The Dark Moon's Vengeance

Kevin leaped down from Ventura, panting with his tongue out and bouncing wildly on the spot. Drool could even be seen flying from the corners of his mouth. Alfred walked over to Karen's side and reported in a whisper. A God's bone? Was it on that woman in crimson? Or was the woman in crimson a puppet whose internal core was the God's bone itself? As for whose bone it was, that was easy to guess, since Karen had long known the Dark Moon lineage had a goddess. "Woof, woof, woof!" Kevin ran in front of Karen, barking incessantly. Evidently, he desperately wanted that bone. Although a dog liking to gnaw on bones was practically instinct, a God's bone... well, it didn't seem unfitting for his family's golden retriever. Karen sat down, while the others began to "clean up." They had to erase traces of what had happened here and dispose of Ansi and Mota's belongings. This had been an accident beyond Karen's control. So even though Ansi and Mota had met with misfortune while Karen had reaped the benefits, he felt no guilt in his heart. Just like in that naval battle where countless lives had been annihilated in an instant under artillery fire, there was nothing to brood over. Muri went over to the others, speaking quietly to each one. This matter had to be kept secret. Yet he also knew that no one would turn snitch. While this group couldn't be called unbreakable, the deaths of Mota and Ansi and the existence of this mysterious island alone weren't enough to make anyone contemplate betrayal. The world certainly had its share of informants who loved doing things that harmed others without benefiting themselves, but fortunately, no such brain-dead trash existed in Karen's squad. "Woof, woof, woof!" "Dumb dog, quiet down!" Pu'er couldn't resist leaping onto Kevin's back, raising her feline paw, and delivering a flurry of smacks to his head. Kevin finally quieted down, looking up at Karen with expectant eyes. He didn't believe Karen wouldn't be tempted by this, because everyone knew: anything directly related to a god held immense value. Alfred stood quietly by the side, waiting for his young master to make a decision. Finally, Karen glanced back at the woods behind them. In all likelihood, that woman in crimson should have returned to the well in the center of the pit. "Let's... go." Karen made his choice. Kevin: "..." Immediately, Kevin barked again: "Woof, woof, woof!" Alfred's gaze narrowed. Pu'er struck Kevin's head hard and scolded, "No bewitching!" Karen asked with a smile, "What did he say?" Pu'er hastily said, "The dumb dog says he's hungry." Alfred answered, "Kevin said that the God of Order never retreats." Hearing this, Karen wasn't angry. Instead, he countered, "Then why was the God of Order originally in the Light camp?" This was an indisputable fact. Even though the Church of Light was now extinct, and the Church of Order had made numerous deletions and revisions to the sections concerning Light in the mythological accounts of *Light of Order*, it still could not alter the fact that during the early to middle part of the previous era, the God of Order had been a member of the Light camp. Kevin seemed to realize he had misspoken. He could only wag his tail dejectedly; he was merely a dog and had no power to make the decision. Karen ordered Muri, "Set out tonight. Leave this island and head to our next destination." "Yes, Captain." That woman in crimson was far too terrifying. And with the handiwork of a deity involved, this island was far too eerie. After all, they had scouted the site earlier and found nothing unusual, yet Mota and Ansi had died so effortlessly. It was fortunate that those two were the ones lost. If it had been any of his other squad members... or Alfred, Pu'er, and the like, Karen would have found such a loss unacceptable. Karen said, "Kevin, leave coordinates here. When the time is ripe in the future, we can always come back. When that time comes, if all else fails, we can tear this entire island apart." Kevin nodded and trotted over to Alfred. Alfred set down his backpack, took out some formation array materials, and began helping Kevin set up the coordinate marker. Two hours later, the "cabin" was refastened to the sea beast, Kevin finished laying down the coordinates, and everyone returned to the sea beast's back. Perched on Karen's shoulder, Pu'er said, "Karen, if it were the me of the past, I definitely wouldn't have just left like this." "And the you of today?" "I agree with leaving." "Heh." The sea beast began to swim, gradually drawing away from the island. Though they had lost two people, the Werewolf game could still have continued—fewer players just meant a smaller setup—but for the moment, no one was in the mood to start another round. Nobody felt sorrow over the deaths of Ansi and Mota, yet the sense of loss from being down two people was inevitable. Karen had originally intended to rest and sleep straight through until dawn, waking up to a brand-new day. Yet just as the island vanished from sight, a tearing, agonizing pain suddenly erupted behind Karen's eyes. "Ah!" The excruciating pain hit so abruptly and intensely that Karen dropped to his knees, clutching his eyes and crying out. The level of pain had reached—and even surpassed—what he felt when roasting his soul with the Flame of Light. Blood began dripping steadily between Karen's fingers. It felt as if two strings were tethered to a fixed nail, while the other ends were wrapped around his eyes. Now, as distance opened up between them, the strings went taut; the intense dragging sensation felt as if his eyes were being ripped from their sockets—no, as if his very "sight" was being torn completely away from his soul's perception. "Stop!" Pu'er immediately ordered the sea beast. "Turn around, go back! Turn around, quick, quick, quick!" Obediently, the sea beast turned around and swam back toward the island. The pain in Karen's eyes began to subside, but in that brief span, he was already soaked in cold sweat, his hair dripping wet. Blanche came over to treat him, but Karen raised a hand to signal her to hold off. "A wet towel." "Yes, Captain." Blanche quickly wetted her towel. Karen lifted his head, letting her wipe the blood from his face. "What's... going on?" Mars couldn't help asking. Memphis said, "In this world, no gift comes without strings attached." In truth, Memphis was missing a crucial piece of information: he didn't know Karen possessed the Eyes of the Dark Moon. Yet his words weren't entirely wrong, for Karen's intense agony had indeed been triggered by the Eyes of the Dark Moon. Karen had originally assumed this was an unexpected boon. Dark Moon clansmen bound Moon God Church followers and brought them to the island; after accepting the sacrifices, the woman in crimson bestowed gifts. It was a cycle, and he had merely happened to stand at that juncture in the cycle. Only now did it seem that matters... were not so simple. Pu'er said, "I think a ritual might be missing. The process wasn't properly concluded." Kevin nodded; he thought so too. Karen asked, "What ritual? Do I need to walk up to that well and say 'thank you' to her?" Pu'er shook her head. "If it were that simple, that would be wonderful. What I fear is that there's some specific concluding ritual, and where are we supposed to find the procedure? This place seems to have been abandoned for ages. Those traces of human activity are long in the past. We might be the only ones to trigger it in a century, maybe even several centuries." "Woof, woof, woof!" *(Dig up the bone and make soup out of it, and everything's solved!)* "Dumb dog, shut up!" Smack! Pu'er slapped Kevin on the head once more. "It can be reverse-engineered," Memphis said. "I think the rows of humanoid statues in that pit are likely part of the concluding ritual. Earlier, we didn't realize it and merely tested for energy fluctuations and formation array fluctuations. Now that we're aware, maybe we can work backward and figure it out." "Then we'll have to rely on you," Pu'er said. "Keep it up, Memphis. I believe in you." Memphis was taken aback for a moment, then nodded. The sea beast docked once more, and everyone climbed down. Wasting no time, they headed into the woods together, arriving at the pit before long. Karen walked down and approached the well. This time, however, he was in no hurry to bend over and look inside, for he had a premonition that he would see something different now. Yet if he didn't look, he wouldn't know what to do next. After a brief hesitation, Karen leaned forward and looked down. The water in the well had turned dark red. An invisible pulling force seized Karen, but it wasn't strong; Karen easily broke free, took two steps back, and said, "Yes, the final link is missing." The well still held a connection to him; he had to sever it here before he could leave the island's perimeter. Pu'er immediately instructed, "Everyone, start searching for clues to reverse-engineer the concluding ritual." Memphis, Mars, and Alfred began re-examining the surrounding humanoid statues, while Pu'er investigated from Kevin's back. The rest assumed a defensive formation around the well—which meant around their captain. Yet everyone knew that if what had happened earlier occurred again, their strength would hardly suffice to stop it. Philomena stood there, her gaze sweeping over the others from time to time as images of Ansi and Mota being killed surfaced in her mind. She knew the captain and his inner circle were likely concealing some information, but she had no interest in asking, nor any desire to know. Everyone had the right to keep their secrets. She didn't care much about elbowing her way into the core circle, though she naturally didn't want to be ostracized as before either. Gradually, she felt her eyelids growing heavy, as though she wanted to sleep. She snapped to alert at once. How could she sleep at a time like this? No—more precisely, why was she showing such signs? ... Gurgle, gurgle... From within the well came the sound of bubbling, as if a boiler lay beneath, bringing the water to a boil. Yet in the entire clearing, only Karen... and a dog could hear this sound. Carrying Pu'er while observing the surrounding details, Kevin noticed something and immediately pressed his canine ears flat. Pu'er noticed the dumb dog's reaction beneath her and immediately turned her head to look. Sitting by the wellhead, Karen once more had an expression of agony on his face. Karen now felt as if two red-hot branding irons were held right before his eyes, a searing pain roasting them. Still, it was far better than the instantaneous tearing agony when leaving on the sea beast. Relying on sheer willpower, Karen forced himself to endure it, unwilling to disrupt the rhythm of Memphis and the others' investigation. Pu'er urged, "Everyone, be quicker!" Memphis kept his hands inside his sleeves, his Rubik's cube twisting rapidly. In truth, he looked back at Karen from time to time; for some reason, seeing Karen endure such agony made him feel increasingly anxious. This anxiety transcended a squad member's concern for his captain... and even a priest's devotion to a Temple Elder. It was a feeling of panic, as though countless voices in his head were telling him to find it quickly, that he must find it quickly, or he would never be able to forgive himself! Memphis swore that when he beat his son and accidentally broke a bone, he hadn't been this worried! Pu'er's expression was grave. It was practically confirmed now: this was the chain reaction from missing the concluding ritual. Karen covered his eyes with his hands. He couldn't even open them now; every time he opened or closed them, it felt like specks of flying molten lava were rolling into his eyeballs. Meanwhile, Philomena began to yawn. She could barely hold herself up. She raised a hand and spoke: "Everyone, my body seems to be drawn by something, like a problem is about to happen. I need to get away from here." "What's wrong?" Blanche walked over immediately and cast a detection spell on Philomena, asking in confusion, "It looks like your soul is falling asleep." Seeing this, Pu'er shouted at once, "Muri, get Philomena out of here! Damn it, that thing went back without closing the lid, and now it wants to crawl out again! She's looking for a vessel!" Muri crouched before Philomena, gesturing for her to get on his back. Philomena, however, shoved Muri aside and ran toward the perimeter herself. Seeing this, Muri immediately called Bart and Ventura to run after her. Right then, a slap-like patter reached Karen's ears. Forcing his eyes open against the excruciating pain, he looked to his side and saw a hand reaching out of the wellhead to grip the edge, followed by a woman's arm. She was coming out! The woman's face emerged from the wellhead. Though her visage was still veiled by hair, she was indeed facing the direction Philomena had fled. Only this time, when she reappeared, her body exhibited distinct, unnatural twitches. Her body crawled out completely, standing on the rim of the well. Kevin looked over and let out a string of barks: "Woof, woof, woof!" Seemingly hearing Kevin's barking, the woman turned toward Kevin. Kevin turned around instantly, putting his back to the woman and staring intently at the statue before him as if he had uncovered some monumental secret. This "woman" was clearly showing signs of losing control. She was the core of this altar, but after this altar was constructed, it could be said that ninety percent of its function was to restrict her, keeping her docile as a "tool" and making her act as a millstone; Grinding Moon God Church believers into a pulp for Dark Moon believers to drink. Now it seemed that the concluding ritual might actually have been the most vital part of the sacrifice. The reason Kevin turned his back again was that he could guess what the "woman" wanted: she wanted to find a physical body. If one were to rank them, three bodies were best suited for her to enter. The first was Karen's body; the Eyes of the Dark Moon were the perfect match. But Karen, the most suitable, had a "protective mechanism" on him, as demonstrated right from the start when he had been shielded inside a protective barrier while energy was channeled into him to nourish the Eyes of the Dark Moon. Karen was the most suitable, yet she was least able to make a move against him. The other two were his own and Philomena's bodies. Yes, Kevin was well aware that his own golden retriever body was also suited to host this woman. Because he lived inside this body, Old Hoffen's seal seemed on the surface like an inward restraint, but was it not also a vessel capable of housing a mighty soul? As for Philomena... her trait made her the most ideal candidate to have her body taken. Because she had constantly inverted reality and dreams, her physical body in reality was far "cleaner." The woman's body drifted into the air, preparing to pursue Philomena. Seeing this, Karen immediately reached out and seized the woman's ankle, checking her movement. The woman looked down, "glancing" at Karen, and a tremendous force slowly repelled Karen's hands. No matter what, Karen could not let the woman chase after Philomena like this. Once she possessed Philomena's body, heaven only knew what further mutations might unfold. Naturally, the most direct consequence he could anticipate was that the woman, further unshackled and gaining self-awareness, would first take the Eyes of the Dark Moon for herself. "Chains of Order!" Chains of Order shot out from Karen's body as he endured the excruciating pain to activate the Eyes of the Dark Moon. In an instant, the resistance the woman exerted against Karen weakened. Not only did Karen's hands seize her ankles once more, but the Chains of Order also wrapped securely around her. The woman began exerting force to break free of her bonds. Her power was immense; breaking loose seemed only a matter of time. Karen hesitated no longer. He surged to his feet, lunged at the woman, and had the chains whip with force to cast both himself and the woman into the well! "Captain!" "Young Master!" "Woof, woof, woof!!!" Pu'er shouted, "He's still the safest one! Quick, search for clues to the concluding ritual, hurry!" ... Splash! Karen felt himself plunging into the well water, dragging the woman down with him. At that moment, he looked down toward the bottom and discovered a woman dressed in magnificent red robes seated at the very depths of the well. This did not mean another person sat at the bottom of the well. Rather, it seemed to be a mental imprint left behind here, presenting a scene that had occurred countless ages ago. In the vision, golden blood flowed from the woman's body. She was clearly gravely wounded, yet the aura she exuded remained terrifying and awe-inspiring. Around her knelt countless people, every face twisted with grief and indignation. The woman reached out, tore open her own flesh, and "dug" out bone after bone from her body, placing them before her. "We have lost, but I will never concede defeat. "Pass down my divine decree: distribute my bones piece by piece to the tribes, to be fashioned into stone pestles to crush the faith of Artemis and nourish my believers. "I firmly believe "that we will rise again, "that we will grow strong again, "that we will wage war for our vengeance once more. "The Dark Moon "is my faith, and yours. "For one day, "we will make that noble yet filthy moon in the heavens dim and lusterless!"