Strategy game? Then I'll have to control you properly.

"Will this move work?" As the character she was controlling narrowly avoided the dragon's breath, Lin Miao anxiously looked at Lillie on the screen.

I can die, but Lillie must not be harmed.

Fortunately, Lillie possessed far superior reflexes and athletic abilities, and had already lowered her body and leaped up, skillfully avoiding the dragon's breath.

At the same time, he launched a counterattack with a backhand strike.

Her longsword unleashed a golden cross-shaped slash, striking the skeletal dragon's body squarely.

"This...this guy actually dares to do that!"

This attack shattered the skeletal dragon's wings that it was about to unfold.

Thanks to Lillie's quick judgment, the opponent's troublesome pattern of circling in the air to launch attacks was completely nullified.

Lin Miao controlled her character, running in the opposite direction from Lillie while casting spells to divert the enemy's attention.

Pretending to use the same old routines is pointless; Lin Miao focused all her attention on the enemy's movements.

Fortunately, the attack patterns corresponding to each action are still effective.

Lin Miao shouted in her heart: Get out of the way.

He repeatedly pressed the jump button to avoid the dragon's tail that swept across the ground.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the guy swung a slash at Lillie, but a glint flashed in her eyes, and her longsword, bursting with golden light, slashed down vertically, cutting the enemy's attack in two.

"Is an oath of eternal love really that strong?"

Lin Miao, who was dumbfounded, couldn't help but complain.

Although the Oath of Gold and Stone is supposed to have a damage enhancement effect, it seems to be quite different from the game's description.

The power of the Oath of Gold and Stone is determined by the strength of the caster's faith.

This means that Lillie harbors an amazing belief.

"Get out of my way! You won't succeed!"

Lin Miao and Lillie's combined attacks continued relentlessly, and the accumulated damage on the screaming enemy grew heavier and heavier.

After dodging the sharp teeth of an enemy that was trying to bite her, Lillie smashed the skull of a dragon head, which was larger than a truck, with her fist.

Lin Miao also used the released magic to accurately strike the back of the BOSS, who was distracted by Lillie.

This wave truly maximized the advantages of multiplayer online gameplay.

"Ugh, ahhh! Ahhh!"

The anomaly occurred at that moment.

Anyone could see that the BOSS was already at its last gasp, and it suddenly let out a strange cry and staggered.

Lin Miao was startled, and then controlled her character to stop Lillie from running towards her.

Before their eyes, the BOSS was being devoured by the swarm of insects from which it had borrowed power.

"Where are you going? Where are you crawling, you beasts!"

The swarm of insects that originally parasitized the bone dragon to provide power now twisted their bodies and spread throughout the BOSS's entire body.

When the BOSS's power weakens, they begin to devour the body as if they have been waiting for this moment.

It was too late to stop it.

Although Lin Miao hurriedly used her skills to attack, the swarm of insects devoured them in an instant.

The arrogant demon lord, newly granted his incarnation, was devoured by the parasites.

Frost Lord (Contamination)

The title displayed above its head has also changed.

The BOSS, whose entire body was occupied by wriggling black worms, made a cracking sound and raised its sword once more.

At this moment, Lillie stepped forward, sword in hand, and walked towards the group of monsters.

When Lin Miao saw the expression on her face as she looked at her character through the screen, she couldn't help but feel a shiver run down her spine.

She clearly intends to fight to the end.

How could Lin Miao, who was training with her for her growth, possibly stop this determination?

Lin Miao cheered herself up: Cheer up, at least be a good human shield.

He quickly controlled his character and caught up with Lillie's fleeing figure.

"Ugh, this..."

The BOSS, corrupted by a programming error and driven to madness, manipulates a skeletal dragon to block their path.

Since the skeletal dragon's lower jaw was shattered and it could not bite, it used its skull as a weapon.

The BOSS then stretched out his arms and shot the parasites that were wrapped around his body like tentacles.

Lin Miao was certain that the feint attack tactic would be ineffective when dealing with these malfunctioning devices.

He controlled his character to dash forward suddenly, blocking the tentacle attack for Lillie.

If the goal is to achieve the most efficient victory, this bet is worth taking.

In an instant, Lin Miao's character went out of control, her movements becoming disordered and delayed as if she had been hit by a debuff.

Lillie looked surprised but did not stop.

After all, they had absolutely no tacit understanding. She seized the opening created by Lin Miao, severed the neck and body of the skeletal dragon with a single strike, and knocked the BOSS to the ground.

Lin Miao breathed a sigh of relief: We won.

As the screen gradually becomes noisy, Lillie is seen piercing the fallen BOSS with a spear and stomping on him with her boots, which are ablaze with golden flames.

With a deafening thud, the remaining error code vanished, and even the creatures clinging to Lin Miao's character detached themselves.

[Achievement Completed: True Depravity (1)]

[Optional Rewards]

The boss of Chapter 3 is dead.

The guy who tried to use the malfunction to kill them was instead devoured by the malfunction and died at their hands while struggling to survive.

Seeing the reward notification appear, Lin Miao controlled her character to walk towards Lillie, who was adjusting her breathing.

Her growth has never stopped.

Although there is no ranking system like in games, she is indeed getting stronger.

Lillie looked at Lin Miao's character with a pale face and opened her mouth.

Judging from her expression, she was clearly inquiring about his safety.

While there are extenuating circumstances, it's pointless.

The Lin Miao she saw was not the real him.

A character is ultimately just a character.

Although he will act according to his will, that's all.

Even if attacked, it only reduces his character's HP.

But to those who don't know the truth, they would mistakenly believe that Lin Miao was sacrificing herself to protect her.

Lin Miao thought to herself, "I'm actually more worried about you."

Lin Miao, who brought Lillie out of the game and sent her back to the village, watched as she loosened her grip on the bleeding sword.

To date, she has always been able to overcome any enemy in her path thanks to her amazing talent and rapid growth.

But now those enemies are beginning to combine with the malfunctioning entities and mutate, growing stronger in their own way.

Like the three chapter bosses who have merged with parasitic glitch entities, it's hard to predict what these guys will become.

"Phew, we'll talk about that later."

Of course, worrying like this will never end.

Lin Miao shook her head to clear her mind, and just as Lillie went home to rest, she turned her attention to the other side.

This is a reward for defeating the BOSS.

This reward is somewhat different from other rewards that give points.

In a regular boss battle, you'll likely only get points as usual, without any extra rewards.

This is closer to the special reward you get after defeating a BOSS infected by a malfunction.

Frostmourne

【Evil Dragon Horn Sword】

Two orbs of light floated above the BOSS's corpse.

This is an item given as a reward.

In a normal game progression, the only rare item obtainable in this chapter should be the boss's weapon, the greatsword [Frostmourne], which exudes a chilling aura.

But now even the bone dragon corpse ridden by the BOSS is now floating with orbs of light, making a total of two orbs appearing.

Lin Miao confirmed through intuition: one of them was mine.

Now he can confirm this matter intuitively.

One of those weapons belonged to him.

After clicking on "Reward Selection," you can indeed choose one of the two items.

Just like when I obtained the [Hermit's Cloak] and materialized it into reality before, I can bring one of the two weapons into reality this time as well.

Lin Miao sighed softly: Although I hope I'll never need to use it...

After much deliberation, he finally chose Frostmourne.

It wasn't for myself, it was purely for Lillie.

According to the instructions, the Frostblade Katana can grant the user the power to be enveloped in bone-chilling cold, but this conflicts with the oath of gold and stone that Lillie possesses.

[Selection complete]

"Well."

The moment Lin Miao chose the Frostblade Katana, the monitor shook violently, emitting a blinding light and indigo chill.

At the same time, an object suddenly popped out in front of Lin Miao's astonished face and began to slowly approach.

The large, black-bladed longsword I had seen in the game had materialized, gradually appearing from the hilt.

"Damn, this is outrageous..."

Lin Miao's face scrunched up as she reached out and grabbed the icy, sharp hilt of the sword, pulling it out abruptly.

It truly lives up to its name as a katana, as its length even exceeds his height, and its blade is wider than his palm.

The sword hilt was so cold that he wondered if it would cause frostbite and amputation, but it remained motionless as if it were glued to his hand.

Is this the demon sword imbued with the power of a demon?

Lin Miao secretly worried: There shouldn't be any side effects, right?

Even more astonishingly, after the entire sword detached from the monitor, it immediately turned into thick smoke, which seeped into his right hand as if he had been inhaled.

It can be summoned again with just a thought.

While the practicality of the design, which takes into account the inconvenience of carrying large weapons, is thoughtful, he honestly hopes he will never have to use this weapon in reality.

But if that kind of thing really won't happen, there's no need for the system to include the function of bringing game items into reality.

Just as Lin Miao had calmed her pounding heart and sat back down at the table, preparing to continue managing the residents, Li Sushang suddenly sent her an urgent message.

[Li Sushang: Did you just watch Douyin? Monsters have appeared in our country too.]

He felt uneasy just from glimpsing the contents.

[Li Sushang: These days, you can't hide it even if you want to; everyone's taking pictures everywhere with their phones.]

[Lin Miao: I was hoping you would become the third user in our country, but it seems that person met with misfortune before even opening the instruction manual. If they had opened the manual, we could have helped...]

After she finished speaking, the link Lin Miao clicked on was frantically trending on Douyin (TikTok).

The incident was triggered by an uploaded video.

Although the operators are desperately trying to delete it, the viral video shows terrifying black swarms of insect-like monsters crashing through residential gates and lunging out to prey on humans.

Their worst fears have come true.

[Li Sushang: I just used my connections to investigate, and... through family relationships, it seems things are in chaos at the highest levels too. Governments around the world are trying to cover it up, but it's impossible. Soon the world will be...]

[Lin Miao: That kind of thing doesn't matter. We're the only ones who truly know what those guys are like.]

Can the police or the military defeat those insects?

A guy who can be killed by arrows probably can't withstand bullets.

But Lin Miao knew they were not simply wild beasts, so she bit her lip tightly.

He initially accepted the job for his own sake.

For your own safety.

This is his realization.

Therefore, actively throwing oneself into battle is tantamount to denying this awareness.

But watching the residents fight on the screen, and occasionally controlling characters to fight alongside them, this feeling gradually began to waver.