A red, four-armed giant tore itself from the earth, its terrifying form, nearly three stories tall, standing firm upon the ground. Its dense, compact muscles smashed through the surrounding trees.

The earth cracked, trees toppled, and a deep, rumbling roar like continuous thunder rolled out. From a bird's-eye view, this scene was exactly like the grand and horrifying entrance of a monster from an old-fashioned special effects film or action movie!

Viewed up close, the sense of oppressive dread was even greater.

Twenty looked up, his golden eyes fixed on this enormous red monstrosity, his expression extremely grave.

Judging purely by its size and the physical strength it displayed by casually uprooting trees, this thing would be a tough opponent even for him, a 'Third Tier'.

Moreover...

Who knew what other abilities this Rakshasa might have to assist it? It didn't need to be anything too bizarre. With such physical attributes and foundational power, any additional skill would likely be an enormous headache and incredibly difficult to deal with.

When the base stats are already this high, slapping any kind of mechanic on top makes it completely overpowered!

"Really didn't expect this," Twenty sighed. "Thought I was coming to stomp some noobs, but it turns out this pond is deep..."

He looked to his side, intending to discuss matters with "Lin Yu," with whom he had temporarily reached a cooperative agreement.

But when Twenty turned his head, he noticed the other's demeanor had changed considerably.

"Huh? I'm supposed to fight this thing? For real?"

The masked woman looked up, her gaze shifting between the massive, blood-red monster as big as a detached house and the longsword in her own hand, voicing a soul-deep lament.

Compared to the Rakshasa before her, this longsword was as absurd as ordering a full rack of ribs at an American BBQ joint, only for the server to bring it out without a knife or fork, but with a single toothpick.

Fern seriously doubted she could even break its defense if the monster just stood there and let her stab it.

Twenty was also stunned.

"What's he calling out his alternate personality for now?"

"Oh... right. A hard-won split personality should be used to its fullest potential."

"But the problem is, this seems to be the 'Fraudster' personality, right? If the goal was to fight, shouldn't he have chosen the 'Monk' to come out?"

Unless...

"Unless, this guy doesn't plan to fight this Rakshasa at all!"

As Twenty pondered this, Fern also seemed to have a sudden realization and spoke.

"Oh... so this is Moro's true Rakshasa form."

"Not to be rude, but it's a bit too big!"

It seemed Fern had received information from Moss that the red giant before them was a transformation of "Moro."

Although Fern had also vaguely heard descriptions of a Rakshasa—red skin, four arms...

This monster was simply too enormous, so much so that even after seeing these features, Fern hadn't initially connected it to an "intelligent lifeform."

However, Fern now understood the mission behind her being switched in.

She looked up, waving as hard as she could towards the giant red Rakshasa, whose head was barely visible from this angle.

"Hey, hey, Moro, is that you?"

"It's me, Fern—didn't we cooperate very happily before?"

"This... although I don't know what you need the lives of 'otherworld visitors' for, there are actually still many 'otherworld visitors' in this event!"

"I think you're a person who values loyalty and righteousness. So, how about we pretend nothing happened and you just let me go, okay?"

Fern said earnestly.

Her answer was a silence lasting over ten seconds.

More than ten seconds later, a booming sound like a giant bell finally came from above.

"Get lost."

Fern breathed a sigh of relief and was just about to turn and leave when she suddenly felt herself being lifted.

A massive red hand grabbed Fern, making her cry out instinctively.

"Hey, hey, hey, Moro, what are you doing?!"

She nervously tightened her grip on the longsword.

However, Fern still tried to negotiate—after all, she could sense that although the other had grabbed her, it wasn't using much force.

Fern's guess was correct.

She felt herself being lifted into the air.

Then, that grand voice sounded again.

"Let me give you a send-off!"

With that, Fern felt her body being hurled violently outward, like a javelin or shot put thrown at the Olympic Games.

She flew at extreme speed into the distance. Looking back at the gradually receding red-skinned figure, Fern did her best to shout politely from mid-air.

"Thank you, Moro!"

She had actually been let go—the joy of a narrow escape filled Fern's heart.

"See, my judgment of this Rakshasa was right. He really is a good person who values loyalty and righteousness."

While airborne, Fern tossed out her longsword, adjusted her posture to lie flat on it, and then used her sword-riding ability to gradually decelerate.

Finally, she landed smoothly on the ground.

Back on solid earth, Fern couldn't help but feel emotional.

"If he can survive this Glory Festival, I'll have a reliable NPC friend in the Black Marsh world from now on!"

"Hmm... with this relationship as a foundation, I can try to develop more NPCs for friendly interactions in the Black Marsh world."

Fern got up from the longsword beneath her, patted the dirt off her clothes, and looked to the side.

Before a fiercely burning campfire, three Barbarians were roasting some kind of animal meat.

Fern looked at their bulging packs, the sizzling, oil-dripping roasted meat before them, and the three Barbarians who were covered in wounds, utterly exhausted, and staring dumbfounded at her sudden descent from the sky...

Hungry, and in desperate need of trophies to clear the stage, Fern's expression instantly turned ferocious.

"What are you looking at? This is a robbery!"

"Hand over your meat and your trophies!"

...

On the other side, after Lin Yu had sent Fern away, Twenty, holding the golden pendant he had just retrieved, also spoke cautiously to the giant figure.

"Since she could leave... does that mean a fight isn't absolutely necessary between us either?"

A resonant voice once again came from the sky.

"Your reason?"

"I am the strongest among this batch of 'otherworld visitors'," Twenty declared confidently. "Fighting me, you are not guaranteed to win either!" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"If we two clash, it's easy for both to be severely wounded."

From on high, a hearty laugh rang out.

"That is not a reason for me to spare you... that is precisely the reason I sought you out."

"You are not only the strongest among the 'otherworld visitors', but also the strongest among all participants this time... therefore, I must fight you."

"Admittedly, there is a probability I might die by your hand, but... it matters not!"

Hearing this, Twenty's pupils constricted. He violently dodged backward, throwing himself to the ground in a somewhat awkward manner.

The spot where he had been standing now contained a cracked crater and a massive, blood-red giant foot!

"Only when the strong battle the strong until their blood runs dry can it be called glory!"

"This is... what the Glory Festival should truly be!"

"Come, let us fight!"

A furious roar descended from above Twenty, like an ancient bellow from a bygone era traversing millennia to echo once more across this land!