The hunter who was swallowed by the red light was evaporated where he stood. Only ashes flew away in a gust of wind.
"What the f*ck was that?!"
"How… how can such a thing even be…"
The remaining hunters began freaking out. Not even one of them had ever seen such a powerful attack in their lifetimes.
We barely made it because of his shout.
The hunters stared at Jinwoo while nervously swallowing their saliva.
The statue's eyes were still glowing red, but it did not attack again.
"Everyone, don't panic. We need to remain calm. We have to follow the rules on the tablet to survive."
"How can you be sure about that? And what guarantee is there that if we do that, we will survive? What if those rules are there just to give us hope and kill us at the last second?"
Hunter Song asked Jinwoo with a worried and guarded expression.
"That's the only thing I can think of. Didn't the laser stop when we stopped moving and laid down? Technically, we completed the first law — worship the god."
After taking a deep breath, Jinwoo continued, "Even if those rules are only there to give us hope, we have to cling to that hope. Or do you want to try testing the patience of those giant statues at the door?"
Hearing this, Hunter Song's expression changed, and he said in a deep voice, "Looks like we don't have any other way. We will follow your lead. Everyone, I am making Jinwoo the new leader. Follow him."
All the hunters nodded at his words since they survived because of Jinwoo's shout, and they needed someone smart to lead them.
The entire conversation lasted two to three minutes, but during this time, either the statue was waiting or it got annoyed. It started to charge up another attack.
"Everyone, remember the first law — worship the god! Kneel down and worship him!"
Listening to him, some hesitated but eventually followed. Everyone knelt down, thinking similar thoughts.
We might live.We might get out of here alive.
Jinwoo also knelt down, thinking, Some might think a man shouldn't bow to anyone. But you aren't a reckless savage demon venerable or madara. Even I am feeling uncomfortable, but this is the only way to get more power. What's a little humiliation? If I think of it positively, I'm, in a way, bowing to Ashborn. He can be called my teacher in a sense.
As soon as everyone knelt down, the red glow in the statue's eyes slowly faded. The statue let out an eerie, creepy smile as it slowly started standing up, shaking the entire dome.
RUMBLE. THUD. THUD.
The statue slowly started to move toward the hunters.
"The next step is exalt the god," Jinwoo said.
As he was about to say something else, someone interrupted him. "I was in the church choir in high school. Maybe I can do something."
Jinwoo immediately interrupted him and said, "Are you dumb? We can't use Christianity's rules here."
At the same time, Jinwoo thought, If I remember correctly, we need to go to the statues.
"Everyone, split up and go toward the statues with the instruments!" he shouted.
As soon as he said this, he ran toward a statue holding a trumpet. The rest of the hunters followed, each choosing a statue.
When Jinwoo reached his statue, its fingers moved, and a beautiful melody flowed from the trumpet. Soon, the sounds of drums, violins, and other instruments followed, which seemed to calm the giant statue. Its expression soon turned emotionless, and it moved its hand.
A magical altar appeared from the ground at the center of the dome.
As the statue stepped back, the hunters quickly gathered around Jinwoo.
It's going way better than the original. Eight out of seventeen hunters never entered, and out of the nine who entered, only one died at the beginning. But the hard part is here now. I have to somehow get the System. I know I sound like a coward begging for a system, but it's the only way I can hope to survive the Monarchs' invasion. At first, I thought maybe if I trained and worked hard, I would awaken some golden finger or at least get something better than an E-rank in the evaluation.
As Jinwoo was lost in his thoughts, Hunter Song asked, "What's that now?"
Jinwoo looked at him and replied, "That's a magic altar. Remember the third rule — prove your piety."
Jinwoo said this in a worried tone. Everyone thought he was worried about who to sacrifice to survive, but Jinwoo was actually thinking about how to endure the torture that was to come. They were not entirely wrong, since he was worried about the sacrifice.
"Everyone, before deciding anything, let's inspect the altar," Jinwoo said as he moved toward it.
Looks like the fight in the original, where Hunter Kim pulled a sword on Hunter Song, didn't happen this time since far fewer people died and Hunter Song didn't lose an arm.
As the eight people stepped onto the altar, flames started to burn along its edges. The flames matched the number of people present.
Now the real stuff happens, Jinwoo thought as he looked at the Architect.
[A/n : any thoughts on what i can improve on or should i add other features to the system]