As if I was looking at a picture with a filter on, everything I could see was truly painted in crimson; from the shine of my elven plate armour, to the silver blade of my sword. Everything was illuminated by the huge Blood Moon in the sky.
At that moment, the natural stench of blood coming from the Dungeon became a pungent odor, intensifying and overwhelming all the air around us. I began pinching my nose to reduce the smell, but the pungent odor already seeped into my nostrils and put my mind in a bit of a daze again. And quickly following, the trees around us no longer oozed droplets of blood, but instead began endlessly raining down blood from its branches and leaves.
“Why didn’t you tell me…” Unexpectedly, the sounds from a certain night in the hospital momentarily flashed in my ears, and I immediately covered them and shook my head of that memory. Though losing my balance while I heavily tried to forget, I found my feet slipping and being soaked through as the wet crimson ground created several pools of blood throughout the entire area.
“Woah!” Odelia said, catching and supporting me with her shoulder, “Are you alright, Lord Eyes?”
“I’m...fine.” Still trying to regain my senses, “But why didn’t you mention the Blood Moon earlier?”
“My Lord, you cannot be serious?” Odelia looked at me in disbelief, “You should more than know that this happens every year on the night before the Five Heroes Festival—when the God of Monsters casts his crimson blessings on the moon. Why do think I was so hesitant to allow to come here today?”
“I thought you just didn't want to me to win.” But wanting to know more, I asked “What exactly is the blessing again? And is there a reason this ‘God of Monsters' does it?”
“Maybe I really should teach you some History?” Odelia jokingly chuckled; then informed me “As you should know, a natural Blood Moon is a rare occasion when the moon turns a lightish-red colour, unlike the darker colour one we have tonight, and empowers and strengthens the monsters—causing them to go on a rampage in most cases.” I nodded in understanding, knowing at least that much about Blood Moons from games, books, and other fantasies.
She continued, “However, the Blood Moon we have tonight is unnatural—blessed by the God of Monsters himself to create more chaos, and to oversee everything bathed in its crimson moonlight glow. And also unlike a natural Blood Moon, this one affects even monsters who do not look directly in its light; not only empowering and strengthening them more than a natural one, but also invigorates them for breeding, making even the most infertile monsters fertile for the duration of the Blood Moon.”
Surprising me, the two remaining Blood Stalkers attempted breaking free from the mana-bindings again, but while I watched them fail to do so, I noted how they unnaturally grew in size and widened the unbreakable bindings for the first time. Becoming curious, I briefly used the Eyes Of A Seer and saw their Levels had changed by 5 Levels; Lv.57 Blood Stalker and Lv.60 Blood Stalker.
“Does the Blood Moon have a similar effect as my crown?” I wondered to myself, noticing that their eyes changed again. Unlike their natural orange eyeballs or their red ones after using Bloodthirst, these new ones were black as night, also having black slit-shaped pupils, but now gaining detailed crimson irises—ones that exactly mirrored the perfect image of the Blood Moon above.
The Blood Stalkers both then angrily growled the same thing, “Kill elves! Breed! Kill elves! Breed!” and uncomfortable by how much they were moving, Odelia shot a few more arrows at them and reinforced the previous bindings—fully restraining them again and giving me a thumbs up.
“So basically tonight’s like a super aggressive mating season for the monsters then, right?” Simplifying what she explained
She laughed in amusement, “I have never thought of it like that, but to put it simply, I guess it would be.”
“If this occurs every year, you must have a name for it, yeah?” Inquiring what it is.
“Not really. Older Elves simply refer to it as the Last Moon, but I have heard the younger generation, like Shur and Ama, call it Gom’s Blood Moon.”
“Gom?” I repeated, remembering that name from somewhere.
“God of Monsters.” Odelia revealed.
“You keep saying that, but doesn’t he have an actual name you can tell me? I know the Twin Goddesses do.” Remembering them as Luci’El the Goddess of Life and Noxi’El, a.k.a 13, the Goddess of Death.
“Oh my goodness, Lord Eyes. No wonder you were born gifted with such talent, it helps balance your incredible amount of ignorance. Shall I start teaching you as if you were 5 years of age, because even children know that?” Odelia chuckled to herself.
“Very funny, so the name?” Still wanting to know.
Sighing at me again, Odelia said “Lord Eyes, I or anyone else cannot speak the name aloud, for it has long been forbidden to do so.” mentioning, “It has been that way since the Beginning.”
“This sounds like a ‘He who must not be named’ situation, but what’s the Beginning?” I wondered, then asking “Why?”
“Because invoking the name of the God of Monsters could possibly summon it directly to you.” She answered seriously.
“Possibly? If it’s only a possibility to summon and not a guarantee, why is it forbidden?” I reasonably questioned.
“It is because the God of Monsters will always bring with it a great catastrophic calamity." Odelia stated, "Though lucky for us it cares not to be summoned wastefully, only choosing to appear when it finds something that has piqued its interest, or if it is in the midst of great chaos.” informing me, “And if you were wondering, I believe its last known appearance was the Second Trinity War, where it single-handedly ended the war by destroying half of each Kingdoms’ armies and forcing the rest to retreat from it.”
“The God of Monsters sounds powerful, but I guess that should be expected from a God. However, if he's anything like the Twin Goddesses, I don’t know how the Players are gonna kill him.”
“Anyway, it is time for us to head back now. We would not want to run into monsters frantically searching the Dungeon for a mate.” Odelia said, already walking in the direction out of the Dungeon.
Stopping her, I said “Woah, woah, woah. What are you talking about? I have plenty of time before the month is over, meaning I still have a chance to pass your Combat Test.”
She tiredly sighed, “Lord Eyes, were you even listening to anything I said about the Blood Moon?”
“Of course I was, and who cares if they’re a little bit stronger, I can still pass the test in time.” Feeling so sure I could.
“After watching you earlier and seeing you only get stronger from each battle, I am not worried about you not being able to kill a measly Blood Stalker anymore, but I am worried it will take too long if you only use the Combat Style.” Warning me, “During your Combat Test, other monsters will surely find their way to this area; whether it be them searching for a mate, or running away from the inevitable rampages of stronger monsters deeper inside the Dungeon. And in the best case scenario, I can imagine we would be surrounded by hundreds of Lv.50-60 monsters, all of which we would need to fight simply to escape through them.”
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“And the worst case?”
“A Boss shows up and I possibly sacrifice myself for you to escape.”
A sinking feeling filled my stomach and the memories of my previous vision raced through my mind. “This is it, isn’t it?” Now clearly remembering holding Odelia’s body in my blood-soaked arms, in a crimson forest exactly like this one. “This is the place she—No! It can’t be! I won’t let that happen!” Telling myself, “If I can see the future, I must be able to change it, right?” but I couldn’t entirely trust myself that I could.
“Lord Eyes? What are you waiting for?” Odelia asked, waiting for me to follow.
“Ughhh...I can’t give up just on the Combat Test yet.” Scratching my head out of irritation, “Odelia, is there anyway you would leave this Dungeon and teleport back to the House without me?”
“Huh? Absolutely not! I cannot leave you alone in a Dungeon such as this!” She adamantly refused.
“I thought so…” Thinking “Is completing this Quest more important than Odelia’s life—not even close. But if I know how this will end up, maybe I can still prevent it from ever happening and get both things I want?”
Feeling frustrated with myself for knowing what the right thing to do was, but being too selfishly greedy to plainly choose otherwise, I angrily picked up the Lv.60 and tossed it across the clearing. Then walking over to it growling at me, I told the Blood Stalker “I’m sorry you didn’t get a chance to fight for your life, but I need to end this as soon as possible.” As I rapidly began charging up an arrow with mana.
Though while I was in the midst of charging, my eyes unexpectedly bursted with golden light as 10 ethereal tendrils appeared from them. Confused why they decided to come out, I tried bringing them back into me, but they all refused to listen and immediately started branching outwards. And noticing 4 tendrils moving towards Odelia and the Lv.57, I specifically focused on those 4 and forcefully willed them to return to me.
“Lord Eyes, what are you doing right now? What are those things?” Odelia questioned, justifiable worrying at unusual sight of me.
“It’s hard to explain. Just keep your distance.” I told her, “They'll come after you if you get too close.” and she reluctantly listened as she watched me carefully.
The Blood Stalker I stood over then began writhing and growling in pain as the tendrils savagely wrapped around each of its eyes and pulsated intensely, “Grahhh! Hurts! Hurts! Stop!” Meanwhile the remaining 4 tendrils moved to the already dead bodies of Blood Stalkers I killed earlier. And only taking them a few seconds, they quickly wrapped themselves around the eyeballs, rapidly siphoned each of them, and causing a familiar notification to pop up.
You have collected the [Eyes of a Blood Stalker].
Eyes of a Blood Stalker: Sight naturally developed for hunting down bloodied prey, your eyes distinguish even minuscule amounts of blood traces from one another and accurately track them accordingly. Gain the ‘Bloodthirst’ Skill.
“The Blood Stalker Skill?” Receiving the notification for it soon after.
You have learned the Skill: [Bloodthirst].
Bloodthirst: Forcefully bleeding through your eyes, your body enters into a bloodthirsty frenzied state and becomes physically stronger the more blood you lose. Gain the ‘Bleeding’ Status as long as this Skill is ‘Active’ and lose 1% of your Health per second, but increase All Physical Stats by 0.25% for every percentage of Health missing. Removing the ‘Bleeding’ Status will end this Skill immediately. Physical Stat Percentage increases by 0.25% per Skill Level.
And before I could even fully grasp what I just read, all my tendrils came back to me, and a group of notifications popped up.
You have collected the [Eyes of Eicio’s Blood Moon]. Seer’s Eye Collection increased by 1 Level. Eyes Of A Seer increased by 1 Level, and you now have vision of an Npc’s Menu. Seer’s Visions increased by 1 Level, and you can now see even more of the Visions.
Eyes of Eicio’s Blood Moon: Possessing the blessed gift the God of Limbo casted onto the moon, your entire being is empowered and enthralled by the immense godly power it bestows, temporarily losing yourself if you succumb to the divine blessing. Gain 25% to All Base Stats while empowered by the Eyes, but potentially enter into an Uncontrollable Altered State.
“What the hell is this? Eicio’s Blood Moon? Is it not the God of Monster’s Blood Moon? And does this mean this ‘Eicio’ guy is the God of Limbo?” My mind raced with all sorts of questions, but interrupting my thoughts was a sudden loud rumbling shaking the ground, and faint screams of dying monsters deeper in the forest.
Heavily concerned after hearing the noises, Odelia insisted “Lord Eyes, I really must urge for us to be leaving now.” informing me, “I believe those were High Orcs and Minotaurs dying just now, and considering they average around the Lv.70-80s, it is not a very good sign to have heard that many dying at once.”
“Okay, okay, okay, okay. Just...just 10 minutes.” I frantically told her.
“For?”
“The Combat Test.”
“Lord Eyes—”
“I know, but...just 10 minutes. That’s all I need.” Pleading, “Please?”
She shook her head and sighed at my stubbornness, “You will be the death of me, my Lord; but fine, you can have your 10 minutes.” reluctantly agreeing.
“Thank you, but don’t say stuff like that.” Already worried that I will be.
Turning my attention back to the now blinded Blood Stalker I stood over, I nocked the arrow to the bowstring and caused the Charged Arrow to largely expand again—though having only used half my Mana this time to not break my bow again. Then aiming diagonally down at the Lv.60 Blood Stalker, I released the large arrow and heavily strained my new bow, however it was made well enough to just withstand the power of the Maxed Leveled Skill. Though what couldn’t withstand the Maxed Leveled Skill was the Blood Stalker, witnessing the arrow easily pierce through its bone face, killing it in one shot, and digging a small diagonal tunnel into the blood soaked ground.
Congratulations, you have Leveled Up 3 Levels! All Stats have increased by 6, and you gained 30 Available Points.
“I do mean to rush you, my Lord, but your 10 minutes has already.” Odelia stated, carefully keeping guard with her bow and sword in hand.
“Yeah, I know. I’ll make this quick.” Drawing Silverthorn II as Odelia already released the last Lv.57 Blood Stalker angrily empowered by the crimson moonlight.