Goddess Kaleidoscope

They could get through, but the giant snake couldn't.

Once you pass through this door, there's a spiral staircase leading to the ground on the other side. If the giant snake wants to catch up, it has to go through the main entrance and circle around, which would be just enough to run into Nidhogg, who is coming to reinforce.

The group took three steps at a time and ran towards the small door. Lud could no longer pretend to be old, while Narad only had eyes for the door in front of him and did not notice that Lud, who looked to be in his sixties or seventies, could run as fast as him, who was strong and healthy.

Driven by a fierce will to survive, Narad ran incredibly fast, even throwing away his priest's staff. However, just as Narad was about ten meters away from entering the small door leading to survival, a huge snake tail suddenly descended from the sky, crashing down in front of him and blocking the door.

Immediately afterwards, they heard a mocking voice coming from behind them.

"Gotcha! Hehehe!"

End of this chapter

Clearly, the giant snake was quite intelligent. Although the illusions momentarily stunned it, the time it had to hold them back was limited. Before they could escape into the emergency passage, it blocked their path.

However, this giant creature didn't rush to attack them. Instead, it used its eight heads to powerfully surround the group.

Based on the previous conversation between this guy and the old lizardman, Lud vaguely guessed why it was so unhurried.

The giant serpent had recently been tricked by the lizardmen, reduced from a revered guardian beast to a enslaved summoned creature, so it was impossible for it not to harbor resentment.

Controlled by the Book of Ashes, it cannot disobey the orders given by the lizardmen, but it can slack off and let more of them die.

Faced with the mocking giant serpent, Narad felt a deep sense of despair, because the difference in strength between the two sides was simply too great.

He knew that the lizardman tribe had a habit of keeping monsters, but he never expected that they would be so big and so outrageous! This eight-headed giant serpent was not only highly intelligent and powerful, but also had a very rare magic immunity.

In previous battles, the lizardmen used a very special scale shield that could absorb the magic attacks of mages; it seemed to be made from scales peeled off a giant snake.

Later, the giant serpent itself appeared, completely ignoring magical attacks and even absorbing divine magic, which utterly horrified Narad!

If I hadn't rushed into battle and instead allowed the adventurers to gather more intelligence, at least until they understood the giant serpent's existence and background before taking action, they wouldn't be in such a passive position. But now it's too late to say anything.

Then the giant snake spoke again. This creature had eight heads that communicated with each other, so it had a habit of speaking in several parts, making it sound like surround sound.

"Human, how about we play a game?"

What game?

"A voting game! Whoever among you can last until the end, I will spare his life, and I will never go back on my word!"

The giant serpent's eight heads let out a mischievous laugh. Although Narad did not trust the serpent's integrity, the words "way out" had a magical power, which made him, who was in dire straits, feel a glimmer of hope.

In contrast, Lud was silently observing the giant snake before him.

Despite his outward appearance of being on high alert, Lud was actually as calm as a rock. With Aina and Shanis by his side as his "power banks," his defense, though lacking in offensive power, was more than enough. He could simply activate a comprehensive, unobstructed "self-isolation barrier" and hold out until all the lizardmen were wiped out!

Unlike him, Narad doesn't possess the Primal Flame, so he can't see certain special details. It's true that the giant serpent is immune to magic, but it's not actually immune to divine spells; Narad's divine wrath was neutralized by the power of the Book of Ashes. That "fake" that Benrud fabricated to frame him has now been believed to be true by the lizardmen!

So when the giant snake, which was deliberately trying to stall for time, said it wanted to play a game, Lud almost burst out laughing along with it.

What a coincidence! He also wanted to stall for time.

The game the giant serpent mentioned was one of her favorite pastimes over the past few centuries, which she often played with the "tributes" given to her by the lizardmen.

However, it doesn't participate in the game itself, but rather acts as a spectator and referee, watching the players off the field freely perform.

The rules of the game are simple: participants must vote several times within a set time to decide who will be eaten by the giant snake first. The last person to survive can leave alive.

It's a very perverse game of human nature, but this incredibly bored giant serpent finds amusement in it. It loves watching humans or demi-humans betray each other and cross so-called moral boundaries for the slightest chance of survival.

Lud remained calm, as his reinforcements were on their way, but Narad panicked. The giant serpent had just finished explaining the rules of the game, and Lud and the others all glanced at him simultaneously.

This completely subconscious action made him panic.

"Why are you all looking at me? Why are you looking at me?!"

"Huh? We didn't see it!"

"Look! You were definitely looking at me just now!"

Seeing that Narad had misunderstood, Lud quickly waved his hand with an awkward laugh, indicating that it was just a misunderstanding and that things were not as he thought. However, this did not reassure Narad.

It should be understood that there has never been true peace between different religious sects. Narad judged others by his own standards, believing that if given the chance, Rudd would kill him without hesitation.

In fact... he was right!

Realizing he had become a lone “minority,” Narad completely lost the composure and arrogance of a high-ranking priest of the Cult of War. He only knew that once the game started, Rudd and his two nuns would definitely vote him out as a “heretic” in the first round of voting!

But just when Narad thought he was doomed, the wicked giant serpent looked at the four of them and spoke again.

"Hmm... there aren't enough players! If there are only four, the game will be over in no time. That's not enough. I'll add a few more new players."

As the giant snake spoke, several of its heads suddenly puffed out their cheeks and vomited out several large, living people covered in foul-smelling slime.

The sudden "rumination" startled the people present, especially the other party's terrifying odor, which made the four of them take several steps back.

Like most snakes in the world, the giant snake also likes to swallow its prey whole and digest it slowly. The giant snake, now in spirit form, no longer needs to eat, but some old habits die hard. These humans were just swallowed by it, so they haven't suffocated yet.

The giant snake spat out three living people. They coughed and gasped for breath as they regained fresh air, their bodies emitting a foul odor. They looked as wretched as a few wild dogs that had just crawled out of a cesspool.

At this moment, Narad was pleasantly surprised to find that two of the three people spat out by the giant snake were his subordinates, one was a guardian knight, and the other monk was his disciple, the bald-headed Eru.

"Eru, Manan, you're both alive! That's wonderful!"

"Mentor!?"

Having just escaped from the clutches of the snake, Eru suddenly heard Narad's voice. Wiping the sticky liquid from his face, he turned to look at his mentor and was surprised to see an unprecedented look of ecstatic joy on the other's face. Still in a daze, his brain couldn't process what was happening for a long time.

End of this chapter

The arrival of three "new players" subtly altered the situation. Of the seven people in total, three were from the War God Cult, three from the Medicine God Cult, and one was an adventurer whose faith was still unclear.

This creates a proportion of people that are very likely to trigger conflict and arguments!

Distrust of the heretics, coupled with Lud and others' seemingly unintentional "extra glance" earlier, led Narad, whose emotions were already heightened by the perilous situation, to misunderstand and subsequently turn on the offensive after the situation changed.

The monk Eru and the guardian knight Manan were initially confused. He had just been vomited up by the giant snake and didn't know what had happened. But after hearing Narad's explanation, they quickly sided with their own people and tried to win over the still bewildered adventurer.

Narald clearly realized that the primary consideration in this game wasn't who would survive to the end, but rather who would die first. Anyone who revealed their will to survive too early would become a target and be voted out by the others prematurely.

Given that there were two groups of equal size present, this dim-witted guy suddenly became the key figure in deciding the outcome of the battle!

However, before he could speak, Lud suddenly waved his hand seemingly casually, and the adventurer was immediately enveloped in a holy light, and all the wounds on his body healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"you……"

"There's nothing I can do about it; it's just a professional habit."

Lud smiled and shrugged, indicating that he was a kind-hearted person. But Narad didn't believe him at all, thinking that he was just using divine magic to win people over and get the adventurer to his side first. He couldn't help but secretly resent the lack of effectiveness of his own Cult of the War God in the field of healing magic.

At that moment, Lud suddenly turned his head to look at the giant snake, then raised his hand and asked.

"Referee... ma'am, may I ask some questions about the rules of the game? There are some parts I don't quite understand."

"Sure, go ahead and ask."

The giant snake head that spoke up was the simplest in appearance, lacking any of the fancy or bizarre features; it was just a huge, dark blue snake head. But according to Lude's observation, its eyes were also the most expressive.

"The first question: can there only be one survivor in the end?"

Yes, only one person can survive.

"The second question is, what if the number of people remaining is even, and the vote is exactly 50/50? Is this round considered invalid?"

Upon hearing Lud's second question, the few not-so-stupid individuals present all lit up, but the giant snake's subsequent answer undoubtedly poured cold water on them all.

"If it really ends in a tie, then I will cast the deciding vote."

"So, when there are only two people left on the field, you actually decide who survives?"

"You can understand it this way: I guarantee that the winner will be able to leave this ancient city alive, but whether that person can return to your human territory alive is none of my business."

"Very good, I understand the rules. So everyone... please vote for me in this first round of voting!"

"Master!?" x2

To everyone's surprise, after carefully inquiring about all the rules from the giant serpent, Lud actually suggested sacrificing himself first, which stunned Narad, who was secretly figuring out how to deal with Lud.

Seeing the surprised expressions on everyone's faces, Lud said to them calmly.

"Gentlemen, I have a request. Since we have no choice but to play this game of life and death, I implore you brave warriors to give the chance of survival to the two youngest among us. I am already an old man nearing seventy, and I have lived long enough in this life."

As Lud spoke, a frank smile appeared on his face, unlike the others present who were filled with fear and tension. It was as if he had already made up his mind to sacrifice himself, which made Narad unsure of what to say for a moment, and he even subconsciously avoided the other's eyes.

At this moment, Lude looked at the monk Eru beside Narad. This bald young man looked to be around twenty years old. Lude smiled and asked.

"Brother Eru, how old are you this year?"

"Me? Me? Nineteen... Oh no! Eighteen years old."

Lude nodded to him, then pointed to Aina beside him and said.

“This is my student, Aina. She’s younger than you, only sixteen this year. If possible, I hope that you and she can make it to the final round.”

Suddenly being "chosen" by Lud to survive to the final round left Eru somewhat bewildered, yet also excited. This meant his chances of survival would jump from one in seven to one in half.

Narad, who was standing to the side, noticed the change in his disciple's eyes and immediately thought to himself, "This is bad."

He had initially thought the voting game would turn into a fierce battle, with everyone's goal being to "survive to the next round," inevitably involving various forms of coercion, bribery, and even outright force. This was because the giant snake had emphasized in explaining the rules that participants were not restricted from using any means necessary.

However, just when Narad thought that the game was about to unfold a disgusting display of human evil, and that he would survive to the end thanks to his rich experience in the struggles within the Cult of War, Lud suddenly made a self-sacrifice, directly "swerving" the pace of the game.

Narad couldn't be sure whether Lud was truly noble or had some ulterior motive, but at least from the moment he volunteered to be the first to sacrifice himself, this guy had firmly occupied the "moral high ground."

Therefore, when he decided to let Aina and Eru live to the last round on the grounds of "letting the young people live," as the oldest person present, even if the others wanted to object, they had no reason to refute him for a while, and were even unconsciously infected by his noble sentiments.

And that is precisely the wonder of human nature!

Influenced by external environment and things, you can see two completely opposite personalities in a person: selfishness and generosity, courage and cowardice. Everyone in this world lives like a coin, the key is whether there is someone to take the lead and set an example!

Thus, under Lud's influence, the brighter side of humanity began to gradually overwhelm the darkness. The knights guarding Narad, without waiting for his command, responded first. They suddenly removed the knight's badge from their breastplate and solemnly handed it to Eru.

“Brother Eru, whoever leaves this hellhole alive, whether you or that nun, please give this to my family and tell them my last words: that Manan has not brought shame upon them.”

After the knight finished speaking, he nodded slightly to Lud not far away. Although he looked very disheveled because he was covered in slime, his head was still held high with pride!

“Mentor, I am also willing to follow you.”

Although Shanis didn't quite understand Lude's purpose in doing so, she trusted him and echoed his sentiments, since she wouldn't die anyway.