...

10:30 PM, December 16th.

’Huh?’ Cassien looked at an interface that popped up beside him, ’This is quite surprising.’━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Hidden Quest Progress Updated]

→ Theodore Lancaster Survival Route: 17%

→ Class 1A Conflict Triggered 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

→ New Variable Detected: Unknown Transmigrator

[Reward Potential Increased]

━━━━━━━━━━━━

As he slowly stepped back through the gates, in a certain pathway where guards couldn’t catch him, a voice resounded through his ears.

[Well, well, hope all of the remaining survivors inside of the Transmigration Games are doing alright.I’ve noticed a large number of you have simply stopped killing.Not dying in these games is a huge no-no. Thus, I must commence our first purge.Now... please wait while I spin the wheel....Tada!It has landed on]

The voice sounded more ecstatic than ever before.

[Lantern Island. Interesting, only water surrounds the area.As many of you may know, the name was given after the beautiful illumination.You guys have until 12:00 AM midnight to get one kill.If you don’t, the ones who haven’t gotten a kill lose and die.Well then, good luck all, best of luck.]

Cassien began moving his eyes from left to right, but for some reason, he couldn’t move his body.

Something began glowing beneath him, his eyes losing sight of any sort of image other than the bright white light that engulfed him.

’Teleportation?’

━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Emergency Event Activated]

→ Purge Event: Lantern Island

→ Remaining Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

→ Objective: Kill One Survivor

→ Failure Penalty: Death

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Cassien felt the world twist violently around him. The pressure nearly made him vomit all over the place, but he tried keeping his cool while clutching his chest.

Splash!

Freezing water crashed against his body the second he arrived.

Before him stretched an enormous island beneath the night sky.

Hundreds of glowing lanterns illuminated distant pathways, forests, abandoned villages, shrines, cliffs, and massive wooden bridges connecting different sections of the island together.

The place itself was far larger than he had expected.

’So everyone gets scattered separately.’ That realization alone made this event much worse.

The sound of distant screams echoed somewhere far away, as a faint explosion illuminated part of the island briefly.

People had already started killing, and Cassien quietly examined his surroundings.

Rocky shores, dense trees ahead, no nearby movement. It was good.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Current Survivors: ???]

[Participants Without Kills: 197]

[Time Remaining: 01:24:33]

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Cassien clicked his tongue, ’One kill isn’t difficult. The problem is avoiding unnecessary attention afterward. I can’t have others knowing I’m a transmigrator.’

The dumbest thing someone could do during a purge was to fight openly. For the exact reasons Cassien thought of, and also the fact that people weakened each other.

The stronger survivors cleaned up afterward. Classic survival-game logic.

Cassien slowly stepped into the forest.

Crunch.Crunch.

Wet leaves shifted beneath his shoes while glowing lanterns hanging from tree branches illuminated the pathway ahead in dim orange light.

’No wildlife. Not even insects.’

Cassien rested one hand near his pistol instinctively, his instincts feeling uneasy.

Step.

A faint noise echoed behind him, Cassien’s eyes sharpening slightly.

’Someone’s tailing me.’ He kept walking normally, the noise followed. ’Terrible stealth.’

The person trying to stay hidden from him didn’t know how to stay quiet well enough. Cassien almost laughed.

The figure slowly crept closer through the darkness. Closer and closer, until finally—

Shhk!

A blade suddenly lunged toward Cassien’s neck from behind.

He instantly blocked the strike with his dagger before twisting around sharply.

"Hello, how’s it going?"

Sophia Desend stood before him beneath the lantern light, a silver dagger in hand.

Cassien looked genuinely unimpressed. "You followed me even into a death game?"

Sophia smiled sweetly despite the failed ambush, "Well, I did say we should connect more. I wish I could’ve smashed your face back on Earth though."

Cassien sighed, "You know, attempted murder usually ruins the mood for me."

Sophia’s innocent expression vanished. "You should’ve just let me use you quietly. Why did you have to act smart?"

Cassien slowly lowered his dagger, "Oh?" Mana shifted around Sophia, "You’re angry?"

"Of course I am," her smile looked far more unstable now, "Do you know how humiliating that shit felt? You just had to read so deep into the novel that you remembered such a background character like me, Sophia De-fucking-scend."

Cassien smiled, "Of course. I hate extras more than anything after all."

"I’ll just kill you here instead," Sophia declared.

"What’s this?" she whispered, "I can’t examine your abilities?"

Cassien looked down at his own shadow, "Transcend."

The [Distorted Mask] suddenly appeared in his hand. "I guess this really does come in handy. Concealing my presence is not for the weak."

He then wore it, the mask fully attaching itself to his face. His voice also changed drastically, becoming deeper and far more mysterious.

"What do you think?" he asked mockingly, "If I kill you with the mask instead... would it suit me better? I really do think it does. I mean, the potential it has is insane. Oh yeah, FYI, I don’t even need this on for the perks to activate. I’m doing it purely because you’re weak."

"You talk too much for someone stranded on an island with a death timer."

"Blah blah blah. It’s not like I couldn’t kill you whenever I pleased."

Shhk!

Sophia dashed forward instantly, water mana wrapping around her legs in thin, flowing streams. Her speed increased sharply the moment the mana circulated properly through her body.

Clang!

Their daggers collided beneath the lantern glow, sparks flying outward.

Cassien slid backward slightly across the wet ground.

’Faster than earlier... so she was hiding her stats at the academy too.’

Sophia twisted her wrist suddenly, water forming around the blade of her dagger before extending outward like a sharpened current.

Slash!

Cassien leaned sideways just barely in time as the compressed water sliced clean through part of a nearby tree trunk instead.

"You know," Sophia whispered while smiling, "I actually hated your type the most back on Earth."

Cassien rolled his eyes behind the mask.

"Men?"