The other five didn't stray too far. Soon, they all returned to the spot where they had first arrived.
Sincere looked at Baldwin and noticed that he had already transformed his great sword into a shield.
Warriors of ORDER were one of the few classes known for their defensive capabilities, making them ideal for survival-based trials.
The shield-sword was a weapon that could change forms at will, an A-level item that could only be obtained after reaching a ladder score of 1600.
Baldwin had just passed 1600 and obtained the shield-sword, so it seemed like he had some luck on his side.
"I've found today's Order Anchor. There's a bar buried under the ruins. I dug through the rubble and uncovered a rule from the bar: 'Today, only fruit wine was allowed.'"
As he spoke, Baldwin pulled out a bottle of fruit wine, from a brand they hadn't seen before.
It was obvious that this wasn't from the ruins but rather from his storage space.
Every player had a portable space the size of a small locker, used to store their most important items.
Sincere had one too, filled with all sorts of odd things, but he hadn't expected that someone like Baldwin would also keep drinks in his.
The others were clearly more confused than Sincere. Seeing their puzzled expressions, Baldwin chuckled and explained. "The pressure's been too much lately. If I don't drink a couple of cups, I can't sleep. So, I always keep a few bottles around. Just take a sip, and the light of ORDER will protect you. Don't worry, it's low alcohol and won't affect the upcoming battle."
ORDER's Oracular Deed was about seeking order. Only those who followed certain rules could receive its blessing.
And those who wanted to be protected by ORDER also had to adhere to the discovered order or rule.
The simple rule anchor clearly increased their safety, and everyone was happy. They all took turns accepting a bottle and sipping from it.
Only Sincere, when he got the bottle, chugged half of it down.
Baldwin's eyebrows twitched. He suddenly felt like this priest might not be very reliable.
Meanwhile, Frank seemed to be having just as much success with his Oracular Deed. He pulled out several golden pocket watches and began distributing them.
"I've anchored time and calibrated all the pocket watches. This one will chime at 5, 3, and 1 minute before the scheduled time. Everyone, pay attention to your state. Time Walker can only decide when the Time Battlefield starts and ends, but not how you'll be affected during it."
Sincere took the pocket watch from Frank's hands and began inspecting it closely.
It was clearly a solid gold pocket watch, with the hands glittering in gold. It looked very expensive.
Unfortunately, in today's world, gold wasn't considered valuable.
Trials requiring gold were often easier than those requiring food.
But that didn't stop some players from still valuing gold, hoping to make up for past regrets in their lives.
Seeing everyone examining the watches, Frank added, "Just in case some of you aren't clear about the Time Battlefield, I need to remind everyone once more: TIME's Time Battlefield is about precision and punctuality. When I set up the Time Battlefield, we must start it on the dot and end the battle at another set time. If we fail, we'll be stuck in an eternal time loop until we succeed. But every loop will erode our sense of time! Excessive looping will cause us to get lost in the river of time, and as for the outcome, I think you can imagine it. So, if you are confident in solving the problem in one go, don't activate it. Time reversal is not omnipotent."
By now, most of the players had already encountered various class and faith combinations and were familiar with the system, so they all nodded in agreement.
Afterward, the other four, including Sincere, also spoke up, confirming that their Oracular Deed had gone smoothly.
Seeing that everyone was ready, Baldwin nodded and suggested, "There are still some buildings to the east of the ruins that haven't been completely destroyed. For safety, we should head there and hide until we either run into one of the warring sides or are forced into combat. How does that sound?"
"I have no objections." Camille's tone remained as cold as ever as she continued, "I found the body of a Kosomo person under the surrounding rubble. This is likely a small town from Hope Isle. Someone in the Hunter's channel mentioned that Hope Isle was destroyed by the Skeleton Legion."
Frank picked up where she left off, "That's right. We're probably near Secret Land. Many mages who study trial history are in the Mage channel. If we're indeed facing the Hope Isle counterattack, then we're likely up against the right-wing forces of the Skeleton Legion."
Sincere admired these people who studied trial history because he never did, nor did he have the patience for it.
In this strange world, staying alive already took half of his mental energy.
As for the other half, it was reserved for lying.
Half a month into the Faith Game, people had noticed that every time the players were teleported, it seemed to be to a world that had once existed. Many were curious about this world, which only existed within the trials, so they started collecting background information and sharing it with the public on the Class and Faith channels.
Unfortunately for Sincere, his Faith channel offered no useful information.
All the historical fragments related to the trial's background came from the Class channel.
He was indeed a priest.
Clearly, Baldwin wasn't a history expert either. He frowned and asked, "So?"
Camille continued, "There's very little information about the right wing's battle, but if I remember correctly, the most recorded details should be..."
Before she could finish, a shrill scream suddenly echoed from the sky in the distance.
The group was startled and quickly turned to look.
To their shock, the sky had turned dark, with countless black wings flapping, blocking out the sun like a storm closing in.
"...Terror Demon." Camille's face darkened as she gave the answer.
Terror Demons were hellish creatures with flesh wings, feeding on fear and skilled at causing chaos. They were followers of CORRUPTION and enemies of BIRTH.
Looking at the terrifying number of them, if they had to fight, these six would barely be able to make a dent in the army.
"This... there are so many!" Sincere frowned as he glanced at his pocket watch, noticing that it had just passed the hour—9:01. It seemed like the Time Battlefield hadn't started in time.
Frank's expression also shifted. It was clear he hadn't expected things to escalate so quickly, especially with flying troops showing up right off the bat.
"Frank, is this the scale of a 1900-level match?" Harriet asked, shocked.
Frank bitterly thought to himself, Damn, I've never seen anything like this either.
"Fall back, quickly! While we're still undetected, let's retreat to cover. They're marching; we need to avoid direct engagement. Move fast!" Baldwin shouted as he removed the large shield from his back, concealing the light on it, and led the group low to the ground, heading east.
Harriet charged ahead. As he reached the shadow of the rubble, his body transformed into a wisp of smoke and disappeared from sight in an instant.
It was the Assassin's skill, Shadow Shift.
Assassins moved through the darkness, slipping through the shadows. Over short distances, they could change positions using shadows and conceal themselves within them.
This concealment wasn't physical hiding—it was slipping into the shadow plane, completely vanishing.
Camille's speed wasn't far behind. As a Hunter, agility was her trademark. However, she didn't just run like Sincere and Doreen, she just ran her head down. Instead, she scattered something on the ground as she moved.
Sincere glanced back and noticed she was throwing [Creation Grass Seeds].
These weren't real grass seeds but a blessing from BIRTH for the Hunter class.
It was a life trap. Any living being that came into contact with the seeds would be influenced by the will of BIRTH, starting to crave reproduction and quickly gestating independent beings within themselves, beings that deviated from the host's consciousness.
It was just like the pregnant woman Sincere had dealt with earlier, who longed to be a mother.
This was a primary method of attack for the followers of BIRTH.
They never directly destroyed their enemies; instead, they twisted them, leading them to self-destruction.
Although the God of Life Path was inclined toward order, its orderly will didn't affect the physical distortions. In some cases, the orderly gods were no different from the chaotic evil ones, or perhaps even worse.
"I'll need at least 57 minutes and 42 seconds to reset the Time Battlefield. During that time, I can only influence your time zones. Pray, my friends, that they haven't noticed us."
"Less talking, just use it now and speed us up!" Baldwin growled, increasing his speed by another third.
Time Walkers could manipulate time, which was extremely useful in a race.
Frank didn't want to waste too much mental energy too early, but there was no better option. So, he gripped his pocket watch tightly and shouted to his companions, "Region, accelerate!"
The moment he spoke, their figures sped up as though the fast-forward button had been pressed, and within seconds, they covered nearly a hundred meters.
Meanwhile, the area beside them, outside the acceleration zone, seemed to freeze. The air appeared still, as if the entire area had been paused. Even the dust suspended in the air remained frozen in place.
The momentum of time was always balanced within a certain range. When one side sped up, the other naturally slowed down.
Sincere felt the wind beneath his feet and couldn't help but enjoy the sensation. What would have taken minutes to cover only took a few seconds.
Unfortunately, this acceleration only worked within a certain area. Once they left the zone, their speed immediately dropped back to normal.
Though Frank's tier was high and he was in better shape than the others, such a large-scale acceleration left him slightly exhausted.
Baldwin noticed his fatigue, quickly grabbed him, and threw him onto his back, carrying him forward. "Assassin, move ahead and clear the ruins, find the stronghold!"
"Doreen, restore the mages' mana! Birth Priest, don't act yet, it's not time for you to make your move."
"Creation Hunter, set up more traps. The scouts of the Terror Demon army won't be flying forever. Once they land, we need to stall them as much as possible!"
Baldwin showed great judgment, giving orders calmly, clearly having earned his way to rank 1600 through skill.
But the situation was dire, and he had no other choice. As he ran, he carefully selected collapsed walls and ruins that could shelter six people, hoping they could avoid disaster.
However, the changes in the battlefield happened much faster than expected.
Before they could even reach the building ahead that was still standing, the massive Terror Demo army had already descended upon the ruins.
Their scouts had clearly detected the players' presence.
"Yaa—Saa—"
A terrifying shriek echoed through the ruins, and the Terror Demons' excitement was palpable. It seemed they had stumbled upon an unexpected surprise during their march.
"We're too late! The grass seeds have been triggered! Prepare for combat!"