The custom dungeons were tailored to each party member’s greatest fear. Beginning with the youngest party member and progressing to the oldest, the rooms would get increasingly more difficult. I wasn’t enough of a monster to forcefully torment children and give them no chance of surviving.

However…

Amelia’s face was deathly pale as she stared up at the sea serpent, her entire body trembling like a leaf. She was the weakest and least reliable member of the party despite being the only potential beast tamer.

Now that I had defeated the sea serpent before and earned the achievement “Butcher of Abyssal Horrors,” I could easily use Medusa’s head to defeat this level in mere seconds without causing Amelia any unnecessary fear.

Yang quickly pieced together the same solution after seeing how I defeated the Azure Dragon. He looked at me expectantly, but his face fell at my expression.

The sea serpent crashed down on the road, splintering it. The force flung Amelia across the freeway dozens of meters from us, and she let out a loud cry when her small body slammed against it. She skid across the pavement until her body finally came to a stop.

“Amelia!” Wei shouted. He sprinted toward her, his arms outstretched and ready to pick her up.

I pushed Wei back, preventing him from reaching Amelia. Tears sprung in her eyes while she looked up and desperately reached out for me, crying out feebly.

“The wrist cuff! Use it!” Zhige trembled in my hand with an eager anticipation.

Amelia blinked at me, unable to process or act to my words. The serpent roared, spraying water before it darted forward, chomping through the freeway and quickly nearing us. The water swirled below, rising higher and higher.

I felt a sudden blunt pain on my wrist, and I turned back to see Yang tightly twisting my hand, his eyes glaring up at me.

“Peijin, what is the meaning of this?” he hissed.

I glared at him coldly, tilting my head upward, my voice a low threat. “Don’t pretend your moral compass matters, Yang. It means nothing here. Amelia will survive.”

I turned to face Amelia, my voice loud and clear for the rest of my party to hear me. “Amelia, these dungeons are custom rooms because they’re meant to help you evolve your skills. You’re in this room because you’re supposed to tame it!”

That was partially true. It was an opportunity for Amelia to level up, but I knew this serpent was far beyond what she could handle. It would be impossible for her to tame—instead, I was banking on the fact that the gods who desperately wanted her as their disciple would find it within themselves to intervene

Finally, the sea serpent caught up to us. The serpent chomped down on the bridge, barely missing Amelia’s leg. She stumbled forward, trying to run, but her frantic movements were disoriented. Turning around, she thrust the cuff forward, and a white light exploded with immense power.

[Observers Chat]

Socrates: Jia Li, stop! Amelia will fail without a sponsor!

The dire wolf appeared, immediately latching onto the sea serpent’s nostrils. It violently tore into the flesh, sending chunks of red flesh flying all over.

The sea serpent let out a violent cry and swung its head in a futile attempt to throw off the wolf. The wolf only sank its claws and teeth further into the sea serpent and shredded its face.

With the freeway collapsing rapidly, Amelia sprinted down in hopes of making it to the mainland. We were across the freeway from her, but my party continued to make desperate strides toward her even when I held them back.

The wolf flew across the freeway and crashed into the ground before Amelia with a heavy thud. Amelia flinched, perhaps feeling some of the wolf’s pain as her own, and the sea serpent continued its pursuit with renewed vigor.

I continued stalling my party, blocking their movements when they tried to reach Amelia. It was cruel of me, but Amelia needed to adapt on her own, so I needed to push her beyond her limits. She couldn’t keep relying on the party.

“Peijin, what are you doing?” Wei asked, his eyes trembling. He readjusted the Dragon Gulf sword in his hands and finally darted past me. I let him go.

When the serpent neared for its next attack, Wei saw his opening and leapt into the air. He braced the sword against himself before bringing down a heavy cut between the eyes of the sea serpent, causing a long slit with blood spraying out like a hose with a thumb pressed over the nozzle.

Amelia’s eyes were squeezed shut; her forehead pressed against that of the wolf. She cupped its gray cheeks, and she was desperately whispering to it. I could barely make out the shape of her moving lips, but she was murmuring something with frantic speed.

Soon after, the wolf unsteadily got onto its feet and charged once more at the serpent, this time darting up the snake-like body. Its claws dug through the scales and into its flesh, causing crimson streaks to appear and bleed down all over the serpent.

“Amelia!” I screamed, “You need to tame the serpent!”

Tears of sheer fear and exhaustion streamed down her battered face. Her hands were outstretched and trembling.

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[Disciple Amelia activated Beast Taming!]

Her hoarse voice shook violently as she shouted to me, “It’s too strong! I can’t tame it!”

I intentionally spoke louder to ensure the rest of the party could hear me. “Yes you can! We’re weakening it by attacking it!” I screamed over the chaos, sprinting toward Amelia and standing behind her.

I pulled the blue sweatshirt off of my and threw it over her head. It quickly shrunk to fit her, though it wouldn’t do much to protect her in this situation other than give the illusion of greater security.

“Amelia, I wouldn’t tell you to tame it unless I believed it was within your skill set. You’re strong enough,” I whispered into her ear.

Yang, Yue, and Wei had begun to attack the sea serpent with intense vigor, since the situation was incredibly threatening, yet they were also motivated by their desire to protect Amelia.

“I-I can’t do it,” she stammered, her hand flailing behind her to try and hold onto mine.

“You can,” I insisted, my voice becoming forceful. “Artemis sent me a message. She says that you must tame the serpent if you want her to consider sponsoring you.”

Divinity Far Shooting Queen of Beasts is stunned by your lie.

Divinity Far Shooting Queen of Beasts is enraged by your cruelty!

Yellow sparks immediately erupted from the blue message boxes, forcing them to disappear before Amelia could fully read them. Clearly, karma was still overpowering godly messages—except for those who used enough spiritual energy, like Archangel Michael.

I continued holding onto Amelia’s shoulders, but I now kneeled to match her level. “Amelia,” I whispered. “Turn off your system notifications. Focus only on my voice and the serpent.”

Divinity Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts is mortified by your sudden actions.

[1,893 observers are watching you with immense interest!]

[Observers Chat]

VegasDuck: Holy shit Peijin is not playing around

Nipon23: Poor Amelia. Who knew Peijin cared more about the gods than her own party members?

CactusLiver: Peijin wouldn’t just let Amelia die. It’s obvious she cares about her party members. I’m sure Peijin has a plan.

Nipon23: when have you seen Peijin genuinely care for someone else? she always has other motives.

CactusLiver: And that’s exactly how the system works?? You can’t blame her for doing that

Using Hindsight, I could see a string from the sky attached to Amelia’s wrist. Artemis was on the other end. Her heavenly silhouette practically floating right above Amelia, far closer than before. Reaching out a hand, Artemis pressed through the shadows and tried to reach out for the young girl.

Blue sparks flew around me from the sudden surge in spiritual energy, causing the massive bursts of karma’s yellow lightning. Artemis was trying to interfere with the course of the scenario, but she was quickly forced out.

I covered Amelia’s ears and defiantly shouted at the sky. “Artemis, if you wish to protect this girl so badly, then do something about it and sponsor her!”

[Warning! You have outraged a divinity!]

[Observers Chat]

Socrates: Jia Li, stop this! You’re going to get Amelia killed!

Of course, Athena wanted to be Amelia’s initial sponsor, but it was clear now that Artemis was the superior fit. Artemis was ready to risk her own skin for Amelia—Athena wasn’t.

“Amelia, raise your arm up toward the serpent, and ensure the cuff is well in your line of vision,” I instructed. “Focus all of your attention on it, just as you did with the dire wolf.”

Sweat dripped down her brow in thick streaks, and Amelia’s breathing was rapid and shallow. I could see the immense concentration swirling in her wide blue eyes.

With unbelievable horror, the sea serpent let out a pained and violent roar from the onslaught by the rest of the party. It flung its tail, crashing into the freeway and causing Amelia and me to fly into the air.

Amelia’s concentration immediately broke and she screamed, but I dug the dao into the flesh of the dragon and flung her up quickly, the blue hoodie pulling her onto the head of the serpent.

“Peijin!” Amelia shrieked. Her small hands reached out for me.

I gave a curt nod before flashing her a bright smile. “It’s up to you, Amelia.”

I fell back towards the water, but I dragged my dao down the entire length of the serpent. My feet suddenly landed on something solid, and I looked down to see myself standing on Yue’s spear.

“Peijin, you fucking bitch!” Yue roared, hoisting herself up onto the other half of the spear and squatting to maintain her balance as the serpent continued to thrash. “You have Medusa’s head! End this!”

“I can’t!” I screamed back, “Amelia is on the serpent’s head, so it’s too big of a risk if she locks eyes with Medusa! The rest of you are still attacking it, so I can’t use it without hurting one of you.”

I leapt off of her spear and sprinted up the beast’s body. I stabbed my dao into its body and climbed up toward its head.

Suddenly, her spear whizzed just past my head before impaling the beast’s flesh. I froze, pausing my climb. I looked around for Yue angrily before realizing that she was gripping my ankle, dangling above the water. “What the hell are you attacking your own party leader for?” I shouted.

“I’m not attacking you!” Yue retorted in a frustrated tone, trying to grab her spear. “Look up!”

With a loud crash, the serpent’s tail smacked where I would have been had Yue not stopped me, and the violent thrashing almost threw me off the serpent. I grabbed onto her spear. Yue still dangled below me, clinging onto my foot for her life.

Yang, Wei, and the wolf had restrained the serpent to some degree, digging their weapons or teeth into the flesh of its vulnerable snout, head, and neck. The serpent let out a violent scream, but Amelia clung onto its head using its whiskers, just like I did when I first battled the serpent.

Her skin was deathly pale, and she was sweating profusely while murmuring under her breath. This was by far too big of a skill jump for her, and blue sparks were flying out of her skin as if she were a firework.

“Come on, come on…” I whispered beneath my breath, looking up into the sky. This would be a complete waste of time if she didn’t interfere.

An abnormal number of blue sparks continued to explode all around the bay now. Yue was climbing up my leg, and her long fingers dug into my calf and knee. Her black hair whipped her face, and she spat out a mouthful of salt water.

“Stop scaling me like a damn monkey!”

“Do you want me to drop down and die instead?!”

I remained silent while using her spear and dao to try and scale up the serpent’s body, alternately stabbing one weapon into the serpent’s flesh then another before pulling myself up. Each slice sent a deep gush of blood flowing down the serpent’s body, and it was quickly becoming more and more frantic.

The serpent jolted once more, and Yue’s grip on my ankle slipped. Her eyes lit up with fear. I reached down and grabbed her wrist, hoisting her up until she could reach her spear. Her eyes lit up with surprise at my gesture before confusion clouded her expression.

“What the hell are you plotting, Peijin?” Her shout was barely audible over the sound of crashing waves.

I ignored her, my focus glued on Amelia. A thick line of blood trickled down her nose and into her mouth, but she quickly clasped a hand over the lower part of her face in shock. She swayed unsteadily as if she were about to fall off at any moment.

“Nothing.” I replied coldly. Then, with Yue gripping her spear, I grabbed onto her and threw her as far up the serpent’s body as I could. “Stop Amelia when you reach her! She’s going to faint!”

But before either of us could begin our mad dash, the serpent slammed its head into the freeway and threw Amelia off.