This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist-Chapter 1135 Divine Game: Quiet Mountain 18

Enter the Demon Game?

Of course.

If QM Rita said she had belittled her pain, then Rita would go in and experience it herself. Was that not exactly what the other her wanted to see?

On the morning of the fifth day, at six o’clock sharp, Rita held the diary and asked the Demon Game to grant her the laws of demons.

Ash Cinders sat at the table, watching her apprentice disappear.

[Isolated Isle Lightchaser]: It’s six. Did she enter the game?

[Isolated IsleAsh Cinders]: Yes.

[Lania KaiaFat Goose]: I honestly don’t get it. It’s all just a game. Why drag real feelings into it?

That had been Rita’s thought as well before entering.

But in the next instant, she forgot that thought entirely.

She was still sitting at the table, studying the diary, analyzing the relationship between Uncharted Star Sea and Quiet Mountain. Today was her first day after arriving in Quiet Mountain. She had been lucky to reunite with Ash Cinders, who sat across from her eating honey cakes and even urged her to have some.

A notification suddenly rang out in Rita’s mind.

[Divine Game Forced Mission: Kill Ash Cinders]

[Player Isolated IsleAsh Cinders has betrayed Uncharted Star Sea. For the next three minutes, Divine Game will seal all abilities of player Isolated IsleAsh Cinders. Player BS Rita, please assist Divine Game in permanently killing the target]

[Mission failure penalty: If the mission does not begin within one minute, player BS Rita’s divine granted talent will be downgraded. If the mission is not completed within five minutes, player BS Rita’s player status will be permanently revoked]

...

[Player BS Rita’s divine granted talent downgraded from Romantic Deviation to One Person Party]

...

[Divine Game Forced Mission: Kill Nivalis]

[Player BS Nivalis has betrayed Uncharted Star Sea. For the next thirty seconds, Divine Game will seal all abilities of player BS Nivalis. Player BS Rita, please assist Divine Game in permanently killing the target]

[Mission failure penalty: If the mission does not begin within ten seconds, player BS Rita’s divine granted talent will be downgraded. If the mission is not completed within one minute, player BS Rita’s player status will be permanently revoked]

...

[Divine Game Forced Mission: Kill Lightchaser]

...

[Divine Game Forced Mission: Kill B80234615 many earlier identifiers not corrected]

...

She stood outside Forest Sea, trembling as she gripped a dagger, staring at the small robot B80 whose cube like glow had completely gone dark. It looked exactly like the first time she had seen it in the Scrap Heap.

Like Nivalis, its abilities had been sealed for only thirty seconds. But even after the time ended, neither of them resisted. They simply let her harvest their final points of life.

[Congratulations to visitor player BS Rita for completing the first Demon Game mission]

In an instant, it was like waking from a nightmare.

Rita was dragged back to the table. Ash Cinders still sat across from her eating honey cake. Seeing her return, moonbear had been about to smile and wave a paw, but quickly dropped the smile and looked at her apprentice with concern.

Did her apprentice like to cry?

Probably. Ash Cinders had seen her cry countless times. Tears shed while creating miracles, tears shed when betrayed by friends, tears shed the loudest when she was young, standing in Ash Cinders’ office and seeing that old newspaper headline that read Lightchaser Moment That Opened an Era Ends, GodDraw77 Is Born Under Ash Cinders.

But she had never seen her apprentice this quiet.

She sat there, staring blankly at Ash Cinders, like someone sobering up from a long drunken haze, desperately trying to recall what outrageous thing she had done.

At some point, tears soaked her black eyes. She must have remembered everything. She squeezed her eyes shut, lashes damp with tears.

Even her breathing trembled, like her beliefs had collapsed, like she had done something she would never forgive herself for.

Moonbear walked over and hugged her apprentice. The girl flinched slightly, and Ash Cinders understood something at once. Still, she stubbornly and firmly held her, pressing the apprentice’s face into her fluffy belly.

Even through thick fur, Ash Cinders could feel the scalding tears. She asked as lightly as she could, "Is the Demon Game really that scary?"

The head buried against her shook.

It had only concealed the fact that the game had already begun. It had only issued a few missions in the name of Divine Game, even kindly lowering the difficulty to the minimum. Every choice had been made by Rita herself.

The ending was perfect. Ash Cinders, Lightchaser, Nivalis, B80 had suffered no losses. And every time she completed a forced mission, she gained an SSS tier skill and massive experience, even comprehending two god level skills along the way.

Yet she had made every choice herself.

The process of making those choices while fully aware would become a nightmare she could not escape for a long time to come.

The Demon Game never relied on outcomes to torment players. Players torment themselves just fine.

After an unknown amount of time, Rita, who seemed to have regained some calm, pushed Ash Cinders away. She forced the corners of her mouth up but could not smile, so she stopped trying. She handed over the diary she had protected so carefully.

"Teacher wants to..."

She stopped mid sentence.

A new note had appeared on the diary.

"Send my regards to your pain.

QM Rita"

A strand of golden lightning crawled up from Rita’s fingertips and burned the note to nothing.

She closed her eyes and slowly exhaled. She forcibly pressed down those emotions. They were all false.

She asked, "Teacher, do you want to go? The six o’clock Demon Game tonight can be yours."

Ash Cinders did not ask whether her apprentice planned to keep participating afterward. She only agreed on a time in the evening to collect the diary, then watched her apprentice leave. She looked like she needed to be alone for a while. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

What Ash Cinders did not expect was that barely thirty seconds later, her apprentice came storming back, sleeves rolled up, fury and killing intent boiling over. She was here to take the diary back.

[BS Rita]: Anyone who wants to enter the Demon Game, sign up now. Tonight at six is Ash Cinders. Tomorrow at six, who’s next?

[Winter SeaFrenzied Shark]: Can I sign up? Is there a fee?

[BS Rita]: You? You can even cut the line. As long as you reach Forest Sea before six tonight, you’re in. Ash Cinders moves to tomorrow!

Ash Cinders, still wiping large amounts of tears and snot off her belly fur: ???

[BS Rita]: Anyone else!

[Lania KaiaFat Goose]: Are you getting revenge on Uncharted Star Sea?

[BS Rita]: Beacon and Snowfield can deliver Order Badges directly. I’m heading to other cities now. I’ll sync new teleport points in the group. If you’ve got grudges, the entry fee is any level 100 or higher war grade equipment. If you don’t, level 90 war grade is fine.

[TingoJE]: Don’t do this. I’m scared.

[BS Crab]: Same here. I’ll beat Sea Pony twice if that helps. Calm down.

[BS Rita]: I comprehended two god level skills in the Demon Game.

[Lania KaiaFat Goose]: ME!!!

[Lania KaiaWither]: Sis, I’ll transfer the gear as soon as it’s done. Look at me.

[Nuclear Flash NightFury]: Sis! Look at me!

[Yet oranigePomango]: Adjudicator big sis, look at me~~

[BS Mistblade]: Rita, Moonlight Marsh. You said I’m your best friend.

[Fury Rider]: You still dare say that? Rita, don’t forget she dumped you. Look at me, your loyal junior.

[BS Rita]: Enough! We’re all Uncharted Star Sea players. We’re family. Everyone gets a chance.

[DawnCicada]: If I sign up, can I cut the line?

[BS Rita]: Get over here now!!

[Lania KaiaMaple Syrup]: ?

[BS Rita]: Stop testing me. You can too, right now!

If she could not sleep, then no one else was getting a good night’s rest either.