The mont QM Deceitful Bloom turned into a hairless cat, Deceitful Bloom, who had been frantically stuffing her wriggling Vine back into her clothes, instantly felt much better.
All five of those Quiet Mountain hairless cats even had dark skin.
As they appeared, a glowing number materialized in the center of the tavern: 30.
It imdiately ticked down to 29.
So this was the final thirty seconds of preparation.
Deceitful Bloom leapt onto the table and kicked Ashveil off with one paw, sending it rolling together with Boiling Orange.
Not far away, BS Rita remained as slippery as ever. She did not waste ti looking around. Instead, she drove that tiny broken ship as fast as she could to find a hidden spot.
And she strictly followed one rule: never land, never rise too high, always stay in low altitude flight.
Deceitful Bloom did not jump toward her right away. Instead, she began observing where the five Quiet Mountain players were looking.
Other Starsea players did the sa.
The tavern fell unusually quiet. Anyone talkative had already switched to the group chat.
[Bitter Chalice]: Who is it? Who got into the tavern?
[Drumr]: Could it be BS Rita?
[Hearthsmoke]: Hard to say, but Deceitful Bloom and Foolishness definitely noticed already. They even made a mini ga earlier to ss with the intruder.
[Bitter Chalice]: That sounds suspicious.
[Captain]: If it's not BS Rita, I'll rena myself Forest Sea Captain.
[Crispfang]: …We're on the sa side, but don't disgust Maple Syrup.
[Captain]: Where are you? I need to talk to you.
Deceitful Bloom looked up from the chat and saw a hairless cat with coral antlers running around the tavern, looking everywhere.
His black curly hair bounced with every step.
Foolishness said flatly, "Just thinking that I'll look just as stupid when I start running later makes want to crush BS Rita."
Deceitful Bloom shook her head, flicking her silver hair back behind her ears.
"It's fine. It's just a hairless cat. Back when we fought across Starsea, we took on all kinds of forms."
Foolishness replied, "I might believe that if your Vine wasn't scrubbing you nonstop right now."
"…Stop talking like BS Rita!" Deceitful Bloom snapped.
The tavern was lively. Rita and Nivalis were racing against ti.
Chaos had its advantages. In the confusion, she could grab a bottle and leave. She did not need to sneak behind the bar anymore.
Nivalis nervously watched the five dark-skinned cats scanning the entire tavern.
"What if they see us?"
Rita reached out and covered Nivalis's eyes.
"Use your peripheral vision. Don't look directly. Focus on driving."
Maybe it was because she was doing the sa thing, but Rita felt increasingly tense.
As the countdown progressed, she noticed sothing unsettling.
So Starsea players who had been looking around earlier were now occasionally glancing toward her with the corners of their eyes.
Could it be that once the ga started, her stealth no longer worked on allies?
She did not voice the suspicion.
No matter what, their interests aligned. Anyone who betrayed Starsea now would be crushed by the others before she even had to act.
She shifted her focus back to the Quiet Mountain players.
Only five had co, but she did not relax.
If Foolishness and Deceitful Bloom could detect her, there was no guarantee the others could not.
Rita pulled out My Sigh. A coin spun between her fingers.
She did not know if stealth effects could stack, or if they would work on gods, but she had to try sothing.
At the sa ti, she changed her plan.
She wrapped Wrathful Moon tighter inside her flag cloak, then said to Nivalis,
"Change your form. You showed up during the battle in Quiet Mountain. If their gods were watching, they might recognize you. They might not recognize my ship at a glance."
"But won't they scan my info?" Nivalis asked, already transforming into a matching hairless cat.
"I'll just change your na temporarily."
Rita spent 1 point of soul fire and used Setting to rena Nivalis to Shadow.Q.
Even though the rule was not to get caught, the King had specifically said not to have their nas called out.
To be safe, Rita changed her own na too.
Then she said slowly, "Since the King warned us not to have our nas called out, we have to be careful."
The Starsea group chat went silent for a second.
Then it exploded.
[Deceitful Bloom]: …Why don't we just pick a good bottle for her, pack it up, and personally send her back to Graveyard of Bones?
[Foolishness]: Deceitful Bloom accidentally said the Truth part of Truth or Dare
[Captain]: Deceitful Bloom accidentally said the Truth part of Truth or Dare
[Drumr]: Deceitful Bloom accidentally said the Truth part of Truth or Dare
[Deceitful Bloom]: Shut up!
[Foolishness]: You don't even dare say her na
[Ashveil]: That's nothing, I still don't dare look directly at Deceitful Bloom
[Deceitful Bloom]: …
The countdown ended.
At the exact mont it hit zero, the Quiet Mountain side moved.
The five dark-skinned cats stomped in unison, like the opening move of a dance troupe. Layer upon layer of skill auras spread outward.
But at that exact mont, nearby white-skinned cats stomped as well.
Various domain auras erupted, instantly pushing the incoming waves back.
Nivalis said in admiration, "This is street dance."
Rita, already suspecting that Starsea players could see and hear them, snapped, "When will you stop talking while driving?"
"When you stop admiring strength," Nivalis shot back.
As they spoke, the Starsea and Quiet Mountain gods clashed head-on.
Starsea had no limit on participants.
Quiet Mountain only had five.
It was clearly unfair, but Order Clock never stated the balancing rules outright.
Still, every veteran player understood there would be a counterbalance.
They found out quickly.
Quiet Mountain players had locked health bars.
Starsea players, however, had a temporary threshold.
If their HP dropped below 50 percent, they would be forcibly removed.
Starsea could heal.
But Quiet Mountain was effectively unkillable.
The only way to stop them was through control abilities, to prevent them from finding the one person in the tavern whose na must never be spoken.
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