The earth trembled.
The sea foamed crimson as the fused corpses that had once clawed their way across the water began to shudder violently. Their broken frames didn't collapse—no, they were pulled together. Bone cracked, flesh tore, sinew stretched. From hundreds of lesser abominations, a new form was being born.
A howl like the grinding of metal against stone split the night.
From the blood-soaked waters rose a colossal beast, a nightmare given flesh. A body stitched from countless abominations, wings of bone jutting from its back, a serpentine neck stretching into the sky. Its face was a patchwork of howling skulls, and its chest glowed with the pulsing red of corrupted mana.
The system screamed a warning across Kane's vision:
[ Blood Moon Boss Detected ]
Class: Crimson Horror – Apex Mutant
Level: 45
Threat Designation: Cataclysm
Even for Kane, the numbers felt unreal.
He clenched his fists. "…Finally. Something worthy of personal intervention."
Behind him, the Ironbound Legion—the skeletal warriors forged from his necromancy—stood ready. Over a hundred strong, their bodies were bound in black iron, eyes burning with unnatural light. Shields slammed into the ground in unison. Spears rattled like thunder.
"Legion!" Kane roared, his voice carrying across the battlefield."Form up. Today, the world sees what we are."
The command resonated like a war drum.
[ Warlord's Command (Tier 2) – Active ]
[ Resonance of Bonds – Active ]
Their stats surged in response. The Ironbound Legion became a tide of death.
As the Crimson Horror let out a bellow that shattered the shoreline, Kane raised his hand. His war aura flared like a storm.
"Advance. Drown it."
The Legion charged, a tidal wave of steel and bone crashing into the beast's colossal frame.
Kane leapt with them, his sword wreathed in crimson rage.
The monster's claws swept down, pulverizing the sand into molten glass. But the Legion did not break. Shields locked, halberds struck, and skeletal mages unleashed volleys of fire and ice.
Kane vaulted off a legionnaire's shield, driving his blade straight into the beast's shoulder. He rode the momentum up its towering form, cutting deep as his men scaled it alongside him. The creature writhed, shrieking, but the Legion clung on like an iron tide.
"War Cry!" Kane roared.
[ War Cry – Active ]
Effect: Allied morale and physical damage increased by 35%.
The battlefield shook with the response. Every strike from the Legion bit deeper. Kane's own blows carved burning trenches across the monster's hide.
"Warlord's Wrath!"
A crimson shockwave tore through the beast's torso, severing dozens of fused limbs in one sweeping arc. Black ichor rained down, hissing as it struck the ground.
Still, the creature fought, wings flaring wide as it tried to lift off.
Kane's eyes narrowed. "Not a chance."
With a command, dozens of skeletal mages chanted in unison, their magic binding chains of ice around the beast's wings. It roared, earth cracking beneath it as it strained to break free.
But the Legion held.
And Kane was already climbing, his blade glowing with the executioner's edge.
"Warlord's Execution!"
He plunged downward, his strike like a falling star. The blade drove into the monster's skull of skulls, shattering bone, severing the mana core inside.
The Crimson Horror shrieked once, a sound that split the night—then collapsed into the sea, dragging waves of blood with it.
The battlefield was silent. The Ironbound Legion stood victorious, drenched in ichor but unbroken. Kane landed atop the corpse, his aura fading, his chest rising and falling with controlled breath.
The system's reward screen flared open:
[ Blood Moon Boss Eliminated – Crimson Horror (Lv. 45) ]
[ Reward Pending… ]
But what stunned Kane most was the flood of notifications that followed.
[ +19,852 Coins ]
[ +22,315 Coins ]
[ +18,931 Coins ]
[ +20,440 Coins ]
The numbers stacked and stacked until Kane finally looked at the total.
Coin Balance: 287,743
Almost three hundred thousand coins. More than enough to fuel the next phase of expansion.
Kane glanced back toward the shoreline, where his allies were watching in awe. The world was shifting. The Blood Moon wasn't over yet—but Sanctuary Isle had just done the impossible.
He raised his sword, black ichor dripping down the blade.
"This is just the beginning."
The waves had only just begun to settle when a deep chime rolled across the skies. Not just above Sanctuary Isle—everywhere.
The air itself shimmered as golden runes formed in the clouds, their glow reaching across the world. A booming voice, cold and mechanical, echoed into every ear:
[ Global Announcement ]
Blood Moon Boss Mutant — Crimson Horror (Lv. 45) — has been slain.
Slayer: Kane Wylder – Sanctuary Isle
Contribution: 87%
Allied Support: Ironbound Legion
The broadcast wasn't only text. Screens of shimmering mana formed above safe zones across the continents, projecting the final moments of the fight.
Every soul, from trembling survivors in underground shelters to armed militias on their walls, watched the scene unfold: Kane, blade burning crimson, plunging down with his Legion into the skull of the colossal fused monster. The sound of the monster's death-cry echoed through the projections as if the whole world had been there.
Then came the silence.
Sanctuary Isle's banner was burned into the display—a skeletal insignia wrapped in crimson flame.
The Northern Bastion Safe Zone—ranked second in kills—fell into stunned silence. The Commander slammed his fist into the table hard enough to splinter the wood."Damn it! We couldn't even get close to a boss-class. And he—he wiped it with soldiers made of bones! Bones!"
The room's officers muttered among themselves. Fear mixed with desperation. "If Sanctuary Isle keeps this up… who'll even matter when the system's new hierarchy settles?"
The Eastern Stronghold—ranked third—reacted differently. Their leader, a woman clad in jagged steel armor, laughed bitterly."He butchered it like a god among ants… This Kane Wylder… he isn't human anymore."Her words drew glares of both awe and resentment. "Then we'll do what humans do when gods rise above us," she hissed. "We climb higher. Or we break him."
Even the smaller safe zones—barely surviving, low in rank—were left trembling. If Kane's Sanctuary Isle could slay a monster stitched from thousands, what did that make him? Savior? Or the beginning of something far more dangerous?
As the world burned with reactions, Kane's vision filled with golden light.
[ Blood Moon Boss Defeat Rewards ]
– +100,000 Coins
– Unique Reward: Blood Moon Relic – Crimson Core
– Global Title Earned: Blood Moon Slayer
– Additional Effect: +15% Combat Efficiency for all allied forces under Kane Wylder (duration: permanent).
Kane held the glowing crystal that appeared in his hand. The Crimson Core pulsed with terrifying energy, a condensed shard of the Blood Moon's curse and strength.
The system chimed again, louder this time, as if marking the close of an era:
[ Final Phase of the Blood Moon Begins ]
Time Remaining: 1 Hour
The horizon shifted. The moon above flared darker red, its glow bathing the oceans in fire. The ground shook as mutated howls rose in unison—tens of thousands of lesser beasts charging in one last, desperate surge.
The final hour had begun.
Kane clenched the Crimson Core in his palm and raised his sword. The Legion stood ready, their iron frames gleaming in the blood-red moonlight.
"Good," Kane muttered, eyes narrowing as the horizon boiled with movement."Let the last wave come. We'll bury it with them."
The final curtain of the Blood Moon was about to fall—and Sanctuary Isle would be the executioner.
The last of the system's chimes faded, leaving the battlefield steeped in crimson twilight. The Crimson Core pulsed faintly in Kane's palm—like the beating of a second heart. The glow painted his face in bloody hues, and even from a distance, his Legion stirred uneasily at the raw pressure it exuded.
"This… isn't just a reward," Kane murmured, turning the Core in his grip. It radiated hunger, power, and something else—a tether to the Blood Moon itself.
As he considered where best to use it, the faint etching of the Blood Moon Sigil branded on his arm began to thrum. Its lines shimmered, pulling faintly toward the Core as though answering an invisible call.
Kane's eyes narrowed. "You want this, don't you…?"
The Core vibrated violently, light spilling like molten rivers from its cracks. The Sigil burned scarlet against his skin. Before he could resist, both forces collided—fusing in a violent blaze of light.
The sky rumbled as the Sigil flared like a sun. Streams of crimson energy spiraled upward, spreading across the island like a storm's veil. Every survivor on Sanctuary Isle froze as the light washed over them, a sensation of suffocating weight pressing into their bones.
Then came the release.
The Core shattered into motes of red, absorbed fully by the Sigil. The glowing mark on Kane's arm pulsed one last time before falling dark—dormant again.
But the effect was instant.
The very air of the island changed. The miasma of corruption that always lingered, faint but sharp, was burned away by the Sigil's suppression. The oppressive aura of the Blood Moon thinned within the island's perimeter, as if the world itself dared not infect what Kane now owned.
System Notification
[ Blood Moon Relic Fusion Successful ]– Blood Moon Sigil has absorbed the Crimson Core.– Current Status: Dormant.– Passive Effect Activated:[ Sanctuary Isle – Crimson Ward ]– The island's boundaries now repel ambient corruption.– All mutated spawn rates within island perimeter reduced by 80%.– Survivors within Isle gain +10% Resistance to Mutagenic Influence.– Passive deterrence effect: Lesser mutated creatures will hesitate or avoid approaching the Isle's coasts.
Gasps broke across the stronghold walls as people felt the difference immediately. The choking taste of rot that had plagued them since the apocalypse began was gone, replaced by something almost pure—air that reminded some of a time before the fall.
The Ironbound Legion shifted their skull helms toward Kane in silence. The message was clear: the island itself now bent under his will.
Kane studied the dormant mark on his arm. The Sigil's glow had vanished, but the faint outline remained—like embers under ash. He could feel its heartbeat buried deep inside, waiting.
"This isn't the end," he muttered under his breath. "It's sleeping. And when it wakes… it'll want more."
The Blood Moon roared one last time above, its light flaring as the final countdown ticked into the last hour.
Kane turned toward the coast where the horizon writhed with movement—mutants still gathering, the last desperate surge before the event closed. His voice was steady, his will absolute.
"Form ranks. Ready drones. This island… is ours."
And now, with the Crimson Ward shielding them, Sanctuary Isle had become untouchable ground.
Would you like me to make Chapter 73 begin with the final hour's onslaught clashing against the new