Chapter Twenty-One

"Good morning, everyone." Ark looked at the guys on the surrounding city walls and hesitated before greeting them.

He wore a smiling mask, and his current voice easily gave the impression of a cunning fellow.

There are about forty people standing here, from all sorts of different places.

Among them, only the Witcher members, numbering about a dozen, were able to stand openly at the front. Nina, the shortest of them, was making a face at the Red Oni in the corner.

Both men escaped unscathed from the conflict there; after all, although both were ruthless, neither of them intended to kill the other in one go.

After all, everyone knew that the other party was no pushover.

The guards at the front bowed deeply to those standing there, as if to express their gratitude.

Regardless of where we come from or what our northern borders are like, whether we are monsters or humans, we must now put aside our internal conflicts.

Because of the arrival of Blood Day, today will be another unforgettable day.

A rare phenomenon that occurs only once in a very long time: the Blood Moon. The last one happened two hundred years ago, destroying several cities. It took the Church a long time to reclaim the safe zone from the monsters.

This time, countless more gathering places for people or monsters around the world will disappear.

The sun wheel was once an instrument of the gods, but the eroded area gave it the power of night.

There's also the blood moon, an extremely rare phenomenon.

This thing is probably extremely unstable, like a child. It occasionally expresses dissatisfaction towards the places bathed in light.

And now, it has lost its temper again.

It emits a light that is an extremely chaotic mixture of magical and divine power. Its rate of erosion far exceeds that of normal corrosion.

If it was originally a matter of days after death before turning into a monster, now that time has been shortened to just a few seconds.

Not just living things, but also the land and rocks. Living or dead.

Only the city was spared, because a massive barrier of holy power emanated from the church. This holy power had been accumulating for a very long time, precisely to ensure the city's survival in this calamity.

Natural disasters are also classified into simple levels, with the Blood Moon being classified as the highest level. This refers to an extremely dangerous natural disaster capable of destroying the world under specific circumstances.

At times like these, one has no idea what's happening in other cities; one can only pray that there are just as many strange people gathered there as here.

"This city wall is now in your hands," the knight said sincerely. "We are very sorry that we failed to ensure your safety here; it was our dereliction of duty."

No one answered; they were all just staring ahead.

The city is surrounded by walls on all four sides, east, west, south, and north, and they've now gathered at the east wall. These are the guys who come from other cities specifically to hunt demons; they're all gathered here now.

The western wall was defended by militia and knights, guards and low-ranking clergy.

The north and south walls were guarded by Karl and Ketchum, respectively, with each person guarding one direction.

The soil cracked open, and extremely disgusting worms crawled out. A bloated zombie appeared out of nowhere and hugged the giant centipede, exploding half of the centipede's body.

But even after death, the flesh can be pieced back together. The exploded zombie and the centipede's half were joined together, and when it stood up again, it had become an even more unforgettable monster.

"There will be a reward this time, right?" Ivan slowly drew his weapon, sighed, and said, "I really hope I'm alive to receive it."

“At least we can get a lot of magic cores. These things are always good and can be sold for a lot of money.” One of the demon hunters continued as Ivan spoke. He was carrying a huge scythe and his whole body was wrapped in bandages.

"Mummy Twelve?" Ark looked at him, hesitated for a moment, and then confirmed his identity.

This guy, for some reason, insisted on wrapping his entire body in bandages, thus earning him the nickname "Mummy." He was a real human, with an impressive track record as a witcher, and enjoyed considerable fame within that circle.

Aside from him and the guys he'd met before, almost everyone here had heard the rumors about him to some extent.

This group includes murderers, drug addicts, sex addicts, and normal people who are relatively normal.

Many people still remember seeing the bounties offered to them.

These people came here to search for the demon, and they probably didn't expect to be so lucky as to stumble upon a blood moon that only happens once in a century.

Faced with such an apocalyptic catastrophe, no one cared about the other's crimes. The most important thing now was to survive; no one wanted to perish together here.

These monsters don't distinguish between demons and humans in front of them; anything that can be destroyed is an enemy in their eyes.

However, Yak slowly turned around and looked at another guy standing not far away.

This is the person who bought Lady's arm. Surprisingly, he didn't hide in the shadows but stood openly in front of everyone.

But Ark still couldn't recall such a person, or perhaps it was just pretending to be experienced when it was actually a complete novice.

Anyway, now is not the time for idle chatter. Ark looked at Denos, who shrugged at himself.

The monsters had already surged forward, these freaks swinging all sorts of jumbled things in sync.

......

Lady took a deep breath and stared blankly at the familiar yet unfamiliar thing in the sky.

It was quiet all around, because she was all alone. Neither Ark, Denos, Deedris, nor even the little spider were there.

They all left, leaving Lady alone.

She looked out the window, and the city, which should have been pitch black to save fuel, was suddenly brightly lit. Everywhere she looked, there were people.

Those who had been hiding inside houses or engaged in production elsewhere were now all outside. Each person carried a variety of weapons, from pitchforks to hammers. Any weapon that could be used to harm the enemy was drawn.

She tried to get up, but fear made her body feel heavy.

The city is in chaos and busy right now; nobody wants to waste too much time on a timid girl. Playing house with children should only be done when you're certain you'll see the sun rise the next day, not in this life-or-death situation where nobody knows if the city will even exist tomorrow.

But no one explained this to Lady, because there simply wasn't time to explain. It happened so suddenly that there wasn't even time to evacuate.

Lady couldn't be evacuated either; she was a monster without proper documentation. Entering a safe zone without proper paperwork would result in instant death, without even a trial, and she would be executed immediately.

So now she can only stay here and wait for them to come back.

She heard the monster's roar, and her pupils trembled as she stared at the enormous figure in the distance.

What a gigantic monster it was! From here, we can only see its general shape and the enormous tentacles reaching out from the ground.

Because it's just too far away.

And then there were the surging demons and monsters, coming from all directions, each one shouting as it charged toward the city.

These monsters, mutated by more chaotic elements, are far more unstable than monsters that spawn normally. It's almost impossible for them to produce monsters capable of normal thought.

Even if they existed, it wouldn't be of any use; they'd probably all been eaten by their own people.

Lady thought to herself that she should be able to help, and slowly closed her eyes.

"Load the interception module," she said softly, talking to herself.

When it opened its eyes again, its face was expressionless.

The whole world unfolded in her mind in an unusual way, a completely three-dimensional composition, detailed down to the furnishings next door.

Anything made of energy, whether it's incantation, magic, or holy power, will now be displayed in her three-dimensional senses.

Lady's pupils slowly turned blue, and the beating of her heart sounded strange—like the awakening of some monster. It definitely didn't sound like a girl's heartbeat.

Instead, it was like a strange thing, steady yet heavy, like a skilled blacksmith striking repeatedly with his hammer.

At the same time, her entire body slowly became covered with dense patterns. The alchemical matrix that Ark had not found was now covering her entire body. Her heart was almost transparent, emitting a bluish glow.

A girl who is so beautiful that she seems unreal suddenly becomes like a projection, always giving people the feeling that she is fake.

"That should help," Lady thought, slowly standing by the window.

Then he fell backward out of the window.

Before that, she grabbed a shovel from the corner of the wall.

This is the second floor of the inn, and right below the window, a disgusting monster has appeared out of nowhere.

But before the monster could do anything, the shovel pierced its back, destroying vital organs and slamming it against the wall.

Throughout the entire process, Lady remained expressionless. She loosened her grip on the shovel with her right hand, drew the short knife that Ark had given her for self-defense from her waist, and plunged it fiercely into the monster's body.

It let out a strange scream and twisted its body in an attempt to fight back. But it quickly vanished like ashes.

Since Lady had already extracted the core, the poor monster naturally couldn't survive without it.

Lady looked at the crystal in her hand and slowly put it into her pocket.

That should be helpful.

Lady looked at herself, hesitating as she pondered what other abilities she possessed.

She wasn't lying to Ark about this; she really had only recently come into the world. All the basic knowledge had been forcibly crammed into her brain, and much of the knowledge that didn't originally belong to her remained locked away. Because to be able to use it skillfully under normal circumstances would be dangerous in itself.

She herself didn't understand what she was. She had strayed from the normal realm and entered a blind spot in her own knowledge.

Even their own creations seem to violate the rules; for example, the essence of an alchemical puppet still requires a controller.

Even if someone is self-disciplined, they can only act according to pre-set scenarios; they are incapable of thinking or having emotions—things that are inherently human.

But Lady is very clear that she has emotions, at least fear. She is often afraid, and even has nightmares.

In this situation, she feels very unfamiliar with herself.

Because she can no longer feel how she reacts to reality, she has lost the power to be afraid, and is just a killing machine following the techniques she has pre-programmed into her body.

Lady turned her head to look ahead, where a new monster appeared. It was a spider with three human faces, as large as two people. Its bloated body clearly couldn't move nimbly, and its long legs dragged it toward Lady.

Monsters shouldn't be here; at least four city gates are blocked.

Lady didn't care whether the creature in front of her was a spider with a human face or a spider-like human face; in the current situation, it had been deciphered into something completely familiar to her.

Even basic ability stats can be reflected in the present.

But before Lady could move, a white spider web, shot down from somewhere, had already stuck to the monster. Before it could even react, it was lifted off the ground.

White spider webs shot out from the tiny, black, furry thing. The extremely thin but completely unbreakable webs wrapped it into a cocoon in a few seconds, hanging in the air with only eight legs sticking out and trembling.

“Lady, you shouldn’t be here. You should go back.” From the rooftop, Chrisson hesitated as he spoke to Lady below.

Lady slowly raised her head and looked around.

She didn't know when, but several of these large white cocoons had appeared in the air. The net, which was previously invisible to the naked eye, was now visible to Lady.

It was a spiderweb formed with magic, and it also had an invisibility effect. However, even with invisibility, a trace of magic would remain. That's why it was so clear in Lady's eyes.

"Lady? Are you listening?" Chris waved his hand. "I think you should go back."

"But you're helping out here, I shouldn't be resting." Lady slowly regained her composure, then shrank back a little in fear, standing up straight as if to appear brave.

Chris scratched his head, looking at the somewhat chaotic neighborhood with a headache.

This is unusual, because this place is shrouded in holy magic, and monsters shouldn't be able to get in.

But now all sorts of monsters have appeared in all sorts of places, and if they bump into each other, they might even tear each other apart.

The idea of ​​hell is a scene that has now been brought to life, which makes it feel rather eerie.

Lady hesitated for a moment, then looked up at Chrisson and said, "Um, can you see what's below the ground?"

Chrisson paused, looked at the ground, and suddenly realized something.