Chapter 321 - Three Hundred and Eighteen -

Chapter 321: Chapter Three Hundred and Eighteen - "Demon King and BraveHaving passed the silent bungalows, Su Ming’an returned to his room.

He hadn’t expected to be so popular.

First, a Soul Hunter leader had requested a meeting with him for the next morning, and another leader from the Soul Clan had asked to meet him the following night.

So, mastering the art of playing both sides, he could well play a double agent.

Although he held no affection for either faction, the Soul Clan aside, the Soul Hunter faction was likely no better. Even though the Soul Hunters belonging to it were loyal and brave, there seemed to be some issues with those in power.

He entered the room, closed the door behind him, and fastened a wristwatch to his wrist.

He had never worn this transformable AI wristwatch before, fearing some NPC would notice something amiss about his identity. But now, having left the Yate Vessel and with no one around who knew him, it was safe to wear.

As soon as he put on the wristwatch, a blue screen popped up.

The screen displayed a swirling white ring, resembling a storm, signifying it was loading. No other functions seemed to pop up.

Su Ming’an didn’t bother with it for the time being, to him, this device was merely a portable encyclopedia.

He was more concerned about what had been hinted during the day about the personal nighttime game segment...

He opened the clues bar and took a look.

[Name: Su Rin

Special Ability: Transformation (mastery of usage acquired), Bewilderment (unlocked by completing level one of "Demon King and Brave"), Control Barrier (unlocked by completing level three of "Demon King and Brave")]

The name of this personal nighttime game sounded full of critique points and seemed to clash with the style of the instance.

He had asked others in the team channel if they had something similar, but it appeared that he was the only one with this segment.

...This was a personal quest unique to the identity of "Su Rin".

Similar to a personal side quest.

He glanced out the window.

The thick night enveloped the world completely, making the river almost invisible in its darkness.

It should already be nighttime by all accounts, so why hadn’t the side instance started yet...

He pondered this as he sat on the bed behind him.

In the blink of an eye, he felt a sudden brightness before his eyes.

As if the extreme night had suddenly turned to extreme day, in the next second he blinked, he saw an incredibly bright church.

Brilliant sunlight streamed through the stained glass, casting a golden virtual bridge right before his eyes, the light rippling like an ethereal veil.

The deep red pews were bathed under the brilliant golden bridge, he looked up and saw the gilded dome towering above the church.

His gaze slightly lowered, he saw a flight of stairs carpeted in red.

The staircase gleamed, edged with a blinding golden trim.

Tranquil, solemn, and sacred.

His gaze was elevated above this ground.

He shifted his body, stood up, turned around, and saw behind him a gem-encrusted, blood-red velvet chair, behind which stood an uneven cross.

He descended the stairs, walked between the rows of pews, crossed the long carpet, and the warm sunlight spilled on him, momentarily dazzling his eyes unaccustomed to the bright scene.

...Clearly.

The moment he had sat on the bed, this nighttime side instance had begun.

He was now likely transported to a separate space, a space not belonging to Pulaya.

Apparently, the audience hadn’t expected the scene to change so suddenly, and many were shocked by the abrupt shift in brightness:

Su Ming’an rubbed his eyes.

The brightness was indeed too high, he was still seeing white fuzz in his vision.

He walked across the carpet to the church’s massive doors and with a strong push, he opened the heavy doors—

A blood-red sky appeared before him, with golden sparks floating in the air, as if this place had been ravaged by magma, a Mortal World hell.

He stepped onto this crimson land, spotting a small sand table floating at the church entrance.

Upon the sand table, two armies were confronting each other, one donned in red armor and the other in blue, both forces paused on the plain as if the battle were frozen in time.

The crimson land he was on wasn’t very large, more like a platform, and walking to the edge, he encountered an invisible air wall that limited his movement significantly.

A church, a small platform.

The system’s voice then rang out with a weirdly buoyant tone:

Su Ming’an instantly thought of the "Demon King and Brave" stage name, not expecting his identity to be the Demon King.

Looking at the solemn grandeur of the church, he had thought that upon waking from the throne, he would be a Brave blessed by the Deity.

The system voice continued:

Su Ming’an then noticed, in front of him a game panel lit up.

On this panel, he controlled a certain amount of resources, which he could spend to alter the "battle situation" on the sand table between the two armies.

For example, by spending a specific amount of resources, he could freely choose to increase the number of soldiers for either the red or blue side, or equip one side with weapons, thereby altering the battle dynamics of both armies.

His task was to balance the battle between the two sides to a comparable level.

The system voice continued:

"As a Demon King, you were supposed to commit every evil, burn, kill, loot, and destroy the Mortal World."

"However, as a new Demon King just starting out, your resources and strength are limited."

"Currently, you possess five hundred Resource Points and one soldier willing to follow you."

As soon as the system’s voice ended, a flash of white light appeared before Su Ming’an, and a golden puppet emerged in front of his eyes. Floating above the Chess Piece was the name "Jin Qiangwei," which seemed to be the soldier’s name.

...To be a grand Demon King with only one follower, this generation’s Demon King is rather underwhelming.

Su Ming’an looked back once more.

An empty church, a desolate platform... This place was simply a natural prison.

After appearing, the puppet knelt on one knee. Although the puppet had no expression, its body language expressed loyalty to this solitary and shadowy Demon King.

The system voice continued:

"Currently at ’Demon King versus Brave’. First level."

"After completing the first level, the Player will exit this branch instance. The next time the Player touches the bed at night, ’Demon King versus Brave’ level two will commence."

"The time in Pulaya runs at normal speed while Players complete this branch instance, and the Player’s body disappears synchronously."

Su Ming’an had been worried that his original body might be attacked in the cabin while he entered this branch instance.

But now it seemed that his body would be teleported concurrently upon entering the instance, so there was no worry about being stealthily attacked.

This level appeared to proceed day by day, one level each night. After completing tonight’s first level, he could proceed to the second level tomorrow night.

The system voice was still ongoing:

"First level task: Complete the task ’Inscribe the Monument.’"

"You can obtain Resource Points, expand your grand Demon King City, and accomplish the level’s tasks by maintaining the balance of the army’s situation, fulfilling the desires of your subordinates, or through three other methods!"

"Blessings to you—oh Demon King, who embodies all evil!"

"Please subjugate more subordinates, expand your territory, and harvest the lives of your army!"

"Unleash your wrath upon this world! Let darkness envelop the world, endless flames scorch the land, and reduce the Mortal World to a blood hell... "

The melodramatic tone of the system’s voice stopped there.

Su Ming’an felt a headache coming on.

He glanced at a large sandbox where the red and blue armies were already engaged in battle. Clearly, the blue side was far weaker than the red, and in the short time he observed, the red was beginning to overpower the blue.

He immediately opened the interface and invested five hundred Resource Points into the blue side. With a flash of white light, the blue side’s soldiers transformed, their weapons undergoing significant changes, and gradually, the situation of the battle stabilized.

But Su Ming’an knew this wasn’t a solution. He needed to quickly earn more Resource Points. Otherwise, if the battle situation changed again, he’d have no more Resource Points to regulate the situation.

Moreover, the instance still held another ultimate goal.

Defeat the ’Brave’.

From the current perspective, the Brave had not yet appeared. For the Demon King, the Brave should be considered the final big boss of the last level.

He needed to quickly accumulate strength, expand this church, subjugate more puppets, and be ready to confront the Brave who would crash through his doors in the final level.

In his view, there was another option labeled "Expand Demon King City," containing the "Expansion of Royal City" worth 1000 Resource Points and "Recruit New Soldiers" worth 400 Resource Points, but he couldn’t afford any of them now.

He looked at the shining golden puppet, the name "Jin Qiangwei" floating above its head. The puppet stood in place, its posture still somewhat elegant.

"Can we communicate..." he muttered to himself, but the other suddenly spoke.

"Oh my most resplendent and mighty Demon King."

Jin Qiangwei spoke, her voice somewhat mechanical, "From today onwards, I will serve you, assisting in your immensely sinful supreme endeavor. Should you have any orders, please command me at any time..."

The puppet actually started talking, and its manner of speech was quite odd.

Despite the puppet’s flat, mouthless face, it was unclear where the sound was emerging from.

"Where is the stele?" Su Ming’an remembered that the main quest for this first level was to engrave the stele.

"Please, follow me," Jin Qiangwei led him toward the edge of the air wall where several tombstone-like square stones lay scattered on the ground.

Next to them were several feather pens and a thin booklet.

Su Ming’an briefly flipped through the booklet, unable to comprehend its contents, which were filled with scribbles like ghost drawings.

His task was to copy these indecipherable symbols onto the stele, mimicking the models provided.

...although he had no idea what the purpose of this might be.

Su Ming’an took a feather pen and tried drawing on a stele, but found that no mark was left.

He turned his head towards Jin Qiangwei.

"Engraving the stele requires the blood of the Demon King," Jin Qiangwei said softly.

...A characteristically underworld condition.

Su Ming’an drew his sword and slashed his arm, letting the blood drip into a nearby bowl.

In the Bright State, his wounds would heal in a moment. He cut himself several times to fill the bowl.

He dipped the feather pen in his blood and commenced the tedious task of transcribing the content from the booklet onto the stele.

The process was somewhat dull; it took him about three hours to complete, during which even the viewers’ comments began to dwindle in excitement, turning the live stream back into a global channel where a bunch of people chattily blew off steam.

"...Is this some kind of homework copying game?" Su Ming’an mused, somewhat baffled.

Bored, he eventually started reading the chat too. It wasn’t without saying that the world is full of talented people, their unceasing clever banter, and their insults and heated debates around various Main God World events filled the comments, an experience akin to being on Weibo.

However, this dynamic quickly changed. The moment people noticed that he was reading the comments, they became excited as if injected with adrenaline, a uniquely styled fervor erupted, instantly overshadowing those still deeply discussing "world affairs."

Su Ming’an averted his gaze.

The frenzy of the crowd was a truly crazed phenomenon.