Chapter 28: The Crimson Moon
Just as Elysium assumed, the presence their radar detected turned out to be a L (Low) rank monster. The reason there were no monsters was because the one near the gate is a predator that could rival Grand-mages. And fortunately it was reported to be a Lindwurm in hibernation.
It was a sort of a guardian for "Tower of Hunters", always lurking near it so that no other monster attacks it from the outside. There were five towers in the five continents, and the Prime-Dimensional Gate this time had manifested near the tower connected to the one in Lifianest.
Those were somewhat important information, but that was all there was. It wasn't like any of the residents of the Selene city would visit the Void Plane.
As the Prime-Dimensional Gate incident died down, the entire city of Selene moved as one to prepare for the Crimson Moon that was supposed to appear in a week.
And the students of EESOP were no different. The first years in particular, had no intention of missing this opportunity to level up.
There was an infamous phrase circle in EESOP for thousands of years; "If there's a dragon, give up having stress-free education."
Although the first years had no idea why their seniors said something like that at first, the moment they encountered Kyriaki, everything began to make sense.
However, they could just brush it off as; "Ah, it's a golden Arch-dragon after all." There was no elf who didn't know the Golden Dragons were the strongest of all dragons.
And so, they shook their heads when they saw Kyriaki breaking all records set by her ancestors. But then they saw Kyrios, following her steps and doing the same. That too was fine in Elven eyes. They are twins after all.
However, what made them truly motivated and competitive was not the twins, but the person who was always seen with them.
Euclid of House Agyris.
He wasn't the heir, but he was chosen as a storm born. And on top of that, he was on par with Kyrios. No, sometimes he even outperformed Kyrios in some situations.
For example, he was the second student to reach F- Rank among the first years. A record breaking achievement that buried First Monarch Thanasios like a pebble in the sand.
This was enough to attract the attention of Endymion, their Weapon combat and maintenance professor as well as the Former Dragon King.
Those achievements made the students of higher years uneasy. And the first years were no different. Those reasons lead them to an unwavering obsession of reaching higher and higher.
Kyriaki glanced at her fellow classmates that looked like they were on fire with an exhausted expression on her face. Their resolve was written all over their faces that she couldn't ignore it anymore. Not only them, the second years who are supposed to go to battle alongside them in the first monster wave seemed to be filled with competitive spirit.
—They seem really motivated—
—I think so too— Kyriaki nodded to Kyrios' cheerful remark.
—But what makes it more wonderful is the fact that it wasn't because of us—
—Right?— Kyriaki glanced at Euclid from the corner of her eyes. From a bit far away, he was engaging in a one-sided conversation with Sirius in a cheerful manner. —Surprisingly Eucee had become a role model—
—I'm a friend of a celebrity!— Kyrios grinned to himself as if one of his dreams came true, prompting Kyriaki to make a pitiful expression.
—I hate to break it to you…but you are more of a celebrity than him— She then proceeded to gesture with her eyes to look around.
Kyrios lifted his head and looked around with a truly dumbfounded expression, then noticing a group of female elves, he smiled brightly and waved at them.
"Kyaaa!!!"
"So cute!"
"I want a little brother like him!!"
"What brother?! I want a mate who's one tenth similar to him!"
"Ah, I feel like a plant after the rain."
"He is Apollo's incarnation!"
—I don't get what you are trying to say, Ria—
Upon hearing his innocent answer, Kyriaki thought she shouldn't tell her naive brother about his official fanclub that had been established for quite a while now. She also told herself not to reveal to anyone that she's also a member of that fanclub, selling his information from time to time as a part time job.
—Nothing too deep. You don't have to worry—
—Okay~—
With the strangely joyful conversation coming to an end, Kyriaki looked at Euclid for the second time.
She was genuinely curious the moment she heard Euclid leveled up to F- rank before her Twin brother. This never happened in the original timeline. Euclid was like any other ordinary dragon, he never caught up to Kyrios in terms of practical experience.
So what happened?
What changed?
It wasn't definitely her that changed his fate.
Kyriaki narrowed her eyes, summoning her system.
'Show me his status window, System.'
[Ding!]
She was finally going to do what she wanted for the past few months. To check Euclid's status window and uncover his secret.
[Status window
Name: Euclid Zale Argyris
Race: Dragon Sub race: Pteron-Dragon
Age: 170 years
Core Rank: F-
Job(s): Beginner Mage(Low), Beginner Warrior(Low)
Title(s): Storm Born, Apostle of
Attribute(s): Water, Ice, Lightning, Wind
Authority: Blessing of
Strength: B
Defence: B
Agility: C+
Sense: C+
Vitality: A-
Mana: ∞
Holy power: F-
Intelligent: A-
Charm: S-
Skills:
Unique: Polymorph
Passive: Drakonic, Eidetic memory, Photographic memory, Hyperthymesia, Accelerate thinking speed, Parallel thinking, Polyglot, Detection, Survival instincts, Mana sense, Night Vision, Poison Immunity, Disease Immunity, Charm Immunity, Curse Immunity, Mind Magic Immunity, Blood Magic Immunity, Creation Magic Immunity, Slow Regeneration
Active: Low flight, X-ray vision, Weather Link
Warrior imprint: Basic Swordsmanship (G+), Basic Dagger art (G+), Basic war Hammer art (G+), Basic crossbow art (G+), Basic Trident art (G+), Breath of the Ice Spirit (A+), Thunder Blade (DG)
Mage imprint: Basic Magic (1st Circle), Basic mana missile (1st circle), Snowflakes(1st Circle), Ice breath(1st Circle), Water bullet(1st Circle), Lightning shock(1st Circle), Brain Zap(1st Circle), Wind bullet (1st Circle) Ice needles (2nd circle), Cold touch (2nd Circle), Water Blade (2nd Circle), Water Pillar (2nd Circle), Purification Water (2nd Circle) Lightning Sense (2nd Circle), Lightning Ball (2nd Circle), Wind Speed (2nd Circle), Underwater breath (2nd Circle)]
Badum. Badum. Badum.
She felt her own heartbeat rising like a boiling water pot.
Kyriaki held her breath as she felt as if time was slowing down. Her yellow diamond-like eyes, widened in disbelief, dilated like it was caught up in an earthquake. Kyriaki didn't realize her mouth was slightly gasped as she stood frozen like she was cursed with ice magic.
Holy power.
Something that could be awakened only with the help of a divine entity.
It was like the divine energy a soul was born with was turned into a less powerful yet safe energy that a mortal could handle. It boosts your attribute power and it generally gives you a few valuable skills with the help of the entity at the least.
But that wasn't something that could be seen in the world of Mitherr-ge any longer. Gods were long gone. So who'd awaken one's holy power at the current time?
Someone powerful…
The answer that came to Kyriaki was that it was someone very powerful.
She firmly believed that there were no gods left in Mitherr-ge. On the other hand, she knew Mitherr-ge wasn't so out of the gaze of other divine entities either.
The very example within sniffing distance was that wandering entity. They were far superior to a mere god and had eyes on Mitherr-ge for what appeared to be thousands of years, even willing to make her an apostle just to save it.
An apostle.
Kyriaki was an Apostle of a divine entity. That gave her the authority to manipulate so many useful powers that some wouldn't even dare to imagine. It was also one of the reasons for her rapid growth.
Now she understood why Euclid was catching up. She was so naive to think she was the only one with mysterious powers, backed by a powerful divine entity.
If she could do it, why can't others?
If there could exist an apostle, then why couldn't there be two?
Kyriaki thought, the moment time turned back, there must have been another entity who took advantage of that fact and made a move. Whether they were doing that with good intentions, bad intentions or just because they were bored just like the wandering entity, Kyriaki had no idea.
However she was convinced of one thing; Euclid was hiding something.
Was he a regressor by any chance?
No, that couldn't be.
He acted out of character, sure. Even so, it didn't match his original personality when he was an adult nor when he was a child in the original timeline.
He didn't show any signs of future sight.
Although it might be that he was good at hiding, for now Kyriaki voted against the regression concept. So what's left is that he was just chosen as an apostle in this timeline, and he accepted it in return for something, just like her.
Kyriaki searched the authority on his window in a hurry.
[「Blessing of
Rank: ???
Type: Authority
Description: Granted by
Effects:
•Increase affinity with Space by 50%
•Increase affinity with Time by 50%
•Increase affinity with Reality by 50%
•Grants the Holy System.
•Grants the communication link between the user and
•Grants the ability to surpass divine energy of the soul.
•Grants the additional stat: Holy power, to enhance the user's attributes by 100%
•Sub-authority: Rightful Possessor
└ Rank:GD
└ Type: Passive
└ Description: The User's all abilities are directly connected to your soul. They cannot be copied, sealed, stolen or nullified by any being, including gods.
•Sub-authority: The Scale of Give and Receive
└Rank:GD
└ Type: Active
└Description: The user can give/recive anything as long as they pay a fair price. It can be used on any selected target with their permission. Once activated it cannot be deactivated until the scale is used. The cooldown time will be reduced with the growth of the user's Holy power.
Cool down: 1 year
•Sub-authority: Sense of Time
└Rank:SG
└ Type: Passive
└Deacription: The user will be able to sense even the slightest change to the timeline. Those who control time cannot leave unnoticed by the user's senses. Time favors the user.
•Sub-authority: Slaughter Credits
└Rank:DT
└ Type: Passive
└Deacription: All living creatures the user slaughter will be turned to core energy by 1.5 times the normal amount. The user's core energy will be resupplied faster by 2 times.
•Sub-authority: Eye of Truth
└Rank:DT
└ Type: Passive
└Description: The user can see through all falsehood and lies.
•Sub-authority: Apostle Domain
└Rank:DT
└ Type: Active
└Description: Opened up a domain of absolute authority. In the domain, The user's words are the law. Everything the user commands will be done by those of Rank DT or below if they are inside of it. It has the authority to make unbreakable promises and judge the truth in the name of the Truth Holder. The range of the domain and the reduction of the cool down time will grow with the growth of your Holy power.
Current range: 2 Meter.
Cool down: 1 year
•Sub-authority: Gift of Struggle
└Rank: DG
└ Type: Passive
└Description: The user's power grows faster when defying impossible challenges or overturning expectations. The harder the struggle, the greater the user's growth.
Currently growth rate: 1.05 times faster than average
•Sub-authority: Divine Punishment
└Rank: SSS+ (Temporarily had been reduced to S+)
└ Type: Active
└Description: The user can summon a bolt of lightning full of Holy power to punish those harboring killing intent towards the user.
Cooldown: 5 months
•
•
•…See more]
Kyriaki clenched her fist upon reading.
His contracted entity was undoubtedly powerful, but it seemed their influence here was weaker than she expected. That explains why he was still far behind her.
Kyriaki could accept everything until now. It was shocking but it wasn't like she felt betrayed or saddened by this sudden revealization.
However, what she couldn't cope up with was the fact that she was forbidden from knowing the name of the entity.
It wasn't coming like ???, which meant the name was far too grand for her to even hear it. It wasn't
That meant they knew about her. Maybe even Euclid, as their apostle knows about her. Only she was left in the dark. That fact left a bitter taste in Kyriaki's mouth.
She didn't like it.
As a person who prefers to plan everything meticulously, these kinds of variables are her sworn enemy.
Frustration,
Anxiety,
Despair,
Curiosity,
Determination and fighting spirit…
All those emotions began to boil up inside her. Kyriaki laughed in her mind as if she found everything ridiculous.
Then, she took an unnecessary deep breath, mimicking humans. After cooling down her unstable emotional state a bit, her calculations started to pop up.
Indeed, it doesn't matter if this will mess up her plans. She was still more powerful than Euclid. If something happens, she can just kill him cleanly.
And until then, she might as well use him to her heart's content. While doing so, if she could get lucky, she might uncover every little truth about this frustrating variable that came to her like a comet.
"Ria?" Probably feeling her complicated emotions through their twin link, Kyrios' face turned serious as he grabbed her tiny hand, forcing Kyriaki to come back down from her countless though filled mind palace.
"Hmmm?" Kyriaki gathered her emotions and threw it in the back of her heart, just like she did the same to her thoughts.
Kyrios observed her with a worried gaze for a few seconds and slowly opened his mouth.
"What's wrong?" He asked carefully, so that he wouldn't upset her. Kyriaki smiled softly, shaking her head.
"Nothing. I guess I was nervous because of the crimson moon."
Kyrios might be naive, but he wasn't stupid enough to believe her excuse. She had all elements in her possession, and she was an F+ ranker with an unbelievable growth rate that made everyone's jaw drop.
Her? being nervous?
He'd believe it if she said she wanted to get married right at that moment, but he'd never ever believe it if she says she's nervous because of some mere monsters she was about to slaughter.
But Kyrios was also smart enough to not dwell on something his sister was trying to avoid. Thus, he smiled faintly.
"It's okay, I'm here."
Kyriaki smiled at her twin brother, who wasn't fooled by her excuses, but still chose not to point it out.
"I know." She nodded, slowly turning her head to look at the massive gate in the distance.
"It's starting." Her quiet muttering was buried by the countless voices talking at the same time.
The Prime-Dimensional Gate flickered violently. It resembled the day of direction change as a thick crimson miasma began to leak like smoke.
Kyriaki took another deep breath.
She felt all the robots, dark elves and protective barriers surrounding her with her detection skill. They were all there to step up to help the students in an emergency. And the warships floating above them were there to immediately take them away and replace them with the warriors and mages they had prepared to face all ten monster waves.
Nevertheless, tension clung to them like a leach, making everything seemed so heart wrenching and eerie.
The Crimson Moon was that kind of day.
A day that was filled with fear and the scent of blood.
Appearing once every four years at a random date, it put the Primal Plane in chaos for an entire night. It has the power to make dungeons and gates outbursts, making monsters go on a frenzy of bloodlust.
How each race reacted to this phenomenon was different in each generation. However, Most of the inhabitants of the planet traditionally hunt monsters and protect their kin until the Crimson Moon sets.
On the other hand, the situation on the moon is always more chaotic. Since the whole reason something like the crimson moon exists was because of an ancient gate that had been there since the beginning of time, the monsters that come out of it are more dangerous.
There are five layers that protect the planet from harmful radiation and the poisonous miasma of the crimson moon. Therefore, the crimson miasma that the monsters can absorb on the planet is very low.
But that wasn't the case on the moon. The gate was the source of the aura, hence the monsters coming out of it absorb most of them in a few seconds of time. Making them more stronger and blood thirsty.
A G- rank monster that comes out of the Prime-Dimensional Gate has the strength of an F rank monster. And since they come in waves, it was more nerve-wracking.
The first wave where all kinds of G rank monsters come, the second wave where E to F rank monsters come and the third wave where C to D rank monsters come were traditionally handled by the 1 & 2 years, 3 & 4 years and 5th years of EESOP in order.
In Kyriaki's case, she wanted to participate in the second wave as well, but it was strongly rejected by the majority of professors. She had to back down with dismay.
"10!"
"9!"
"8!"
'It's like a new year countdown. Why do those people do this kind of weird thing when they are about to face monsters?' Kyriaki sighed as she watched the people around her excitedly start the countdown.
"7!"
"6!"
"5!"
"4!"
'Weird…really weird.' Kyriaki shook her head at Kyrios, who was now jumping up and down in joy. The tension and nervousness was nowhere to be found among the students.
"3!"
"2!!"
"1!!!"
The Prime-Dimensional Gate sent a pillar of crimson light up to the sky like a firework. Kyriaki watched as it exploded into tiny particles resembling a true firework. Those particles, instead of disappearing, floated above them making a huge crimson veil around the moon.
This was the start of The Crimson moon.
To people on the planet it would look like the silver moon was slowly turning crimson, while to people on the moon, it felt like they were getting trapped by a crimson veil that they cannot escape.
The gate flickered like a broken TV. With a loud buzzing sound, the first wave of monsters began to come out in a very lavish manner.
"As expected." Kyriaki summoned her Cadmus' Dragon Slayer while muttering. "Common Goblins are the first to appear."
Following them countless attribute slimes, vampire bats, pixies, giant mosquitos, giant fleas, giant blood beetles, bloody fleshpeckers, eyeball-magpies and so many more monsters poured out of the Prime-Dimensional Gate like an infinite monster making machine was working on the other side.
Those were the weakest of the monsters. But tens of thousands in number. It was overwhelming.
The Void Plane was the home of all monsters, therefore some Void-endemic monsters that came out to the Primal Plane this time seemed valuable in dragons' eyes.
[Refrain from damaging Void-endemic monsters too much, you'll use them as your Alchemy ingredients in the future]
This message, which was sent from Professor Acacia, reached the students' ears in the middle of the battlefield, making some students who use elements such as fire, magma and lightning cry in disappointment.
"Hahahaha…." Kyrios laughed loudly next to Kyriaki, pulling out his Fier-3077 like he was just casually pulling a stick to poke at an ant colony.
"Ahahaha…" From the other side Euclid joined Kyrios' unsettling laughter while summoning his twin swords.
[Breath Of The Ice Spirit: First Breath: Icy Slash]
He lifted his twin swords above his head like an X and kicked the ground. The next second, Kyriaki saw him land right in the middle of a group of goblins.
Slash!
An X shaped sky-blue light swapped up the entire group of goblins, leaving behind only their slashed body parts covered in a layer of thin ice.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The loud sound of five bullets coated with Mana piercing through five pixies was ridiculously entertaining. The bullet acted like they were alive.
Endymion, who managed to convince Kyrios that Monsters don't deserve kindness might be smiling ear to ear, watching Kyrios killing monsters without hesitation.
'Is it my turn now?' Kyriaki smiled elegantly as she gazed at the Vampire bats that were as big as an adult eagle rushing towards her.
With their unique sonic waves they produce through their noses and mouths, Vampire bats were quite troublesome opponents to face in a monster wave.
However, Kyriaki didn't care.
She positioned herself in a simple posture. Her body lowered, legs strongly bent down stably as if she was glued to the ground. Then she confidently held her sword high on her eye level while the blade was angled straight towards the Vampire bats.
It was the posture one takes before executing the basic sword art Horizontal cut.
She waited patiently after taking her stance.
'100 meters.'
'50 meters.'
'10 meters.'
A sound wave visible to the naked eye rushed at her from just over her eye level. Instead of dodging, Kyriaki merely waited. Her B+ defense took the damage easily, doing its work.
The confused Vampire bats still chose to close the distance instead of retreating.
A very big mistake.
'1 meter.'
[Colors Of The Spring: First Color: Planted Seeds]
Swoosh!
A light green mixed with a beautiful multicolor palette of Sword Aura made a thin afterimage of something very fast. It pierced through the heart of seven Vampire bats at once. And before even the aftereffects vanished, Kyriaki spun around with swift movements.
[Colors Of The Spring: Second Color: Rays Of The Spring Sun]
Cadmus' Dragon Slayer glowed in a brilliant golden hue touched by multicolors and shot the light towards remaining Vampire bats in a slash that looked like a single ray of sun.
[You have slayed a Vampire Bat G+]
[Activating Sub-authority:
[Core energy +0.05]
[You have slayed a Vampire Bat G]
[Core energy +0.02]
[You have slayed a Vampire Bat G-]
[Core energy +0.01]
[You have slayed a Vampire Bat G+]
[Core energy +0.05]
Usually, one has to personally tear open a monster's body to obtain the core and absorb it into their own core. But Kyriaki was different. Thanks to her sub authority, she was free from those troublesome tasks and could grow while fighting and slaying.
A light arrow, as if crafted by the god of light, shot from the tip of her index finger and pierced through the big eyeball of a flying monster, leaving behind a small arcane circle at the tip of her finger.
[You have Slayed an Eyeball-magpie G+]
[Core energy +0.05]
She grabbed the hilt of her sword the next second and stabbed a green creature using her basic swordsmanship. Then she grabbed another creature by its limb and lifted it up with force.
Bam!
The creature was slammed hard on the ground, scattering brain matters, flesh and blood around.
Not stopping with just that, Kyriaki lifted the remaining of the green creature's body and threw it at another Eyeball-magpie. The broken arm bone of the creature pierced through the Eyeball-magpie's only weakness; it's giant eyeball.
[You have slayed a Forest Goblin G-]
[Core energy+0.01]
[You have slayed a Forest Goblin G]
[Core energy+0.02]
[You have Slayed an Eyeball-magpie G-]
[Core energy +0.01]
Since the day she had leveled up to F-, the pace of leveling up had decreased significantly. And G rank cores were not enough for her to fill leveling criteria.
Core energy she gained from lowest level monsters was like a water droplet in a lake. That was why she wanted to participate in the second wave as well.
However the permission wasn't granted.
But it didn't matter anymore. Kyriaki was having fun butchering monsters, eliminating their air ways and smashing their heads.
"Ahahaha…." Soon, Kyriaki joined her twin and Euclid, laughing like a maniac.
Her earrings glowed in a beautiful blue light that shone brightly in a dark bloody battlefield.
Watching this, people had only one thought;
'I should never mess with The Holy Trinity'
∆ ∆ ∆