Chapter 332
Who Is the Real Monster?
“…The exits are sealed?”
The prohibition widened his eyes in surprise upon hearing Supervisor Cornelius’s words.
The middle-aged, red-haired Child of the Moon clasped his hands behind his back, maintaining a basic level of courtesy even towards the Blood Slaves.
He looked down at the prohibition and replied calmly, “We suspect individuals hostile to the Children of the Moon have infiltrated Crescent Moon Manor. We are conducting a thorough search, and both the private rooms and the main entrance are currently sealed. Leaving now might result in you being attacked if you are alone, so please wait in the hall for a little while.”
“How long do we have to wait?”
The female Child of the Moon, who was beside the prohibition, was also quite dissatisfied. “I’ve already paid. You all aren’t going to go back on your word, are you?”
“Please remain calm; the situation is being handled,” Supervisor Cornelius responded politely and without any sign of panic. “The petty thief who is attacking our esteemed guests will soon be apprehended by our Security Personnel. We apologize for the inconvenience caused to our distinguished guests tonight. A gift certificate will be provided upon your departure.
“Our guests may continue to enjoy themselves in the hall. We have summoned the Blood Slaves again. All consumption from now until your departure will be complimentary—of course, you will be responsible for the full price if anything is broken. So please be gentle.”
“Having her is enough for me,” the woman muttered, pulling the prohibition closer.
After a moment’s hesitation, she added, “Then bring another bottle of wine.”
Supervisor Cornelius nodded slightly, bowed, and said, “Please rest for a moment; it will be here shortly.”
She led the prohibition to a seat and, watching the Children of the Moon who had just left gradually return to the brightly lit hall, her brow furrowed deeply.
She hugged the prohibition and whispered, “I suspect some bad people have mixed in with the guests, which is why they’re making us all sit in the hall.”
“What, is that so? This is simply terrifying,” the prohibition said, covering her mouth with one hand in mock surprise—her performance was so exaggerated and perfunctory, yet the woman didn’t seem displeased. She was completely captivated by this little one, willing to deceive herself for her sake.
Meanwhile, inside, the prohibition was seriously contemplating how such an unexpected situation had occurred.
Perhaps this line of thought is not allowed? That couldn’t be right.
She could clearly sense that the two “suggested solutions” provided by the mission were actually traps. While they seemed feasible, they were impossible to complete unless absolutely everyone acted with perfect rationality… This was the characteristic of Ascension Rituals.
All Ascension Rituals offered a chance of success if one did not consider the interference of others and gave their all. It was absolutely impossible to have an unpassable ritual… This was the fundamental principle by which the Nine Pillar Gods distributed dreams and missions.
Based on this principle, missions that required the cooperation of more people to complete were inherently more difficult. Because although the upper limit of success was raised, the variables also increased.
The prohibition was an Extraordinary of considerable experience. Upon entering, she had immediately disregarded all missions requiring more than two people to complete. Similarly, she had also eliminated missions like “Informant,” which required direct confrontation and conflict with other Ascenders.
Based on the prohibition’s experience, missions where a large number of people survived and ranked based on points were becoming less common at higher levels. In the beginning, when people were still naive, they were willing to cooperate. But soon, they realized gathering with others did not actually improve their chances of passing.
If a mission was completed, everyone gained points, and the gap between them remained the same; if a mission was not completed, everyone wasted time. And the first time one witnessed betrayal, they would become completely wary of “teammates.”
In higher-level Ascension Rituals, due to the death penalty, survival became more important than passing the ritual. People tended to prioritize hiding themselves and assessing the situation before deciding whether to take action to complete a mission or two.
Because of this, higher level Ascension Rituals became increasingly difficult to pass.
Although she, Philosopher, and Stranger were Temporary Teammates, their relationship was not particularly close. Their cooperation was based on the fact that none of them dared to offend the others, as retaliation in reality would come at a price. In other words, their cooperation was based solely on “not betraying.”
Conversely, they were not obligated to take risks to help each other.
Furthermore, although she didn’t know how many Informants there were, it was impossible for everyone to be an Informant. Therefore, the probability of her two teammates both being Informants was very low… In such a situation, if she exposed her identity and won, regardless of whether she was an Informant, her teammates would assume she was. This was because it was impossible to explain.
—Therefore, the prohibition chose to hide herself. She would not reveal her identity as an Informant, nor would she disguise herself as a Survivor. She would avoid contact with everyone and attempt to escape using her own methods to obtain the points awarded by the Escape mission.
But as it turned out, this path was now blocked as well.
What was going on? Was it the work of another Informant? That didn’t seem right either. This would only seal off those leaving through the main entrance… and with everyone concentrated here, escaping through a Secret Tunnel would become much simpler.
So, was it the Survivors’ doing? Killing Children of the Moon through Sneak Attacks and similar means to create a sense of crisis. This would gather everyone, giving them a chance to escape the Manor. But this would also draw them out…
The prohibition was utterly bewildered. No matter how she reasoned, she couldn’t figure out how this situation had arisen—this was unlikely to be the original arrangement; it clearly looked like an unexpected development.
But just then, she suddenly heard a gasp.
Under everyone’s gaze, a highly respected elderly Child of the Moon suddenly collapsed to the ground without warning, losing his life. The Blood Slave he had been holding in his arms screamed in terror, falling to the ground and becoming too panicked to move.
The moment the incident occurred, the entire hall was placed on high alert. The Children of the Moon immediately entered a combat state, their scarlet pupils flaring as they scanned their surroundings warily. The Blood Slave who had been serving the elder was immediately seized by the masked Black-clothed Persons. The Children of the Moon beside him were also surrounded and politely underwent emergency questioning.
“It’s an Undead—”
In just a few seconds, the Child of the Moon responsible for examining the corpse provided the answer. “Quick, fetch a Priest and a Necromancer! Set up a soul-exorcising ritual first—Ugh… ugh… ugh…”
His words were cut short as his face turned green, and he clutched his throat. This caused the surrounding Children of the Moon to immediately hold their breath and watch with trepidation. But fortunately, after a short while, he recovered.
—Just then, he suddenly roared and attacked the person in front of him! His right hand turned into a sharp, scarlet blade, beheading the Child of the Moon closest to him!
This time, people finally understood how the Undead killed. It was a Phantom!
“It’s an Earthbound Spirit!” An experienced Child of the Moon even managed to identify the specific type of spirit. “Spread out! Earthbound Spirits can make many people fall into illusions simultaneously!”
But even knowing this, they couldn’t solve the problem—Earthbound Spirits were at least Fourth Tier, and likely Fifth Tier phantoms! The strength of the Children of the Moon lay in their physical bodies; their souls were only at the level of newborns. Due to the repulsion of their Paths, they lacked divine sight and the ghost vision of the Twilight Path. They did have ways to harm Earthbound Spirits… but the Children of the Moon simply could not see phantoms.
If this had happened in the first half of the night, when the powerful individuals from other Paths were still present, it might have been salvageable. Among the human guests invited by the Children of the Moon, there would surely be powerful Priests and Necromancers, and they would certainly be Fifth Tier powerhouses. The Mages and Demon Scholars present could also deal with Undead—as long as the Undead weren’t too powerful, there would be ways to counter them with spells and rituals.
But now, it was well past four in the morning, the time when the Children of the Moon usually dispersed. Those human guests had long since left Crescent Moon Manor. And the remaining Children of the Moon were temporarily unable to resolve this issue, so they could only spread out and await the arrival of professionals.
Supervisor Cornelius’s voice calmly rang out, “Please remain calm, Earthbound Spirits cannot directly harm you! So, no matter what you see, do not attack; it is an illusion! We have already notified the Church and the Academy of Necromancy. Professionals will arrive soon!”
“Liar! When did you notify them!” the woman muttered under her breath, immediately grabbing the prohibition and running towards a deserted corner. Her own strength was very weak—not all Children of the Moon were powerful. She was only Third Tier. This was precisely why the prohibition had targeted her. It meant that if a powerful Child of the Moon fell into an illusion and went on a rampage, she would easily be caught in the crossfire. She had just obtained eternal youth and did not want to die an ignominious death like this!
As she rounded a corner, she collided head-on with a well-built youth. She immediately detected his aura as a Blood Slave—that alluring scent of blood, a smell ordinary humans didn’t possess. Normally, she might have stopped to strike up a conversation or invited him to have some fun. But now, she was merely annoyed by her fear and frustration. Subconsciously, she bared her fangs, intending to teach this person a lesson.
And at this moment.
A spiral shadow spear suddenly appeared from behind her, piercing her heart.
“Die, monster.” A low growl filled with hatred echoed from behind her.
—Damn it, who is the real monster!
The woman’s vision went black.
Chapter One, three thousand characters! Chapter Two is also at 900 characters. Perhaps the third chapter will be out by five o’clock this time!
