"Alright. I'm gonna wait for you guys in the next challenge."
The demon smirked as dark wings burst from his back, and he shot up into the sky.
Soon, the candidates couldn't even spot his shadow in the blood-red sky anymore.
Now, the moment of decision had arrived.
Almost instantly, one of the candidates lunged forward, heading straight toward the pack of fiends in the north — no thinking, no hesitation.
Alaric gritted his teeth, staring at the fiends in the distance. His mind now held only one thing: get through them and reach the place where the second challenge would happen, no matter what.
The other candidates looked at the slave with confused and uncertain eyes. They figured there must be something wrong with his brain. But at the same time, they couldn't deny they admired his willpower — whether it was for survival, or for God's reward.
"He's so brave," Curry said with a small smile as he watched the slave.
"Or stupid," Morris muttered next to him.
"So… what do we do now?" the butler asked, worry clear in his voice. He couldn't believe his master could stay so calm right now.
Curry shrugged and glanced at Morris.
"Now, I think you should reveal your secret… You knew something about this challenge, right?"
Morris grimaced.
"Only half. About this part, I have no clue."
He looked at the slave again, a bit uneasy.
"That slave will be a good test… We'll decide after watching how he does."
***
The slave, ragged with breath, quickly summoned his massive stone egg before the pack of fiends could reach him. With a swift motion, he hid himself behind the massive stone egg as a shield.
Settling his rhythm of circulation, he leaned his back against the stone, sensing its vibrations from the constant impacts between fiends and stone.
"Damn it. If I die, at least I'll take one of you with me." The slave, face twisted with madness, glared at the pack of fiends pressing against the massive stone egg.
He no longer had any way back ever since stepping through the gate. He understood that clearly. Anyway, even if he died, if it not be by fiends, it would be by the bacterial wounds. All he did was die, anyway. He had no reason to be afraid.
If he died, he would die following the great way, proud that he had defeated a fiend of hell. That would be a huge achievement for a slave like him.
He looked up and saw a short, human-looking fiend standing atop the stone egg, staring at him maniacally, its face ravenous. Then it jumped down, lunging its teeth-filled snout at the slave.
Alaric smiled weakly, letting the fiend bite his right shoulder. But the next moment, he coiled the handcuff chain linking his hands around the fiend's neck and strangled it with all the strength he had left.
"Fuck you. Come on, follow me to hell."
Something felt wrong as he said it… Yeah, this place was already hell. But he didn't care.
Meanwhile, the other fiends nearby seemed to be laughing and mocking that stupid, dying fiend. But then several of them quickly rushed toward the slave, ready to tear the wretched man apart.
Eventually, the slave died.
[You have killed a fiend]
[You gained 5 Chaos Points]
''Ah, my head.'' The slave held his head in pain, struggling to sit up. He felt a tinge of euphoria, as if he had just taken some drug—despite never having used one—but he guessed it must feel something like that.
He stumbled and shook his head lightly.
''Haven't I already died? Perhaps this is what death feels like… if so, how wonderful''
Creak! Creak! Creak!
The slave rubbed his eyes for a moment and directed his ears toward the noise. He looked up—and the horrified expression on his face was clear.
Again! He saw something familiar… something he had seen before. It was déjà vu.
The giant black egg, covered in constantly pulsing dark veins, slowly cracked open, revealing a strange figure with twisted goat-like horns.
He stood up—bare, slender body exposed to all—then smiled eerily.
''Welcome to the first challenge… the challenge of truthfulness.''
''I feel… goosebumps.'' The slave's face looked completely unbelieving.
…
The demon stayed silent for a while before suddenly bursting into loud laughter. He leaned his back against the broken shell of the egg and said,
''I'm just kidding.''
''Anyway, congratulations… all of you.''
The slave's face grew calmer after confirming it was all just a joke. Damn, he really wanted to punch that scum demon. Whatever happened, it seemed he had passed the first challenge, but he still had some doubts about reality. Yeah, being torn apart by the fiends, then somehow passing the challenge and surviving afterward — it was unbelievable.
However, when he thought about where he was, his doubts began to fade away— after all, he could never know what a god was truly capable of.
Then he looked back.
''Ah… they're must be there, uh, for sure.''
But at this moment, it was a little different… no, it was a big difference. Only four candidates had already woken up, while the rest lay motionless like corpses.
Assessing those four, they still seemed dizzy and disoriented after the first challenge. Hmm… maybe the slave was the first one to complete it. That was quite something to be proud of for a slave like him.
He looked down and slowly walked over to one of the corpses to check. For some reason, he already guessed the outcome.
Obviously, they were dead—but it was quite bizarre. In terms of reality, they were definitely still alive. Their breathing was even and stable… even better than his own.
However… when he looked into their eyes, he saw only hollowness, soulless, as if they were just empty shells.
The demon smirked while rubbing his muscular belly.
''Don't be surprised… all of them are in my stomach.''