When the plot-skips players into the game world

Aiwass's vision blurred as if a layer of thin white gauze had been drawn in front of his eyes. When clarity returned, he found the environment around him had suddenly darkened, making it difficult to see anything clearly.

Yet, he could distinctly feel that he had been bound by someone.

It wasn't with handcuffs or shackles used to restrain prisoners, but with ropes thicker than an adult's arm, coiling around from his shoulders and winding down tightly to his ankles, turning him into something resembling a bound bundle of rice dumplings.

Aiwass felt a powerful strength coursing through his body, a frame much sturdier than his own. But corresponding to this strength, he now felt extremely hungry and a sense of weakness.

He needed food.

However, when Aiwass tried to break free, he discovered that brute force was futile against the ropes—they seemed to have some special elasticity that dissipated the energy of his attempts to stretch them.

At that moment, a low and hoarse voice, magnetic and alluring, echoed in Aiwass's mind.

He quickly ceased his efforts, focusing to listen to the dungeon introduction that would only be heard once:

"You awaken from a bout of headache only to realize you've forgotten your own name. But that doesn't matter. The little that remains of your memory recalls why you've ended up here."

"This is your second day being locked up here. The nine of you do not know each other. You all fell into a trap in search of the Holy Lance, captured by the Giant Couple Pankault as winter food supplies. The only thing you have in common is that you're all robust warriors."

"The Giant Couple has separated the nine of you into three storage rooms. After an hour, they will visit one of the rooms and select someone as their meal ingredient."

"The selection of the ingredient is entirely random. However, if the giants find that someone has already died, they will cook all the dead humans and preserve them."

"Inside the giants' display cabinet is a powerful Holy Lance, a trophy from killing an Angel Envoy of the Path of Devotion; they also possess a Magic Cauldron, a gift from the Supreme Heaven, that can bring dead ingredients back to life and increase their size in the pot. Hence, even though humans are small to them, one human can provide a day's meal."

"Though you are all strong, combating the giants is impossible. The Giant Couple is protected by the Supreme Heaven, invulnerable to any harm except from the Holy Lance here."

"But the giants detest the cold and won't leave their bed unless disturbed. However, they will investigate any sound they hear."

"That's all you know. You don't know if you can escape, but you want to at least survive today."

The next moment, the tasks for this ritual appeared before Aiwass:

[Mandatory Task——]

[Survive (Points: None)]

[Additional Tasks——]

[Optional Killing: Kill others (Points: 300 per person)]

[Escape the Crisis: Leave the storage room you're in (Points: 500)]

[Stay Hidden: Remain undetected by the giants until the end (Points: 500)]

[I Am the Saint!: Possess the Holy Lance (Points: 50 per minute)]

[I Can Also Be a Saint: Kill the holder of the Holy Lance and seize it (Points: 500)]

[Feeder Mechanism: Ensure the giants ultimately choose to cook the person you killed (Points: 1000)]

[The Nature of Transcenders: Attack the giants and cause effective damage (Points: 1000)]

[Successful Escape: Find the key and flee the Pankault Sanctuary (Points: 2000)]

[Supreme Heaven Exists No More: Use the Holy Lance to shatter the Magic Cauldron without being discovered (Points: 1000)]

[The Courage to Overcome with Weakness: Use the Holy Lance to kill a giant (Points: 3000)]

Aiwass narrowed his eyes, deep in thought.

Clearly, these tasks were designed specifically for the Path of Transcendence.

They were completely different from the style of tasks Aiwass faced during his previous promotion.

...Of course, it might also be because the tasks were given by Serpent Father, differentiating them from the ones issued by the Lord of Scalefeather during the last promotion ritual.

The mandatory task is a must; failure to complete it meant elimination. Since everyone has the same mandatory task, it straightforwardly bears no points.

The rest of the tasks... carried a heavy intent to kill.

Unclear about the others, but surely [Escape the Crisis], [Stay Hidden], and [Successful Escape] must be common to everyone. Their plain style of naming set them apart from other tasks.

From this perspective, cooperation in this ritual was actually possible. Because no matter how many people escape, only one key is needed to open the door. Explore more stories with empire

In other words... not counting special victories, it was possible for three people to find the key and escape together.

Nine people were divided among three storage rooms. Three individuals per room—natural allies. Any shortfall in numbers would render a group less efficient than others.

This ritual differed starkly from the previous Full Moon Ritual that Aiwass participated in... If the last one was mainly about the narrative, then this one was clearly about strategizing. The narrative was even a blur; Aiwass didn't even know the name of the body he was inhabiting, with absolutely no role-playing required.

What Aiwass knew for certain was that this place was called "Pankault Sanctuary."

And their task was to search for a way out while being careful not to make noise, maintaining silence...

...No, that's not right.

Aiwass suddenly realized—this was not the Full Moon Ritual, but the competitive New Moon Ritual.

If everyone escaped, it meant no one escaped. The amount of points itself was meaningless; rankings determined advancement.

This ritual could only promote three people, yet it came with two special victory conditions. Thus, only the person ranked first in points was guaranteed advancement... The spots for second and third place could be taken by others.

Unless the people who completed the two victory conditions happened to be first and second in points. Only in that case could it extend to the third place.

Thus, collaborating in groups of three to gain points was actually unsafe.

No one knew the content of others' tasks, and there was no scoreboard to update points in real-time. Even if the trio acted together all the time, there would inevitably be differences in points.

I see.

—No wonder the first task was called "Unnecessary Killing".

This ritual did not require killing others... It wasn't the kind of coliseum where life-and-death battles were scripted, and in fact, a certain degree of cooperation was needed. However, suspicions would arise due to not knowing the temporary teammates' current points and all of their tasks, leading to possible killing.

Because of the existence of those two special victory conditions, a team of three was inherently unstable, with the possibility of one or two spots being taken at any time.

For this very reason, the more sincere and efficient the cooperation between them, the more necessary it was to kill each other in the end—because the more tasks completed together, the higher the teammates' points might be.

This was a ritual about cooperation and betrayal.

—Help me, Shadow Demon.

Aiwass called out in his heart.

Thick shadows quietly seeped out from his body, effortlessly corroding the ropes. He strained and snapped the ropes, then sat up. He was scantily clad, wrapped only in a clean piece of linen cloth without buttons.

From the standpoint of ingredients, instead of calling it a robe, it'd be more like a diaper...

There was still not a single source of light around Aiwass, who could see nothing.

But at that moment, a pale blue glow suddenly appeared in the darkness. The light captured Aiwass's attention.

He quickly made out that it must be the densely packed phoenix tattoos on someone's body.

The next moment, blazing flames emerged from the tattoos, burning through the ropes on his body without scorching the linen cloth. As the human torch produced light, Aiwass guessed the identity of the person.

It must be the same monk who had always been silent, not uttering a word.

Though he was now in a body with hair and clothes, the silent aura allowed Aiwass to recognize him.

The monk looked at Aiwass, who had silently broken free from the ropes, and nodded slightly.

Then he slowly raised his right hand, flames on his body moving like liquid, flowing along his skin and gathering in his palm. He became a lamp, illuminating the storage room devoid of any light.

Aiwass's eyes gradually adapted to the darkness, taking the opportunity to look around.

He felt so insignificant—the huge copper door was about thirty meters tall, and from this angle, the Giants must be at least twenty meters tall.

—Roughly the height of half an Ultraman.

Isn't that too colossal? For the warriors, it was indeed an unbeatable adversary...

To the Giants, humans wrapped in linen might appear roughly the size of a pancake roll. How large could the Magic Cauldron transform a person to satisfy a pair of Giants of such size for a day?

The other person in the room, seeing that the other two had broken free, quickly called out, "I am Red, save me!"

Aiwass turned around, only to realize that the lady Red was not using a female body—she was, like them, a muscular male youth warrior.

Red was also trussed up like a rice dumpling, but she didn't seem urgent. Unlike Aiwass and the monk, she did not have the capability to break free from the ropes... or perhaps she wanted to conserve her magic power and not use her extraordinary abilities to escape.

Aiwass leaned towards the latter.

Wanting to hide your strength from the start?

—Then you might as well die right here.

"Alright, Lady Red."

Aiwass narrowed his eyes slightly and slowly walked over, using his own voice, not that of the Shadow Demon, "I am Aleister..."

But before Aiwass could get close, the monk suddenly extended his other hand to block him.

"Don't save him."

The monk stated briefly, "Kill him."

In his voice was full of murderous intent.