Chapter 469: The Ignorant
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 469: The Ignorant
Melodious chanting echoed through the old, dark house, which felt more like a cage than a home.
It was a rich baritone, singing loudly with the presence of an entire orchestra. Accompanied by a harp, Marvin used exquisitely beautiful language and exaggerated gestures to praise the bright moon in the sky.
And so, a cold, clear moonlight truly did descend from above.
Muen looked up. The ethereal moonlight was like a silken veil or a thin mist, shrouding everything in a strangely alluring grace.
An aura symbolizing death stirred within the light. Distorted shadows rose from the ground, silently splitting into countless deep black dots.
They were swarms of insects, so dense they seemed to fill every corner of the shadows.
These hideous black bugs seemed empowered by the moonlight. Their sharp limbs rubbed together in excitement, and their blood-red compound eyes were filled with bloodlust and ferocity.
"A believer of the moon?"
Muen felt the cold, deathly moonlight against his palm and murmured in surprise, "But isn't the moon already dead?"
Logically, after the Silent Moon had "died" completely, the evil believers who worshipped Him should have lost their source of power and been unable to cause any significant trouble.
Could it be that some of His power still lingered in the world?
It was possible. After all, the traces left behind by an Evil God couldn't be erased so easily. Furthermore, those insects did indeed resemble the "Moon Beasts"—strange, mutated creatures corrupted by the moon—that Muen had encountered before.
"However, the problem right now isn't whether it's the moon or not."
Muen pulled a defensive magic device from his storage space and placed it near Emily.
It was a Holy Light artifact he had picked up in the Holy City. It wasn't particularly expensive, costing only a few hundred thousand Emiels, but its abundant Holy Light aura was enough to temporarily block out all filth.
Not to mention, it carried the personal blessing of Saintess Liya, which was more than enough to ensure an ordinary little girl remained safe from external harm for a time.
With his worries settled, Muen finally focused his full attention on the enemy before him.
He wasn't afraid of this moonlight that radiated the breath of death.
At his current level, it was virtually impossible for him to be easily corrupted by the power of an Evil God. Moreover, he didn't sense the true "dead silence" belonging to the Silent Moon within this light.
This strange feeling lingered in Muen's heart. Having spent so much time around his Senior, he couldn't help but feel that the moonlight before him was a fake.
But as he had just said, the issue wasn't the moon itself, but...
A certain familiar abnormality.
The moment the poem began, Muen had already lashed out with his blade. He certainly wasn't going to let Marvin continue this inexplicable performance.
The brilliant blade light overwhelmed the moonlight in an instant. Power as violent as a thunderbolt was compressed into a single inch, manifesting a sharpness that could tear through anything.
Before the swarming insects could even display their intended horror, they were easily parted... revealing the defenseless wandering poet, Marvin, behind them.
But then came that familiar sense of daze. The black flames in Muen's eyes flickered.
"What's going on?"
Muen frowned, looking at Marvin, who was still deep in his performance not far away.
His clothes were tattered and his face was unkempt, yet his wild movements possessed a certain magnetic quality that made one involuntarily overlook his appearance.
But there was no doubt about it—Marvin was currently unscathed.
His attack had done nothing. No, it would be more accurate to say...
Muen looked down and realized his hands were still lowered, gripping his sword. It was as if the strike just now had been a mere hallucination, a move never actually made.
"Again..."
Muen remembered it had been the same just a moment ago. He had clearly swung his blade and decapitated Marvin, even crushing his head underfoot, yet after a brief daze, he suddenly found himself back in his original position.
"An illusion? No..."
Even if it were an illusion, the act of "slashing" should have actually happened. But that sensation of instantly returning to a state where nothing had occurred felt more like...
"Time reversal?"
The thought popped into his head, making him pause instinctively.
But he quickly dismissed it.
The Old Loli had said that this world had no god presiding over time, so there shouldn't be any corresponding blessings or abilities.
Of course, there might be powerful spells or artifacts capable of achieving a similar effect, but Muen felt that such a thing shouldn't be able to deceive him, the future bearer of the Eternal Clock.
So...
"Is it that strange cognitive rewriting again?"
Muen's expression turned cold as he recalled the poor townspeople who had insects nesting in their brains without knowing it, even taking it as a given that "fire cannot be lit."
Until common sense reached a point of total logical collapse, they couldn't detect the slightest abnormality.
He was the same.
Muen's perception of events had been altered. He thought he had cut off Marvin's head, but in reality, he might have just stood there in a momentary trance.
This was something far more terrifying than illusions or suggestions. To achieve this required a much deeper level of influence over the spirit.
To be able to affect his current spirit... even his Senior had clearly failed to notice it at the time...
Muen suddenly looked at the harp in Marvin's hands.
"An Ancient Artifact?"
To accomplish this, if the opponent's realm didn't vastly exceed his own—allowing them to use brute force to influence his mind—then Muen could only think of those eerie and unpredictable Ancient Artifacts.
Marvin's realm was clearly not that high. Otherwise, he wouldn't be greeting Muen with this bizarre performance; he would have just smashed his fist into Muen's face without any fancy tricks.
"Hehe, as expected of a Duke's son. You truly are well-informed."
Having finished a short stanza of his performance, Marvin paused his chanting and affectionately stroked the harp in his hands.
"This is the Harp of the Ignorant. When it is pleased by a sufficiently excellent performance, all audience members will fall deep into the Gospel of the Ignorant."
"Gospel?" Muen sneered. "Are you one of those 'ignorance is bliss' types too?"
"Hehe, what a pity, Muen Campbell. Your spiritual power truly exceeds my imagination, far higher than many so-called geniuses I've met."
Marvin shook his head regretfully. "But sometimes, being too sober is the source of pain. Wouldn't it be better if you actively indulged yourself, viewed all of this as a beautiful performance, and waited for the curtain to fall in pleasure and happiness?"
"Just like those townspeople?"
"Yes." Marvin nodded slightly. "If you hadn't torn the veil between ignorance and reality, they would have welcomed the descent of their goddess at the climax of the festival and... felt true happiness!"
Marvin's expression suddenly turned fierce as he roared, "It was you who destroyed that perfect performance! It was you who gave them pain!"
The insects grew restless. These creatures, appearing even more hideous under the mournful moonlight, seemed to have been craving this for a long time. They lunged at Muen without hesitation.
"Ha! To hear you tell it, I'm the villain here!"
Muen shouted, suddenly slamming a fist toward the swarm roiling in the shadows.
Since slashing was useless, he would naturally use his most basic fists... Wait, why did he feel that his flesh-and-blood fists would be better suited to deal with insects that specialized in burrowing into brains than a sharp weapon?
Muen's movements faltered, and his consciousness drifted again. Under the pressure of his powerful spiritual power, the erroneous cognition was corrected once more.
But the swarm was already upon him.
At the critical moment, a Thunder Roar—honed through countless practices until it was ingrained in every muscle—was poured into his defenseless fist. A booming thunderclap erupted, temporarily repelling the encroaching insects.
But repelling them wasn't enough. Muen gritted his teeth and swung his blade again. Thirty stacks of force surged instantly as he slashed mercilessly at the cold moonlight above his head.
The roof was instantly shredded by the blade light, revealing a night sky where nothing could be seen. As for the moonlight... naturally, moonlight could not be cut.
"What terrifying power."
Marvin continued to play his music, looking up and praising the sight as if admiring fireworks. "If I took that hit head-on, even with my beloved brain-eating insects supporting my life force, I'm afraid I wouldn't feel very well. Speed, power, reaction time, plus those dual daggers that make one's heart turn cold just by looking at them...
"Muen Campbell, you are indeed a terrifying fellow. Anyone else would have a massive headache facing you.
"But unfortunately for you, you ran into me."
Marvin looked down at Muen with a grotesque smile. "In my presence, all your strengths are useless. You are merely a lamb for the slaughter."
"..."
Muen, still wondering why he had inexplicably tried to slash the moonlight just now, took a deep breath and said expressionlessly, "Aren't you popping the champagne a bit early?"
"Is that so? I don't think so. Why don't you look behind you?"
Muen's brow furrowed, and then, as if remembering something, he whipped his head around.
Behind him was Emily, and the Holy Light magic device he had just taken out to protect her.
That device was a Church product with guaranteed quality, and with Liya's personal infusion of Holy Light, the barrier it deployed should have been enough to withstand several full-power attacks from a fifth-tier expert. It also possessed a natural defense against any pollution or curses.
However, from the very beginning, that powerful magic device had never been activated.
He had merely... placed it in front of Emily.
And right now, the poor little girl was huddled in the corner, trembling violently. A massive number of insects had already surrounded her, crawling all over her body. Their hissing mouthparts rubbed against the girl's tender skin as if licking a sweet piece of meat.
Emily covered her mouth tightly. Though she was crying from terror, she desperately tried not to make a sound, fearing she would distract Muen, who—in her eyes—was locked in a bitter struggle with the enemy.
"Damn it!"
Muen's pupils shrank. Without hesitation, he reached out to grab Emily.
The mass of insects instantly parted, creating a gap, waiting for Muen to step into the trap of his own accord.