During the night, in the northern mountains of Igwinte, Field's villa.
Near the stables of the large villa, a stable keeper was curiously watching a carriage looking for a spot to park, saying to another guard who had led the carriage over, "Hey, buddy, that's an outside carriage, isn't it? Why is it coming in at this time? Could it be..."
"Hey, buddy, that's an outside carriage, isn't it? Why is it coming in at this time? Could it be..."
"Just some poor soul who got lost outside. I'll take them in in a bit, and we'll have extra food tonight," the other guard said indifferently. Hearing his words, the stable keeper raised an eyebrow and said.
"That's great, I didn't expect there'd be such a fool delivering themselves right to our doorstep at this hour..."
"Haha, this world isn't short on fools... Oh, buddy, got any matches? Let me borrow a light."
"Yeah, hold on..." As he spoke, the stable keeper began searching his body for matches. The moment he lowered his head, the standing guard's expression darkened. He drew a hidden blade and plunged it into the stable keeper's throat. The stable keeper fell down, his mouth covered by the guard.
Then, in the distance, the carriage doors opened, and Dorothy stepped out, followed closely by Vanya, who was nervously looking around.
"Th-this, is this your Extraordinary ability? Manipulating the dead... You, could you be an Extraordinary of'Silent'?" Looking at the guard standing there with vacant eyes, Vanya guessed. She knew that Spirituality related to undead and the dead was "Silent".
Thinking that Dorothy might be an Extraordinary of "Silent", Vanya couldn't help but feel nervous. There were quite a few cults related to "Silent".
"No, this isn't my Extraordinary ability, just an Extraordinary item, and it's not from'Silent'," Dorothy explained simply. The Corpse Puppets controlled by the Corpse Puppet Ring were brain-dead living corpses. In a biological sense, they were still alive, which was why the guards couldn't tell them apart and were tricked one by one. In their eyes, these were their former living companions, and they wouldn't associate them with the dead.
Using the Corpse Puppet Ring, Dorothy began her infiltration and cleanup work. She used the ability of her Corpse Puppets to speak to disguise them as enemy companions, ambushing them when close, and then converting the newly killed people into Corpse Puppets, forming a team to harvest the guards scattered throughout the villa.
Dorothy injected three extra points of "enlightenment" into the Corpse Puppet Ring, expanding her Corpse Puppet control limit to five. These five Corpse Puppets then used their appearance and voices to gain the trust of other guards before secretly eliminating them. The efficiency was extremely high; the guards on the villa's periphery were cleared in less than ten minutes. Now, Dorothy had begun infiltrating the villa's interior, while the excess bodies exceeding the limit were hidden away as reserves for the later battle.
Without a sound, Dorothy was close to trimming away the outermost feathers of that Holy Communion Society Mentor, these ordinary henchmen, almost completely.
The reason Dorothy could proceed so smoothly, she knew, was likely because that Mentor was now fully immersed in his critical moment.
"Gotta hurry..."
Saying this, Dorothy walked into the villa through a small door. Vanya, after glancing around, also followed Dorothy inside.
...
Inside a large hall within Field's villa.
This was a spacious indoor area designed like a chapel, located at the very center of the entire villa. The space from the ceiling to the floor was directly connected, with no floors blocking it. The first, second, and third floors of the building merged into a single space here. Corridors with railings on the second and third floors were built around this hall, like the upper tiers of seating in a theater, while this chapel was like the stage below.
A huge chandelier hung from the ceiling. Countless red candles were lit and arranged on the marble floor. A large stained-glass window depicted the Holy Mother, one of the Three Saints of Light. This stained-glass image of the Holy Mother was now smeared with foul blood, covering the image and drawing a wild wolf's head upon it.
In front of the image of the Holy Mother, obscured by the blood wolf, a large magic circle was imprinted on the floor. This circle was mainly drawn with blood, with a few points embellished with a trace of unknown silver powder. At the center of the circle was the Spirituality symbol of "Cup", and not far below it was the mark of "Shadow".
In the center of the magic circle, there was a chair. Luer was sitting on it with his legs crossed, looking through a red-covered book. Around the magic circle, seven children stood at regular intervals, forming a perfect circle, surrounding Luer.
These children were both boys and girls, appearing to range in age from about six to twelve years old. Each of them wore a pure white garment with fuzzy edges and a sheep-horn-like headdress, easily associating them with little lambs. These were clothes they had worn for performances before.
These children were all adopted by Luer from Cien Orphanage during the seven years he controlled Field. They were the key to Luer's advancement ritual.
At this moment, each of the children stood in a daze. Only one person was sitting on the ground, bound hand and foot – that was Anna. She was currently looking around in a panic, seeing her former companions from the orphanage beside her.
"Judy! Misha! Wake up, quick, wake up! What are you doing! Wake up, we need to escape from here!"
Looking at her former companions, Anna shouted desperately, but they remained unmoved. One of the girls turned her head and said coldly to Anna.
"Be quiet, Anna. Father is about to usher in the saintly hour, and we are about to bear witness with our bodies."
"Saintly hour... bear witness with our bodies... What are you talking about, Judy! Quickly help me untie the ropes, let's escape!" Anna cried out for help to her former companion, but aside from giving her a cold look, the other girl remained completely unmoved.
Seeing this, Anna immediately struggled to stand up from the ground, wanting to rush towards the other girl, wanting to shake her awake. But at that moment, a pair of large hands reached out from behind her, grabbed her arm, and threw her to the ground. Anna immediately burst into tears from the fall.
"You little brat, behave yourself!" the bald orphanage caretaker roared sternly at the crying Anna. At this moment, Bill also walked from the side to the center of the magic circle, leaned down, and spoke to Luer with concern.
"Mentor, this last girl hasn't been educated with Spirit Sight and medicine, and she doesn't know the complete song yet. Will there be any problems?"
"It doesn't matter. A chorus doesn't require everyone to know how to sing. As long as most people know the song for this ritual, it will resonate with the others, gradually forming a whole. Therefore, even if one or two people don't know how to sing in the end, they will be influenced by the others and start singing. By then, even if she doesn't want to sing, she will sing involuntarily. This is a manifestation of the chorus-form secret transmission Spirit Sight."
"We don't have time to specifically educate this girl now. We've already shown our hand to the An Yin Bureau, and they've likely reported it to their superiors. We need to leave Igwinte immediately after the ritual is completed."
"Yes..."
Luer spoke to Bill beside him in a teaching manner, and Bill bowed before slowly stepping back.
After Bill bowed, Luer turned the pages of the secret transmission in his hand to the end, finding a page with a drawing.
Drawn in pencil on the ancient book page was a monster with a wolf's head and a human body, covered in long fur, howling at the moon. On the opposite page of this image was written the following text.
...
The Path of the Blood Moon, a ritual for advancing from Black Earth Stage "Beast-kin" to Chalk "Werewolf".
Ritual Key: A full "Cup" and a half "Shadow", seven "lambs" to be hunted. "Lambs" are suspected to have referred to specific Extraordinary creatures in ancient times, but they should now be extinct. What follows is the alternative developed by the cult.
Select seven children who meet the criteria, aged six to thirteen, and have them practice the secret transmission "Lamb Song". Then, have them sing in chorus during the advancement ritual. During the chorus, the children will acquire the characteristics of the "lambs" required for the ritual. Afterward, hunt and devour the children serving as "lambs".
The ritual needs to be held at 2 AM, the saintly hour of the great "Gluttonous Wolf". It requires a high-level being or a suitable Cup Extraordinary item to preside, otherwise, one can only pray for divine attention.
Next, a detailed explanation of the criteria for selecting "lambs" and the specific methods...