Chapter 118

Chapter 118: Werewolf Lamb

In the dark of night, in the northern mountain area of Igewent, Field Villa.

Near the stables of the large villa, a stable keeper was curiously watching a carriage that was looking for a parking spot. He turned to another guard who was leading the carriage and asked with curiosity, “Hey, buddy, is that an outside carriage? Why is it coming in at this time? Could it be…”

“It’s just a poor soul that got lost. I’ll take them inside shortly; we might have extra rations tonight,” the other guard said indifferently. Hearing this, the stable keeper raised his eyebrows.

“That’s good. I didn’t expect that there would still be a fool coming to our door at this hour…”

“Heh, this world is not short of fools… By the way, buddy, do you have a match? I need a light.”

“Yeah, just a moment…” As he spoke, the stable keeper began searching himself for matches. At that moment, the guard standing nearby darkened his expression, drew out a hidden blade, and stabbed it into the stable keeper’s throat. The stable keeper fell, gagged by the guard’s hand.

Nearby, the carriage doors opened, and Dorothy stepped down, closely followed by a nervous Vania who was looking around anxiously.

“Is this your extraordinary ability? Controlling the undead… You can’t be an ‘Enlightenment’ extraordinary being, can you?” Vania guessed as she looked at the guard standing before her, whose eyes were blank. She knew the spirituality related to the undead was “Enlightenment.”

Thinking that Dorothy might be an ‘Enlightenment’ extraordinary being, Vania couldn’t help but feel nervous herself; there were quite a few cults associated with “Enlightenment.”

“No, this isn’t my extraordinary ability; it’s just an extraordinary item, and it’s not ‘Enlightenment’,” Dorothy explained simply. The zombie puppets controlled by the Zombie Puppet Ring were all brain-dead living corpses, technically still alive in a biological sense. This was also why the guards couldn’t distinguish them, as they saw them as their former vibrant companions and would never think of them as the deceased.

Using the Zombie Puppet Ring, Dorothy began her infiltration and cleanup work. She disguised herself as an enemy companion using her puppets’ ability to speak, waiting for the right moment to assassinate. Then, she would convert the newly killed into puppets, forming a team to harvest the guards scattered throughout the villa.

Dorothy infused three points of extra “Enlightenment” into her Zombie Puppet Ring, expanding her puppet control limit to five. After employing the appearances and voices of her five puppets to deceive the remaining guards, she efficiently cleared them in less than ten minutes. Now, she had started to penetrate the interior of the villa, while the excess corpses exceeding her limit were hidden away as reserves for the upcoming battle.

In a state of quietude, Dorothy was close to reaching the outer layer of feathers of the mentor of the Holy Communion, having nearly cleared out these mortal minions.

The reason Dorothy was progressing so smoothly was that she knew the mentor was probably fully invested in a critical moment of his own right now.

“I need to hurry…”

While saying this, Dorothy entered the villa through a small door, with Vania following her after glancing around.

…

Inside the Field villa, in a spacious hall.

This was a chapel-like wide space located at the very center of the entire villa, with a direct connection from the ceiling to the floor, unobstructed by any floors. The first, second, and third floors merged into one space here, with corridors equipped with railings on the second and third floors encircling this hall, resembling high spectator seating in a theater, while the chapel below served as the stage.

A gigantic chandelier hung from the ceiling, and the marble floor was adorned with countless red candles. A large stained-glass window composed of colorful glass depicted an image of the Holy Mother, which was now marred with filthy bl**d. The bl**d covered the Holy Mother’s image, painting a wild wolf’s head over it.

In front of the bl**d-covered image of the Holy Mother, a large magical array was imprinted on the floor, predominantly drawn in bl**d, with a few spots dotted with a trace of an unidentifiable silver powder. In the center of the array was the spiritual symbol of “Cup,” while not far below it was the marker for “Shadow.”

In the center of the array sat a chair, where Lu’e had his legs crossed, flipping through a book with a red cover. Surrounding the magical array were seven children standing at regular intervals in a perfect circle, encircling Lu’e.

These children were both male and female, appearing to be aged between six and twelve. Each wore a garment with fluffy hems that was pure white and sported horn-like headbands, easily reminiscent of little sheep; these were the costumes they had once performed in.

These children had been adopted from the Orphanage of Mercy over the seven years during which Lu’e had controlled Field. They were the key to Lu’e’s advancement ritual.

At this moment, each child stood in a daze, except for one who was tied up and sitting on the floor; it was Anna, who was now panic-stricken, looking at the surroundings and her former companions from the orphanage.

“Judy! Misha! Wake up! What are you doing? Hurry, we need to escape from here!”

Seeing her former companions, Anna shouted desperately, but they did not move. One girl turned her head and coldly replied, “Be quiet, Anna. Father is about to welcome the Holy Time, and we are to witness it.”

“Holy Time… witness it… What are you talking about, Judy? Quickly help me untie the ropes, we need to get out!” Anna pleaded with a tearful voice towards her former companions, but they remained indifferent, giving her only a cold stare.

Seeing this, Anna immediately struggled to stand up from the ground, wanting to rush towards them in an attempt to wake them, but at that moment, a pair of large hands reached from behind her, grabbing her arm and throwing her back down to the floor. Anna cried out at the impact.

“You little brat, behave yourself!” yelled the bald orphanage staff harshly at the crying Anna, and at that moment, Bill walked to the center of the magical array, bending down to Lu’e with concern.

“Mentor, this girl hasn’t been taught about poison recognition or medication, and she doesn’t even know the complete song. Will there be any issues?”

“It doesn’t matter. Choral singing doesn’t require everyone to sing perfectly. As long as the majority know how to sing this ritual’s song, it will resonate with others and gradually form a collective whole. Therefore, even if one or two individuals don’t know how to sing, they will still be influenced and start singing, making her sing involuntarily,” Lu’e responded. “This is the manifestation of choral forms of secret transmission and poison recognition.”

“We no longer have time to specifically educate this girl. We have already confronted the An Yin Bureau; they may have reported to higher-ups. We need to leave Igewent immediately after the ritual is completed.”

“Understood…”

Lu’e instructed Bill beside him, and Bill bowed before slowly stepping back.

After Bill finished his bow, Lu’e flipped through the pages of the secret transmission book, reaching the last page which had an illustrated image.

On the ancient page, sketched in pencil, was a wolf-headed human monster, covered in fur, howling at the moon, and on the facing page, the following text was written.

……

The path of the bl**d Moon, the ritual to advance from the Black Earth Tier “Beast Transformation” to the White Chalk Tier “Werewolf.”

Ritual key: full “Cup” and half “Shadow”; seven lambs to be hunted. The “lamb” in ancient times was suspected to refer to a specific extraordinary being, which should have long since been extinct; what follows is a list of alternative plans developed by the society.

Select seven children aged six to thirteen that meet the criteria, teach them the secret transmission song of the “Lamb,” and during the advancement ritual, have them sing in chorus. Throughout this choral process, the children will develop the characteristics required of the “lamb,” and afterwards, hunt and devour the children serving as the “lamb.”

The ritual must be conducted at two o’clock in the morning during the Holy Time of the great “Gluttonous Wolf,” requiring a high-level existence or a suitable extraordinary “Cup” to preside over it. Otherwise, only divine observation can be prayed for.

Next, detailed criteria and specific methods for selecting the “lamb…”