Chapter 95 : Chapter 95
Chapter : 95
I was at a loss, I didn't know what to do.
I...
I felt like I had been charging up a super move, but before I could unleash it, my cute moe teammate had single-handedly pushed through and destroyed the enemy's crystal.
'Cute moe' teammate Divik: ?
I facepalmed, followed behind the black-robed man, and walked out of the venue. As soon as I got close to Divik, he immediately stuck to me.
Divik opened his mouth to shout, but I pinched him, forcing him to swallow the 'King' that was about to escape his lips, revealing his teary eyes.
I: ...
Tsk, had Divik spent too much time with Boros before? Why did he look even more like a dog than Boros?
There weren't many people in the rest area for the advanced contestants.
So far, a total of six groups had advanced, and Divik and I were the seventh group to enter.
As soon as we entered, the people in the rest area looked in our direction, their eyes filled with scrutiny and inquiry.
I didn't pay too much attention. I opened the minimap and roughly memorized the route here.
My finger was hooked. I looked up and, seeing it was Divik, didn't pay it any mind. I closed my eyes and began to think about what to do next.
There was definitely something wrong with this Mandiper. It was too strange.
Even if I participated to the end and won, it would probably be very difficult to leave here smoothly. I had to be prepared to escape at any time.
Fortunately, after the first round of the group qualifying match, the cooldowns for both of my life-saving skills were up, and I could teleport out of here at any time.
The main thing was that I hadn't figured out how the [Parasite] had appeared.
We contestants only had a [Mark] on us.
I had looked at that dead muscular man; the [Mark] didn't disappear when the [Parasite] appeared, but after he was completely sucked dry, the [Mark] disappeared along with it.
I reached out and touched the white mask on my face. I squinted my eyes and threw an [Appraisal] at the mask.
[Contestant's Mask
Description: A mask used to cover the face.
I didn't quite believe it. After throwing a few more appraisals at it, finally, with my unremitting efforts, the description changed slightly.
[Contestant's Mask]
Description: A mask made from unknown remains. It can be used to cover the face.
Prolonged close contact will lead to contamination and parasitization by the filth on the remains.
Yan Yunqing: ?!
My hand trembled, and I almost threw the mask away.
Whose good person's mask is made of remains?
No, it's already specified that there's filth on the remains. How could I not understand what this mask is made of?
Bones of a God.
I tried to reach out and take off the mask on my face, only to find that it seemed to be stuck to my face.
A couple of tugs made me feel like my skin was being pulled, which was a little painful.
Crap, what's wrong with this mask? That muscular man just now seemed to take it off very easily, didn't he? How come it's my turn and I can't take it off?
Could it be because too much time had passed?
I backhanded open the private chat system. Divik's favorability was very high.
Ever since Divik recognized me, he had directly entered my NPC friend list.
[Ri'an (Private)]: Divik, try and see if you can take off your mask.
Divik's eyes sharpened for a moment. After distinguishing that it was my voice, that sharp gaze turned to confusion. He looked at me and opened his mouth.
I backhanded his mouth shut and continued to talk to him using the chat system.
[Ri'an (Private)]: No need to ask, it's me.
Divik quieted down. He did as I said and tried to take the mask off his face.
He did not succeed.
Divik clicked his tongue and used a little force in his hand. I could see a few drops of blood slide down his cheek.
Was he actually planning to rip the mask off his face by force?
I subconsciously grabbed Divik's wrist, but then I remembered the dragon race's formidable physique.
“It's fine,” Divik said in a low voice.
I slowly released my hand. “Alright.”
I glanced around. The other advanced contestants weren't paying attention to us, but tearing off the mask in this place could still cause a panic.
[Ri'an (Private)]: Not here. Find a place where no one is around.
I stood up. Divik was very obedient, doing whatever I told him to do. We walked nonchalantly towards the exit.
A black-robed man stopped them. “The competition is still in progress. Contestants who have already advanced, please do not wander around.”
“What? We've already advanced, and you won't even let us go to the toilet?” I glanced at the black-robed man.
The black-robed man was stunned for a moment. He looked at Divik behind me, his eyes filled with disbelief. “You're going to the toilet, but what about this one?”
I twitched the corner of my mouth and simply reached out an arm... a bit weird, forget it.
I put my arm around Divik, who was a head taller than me, patted Divik's face, and gestured for him to lower his head.
I casually performed an intimate gesture by borrowing the angle.
“What? Do you need me to explain our relationship to you in detail?”
Black-robed man: ...
The black-robed man gave the two of them a strange look and silently made way.
The few people who were close by also heard my voice, and their expressions were also hard to describe.
Can't you even hold it in for this short amount of time?
I rolled my eyes at the black-robed man, playing the arrogant noble to perfection. I reached out, grabbed Divik, and walked past the black-robed man.
After finding the washroom, I pushed open the door to confirm that there was no one inside, then pulled Divik straight in.
Just as I was about to tell Divik he could continue, I turned around and found that Divik's exposed ears were red, and so was his neck.
I: ...?
“Are you alright?”
Why does he look like a cooked shrimp?
Divik closed his eyes, refusing to answer the question.
He reached out and pinched a corner of the mask.
His fingertips exerted force, and I could see the place where the mask connected to Divik's face gradually being torn open.
Blood slowly seeped out, sliding down his chin.
Seeing this, I felt my own face begin to hurt as well.
Without a trace of hesitation, Divik ripped the entire mask off, and his face was immediately covered in several torn gashes.
A bloody mess.
I casually took out a Small Red Potion and threw it to Divik. “Drink it, or just pour it on your face.”
Such a handsome face, ruined by this mask.
Fortunately, the fact that the dragon race's physique was formidable wasn't just talk.
Their recovery ability was also the strongest among the other races. This kind of injury was nothing to him.
Divik casually wiped the blood from his face.
Before he even used the Small Red Potion, the wounds on his face were already showing signs of healing. It was clear at a glance that he was fine.
I looked at his status bar. The [Mark] was still there, but there was no [Parasite] like the muscular man's.
It seemed that as long as the mask wasn't shattered, he wouldn't be parasitized.
As for the reason why the fat man who was vomiting blood at the beginning was parasitized... it was highly likely that there were other conditions for this parasitization to occur.
I touched the mask on my own face. I wanted to be like Divik and just rip it off with my hands, but I had to mentally prepare myself first.
Besides, my physique was not as strong as Divik's, for whom tearing off his face was like child's play.
I glanced at the constitution points on my panel, wondering if adding all my remaining free attribute points to constitution would slightly lessen the pain of tearing off the mask...
Speaking of tearing off masks, why was I becoming more and more like Joker?
Just because I gave myself the codename Joker, did I have to tear off a mask like Joker?
...Huh?
An idea flashed in my mind. I tried to switch to the preset Joker outfit.
The next second, my clothes changed to a black formal suit with a red cape, and the white mask on my face was replaced by the [Face·Masquerade Ball].
I touched the masquerade mask on my face, tried to take it off, and it came off easily.
Where did the white mask go?
I glanced at my backpack. All the items on me, without being preset, would be directly put into the backpack when switching presets.
Sure enough, the clothes I had changed out of and the white mask were lying quietly in my backpack.
I had painlessly removed the mask!
Divik was initially wary when he saw the King in front of him transform, but he slowly relaxed after realizing that his scent hadn't changed.
I marveled at my own cleverness and switched back to my disguise.
The white mask didn't come back on. I took out the white mask from my backpack to study it carefully.
Throwing [Appraisal] at it was no longer effective; the item description remained the same.
However, since I knew this thing was no good, it was impossible for me to continue wearing it on my face.
Although I could take it off now, if it took a little longer and I couldn't even rip it off by force, that would be a case of trying to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice.
I hesitated a little. Having come this far, knowing that this competition was ill-intentioned, was it still necessary for me to continue participating?
I had indeed come here for the entrance examination at the beginning, but now that I had met Isabelle, it was needless to say where Merlin would be.
Perhaps I could give up on entering Sigret Academy and go directly to Merlin to learn skills.
I could even ask Merlin directly about the prophecy from a thousand years ago.
After all, Lilian had said: The time of the 'Descenders' arrival was interpreted by Merlin.
My purpose for going to Sigret Academy could be completely achieved with Merlin. In that case, this entrance examination would be optional for me.
The more troublesome thing now was how to get Inuo out with me.
The other members of the children's group were easy to deal with, but as a 'Dealer' in the competition, Inuo was someone that I would have a hard time approaching and taking away right now.
I have to think of a way...
Before I could come up with a plan, the outside started to become chaotic.
A prompt popped up in front of me at the same time.
『You have obtained item key 1/108. The conditions to open the instance have been met. Do you want to open the instance [Mandiper·Golden Factory]?』
Instance?
I had encountered a similar prompt in Sunset Village. At that time, it prompted me that I had collected two instance keys and then opened the Sunset Village instance.
But this time the prompt was different. The instance keys shown in the prompt were a full 108, and I had already met the conditions to open the instance by obtaining just one of them—
I followed the prompt and looked. Sure enough, I saw the white mask emitting a faint glow. It was obvious that this mask was the key to opening the instance.
Vaguely hearing the noisy sounds from outside approaching, I backhanded Divik into party mode and started the instance.