Chapter 312: What Kind of Monsters and Ghosts Are These?
It was like transforming into a fetus and returning to the mother’s womb.
It was also like relaxing the whole body, soaking in a hot spring… that moist and warm liquid, so mesmerizing, that it even calmed the mood.
When Eivass regained consciousness, he heard the swishing sound of tides around him.
A strong smell of blood, accompanied by the sound of people talking.
He opened his eyes and saw a black crescent moon hanging in the black-red sky.
Beneath their feet, a sea of blood frothed, rising and falling like the sea under moonlight.
In their midst stood a giant mechanical dancer made of brass. Her hands were clasped in front of her, and she stood elegantly still. Behind her were butterfly-like wings, but they were not insect wings; rather, they were made of countless thin gears and metal pieces.
Eivass and Lily appeared almost simultaneously. This time, Eivass did not directly have the Shadow Demon attach itself to him, concealing his entire body. Instead, he adopted a different method of disguise. Eivass’s hair was now very long, usually tied in a ponytail. He unbound it, letting it all down, and put on Lily’s clothes. Then the Shadow Demon covered him. Eivass looked like a black afterimage, like a “character not yet unlocked,” appearing feminine.
Lily, on the other hand, adopted the opposite disguise. She wore Eivass’s men’s coat and a wide-brimmed hat. Eivass had brought a gray trench coat and a fedora when he left, which now suited Lily. Although Lily’s curly gray hair still fell unbound to her waist, she cleverly shifted her posture to mimic a man’s. The way she crossed her fingers, leaned back in her chair, and crossed her legs made it difficult to believe that “Mr. Gray” was a woman.
Because according to Eivass’s previous explanation, Miss Alistair was actually a woman. Although some people already knew that Alistair was Eivass, such as Her Majesty the Queen and the Grand Guardian, it was still a secret unknown to outsiders.
Perhaps this discrepancy in information would become useful at some point in the future. Thus, Eivass put on Lily’s clothes and intended to play the role of “Miss Alistair” to the end. He didn’t need to do anything, not even put on makeup. In the Ascension Ritual, faces are not clearly visible, and voices are distorted to a certain extent. One could only judge the true identity of the other person from their posture, clothing, tone, and hairstyle.
As for speaking—originally, Alistair’s voice was handled by the Shadow Demon. Now, it only needed to adjust from that dry, hoarse, monster-like voice to the voice of the Assassin Miss.
Compared to that… Eivass looked up, watching the crowd with interest.
—He and Lily were the seventh and eighth replacements. Before they appeared, six people had already arrived. Judging from the enthusiasm of their conversations, they seemed to have been there for a while. This indicated that the main venue for this ritual was likely not Avalon.
The ninth person to arrive after Lily was a short, emaciated old woman wearing a green wide-brimmed hat. Her body was hunched and withered, unhuman-like. She resembled a goblin.
When the previous six people saw that everyone had arrived, the man sitting in the first position looked over and asked with interest, “Among you three… who is of the Transcendent Path?”
“Shouldn’t you introduce yourself before asking someone a question?”
Eivass did not speak. But Chloe, the Assassin Miss, with her voice as sweet and gentle as honey, echoed with a triple resonance of coarseness and sharpness.
“Indeed, Miss, you are right.”
The man nodded slightly, very politely. He placed his right hand on his chest, bowed slightly, and said, “I am [Prohibition], Path of Authority.” He appeared robust and strong, in his early thirties, with a clear and resonant voice.
“[Philosopher],” said the second man, crossing his arms coldly, his attitude a stark contrast to Prohibition. He had a cold, winter-like demeanor and an air of arrogant superiority. He appeared old, and although his face was obscured, it seemed he was already half-bald. He was likely at least forty or fifty years old.
“You can call me [Stranger]. I am currently an Alchemist in the apprentice stage,” replied the man, also in his forties, with a gentle tone.
“I am [Forge], Path of Devotion. Nice to meet you all,” said the fourth person, a dwarf woman—or perhaps an aunt or grandmother. Dwarves generally aged prematurely, making it difficult to determine their exact age. However, her attitude was friendly.
“I’m Jeanette,” the next person said, apparently using her real name. She said with a smile, “Jeanette Neumann, Path of Love… But I’m not a witch, little sisters?”
“…Ghoul,” uttered the sixth speaker, lowering his head as if falling asleep, his voice hoarse and deep.
Eivass remained silent for a moment, tilting his head slightly. Then, Chloe’s voice rang out, “Alai. You can call me Alai. As you can see, I am a Transcendent.”
“Gray.” Lily used her voice-changing skill to produce a low, hoarse sound.
Because she only uttered a single word, there was a long silence in the hall. Finally, the old woman in the green hat seemed to awaken and spoke sharply, “I am… Hatter. Path of Beauty.”
“As expected of the New Moon Ritual,” Eivass thought. “What kind of monsters and ghosts are these…” He scanned the crowd and saw at least three people using alternate accounts. The fact that they were brought in as replacements for himself and Lily indicated that the ritual host judged that adding any more Transcendent individuals from the general pool would create an unfair match due to their vastly different power levels. This proved that alternate accounts were indeed common for the New Moon Ritual.
Prohibition, Philosopher, and Stranger were likely a team, and possibly all three were alternate accounts. Forge was harder to tell, but she seemed to be a dwarf blacksmith. Such support professions found teammates easily. One of her teammates was Jeanette Neumann. It was uncertain if Ghoul was with their group.
Eivass knew of Jeanette. Jeanette was actually from Avalon. She was a renowned fairy scholar who had entered the fairy realm once and obtained healing abilities from the fairies—a type of ability to create witch-like salves. However, this ability was very unstable, sometimes working, sometimes turning into poison or prank potions. Ultimately, she was not arrested for causing deaths, but for repeatedly making political statements as a reporter. These included, but were not limited to: “The successive murders of the royal family without the royal family showing concern indicates that the Queen intends to pass the throne to someone through such means,” “Avalon is actually no match for Star Antimony; if the Star Antimony people attack, they will shatter at the first touch,” “Gryphons are useless; motorcycles are more beneficial to the public,” and “Avalon’s alchemy has no development whatsoever; the technological breakthroughs are all useless.”
Although many of these statements now seemed to contain some truth, she had no evidence and was purely guessing. She also wrote reports that were certainly not true. For example, she repeatedly claimed that Sherlock Hermes became a famous detective because he orchestrated the cases himself. For some reason, she harbored strong hostility towards Sherlock and criticized him publicly multiple times. However, she eventually suffered consequences for her outspokenness. She was imprisoned for six months and then fled to Star Antimony.
If these six people were all from Star Antimony, it would explain why their first question was directly asking who among them was a Transcendent. Ghoul was likely of the Twilight Path, and Stranger was an Alchemist. These three paths were dominant in Star Antimony, similar to Authority and Devotion in Avalon. It was highly unlikely they would be replacements. If none of the three were Transcendent, it would mean that someone among the remaining people was lying. Because of this, Eivass confirmed that these six people were not on the same team.
The New Moon Ritual allowed a maximum of three winners, and failure often came with a price. Therefore, teams could consist of at most three people. These six people had to be divided into two or three teams, but they were all in Star Antimony. Hence, the ritual brought in Eivass, Lily, and the “Hatter,” who was likely a goblin, as replacements.
—After leaving the range of Avalon’s radiation, even the proportion of non-human races increased.
Eivass tested the waters, reaching out to press the armrest. Shadows obscured Eivass’s movement, and cards appeared in his palm.
[Blade of Shadow], [Cloak of Shadows], [Earthbound Spirit].
—As expected, Butterfly could not be summoned.
It was unclear whether all Great Sin Cards were unusable, or if Butterfly assigned to the Path of Devotion could not be used. This was simple. Once Little Butterfly reached the Fifth Tier, Eivass could extract her power to create weaker cards. Once the next New Moon Ritual for advancement arrived, he could check if the cards extracted from Little Butterfly could be used.
After everyone finished introducing themselves, a melodious music box sound suddenly echoed in the waiting room filled with the smell of blood.
The brass dancer in the center fluttered her wings and began to dance gracefully to the light music. The dance immediately captivated everyone’s attention; watching it felt like a spiritual healing. Her dance became more intense, more frenzied. Finally, she opened her eyes, which were as beautiful and mesmerizing as the finest emeralds. Eventually, her dance gradually calmed down. After finishing the dance, she closed her eyes again, returning to her initial state, motionless.
“I am Terpsichore,” her ethereal voice echoed in everyone’s minds. “Muse of the Twin Mirrors.” Beyond that, she said nothing more.
[This time, seven Initiates possess multiple Paths, but please note: only abilities of the advanced Path and extraordinary items you personally crafted corresponding to your Path are allowed during the Advancement Ritual.]
[The time limit for this ritual is sixteen hours, with a reality ratio of eight to one.]
[You must survive until the end of the ritual, or complete the Special Victory Condition during early settlement.]
[As this is a New Moon Ritual, kill reward points will be calculated. At the end of the ritual and settlement, winners will be selected based on held points from highest to lowest.]
[The conventional winners for this ritual are three people, with a Special Victory Condition.]
[The Special Victory Conditions for this ritual are: “Secret Reflection” and “Twin Victory.”]
[“Secret Reflection”: All Initiates in this ritual have their gender opposite to the role they are playing. You win directly, disregarding other victory conditions, if you discern the true identities of all remaining Initiates except yourself, and do not have your own true identity discerned by any Initiate.]
[“Twin Victory”: At the end of the ritual, at least two Initiates must survive. If only one survives, it is an immediate loss, and the two deceased Initiates with the highest points will be deemed victorious.]
[The difficulty of this ritual is “Difficult Challenge.” True death in the ritual will result in ninety days of weakness in reality, with a small chance of soul damage, and a very small chance of permanent disability.]
[The dreamscape for this ritual is constructed by ‘Amber’, and the script and bonus details are managed by ‘Twin Mirrors’.]
Following this, Terpsichore paused. She intoned softly as if telling a story:
[In the year 1580, the Hrasal Empire…]
Update complete!
To continue from the previous chapter, I’ve had hot air blowing from my nose for three days. I took ibuprofen for two days and still haven’t fully recovered. Every night when I sleep, I feel hot, chilled, and sweat profusely, but when I wake up, my temperature is normal, exactly 36.5, which is absurd.
This morning after waking up, I drank some antiviral oral liquid. The dry throat issue is basically gone, replaced by a cough, but it’s not severe. I’m also getting more nasal discharge, the nasal congestion has eased, and most importantly, although I feel weak, I don’t have a headache or fever… It’s truly bizarre…
Since I don’t have a headache, I don’t want to go to the hospital. I feel like I’ll just get infected by others if I go.
But if I’m not better by tomorrow, I’ll have to go to the hospital tomorrow afternoon. On the thirtieth, the operations manager, Cuan Cuan, is coming to visit my cat. I need to be up and about, not collapse—
