Trial Begins, Dread Demon's Ambush

The other five hadn't gone far, and before long everyone returned to the place where they first descended.

Cheng Shi looked at Chen Chong and noticed he had already transformed the greatsword in his hands into a shield.

Warriors of [Order] were among the few professions renowned for defense, making them very suitable for survival-type trials.

The Shieldsword was a weapon that could freely shift between forms, an A-rank item that could only be obtained above Ladder 1600.

Chen Chong had just barely passed 1600 when he got the Shieldsword—seemed like his luck was good.

"I found today's [Order Anchor]. Youjian Bar was buried under the rubble. I dug through the stones and uncovered one of the bar's rules: today, only fruit wine is served."

As he spoke, Chen Chong flipped his hand and produced another bottle of fruit wine, an unfamiliar brand.

This time, it clearly wasn't found in the ruins but came from his storage space.

Every player had a personal space the size of a safe locker, used to store their most important belongings.

Cheng Shi had one too, filled with all sorts of oddities, but he hadn't expected someone else to also like keeping drinks in there.

The others were clearly more puzzled than Cheng Shi. Seeing everyone staring at him, Chen Chong explained with a smile:

"Too much pressure. I can't sleep at night without a couple of drinks, so I always keep a few bottles handy. Take a sip each, and the radiance of [Order] will protect you. Don't worry, the alcohol content is low—it won't affect the coming battle."

The [Edict of Passage] of [Order] was to seek out order. Only those who followed certain rules could receive its blessing.

And those who wished to be sheltered by [Order] had to abide by the order that was found.

A simple rule anchor clearly increased everyone's safety index. Everyone was delighted, and they took turns accepting the bottle, taking a light sip.

Only Cheng Shi, after taking it, gulped down half the bottle in one go.

Chen Chong's brow twitched, suddenly feeling that this priest was a bit unreliable.

Beside him, Cao Sansui seemed to have had a smooth [Edict of Passage] as well. He pulled out several golden pocket watches and began distributing them to everyone.

"I anchored time and calibrated all the watches. This watch will chime at 5 minutes, 3 minutes, and 1 minute before the hour. Everyone, make sure to maintain your condition. Time Walkers can only decide when the [Time Battlefield] begins and ends, but they cannot decide your state within it."

Cheng Shi took the pocket watch from Cao Sansui and began examining it closely.

Clearly, it was a solid gold pocket watch, even the hands gleaming with gold—it looked extremely valuable.

Unfortunately, in the current world, gold wasn't worth much.

Trials requiring gold were even less difficult than those requiring food.

But that didn't stop some players from still valuing gold as precious, to fulfill regrets from their past lives.

Seeing everyone inspecting the watch, Cao Sansui added:

"In case anyone's understanding of the [Time Battlefield] isn't clear, I need to remind you all once more:

The [Edict of Passage] of [Time] is precision and punctuality.

When I deploy the [Time Battlefield], we must activate it on the hour and end the battle and conflict on another hour.

If we fail, we will fall into an eternal time loop until we succeed.

But each loop will erode our sense of time!

Excessive loops will cause us to lose ourselves in the river of time. As for the result, I trust I don't need to elaborate.

So, if you're confident you can solve the problem in one go, don't activate it.

Time reversal is not omnipotent."

Players who had survived this long had basically encountered various combinations of professions and faiths and were already familiar with this routine, so they all nodded in agreement.

Afterward, the other four, including Cheng Shi, spoke up one by one, indicating that their [Edict of Passage] had gone smoothly.

Seeing everyone was ready, Chen Chong nodded and suggested:

"To the east of these ruins, there are still some buildings that weren't completely destroyed. For safety, let's take cover there first, until we encounter one side of the warring parties or are forced into contact with the enemy. How does that sound?"

"No objections."

Xia Wan's tone was still icy. She continued:

"I found Bomedean corpses under the rubble around here. This is probably some small town on the Isle of Hope. In the Hunter Channel's chat logs, someone mentioned that the Isle of Hope was destroyed by the Bone Legion."

Cao Sansui took over:

"Right, our location should be near Misty Forest County. There are quite a few people in the Mage Channel who study trial history. If we're really facing the Isle of Hope counterattack, then what we're about to deal with is probably the right flank of the Bone Legion."

Cheng Shi admired those who studied trial history, because he never did and had no patience for it.

In this twisted world, staying alive already took half his effort.

As for the other half, he kept it for deceiving others.

Half a month after the [Faith Game] began, someone noticed that players seemed to be teleported into a world that had once existed in every trial.

Many were curious about this world that only existed within the trials, so they started gathering background information and organizing it, sharing it with the public on the Professional Channel and Faith Channel.

Unfortunately, in Cheng Shi's Faith Channel, there was hardly any useful information.

All the historical fragments about trial backgrounds he saw came from the Professional Channel.

He really was a priest.

Chen Chong clearly wasn't a history buff either. Frowning, he asked, "So?"

Xia Wan continued, "There's very little information on the Right Wing Battlefield. If I remember correctly, the most recorded incidents were about..."

Before she could finish, a sharp screech suddenly tore through the distant sky.

Everyone was startled and quickly turned to look.

The sky in the distance had inexplicably turned ink-black. Countless black wings flapped, blotting out the heavens and covering the sun as they surged closer like a storm.

"...Dread Demons."

Xia Wan's face darkened as she spoke the answer.

Dread Demons were hellish fiends with fleshy wings sprouting from their backs. They fed on fear and excelled at sowing chaos. They were followers of [Filth and Decay] and sworn enemies of [Birth].

Dread Demons.

Given their terrifying numbers, if they actually engaged in battle, the six of them probably wouldn't even be enough to fill the gaps between the army's teeth.

"This is... way too many!"

Cheng Shi frowned and glanced at his pocket watch. The time had just passed the hour, reaching 9:01. The Time Battlefield didn't seem to have opened yet.

Cao Sansui's expression also shifted. Clearly, he hadn't expected the pace to be this fast, nor that they'd run into an airborne army right off the bat.

"Brother Cao, is this the scale of a 1900-tier game for you guys?" Song Yawen asked in shock.

Cao Sansui's heart turned bitter. Bullshit. I've never seen this either.

"Fall back. Quick. While we haven't been spotted, retreat into cover. They're on the move—we need to avoid direct contact. Let's go!"

Chen Chong shouted, lowering the giant shield from his back to conceal its glow. He led the group, crouching low as they ran eastward.

Song Yawen took the lead. As he sprinted forward and touched the shadows among the rubble and ruins, his entire body dissolved into a wisp of smoke, vanishing instantly from everyone's sight.

The Assassin's class skill: Shadow Shuttle.

Assassins prowl in darkness, shuttling through shadows. Over short distances, they can change positions using shadows and conceal themselves within them.

This concealment wasn't physical hiding—it was diving into the shadow plane itself, disappearing completely.

Xia Wan's speed was no less impressive. As a Hunter, agility was her trademark.

But unlike Cheng Shi and Nangong, who simply ran with their heads down, she scattered something on the ground as she moved.

Cheng Shi glanced back and saw she was tossing out [Genesis Grass Seeds].

These things certainly weren't real grass seeds. They were a blessing from [Birth] to the Hunter class.

This was a Life Trap. Any living being touched by the grass seeds would be influenced by [Birth]'s will, developing an urge to reproduce and rapidly gestating independent entities separate from the host's consciousness.

Just like the pregnant woman Cheng Shi had dealt with earlier, who desperately wanted to become a mother.

This method was essentially the main attack style of [Birth]'s followers.

They never destroyed enemies directly. Instead, they twisted them, driving them toward self-destruction.

Although the God of the [Life] path leaned toward order, order in will didn't prevent material distortion. In certain specific manifestations, orderly righteous gods were no worse than chaotic evil gods.

Sometimes, they even surpassed them.

"I need at least 57 minutes and 42 seconds to reset the Time Battlefield. During that time, I can only influence your Time Domains. Pray, friends. Hope they don't find us."

"Less talk, more action. Use it now. Speed us up!"

Chen Chong growled, his forward charge increasing by another notch.

Time Walkers could manipulate time, which was extremely useful during the Speedrun Phase.

Cao Sansui didn't want to expend too much mental energy this early, but there was no better option. Gripping his pocket watch tightly, he shouted to all his companions nearby:

"Zone, fast-forward!"

The moment the words left his mouth, the five figures seemed to hit a fast-forward button, accelerating instantly. In the blink of an eye, they had covered nearly a hundred meters.

In contrast, within another zone adjacent to the accelerated area, even the flow of air seemed to freeze. The entire region looked like someone had hit pause—even the dust kicked up hung motionless in midair.

Time's potential energy always balanced within a certain range. When one side sped up, the other naturally slowed down.

Cheng Shi felt wind beneath his feet, exhilarated. A place that would normally take minutes to reach took only a dozen seconds.

Unfortunately, this acceleration effect only worked within a specific zone. Once they left it, their speed plummeted back to normal.

Although Cao Sansui's tier was high and his condition clearly better than the others, accelerating such a large area still left him exhausted. Seeing him flagging, Chen Chong grabbed him, threw him over his back, and kept running.

"Assassin, scout ahead. Clear the ruins. Find a stronghold!"

"Nangong, restore the Mage's mental energy! Progeny Priest, don't move yet—it's not your time to act."

"Genesis Hunter, set more traps. Dread Demon scouts won't stay airborne forever. Once they land, every second we buy counts!"

Chen Chong had good judgment and commanded calmly. It was clear he'd climbed to 1600 on skill alone.

But the current situation was too dire, leaving him no other options. As he ran, he carefully scanned the broken walls and collapsed structures, searching for something that could shelter all six of them, hoping to survive this ordeal.

Yet the battlefield's changes were far faster than anticipated.

Before they could dash into the still-standing building ahead, the dense horde of Dread Demons had already descended toward the ruins.

Scouts among them had long since detected the players' presence.

"Yaa—saa—"

A terrifying shriek echoed across the entire ruin, and the Dread Demons' excitement was palpable—they seemed to have stumbled upon an unexpected delight along their march.

"No time, Grass Seed's been triggered! Engage the enemy!"