Lunar Awakening-Chapter 29: Curses, The Gallant Adventurer & The Scion Of A Great Family (1)

Chapter 29: Curses, The Gallant Adventurer & The Scion Of A Great Family (1)

Leo tried to forget the taste of blood left behind by the number of corpses he had torn through during the night. Despite how dark it had been back then, every image still seemed fresh enough to remember. The day was already breaking, and the sun was peeking over the horizon.

The golden rays of the sun grazed the back of a pale young man who knelt in the grassland, which was now bathed in thick patches of dried blood. On his face and hands were huge patches of congealed blood that barely covered up the huge gashes decorating his frail body, and his clothes were also soaked in black blood.

Leo was somewhat fully awake in a sense, but his body remained in a catatonic state. It felt like his body had been put in an over and drained of every bit of moisture and life from it. He could vividly remember what had happened the night before.

It was just after he had finished killing the last of the beasts that he began to salivate over the corpses of the dormant beasts. He remembered digging his fangs into their flesh and tearing them apart in huge chunks, he remembered feeling black blood rolling his tongue and giving him a cold-sour taste; he had practically turned into a rabid animal.

Eventually, he found the taste of the dormant beasts horrid, causing him to expunge them from his system. As positive as that should have sounded, it however raised another dilemma. Leo discovered that he was not as attracted to the corpses of dead beasts as he had been to the human he had killed before.

Even with the knowledge that he had thrown up the beast flesh, it did not stop him from feeling an overwhelming disgust toward himself.

He looked at his trembling hands, still bathed in black blood.

"What the hell have I become?" His voice sounded hoarse and cracked, almost non-human. It was almost like hearing the low beastial growl of a wild animal.

To his surprise, the voice of the entity within him returned.

"I take it you did not enjoy your first meal? I figured your kind would have evolved more from their primal lust."

Leo’s face contorted into a deep smile.

"Who the hell are you?"

A soft chime sounded in his head.

[You have received 1 Lunar Point for completing a daily objective: Resist "Xavax".]

[Lunar Points can be allocated to stat slots.]

His eyes widened slightly.

"Xavax."

The voice went silent for a few seconds before returning, this time darker.

"How dare you call me like we are equals."

Leo watched as the daily objectives renewed themselves.

[Daily Objectives]

1. Resist the urge to consume flesh.

Reward: 1 Lunar Point.

2. Resist "Xavax".

Reward: 1 Lunar Point.

3. Awaken an exclusive skill.

Reward: 1 Lucky Roulette Coupon.

He did not have the strength to stand up and walk away from the scene of the carnage, so he stayed there to recover. He was still shocked that he had deviated from his initial plan. Despite wanting to avoid them, he had ended up fighting them and surprisingly, he had won.

Yet why did he not feel excited about himself?

He had done what would have normally been impossible for him and survived, surely that was something positive.

’I really messed up. I should have played it safe. I could have died.’ His mind replayed the events of the previous night’s battle, and he hated himself for every misstep he had made.

Given the fact that it was his very first fight against multiple beasts, there was still room for a lot of improvement.

Leo could not afford to die-- not when he had others depending on him to survive.

A sound interrupted his train of thought almost immediately. It was the rustling of leaves, something his heightened ears had picked up from beyond the grassland, and it was approaching slowly.

"Oh my goodness, I almost fell into that hole."

He recognised the voice as that of the strange man who came to the grassland every single day.

’What’s this? Why is he here so early in the day? Doesn’t he have anywhere better to be?’ Leo argued within himself, only to look up at the sky and see the sun already at its zenith. Without having a watch, the sun was the most definitive way to tell time in Hellscape.

’What the hell? How long have I been here?’ His mind raged within him.

He could hear the man getting closer. Leo commanded his body to move, but it remained glued to the ground by a strange force. Such a thing could only be superhuman.

He tried to move his arms; it felt like pulling a truck with the brakes on. The fatigue was still evident in his body, and to his surprise, his wounds were barely healing. He quickly deduced that there was no way he could possibly leave the scene before the man arrived, and he most likely did not want to be seen there.

He thought about what would happen if "the peerless loser" was found at the heart of the carnage. He doubted anyone would rush forward to give him a recommendation or a pat in the back, so the smartest choice was to conceal his identity for now.

He only had a few seconds before the man would arrive and witness the carnage and its maker in the middle, this left Leo to play a move he did not want to make so early on.

He summoned his transcendent tier armour to cover up his body and face. It was the only thing he could do to conceal his identity now that his body refused to move. By the time the man reached the grassland, Moonfall’s Bride had finished materialising around Leo’s body.

The man arrived at the grassland he usually visited to document the overgrown rodent-like dormant beasts. He had expected to find them feasting on carcasses given the scent of blood that was heavy in the air. Instead, he found the entire grassland cut down, with the bodies of the dormant beasts scattered in pieces in inhuman bloody mounds. Blood and guts were practically everywhere.

The image was so grotesque it almost made him throw up. Even a superhuman would have problems stomaching such a sight at first glance. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"By the heavens, this is a massacre!" he screamed at the top of his voice.

The man, who had thick, curly brown hair and looked to be in his late twenties. He wore a look of utter bewilderment and was heavily shaken by what he had just witnessed.

In the middle of the carnage stood a lustreless black suit of armour, kneeling as though it were performing a ritual. It’s exterior itself absorbed light rather than reflect it, it also had an odd ambience about it-- one of defiance and betrayal.

Afraid to come any closer, the man cleared his throat and yelled, "Excuse me, sir! Was all of this your doing?"

Leo rolled his eyes behind his visor.

’Can’t you take a hint, you fool?’ He had no idea why the man was still standing there. Any sane person would have run by now, but then again could anyone who had survived so long in the brutal grounds of Hellscape being considered-- sane?

Leo began thinking of a way out of his current predicament, or else he would be left paralysed far longer than he expected. He knew he was practically an open target.