Chapter 125
Rules: Frenzied Slaughter
“…So you can talk after all.”
Eivass stopped, looking over interest. “I thought you’d sworn an oath not to speak. Or perhaps you planned to show mercy and let me save him.”
“Those meaningless words are not needed. They only erode one’s will and make one weak.”
As Eivass ceased his movements, the monk nodded slightly and continued in a low voice, “Mr. Alistair, please be patient and listen to me.
“This ritual has a special victory condition, different from the normal New Moon Ritual—in a normal New Moon Ritual, even if you kill everyone, if the mission is not completed, you will be judged as defeated.
“But this time there is the rule of [Frenzied Slaughter], so killing everyone in advance can also complete the mission. Even if the mission is not completed, the one who survives until the end will win. The simplest way to win is to reduce the number of people to three. The Giant will prioritize picking corpses, so the remaining three people will automatically win, regardless of how many points they have.
“But this strategy is flawed. If the other six people are not all killed, but some survive… they might gain a high score. This would lead to someone among these three being eliminated.
“Therefore, the most stable winner, besides the one with the highest points, is the one who kills the most. If someone kills one person, and the remaining seven people are all alive, then as long as the Giant chooses the dead as food, this ritualist who killed one person will inevitably win.
“From this perspective, killing one person in each of the three storage rooms is the most stable method. This way, no matter which room the Giant goes to, it will not choose those who are still alive as food.”
“You’re right,” Alistair nodded, “but can others think of this?”
“Teams that haven’t thought of this are at a natural disadvantage.”
The monk replied calmly.
Blue radiance, symbolizing the Path of Wisdom, flickered in his pupils: “Although the person who hasn’t killed anyone has one less possibility of winning—when the remaining six people gather, they will gain an inevitable victory by jointly destroying one team.
“Because at this time there are four people left, and the other team only has one kill, and their teammates have no kills. Even if the opponent gets a second kill, it will reduce the numbers to three.
“But this also means that the person who gets three kills can directly hide until the ritual ends.”
Alistair shook his head, “Then there’s no need for him to cooperate with his teammates and help him complete the mission.”
“If that’s the case,” the monk replied, “his teammates might join the opposing team or even betray him. Therefore, this is the best way to balance things, allowing two people to cooperate perfectly without worrying about their teammate’s score being higher than their own.
“As soon as our team of two appears before other teams. They will immediately understand—if they don’t make any kills, then you will win directly, because 1 is greater than 0. Considering this, they must kill at least once to restore balance, so it will eventually become a six-person game.
“But if you kill two people, you will be powerless against a team of three and a team of two. Overall, the probability of a two-person team winning is better than a three-person team, and the probability of a two-person team and a three-person team winning is better than a one-person team. But if everyone is a one-person team, then the remaining three will win directly.”
After reading the rules for this Ascension, the monk only took less than half a minute to figure out several possible tactics.
But Alistair merely raised an eyebrow and chuckled, “However, you missed one situation. That is, people with multiple kills are very likely to be jointly targeted by others.”
“They won’t be.”
The monk, holding flames in one hand like the sun, replied, “If we join forces to destroy a team, that is, kill a total of four people, then including you, there will be at most five people alive. Then if someone kills you, they will become the only survivor with kill counts and achieve the special victory condition. Therefore, for others, whether you survive or not actually makes no difference—it’s just that the victory condition of [Frenzied Slaughter] has been transferred.
“And if someone has already killed someone at this point, with four people left including you. Then they have no need to target you, because at this point, the death of anyone represents victory.
“In other words, points and missions are just traps, and they don’t need to be paid attention to at all. In any case, as long as a small team is annihilated, the ritualist who has killed will gain an advantage; the fewer people there are, the greater the advantage. By killing ‘Hong’ and annihilating a team, we can ensure that the two of us complete the Ascension. This is the strategy with the highest total profit for the two of us among all current possibilities.”
“…Admirable.”
Alistair nodded in praise, “You’ve convinced me. Since we’re teammates, what’s your name, and what should I call you?”
“Sheriflo, I am an Ascender of the Path of Wisdom. A temple martial monk who cultivates the power of the Four Symbols.”
The monk, codenamed “Sheriflo,” clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and whispered, “I am a hermit from the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi, who has recently traveled to Avalon…”
As he clasped his hands together, the flames on his body gradually extinguished. The flames he held in his palms were slowly absorbed back into his body.
Sheriflo looked down at Hong, his dark blue pupils calm and merciless.
However, Hong, who lay on the ground without saying a word, met his gaze and revealed a sinister smile at the corner of her mouth.
The next moment, dense shadows turned into countless blades, piercing the monk from the side and impaling him like a hedgehog!
He immediately coughed up a mouthful of black, foul blood.
But before he could make any move, the shadow blades from Alistair were instantly retracted.
Then, a pure shadow like a giant guillotine condensed and fell, instantly cleaving him in half.
This was just an ordinary attack for a Shadow Demon. But he couldn’t even withstand a single attack.
“It’s a pity, he’s too late.”
This was the situation Hong had long awaited. She deliberately didn’t move, just to expose the monk’s weakness to her ally.
Hong said gloatingly, “He didn’t know that we guys had already reached an agreement—let me out, Mr. Alistair. You just heard it, the efficiency of our two-person team is much more convenient than your solo action.”
Eivass, wrapped in shadows, with her pupils emitting an enchanting purple glow and cracks on the verge of breaking out with purple wounds all over her body, merely watched her silently, not saying a word.
Seeing her attitude, Hong became a little flustered.
She quickly realized why—it must have been Alistair’s reminder from “the Knight” that made the simple Alistair realize that the three of them had formed an alliance in advance.
The martial monk who had just started on the Path of Wisdom made a mistake… but it wasn’t really his fault.
Because he arrived late, he didn’t hear Alistair’s experiences and didn’t know he was a Fiend possessed by a Shadow Demon.
Sheriflo regarded “one person” as a unit of calculation, assuming that more people could defeat fewer people. But in fact, the strength in this ritual was unbalanced—”Alistair,” possessed by a Shadow Demon, was undoubtedly the ceiling of strength in this ritual where everyone was only at the First Tier.
Although she, Antler, and Lightning had higher-level professions, it didn’t mean they were strong fighters now.
This ritual was also very simple—as long as three people survived until the end and killed everyone else, they would win. There was no need to worry about missions or the Holy Lance.
This was the characteristic of the New Moon Ritual. If you didn’t know how to start, you could just go and kill people. The only thing to consider was not to kill everyone in advance… but this time, due to the special victory condition, even this requirement was gone.
“I can cooperate with you, Mr. Alistair,” Hong quickly said, “I actually have some work at the Inspection Department on Glass Island. It’s not bad to have a friend like me. If you encounter any trouble in the future, you can come to me… Although Avalon prohibits the Transcendent Path, you are a Fiend, not a Demon Scholar, so there is still some room for maneuvering…”
But Alistair silently gazed at her, the corners of her mouth slightly upturned.
The reckless and brainless aura on her body disappeared completely, revealing a sinister and evil aura.
“Mr. Sheriflo reminded me of something, something crucially important,” Alistair said faintly, “That is, even if you kill the most people, you won’t necessarily be targeted by others. Because the process of killing you also generates kill counts. In a situation with only nine people in total, eliminating the weak is much simpler than targeting the strong…
“And the problem of ‘killing everyone will cause the ritual to end prematurely’ will also be offset by the special rules of this ritual.”
Hearing this, Hong finally realized something was wrong.
Her entire skin bulged red—blood oozed from beneath her skin, turning into blades and cutting the ropes.
But when the monk died, the room lost its only light source.
She couldn’t dodge the Shadow Demon at all, and couldn’t even sense where the Shadow Demon was coming from.
The next moment, she felt her throat, limbs being bound and lifted by threads made of shadow.
“Then goodbye, Madam Hong. Demons don’t need teammates.”
Alistair’s voice fell.
Her head was easily severed by the shadow.
