As a player, can you be normal?

Chapter 829 The Demon's Prelude

Aita and the Blood Emperor were being protected by Zaku under their mechanical bodies. The storm from the Gate of God made it impossible to see their surroundings, but Miaham's figure with his messy long hair stood out in the storm.

Aita felt a sense of disgust and aversion towards this woman, yet also a familiarity akin to that of a kindred spirit.

"What's wrong with you?"

Aita unleashed blue ripples, revealing the active skill, "Theologian's Inquiry," which counters demons and grants all demonic creatures the ability to reveal the truth. This skill was something she created herself within minutes of her advancement.

Miaham sensed something was wrong.

"An ability like truth serum? Oh well, I was planning to talk to you anyway. Shall I call you Aita or Fina?"

"It will be all right."

Aita stepped out, leaving Zaku's protection.

“Aita Chris, that’s my name in reality. Fina, that’s the duty of my soul. There’s no conflict between them. But what about you? What are you?”

The breakthrough in level grants Aita a magical perception comparable to that of the Goddess of Tanggula Mountain, and the magical factors circulating within Miaham's body completely exceed the concept of a living being.

"I guess what you're about to do is kill me right now, isn't that right?"

Miaham smiled knowingly.

"Before that, I want to thank you all, especially that black-clad man who is becoming a god and a king."

Wells, who was receiving divine power in the middle of the Gate of God, struggled to raise his hand and gave the middle finger: "You bitch."

"Thank you for the compliment," Miaham said. "Aita, you are a god, so let me ask you a question: what should a god do?"

Aita said, "Absolutely, absolutely... we must not harbor evil thoughts towards those who should not be harmed."

“Okay.” Miaham nodded. “Then how can I ensure I don’t do evil?”

“Power, of course,” Aita said bluntly. “Only by acquiring power greater than anyone else’s can I ensure that I will no longer do evil.”

"What a strange theory, but it's true. Only by eliminating confusion and helplessness can one maintain that sacred 'persona'." Miaham paused, then continued, "So, one last question, gentlemen, why do you want to kill me?"

This question stumped everyone, especially Chen Shou, who didn't understand why they had to oppose something as terrifying as Miaham.

"Hey, hey, hey... little girl..." The Blood Emperor stared at her and said, "If we don't kill you, will you let us go?"

“That’s a good reason,” Miaham said with a smile. “What I’m about to do could very well kill you all. Now that the conflict is established, how will you kill me?”

She scanned the people present.

First is the Blood Emperor.

"The mechanic who can kill the origin and cause and effect by destroying time."

Then there's Chen Shou.

"Mr. Robot, who has mastered the ability to hit targets 100% from a distance."

Next up was Wells.

"A combination of God and King who established new laws."

Finally, it landed on Aita.

"The goddess who protects a world."

And of course, there's Pippen, who's on his way.

"Or perhaps the protagonist of a world that protects the goddess."

Everyone was silent.

Miaham flicked his fingers to create points of light in the air, using magic to make a PowerPoint presentation.

"Do you really understand the concept of combat power?"

She used dots of light to paint Eita's portrait in the air.

“Aita, you can do whatever you want in the world you protect. You have powerful magic, and you even have the fruits of countless parallel worlds. It seems that you should be incredibly powerful, even close to conceptualization.”

What she describes, like the current Marger, is that the prerequisite for possessing divinity is that magic or energy has influenced a large number of worlds, stacking boxes to change the course of multiple parallel worlds with his influence—that is godhood.

"But Aita, can you withstand the full force of that Blood Emperor's attack?"

Miaham asked the most crucial question.

Aita was stunned for a moment; she... couldn't take it.

For example, she can store a part of her life in magic and transmit it to the world of Ys through faith, so that even if she is killed, she can be resurrected in another world, just like Marger's resurrection.

However, if the attack involves the concepts of "true damage" and "destruction of time," it means that all the souls suffer "real damage" together and cannot survive.

Miaham chuckled softly.

"A single, powerful individual can shatter you, who possesses infinite worlds. So, what exactly is the concept of power?"

Wells landed and shouted, "Don't listen to this bitch's nonsense!"

Aita raised her hand, and even though her back was to Wells, you could still feel that this woman was very serious about telling the others to shut up.

Wells stared blankly, "How..."

Aita: "Sir, let her continue."

Because Aita could see further, she knew that Miaham was telling her something extremely important, something that concerned the future of the "Gallery of Redemption".

A computer contains numerous archives, which together form a vast number of parallel universes. Leaving this universe allows one to encounter even more universes. These individual universes, like data, are integrated to form a file. But if one ventures further outward, beyond this file, one will see many more identical folders. And after leaving the computer that stores all these folders, one will see even more computers. That's what the universe is all about.

The key to defeating the World Tree lies in cracking the programs on these computers. Aita has always believed that to legitimize the "Redemption Corridor," the World Tree must be defeated.

As her friend, she now has to figure these things out as much as possible. Miaham comes from the Borderlands, which is essentially a virus storage site and holds the secret to breaking computers.

"Do you think what I'm about to say concerns the future of Li Nuo and the others?" Miaham tried to read minds: "You could say that, but I don't think so. Let's go back to what I was talking about earlier. What is true strength? Whether you are a god who has control over multiple worlds or a mortal who wields the power to kill gods, there is only one kind of strength in the end—an indestructible life force and the mind and action that can always come back to fight."

This is the essence of why she was attracted to Li Nuo.

"The truly powerful people in this world are always those who know how to survive. Unfortunately, none of you are."

Miaham's eyes sharpened.

"This is the final 'invitation.' If you are willing to help me, I will let you live. Otherwise, I must remove the obstacles immediately."

Zaku drew his tactical rifle, aimed at Miaham in the raging wind, and pulled the trigger. The bullet left the barrel and accurately hit the Great Demon's body, blasting the storm of the Gate of God into dust.

Chen Shou's shot wasn't meant to kill Miaham. He was a coward; he was afraid that Aita and the others would follow Miaham. For the sake of Lino and Marger, for the sake of the future, he had to pull the trigger so that everyone would have no way out with him.

Miaham stood unharmed in the wind.

Time suddenly stood still.

During the time when only the Blood Emperor could move, he walked up to Miaham.

"Ha...this little fatso underestimated us."

Blood Emperor delivered a swift wrench strike, slamming into Miaham.

The stillness of time was broken, and Miaham was sent flying backward, crashing into one huge rock after another.

The Blood Emperor looked at his weapon in surprise, something was wrong...

This Miaham should be the only Miaham in the entire world. The laws of the Gate of God made it so that she should not have a superfluous body. The Blood Emperor believed that this attack was enough to shatter the cause and effect of infinite resurrection in time, but Miaham still did not die.

"Damn it... I get it."

The Blood Emperor turned to look at Aita. These two people, who held extremely high positions in the "Sky Corridor" but had almost no interaction, now showed the same look of sudden realization.

Miaham has no physical body; her physical body is still "dead."

At this moment, Miaham sat under the rubble, his simple rags torn to shreds.

“Idiots.”

Despite the blood streaming down her face, a strange smile played on her lips.

"Idiots! They're all a bunch of idiots!"

The growth of players is not actually about experience points and levels, but about their attitude towards the world. At the beginning, everyone is human. After experiencing bloodshed and turmoil, most of them become blood-stained demons. The transformation comes after that. Until they have survived more and greater calamities, the malice of their souls is washed away by the diversity of the world. What they see is the essence, that is, an individual who is willing to give their life simply for their own vision or to protect a certain belief.

To put it bluntly, the players at this point were just a bunch of chuunibyou (a person with delusions of grandeur).

In a sense, Marger reached the end of the player's journey the moment he became a player.

Miaham suddenly burst into maniacal laughter: "Hahahaha! Idiots! Idiots just like Galdella! You bunch of uncharmable creatures! You're so disgusting, it's almost unbearable, hahahahaha!"

All the divine power of the Gate of God was rapidly pouring into her.

The racial trait of succubi is to absorb essence.

Tea White absorbed Li Nuo and created the sun.

Miaham absorbed the power of the "medium" that led to godhood and returned to his peak.

As her terrifying laughter erupted, Eita was the first to be affected. The power of Fina, the twin goddesses who protected Ys, was fading, and Miaham was attacking all her causes and effects.

"magic……"

Aita's eyes widened as her magical energy rapidly drained away. The succubus absorbed the essence of all things, greedily taking away all the power within sight, like a glutton.

The great demon's demonic voice was released, and the goddess Fina (Aita), who shaped the fruit, was mentally attacked. In Aita's perception, it was as if parallel worlds were disappearing.

"This can't happen... We can't let this continue after Phil!"

Aita gritted her teeth, releasing magical energy that pierced the sky; she was determined to fight Miaham to the death.

But at this moment.

A long sword fell from the sky, swiftly piercing Miaham's chest.

Should I call you Adol or Pippen?

Miaham's eyes gradually weakened. She gripped Pippen's longsword, trying her best to create the most seductive and alluring expression, and licked the blade with her tongue.

"I love this kind of power that you can't resist."

Pippen pulled the sword from his chest, raised the blade, and slid it open Miaham's chest.

Adol is the protagonist, and his power can sever the threads of fate, even killing the undead.

Pippen: "..."

Miaham vanished completely, leaving behind a skeleton sitting there.

However, the feeling of suffocation grew stronger and stronger.

Pippen suddenly turned around, then sped up to Aita's side. He then stepped aside, took a big step forward, and his longsword slid through the air. Miaham, who appeared in the void, caught it with one hand, and the blade continued to exert force, severing Miaham's arm.

Just as Pippen, Blood King, and Wells were about to attack, Aita shouted, "Get out of her way!"

The group immediately stopped in their tracks.

boom!
A crimson light erupted from Miaham's body.

"I will use the power of the Gate of God to sacrifice the entire world and make this place part of the Border Prison."

In every era, regardless of region or location, the sky turned blood red, and tens of millions of black souls descended from the heavens.

"Babies, can't you see it clearly yet?"

Miaham smiled in the red light.

"I also have my own ways of breaking the deadlock."

Aita followed her instructions and read on, "You need to activate your own space."

The deeper meaning is... From the very beginning, Miaham's way of getting rid of the entanglement between the Bulma Trading Company and the other side of the World Tree was not to regain power in "this world", but to turn "this world" into a part of "Border Prison".

It doesn't matter how many eras the world has; in this parallel universe with players, this world will become a complete prison.

For players, this is the prelude to certain death and despair.

"You're sacrificing Li Nuo because of the karma he's carrying!" Aita shouted.

Miaham frowned innocently: "No, I really like him. As long as he's willing to help me fulfill my wish, I'll let him exist in my body."

"How can it exist?!" Aita exclaimed angrily, "Like Phil, it only exists in memories?!"

"As expected of the Goddess~ She guessed it right away." Miaham pointed to his head and said with a grin, "I will kill him completely and let him exist only in my memory." "Bastard!" This shout came from Wells. He could not forgive Miaham for his blasphemy against Li Nuo, who was his brother.

Wells transformed into a dark drow elf, possessing the shared power of laws between kings and gods, making him a truly extraordinary being who had even surpassed his level. But the moment he raised his hand, all his power vanished.

“Fool.” Miaham looked at me with pity. “Drow elves are my inferiors. What’s the point of magic that defies authority, even if it’s based on the law? This is no longer the world you know, but the border prison.”

The moment the words left his mouth, a terrifying red light erupted from Miaham's body.

The storm at the Gate of God had been stained a thick, churning crimson, as if the blood of billions of lives had been swept into the sky.

At the heart of this suffocating crimson vortex, Miaham's figure twisted and swelled, as if drawing nourishment from the blood-red storm.

Chen Shou quickly manipulated Zaku to pick up Wells and called out to everyone, "We can't stay here! We'll die, we'll really die!"

"I still want to give it a try." Blood Emperor was the first to approach Miaham.

Aita and Pippen walked over with him.

The first terrifying life form players encounter is often a high-dimensional demon, which comes from the Borderlands. However, the true rulers of the Borderlands are a few great demons. We should thank the demon god Galdella for cleaning up these guys, as each of them possesses power that players struggle to match even when they break through their limits.

Miaham stated his abilities from the very beginning.

She is the "Mother of the Ovary," a juicer that absorbs essence and creates malice.

Now, the great demon Miaham has brought this world back to the Borderlands, and everything that originally existed in this world will be devoured by malice, including life, history, and everything else. Archives will be overwritten, and the method may be somewhat cruel.

The Third Age, above the Great Pit of Yharnam.

On the airship of Bayer Kinworth, the Academy's soldiers, having just received the blessing of the Fourth Age laws, were still surprised to be transformed into "Nigos".

"I hate black people..."

A white soldier looked at his black skin and complained.

His best friend, a black guy, patted him on the shoulder in annoyance.

"You bastard, didn't you say you liked black guys the most?!"

"that is because……"

The white soldier turned around and saw his best brother, his comrade-in-arms, transformed into a monster covered in swollen tumors. Then, in a daze, he was eaten.

This sudden upheaval completely shattered the world order.

The malice of the border jail altered the very nature of everyone, turning life into monsters. Innocent people cried out in fear, and survivors looked up but saw no hope for tomorrow. Blood red spread throughout the world, leaving no escape.

Blackie stood at the entrance of the great maze, gazing at the blood-red sky, and shook her head in despair.

"This shouldn't be happening..."

The last message on her phone was from Lenny, the huntress, who was still comforting her and telling her to trust the guys.

“They say the continent of Pumeru will not perish, they say they will avert our inevitable demise, and they have done so before, so believe in them as much as possible afterward.” Finally, Lennie offered his prayer: “May the Lord Triss bless the world.”

Under the oppressive force of the blood-red, terrifying world, Blackie clasped her hands together and pleaded, "Warrior of Light... You said you are the Warrior of Light... I beg you."

……

A crimson storm emanated from Miaham, shattering the shadows of the golden tree and reaching the main battlefield of the First Era.

Cha Bai, Xiao Wu, and Nanami immediately turned their gazes in that direction.

"So strong..."

Xiao Wu bit her lip: "Miaham... how is he so powerful?"

But Nanami felt something was wrong: "It's much stronger than individual power; it's the power of an entire world coming together."

Her perception ability, "The Realm of Reason," allowed her to quickly discern that the one truly unleashing malice was not Miaham, but Border Prison.

Li Nuo and Malge, who were fighting each other, fell from the sky and both returned to their original forms.

Li Nuo stared at the red mist spreading from the direction of the Gate of God and said, "Old Ma, Miaham used to be an administrator, right?"

Marger lit a cigarette: "Hmm, it seems so."

Nanami: "Wait... how did you guys suddenly turn back?"

Li Nuo pointed to himself and laughed, "I don't know."

Nanami: "Proud my ass!"

Li Nuo shrugged and said, "I really don't know. Maybe it's because the sudden outburst of malice awakened the sense of justice within me."

Nanami: "Who would believe that..."

However... then again, to kill Miaham, one must first familiarize oneself with one's own physical condition. Li Nuo had already become familiar with the fluctuations of "Insight Value," and now he needed to become familiar with the amplification of physical strength. He had a good method for this.

He pulled Cha Bai and jogged behind a rock.

"Sister, take your glasses back first."

Li Nuo pointed to his left eye, which was still the [Kaleidoscope Heavenly Eye]. Cha Bai used spatial displacement to exchange his own eyeball with this eye. The ordinary electronic eye that entered Li Nuo's left eye immediately fused with the demon hunter's flesh and blood, forming a golden demon eye.

Then Li Nuo started taking off his pants.

Cha Bai reminded him, "Now is not the time."

Li Nuo: "What are you thinking? I want to test how strong I can become."

He urinated on a rock, and his reaction value of over 2000 allowed his muscle explosive power to break through the limits, shattering the rock with this single urination.

"Kyogre, use Root Wave."

“Li Nuo…”

Cha Bai covered her forehead and helplessly recounted what she knew.

"You mean... my every move right now... is being broadcast live by people from those two worlds?"

Li Nuo's lips trembled.

at the same time.

Sakyo and Soren, now in different worlds, have lost all expression.

"Does this count as making a pornographic film?" Li Nuo asked shamelessly.

"Be serious, Li Nuo." Cha Bai cupped his face and said, "What about Miaham? Should we continue fighting?"

Her words were transmitted through the earring communicator, making them clearly audible to all her "own people".

Li Nuo pulled up his pants as he walked out: "Of course we have to fight. I promised Sister Hei and the others, but I don't think we can win."

He stood in front of Marje and the others, turned around and pointed to Miaham's location, and said, "I always feel that the woman is still not the original body. She may have 'died' a long time ago. This feeling comes from the 'Insight Value'. I can believe, well... actually, that's the only thing I can believe."

"If it's not the real body, how do we find it out?" Xiao Wu pondered, stroking her chin.

"Wouldn't it be clear the answer if we just smashed her body to pieces?" Li Nuo said. "Even if she's close to the strength of an 'Administrator,' she's still not an Administrator. At least we need to see how far she is from killing an Administrator."

Li Nuo clapped his hands: "Right, I also have to help Sauron find his wife, so I have to play the role of a true Warrior of Light. I can't run away."

Nanami: "Didn't you just say you were going to play a 'real' Warrior of Light? You were just feeding the dogs before?"

Marger pointed to himself: "I've never eaten it."

Nanami slapped Ma Ge on the head: "Are you still playing around?!"

Li Nuo stared in the direction of Miaham, mentally organizing the details of the matter.

The scenario begins as a simple maze competition. All players will appear in the scenario on January 2, 1888, and then prepare to enter Fenrir's Great Maze, reaching the end of the scenario on January 5.

The final boss of this script could not possibly be Miaham.

Fenrir, Atkinson, Cainhurst's vampires, creatures of Dark Souls, Goldwyn of Gold, the supreme will above the void, and possibly even the Bulma Merchant Guild.

But they all became stepping stones in the process, either dying before January 2nd or gradually deviating from the story's trajectory.

The continent of Pumeru was indeed freed from the curse of destruction.

That's how Blackie and her friends were able to survive.

The beginning of the Fourth Era signifies the birth of a new parallel world.

But Miaham benefited from this. The great demon, who had been sleeping under the laws of the world, awakened. The border lord, who was above the basic rules of the corridor, bared his fangs and returned to the border prison with the cause and effect of this world, taking the first step in his revenge against the demon god.

Li Nuo slowly squatted down.

“From that time on… the difficulty of the script has exceeded the rules of the World Tree, isn’t that right… World Tree.”

Everyone was waiting for him, and even Marger could only leave the decision to Li Nuo at this moment.

"We must first accomplish what Sauron did, do what an RPG protagonist should do. Old Ma, you know, when writing scripts, you use the most clichéd template during a crisis, right?"

"Hmph, the savior always appears when everyone else has been defeated."

Marger is right.

Li Nuo said, "Although this template is very tacky, it can make money, which means it's the right one."

Cha Bai sighed: "The problem is you've never made a lot of money, you just don't like using this kind of template..."

“We’ll have to use it again this time,” Li Nuo said. “Aita and the others are fighting Miaham. When I see they’re about to collapse, we’ll go over. Remember, use all your strength, just one strike. If we defeat Miaham, we’ll have completed the mission. Whether she has other bodies or not is a matter for the sequel.”

He was saying this to Sauron, meaning that as long as the basic work of the Warriors of Light was completed, any further danger would be left to the judgment of the Explorers.

Li Nuo's eyes lit up: "Let's do it."

Just as they were about to make their move... Aita appeared before them with everyone.

Blood King, Wells, and Pippen were all injured, while Aita was unharmed. Zaku was the worst off, with only his upper body remaining. Miaham focused on attacking the lower body.

Li Nuo was completely deflated: "You guys... why are you out now... hang in there a little longer, the Warrior of Light almost made it!"

"We can't beat them! We can't beat them at all!" Aita shouted. "This guy has no health bar! I have to teleport them over! Otherwise, this fight will never end!"

"Brother." Wells, now in the form of a drow elf, took a tentacle from her bosom and tossed it to Li Nuo.

Li Nuo caught it: "Miaham's tentacles."

Aita explained, "I know you have high insight. Can you figure out what truth this thing reveals? That woman is a mechanical monster now, she has no health bar... she's unkillable."

Looking at the pink tentacle, Li Nuo saw some... truth.

A panel that only he could see appeared before his eyes, and he read out the truth.

“Miaham has been dead for a long time. Her body has been in the Border Prison. The current her is just a figment of imagination created by the malicious souls of the Border Prison. Her existence in this world is merely a coincidence. In order to deceive everyone, she deceived herself as well, making herself believe that she was not completely dead. She has put on a cloak of rules for herself. Only by getting close to a successful resurrection can she regain her memories.”

"What are you talking about... Why did she make it so complicated?" Nanami's brain couldn't keep up.

“I understand,” Aita said, “so that the World Tree won’t find out.”

“Wrong answer,” Li Nuo said. “It’s to deceive the demon god Galdella. Even if she can kill everyone now, it’s meaningless if she can’t defeat Galdella, the true master of the Border Prison.”

At this point, most people understand that Miaham sacrificed the world to gain new life, and once again gathered his forces to return to the border prison to challenge the demon god Galdella.

[Side quest completed: The Archaeological Finds of Cainhearst]

This task, with a difficulty level of 200, was completed through Li Nuo's insight.

Besides those who had already triggered the mission, Wells and others also saw the mission panel.

[Mission Details: Who would have thought that the hidden truth of the seemingly insignificant Cainhurst would extend all the way to the Borderlands? Miaham is indeed the most terrifying creature in this world, but the destruction she brings is actually the energy of the Borderlands.]

[Detection indicates the receiver has exceeded the required level]

[Multiple options will now be available]

[Select your reward; the settlement will be completed immediately, and the mission will end here.]

[Alternatively, you can choose to defeat Miaham of the Border Prison, but this will be an extremely difficult task. After screening, it has been found that Miaham has two forms. The second form is buried inside the Border Prison. You will be challenging the energy body of the Border Prison itself. If you can complete this task, you will receive the "supreme gratitude" of our World Tree.]

There is no deadline for this task.

That is to say...

The rewards for completing this task are generous, and there is no time limit.

And so… Chen Shou saw the men in Zaguli revealing their villainous smiles, which were far beyond what was expected of them.

(End of this chapter)