When the plot-skips players into the game world

Although he didn't know what was happening on the other side... Antlers realized the screams from "Mr. Thunder" could possibly attract the Giants.

So, his first reaction was to randomly seal three doors that he had never opened.

He didn't know where these doors specifically led to.

They had not yet found the kitchen or the banquet hall—the place where the "Magic Cauldron" was. Nor had they found the bedroom where the Giant couple rested. In order not to block the doors to the "Magic Cauldron," Antlers didn't seal any room doors.

But they had already identified more than one safe route.

Even if they were chased by a Giant, they had their own escape paths.

In such a situation, it would certainly be a good move to block any door they hadn't seen before.

He didn't know if he could block the Giants... but at least he could block the routes for other teams to rush here or the escape routes of Mr. Thunder and his team.

—If lucky enough, perhaps the strongest among them, Aleister, could be directly sealed into a dead end!

By further compressing everyone's movement space when all were unfamiliar with the routes, for a team like theirs with an assassin who could stealth through this kind of dark environment the entire time, and a Necromancer who could turn corpses into immediate fighting forces, it was undoubtedly an advantage.

As a casting class, the Necromancer relied heavily on mediums. The Necromancer's casting mediums were related to bones, either a Bone Staff made from bones, such as a shinbone or spine, or a magical instrument made from a skull, or a shield constructed from bone fragments.

Without a casting medium, his spellcasting would become very slow. He had to go through a long chant or ritual before he could use his spells.

After a soft chant lasting seven or eight seconds, a dark yellow, translucent beam of light shot out from his hands, piercing the darkness that he had gradually become accustomed to.

The beam moved rapidly toward the door, leaving a distinct trail of petrification on the copper door. Using the faint light provided by the beam itself, Antlers aimed the petrifying ray at the door handle. After about two or three seconds of petrifying the door handle into something more brittle than copper, he stopped casting the spell.

"How much mana do you have left?"

Lily suddenly asked.

"Plenty," Antlers replied calmly. "Reviving fresh corpses hardly consumes any mana, the longer dead, the more it takes."

His words carried a hint of warning.

He keenly sensed a trace of malice in Mr. Grey's voice. To dissuade his temporary teammate from turning against him, he reminded him, "You must have a trump card too, right? I have one as well—don't forget that I was the first to arrive."

Mr. Grey didn't respond.

Lily had decided to kill him, but she was still waiting, quietly awaiting like a spider on its web.

When Grey and Antlers arrived, they found that the Giants had not yet come.

To their surprise, there was a dim light here. This was the first light Lily had seen since entering the ritual, and it was even somewhat dazzling after adjusting to the darkness.

There were three people here.

One of them had fallen into unconsciousness and lay to one side. Another was squatting next to the unconscious person, their expression fluctuating.

The third person, who seemed to be in poor spirits, stood at ease in a place away from the light.

He was casually leaning against the wall, with only his chin faintly illuminated by the lamp. He lifted his hand and amiably waved to Antlers and the "King" who followed him.

He glanced at the quiet "King" and his lips curled up slightly: "I guess you are Antlers, right?"

Hearing this, the young warrior who was not unconscious looked up.

"...Mr. Thunder?"

Antlers asked tentatively.

"No, I am the Knight."

The youth replied, "Mr. Thunder has fallen unconscious... all because of this Mr. Dark Cloud."

"Can this be blamed on me?"

Mr. Dark Cloud asked with a smile, "Illusions indeed, but not a single lie among them. Aren't you still awake?"

The Knight sneered coldly without giving a direct response.

Lily clearly felt a subtle yet distinct change in the atmosphere surrounding the Knight.

It was not corruption, nor madness. It resembled more a person awakening from a dream, or a child suddenly growing up.

What secret had he heard that allowed him such a transformation in such a brief period...?

Antlers, on the other hand, suddenly reached to touch his forehead.

This was the sign he had agreed upon with Lily, meaning she should kill someone first.

—Who should be killed?

Lily looked up.

A grey spiderweb, invisible to all but herself, began to spread from beneath her feet.

With Mr. Thunder unconscious and the Knight merely a young man, and moreover, guarding the unconscious Mr. Thunder,

the biggest threat, then, would be the one the Knight referred to as "Mr. Dark Cloud"...

Lily gradually faded into the shadows, gliding swiftly.

The next moment, a grey silken line, silent and invisible, appeared around Mr. Dark Cloud's neck.

An unknown massive force pulled him quickly backward, and in the blink of an eye, he was swallowed by the pitch-black darkness.

"—Strangler Party?!"

The Knight exclaimed with a frown.

Just then, the "King", who had been quietly standing by Antlers, suddenly rushed over, swinging a fist at the Knight's jaw.

None of them had a weapon. But the bodies they were using were all exceedingly strong.

In contrast to the "King," whose movements were somewhat rigid, the Knight's movements were very agile.

He tilted his head slightly to dodge the punch, grabbed the linen fabric at the "King's" collar, shoved him forcefully backward, and then suddenly pulled with momentum, causing the "King" to lose his balance.

As the "King" stumbled, the Knight tightly clasped the back of his head with both hands and raised his knee forcefully, slamming it into his nasal bone!

—Such a strike was enough to knock a person unconscious.

Therefore, the Knight looked up, warily towards Antlers.

Compared to the last one who had entered the ritual, the King, Antlers, being the first to undergo the ritual, must possess some advantage.

Antlers then faintly aimed his right hand at himself.

The Knight paced slowly to the side—prepared to sprint in the opposite direction and evade as soon as he saw something, then dash up to Antlers to land a punch on him!

But at that moment, his mind went blank.

Just like blackout from drinking too much... when he regained his vision, the "King", whom he had struck down, had appeared beside him like a ghost, without him noticing.

He bore not a single sign of having been attacked by me, his movements were exceptionally agile, and his eyes were utterly steady.

—But I had clearly just broken his nose!

The "King" then pulled something out of his bosom—In the next moment, thorns that seemed to come to life sprouted rapidly from between his fingers, turning into three whip-like tendrils.

The King suddenly raised his arm, and the thorny whips flew towards the Knight, trying to wrap around him.

Seeing this, the Knight tried to retreat, but his backward pace was no match for the speed of the vine's growth.

He watched himself about to step out of the light and, unable to bear it, he turned his palm into a blade, slashing fiercely at the vine—

The sharp gust of wind severed the vine, and at that moment, the Knight took his chance, his body bursting with a ball of electricity, turning palm to fist, and he hammered down heavily on the King's chin!

A burst of thunder cracked where the Knight's fist landed, scathing his own fist in the process.

But luckily this time, the King's body erupted with sparks of electricity, and after swaying for a moment, he finally fell.

The Knight just took a breath of relief.

Only to see Antlers snapping his fingers and giving orders calmly.

"—Rise again."

As he finished speaking,

The fallen "King's" body began to revert its injuries as if time was flowing backward, then he rose again, unscathed.

He has drained about enough of the Knight's strength, Antlers thought.

He brought his fingers together in front of his chest and began to chant the petrification spell in a low voice.

And at that moment, Thunder finally woke up.

As soon as he awoke, he saw someone attacking the Knight—

So he suddenly raised his hand, and a dazzling light exploded in mid-air.

Antlers, the Knight, and Lily, who had just strangled that man, were all caught off guard and simultaneously affected.

Everyone was blinded, losing their sight. Antlers' spellcasting and the Knight's parrying were both disrupted.

Only the "King" was still acting normally, trying to launch an attack.

"—Undead!"

Shouting loudly, he dashed forward and shouldered the King aside with a fierce charge.

His fists glowed with a dim white light, unleashing a series of incredibly powerful consecutive punches. It took less than three seconds to knock the King down before he reached out to press on the King's face.

With a burst of white light spraying from his palm, the glow pierced straight through the King's skull, exploding in every direction.

After Thunder lifted his hand away, the King's skull began to burn quietly. He tried to move but gradually stilled. The King was no longer coming back to life.

"What is your profession?"

Antlers was in no hurry to attack, instead asking out of curiosity, "I've never seen it before."

"…Holy Warrior."

Thunder replied tersely. His voice was hoarse, and he was visibly exhausted.

Meanwhile, Antlers pointed towards the lights behind them, "Speaking of which, how did you…"

Halfway through speaking, Thunder suddenly bowed down, raising his left arm—with a shield of light materializing on his forearm, he absorbed the petrifying ray shot instantly from Antlers' raised right index finger.

"I've guessed it, Sir,"

Thunder's lips slightly curved up: "You still need more practice... Your intentions are too obvious."

"—What about mine?"

An eerie and sinister voice sounded.

The shadowy hound burst out from a dead angle in their sight.

As soon as they saw the hound, Antlers didn't hesitate and abandoned "Grey," turning to run.

Thunder immediately turned back to block with his shield, but the hound bit fearlessly into the light shield—merely holding on for a moment before biting it to pieces.

As the light shield shattered, countless spike-like blades abruptly protruded from the hound's body, impaling Thunder through!
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Thunder burst into white flames all over, hammering at the hound. But the hound melted away upon contact with the punch and vanished after hitting the ground.

A figure dripping with black liquid shadows slowly approached, stepping into the range of the light.

He was enveloped entirely by shadows, revealing only a pair of eyes that shimmered with a sinister purple glow. A shadow hound reappeared within his shadow, circling around him continuously. Beneath his feet, the sprawling shadow moved with his steps, bubbling like a boiling mire.

"—How convenient, everyone is here."

Aleister spoke softly, "Saves time on the cat and mouse game… doesn't it?"

"You vile beast!"

Thunder roared, then turned to the Knight and commanded loudly, "Run—find the Holy Lance!"

The Knight hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement.

Aleister didn't pursue him.

Instead, he simply stood with his hands behind his back, looking at Thunder with a curious expression, asking, "What secrets did that man share with you? Care to enlighten me?"

"I have nothing to say to you, Demon!"

Thunder replied without hesitation, shouting, "Go to hell with your Demon master!"

The next moment, shadow-formed piercing spears shot out without hesitation from the bubbling shadow mire beneath Aiwass, impaling him in an instant. The Shadows that could corrode the Codex Book corroded Thunder's body instantly, dissolving him until nothing but bones remained.

As silence engulfed the surroundings once more.

Aiwass crouched down and patted the hound, comforting it regretfully, "There's no need to be so agitated…"

"…It should be just the two of them left."

Lily appeared silently behind Aiwass, "Shall we chase after them and kill them?"

"No need, it's just the first ascension ceremony. It was never difficult just to win,"

Aiwass shook his head, "The goal is to seek the lost history from the Dream Realm, to obtain stronger entries… I'll see if I can get a higher level of Shadow Affinity.

"Besides, I plan to have a look at the Holy Lance—are you coming with me?"

"I'll follow you, young master."

Lily spoke softly, "Wherever you say we go, that's where I'll go."

In her voice, there was a slight tinge of sadness.