Night Cherry Tangle's voice rang out like law, cold and clear.
"Remember, you are climbing the stairs, and the stairs are watching you."
"No sinful act escapes the eyes of the gods."
His words sent a chill through the crowd.
Steal someone else's kill and your points would be wiped out?
Ambush a teammate and you would be barred from the stairs?
The punishments seemed far too harsh.
The players who had been thrilled by the points and rankings moments ago fell silent.
They were players. They knew every rule in the game, and they knew just as well how to exploit loopholes.
But now, the ones who made and enforced the rules were the gods high above and the Holy Spirits under their command.
Who would dare gamble that the gods might blink?
The gods had given them a path to power, but they had also put shackles on that path to keep them from becoming another band of Jacksons.
Meanwhile, in the ruins of a city hundreds of kilometers from the Court of Sin Punishment, a six-player team was struggling against a massive monster.
It was a mutated giant Gargoyle. Once a stone carving perched atop a church, it had been awakened by corrupting energy after Apocalypse Descent and turned into a savage monster.
Its body was covered in hard stone skin. Every sweep of its claws gouged deep furrows into the ground.
"Hold steady! It's almost dead!" Captain Roderick roared. His Tower Shield was scored with claw marks, and every block left his arm numb.
The team's mage, Mary, was chanting a complex spell. Icy-blue arcane energy gathered before her, forming a sharp Ice Spear.
It was her strongest single-target skill—[Extreme Cold Pierce].
"Mike! Taunt it and hold its attention! Give me three seconds!" Mary's voice