When the plot-skips players into the game world

The intensifying sense of fear made Grapes's body tremble uncontrollably.

She had experienced something similar before.

As a child, she had witnessed her parents being murdered by two guests who had been invited to talk. After killing Grapes's parents, they searched the house for something while staging the scene to look like a burglary.

At that time, she curled up, hiding inside the abdomen of a Patchwork Corpse that her mother had been working on.

Because only there could she evade the ritual's detection... and because it was too bloody and filthy for anyone to inspect closely.

She dared not make a sound, biting her lip, yet her body shook uncontrollably.

—The fear she felt now was just like it was then.

Grapes did not dare to move, not even to breathe audibly, as if any slight motion would violate some taboo, like walking on a narrow bridge over a precipice.

Even when her legs turned to jelly, she had to stand still—if reason told her this would only cause her legs to stiffen and make subsequent actions more difficult, she still couldn't move her feet.

If she had not become a Transcendent, she might have been scared to death on the spot.

It wasn't that she was too cowardly—quite the opposite, her ability to remain rational in such a situation proved she was a brave and level-headed person. It was because the Aura of Fear was seeping out from the deep red egg with growing intensity.

The next moment, the deep red egg suddenly burst open.

Lancelot, who had been maintaining a posture of looking up at the sky, closed his eyes as if bathing in something. His upper body was now bare, his skin covered with barbaric purple war tattoos, and his skin, which had been pale, turned to a sunbaked bronze, his hair becoming blood red.

It was clearly visible that there was a red "zero" shaped ring on his chest and a purple "infinity" shaped curve on his back.

And with him as the center, a crimson, blood-like storm furiously spread outward—in the already gloomy midnight sky, a storm began to swirl.

In just a few breaths, a blood-tinged hurricane began to sweep through the entire city of Glass Island.

The early morning sky turned an ominous dark red. It was the glow of embers, like red-hot charcoal.

"Hiss..."

Lancelot drew in a breath slowly, making a noise like the sound of smoking. Slowly, he opened his blood-red pupils.

As he inhaled, the storm grew stronger.

It spread outward, reaching beyond Glass Island.

And only then did Grapes see... Aiwass, who had initially been encased within it, had vanished without trace.

There wasn't even a body left.

"...Death without a whole corpse?"

Grapes's lips moved, uttering a helpless sound audible only to herself.

Being caught in such a grand ritual probably meant only melting away.

And she would die here too...

—Gag.

The sharp blade of the Holy Sword was coldly plunged into the ground by "Lancelot."

At this moment, "Lancelot" was no longer holding Arondight's Dagger in its dagger form, but rather the "Holy Sword Arondight" restored into a long sword.

The sword had a beautiful aqueous blue-green color, reminiscent of a lake surface, or like a fine sapphire. Against the faint candlelight, one could see a gradient from deep blue to dull yellow on its side.

"—It doesn't feel right."

He uttered an overlapping voice.

Grapes keenly discerned—that was a triple voice overlay of Aiwass, Lancelot, and a woman.

And at that moment, "Lancelot" slowly turned his head around.

Merely being the target of his blood-red gaze caused Grapes to shiver involuntarily, feeling an intense suffocation. The fear that paralyzed her brain made her body freeze, her whole body convulsed—and she wet herself directly.

"Heh."

Lancelot let out a snicker.

His blood-red eyes brimmed with mockery: "Cowardly pig."

—That was the Aura of Fear.

The power to directly scare a mortal to death, to immobilize those far weaker than oneself.

Such bullying Transcendent strength was one of the unique signs of the Path of Strength.

The next moment, he stretched out his hand, grasping at the void, and dragged something invisible into view.

By its outline, it looked like a hammer, or an axe, perhaps a fan. But just swinging it created a storm inside the small chapel—howling, the storm echoed through the building, shaking it violently, shattering the glass windows instantly.

"[Formless One]..."

The well-read Grapes immediately recognized this iconic Weapon.

This was... the Weapon of Erinyes, the Breaker of Sieges!

It was the goddess of evil deeds who delighted in slaughter during war.

She indulged in revelry and drunken debauchery, wanton killing and destruction after victory in the conquered cities—these acts were seen as rituals in service to Erinyes, providing an excuse for the chaotic and undisciplined militia to vent their base desires.

And now, Erinyes seemed in quite a foul mood.

"Lancelot's" body disappeared in the blink of an eye, appearing instantly before Grapes, enshrouded in a pungent stench of blood.

A savage and cruel expression crossed his face as he raised his right hand high.

—But at that moment, his facial expression and the action of his hand froze.

No disrespect intended...

But that feeling made Grapes think of a hound leashed with an iron chain. As it charged forward with a roar, reaching the edge and the chain pulled taut, the dog's entire motion abruptly froze in place.