The Invincible Full-Moon System Chapter 1883: Another Dangerous Entity

"Finally, I can rest..."

Vadyn sank into her chair.

Her entire body relaxed the moment she settled into her favorite seat within her office. It had truly been an exceedingly long and grueling day.

Everyone at the Enforcer Headquarters had already departed for the night, given that it was past midnight. However, she remained. This wasn't due to an uncompleted task or a lack of a home to return to; rather, her office served as her sanctuary.

It felt more secure than her actual residence.

She had arduous work to reach this esteemed position.

Even though her family held the most significant influence in Larta City presently, she declined any assistance in attaining her current role. It was solely the fruit of her relentless effort. traversing from one cluster to another, she diligently protected the Primordial Meadow and its related territories by imposing penalties upon those who dared to transgress.

Enforcers constitute a cadre of elite operatives, belonging to a specialized organization independent of any other department.

Only the High Lord possesses the authority to command them.

During periods of inactivity, their mandate is to ensure that all entities venturing into the Primordial Meadow adhere to the established sacred regulations. Should they fail to comply, the Enforcers are authorized to implement punitive measures and have the discretion to dictate the severity of such punishments.

Commencing one's journey from the lowest rung is an arduous undertaking.

Vadyn, alongside the other probationary enforcers, toiled unceasingly with barely any respite.

Now holding the rank of sergeant, a significant portion of her responsibilities involved overseeing the enforcers ranked below her. Nevertheless, in the event of a major disturbance, she was designated as the primary responder—arriving long before any lieutenant or captain could make their appearance.

And today, that exact scenario had unfolded on four separate occasions. She was utterly exhausted.

Vadyn closed her eyes for a solid two minutes before retrieving a rubber ball from her desk drawer.

She initiated a rhythmic pattern, tossing the ball against the wall and catching its rebound repeatedly—allowing the monotonous motion to soothe her agitated mind. Alas, it proved ineffective. Her thoughts kept replaying the revelation High Lord Rashal had shared with her in his office.

"An entity that had inflicted harm upon a God," Vadyn murmured. "No one, whether a Demigod or a Mortal, can injure a God and anticipate a lack of repercussions. The Herald of the Godless will indeed mark them. Therefore, what designs does my cousin harbor concerning an individual of such a nature?"

High Lord Rashal appeared to confide in Vadyn.

Yet, she harbored not a shred of belief that he had divulged the entirety of the truth, despite their intimate connection.

"It's not my concern," Vadyn declared with a shrug, retrieving her phone. She accessed her preferred online game and reclined in her chair. If the simple act of tossing a ball failed to provide distraction, then a game would undoubtedly serve the purpose of diverting her thoughts. "I am perfectly content with my current standing."

Just as the game's loading screen materialized, a knock echoed from the door.

Vadyn directed her gaze towards the entrance and set her phone aside. "Enter," she commanded.

An enforcer stepped into her office, and Vadyn recognized him instantly. He was one of the particularly promising recruits.

"Mark," she commented, leaning back in her seat, surprised to find him still present. He had a family, making his remaining here this late an uncommon occurrence. "Won't your wife reprimand you for staying so late? Go on home. I'll handle the closing procedures."

"It's an emergency," Mark responded, his voice laced with unease.

Moments later.

Vadyn, Mark, and two additional enforcers were positioned within a vast chamber situated on the subterranean level. All of them were already clad in their battle attire. Their combat gear was standardized: entirely black with striking red accents, reinforced with protective plating, masks obscuring their lower faces, and accompanied by insignia crafted entirely from shimmering stars.

Only Vadyn's equipment deviated from this standardized array.

The others were equipped with regulation weaponry.

Mark was armed with a Petrifying Bone-lance secured to his forearm, a formidable weapon extending to his knees. As for the other two, they wielded Mobile Realm-shields. These were levitating discs—adhering to their arms as if extensions of their own limbs.

The evident preparation suggested they anticipated a significant confrontation.

Vadyn extended her arm, and Mark promptly handed her a document.

It contained the specific coordinates of their destination.

With the coordinates secured, she approached the wall and pressed her index finger, which glowed with ethereal light, against its surface. The wall responded instantaneously, a section transforming into a translucent, then solid, glass-like material. Vadyn meticulously traced the numerals onto its surface with her glowing energy; the script was unfamiliar and unintelligible to anyone but herself.

With another gentle touch, the glass pane vibrated to life.

Through the fractured, uneven surface of the glass wall, the other enforcers could glimpse another realm entirely.

"Let's proceed."

Vadyn stepped through the shimmering glass, and the others followed closely behind.

The environment that greeted them on the other side was starkly contrasting to their point of origin.

Remnants of modernity were entirely absent. In truth, nothing but colossal arches of obsidian-like stone jutted from the desolate ground, resembling skeletal ribs that curved over a barren expanse stretching as far as the eye could discern. A tenuous mist snaked low across the terrain, consuming the distance and muffling all sound, until even the faintest sigh of the wind seemed hushed, as if fearful of lingering.

Everything was muted—both light and color were reduced to a cold, ash-like stillness.

Existence is absent here. Or, at the very least, it has ceased to be.

"Is this truly the Primordial Meadow?" an enforcer questioned, his voice laced with disbelief. "It seems so... lifeless."

"A few platoons of senior Pale Defenders once traversed this area," Mark replied, his gaze sharp and sweeping across the desolate horizon. "They scoured this place thoroughly. Yet, the corruption... it was adept at concealment." He paused, adding, "I heard they remained stationed here for fifty years, constructing temporary fortifications and undertaking extensive excavation efforts. Ultimately, their endeavor proved fruitless."

"So, this location was ultimately forsaken, designated as a dead zone."

"Deploy the radar," Vadyn commanded. "Let's locate them."

Merely weeks prior, a contingent of ten enforcers was dispatched to this sector, the Western Cavity, following the detection of an extraterrestrial entity breaching the realm. The entry point’s unusual nature, as few would willingly venture into such a perilous, desolate expanse, prompted the enforcers' investigation.

Their mission was to ascertain whether this intruder posed a significant threat or was merely a reckless fool.

High Lord Rashal himself had issued the directive.

However, communication with the dispatched team was abruptly severed, and they never returned.

A subsequent team was sent the following day to investigate the fate of the first, but they too vanished without a trace, mirroring the initial team's disappearance. In the days that followed, additional teams were deployed, yet not a single member returned to recount their experiences.

Ultimately, Vadyn was summoned.

She expressed surprise at being assigned this task, having anticipated an order directly from the High Lord.

The instruction, however, originated from the lieutenant.

'Either he has confidence in my capabilities to handle this,' Vadyn mused, leaning towards the latter interpretation, 'or he intends to gauge this hostile entity's familiarity with the Primordial Meadow.' 'A sense of unease pervades this place, yet since I am already here...'

Vadyn's deployment served as a trial run.

Should the entity possess knowledge of the Primordial Meadow, Vadyn's survival would be predicated upon it.

After all, antagonizing a member of a High Lord's lineage constituted a capital offense.

Considering the extensive authority a High Lord wielded under the Overseer's purview, the entity would be identified instantaneously.

Such a situation presented nothing but impending peril that demanded avoidance.

'Fortuitously, the others remain unaware of the previous teams' fates,' Vadyn thought to herself, her gaze shifting towards Mark and the two other enforcers trailing behind her. The order had been relayed via telephone, leaving Mark himself privy to only the barest details, classifying it as an emergency. 'Were they privy to the full account, I doubt their resolve would have remained steadfast enough to accompany me still.'

Vadyn harbored a fervent hope that the entity would recognize her and refrain from initiating an assault.

Nevertheless, she stood prepared should hostilities commence.

The quartet proceeded, guided by the radar's persistent signal.

Upon the demise of any enforcer, a beacon would emanate from their remains, an effect impervious to disruption.

It was intrinsically linked to the Primordial Meadow and the Overseer, rendering this consequence absolute.

Locating the sites of their final moments became a trivial matter due to this mechanism, yet the journey extended beyond twenty minutes. As they finally converged upon the designated blue marker, they found themselves enveloped by an unnerving emptiness.

No evidence. No remnants. Utterly nothing.

Only barren terrain punctuated by the ubiquitous black stone arches.

"It should be somewhere around here," Mark mumbled, his movements scanning the vicinity.

"Around here? Where exactly?" Another enforcer interjected, his confusion evident. "Are we standing directly atop the blue dot? Perhaps this individual possessed the courtesy to inter the fallen."

"It's entirely possible they lie beneath us," Mark stated, positioning himself precisely over the blue dot. "I am standing directly above it."

A faint pressure settled upon his shoulder. Mark turned his head, not anticipating any sudden occurrence, only to observe a shimmering droplet of liquid that refused to penetrate his water-resistant combat gear. He touched it with a fingertip, then his brow furrowed in perplexity. "Is it raining?"

"No," Vadyn responded, her head tilted skyward, a deep frown etched between her brows.

She slowly, deliberately, raised a finger.

Mark extended his hand. Another droplet descended, striking his palm—this time, a crimson hue, carrying the acrid scent of copper. Blood.

"Above us..." Vadyn whispered, her voice barely audible. "The fallen are suspended above us."

Slowly, Mark and the other enforcers cast their gazes upward, their breaths catching in their throats, utterly stunned.

Suspended above them were four obsidian stone arches, converging into a singular, nightmarish silhouette against the moon's ethereal glow. At the zenith of this dark edifice, a crystalline thicket glittered, dozens of sharp spikes protruding from the stone.

Each spike was impossibly transparent, resembling frozen water or the delicate stems of some ethereal, light-devouring flora.

Yet, no known flower bore petals of such a nature.

The bodies of the enforcers from the prior missions were impaled with an unnerving precision, indicative of a singular, malevolent design. Each victim had been threaded onto the glass-like spikes from behind; the exit wound presented as a silent, porcelain rupture just below the ribs.

Mark's stomach churned violently.

The state of the others was identical.

The sight from below was so dizzying. Suspended bodies hung in the air, their arms dangling precariously towards the ground. The soles of their feet and the arch of their backs were visible, contorted into the shape of a final, agonizing blow. This had clearly been done while they were still alive.

It truly resembled a grand ritual, a testament to an individual who considered slaughter a form of art.

Vadyn, however, did not freeze.

She leaped onto the blackened stone arc and began to climb.

Upon reaching the top, a horrifying stench assaulted her senses. Yet, what truly captured her attention was something else entirely: a menacing aura, unlike anything she had ever encountered before. 'Once an enforcer attained the rank of sergeant, we were bestowed a blessing from the Overseer, forging a deeper connection to our beloved realm, the Primordial Meadow.'

'And that is likely why I can sense this,' Her eyes narrowed.

Earlier, back in the Southern Cavity, before her encounter with Rex, she had thoroughly inspected the surrounding area.

At that time, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

There were only missing bodies and the same ambient energy level in the air.

Nevertheless, she had felt profoundly uneasy, akin to being in the vast ocean with a shark lurking beneath the surface.

One could sense an impending danger without knowing its nature. This was precisely the sensation coiling within Vadyn now—a dread devoid of any discernible origin. She had never experienced this feeling until recently, not even once. Since Rex and whatever entity haunted this place ignited the exact same chill in her blood, the implication was undeniably clear.

"Another one marked by the Herald of the Godless..." she mused, her brow furrowed. "Another entity who has harmed a God."

...

Meanwhile, at the police headquarters in Larta City.

"Damn it! Do you even know who I am? Think about it! I have immense wealth—so why on earth would I need to steal the High Lord’s credit card?!" Aaran bellowed, shouting at the one-way window in sheer fury. "I am clearly being framed by someone!"

After being apprehended by several police officers for a reported missing credit card, they discovered the very same card in his pocket.

It belonged to the High Lord, and he was promptly taken into custody.

Now, he found himself confined within this cold interrogation room.

More than an hour had passed, and he had been left in solitude.

Just then, the door creaked open, and a figure entered.

"Calm yourself. I know you're not a thief," a man stated, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. "However, you are a liar."