Chapter 125 Rules: Crazy Killing
"...So you can talk."
Aiwass stopped and looked over with interest. "I thought you had sworn a vow not to speak. Or maybe you'd have mercy and let me save him."
"There's no need to say those meaningless words. They only weaken one's will and make one weak."
When Aiwass paused, the monk nodded slightly and continued in a low voice: "Mr. Aleister, please be patient and listen to me.
"This ceremony has special victory conditions, unlike the normal Crescent Moon Ritual. In a normal Crescent Moon Ritual, even if you kill everyone, you'll still lose if the mission isn't completed.
"But this time, there's a [Kill Frenzy] rule, so you can still complete the mission by killing everyone beforehand. Even if you don't complete the mission, the person who survives to the end will still win. The easiest way to win is to reduce the number of people to three. The giant will prioritize picking up corpses, so the remaining three will automatically win regardless of their points.
"But this strategy is flawed. If the other six weren't all killed, and one of them survived... he might have earned a lot of points. This would have resulted in one of these three being eliminated.
"So, the most consistent winner, besides being the one with the most points, is the one who kills the most. If someone kills one person, and the remaining seven survive, then as long as the giant chooses the deceased as food, the ritualist who killed one person will inevitably win.
"From this perspective, killing one person in each of the three storage rooms is the safest approach. This way, no matter which room the giant goes to, it won't choose the survivors as food."
"You're right," Aiwass nodded, "but can anyone else think of it?"
"The team that didn't expect it was inherently inferior."
The monk replied calmly.
His eyes shone with a blue light that symbolized the path of wisdom: "Although the person who has not killed has an inherent lack of a chance of winning - when the remaining six people gather together, as long as they work together to annihilate one team, they will surely win.
"Because there are four people left, the other team only has one kill, and my teammates didn't kill any. Even if they get a second kill, the number of people will be reduced to three."
"But this also means that the person who gets the three heads can just hide until the ceremony is over."
Aiwass shook his head: "He doesn't need to cooperate with his teammates to help him complete the task."
"If that were the case," the monk replied, "his teammates might join the opposing team or even betray him. Therefore, this is the best way to check and balance the situation, allowing the two of them to work together perfectly without worrying about their teammates getting higher scores than them.
"As soon as our two-man team appeared in front of the other team, they immediately understood that if they didn't get any kills, you would win directly because 1 is greater than 0. With this in mind, they had to get at least one kill to restore balance, so it would eventually become a six-man game.
"But if you kill two people, then you won't be able to compete against a team of three or a team of two. Generally speaking, a team of two has a better chance of winning than a team of three, and a team of two and three has a better chance of winning than a team of one. But if everyone is a team of one, then the remaining three will win directly."
After reading the rules for this promotion, the monk took less than half a minute to sort out several possible tactics.
But Aiwass only raised an eyebrow and chuckled softly, "However, you forgot to mention one situation. That is, if someone kills multiple people, they are likely to be targeted by the others."
"No."
Holding a flame high in one hand, the monk, resembling the sun, replied, "If we work together to annihilate a team, meaning we kill four people in total, then at most five people, including you, will be alive. If someone kills you, they will become the only survivor with a kill count and achieve the special victory condition. Therefore, for everyone else, your survival is effectively insignificant—it simply shifts the victory condition for [Kill Frenzy].
"And if someone has already killed someone, including you, there are only four remaining. Then there's no need for them to target you, because at this point, the death of any one person represents victory.
"In other words, points and missions are nothing more than traps, completely disregarded. Regardless, as long as even one squad is annihilated, the ritualist who has killed others will gain an advantage; the fewer the number, the greater the advantage. If we kill Red and annihilate a squad, we can both be guaranteed promotion. This is the strategy with the highest overall benefit for both of us out of all the possibilities currently available."
"……amazing."
Aiwass nodded in praise. "You convinced me. Now that we're teammates, what's your name and how should I address you?"
"Shariputra, I am an ascendant on the path of wisdom. I am a Four-Elephant Monk who cultivates the power of the four elements."
The monk codenamed "Shelifuluo" clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and whispered, "I am an ascetic monk from the ancient Parthian Empire. I recently traveled to Avalon..."
As he clasped his hands together, the flames on his body gradually died down. The flames he held in his palms were gradually absorbed back into his body.
Shelifuluo looked down at Hong, his dark blue eyes calm and without mercy.
However, Hong, who had been lying on the ground without saying a word, met his eyes and a strange smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
The next moment, the dense shadows turned into countless sharp blades, piercing the monk directly from the side, turning him into a hedgehog!
He suddenly coughed up a mouthful of black, dirty blood.
But before he could make any move, the shadow blade from Aleister was instantly retracted.
Then, pure shadow like a giant gate knife condensed and fell, splitting him in half in an instant.
This was just a common attack for Shadow Demon, but he was unable to withstand even a single attack.
"It's a pity that he's late."
This was the situation Hong had been waiting for. She deliberately remained motionless, just to let the monk reveal his weakness to her allies.
Hong gloated, "He doesn't know we've reached a cooperation—let me out, Mr. Aleister. You just heard it, our two-man team is much more efficient than yours alone."
Aiwass, whose body was wrapped in shadows, whose pupils emitted an enchanting purple glow, and whose body was covered with many purple wounds, just looked at her silently without saying a word.
Seeing his attitude, Hong was a little panicked.
She soon realized why this was the case - it must be the words spoken by the "Knight" that reminded the simple-minded Aleister, making him realize that the three of them had already formed an alliance in advance.
The monk, new to the path of wisdom, made a mistake... but it wasn't really his mistake.
Because he arrived late, he did not hear about Aleister's experience, nor did he know that he was a demon possessed by a shadow demon.
Sheliphro considered "one person" a unit of calculation, assuming that more people would prevail over fewer. However, in reality, the power in this ritual was uneven—Aleister, possessed by the Shadow Demon, was undoubtedly the ceiling of strength in this ritual, where everyone was only at the first level.
Even though she, Deerhorn, and Thunder had higher-level professions, that didn't mean they were any good fighters now.
This time the ritual was simple again—as long as three people survived to the end and killed everyone else, they would win. There was no need to worry about the quest or the Holy Lance.
This is the special feature of the New Moon Ritual: you can kill people without knowing how to start. The only thing to consider is that you can't kill everyone beforehand... But because of the special victory in this ritual, even this requirement is not required.
"I can work with you, Mr. Aleister."
Hong quickly said, "I actually have some work at the Inspectorate on Glass Island. It wouldn't hurt for you to have a friend like me, right? If you ever run into any trouble, you can always come to me... Although Avalon prohibits transcendence, you are a demon after all, not a demonologist, so there is still some room for maneuver..."
But Aiwass just stared at her in silence, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised.
The reckless and brainless temperament in him disappeared without a trace, revealing a gloomy and evil aura.
"Mr. Charlevoix reminded me of something, something of vital importance."
Aiwass said quietly, "That is, if you kill the most people, you won't necessarily be targeted by others. This is because the process of killing you will also generate kills. When there are only nine people in total, eliminating the weak is actually much easier than targeting the strong..."
"And the problem of 'killing everyone will cause the ritual to end early' will also be offset by the special rules of this ritual."
Hearing this, Hong finally realized that something was wrong.
Her skin was swollen and red all over - blood was flowing out from under her skin, turning into blades and cutting the ropes.
But when the monk died, the room lost its only source of light.
She was completely unable to avoid the Shadow Demon and couldn't even detect where it appeared from.
The next moment, she felt her throat and limbs were tied up and she was hung up by silk threads made of shadows.
"Goodbye then, Madam Red. Demons don't need teammates."
Aleister's voice fell.
Her head was easily cut off by the shadow.
(End of this chapter)
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