Chapter 844 - 843: Hunter and Moonlight

Chapter 844: Chapter 843: Hunter and Moonlight

Yu Sheng and Erin walked together in this somewhat eerie town ruins, accompanied only by the hollow sound of the wind from afar and the reddish moonlight overhead.

The Little Puppet beside them had transformed into a 1.67-meter-tall Puppet Lady, dressed in a somewhat stylish female hunter’s outfit. Unfortunately, despite the mature appearance, it was still that chatty little thing. Erin’s mouth hadn’t stopped the whole way—

"So you woke up and found yourself here? I tell you, this is definitely not a normal ’Dream Entrance’. You’ve been dragged in by something...

"I was dragged in too, oh. Originally, I wasn’t planning to look for you in the dream today, but suddenly, I saw a light ahead just as I was falling asleep. I wanted to check it out, but then got buried in bricks...

"I said that blood-colored spear has problems... The art style is rather bizarre. Of course, with you, maybe this style fits perfectly.

"Hey, hey, do you think that mysterious closed-eye lady might know something? If this really is a part of the so-called Dark Moon Royal Court... Considering the surroundings, should this count as the royal court’s outskirts? Or maybe the royal court’s urban-rural fringe... By the way, does a Vampire Empire even have such a concept as an urban-rural fringe?

"Yu Sheng, Yu Sheng, look! I’m really tall now! And look, don’t I look pretty cool... C-type buckle? That’s a silly big size; I’m a stylish female hunter... Why a female hunter though? Why do we become like this? This outfit doesn’t feel very auspicious, especially in this environment. Will there be a boss cutscene later..."

The voice beside them chirped away, and it was evident that Erin was somewhat excited. However, Yu Sheng was used to this, seldom bothering to reply with more than a couple of perfunctory responses to this ever-chatting puppet—Erin always seemed fine as long as she could talk, whether anyone was listening didn’t matter to her.

However, as they walked, Yu Sheng suddenly stopped, as if sensing something, and looked up into the sky.

The chattering Puppet Lady didn’t pay attention and bumped her head against Yu Sheng’s shoulder.

"Hey, why did you suddenly stop?"

Yu Sheng looked up at the sky, where the red moon hung high among the clouds.

"Don’t you think the moon is a bit larger than before?" Yu Sheng asked, frowning.

"Huh? Is it?" Erin blinked her eyes, "It’s always been this big."

After a long time, Yu Sheng withdrew his gaze from the sky, said nothing further, and continued walking toward the large building resembling a church at the edge of the town.

"Why go there?" Erin couldn’t help but start chattering again, "I always feel that churches in scenarios like this are just places where elite mobs are spawned. Let’s not get killed by a boss’s HP bar as soon as we arrive..."

"That’s why I always say you shouldn’t play games for too long before sleeping," Yu Sheng looked at the puppet beside him helplessly, then patiently explained, "That’s the largest building in the town ruins, theoretically it should have served as the administrative and assembly center of this place. There might be some materials related to the town inside..."

"Oh, oh, this I know, collecting clues right? If this place was destroyed by disaster, the last survivors would surely hide in the church. Maybe we can find some diary fragments or something..." Erin said as she walked, waving her hands, "Speaking of those who were writing diaries while almost dead, they’ve got to be impressive, being chased by monsters yet still describing the scene in a diary; half of their bodies being chewed while still managing to write ’ahhh—’ as a scream in their diary, complete with dash marks..."

Yu Sheng suddenly wondered what this little thing (though not so little now) usually played; it sounded like the quality of the script wasn’t very high...

Even though Erin seemed completely unbothered, Yu Sheng was unlike this carefree puppet, and he walked in an unwavering state of vigilance. Considering this area may just be a "Dream Realm" generated due to the blood-colored spear’s influence, he couldn’t confidently say the boundary between dreams and reality was still so distinct here.

After dealing with various weird and bizarre Exotic Realms so much, Yu Sheng’s alertness was always active.

As he pondered, Yu Sheng looked at himself—what did this weird attire signify?

Hunter... Vampire Hunter?

Amid Erin’s constant chatter, the two finally arrived at the open space in front of the church.

Perhaps feeling the slight change in atmosphere, the puppet suddenly quieted down.

The ruined Great Cathedral was bathed in faint reddish moonlight, its upper structure collapsed and damaged, with remnants like skeletons standing in the night’s shadow.

"This environment triggers my PTSD a bit," the puppet mumbled, instinctively pulling out the thin sword at her waist. After waving it twice, she frowned, "Ah, this thing’s so thin, the handle doesn’t even feel as good as a pan..."

Yu Sheng’s gaze fell on a broken wall beside the church’s open space.

He walked over to find a damaged wooden board embedded in the wall, with some weathered and deteriorated paper on it.

Erin came over: "What’s this... It looks like the town’s announcement board?"

Under the dim moonlight, Yu Sheng struggled to discern the contents on the bulletin board—it didn’t seem like any writing he was familiar with. However, when moonlight illuminated it, the faint ink stain on the paper began to stir and transform into characters he could read.

"...Summoning... Moon Hunter to the Royal Court, final..."

The paper on the bulletin board was severely weathered and damaged, leaving only two or three lines of text. Yu Sheng frowned, but that was all he could make out.

Yet, even with such scant information, he captured a key piece of intelligence.

"Moon Hunter," he turned his head, looking at the blonde puppet dressed as a female hunter, "Is it referring to our attire?"

"Probably?" The blonde puppet scratched her head, then tugged at the waist-cinched jacket she wore, "But why such a strange name? I thought it would be something like Vampire Hunter."

"I thought so too," Yu Sheng frowned, his gaze falling back on the bulletin board, "This looks like an old summons from long ago. This place is abandoned now. I wonder if there really was a group of hunters who set out from here to the ’Royal Court’ mentioned in the notice." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

The surrounding night seemed a bit brighter than before, and Yu Sheng noticed this, instinctively looking up at the sky.

A scarlet moon hung solitary among the clouds, its moonlight at its peak. The massive sphere loomed heavily overhead, gradually exuding an unsettling power.

"No, the moon is definitely bigger than before," Yu Sheng’s expression tensed, "Something’s not right; there’s something here..."

Amidst the hollow echo of the wind, there were some unusual noises, as if something was burrowing through the soil. The distant ruins, mere remnants of houses, seemed to sway in the moonlight, with something stirring restlessly in the rubble.

Even the usually carefree Erin suddenly tensed. She gripped her slender, silvery sword in a defensive stance, warily surveying the surroundings while quickly saying, "I told you, this kind of scene around a cathedral has to spawn monsters! Especially with a bulletin board on the square..."

"Crack... Shhh..."

The sound of soil and gravel falling disrupted the night and interrupted the puppet’s words. In the darkness at the edge of the square, a staggering shadow emerged abruptly.

It appeared as nothing more than a mass of human-sized soil. The black sludge and gravel wriggled and deformed as it swayed; its upper part bore a head resembling a human. That head was also formed of soil, featureless except for a hollow reminiscent of a mouth, which moved agonizingly.

"Oh my, what a ghastly shape..."

Erin was startled, and as she finished her sentence, more clumps of soil appeared on all sides of the cathedral!

The moonlight intensified, and an ominous, substantive scarlet haze permeated the town’s ruins. All around, the sound of soil and gravel rubbing and wriggling filled the air as those swaying anomalies noticed the only two "invaders" on the open ground untouched by the moonlight.

The creatures charged forth, their unstable, bloated bodies moving much faster than anticipated.

"Oh my—"

Yu Sheng let out a small gasp of surprise, but his hands did not hesitate. Before the first creature could reach him, he took a sudden step forward, sweeping his blood-colored spear horizontally!

The crimson spear blade traced an arc under the moonlight, and a series of shattering mirror-like fissures appeared mid-air. The creature formed of soil and gravel was instantly cleaved in two by this rift, its remaining structure collapsing to the ground, rapidly reverting to lifeless soil.

Yu Sheng frowned deeply, watching as dark red mud slowly seeped from the collapsing soil.

But there was no time for distraction. More of the earthen constructs surged from all sides, quickly surrounding the small square in front of the cathedral.

By then, Erin was also swinging her slender sword, joining the battle.

When she made her move, Yu Sheng confirmed that the few flourishes she had brandished earlier were just show—she didn’t really know swordsmanship. Wielding the slender sword, she charged left and right like an adult chimpanzee with a stick.

But the puppet had strength.

And she wasn’t entirely without technique; although she only had one move, she executed it to perfection.

That was the Jump Slash.

Yu Sheng watched Erin yelling and waving her sword amidst a horde of creatures like a golden whirlwind, seizing opportunities to leap high, then delivering a jump slash onto a creature’s head.

Frankly, a slender sword wasn’t suited for such a move, but the puppet relied on her considerable strength and perhaps some "skill boost" from the Lost Home to take down one creature after another...

Erin yelled out, Erin triumphed in succession, Erin displayed her great skill.

Erin finally didn’t have to jump just to hit someone’s knees, and she was evidently thrilled by it.