silent Moon’s radiance exploded. With a violent shudder, it actually managed to briefly break free from the Withered King’s restraint.
Then, a terrifying power gathered and struck toward... Muen.
Muen’s eyes widened instantly as the death warning blared in his mind once more.
He never expected that, even as it was about to be dragged out and literally devoured by the Withered King, the Silent Moon wouldn't turn around to fight the King to the death. Instead, it attacked him?
What kind of grudge is this?!
So what if I "accidentally" let the Black Book tell the Withered King your weakness, causing you to be hunted by him?
Is this really necessary?
It’s not like I did it on purpose!
If you want to blame someone, go find the Love God!
Muen’s hair stood on end like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, his face turning deathly pale.
But he wasn't about to sit and wait for death. Under the Withered King’s suppression, the Silent Moon couldn't rain down its divine might as recklessly as before. This current power was only a small fraction. If he gave it his all, there might still be a slim chance of survival!
At that thought, Muen gritted his teeth, letting the newborn Crimson Flame within him burn even more surgingly.
Just one moment. If he could hold out for just one moment...
The Withered King would surely seize this opening and deliver a fatal blow to the Silent Moon!
However, just as Muen held his breath and braced himself, that wisp of faint moonlight—carrying the power of an Evil God like a strand of ethereal mist—suddenly took a sharp turn in mid-air.
It didn't attack Muen. Instead, it plummeted toward... Anna.
The Silent Moon’s target was actually the Senior!
Muen’s expression turned instantly feral. He never expected that in such a short time, the Silent Moon would have learned his own trick of feinting in one direction to strike another—and it had put it into practice immediately!
The Silent Moon’s killing intent had been so real that it had even triggered his death warning, causing Muen to completely overlook this possibility.
Dammit!
Muen turned desperately, lunging toward Anna behind him.
With the help of Iso’s phantom earlier, he was right next to her.
But this mere half-meter distance felt like an insurmountable chasm to the current Muen.
The moonlight fell, gently enveloping Anna and lifting her up once more.
Muen’s eyes went bloodshot, and Crimson Flames erupted from him. He was actually prepared to use his own flesh and blood to ram into that cold moonlight, which was saturated with the intent of infinite destruction.
I’ve come this far! There is no way I’m letting you take the Senior away again!!
Muen roared inwardly, instinctively closing his eyes as he prepared for the coming agony, or perhaps even death.
But the expected despair did not arrive.
In that split second, amidst the chaotic noise, Muen thought he heard the sound of something whistling through the air.
Like a sharp weapon tearing through the atmosphere.
Eh?
Muen succeeded in his goal, pulling that currently stiff, delicate body into his embrace.
He looked up blankly and saw it.
Upon that massive blue moon, right in its center, was a very inconspicuous... arrow.
The arrow looked as if it were forged from crystal, shimmering brilliantly under the moonlight, exquisite and perfect.
But the moment it pierced the blue moon, tiny blood-red veins began to spread instantly from the tip.
Like... poison.
A poison carrying the intent of "Certain Death."
Under the influence of that poison, the endless, cold moonlight began to gradually dissipate!
That was... the Stone of Truth!
The Silent Moon’s countless crimson pupils spun abruptly, all of them staring toward the rift the Withered King had torn in the Dark Moon Mist.
Through that rift, one could see an old man covered in age spots. He held a crossbow, a brilliant Crown resting upon his head. Standing at the edge of the infinite mist, he used the near-god power of a Crown Bearer to pierce through the layers of influence from the corona and the moonlight, firing that one arrow that could not miss.
"How does it feel, Moon?"
The old man stared at the Silent Moon through the rift with cloudy eyes, a smile on his face.
"The long-suppressed resentment and fury of an old man with one foot in the grave... it’s got quite a kick, doesn't it?"