Chapter 357 - 259: If You Lose, You’ll Be Made into a Pedestal

Chapter 357: Chapter 259: If You Lose, You’ll Be Made into a Pedestal

Leon walked up to the dedicated Red Alert sandbox. He had never seen such a strange device before, and it made him a little curious.

"How do you play this?" Leon mumbled.

"You’ll know once you try." His classmates also hurried to find their own machines.

"I’m going to be the first one to beat the game!" one of them shouted excitedly. "Everyone else has to do the winner’s homework for a week!"

When friends played games together, there were always strange side bets.

"Then you’d better get ready," Leon said.

He didn’t really care about homework, since he rarely turned it in anyway. But if he could get his friends to do it for him, he wouldn’t mind turning it in a few times.

Red Alert, begin!

As Leon clicked "Start," a user interface appeared on the sandbox, looking like a Magic Vision Device’s screen. Below the large title was a blood-red background. He could vaguely make out a map of Feilin, giving off a sense of grave danger.

On the side was a list of options.

"Single Player, Online Game, Cutscenes & Credits, Settings..."

’What are cutscenes? Did they actually film a Shadow of Evil just to tell the story?’

Leon thought back on the games he had played. He was never a fan of the story; he always skipped it if he could. Time was precious, after all.

Besides, the stories in those games weren’t worth watching anyway. They were usually just a few comic pages or a crude animation.

Leon went straight into Single Player, planning to get familiar with the controls before going online to compete against others.

In his view, there was no skill in beating an AI. The real fun was in playing against other people.

Leon rubbed his hands in excitement.

However, instead of the game starting immediately as he’d expected, no controls appeared. Instead, a realistic Illusion materialized on the sandbox.

A pristine white city, with towering cathedrals.

’Is this the Holy City of the Pope’s Country?’

Leon had seen a documentary about the Holy City on a Magic Vision Device and had a vivid memory of its many extravagant cathedrals. In comparison, the cathedrals of Twin Tower City seemed small and dilapidated.

A fully armored Holy Knight walked before the Pope.

"Holy Father."

This was a common way to address the Pope in the Church. One could also call him "Pope" or "Your Holiness," but basically, no one used his full title.

It wasn’t out of disrespect. The Pope’s full title was "Supreme Bishop, Representative of the Church, Successor to the Master of Disciples, Chief Priest, Servant of the Servants of the Magic Goddess."

This kind of title-stacking was a common trait for important figures in Feilin, and it was exhausting to recite.

"Holy Father!" The Holy Knight knelt on one knee. "Urgent messages from Bishops in every region. New Gates of Hell have appeared across the Continent, and countless Devil Legions are marching on the major cities of every nation."

"Has this information been confirmed?"

"It has been confirmed."

"We must strike back. Activate the Forbidden Magic Array."

The scene then changed, shifting to Carl Mage Tower, one of the most famous Mage Towers.

Inside the tower, several Grand Mages in High Tier robes, with white hair and beards, who looked extremely reliable, immediately sprang into action.

"Unfurl the Magic Array!"

"The first layer is unfurled!"

Before the magnificent and complex Magic Array could fully unfurl, the eyes of one of the Grand Mages casting the Magic were suddenly consumed by blackness, and the Runes in his hands turned blood-red.

The other Mages noticed something was wrong with him.

"What are you doing? It’s not fully unfurled! The Forbidden Technique will backlash!"

They rushed to stop him, but it was too late.

In an instant, the Forbidden Technique annihilated the Mage Tower.

The same scene occurred in other Mage Towers, like fireworks being set off across the Continent.

The Illusion then showed Hell, where a Devil Duke was gazing at a sandbox and asked the cloaked figure beside him.

"Yuri, was the plan a success?"

"Not yet. The real show is just about to begin."

Immediately after, one Devil Legion after another invaded the famous cities.

Terrifyingly shaped Devils, never-before-seen Magical Beasts, weapons of astonishing power, people fleeing in panic, castles engulfed in the flames of war...

Leon stared at the Illusion, dumbfounded. ’So this is what they call a cutscene?’

He had never seen a story like this in a game before. It was just like watching a Shadow of Evil.

’What happened to the Continent in the game?’

’Has the Continent been conquered by Devils? I’ve read about the wars of Devil invasions in my history books. Is this story set in the past, or the future? And what role will the character I control play in all of this?’

’A hero on the front lines, fighting back the Devil Legions, or a Legendary Mage who uses Magic to destroy the Gates of Hell?’

He could already picture himself controlling his character, triumphing over one powerful Devil enemy after another.

The opening cutscene ended, and the faction selection screen appeared.

"You can even choose the Devils?"

Leon cried out in surprise when he saw the black and red skull representing the Devils on the interface.

’Play as a Devil and attack Humans?’

Leon was a little tempted.

In the cutscene just now, even though the Devils were the villains, the way they were portrayed as meticulously planning and overwhelmingly powerful really appealed to him.

Unfortunately, there were people watching him now. There were always people watching when he played games.

If no one else was around, he would definitely have chosen the Devils right away.

"Of course you can choose the Devils! I just did!" a classmate next to him replied.

"Huh? You actually did?"

"So what? It’s just a game. Besides, don’t you think the Devils in this game are cool? And I heard their soldiers are stronger."

"Wait, how do you know the Devil soldiers are stronger?" Leon caught the key point. "Did you look up a guide on the forums beforehand?"

"S-So what if I did?" the classmate said, a little flustered. "You didn’t tell us you were a master gamer, either! This is just a necessary measure to defeat a master!"