Mistaken for a Masked Munchkin

Lunar Eclipse (2)

Lunar Eclipse.

In the original story, it was handled as a major incident.

If I had to rank it, it easily made the top ten events.

This was the point where the peace treaty between humans and vampires finally broke.

Conflict between the two races deepened, and the signs of war slowly spread across the continent.

'This is where the game really starts turning dark.'

RGM.

(RGM.)

There was no romance system at all.

There were only boys and girls fighting desperately to keep the world alive.

Vampires, cultists, Purgatory, the Evil God, every kind of calamity blocked the player's path.

As the story progressed, the continent turned into a sea of fire, and characters died off with brutal ease.

'That was part of the charm too...'

The Fourth Calamity, Red Night.

The night the vampires finally dyed the continent red.

This [Lunar Eclipse] event was exactly what cut off the starting point of that tragedy.

'If we stop this one properly... we can cripple the New Kingdom for at least a few months.'

Break the first link in their chain.

That alone buys plenty of time.

'The Lunar Eclipse is carried out on the one day each year when divine power is weakest.'

The day the moon is swallowed by shadow.

A day when yang energy sinks, yin energy boils over, and vampire power grows stronger.

The New Kingdom must have poured everything into matching their plan to this exact date.

They had already toppled the old dynasty and laid a new foundation, so the next step was obvious, declare war on humans without hesitation.

'And... Jersian.'

Jersian.

One of the New Kingdom's core figures.

He planned this [Lunar Eclipse], and later made major contributions to Red Night too.

He was also the close aide who betrayed Carmilla's father and sided with her uncle.

'What he plans to do in this Lunar Eclipse.'

A war weapon.

He intends to create one.

By offering human lives in sacrifice and mixing in vampire authority, he wants to forge [something].

'He's going to sacrifice an entire village, no less...'

The victims used for Human Sacrifice alone number in the hundreds.

That war weapon soon strikes part of the continent and creates thousands more casualties.

Every victim goes through Ghoulification, attacks others, and creates more ghouls in turn.

An absurd number of people die.

It is a catastrophe with nearly three thousand casualties.

That sets off a red alert across the Empire, and the true shadow of war falls over the continent.

'Of course... not this time.'

I intended to crush the original flow completely.

That was why I was standing here now.

"..."

Kuuuuuu-

A street drowned in dawn silence. A remote village.

Other than the rustling grass, no sound could be heard.

Peaceful. No, it was the kind of scene anyone could mistake for peaceful.

I walked quietly along the stone road.

"Victo... ah, no. Deputy Commander Garulik-nim?"

"What is it, Lady Unnion?"

Alice looked around as she spoke.

We had just reached the village entrance and were slowly checking the area.

The girl in the black mask tilted her head in confusion.

"Um... didn't you say something t-terrible was happening in this village...?"

"That's right. I also said this was what we had to resolve today."

"But no matter how I look at it, it just looks like a normal village...?"

Alice asked carefully.

It was not a strange question.

Everything in sight looked perfectly calm.

There was no sign of people at all, but at this late hour, that could still be brushed off.

There was no smell of blood, no screams, nothing.

"On the surface, yes."

Still, a village with not a single person in sight was abnormal.

A village this large should have had soldiers on night watch.

We had walked all the way to the entrance and still had not seen a single guard, not even an ant.

"...Viktor."

Carmilla, on the other hand, seemed to sense something.

She grabbed my sleeve as if something felt off.

Even through the mask, I could see the unease in her eyes.

'Is that because she's a pureblood? Her instincts are sharp.'

I stepped forward.

Then I reached out toward the village entrance.

My hand should have moved straight ahead, but something blocked it.

Thunk.

"Huh...?"

Alice let out a stunned sound.

It was as if the whole village had been wrapped in a transparent curtain that rejected all entry from outside.

She reached out in front of her again and again, but each time, she stopped against hard empty air.

"It's a barrier."

"Ah..."

Alice sighed, probably remembering the practical exam.

Back then, a barrier cast by the Red Knight had sealed off part of the Student Hunting Grounds.

This barrier was weaker than that one in raw hardness, but its range was much wider and far more discreet.

I knocked lightly on empty air.

Knock, knock-

"The barrier's binding force itself doesn't seem very strong. If we forced it, we could probably break it..."

"We'd get noticed. The moment it breaks, the ones inside would notice something was wrong too."

"Exactly. Then our plan to infiltrate quietly would be ruined."

"B-but... I don't see any opening at all in the barrier."

"You don't need to worry about that part."

Who was I?

Master of map clipping.

Artisan of floor humping.

The one who mates with walls.

I had gotten hundreds, thousands of walls pregnant.

"Both of you, give me your hands."

"...?"

"So you are doing that again."

"Hehe. Hold tight and don't let go, all right?"

Alice still looked confused, while Carmilla nodded like she was used to this by now.

I took both their hands and slowly stepped into the empty air.

The wall pressed against us, and I rubbed my whole body against it with desperate focus.

Rub, rub-rub-

Before long, my body slid right through the barrier.

At the same time, the two at my sides were pulled in with me.

Before they even had time to react to the sudden entry, what greeted us was a dark red ceiling.

"Eek, eek...!"

Alice staggered, then swallowed hard at the sight in front of her.

Carmilla fell silent too.

"Uh, uh...?"

"..."

The village we had seen beyond the barrier.

Above it hung a blood-red ceiling and thick black-red mist.

As if the village we had seen just moments ago had all been a lie.

"Looks like we arrived in the right place."

A foul stench stabbed my nose.

The smell of rotting corpses.

Blood.

The scent life leaves behind after death.

The air was deeply unpleasant.

Puddles had gathered all over the village as if it had just rained.

Of course, what filled them was not rainwater. It was a viscous liquid with dark red chunks floating in it.

"Ugh..."

Alice flinched and trembled.

Carmilla looked calm, as if she had expected this.

"...As I thought."

The lips hidden behind her mask moved in a murmur.

Even faintly, her voice carried sadness.

Standing between the two girls, I calmly scanned our surroundings.

"Hmm."

The village was utterly wrecked.

As expected, not a single person was in sight.

They had probably gathered everyone somewhere in the center of the village for the Sacrificial Ritual.

"Looks like the vampires went big with this."

"The humans in this village... are they all dead?"

"Probably not. They needed fresh offerings for the ritual. Most of them should still be alive."

"So they locked them up somewhere. Judging by the blood smell and the traces on the ground... the center of the village."

"Exactly."

"L-let's stay together, both of you...!"

We crossed the red-stained streets.

The heavy air made it hard to breathe.

We moved quietly and turned a corner, then...

-Grrrrr.

A growl came from somewhere.

I turned and saw several blood-red wild dogs glaring at us.

They were not in normal condition. Their guts hung out in strands from torn-open bodies.

"They're ghouls."

"Yes."

Had they scattered these around as scouts?

They bared their teeth, then charged straight at us.

-Bark bark!

-Kieeeek!

Their eyes were completely crazed.

At least one thing was fortunate, all of them were beast-based ghouls.

If there had been human-based ones, I might have hesitated for a second, wondering if we should save them.

Since humans were needed for the Sacrificial Ritual, it seemed they had put wild beasts on this front instead.

'Works for me.'

I signaled to the two beside me.

Both of them had already finished preparing for battle.

"Lady Unnion."

"Y-yes! Deputy Commander-nim...!"

At my signal, Alice released a black-red aura.

A black crown settled above her head.

Then trump cards burst out.

"A-attack...!"

The soldiers rushed directly at the ghouls.

Their base attack power was roughly similar.

But Alice's Nightmare was judged untouchable by physical strikes.

-Kirruk?!

-Yelp!

In the end, the ghouls were pushed back one-sidedly.

The Card Soldiers swung their weapons and cut the wild dogs to pieces without missing any.

<[

<[

After winning, the soldiers knelt before their queen.

Alice flinched in surprise, then awkwardly patted their shoulders.

Watching that, the princess frowned slightly.

"...Still a disturbing power."

"A power we're very lucky to have on our side."

With that settled, I gave the next order.

"From here on, if we encounter ghouls, we hunt them all. If any of them escape and return to their masters, the vampires will know we're here."

"So we give them all rest."

"Exactly. Our first goal is to reach the center of the village while staying undetected as long as possible."

After finishing the explanation, we moved again.

A route that avoided the ghoul surveillance net.

We were crossing the edge of the marketplace.

Using the blind spots between walls, we were about to move to the next market block, when...

-P-please, help...!

A faint voice reached my ears.

It sounded young.

"A survivor...?"

"D-Deputy Commander Garulik-nim? I definitely just..."

"I heard it too. Looks like someone hasn't been caught yet."

The sound came from a narrow alley.

We slowly stepped inside.

As we moved deeper, we saw a group cornered at the end.

-Bark bark!

Ghouls snarled and barked.

In front of them stood a boy and a girl, maybe around ten years old.

A wall blocked their backs, leaving nowhere else to run.

"B-big brother..."

"It's okay! Stay behind me...!"

The two children shook with fear, their shoulders trembling.

And among the barking ghouls.

"Kik, kikikik... to think there were still humans hiding."

A man laughed, the sound deeply unpleasant.

His whole body was coated in Potent Blood.

He kept giggling as he approached the children.

Ghouls stood around him, tightening the ring.

"D-don't come closer! Y-you monster...!"

"You're loud for lowly livestock."

"What did you do to the villagers?! O-our mom and dad...!"

"You overstep, little brat. Be honored. Mere livestock like you became part of a grand plan."

"N-no! Is anyone there?! Please save us!"

"Hmm... noisy little things."

The man split his mouth in a wide grin.

"Looks like they gathered enough offerings already... maybe I can play with a few brats like these?"

A writhing malice.

Its shadow fell over the children.

He stepped closer, full of cruel intent.

That was when.

"Lady Unnion. Lady Manre."

"Y-yes...!"

"I was wondering when you'd call us."

Slaaaash-!

The ghouls guarding the alley were crushed all at once.

Carmilla's Blood Manipulation, and the Card Soldiers Alice controlled.

Through the storm of blood, the vampire's eyes shook in panic.

"What? What the hell all of a sudden...!"

"Activate. Baseball bat."

Swaaaack, wham-!

He spun around in a hurry, but my bat had already landed.

The vampire crashed down as his face caved in.

Of course, I knew blunt attacks did not work well on vampires.

Their bodies were annoyingly tough.

'Fragment of a Stake.'

I had picked it up to reuse, and I put it to work efficiently.

I gripped the fragment like a dagger and swung.

Slice, shk-slice-

The vampire's limbs were cut off one by one.

Ssssss-!

The cut surfaces started melting at once.

"K-kkraaaah...!"

"Shh."

Thud, thud-!

He tried to scream, but my club shut his mouth.

When I looked back, Alice was helping the children, who had collapsed on the ground.

Carmilla stood beside me, staring at the vampire.

Ding-!

[20 Karma Points obtained.]

[20 Karma Points obtained.]

[Remaining Karma Points: 60p]

Status window notifications rose in front of me.

I smiled as I watched the numbers go up.

'Damn, these points are sweet.'

Feels like we'll save around three hundred people here.

This is a full-on Karma Point gold mine.

I closed the blue screen with satisfaction.

"Hehe."

"W-what... what are you..."

Maybe pain was crushing him, because the vampire muttered with mangled pronunciation.

A situation he could not understand. That confusion filled his terrified red eyes.

I tapped my mask, amused.

"Wh-who are you... what are you...?"

"Who am I?"

The vampire was sobbing and drooling in ugly panic.

I gave him a bright answer.

"Who knows... Batman?"

Or maybe not.

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