chapter 199
Despite Luna’s expression looking extremely serious, I was only filled with the thought that I needed answers.
“You should at least explain what that is.”
“How did you even get entangled with that?”
“It just… happened somehow.”
“……”
After falling into silence for a moment, Luna grabbed my hand tightly.
“Leon, that’s dangerous. I can’t explain it properly, but it’s not something that belongs to this world.”
“It’s not like I chose to get involved with it.”
“Promise me one thing. That you’ll try not to get involved with it any further.”
“I’ll try.”
It was, in truth, a promise I likely couldn’t keep. I didn’t know if red moon phenomena occurred elsewhere, but so far every incident had happened near me—and each time, it led me to witness the deaths of those around me.
Wait… thinking about it, doesn’t that make me some kind of walking disaster?
‘Scribe.’
[Confirmed.]
‘Why does this damn red moon keep happening around me?’
Of course, it was still better than it appearing elsewhere.
[There is no confirmed answer. However, it is presumed that there may be certain conditions under which the red moon’s corruption occurs.]
I see.
“More importantly, check on those two.”
“They are just unconscious. They will wake up with time.”
If Luna says so, then that’s how it is.
After handing the unconscious siblings over to the knights, I slowly looked around.
There didn’t seem to be any further threats.
“I’m going to confirm whether Coral requested support.”
“I’m coming too.”
Perhaps due to the red moon incident, she insisted on staying by my side even though there was no need.
As she said, it was dangerous—something I could understand just from a single contact—so I didn’t argue.
“Hmm…”
The Coral reinforcements had already arrived surprisingly close.
But…
Not a single one of them was alive.
The scene where the entire support unit had been annihilated was gruesome.
Around 30 to 40 people in total.
The problem was…
“One person did all this.”
The traces left on the corpses were frighteningly clean and swift.
And I knew exactly one person capable of leaving such traces.
“The Head of the Moon Watchers. Looks like that woman was here.”
The Moon Watchers. I didn’t know their exact purpose, but they seemed to know something—and they killed those they deemed must die to prevent certain events.
I had no intention of agreeing with their logic, nor any reason to.
However, we also had no reason to be outright enemies yet, and they did at least keep those bothersome cultists in check.
“It was done recently.”
Luna examined the corpses and spoke briefly.
In other words, the Moon Watchers had left not long ago.
And yet there were almost no traces left behind.
The leader of the Moon Watchers clearly had more hidden cards than I had expected.
At that moment, I sensed a faint presence.
“Looks like someone’s still here. Since we’re at it, why don’t we talk? What brought you here to spill blood again?”
I spoke while looking at a tree with nothing there.
Then Luna narrowed her eyes slightly and muttered.
“Doesn’t seem human.”
And immediately after—
Like a gust of wind, a figure in a black robe and mask appeared before me.
The leader of the Moon Watchers. The person I would have to risk my life to fight—excluding Luna.
Her voice was distorted, making it difficult to identify her identity, but as Luna said, she didn’t feel entirely human.
“Don’t worry about it. More importantly, nothing happened?”
“For now.”
“Strange… that shouldn’t be…”
I quietly observed her.
Not a single wound. Not even a wrinkle.
The enemies here were likely strong, yet she had massacred them unilaterally.
“So the Sacheon Clan has aligned with the cult.”
“I’ve heard about the Blood Sect. So you came to deal with them?”
“And because they are also not people who should be left alive.”
Her firm tone made me curious.
“How long is that kill list of yours, exactly?”
They didn’t kill randomly—they eliminated those whose names were written on a list once they became dangerous.
And yet occasional reports of assassinations still surfaced.
Which meant the list wasn’t small.
“Just know it’s far larger than you imagine.”
“You really do whatever you want.”
The only reason I hadn’t clashed with her was intuition—and the fact that a direct confrontation would cost us dearly.
“Don’t cross the line. So far, the people you’ve killed seem like they deserved it after investigation, so I’ve let it slide. But if you cross the line, I won’t stay quiet either.”
At my warning, she scoffed.
“Don’t forget—your name is on that list too.”
“That’s your problem. Being on a list doesn’t mean you kill them all, right?”
I spoke with certainty, having roughly understood their behavior.
“The Siblings of the Sacheon Clan—take care of them. They will become assets important to humanity’s survival.”
I frowned.
“In what way?”
“Specifically…”
She trailed off for a moment—
Then vanished.
I stood there, unable to immediately process what had just happened.
Luna looked just as stunned, and I grimaced.
“…Damn it.”
She had used the same trick I once used.
And she was already gone.
After that.
As soon as he spotted me, Baril—the Shadow Dragon—approached and raised his head toward me.
I patted his neck lightly, and he growled briefly before disappearing into my shadow.
“Any issues?”
“No, nothing.”
The knights, who had been tense due to Baril’s presence, all let out relieved breaths once he vanished.
Even expert-tier knights seemed unable to withstand a dragon’s aura.
After giving them a short rest, Luna and I stood before the rift.
Only five people had entered, so there was no issue with me going in.
But Luna was different.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m checking exactly when the penalty triggers. Does it activate even if I just put my hand in?”
She looked at me like I was foolish.
“You’re going to cause an accident.”
As she said, exploration was still ongoing inside.
However, there had been no distress signal from the Death Knight I had attached to Melissa.
Of course not.
As long as conditions were met, the dungeon could be cleared—and Melissa was an overpowered existence who broke those constraints.
Yet things were going far too smoothly.
This wasn’t what I sent Melissa there for.
Suddenly, I grabbed Luna’s small white arm.
Then shoved it into the rift and pulled it back out.
—Gah?! What the hell?!
From the Death Knight’s senses, I felt Melissa momentarily startled as her attack was blocked, then immediately resumed fighting.
Looking again, the difficulty was clearly off.
I had told her I’d restrict her from leaving the territory if she couldn’t handle it or failed to clear it…
But the situation inside was far too easy.
Luna stared at me like I had lost my mind.
Then—
SMACK!!!
She struck the back of my head.
“Are you insane?”
“Ow!!”
“You’ve definitely lost it.”
“It’s too easy to be proper training.”
“What even is going on in there?”
“It’s like a picnic.”
I tried to adjust the difficulty by exploiting the rule that the challenge level increases if Luna’s body enters the rift, but she refused to play along.
“This is annoying.”
She muttered irritably.
It seemed she wasn’t just worried about Melissa’s safety—but also felt annoyed at being treated like some kind of difficulty lever due to her age.
Regardless, thanks to my little interference, Melissa finally began to take things seriously after nearly getting a scare.
Good. That’s how it should be. A battlefield is unpredictable. If things become too relaxed, as they had been, it becomes a problem.
Still, it was a good sign that Melissa was gaining confidence.
Eventually, she defeated a massive armored guardian presumed to be the boss, and I cut off my connection to the Death Knight’s vision.
“It’s over.”
Soon after, the rift began to pulse violently, then spat out all five of them—including Melissa—before dispersing completely.
“Wait, you were here? What about outside?”
“All cleared. Did you get anything?”
“Well… I’m not sure what this is…”
Melissa held up a small horn.
“This is…”
“If you don’t know, just try blowing it.”
She blew into it.
A deep, heavy sound echoed.
Boooooooooo—
The air vibrated, startling the others…
But nothing happened.
“…Huh? Nothing?”
“Is it just decorative?”
“Well, not all ancient relics have powers.”
As everyone speculated, I asked:
“Anything else besides that?”
“Nope, that was it.”
No.
Then what the hell did Coral think they were doing here?
If it was the Black Dragon egg, fine—but Coral wasn’t even after that. Their target had clearly been this horn.
“Luna, do you know what this is?”
