This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist-Chapter 1220: Divine Game: Divine Instruction 34

When Ash Cinders arrived, Lightchaser was chasing her student around.

Ash Cinders had originally planned to step in and calm things down, but she noticed Dawn Cicada standing nearby, watching the elf and her student with a very strange look.

How to describe it...

It looked exactly like the expression Ash Cinders herself had whenever she watched the cubs roughhousing in Moonlight Marsh.

Ash Cinders stopped in her tracks and decided it was best not to interfere in the quarrels of minors...

Fortunately, when Lightchaser finally caught her student, she still didn’t actually hit her. After all, this was a competition—every point of health mattered.

She simply grabbed the student by the back collar, dragged her over, and dropped her in front of Ash Cinders.

"Your student. Keep her under control."

Ash Cinders stood with her hands behind her back, looking calm and dignified. She only glanced at the obediently surrendering student once to know that Rita must have started it.

If she hadn’t, she definitely wouldn’t look this meek right now. At the very least she would be glaring fiercely in protest.

Ash Cinders glanced at Lightchaser, who was standing there with arms folded and sneering at her student.

Before, she had only thought the elf had a bad temper.

Now the more she looked... the more it felt like teenage rebellion.

The affectionate look from her friend was too strange.

Lightchaser noticed immediately.

She frowned. "Your expression is strange."

Ash Cinders turned into her moonbear form and scratched the back of her head innocently.

"No it isn’t."

Lightchaser: ...something’s definitely going on.

When the thirty-minute round ended, only 163 players remained on their fragmented clock platform.

The other nine platforms had roughly the same number.

Even though every player had received training from a god, and even though attributes were equalized, the players were still quickly filtered out by skill.

The total number of players remaining online had dropped to under 2,000.

Two of the platforms suddenly shattered, and the scattered players were randomly redistributed among the remaining eight.

A bell rang across the Starsea, formally announcing the end of the round.

But instead of rewards, the second round began immediately.

Second Round: Starsea — Past and Future

Each fragmented clock platform will receive the projection of a high-level god.

The projection’s attributes will be temporarily suppressed to ten times the average attributes of the remaining players on that platform.

Players who survive ten minutes of the god’s indiscriminate attacks will advance to the next round.

With the sound of Tides’ ocean waves, a figure appeared at the center of the clock dial. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

A Landscale god with long black wavy hair and a piece of coral at his temple.

The Captain.

Rita and Mistblade immediately looked toward Maple Syrup.

Her expression was calm.

Had she forgiven him?

Or simply decided to let it go?

It didn’t seem like either.

A towering wave surged toward them.

Everyone scattered to escape.

Leaping onto a floating platform near the dial, Rita glanced at Maple Syrup again.

After being stared at repeatedly, the owl emperor finally snapped.

"The Nemesis rune already activated last round. What are you still looking at?"

Her mood changed fast. Earlier she had even helped Rita open a milk carton when she wanted to discuss divine talent keywords.

Rita replied irritably, "I’m checking whether seeing your enemy makes you lose your mind."

Maple Syrup dodged a water arrow with a flap of her wings.

"You provoke me more often than anyone. When have you ever seen me lose control in front of you?"

"Oh, plenty of times," Rita sang theatrically.

"If I don’t kill you at least once, I’ll never be satisfied~~"

Maple Syrup laughed.

She replied with only four words:

"Best of luck—to both of us."

Rita immediately teleported away.

Mistblade, running nearby, sighed.

"Why do you always bully her?"

Maple Syrup stared at Mistblade in disbelief while dodging attacks.

Who’s bullying who?!

The look still wasn’t enough to convey her shock, so she scanned Mistblade up and down like she was examining some rare animal.

Mistblade: "...What?"

Maple Syrup mimicked Rita’s tone:

"You too, Maple Syrup. I once fought alongside you~"

Bang.

Mistblade teleported away as well.

Maple Syrup scoffed.

When she turned forward to continue running, she met Dawn Cicada’s gaze.

The Vineborne was looking at her with mild shock.

"What are you staring at?" Maple Syrup snapped.

Dawn Cicada shook her head silently and ran off.

But the expression she gave—like one used for immature children—was even more irritating than words.

The Captain truly wasn’t targeting anyone in particular.

Just as the announcement had said, he launched indiscriminate area attacks against everyone.

He clearly wasn’t holding back.

Players were eliminated every minute.

A wall of oceanic water surged upward around the edges of the platform, forming a massive sphere that sealed the battlefield.

The sphere slowly began shrinking toward the center.

Within the waves swam countless small fish—elemental constructs formed purely of magic.

Anyone touched by the waves would suffer dozens of attacks at minimum.

Even if someone survived this round, such damage would severely affect the next.

Players tried to escape the water sphere—

But discovered movement skills no longer worked inside the sealed zone.

Even Rita’s SSS skill Romantic Tourist failed.

Shield skills worked.

But Rita saw one player whose shield was simply devoured when the water passed through them.

At this point, players began using techniques learned from the gods.

The first to escape were those wearing Flower of Deceit brooches.

They rushed directly into the water wall.

Red threads burst from their fingers, piercing the water.

The wave split apart, creating a narrow gap just large enough for one person.

All five students of Deceitful Bloom escaped.

Others used their own methods.

Some transformed into water elements and slipped through.

Some swapped positions with players outside.

Lightchaser escaped as well.

Her body turned into light, refracting beyond the barrier.

Meanwhile Rita continued dodging attacks as the water sphere forced her closer to the center.

The closer she got to the Captain, the more attacks rained down.

Her Flower Crown Murder vines pierced into the water wall, trying to absorb its energy.

It worked—barely.

Her attributes increased slowly.

But it didn’t solve her immediate problem.

Should she combine skills with Dawn Cicada again?

Benevolent Ruler and Tyrant was a buff skill. It wouldn’t help here.

Suddenly, a light rain began falling overhead.

"Didn’t Deceitful Bloom teach you weather resonance at Quiet Mountain?"

Kessa’s voice sounded behind her.

"Want to try?"

The drizzle turned into streams of water swirling around Rita.

Her eyebrows twitched.

Then she suddenly laughed.

"Looks like you don’t know either."

"Know what?"

"Who’s the master."