Rita's firm stance caught the 8th-tier Graveyard Race alien off guard, and he backed off without pressing further.
To her surprise, Rita felt no fear or panic deep down. Instead, there was a strange sense of exhilaration—backed into a corner, with no room for pretense, she faced danger with nothing but her true self. It wasn't as terrifying as she thought.
What was this? Perhaps it was the mindset of a true stronghold.
As the last part of the throne's decorations turned blue, the red light pillar shifted to blue.
A golden star appeared before Rita's eyes, alongside two empty outlines of stars.
Stepping into a corner, she watched as the aliens approached to set up their defenses and write down their rules.
Nivalis asked her internally, "What if one of them kills you after getting their answer?"
The next round of the ga had begun. Once again, Rita's head displayed a blue triangle. The good news: this ti, she wasn't the Flagbearer. anwhile, the aliens in the room had each been assigned to new teams.
Rita stayed put and responded ntally, "They won't. For my life alone, it's not worth offending so many others."
Even here, where everyone was ultimately an enemy, no one would risk provoking so many others simultaneously.
Frenzied Shark was the first to step forward. Without a word, thorny vines rose around the corner, enclosing the area. He began writing his rule on the ground. Once Rita understood one of them, she imdiately translated it for him.
One by one, the aliens approached to write their rules, with higher-tier players taking priority.
Rita kept her word, translating only one rule per person. Even when one alien pressed a blade to her throat and shattered the [Death Counterattack] shield, she remained unmoved, instead scrutinizing the alien's divine talent.
It was SS-tier—nothing flashy, but undeniably powerful.
She briefly regretted not bringing her Sharpshooter Talent. If she had, she could've used [Mont of Reversal] to exchange it for an SS-tier ability.
Frustrated by her unyielding deanor, the alien clicked his tongue and left.
When the last alien stepped forward, Rita tensed, warning Nivalis internally, "Be ready."
The alien before her was 3rd-tier—on par with her. However, his foolish grin as he squatted to write the rule belied a deeper threat.
Rita recognized him imdiately as a Lizard Forest race mber from the painting [Desert Captain], one of the aliens depicted "dead" in the desert on the painting's left side. He even had a pet resembling a mix of a bear and a pig.
Mistblade's rules included one written in Wind Bear Tongue: "Painting is forbidden in the oasis." Rita didn't have such a rule, but it was possible hers was written in another language.
Either way, she was certain this lizard alien wouldn't let her go—and she didn't plan to let him walk away either. She wanted to test the gap between 2nd and 3rd-tier combat strength.
"Ignore the pet. Focus on the alien," she instructed Nivalis.
Rita had only ten A-rank skills from her haul in the High Tower:
[Temporary Reset], [Angry Bird], and [Drunken Dreams] for support. [Conjure from Nothing], which could recreate any equipnt she'd used for 1 minute (1-hour cooldown). [Explosive Drumr] and [teor Swarm] for AoE attacks. [Lethal Sniper] and [All-In Kill] for single-target attacks. [Blood Debt Repaynt], which restored 0.01% HP for every kill. [Hit Again If You Dare], a counter-attack skill with a 10% chance to reflect 50% of received damage.
Activating [Drunken Dreams], she put the lizard alien and his pet into a stupor. Though they'd wake if their HP dropped by more than 10%, Rita intended to finish them off before that could happen.
Nivalis prepared her strongest single-target skill, [Dragon Breath Lance], while Rita used [Conjure from Nothing] to recreate the gun [Embers].
Taking aim at the lizard alien's head, she unleashed [All-In Kill], a devastating shot that consud all her mana.
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Monts later, a cot-like bullet trailing flas and an icy spear shot towards the alien from point-blank range.
100% → 47% → 0%
It was a narrow victory. The combined efforts of Rita and Nivalis barely wiped out the lizard alien's HP. Once Rita recovered from the soul-straining backlash, such struggles would likely ease.
As the alien died, his pet vanished as well.
Several notifications rang in Rita's mind:
Ding—Congratulations, BSRita, on killing Black Spring—Caleb. The player Caleb has traded three S-rank skills for a resurrection. You will randomly receive one of his S-rank skills as a reward. Ding—You have gained 5.3% of the opponent's current level XP. Ding—Reward drawn: You have acquired the S-rank skill [Air Slash]. New Player Tip: Skills obtained from other players via hunting can be used unconditionally within the World Battleground.
Despite hearing the announcents, Rita had no ti to revel in her rewards. The mont Caleb died, she used [Temporary Reset] to shift all her Strength stats into Intelligence, rapidly regenerating her mana.
Next, she dealt with the body. Her bullet and Nivalis's icy lance had struck Caleb's heart, leaving wounds that were sealed by frost.
But she heard the sounds of approaching aliens.
"Nivalis, loot the body. I'll handle the rest!"
Nivalis imdiately jumped onto the corpse, only to find it had turned into a phantom. Undeterred, she searched the ground for any dropped items.
Rita, anwhile, pulled off her coat to cover the bloodstains, but it fell uselessly to the ground. With the footsteps drawing closer, she had no choice but to unroll a blank canvas and aim it at the corpse.
Beep—You have violated a ga rule. A divine punishnt will be randomly assigned. Divine punishnt determined: You have lost 5 points of Agility.
Rita froze, but then the canvas captured Caleb's image perfectly. Though bloodstained, it worked.
Without waiting to see what Nivalis had found, Rita stashed the canvas, grabbed her coat in one hand, and Nivalis in the other. Using her restored mana and an ultimate skill, she vanished with [Phantom Shift] just as two aliens burst into the room.
Hiding in a nearby hut, Rita and Nivalis were still trembling from adrenaline.
Rita whispered, "So? Did you find anything?"
Nivalis held up a tiny red toy airplane, barely the size of a fingertip. "Just this."
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