After that, the village chief passed the tuxedo to another man.

"Hurry up and try it on," he urged.

From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the woman putting on the wedding gown. The moment she did so, the loose gown suddenly contracted rapidly. It bound her tightly as though it were a constricting net.

The poor woman let out a pained shriek. Her beautiful face was instantly contorted in pain to the maximum.

Blood began seeping through the fabric. Then, her body was instantly crushed into large chunks of flesh, which fell apart shortly afterward.

A mist of blood began wafting through the air. The strong metallic scent filled the air as chunks of flesh scattered across the ground.

Another woman, who had brown wavy hair, instantly emptied her guts on the spot.

The man, who had accepted the tuxedo earlier, had yet to try it on. He was so frightened by the grotesque sight that he threw the tuxedo away.

Everyone else had pallid complexions as well. They looked like they wanted to puke, but they couldn't.

I could feel my stomach churning as well. Thank goodness Cyrus loved to watch horror movies with me in the past. I was used to seeing grotesque creatures like rotten mermaids and human-eating zombies. Moreover, I had already watched all sorts of horrifying and disgusting stuff in all sorts of horror movies, so I didn't overreact like the rest of the players.

The village chief was the only one who kept his cool. He even mumbled to himself while staring at the flesh chunks, "It seems that the clothes are a size too small. I'll have to alter the measurements."

After that, he raised his head to look at us. "You should follow me to your rooms and rest for now. You may try on the clothes after their measurements are altered."

Then, he turned to walk into the depths of the mansion. Everyone else just swapped glances with each other.

"S-Should we follow him as well?" one of the men asked in a quivering voice.

"Even if we don't follow him, we don't have any other choice." A muscular man looked quite calm and composed. "Just look at how scared you all are acting. If you guys can join a Rank S dungeon, that means you must've cleared many dungeons in the past, right?"

"This is my first time…" I raised my hand meekly.

The muscular man shot me a weird look. "This is your first time here? You're saying this Rank S dungeon is your first experience in this game?"

I nodded.

For a moment, the man's expression shifted. I couldn't tell if he was feeling weirded out or if he felt sympathetic toward me. In the end, he just said, "Poor thing."

After that, he shook his head before heading into the depths of the mansion.

I was confused, to say the least.

Suddenly, I saw a few sentences streaking across my eyes.

"This is a Rank S dungeon! Finally, we're getting a new Rank S dungeon!"

"But she looks like a total newbie…"

"Seriously? Can newbies even join Rank S dungeons? Something must be wrong with the system, right?"

"Wow, she got really unlucky this time. The final boss in Rank S is super terrifying! Countless expert players have died in Rank S dungeons!"

What were these weird dialogues? Were they comments?

I stared at the floating comments, clearly flabbergasted. It seemed that only expert players could join Rank S dungeons. How could a newbie like me possibly enter such a high-level dungeon?

Everyone had already entered the depths of the mansion. In an instant, I was left behind.

I hesitated for a few seconds before approaching the tuxedo. After picking it up, I folded it and stuffed it into my clothes. Then, I took a deep breath.

Cyrus had told me that he was a monster in the survival game. I wondered if I'd meet him in this dungeon.

Would he… really kill people?

I followed the last person into the depths of the mansion. We walked through the hall, soon approaching a large courtyard in the middle.

I wanted to chat with the woman who had just vomited and introduce myself to her. After all, we were the only women left.

I didn't know why, but the woman was either too frightened or didn't wish to talk to me at all because she never bothered glancing at me. Instead, she caught up to the muscular man quickly.

Meanwhile, the guy who had thrown the tuxedo away turned back a few times to look at me.

I pressed my lips together before scanning my environment. There seemed to be a chapel off to my left.

The chapel's door was left ajar. I could see a statue inside the chapel.

The statue was humongous. Half of its face was covered by what seemed to be thick and heavy scales, and only a pair of blood-red eyes were revealed.

The eyes and the exposed half of the face seemed a little familiar.

Before I could look at the statue, the village chief instantly distracted me. "These are your rooms. You may choose to share a room with another person or stay in a room on your own."

The village chief kept staring at us as he spoke. I could only avert my gaze before hurrying toward the rooms.

His gaze seemed a little frightening. We could feel goosebumps crawling across our scalps. "Rest well. I'll see you all tomorrow."

After that, he turned on his heel and headed toward a room. That should be his room.

"I think we should stick together," the muscular man suggested.

Even though the village chief said they could stay in their own rooms, no one was brave enough to do so in such a spooky environment.

Everyone immediately agreed to the suggestion. The woman and I would stay in one room while the remaining three men shared the other.

Once we entered our room, the woman curled up on the bed while typing up a storm on her phone. I dug out my phone as well and tried to call Cyrus, hoping that he'd pick up.

Of course, no one picked up the call.

I tried to text him, only to realize there weren't any signals here.

"Who's the newbie calling? Don't tell me she doesn't know she can't contact people who aren't in the dungeon!"

"Yeah, she doesn't know about it at all. Just look at how dumb she is. I bet she won't be able to survive past tomorrow morning."

It turned out that I couldn't contact people who weren't in the dungeon. If I couldn't contact Cyrus, did that mean he wasn't in this dungeon at all?

That realization made me feel a little disappointed.

If only Cyrus was an NPC of this dungeon. I'd be safe if that were the case.

…

The next morning, the village chief summoned us to the chapel we saw last night.

"We worship the Sea God in this village," he said to us while facing the god's statue.

I raised my head to look at the statue. Only then could I make out its features properly.

The upper half of the statue was humanoid, but its lower half consisted of countless tentacles. At first glance, it looked very frightening.

But when I looked at the statue from such a close distance, I felt that the exposed half of its face resembled Cyrus'.

I didn't know if I was seeing things, but I saw one of the eyes blink abruptly. But when I stared at the statue again, it no longer moved.

"The reason why I invited you here is to attend the annual Ritual of the Tides that's held in the village. We need to pick out the most suitable man and woman to take on the roles of the groom and the bride. They'll be presented as offerings to the Sea God."

Then, the village chief turned to look at us. "The wedding outfits didn't fit you quite well yesterday, but it's alright. I've invited a tailor here to take your measurements in order to make the alterations."

After that, he turned to look at a tailor, who walked over to the group. The tailor could be seen holding a long coil of measuring tape while approaching us.

"Who's going first?"

Everyone quickly recalled what happened last night. Then, they looked at the measuring tape, which was more than capable of strangling someone to death. They all took a step backward.

The tailor's dark gaze swept over our faces. Suddenly, he fixed his gaze on me.

Ugh… Was my luck really that shitty? Did I just get picked again?

"You, then." As expected, the tailor began walking toward me.

My body froze up immediately as though someone had cast a freezing spell on me.

The tailor looked pretty suspicious of me when he noticed how nervous I looked. He leaned in abruptly to stare into my eyes. His voice took on a haunting quality.

"Do you not want your measurements taken?"

The tailor's expression contorted frighteningly at that moment. I had a feeling that if I were to say no, he'd snap my neck with that measuring tape of his.

My heart was about to leap out of my throat.

"N-No!"

I happened to catch sight of a man next to me from the corner of my eye. An idea popped into my mind immediately, prompting me to point at him.

"The truth is, I'm worried that my boyfriend will get jealous!"

That man was the one who had thrown the tuxedo away last night. He was shocked when he heard my words. "Huh?"

The tailor turned to look at the man doubtfully. I quickly shot the man a look.

"Didn't you mention that you didn't want other men to touch me?"

Thank goodness that man wasn't an idiot. He quickly registered what was going on after a brief moment of shock. Then, he approached me right away.

"Yeah! This woman is my girlfriend. We'll just take each other's measurements!"

The tailor stared at us. His frightening expression was instantly replaced by a friendly one. "Oh, I see! Young people really tend to get jealous, huh?"

He passed the measuring tape to the man. "Alright, then. You can just take each other's measurements."

After that, the tailor approached the next person. I heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thanks for the save just now," the man murmured. "I'm Martin Valinsky. What's your name?"

"I'm Arabella Page."

Martin extended his hand to me. "I'll take your measurements for you."

Suddenly, I could feel a chilly presence right next to me.

I turned to look in that direction instinctively. That was when I saw the Sea God's statue. To be more accurate, I saw a face that resembled Cyrus' on the statue.

My mind cleared up instantly.

Cyrus was the jealous type. One time, he dropped by to pick me up from work. He happened to witness me sharing an umbrella with a male coworker. That weekend, he pinned me down on our bed and proceeded to screw my brains out for two days straight.

I shivered instantly at that memory before avoiding Martin's hand. "It's fine. I'll tell you my measurements right away."

"Alright." Martin retracted his hand awkwardly.

Everyone else copied my actions instantly, coming up with excuses to take their own measurements. This time, no one died.

"That newbie is pretty smart, huh?"

"It must be a coincidence. I never thought she'd be able to find love in this sort of place. Newbies really are bold."

"Just now, I think I saw Yvette and Henry whispering to each other. I wonder what they were talking about. If I'm not mistaken, Yvette had been texting Henry last night as well."

"The fact that those veteran players are secretly communicating with each other spells trouble for the rest of the team."

After today's events, I more or less found out about the other players' identities. Yvette Malgham was the woman with whom I shared a room. Henry Exton was the muscular man who took the lead last time. Both of them were definitely experienced players.

Also, I realized that I was the only one who could see the comments. I wondered if this was a benefit that came with my status as a newbie.

But I didn't expect to be summoned to the village chief's room by a villager that night. I was uneasy about the meeting, but I didn't want to anger the village chief as well, so I could only head over to his room reluctantly.

That was when I bumped into Martin outside the room. When he saw me, he smiled at me while approaching me rapidly.

"Arabella, the village chief must have summoned you here as well!"

My anxiety tripled when I saw Martin. "Did you hand in the measurements to the village chief earlier?"

"Of course! I even specifically wrote down our measurements! When I was about to visit the village chief, I happened to bump into Yvette. She helped me hand in our measurements to the chief," Martin explained.

Oh, shit! I quickly turned to look at the room door.

That was when I saw the village chief's blood-red eyes peering from a small gap behind the door. Sweat began rolling down my face instantly.

"Run!" I screamed before turning to flee from the room.

Clearly, Martin had yet to realize what was going on. Still, he followed me right away.

The door opened instantly. I could smell a strong stench of copper approaching me rapidly.

I couldn't resist turning around to check things out. To my horror, the village chief had already transformed into a monster with eight legs and a human face. He was in the midst of crawling toward Martin and me rapidly.

Blood and goo coated the places he crawled, which formed a disgusting and sickening trail behind him.

"How dare you lie to me! Villagers who don't offer themselves to the Sea God shall be punished!" the village chief screeched shrilly from behind.

My head felt as though it was about to explode.

I wasn't the only one suffering from the effect. Martin let out a pained moan as well.

I could only clutch my head, feeling my legs starting to grow heavy.

Was I meant to die here?

"That Yvette woman really is vile! To think that she changed their measurements on purpose!"

"This is called 'doing everything in her power to survive.' As long as other people are dead, she'll get to live another day."

"Oh, no! They're about to become the Sea God's sacrificial offerings! I knew it! The newbie doesn't even have a chance to see the final boss with her own eyes!"

The Sea God!

I seemed to have remembered something at that critical juncture. Hence, I bolted toward the chapel right away.

I didn't know why, but all I could think of was the statue that looked exactly like Cyrus.

I could hear the village chief's legs making shuffling sounds behind me as well as the squishy sounds of goo being left behind. He was getting closer to me at every second.

I dared not turn back at all. Instead, I ran into the chapel right away.

The moment Martin and I entered the chapel, a strong gust of wind blew in instantly, and the wooden doors began creaking loudly.

Oh, shit!

That was the only thought present in my mind. Did I get it wrong?

The gale was so strong that I could barely maintain my footing. I could only back away from the gale in despair, only to collapse into a pair of cold arms.

At first, I thought Martin was the one behind me. But when I turned around, I saw an extremely familiar face.

"Cyrus!"