Chapter 598 - 588: Sound Source Pollution 40

The words proved to be a dark prophecy.

Evening was drawing near. Traveling at night was extremely dangerous, and everyone had been on the road all day. It was time to rest.

Just then, a red figure flashed through the crowd once more.

No one realized something was wrong until a mother suddenly screamed, crying, "My child!"

In the blink of an eye, the living, breathing child was gone.

The group eating in the car noticed the commotion.

Kai York asked, "Moira, did you just sense something approaching?"

Moira first nodded. "I sensed it, but it was incredibly fast. It was on us in the blink of an eye."

In other words, there was no time for a warning.

"At least it made a sound last time," Kai York said. "This time, it was completely silent. That makes it incredibly hard to defend against."

His talent was wind. After taking a Verasi Potion, he had not only awakened a new talent, but his original one had also evolved.

Now, he could sense the slightest changes in the wind.

"That thing must have been following us this whole time."

"Impossible." Moira shook her head. "If it had really been following us, there’s no way I wouldn’t have sensed it."

After comforting the mother for a little while, the crowd went back to their own affairs. They left the mother alone to grieve, her tears falling in silence.

Later that night, Moira’s eyes snapped open, and she whipped her head toward the car window.

The sight nearly gave her a heart attack.

Outside the window, a woman in a red, off-the-shoulder dress was staring intently at her. Her face was deathly pale, her hair stood on end, and a chilling smile was plastered on her face.

The car’s windows were tinted; you couldn’t see inside from the outside.

However, as their eyes met, Moira suddenly wasn’t so sure anymore.

Based on the attacks from earlier in the day, Moira was certain this woman was the same type of monster they had encountered before, yet she also seemed... different.

Her appearance was different, and she even seemed to possess a different level of intelligence.

Just as Moira was wondering whether to make a sound and wake Hugh Finch beside her, the woman outside suddenly opened her mouth wide, revealing rows of shark-like teeth.

They were so close that she could clearly see fresh scraps of flesh and blood wedged between the teeth.

Seeing it was ready to attack, Moira didn’t hesitate, immediately using her Annihilation Talent to wipe out the thing outside.

As the Annihilation Talent activated, a black flame instantly engulfed the woman in red. In the blink of an eye, she was incinerated, not even ash remaining.

Seeing this, Moira couldn’t help but marvel once again at the power of her Annihilation Talent.

「On the twenty-first day of the game.」

When Hugh Finch and Kai York woke up, Moira told them what had happened the previous night.

They were both shocked to hear that the monster had been standing right outside their car window.

"Moira, that was so dangerous! Why didn’t you wake us up?" Kai York exclaimed.

Moira said between bites of her breakfast, "Believe me, my heart almost jumped out of my chest. There was no time. Besides, I took care of it. You were both sleeping so soundly, I didn’t want to wake you."

"Moira, didn’t you say the Annihilation Talent was too dangerous? That you’d avoid using it in the game so you wouldn’t be targeted by the Cosmic Consciousness?"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures. I’m not that inflexible," Moira said with an innocent shrug. "In that situation, if I hadn’t dealt with her quickly, she was about to attack me at point-blank range."

’In a situation like that, you deal with the enemy first, ask questions later.’

They had thought that with the monster from last night dealt with, there would be no more disappearances today. However...

"AHHH!!!"

A scream, even more shrill and piercing than the day before, echoed from all directions. It was immediately followed by a cloud of yellow sand that engulfed the crowd.

After what happened the previous day, the sight sent the crowd into a panic. People scrambled to find cover, desperate to hide.

"They’re here," Moira said, her expression grim. "And there’s more than one."

Through the swirling yellow sand, several red figures could be seen flitting past at high speed.

Every time one of them descended, a person in the crowd would scream and vanish.

Some tried to fight back, but they couldn’t even tell where the enemy was.

Even Moira had no immediate solution for the red figures in the sky.

The creatures were simply too fast. Even though her spiritual power could detect them, she couldn’t pinpoint their exact locations.

"Kai York, use your wind to blow all this sand away!" Moira suddenly ordered.

’These monsters are using the sandstorm to hide. Without it, let’s see where they can run.’

At her command, Kai York raised his hand. A hurricane-force wind tore through the area, instantly clearing the sky not only of sand, but of the clouds as well.

With the sand no longer obscuring their vision, the people finally got a clear look at the monsters that had been attacking them.

"G-ghosts! Female ghosts!"

Red dresses, red high heels, deathly pale skin, hair standing on end, and that same chilling smile.

They really did look like female ghosts from a horror story.

Perhaps because they no longer had the sand for cover, Moira sensed a flicker of panic from the monstrous women—even fear.

"They’re trying to escape! Don’t let them get away!"

Moira and Kai York threw open their car doors and jumped out at almost the same instant.

Kai York flicked his hand, sending a dozen Wind Blades flying toward the monsters. At the same time, Moira nocked and loosed three arrows in a single motion.

Seeing this, the others also found their courage and attacked the remaining monsters.

In moments, most of the ghostly monsters were dead. Two, wounded, were captured alive.

A woman with red, swollen eyes pushed through the crowd. She came to a halt before one of the captured monsters and demanded, "Where is my daughter? Where did you take her?!"

Her question was met with silence.

Seeing that the situation was resolved, Moira and Kai York quietly returned to the car, having no intention of seeking the spotlight.

"These monsters don’t seem that strong. They’re just scary looking," Kai York mused. "If you compare them, their defense is probably weaker than the ones we fought back in Portmire. Are they really the same species?"

"I think so," Moira guessed. "They’re probably just different mutations."