“What……?”
Cecilia could not immediately understand what Ian had said.
The moon had become an anomaly. It was a simple sentence, but the meaning it implied was exceedingly complex.
But Ian gave her no time to understand.
To be precise, he could not. Because he sensed a presence from deeper within the forest.
[Wait a moment. Cover your eyes.]
After leaving Cecilia that message, Ian slowly rose to his feet. Then he aimed his gun toward the source of the presence and swallowed his breath. Through the breath he drew in, a thick stench of sulfur surged in.
“Ah, aaaah!”
A moment later, a Nazi officer with burns all over his body came walking through the underbrush. The bastard clutched his head with an arm whose skin and muscle had melted away, ichor dripping from it, and trembled. His staggering steps looked perilously unsteady.
“Why did you follow us!”
The officer shouted in a voice that was nearly hoarse.
He was not looking at the sky, but every emotion he had was reaching toward it. Considering that the thing hanging in the sky right now was the moon, those words were probably directed at the moon.
Thin metal rods were lodged in the officer’s ears. It seemed that, thanks to them destroying his eardrums, he could not hear the nursery rhyme.
It was a rather extreme method, but it was also a certain one. For the moment, instead of killing him, Ian quietly listened to what he had to say.
“O being who mimics the form of the moon! We meekly handed the moon over to you!”
He sobbed and howled.
“And yet why! Why do you covet even Earth! Could you not be satisfied with the moon!”
“……”
“There are laws and fixed boundaries to all things in the universe! And yet why do you so casually ignore them and invade our land! Is the name of a god so very great!”
The officer’s cry was desperate, and also heartrending. But the moon did not answer. Instead, it poured moonlight down upon him.
“Ah.”
Blue moonlight seeped through the leaves and touched his skin. At the same time, the expression vanished from his face. The blankness soon became a smile, and the smile changed until it became melancholy.
A mental derangement achieved in an instant. Without shedding a single drop of blood from between his torn facial muscles, the bastard turned his head toward Ian with such force it seemed his neck would break. A distinct crack rang out.
“Tch.”
Clicking his tongue, Ian drove a bullet into the center of his forehead. The body, without shedding a single drop of blood, collapsed and died. Just in case, Ian put several more bullets into its head and heart, then turned toward Cecilia.
‘So the reason the Nazi ghouls had no organs in their bodies was because these bastards were anomalies to begin with.’
Normally, any being with bones and muscles, not just humans, ought to have blood vessels as well as organs. But the Nazis had none of that. They were literally empty beings. Their bodies were pierced, yet no blood flowed, and there was nothing where the heart should have been.
Perhaps becoming ghouls had been, for them, a process of becoming more “human.”
Thinking that, Ian knelt in front of Cecilia, who was covering her eyes. Sensing his presence, Cecilia lifted her head.
“Is that you, Ian……?”
[Yeah.]
He wrote the words on Cecilia’s small hand. Cecilia let out a sigh of relief.
“A-are we okay now?”
[We’re okay. Have you calmed down a little?]
“Y-yeah…… It still hurts, but I can endure it.”
[That’s a relief.]
Ian exhaled and looked around.
Other than the Circulator sitting nearby, he did not sense any particular presence. But he could not let his guard down. If someone traced the long-stretched trees, it would not take long to discover their location. The moon hanging in the sky right now was also, for all intents and purposes, no different from something’s eye, so staying in one place was not a good choice.
[Let’s move for now. Take my hand.]
Ian reached out to Cecilia. Cecilia hesitated for a moment, then carefully took his hand.
Since ancient times, human warmth had been no different from medicine that calmed anxiety. Relying on the warmth she felt from his hand, Cecilia covered her eyes with her other hand and moved carefully. The Circulator moved along behind them.
‘It’s docile for now.’
The creatures of the Outer Sea that Ian had summoned so far had, with the exception of the Producer, basically all moved while devouring prey. The Messenger had, and so had the Watcher.
But the Circulator had only devoured a few dozen corpses. It was not acting while eating something.
The fact that it still showed no particularly violent behavior was proof that its fuel efficiency was quite excellent.
However, no one knew how long that would last.
It might suddenly lose its mind and shove its maw toward Ian.
‘If possible, I need to fill its belly before then……’
Thinking that, Ian gripped Cecilia’s hand tightly. She did not resist and focused her mind on the warmth transmitted through his palm. In a world where sight and hearing were cut off, Ian’s warmth was the only thing she could rely on.
Step, step.
They did not encounter anything while moving.
Thanks to that, he gained a little breathing room. To ease the throbbing pain in his back a bit, Ian leaned briefly against a tree and flipped through the grimoire. It was to see if there was any hint about the current situation.
Rustle.
Fortunately, the grimoire read his intent precisely.
[The Outer God “Song of Melancholy,” hereafter ■■■, is capable of mimicking beings that possess abilities similar to its own. Naturally, humans cannot withstand its rank and melt like candle wax, but powerful mysteries are capable of enduring it.]
“……An Outer God?”
Ian furrowed his brow.
An Outer God. Was the scale not suddenly becoming far too large?
“……”
However, if this was the work of an Outer God, there were quite a number of things he could understand to some degree.
The rapidly progressing mind control. The attacks so fast they were difficult to respond to. All of them were far too powerful to call them merely the power of a mystery.
The moon urban legend itself was on the fairly dangerous side, but even so, seizing control of minds this quickly was a bit excessive.
But if it was the work of an Outer God, he had no choice but to nod. Ian, the only one who had directly used the power of an Outer God, could feel that all the more keenly.
‘So how do I kill it?’
However, if it was not a simple mystery but an Outer God, the situation became even more hopeless. How could a mere human kill a god?
“Whew, fuck……”
The one fortunate thing was that this was an environment where the Outer God’s main body could not step forward and do something, and that the bastard was subordinate to the moon. It seemed it could stain the lives on Earth with madness, but it could not descend directly and tear everything apart.
‘Though it’s still just as unpleasant.’
Cursing, Ian closed the grimoire. Sensing his breath, Cecilia gripped Ian’s hand tightly.
“Why… what’s wrong……?”
[Nothing. It’s just frustrating.]
“……I’m sorry.”
[I wasn’t talking about you. Let’s move now.]
“Ah, okay.”
The two began walking again.
In the meantime, Ian informed her of the current situation and the things she needed to be careful about. Cecilia nodded with a stiff expression.
At that moment, the Circulator, which had been moving obediently, turned its head toward somewhere and let out a low growl. Ian followed its gaze.
The place his eyes turned to.
The center of the village. A black-haired girl, ghouls, and Nazi officers were all wearing the same melancholy expressions as they held one another’s hands and spun round and round.
It looked as if they were carrying out a ritual.
Regardless of whether they were vampires or Nazis, those whose brainwashing had been completed were receiving the moonlight as they spun round and round as though dancing. Clicking his tongue, Ian carefully moved his feet so they would not notice him. The Circulator also lowered its massive body and followed him.
Needless to say, going on a rampage to catch the vampire in the current situation would be madness. First, escaping this damned area took priority.
His brainwashed companions? Regrettable, but he had no choice but to leave them behind. Once the situation was over, he could come back and get them, but for now it was difficult to take everyone with him.
Like Cecilia, they might return to their senses if their heads were smashed apart, but they had no regenerative ability. If their heads broke, they would simply die.
‘It’s a relief I secured Cecilia, at least.’
Thinking that, Ian slowly headed back toward the entrance through which they had entered the village. There was a chance they might run into their companions, but that did not mean they could remain isolated forever. Even if he had to subdue them, they needed to get out of this place.
Fortunately, however, there were no living people near the tunnel. Kim Yul and Albert, their knees shattered, were crawling along the endlessly stretching road into the village, and whether the others had already moved on, they were nowhere to be seen. Only the corpses of Bureau agents whose heads had vanished lay sprawled about.
‘The problem is the moonlight.’
Holding Cecilia in his arms, Ian looked up at the sky faintly visible beneath the leaves. The moon, which had not vanished, still remained in place.
If they entered the moon’s field of vision, they would probably be tracked immediately. Ghouls, vampires, Nazis—whatever they were, they would rush in and struggle desperately to steal the grimoire.
It would become troublesome, but he could not just sit still. Ian carved letters onto the back of Cecilia’s hand as she leaned against him.
[We’re going to run. The road is rough, so I’ll carry you on my back. Is that okay?]
“Y-yeah. I’m sorry. I’m being a burden……”
[It doesn’t matter. Inside the tunnel, you won’t be able to see the moon, so you can open your eyes. I’ll tap your body twice, so open them then. As for your ears……]
“I don’t care. I’m grateful, rather.”
Cecilia smiled faintly.
“There must be a way to recover them. Let’s look for it together.”
[Yeah.]
Ian smiled bitterly and stroked Cecilia’s hair. Cecilia did not reject his touch. As stated, at present, the warmth transmitted through touch was everything to her.
[I’m going to carry you.]
After informing her, Ian called the Circulator.
Reading his will, the Circulator lifted Cecilia and placed her on Ian’s back. She flailed for a moment, squeezed her eyes shut, and wrapped her arms around Ian’s neck. Ian firmly gripped her thighs with his arms and rose to his feet.
As befitted her small frame, she did not weigh much. She was not light, but she was light enough for him to run while carrying her. After confirming that Cecilia was properly secured, Ian looked back at the Circulator and said,
“Follow me. And while dealing with the bastards that swarm in, coil up here. Understand?”
[Grung.]
The Circulator tilted its head as if asking why it had to do that instead of following. Ian answered readily.
“Because I don’t know what the situation outside is like yet. I’m going to Seoul, but I can’t take you all the way there. You stand out too much.”
[Grung!]
“So wait for me here. When I call your name, come find me. Here, this is my scent.”
Ian held one of his hands out to the Circulator’s nose. The Circulator sniffed with its tiny nostrils, then lowered its body and drooled.
[Grrrrk!]
“If you remember it, that’s enough. Control your satiety so your stomach doesn’t get completely full. I promise. I’ll definitely call you again.”
Smiling faintly, Ian patted the Circulator’s head. The Circulator nodded and unsheathed the sharp claws it had kept hidden. Ian exhaled at length, then tapped Cecilia’s thigh to signal that he was about to depart. She hugged Ian even tighter.
“Here we go.”
[Grung!]
At Ian’s signal, the Circulator spewed the seawater of the outer cosmos in the form of steam. Feeling the touch of the bloody, briny water lightly wrapping around his whole body, Ian clenched his teeth and kicked off the ground toward the tunnel.
[Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!]
At the same time, the siren that had briefly stopped began to blare again.
A village where the nursery rhyme and the siren rang out simultaneously. The “residents of the moon” wandering within it stopped what they were doing and began running toward Ian.
The sound of footsteps rapidly drew closer. But Ian was not worried. No matter how much they were residents of the moon, they were no match for a resident of the Outer Sea.
[Grrrrk……!]
The Circulator ran alongside Ian, then turned its body in the opposite direction. Wrapping its whole body in the particles of the Outer Sea drifting around it, it charged toward the oncoming Nazis and ghouls.
Kwaaaaaang!!
At the moment of collision, with a great roar, the bodies of the ghouls running at the front burst apart. Blood, muscle, and organs scattered in every direction, and the Circulator chewed and swallowed them while tearing the residents apart with its teeth and claws. A thick spray of blood scattered everywhere together with the steam of the Outer Sea.
A massacre. It was truly a situation suited to such a word, but Ian did not let his guard down and continued running toward the tunnel. At last, the moment he set foot inside the tunnel, Ian tapped Cecilia’s thigh.
“……!”
She snapped open the eyes she had kept shut until now. Light returned to her amethyst-like eyes, and at the edge of her vision, which had not yet adapted to the darkness, the figure of a villager fallen into the moon’s madness appeared.
“Ian! Ahead!”
“Fuck, did it block the road in advance?!”
Ian cursed at the Outer God’s petty trick. Cecilia immediately pulled out the pistol hanging at her waist and fired at the villager.
Kwaaaaaang!
The bullet, flying like a cannonball, smashed the villager’s skull.