The Gods' Foolish Game

Chapter 5: Trial Begins, The Demon's Ambush

**Chapter 5: The Trial Begins, Terrorfiend Assault**

The other five hadn't gone far, and soon everyone had returned to their initial arrival point.

Chen glanced at Hunter and noticed he had already transformed his greatsword into a shield.

Warriors of the **Order** Path were one of the few professions renowned for their defensive capabilities, making them exceptionally well-suited for survival-type Trials. The shield-sword was a versatile weapon capable of shifting forms, an A-grade item only obtainable from the **Leaderboard** after reaching a rating of 1600. For Hunter to have acquired one just after breaking 1600 meant his luck was holding.

"I found today's **Order Anchor**," Hunter announced. "A bar was buried beneath the rubble. I dug through the debris and uncovered one of its rules: 'Today, only fruit wine.'"

As he spoke, he produced a bottle of fruit wine from thin air—an unfamiliar brand. This one clearly wasn't scavenged; it came from his personal storage space. Every Believer had a storage space roughly the size of a safety deposit locker for their most vital items. Chen had one too, filled with various oddities, but he was surprised to find someone else who also kept beverages in theirs.

The others looked even more puzzled than Chen. Seeing their stares, Hunter chuckled and explained, "The pressure gets to me. Can't sleep without a couple of drinks most nights, so I always keep a few bottles handy. Each of you take a sip. The radiance of **Order** will protect you. Don't worry, it's low-proof. Won't affect the coming fight."

The **Order** Path's **Divine Blessing** involved seeking out established order. Only by adhering to a specific law or rule could one receive its boon. To gain **Order**'s protection, one must also follow the discovered ordinance. A simple rule like this would obviously boost the team's safety margin. Everyone seemed pleased, passing the bottle around and taking small sips.

Only Chen, when it was his turn, tipped it back and gulped down half the bottle.

Hunter's eyebrow twitched. Suddenly, this Cleric seemed a bit... unreliable.

Nearby, Three appeared to have succeeded in his own **Divine Blessing**. He produced several golden pocket watches and began distributing them.

"I've anchored **Time** and synchronized all the watches. This watch will chime five minutes, three minutes, and one minute before the top of the hour. Everyone, pay attention to maintaining your condition. A **Time** walker can only decide *when* the **Time Battlefield** begins and ends, not *how* you fare within it."

Chen accepted a watch from Three and examined it closely. It was unmistakably solid gold, even the hands gleaming brightly—a piece that looked exquisitely expensive. A pity that in this world, gold wasn't worth much. Trials that demanded gold were even less challenging than those requiring food. Yet, that didn't stop some Believers from clinging to its former prestige, trying to fulfill regrets from their past lives.

Seeing everyone inspecting their watches, Three added, "Just in case anyone's understanding of the **Time Battlefield** is unclear, let me reiterate: The **Time** Path's **Divine Blessing** is about precision and punctuality. Once I deploy the **Time Battlefield**, we must activate it precisely on the hour and resolve all conflict and contention by the next exact hour. Failure traps us in an endless temporal loop until we succeed. But each loop erodes our grasp on the concept of time itself! Excessive cycling will see us lost in the river of time forever. The result, I trust, needs no elaboration. So, if you're confident we can solve our problems in one attempt, don't trigger it. Time reversal is not a panacea."

Believers who had survived this long were generally familiar with the various profession and Path combinations, so they all nodded in understanding.

Afterward, the other four, including Chen, reported their own successful **Divine Blessings**.

Seeing the team was prepared, Hunter nodded. "The eastern part of these ruins still has some semi-intact structures. For safety, let's take cover there until we encounter one side of this war or are forced into combat. Thoughts?"

"No objections," Summer's tone remained icy. She continued, "I discovered corpses of Bomedians under the surrounding rubble. This is likely a town in the Hope Dominion. In the Hunter channel logs, some mentioned the Hope Dominion was destroyed by a Skeletal Legion."

Three picked up the thread. "Correct. Our position should be near the Forest Shire. The Mage channel has more people who study Trial history. If we're truly facing the Hope Dominion Counteroffensive, then what we're about to encounter is probably the Skeletal Legion's right flank."

Chen admired these history buffs. He never studied it himself, lacking both the interest and the patience. In this twisted world, staying alive consumed half his mental energy. The other half? He saved for deception.

About two weeks after the **Faith Game** began, people noticed that each Trial seemed to teleport Believers into worlds that had once existed. Unfortunately, Chen's own Path channel offered little useful intel. All the historical fragments concerning Trial backgrounds came from the profession channels.

He really was a Cleric.

Hunter clearly wasn't a historian either. He frowned. "So?"

Summer went on, "Information on the right flank is scarce. If I recall correctly, the most frequently recorded threat in this sector was..."

**[The chapter continues...]**