Chapter 90: The Past of the Red Moon
The temperature in the room suddenly dropped.
It felt like something was calling out to the surroundings. Shadows slowly covered the bed and the blanket.
The end of the blanket lifted first. Then together with the pillow, they stood up from the bed and started swaying as they moved toward Peiya.
Peiya raised her hand and cast “Dispel”. The ball of light bounced a few times on the ground, its glow getting weaker and weaker, until it broke into tiny bubbles and disappeared into the air.
“…It failed.”
Peiya muttered to herself. She tried to cast another spell, but Hunhun stopped her.
“It’s useless. This is the Demon Wolf’s whisper. You can’t break it with basic magic.”
“…I see.”
Peiya stopped using magic. She stared at the blanket coming toward her, then simply raised her fist and punched it down to the ground.
The strange evil power on it disappeared the moment it fell.
What remained was just a clean-looking blanket, though the corners were still dirty.
Peiya walked over, bent down, and picked it up. After checking it carefully, she found nothing unusual.
The magic on it had already disappeared.
“So physical attacks can hurt it?”
The Moon Tree floated around the blanket and circled it once.
“No. You only left a very faint ‘death aura’ on it. Look at the ground.”
Peiya looked down. Her cold gaze landed on a faint, almost invisible figure.
It looked like a blob spread on the ground, like slime. Its body was flat, with an uneven wavy outline.
Peiya immediately recognized it and shouted:
“Is that a Shadow Monster?”
Shadow monsters are small creatures. In books, they are often confused with ghosts.
“That’s right, my lady. It was probably hiding here, then got affected by the Demon Wolf’s whisper. It possessed the blanket and tried to attack you. My lady, what do you plan to do with it?”
“Eat it.”
Peiya walked forward and reached out to grab it.
But just as she did, the shadow monster suddenly came back to life. It started crying hard, its expression clearly saying, ‘Please don’t eat me, I can do anything!’
“Tell me why I shouldn’t eat you,” Peiya said coldly. “You were trying to attack me just now, right? You were allowed to attack me, but now that you lost, you want me to spare you? Why do you get all the good options? Give me a reason. If it’s not good enough, I won’t be polite.”
The shadow monster trembled and shook nonstop.
Peiya frowned and looked at the Moon Tree.
“Hunhun, can you understand what it’s saying?”
“Yes. Just touch me. I’ll give you a small part of my power.”
“Alright.”
Peiya touched the Moon Tree with her fingertip. A warm feeling spread from her finger and quickly flowed into her body.
When she listened again, the shadow monster’s voice became clear.
[Monster Language]
“Please don’t eat me! I really don’t know how I got here! I was just walking normally, and suddenly I ended up in your room! I didn’t mean it! Please don’t eat me! I can work for you for free!”
“So timid…”
Peiya rubbed her forehead.
Hunhun spoke from the side,
“My lady, even though you haven’t merged with the witch’s power, your aura is still that of a witch. To low-level monsters like this, it’s like a lion standing in front of a small dog. Of course they are afraid of you.”
“I see.”
Peiya nodded slightly.
“Since you admit your mistake, I’ll spare you for now. You seem to be good at possession. Try entering this mirror.”
She threw a mirror to the ground.
The shadow monster circled around it, then suddenly jumped into the mirror headfirst.
Ripples like water spread across the surface for a while before becoming calm again.
Peiya bent down and picked up the mirror.
What used to be a normal mirror now looked different. Because of the shadow monster, its surface had sunk inward, like a deep space pocket.
When she touched it, her hand could actually go inside the mirror.
“Can you carry things?”
Peiya was testing new uses for the mirror, and soon got a reply.
[Monster Language]
“Yes. I can carry some simple items. If it’s too complicated, I can’t eat it.”
“By eating?”
Peiya held her chin and thought. She knew shadow monsters could possess things, but she didn’t expect them to store items by eating them.
Also, the shadow monster spoke only in Monster Language, unlike the Ice Bear King who could speak the human language of the kingdom.
The reason for this difference was unclear, but Peiya guessed it had something to do with experience.
For example, a shadow monster like this probably never left its nearby streets. But the Ice Bear King grew up in the Calamity Forest, surrounded by many other monsters. On top of that, the witch Kreis had brought back human books.
Maybe he practiced speaking sometimes, and over time, learned some basic human language.
“Shadow monster, how did you get into the human city? This isn’t the old district, you shouldn’t be able to come here.”
Unlike the old district, the main city area had much better security. It wasn’t impossible for a shadow monster to slip in, but doing it this openly was rare.
Did it think it wouldn’t get caught because it’s a shadow monster?
But Peiya guessed that the city patrols probably had people like Elise, who could sense the presence of monsters.
[Monster Language]
“Red moon… very strong. I was affected and slipped in.”
“You mean the red moon can make monsters stronger?”
[Monster Language]
“Yes. Red moon very strong. Many monsters worship it and like to hunt when it appears.”
“That makes sense… I didn’t think of that before.”
Peiya nodded slowly. Before, like many scholars, she thought the red moon only affected the temper of monsters, making them go crazy and attack.
Now it seemed that idea was too simple, and a bit wrong.
But it wasn’t entirely their fault. After all, you can’t just grab a monster and ask it questions.
The shadow monster spun around and came out of the mirror.
“My stomach is hungry. Do you have anything to eat?”
“You eat food? What can you even eat?”
“Energy. Your negative emotions… or your fear.”
“Fear?” Peiya clicked her tongue, looking troubled. She remembered how it possessed the blanket earlier.
“You’re not planning to scare me again with that flying blanket trick, are you?”
“Yes. When humans feel fear, it creates energy. We can eat it!”
“Forget it. You can’t scare me. Here, take a magic core and just eat that.”
Peiya tossed it a broken magic core.
The shadow monster was shocked.
[Monster Language]
“Magic core… very valuable. Are you sure you want to give it to me?”
“What? That’s a low-level one. How weak are you shadow monsters if you only eat energy waves?”
“We… cannot defeat other monsters. Only very strong shadow monsters can do that.”
When Peiya heard that, she couldn’t hold back anymore.
“You’re a monster that can possess things, and you still can’t beat normal monsters? You could just possess a weapon and attack them! And when they try to hit you, you can just leave the object. Monsters without mental attacks can’t even touch you! With such a useful ability, and you use it to scare people??”
“What is a weapon? Can you eat it?”
“….”
Got it. This thing has no brain.
As expected, the world is fair. When one door opens, another closes.
“Forget it. Just remember this, listen to me from now on, and I’ll make sure you live well. Can you do that?”
The shadow monster tossed the magic core into the air, caught it in its mouth, and nodded hard.
“Yes! My lady, just give me any task, and I, Yingying, will do it!”