Chapter 54: Dark Moon Arrives

Three days have passed,

Today is the day the Dark Moon arrives, Rex can already feel his body becomes weird.

It is still morning but Rex can feel the anger within him bubbling up slowly, the anger is like an eruption of volcanoes that will burst during the night.

During these three days, Rex didn't forget to do his daily quest and his meditation routine fearing that his sanity will get decreased somehow.

He is now close to leveling up, he reckoned that today will be the day he will actually jump a couple of levels to get into level 20 where his next evolution will occur.

Rex is weirdly calm about the Dark Moon but as soon as the day the Dark Moon arrives, nervousness started to swallow him whole.

'What if I can't control myself again like before?'

'What would I do if both me and Adhara can't control ourselves and go berserk'

'Is my stats enough to handle the blessing of Dark Moon?'

These thoughts filled Rex's mind since he woke up, he just can't seem to calm his mind down.

He attended class, as usual, he walks with both Rosie and Adhara.

Rex glances at Adhara, he saw Adhara's hands are shivering for unknown reasons and her expression looks as if she's holding something in.

Rex was thinking hard, he must find a way to avoid direct moonlight and a place where there is no crowd of people.

The only place he could think of is the Emham Forest where he first transforms or Clinnia Mountain located on the border of Ratmawati City and the seas in the north.

The problem was Clinnia Mountain is pretty far, although Ochyra University is located in the middle of Ratmawati City it still takes about three hours more or less by train to reach Clinnia Mountain.

The only choice Rex has is the Emham Forest,

But he read that the Emham Forest is under FAA inspection because of the Cyclops that reside there, the Cyclop is still not found.

'I have no other choice', Rex thought before he enters the class.

Not long after Rex and the girls enter the class,

Mr. Joseph arrive, he wanted to start the class but Rex raises his hand and asks to talk with him.

Mr. Joseph nodded his head and follow Rex,

"What do you want to talk about? I got the news that they accepted you", Mr. Joseph said after they both got out of the class.

Rex thinks for a brief moment, 'It's not like I have a choice from the start anyway', he thought.

"It's not about that, me, and Adhara want to take a day off. We wanted to train to prepare for the sparring tournament", Rex asks lying to Mr. Joseph's face.

Hearing this, Mr. Joseph raises his brows, "Are you really training? I heard the rumors of you and Adhara you know", he said with a suspicious look.

Rex was confused, "What rumor?"

"They said a student saw you, *Ekhm*, choking Adhara sexually", Mr. Jospeh said while trying hard not to judge Rex.

"WHO SPREAD THAT RUMOR!!", Rex suddenly shouted in anger.

Mr. Joseph was surprised, "No need to get so worked up, It's just student's rumor", he looks at Rex weirdly.

Rex realizes what did he just do, "I'm sorry for shouting Mr. Joseph!", he apologizes while slightly bowing.

"Hmm, no worries. Just focus on your training okay", Mr. Joseph said as he cast one last complicated look before going back to the class.

Rex sighs, 'Holding the anger is harder than I thought'

After getting permission from Mr. Joseph, Rex waves at Adhara signaling her to get out of class but suddenly Rosie already wait for them in front of the class. 

"What are you doing?", Rex asks Rosie after they got out of the class.

"I'm coming with you guys too, your problem is also my problem", Rosie said innocently, she has a stubborn look on her face.

Hearing this, Rex was horror-stricken, "Rosie, go back! It's too dangerous. I don't even know if I can control it"

Rosie still maintains her stubborn look and replied, "Don't worry, I can protect myself"

Rex grabbed Rosie's shoulders feeling frustrated and said, "You don't understand! My power will raise because of that, I'm saying this for your own good"

Because of Rosie, he really needs to calm himself to not explode.

"No! I'm coming with you, whether you like it or not!", Rosie still didn't back down.

Rex calms himself, he then surrenders and lets Rosie follow him after she suddenly takes out a rank-four protection rune that is given by her parents.

During all this time, Adhara is silent with trembling hands.

Her expression is still troubled, "Adhara what's happening? Talk to me", Rex asks feeling worried.

After struggling to open her mouth for a while, she then suddenly screamed, "STOP TALKING!!", Adhara's eyes turned bright yellow.

The students passing by all glance at Adhara,

Adhara's scream is so loud that makes her the center of attention, Rex immediately brought her away fearing someone will become more suspicious of them.

Rex takes the girls to his cars,

Without a second of waiting, the car bolted out of the University heading towards Emham Forest.

Emham forest is not that far from Ochyra University, if there's no traffic then they should arrive in 20 minutes or so.

Inside the car, Adhara is holding her head in pain.

Rex takes a quick glance at Adhara while driving, 'System, it's not night yet. Why is Adhara becoming like that?'

<lack of="" willpower="" will="" result="" in="" werewolves="" being="" unable="" to="" maintain="" the="" anger="" boiling="" within="" them=""></lack>

<even during="" the="" day,="" the="" full-moon="" properties="" are="" already="" lingering="" around.="" the="" user="" is="" only="" slightly="" affected="" because="" of="" the="" user="" very="" high="" willpower=""></even>

Reading this, Rex frowns, 'My willpower is probably strengthened because of the war. Adhara is abused by her father, this is probably the cause she is lacking in willpower'

Rex stepped on the gas, he wanted to get out of the crowd as soon as possible.

Rex really wanted to increase his pack members because they can grant him exp and also they will be his reinforcement in future problems, but if he can't control Adhara then he won't add another member until Adhara is better.

The car sweep past the street swiftly, Rex is driving like a madman inviting people to honk at him in anger.

"Is Adhara going to be okay?", Rosie asks worriedly, although Adhara sometimes is cold and harsh Rosie knows that she is like that because of the Dark Moon.

Rex glance at Rosie through the rearview middle mirror and replied, "To be honest, I don't know. This is the first time I turned someone into a half-Werewolf"

"You should've prepared something like this better, stupid!", Rosie said harshly.

Rex can only scratch his head feeling bad about the current situation they are in,

After 25 minutes of crazy driving, they arrive at the Emham Forest.

The Emham Forest is a forest that is maintained by UWO of Ratmawati City, this forest is the place for new Awakened to hone their skills by battling mutated animals.

The Emham Forest has many mutated animals that are ranging from normal animals to rank three in power.

Random people can't get inside the forest, they must at least be an Awakened to enter.

The last time Rex was here, he jumped into the Emham Forest in the middle of the night and didn't get noticed by the guards.

Emham Forest is located inside Ratmawati City,

Rex is still confused as to how did the Cyclop can wander all the way through here, it should not have been possible for a Supernatural to enter Ratmawati City.

Rex and the girls approach the entrance of the Emham Forest that is guarded by armed soldiers, they then show their student IDs to the guards.

The guards scan the ID before letting Rex and the girls in,

Rosie is helping Adhara to walk inside the forest, the soldiers stare weirdly at Adhara but they didn't meddle and let the three of them in.

Entering the Emham Forest,

The Emham Forest is a dense forest that is full of animals, the air around the forest is different and it is very humid.

Upon entering the Emham Forest, Rex wanted to find a cave to at least cover Adhara from direct contact with the Dark Moon.

The Emham Forest is untouched by humans, that's why Rex is expecting there to be at least a cave somewhere in here.

Adhara can't walk properly so Rosie help her by wrapping Adhara's arm around her neck,

Rosie and Rex wander around the forest trying to find a cave or even something that can act as a shelter.

The day turned into noon,

After searching for hours, they are resting under a big tree,

They tried to search a shelter for hours but they can't seem to find any, they only encounter dense trees as far as the eyes can see and a waterfall.

Once in a while, they encounter mutated animals but they are scared when they met Rex's gaze.

Unlike humans, the mutated animals have a more keen sense that can sense danger, they realize Rex is not the prey but rather the predator that is on top of the food chain.

Rex also felt the anger within him raises as time passes by,

Rosie notices that Rex became silent just like Adhara, his normal eyes are flickering between dark blue color and his natural brown color.

The atmosphere becomes intense the further into the noon,

Rosie felt the tense atmosphere because of the silence, she can't even stare in Rex's direction who is currently massaging his temples.

After resting, they started to move again.

Rex didn't say anything, he just suddenly gets up from the ground and signals Rosie to follow him resuming the search for a shelter.

The sun is already starting to drown from the sky, the bright golden-orange starting to get darker.

Rex checked the time on his stats section, the Dark Moon is already three hours away.

Then suddenly, his body releases faint white steam.

Rex suddenly felt uncomfortable under the noon sunlight, his body is aching as the sunlight stings his body.

Based on gut feeling, he picked up his pace and goes towards the waterfall.

Rosie is behind him helping Adhara who is already has a pained expression etched on her face, Rosie is starting to become restless too.

Arriving at the waterfall, Rex notices a crack between the waterfall.

He then instinctively walks inside the crack and found a hidden cave there.

If not for his sudden instinct to look at the waterfall, then they won't find this hidden cave behind the waterfall.

The three of them enter the cave,

The hidden cave is so dark that Rosie can't even see her hands, she can only rely upon Rex's footsteps to follow him.

Rex suddenly stops, "Put Adhara here. Rosie, you get out of here and wait somewhere save", Rex said with heavy breaths.

He tries so hard to suppress the anger within him, he then continues, "Wait until I call your name, If I don't then don't bother finding us"

Hearing this, Rosie wanted to rebutted but she realizes now is not the time so she nodded her head and left the hidden cave.

After Rosie leaves the both of them, Rex slid down the cave wall while holding his chest.

An hour passed, the day already turns into night.

The moon shone brightly under the veil of the night sky, but somehow the moon today seems eerier and darker than usual.

Rex is sitting on the ground, his right hand is holding onto a rock that is clenched by him.

His chest felt a burning sensation that can burst anytime soon, he really wanted to destroy something because of the burning anger inside of him.

Adhara is lying motionlessly on the ground, only heavy breaths can be heard from her.

CRACK!!

The rock on his hands shatter,

Rex presses his head on the wall trying to hold the anger in, he started banging his head on the cave wall feeling desperate.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

After a moment, Rex felt his limit is nearing.

He looks at Adhara with heavy eyes,

Adhara's nail already gotten longer than normal, it also becomes thicker and stronger as she scratches the ground madly.

Rex looks at his hands and saw the same is happening to him, his nails become fiercer.

Then suddenly, notifications appear in front of him.

<dark moon="" will="" start="" in="" ten="" minutes!=""></dark>

<checking the="" user's="" stats...=""></checking>

<adding mental="" stat="" into="" the="" user's="" sanity...=""></adding>

<decreasing berserk="" stat="" using="" the="" excessive="" mental="" stat...=""></decreasing>

CRACK!!

Rex didn't get to read the notifications, he already started rolling on the ground in pain. His body started to make a cracking sound as the white steam his body emits becomes denser.

"AAAKH!!", Adhara on Rex's side also screams in pain.

<dark moon="" has="" arrived=""></dark>