When the plot-skips players into the game world

"...So you can speak after all."

Aiwass halted in his tracks, looking over with interest, "I had thought you had once sworn an oath of silence, or that you might show mercy, allowing me to save him."

"Those meaningless words are needless to expand upon. They only weaken resolve and make one soft."

As Aiwass stopped, the monk nodded slightly, continuing in a low voice, "Mr. Alistair, please be patient and listen to me.

"This ritual has special victory conditions, different from the normal New Moon Ritual—under normal circumstances, even if you killed everyone in a New Moon Ritual, you would still lose if the mission wasn't completed.

"But this time there is a 'Mad Slaughter' rule, so killing everyone in advance can also complete the mission. Even if the mission isn't completed, the one who survives till the end will win. The simplest way to win is to reduce the number of people to three. The giants will prioritize choosing corpses, so the remaining three, no matter how many points they have, will automatically win.

"But this strategy is flawed. If the other six people aren't all killed but someone survives… they might accumulate a very high score. This could lead to one of these three being eliminated."

"Therefore, the most stable winner, besides being the one with the highest score, is also the one who committed the most killings. If someone has killed one person, and the other seven are still alive, then as long as the giants choose the dead one for sustenance, the ritual participant who made the kill is certain to win."

"From this perspective, killing one person in each of the three storage rooms is the safest approach. No matter which room the giant goes to, it will not choose a surviving person as food."

"You're right," Aiwass nodded, "But can other people figure this out?"

"Any team that hasn't figured this out is inherently at a disadvantage."

The monk answered calmly.

His pupils shone with the blue brilliance symbolic of the Path of Wisdom: "Although the person who has never killed is initially less likely to win—when the remaining six gather, if they join forces to destroy one team, they will secure a certain victory.

"Because then there will be four left, another team will only have one kill, and their teammate none. Even if the opponent gets a second kill, that will reduce the numbers to three."

"But this also means that the person with three kills can simply hide until the end of the ritual."

Aiwass shook his head, "He would have no need to cooperate with his own teammate to help him complete the mission."

"If that's the case," the monk replied, "his teammate could potentially join the opposing team, even betray him. Therefore, this is the best way to ensure balance, allowing two people to work together perfectly without worrying about a teammate scoring higher than oneself.

"As long as we appear to other teams as a duo. They will immediately realize—if they do not make any kills, you will win directly, since 1 is greater than 0. Bearing this in mind, they must make at least one kill to restore balance, so it will still end up being a six-person game."

"But if you've killed two people, you won't be able to stand against a team of three or a team of two. Overall, a duo has a better chance of winning than a trio, and a duo or trio has a better chance than a solo. But if everyone is solo, then the remaining three will win directly."

After reviewing the rules for promotion, the monk took less than half a minute to comb through several possible tactics.

But Aiwass just raised an eyebrow and laughed softly, "However, you've overlooked one scenario. That is, a person with multiple kills might become the common target of the rest."

"That won't happen."

With one hand raising a flame like the sun, the monk replied, "If we join forces to annihilate a team, that is, kill four people together, then including you, at most five are left alive. If someone kills you, he will become the sole survivor with a kill count, achieving a special victory condition. Thus, for the others, whether you are alive or not doesn't make a difference—it's only the transfer of the 'Mad Slaughter' victory condition.

"And if someone has already made a kill, four are left including you. Then they have even less reason to target you, because the death of anyone at that stage signifies victory."

"In other words, score and mission are mere traps, utterly unworthy of attention. No matter what, as long as one team is annihilated, the ritual performer who has killed will gain the advantage; the fewer the people, the greater the advantage. We kill 'Red' and wipe out one team, ensuring the two of us complete the promotion. This is the strategy that maximizes the total gain for us among all possibilities."

"...Impressive."

Aiwass nodded in admiration, "You have convinced me. Now that we are teammates, what is your name, and how shall I address you?"

"Shelifro, I am an aspirant on the Path of Wisdom, practicing the Four Symbols Strength as a Four Symbols Monk."

The monk known as "Shelifro" pressed his hands together, closing his eyes and speaking softly, "I am an Ascetic Monk from the Parthian Ancient Country, recently traveling to Avalon..."

As he pressed his hands together, the flames on his body gradually extinguished. The fire he held in his palms was slowly drawn back into his body.

Shelifro lowered his gaze to Red, his azure pupils tranquil and without mercy.

However, Red who lay on the ground, always silent, met his gaze and revealed a mysterious smile on the corner of his mouth.

The next moment, a dense mass of shadows transformed into countless blades, piercing the Monk from side to side and turning him into a hedgehog!

He immediately coughed up a mouthful of black blood.

But before he could react, the shadow blades from Alistair instantly retracted.

Then, like a huge guillotine, a pure shadow coalesced and fell down, cleaving him in two in an instant.

For a Shadow Demon, this was merely a routine attack. But even a single attack was too much for him to bear.

"It's a pity, he was too late,"

This was the situation Red had long been waiting for. She had deliberately remained motionless, just to let the Monk expose his weaknesses to her ally.

Red took delight in the disaster, saying, "He doesn't know that a few of us have already made a deal—let me out, Mr. Alistair. You've just heard it too, that the efficiency of a team of two is much more convenient than acting alone."

Aiwass, wrapped in shadows, his pupils emitting a bewitching purple glow, with many purple wounds cracking open on his body, simply watched her in silence, saying nothing.

Seeing his attitude, Red became somewhat panicked.

She quickly realized why—it must have been the words spoken by the "Knight" that reminded the naive Alistair, making him realize they had formed an alliance beforehand.

The Monk who had just started on the Path of Wisdom made a mistake... but it wasn't really his fault.
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Because he had arrived late, he hadn't heard about Alistair's experiences, nor did he know he was a Demon man possessed by a Shadow Demon.

Shelifro considered "a single person" as a unit of calculation, assuming that more people could always overcome fewer. But the truth was, the strengths in this ritual were not balanced—with the "Alistair" possessed by a Shadow Demon present, he was undoubtedly the strongest contender in a ritual where everyone else was only at the first Energy Level.

Red, with Antlers and Thunder, might have had higher-level professions, but that didn't mean they were strong right now.

The ritual this time was exceptionally straightforward—all that was required was for three people to survive till the end and kill everyone else to win. There was no need to bother with the task or the Holy Lance.

This was the characteristic of the New Moon Ritual, where one could simply start killing if they didn't know where to begin. The only consideration was not to kill everyone too soon... but because of the special victory conditions of this ritual, even that requirement was absent.

"I can work with you, Mr. Alistair."

Red hurriedly said, "I actually have some work at the Supervisory Court on Glass Island, and it's never a bad thing for you to know someone like me, right? If you encounter any troubles in the future, you can come to me... Although Avalon forbids the Path of Transcendence, after all, you are a Demon man, not a Demon Scholar, so there is still some room for maneuver..."

But Aiwass just silently watched her, the corners of his mouth slightly turned up.

The reckless and brainless aura about him was nowhere to be found, replaced by an air of sinister evil.

"Mr. Shelifro reminded me of something, something crucially important,"

Aiwass said eerily, "and that is, if you kill the most people, you are not necessarily going to be targeted by the others. Because the act of killing you would also produce killing counts. With only nine people in total, eliminating the weak is actually much simpler than targeting the strong...

"And the issue of 'killing everyone to end the ritual prematurely' can be offset by the special rules of this ritual."

Hearing this, Red finally sensed danger.

Her entire skin swelled red—blood seeped from beneath it, turning into blades, cutting through the ropes.

But with the death of the Monk, the room had lost its only source of light.

She was completely unable to dodge the Shadow Demon, or even sense from where it would appear.

The next moment, she felt her throat and limbs bound, hoisted up by the silken threads made of shadow.

"Then farewell, Miss Red. Demons need no allies."

Alistair's voice fell.

Her head was easily severed by the shadow.