Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

"You're really old-fashioned," Greed said mercilessly.

"I threw you in front of them so you could save them!" Transcendent relentlessly criticized, "You heartless Devil! Seeing the Protagonist group being chased and doing nothing is one thing, but you were chasing them more enthusiastically than any Monster!"

Greed continued to laugh merrily: "Is it because I asked you for too many powers that you intentionally threw me in front of the Protagonist group, wanting me to use my abilities to save them and balance the strength among the players? Do you think I would do as you wish?"

"But you still used your abilities, didn't you?! What's the difference between killing and saving???"

"Of course, there is a difference. If I hadn't killed Doug, the plot would've been too cliché, wouldn't it?"

Greed looked at Batman and said, "If we had encountered a living Doug, he would've recognized you immediately, and since he's an important character introduced at the beginning of the story, your influence would have skyrocketed indefinitely. That was your goal, wasn't it?"

Batman did not deny it, but nodded his head. He had indeed planned to do exactly that, to bind himself to the first important character introduced in the story so he could effortlessly gain leadership of the team.

But Greed was much more ruthless than him, choosing to eliminate the key witness rather than keep the clue, killing the Protagonist group and then using their death to direct everyone's thoughts, obscuring the players' vision.

"This is just the start of the plot running amok," Transcendent said, spreading his hands: "Doug was very important; he should have survived no matter what, at least until he could tell you the vital clues."

"What important clues did he originally have?" Bruce asked.

"The Jeff family's sea disaster," answered Transcendent: "He'd been investigating these matters and had some clues. He would have led you to the village to look for Jeff's family."

"Batman, you've interacted with Jeff's family, haven't you? I mean, they were part of your setting?"

"Yes," Batman nodded and replied: "After all, my setting is a local, and it's natural to have some local friends. I was hoping they would be my allies."

"Were the missing goats and the madman also part of your setup?"

"Yes, but that was really just a misunderstanding," said Batman: "In my setup, Jeff naturally had a bad temper. With worsening economic conditions and the stress of the lost goats, it was inevitable he'd become more irritable."

"The villagers are superstitious and thought the missing goat was a bad omen, so they wanted to cast his entire family out of the village. That's when they would come to me, and they would help me later because I had helped them before."

The agent then turned to Transcendent and said, "But you turned it into reality—they went mad from eating the fodder placed above 'Water God Ketayat.'"

"Yes, I have already said that this book should be the final BOSS. You need the clues to investigate here and then get the book. So I wove these clues into the story of Jeff's family, after all, the missing goat was indeed strange."

"With some resignation, Transcendent said, "That's why I said Doug couldn't die. If he hadn't died, he would've shared the clues about the disaster that he'd found with you. Following the clues, you would go to the village to find Jeff's house, but Jeff's family would have gone to the Lighthouse, and you'd naturally search his house."

"The cellar in Jeff's house isn't hard to find. As long as you locate the cellar, you'd notice those empty boxes and the odd fodder. Move the boxes, and you'd find the evil spirit book, which would give you the next phase of clues."

"That's not right," objected Greed, "If it were just that, none of us could read the book. Or are you saying that it actually requires sacrificing a teammate?"

Transcendent seemed even more helpless as he said: "Sacrificing a player isn't necessary. Madeline was supposed to be sacrificed in this part of the plot, but you've killed her instead."

With that, everyone roughly understood that the game wouldn't just have a final BOSS but probably a few mini-BOSSes too.

From Madeline's notes and Shiller's analysis, everyone could see that Madeline was naturally indifferent and most likely had psychopathy.

If she hadn't died, she might have followed the players' team to the village and then betray them upon finding "Water God Ketayat." The players would need to fight her, sacrifice her life, and unlock the secrets of the book.

"Here you will face a critical choice," Transcendent began, "If you choose not to kill Madeline, just lock her up and hand her over to the police after the event, then in the final Captain's Room, you would only have to fight the Cultist spirits attached to the book."

"And if she is killed then?"

"You'll fight Othuum," said Transcendent, "But wait, that's not an impossible situation. The entity descending isn't even the main body. If you choose to sacrifice Madeline, you can gain more forbidden knowledge from the book, almost everyone would get 5 Cthulhu Mythos Points each, and with some collected items later, losing one or two people you could definitely win. If you're lucky, perhaps even without injuries."

"Does this affect the final outcome?" Batman asked perceptively.

"Yes," Transcendent nodded, "Madeline brought the Monster to her own home by seeking forbidden knowledge for her research into bizarre events, causing her family to kill each other under its influence. In some ways, she is indeed committing insurance fraud, not merely an uncompensated victim."

"If you don't kill Madeline, when the police arrive and she's handed over, she'll go mad from spiritual pollution and confess the truth."

Batman immediately understood, "That would make the story line of Silterk harder later on because if the public's pitied victim Madeline is indeed guilty of insurance fraud, then Old Sirteck would easily clear his own name."

"Correct. Not killing Madeline will make the final BOSS fight easier, but increase the difficulty for Old Sirteck."

"He's also one of the BOSSes?" Bruce asked, somewhat surprised.

"Doesn't he seem like it?" Transcendent replied, "A typical conspirator, turning his wife into a host for the Monster, planning in Faralines for a long time, and being omnipotent in two states—doesn't this pattern match the standard?"

Greed seemed to understand, saying, "So actually, you can choose which final BOSS to fight?"

"Kill Madeline, and you fight a manifestation of the Cthulhu Knight. Don't kill Madeline, and you fight Old Sirteck?"

"Exactly."

"That's quite humane."

"Thank you for the praise."