How to Decide

Pressing his eyes against the crack in the door, Lynch peered into the barn. The interior was brightly lit.

It wasn't the steady, whistling flame of gas lamps, but the flickering flame of a natural fire, as if someone had built a massive bonfire inside the cavernous barn.

Shadows swayed within the light of the flames accompanied by a synchronized chant. The infant-like cries of the ghouls had fallen into eerie unison, led by the deepest voice among them as they recited words in a language Lynch couldn't understand.

Lynch's heart sank.

It was definitely a ritual. Was Elder Bru telling the truth after all? Had the hillmen finished their preparations, unable to wait even a single night, intending to move against Maya tonight?

The gap in the door was far too narrow to get a complete view. Lynch surveyed his surroundings, activated his Phantasmal Sound ability once more, and then scampered up the outer wall of the tall barn like a nimble cat.

Prising away a roof tile, Lynch held his breath and pressed one eye to the opening to look down.

The interior of the barn had long since been cleared out, creating a wide, open space. In the four corners stood four giant kerosene braziers, their raging flames illuminating every inch of the structure with stark clarity.

From his high vantage point, he had an unobstructed view of the center of the barn. Engraved into the wooden floorboards was an eerie pentagram.

The pentagram was massive, nearly spanning the entire barn floor. A bright red liquid flowed within its carved lines, radiating a pungent, overwhelming stench of blood.

Each of the five points extended outward into a drawn circle centered on the point itself. Right at the middle of each circle lay a skinned carcass—an ox, a sheep, a pig, a deer, and a horse. Stacked neatly at the centers, their raw red flesh twitched occasionally, as though life had not entirely abandoned these dead bodies, striking an unsettling balance between life and death.

Inside the five circles, dense rows of intricate characters were written on the ground around the carcasses. Lynch couldn't make out the small script, but it too appeared to be written in blood, a continuous sea of crimson that made his head spin just looking at it.

Outside the circles were numerous eerie patterns engraved into the floor. Rather than depictions of human figures or stories, they were mostly arcane and bizarre symbols whose combination emanated a terrifying, soul-chilling aura.

Lynch instantly ripped his gaze away from the symbols, cold sweat soaking the back of his hair. Every single symbol reeked of dense mysterious filth. A mere glance, without even attempting to comprehend them, had nearly overwhelmed his consciousness with dread and chaos. Had he instinctively tried to decipher them, he likely would have plunged into total madness.

Eight figures encircled the huge pentagram—six ghouls and two humans wearing ghoul props. These hideous, bizarre monsters stood in a ring, swaying their bodies to a strange rhythm while beating massive, unidentified beast bones and chanting in a harsh, grating tone. The chant seemed to be an incomprehensible tongue dripping with primal savagery.

“Thump, thump, thump...”

The rhythmic thumping grew faster and faster. The lead ghoul shook his white-furred head, his baby-cry shrieks growing increasingly shrill as the other monsters howled in harmony, dancing wildly like a parade of demons.

“Awoo~~”

The white-haired ghoul bellowed once more, raising the beast bones in both hands high above his head as he looked up toward the ceiling. The gesture sent a jolt of panic through Lynch, making him fear the creature would spot him from over a hundred meters away just as he had days ago.

Fortunately, it was a false alarm. Perhaps due to the glaring firelight, or perhaps because his focus was too consuming, the old ghoul's gaze swept past the opening in the roof without reacting, continuing his frenzy of howls.

Lynch let out a breath of relief, watching as the creature resumed beating the beast bones. With every strike, the surrounding braziers flared higher, illuminating the barn in brilliant light.

Lynch's pupils contracted as he sucked in a cold breath. Only now did he notice that a person was lying right in the very center of the pentagram.

Even with his shallow knowledge of the occult, Lynch could tell that whatever was taking place below was unequivocally evil.

The pentagram represented the summoning of evil; the twitching, skinned carcasses represented a double desecration of life and death; and the flowing blood, whatever its symbolic purpose, exhaled a sinister, malevolent energy.

Worst of all, there was a living person at the center—someone Lynch actually recognized.

He had seen her on May 15th when he and Officer Natalie went to City Hall to investigate the case. This was the true appearance of Diana de Valente, the eldest daughter of the Valente family. During their subsequent meetings, whether she appeared as an old woman or a middle-aged noblewoman, it had all been a disguise created by the mystery relic Karina's Exquisite Makeup. Now, she had reverted to her true form.

Exquisitely beautiful, she wore a pale yellow lady's gown, her hands clasping her familiar folding fan against her chest as she lay quietly in the middle of the pentagram.

Her eyes were tightly shut as if she were dead, yet her expression was laced with intense agony. Her body trembled faintly, much like the five skinned carcasses around her, as though she were suffering immense pain but remained unable to awaken from a terrible nightmare.

What was going on here?

Lynch was momentarily baffled. Weren't they on the same side? Why did they put her on the altar?

Did they turn on each other? Or did this ritual have nothing to do with Maya, and was being performed for Miss Valente so she could profit from it?

As he analyzed the situation rapidly, the chanting below grew increasingly urgent and high-pitched. Looking down, he saw the white-haired ghoul had stopped dancing and was now intently chanting prayers at the top of his lungs. The other ghouls were beating their bones at a frenzied pace, the thumps blurring into a continuous roar.

Even a layman could tell that the ritual had reached its most critical juncture and would soon come to an end.

Should he just watch it finish? Or should he step in and stop the ritual?

Lynch's mind raced.

If this ritual was meant for Maya, then he had to find a way to disrupt it—which was exactly what the sewer ghouls wanted him to do.

If this ritual was targeting Miss Valente and would harm her, then given their current positions, saving her wouldn't hurt.

If this ritual wasn't harming Valente, but rather she was in full cahoots with the hillmen to gain power, interrupting it now would make dealing with them later much easier.

Laying out the possibilities, Lynch realized that almost every option pointed toward interrupting the ritual below.

There was only one exception: if the ritual below was actually helping Maya, then intervening would mean turning good intentions into a bad outcome.

But how could that be possible?

Maya's account clearly stated that she was set up by these hillmen. Elder Bru's words confirmed it as well—these hillmen weren't just Maya's enemies, they harbored immense malice and only wanted to resurrect their worshipped deity, Mordiggian. Both accounts cross-verified each other. He was really overthinking this.

Therefore, disrupting the ritual below was the safest choice.

The method to disrupt it was actually simple; Lynch had thought of it right from the start.

Barns were notoriously prone to catching fire, and inside were four massive basins filled with kerosene—the perfect accelerant.

All he needed to do was capitalize on the hillman elder's absorption in hosting the ritual, slip down through the shadows along the edge, and knock over the braziers. Whatever ritual they were running would be instantly derailed. Plus, once the fire spread, he wouldn't have to worry about getting caught—even if they noticed him, no one would have time to give chase.

Lynch quickly removed a few more roof tiles, running through the plan in his mind once more.

Using Cat's Favor to land silently like a cat, he would stay low and dash toward a brazier at top speed. If the old hillman noticed him then and tried to transfer him away using that Authority of the Earth like yesterday... Wait.

Just as he was about to jump down and set the fire, Lynch froze.

That wasn't right. When they clashed yesterday, the old hillman used a transfer-type ability, which Lady Red Moon identified as Authority of the Earth.

And Mordiggian's Divine Authority consisted only of death, cold, and disease.

Was he REALLY a follower of Mordiggian?

In an instant, Lynch felt his mind thrown into utter turmoil, leaving him at a total loss.

To set the fire or not to set the fire—that was the question.