“Shut up!”

The gaunt figure, finally unable to bear it any longer, shouted in utter frustration:

“Moonlight’s protection has a limit! You’re so damn loud—what if someone hears us?!”

The furious roar echoed through the quiet corridor.

For a moment, even the lantern trembled violently, as if it might fly out of his hand and shatter at any moment.

Creak... creak...

Their shadows danced on the walls, distorted and chaotic, like sneering demons mocking them.

Both men fell silent and stared at each other.

A moment passed, and it was Scarface who broke the silence—his voice low, his expression filled with wronged indignation.

“Clearly you were the one yelling louder! If you’ve got a death wish, fine, but could you not drag me down with you?”

“...Your mother...”

The gaunt man suddenly felt a wave of anger lodge itself in his chest, stuck between throat and gut, and he had to fight the urge to strangle the idiot in front of him on the spot.

But he couldn’t. The mission was more important.

A sliver of icy fury flashed across his sunken, skeletal face—but he quickly reined it in.

“Less talking. Move.”

“Sure, where’re we going?”

“To the deepest part of the Mercury We—”

The gaunt man abruptly froze.

Because the voice that had just spoken, while just as aggravating, didn’t quite match Scarface’s tone.

He turned his head—and saw Scarface standing stiff, lips clamped shut, frantically shaking his head.

Wait a second...

The gaunt figure’s pupils shrank. He stopped caring about concealment and shouted into the darkness:

“Who’s there?! Stop hiding like a coward and show yourself!”

“Hiding like a coward? Now that’s funny coming from the rats sneaking into someone else’s house.”

With a lazy chuckle, a shadow stepped out from the ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ corridor’s gloom—

A pink bear.

A pink bear?

The gaunt man was momentarily dumbfounded.

What the hell was this? A joke?

“Who are you?”

“Tsk tsk. From the look of it, seems your intel’s a bit outdated.”

The pink bear walked forward, its heavy footsteps hitting the floor with an oddly sticky splat, splat sound.

“You mean you don’t know? Yours truly, Pink Bear, is currently serving as this academy’s acting dean.”

“Dean?”

The gaunt man was stunned. His gaze darted up and down the bear, but no matter how he looked at it, the thing in front of him screamed “comedic mascot.”

Still, he calmed himself quickly.

Even if the intel said nothing about this Pink Bear and only mentioned Dean Hatherway’s sudden departure—if this guy had access to a core facility like this, he was definitely no ordinary fool.

“What a shame,” the gaunt man said coldly. “I was hoping to use more peaceful methods.”

“Playing dumb might’ve been nice, huh?”

“Playing dumb is very nice.”

Pink Bear sighed. “I really didn’t want to get involved in messy crap like this. Just hiding in my office, puffing cigars while flipping through porno mags—that’s the second-best thing in the world. First-best would be sitting on a beach, ogling long, white legs.”

“But, hey, the academy pays me. Gotta do some work. If Professor Prang goes lion-roaring at me again or files another impeachment with the board, I’ll lose my funding. That’d be real unfortunate.”

“Sounds like I ruined your good time.”

“Damn right you did. You nutjob cultists—couldn’t you stir up your nonsense after my term as acting dean wraps up? You’re seriously pissing me off.”

“And when I get pissed off...”

Pink Bear suddenly opened his comically wide mouth—like a black hole—and reached inside, pulling out a massive spiked mace.

The laziness vanished from his voice, replaced with bone-chilling menace.

“—I want to kill people.”

In that instant—

The thick stench of blood exploded into the air. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

So foul, so nauseating, it was like standing on a battlefield heaped with corpses and soaked in gore.

Yet, curiously, there wasn’t a single drop of blood around. So where was the stench coming from?

Trickle...

The sound of flowing liquid echoed faintly.

The gaunt man suddenly realized: blood was streaming from the pink bear’s goofy eyes, its ears, even the fake nose that was clearly just a prop.

The blood was hot—radiating a grotesque, unspeakable terror.

“Wh-what... what are you?”

The gaunt man’s voice trembled.

Even he—who had long forsaken living flesh and embraced the dead silence—felt a pang of... fear?

Fear, in the presence of a pink mascot that had transformed from a joke to a nightmare.

“If you really wanna know...”

Pink Bear raised the spiked mace slowly. “Ask in hell. Someone down there probably knows.”

In that instant, the gaunt man’s vision went red, his breath caught in his throat—it was as if he were drowning in a raging river of blood.

No—

Illusion!

The gaunt man suddenly came to and raised the lantern in his hand again.

The pale-blue light inside flickered, and his shadow began to dance—like some beast lurking in the dark, baring its fangs.

The shadow spread. Pink Bear seemed to sense something and abruptly stopped, hesitating, unwilling to advance.

“Hah... haha! See that? I’m a Child of the Moon! You think some filthy mortal like you can match me?”

Seeing Pink Bear halt, the gaunt man burst into crazed laughter. He didn’t even notice how, as the lantern’s blue light intensified, his already emaciated body shriveled further.

It was as if some invisible presence was sucking the last traces of life from him, bit by bit.

“So you're one of those dumbasses brainwashed by the Evil Gods, huh?”

Pink Bear’s voice was mocking now.

He scratched his head. Dragging this out didn’t feel wise. Might as well ignore the Evil God's influence for now and just beat this guy to death first.

Sure, there’d be some price to pay—but it wasn’t unacceptable.

Just as he was about to strike—

Pfftch.

The sound of a blade piercing flesh rang out.

The gaunt man’s laughter stopped abruptly.

Even Pink Bear, behind that ridiculous mascot face, showed a flicker of surprise.

What the hell just happened?

“Why...?”

The gaunt figure slowly looked down—at the giant sword that had pierced through his chest.

In his sunken eyes, confusion swirled.

“Aren’t we... comrades? Aren’t we both... believers in the Great Divine One?”

Why... would you stab me in the back?

“You have the gall to ask that?!”

Came a sorrowful roar from behind.

It was Scarface, face twisted in rage.

“The thing I hate most in life is trash like you! No plan, no backup route, and you can’t even beat the guy you’re up against?!”

As he spoke, Scarface kicked the gaunt man away and flung the bloody sword aside.

Then he turned to Pink Bear and flashed a fawning grin:

“Uh... Mister Bear—no, Master Bear! I’m ready to renounce the dark side now. Is it... is it too late to switch sides?”