Death Game: Starting as a Trickster, Pretending to Be a God

"I know that knife is very precious to you, so you can choose to redeem it with other compensation instead of unnecessary wear and tear here."

Mountaineer's sincere words echoed through the arena.

On the Free Alliance's seats, everyone let out a collective sigh.

"There she goes again."

"One Phantom, one her—others rack their brains trying to provoke and mock, but these two prodigies just open their mouths and it's done."

Comedian said helplessly.

Phantom spoke innocently, "Hey, don't pin that on me. I know I sometimes say the wrong thing, I just can't help running my mouth... but Mountaineer genuinely has no idea what she's saying."

"Can't be helped," Li Nian said, rubbing her chin. "Big Sister Meng only gets a few chances a year to talk to living people. Expecting her to have things like 'emotional intelligence' and 'the art of conversation' is just unrealistic."

Everyone in the Free Alliance could see that Mountaineer was sincerely offering earnest advice.

But... aside from the Free Alliance, almost no one saw it that way.

"What an arrogant statement!"

"This Mountaineer from the Free Alliance is practically a dragon that shows its head but not its tail—turns out she's got this kind of personality."

"But her strength is impressive too... She's got the capital to be arrogant."

In an instant, the audience seats buzzed with discussion.

The Night Watchmen spectators were particularly furious.

"Sister Snowy Owl, show her what you're made of!"

"Cut her into minced meat and see if she's still so arrogant!"

Seagull and the other Night Watchmen members cheered and shouted encouragement.

Most of Order's people were also annoyed by what they perceived as "sarcastic" remarks.

But Lin Yu, though he could see Mountaineer's expression wasn't mocking, chose not to point it out.

Mountaineer had no emotional intelligence, but Lin Yu did—in situations like this, there was no need to go against the crowd.

Even if you might be right.

So he simply voiced his confusion.

"That woman, whatever she said... she really doesn't seem afraid of slashing attacks."

"What's going on there?"

She wasn't the type who couldn't be cut through, nor the type whose wounds healed rapidly after being cut.

Both of those, while troublesome, at least followed "common sense"—either extremely high defense making her very hard, or incredible recovery making her durable. There was always a way to deal with them.

But this...

Being cut and acting like nothing happened—that was just eerie.

Eerie things were always hard to come up with countermeasures for.

And the person Lin Yu naturally asked was Grandmaster!

After all, he had noticed earlier—when Mountaineer was stating that "physical attacks are ineffective against me," she paused and glanced at Grandmaster in Order's seats before amending her words to "most physical attacks."

And Grandmaster knew exactly why Lin Yu had immediately chosen to ask her. She shot him an appreciative glance before answering.

"I don't know what method she's using, but... I'm confident I could reduce her to molecules with a single strike. That should be the kind of 'physical attack' she can't ignore or evade."

Li Hua adjusted his glasses. "But Snowy Owl probably doesn't have that ability."

"Then we'll see how she adapts," Grandmaster said, resting her chin on one hand as she looked at the two players locked in stalemate again. "I think... maybe 'cutting her into minced meat' isn't a bad idea."

"Since normal slashing is ineffective, naturally you try cutting through."

Li Hua nodded slightly at this. "That's one approach."

But unfortunately, as spectators, they couldn't directly shout reminders or "suggestions" to the contestants in the Land of Certain Death.

Otherwise, this match wouldn't be about testing the players' abilities, but rather a contest of the experts' insight and strategy versus the contestants' execution.

The last five matches would all turn into Grandmaster and Bi Fang versus Diviner and Comedian.

Hearing Li Hua and Grandmaster's conversation, Lin Yu couldn't help but speak up.

"But there's a simpler approach we haven't tested yet, right?"

At Lin Yu's reminder, many Order and Night Watchmen members also caught on.

"That's right—why not just knock her off the platform?"

Paper Kite suddenly realized.

Remember... this was a "Falling" venue.

Below the arena, it was filled with anesthetic and hypnotic gas!

Grandmaster nodded slightly at this. "That's also an option. But since she's called Mountaineer, trying to knock her down from a high place probably won't be easy."

"And besides..."

"Besides, with such a good opportunity, just knocking her down to win is a bit too wasteful."

Grandmaster's unfinished words were picked up by Bi Fang.

The man who had said he'd sleep through Snowy Owl's match was awake after all, yawning as he spoke.

"Just like Comrade Loquat Candy said earlier—whether it's Order or the Night Watchmen, we've got a lot more to consider than the Free Alliance in this match."

Bi Fang stared intently at Mountaineer as he spoke.

"The Free Alliance is already mysterious, and this Mountaineer has rarely made public appearances with combat records. If we can use this opportunity to probe her abilities and Item information, then even if we lose this match, it's fine."

Back on the arena floor, hearing Mountaineer's words urging her to surrender, Snowy Owl's temple veins bulged immediately. Her hands gripping the blackwood sword looked like they might crush the handle.

She was straightforward by nature, and being spoken to like this in public naturally made her absolutely furious.

But...

Snowy Owl wasn't the type to lose her head to "anger."

On the contrary, she actually grew calmer now.

And...

Snowy Owl vividly recalled the idea she had proposed during the Night Watchmen's internal meeting before joining the competition.

"The Mountain-forge weapon is precious, but compared to winning and reclaiming it... obtaining information about Mountaineer's abilities takes priority."

"Of course—forcing out as many of her trump cards as possible doesn't conflict with achieving victory either. Based on what we know, while there isn't much information about her abilities, our data analysis suggests she's definitely not the completely calm and cautious type either."

Now standing on the arena platform, the golden appearance of her opponent's wound exactly proved... that her guess was correct.

This woman's ability really was bizarre!

"I'm not surrendering," she said, looking at Mountaineer. "Even if I can't break through your defense for now... within the Ten Realms, in the Death Game, there's no such thing as an absolutely invincible Item or 'skill.'"

"While I haven't figured out your weakness and vulnerability yet... you'd better finish me off quickly."

Snowy Owl said coldly, not rashly pressing the attack but instead positioning her blade defensively in front of her.

Hearing Snowy Owl's words, Mountaineer tilted her head.

"Haha, interesting—let me give it a try then."

The next moment, a crisp sound rang through the air.

"Clink!"

A metal rock anchor embedded itself in the ground beside Snowy Owl.

Then, a nylon rope slithered like a snake from Mountaineer's direction, threading through the rock anchor and wrapping around Snowy Owl's ankle.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye!

"Whoosh!"

The nylon rope suddenly tightened, yanking the caught-off-guard Snowy Owl off balance, making her split into a full-on split and fall flat on the narrow pathway!