When the plot-skips players into the game world

He seemed not to resist at all, simply spreading his hands and calmly saying, "What else then, Miss Knight?

"—The things in the promotion ceremony are fake. The buildings are fake, the earth is fake, and the people inside are fake too. Everything is just stage props, like ritual materials."

Facing Hayna's questioning, the man calmly spoke, pulling out a cigar from his chest, lighting it with a flame from his finger, then extinguishing it, exhaling a wisp of smoke.

When he opened his eyes, the honest and reliable demeanor instantly transformed into the majesty of a gang leader.

"And, haven't you gotten something wrong, 'Miss Knight'?"

The man's voice was deep and murky, possessing an indisputable firmness and an undeniable weariness: "We are enemies, aren't we?

"If I recall correctly, that's the New Moon Ritual, right? Originally, the main part of the New Moon Ritual is mutual slaughter... You entered the New Moon Ritual as a resource, right? Then shouldn't you have the resolve to kill everyone?

"In that case, what wrong is there in me deceiving you? Hmph... I am a Ritualist. You wouldn't want me to duel with you, would you? Don't you think that would be unfair?"

The "Baker" sneered, exhaling a wisp of smoke: "Silently preparing ritual materials, making the strongest materials from the fewest people—achieving this requires triggering their intense emotions. Emotions, what do they mean? They mean the impulse of the Path... Also meaning Power. Meaning an opportunity to overcome the strong with the weak, meaning victory and transcendence."

"—No, that means sin."

Hayna said in a deep voice, raising the Thunder Sword in her hand.

"Oh?"

The Baker laughed heartily and said, "So what? Miss 'Knight' from Avalon, are you going to judge me for my fictional crimes? Judge a Priestess? Oh, I must admit... I'm surprised you found me directly from reality. I am even a bit scared.

"If I'm not mistaken, your master just killed Aziz not too long ago. Thank him for that, for giving me an opportunity to advance... But have you considered what it means to have killed both the left and right Ceremonial Masters of the same Benevolent Lord within several days?"

The man, wearing clothes like a naive little girl, held a cigar in his mouth, completely unafraid of Hayna's offensive stance, his body entirely relaxed.

The "Baker" laughed recklessly: "Are you so sure your master won't hand you over? Dealing with Ayimar Nur will only end terribly! Even the Pope of the Holy Nation, ask her if she dares come here?

"Naive, really naive little girl. Is this the education of Avalonians? No wonder people in that land achieve nothing, even such powerful Transcendants are educated to be so naive, so... laughable."

The Baker mocked, looking pitifully at Hayna: "How strong are you now, 'Knight'? Fourth Power Level? Or... Fifth Power Level? My master is a real Sixth Power Level Transcendent. Moreover, about to become a great Dual Path Sixth Power Level existence, the agent of the Celestial Marshal! What about your master?"

"I am not a dog."

Hayna's gaze gradually turned cold, her angry expression becoming calm: "I will not compare the power of masters with other dogs."

The chaotic electric light dancing in her long ponytail gradually became stable, the electric light in her pupils and on the blade also becoming dazzling.

—[Elephant Charge]!

In the next moment, Hayna charged forward like a great force of an elephant, crushing the ground and colliding fiercely!

The golden barrier on the Baker's body shattered in an instant, the blade dancing with electric light pierced through the Baker's abdomen as easily as a hot knife through butter!

A single sword strike penetrated.

Then she pulled out the blade and pierced the heart again, slightly lifting the "Baker" and keeping him at a distance from herself.

This process was clean, swift, and graceful.

Yet the "Baker" showed no trace of fear or pain on his face.

"I say..."

He just laughed, allowing the blood to redden the cigar in his mouth: "Don't you think... I would be more fragile in reality than in a ceremony?"

Suddenly, the Baker spat the cigar mixed with blood fiercely at Hayna, which she perfectly dodged with a slight tilt of her head.

But at that moment.

The Baker's body began to twist abruptly.

Amidst sharp screams, his body shrank like deflation. In the blink of an eye, it became the dying body of a female dwarf.

The pajamas fit her just right.

The dwarf opened her eyes wide, her gaze of terror and despair fixed on Hayna.

Although it was a female dwarf... Hayna's eyes blurred, and she mistook her for a human girl.

This caused Hayna's eyes to widen in sudden astonishment, falling into brief bewilderment.

In the next moment, the dwarf suddenly opened her mouth wide — wide enough to open over one hundred and eighty degrees.

A hideous, deformed, twisted dark red arm abruptly emerged from within.

Sharp purple nails reaching for Hayna's face!

There was no doubt, possessing a poison with a lethal touch.

Although she was momentarily dazed, Hayna's body moved on its own—she extracted the sword blade, kicked the dwarf's corpse far away with one foot, and leveraged her momentum to evade backward, swinging up her blade to sever the Aberrant Limb Demon's arm!

—And at that moment, the cigar behind her suddenly lit up and exploded!

It was the cigar previously spat onto her back by the "cake master"!

The explosion did not ignite a flame but instead released countless deep red curse texts.

Unable to gain footing in midair, Hayna transformed into a burst of electric light, readjusting her position and flying high into the sky!

Those curse texts failed to capture Hayna and quickly drilled into the eyes and mouths of the bleeding guards—they were not actually dead but had fallen into a state of feigned death due to a ritual after suffering mortal wounds.

At this moment, they were awakened simultaneously, and amidst the ensuing series of gut-wrenching screams, their living bodies dissolved and were consumed. Spines, resembling wriggling larvae, became animated, covered with deep red runes and black-red smoke, attacking Hayna like tentacles!

While adjusting her position in midair, Hayna drew out a massive shield from behind her.

The edges of that shield spewed forth golden flames—boosting her speed once more. Like a strange, swift flash of electricity, she zoomed through the tentacle forest at high speed.

Much like a fighter jet in a dogfight, she raced through the tentacle woods, her velocity increasing ever more. A screech, akin to thousands of birds singing simultaneously, grew louder with her every dive.

As one after another "corpse" melted amidst horrifying screams, black lightning, white fireballs, and purple poison arrows formed wave after wave of barrages, but they failed to even penetrate the radiant lightning shell on Hayna's body.

Soon after, the ground began to tremble. A giant earthen hand covered in runes emerged.

As the fist opened, an ochre eyeball in its palm also opened.

A field that could freeze time spread outwards, forcing even the swift Hayna to come to a halt.

Countless sinister white tentacles finally caught up, engulfing Hayna in an instant.

But at this moment.

Lily appeared silently in the corner.

Alongside her was the "cake master," hidden in the shadows.

He staggered into view, looking incredulously at his chest.

A slender, pale right hand—originally fair—pierced through his chest cavity, grasping his heart.

"This is your heart, huh."

Lily gently embraced him from behind, while with her left hand, she held a hawk feather dagger between her index and middle fingers and viciously stabbed it into his left eye, softly saying, "Is this the first time you've seen this? Well then..."

She then gouged out the cake master's left eye: "And here, this is your left eye."

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"

The cake master screamed in agony and terror—he never imagined there would be a mad hunter lying in ambush within the shadow realm!

He could no longer mind Hayna... Being entangled by a curse of the level of the "Bone-Eating Curse" made it impossible to escape and would only result in being strangled to death. His thoughts now were on how to escape from this horrifying human-like monster...

"Haaah!"

—But at that moment, Hayna descended from the sky!

[Guardian Will (Golden): When you fight alongside your teammates, you cannot be controlled by enemies. Every time this effect is triggered, the power of your next attack is doubled, and the "Guardian Will" temporarily extinguishes; when "Guardian Will: Extinguished," you receive 7% damage reduction. After sustaining seven hits from evil enemies, "Guardian Will" reignites.]

When Lily emerged from hiding, the power of the Silver-Crowned Dragon suddenly pulsed from her heart—that was the dominion of a former Pillar God, with the erupting silver-white chill freezing the surrounding skeletons, allowing her to easily break free.

And Hayna descended with her massive shield from the sky, releasing the long-accumulated "force"!

Royal Guards can accumulate power through moving and defending and unleash it all in their next attack!

This strike, enhanced by the doubled effect of Guardian Will, became a terrifying blow—

Lily, keenly, slipped into the shadows, dissolving like water from sight.

And the cake master, whose heart and left eye had been extracted, bound by intense pain, couldn't evade it. He was instantly smashed to pieces by Hayna's massive silver-white shield!

Like a pancake flattening—beneath the violently shaking shield, he couldn't even last a moment before being pounded into mush.

Hayna's attack power remained undiminished, forcefully smashing the shield onto the ground.

The next moment, the ground twisted and pulsed.

Like a viscous liquid rolling outward layer by layer, becoming a tidal wave.

The surrounding structures quaked and collapsed, visible ripples spread outward. Water in the pools instantly vaporized, and the nearby bodies that weren't fully dissolved were pulverized.

—An earthquake.