“Thank you…” Lucia watched the back of the man walking ahead of her. Her voice was gentle and soft, but her face was cold as ice. “Good thing you’re here. I really wouldn’t know what to do without you.”
Dark green tendrils grew from her arms, her fingers extending like vines, longer and longer…
“No problem, it’s nothing~” Tan Xiao used his sword to push aside a pile of debris on the ground. “But you’re pretty brave—I rarely run into female players in games… Oh, I’m not looking down on women or anything. It’s just that usually, kings prefer to recruit men. Do you know why?”
Lucia slowly stretched out both arms, smiling as she asked: “Why?”
Just a little closer, and she could drive her vines through his skull, or his chest… killing him instantly, letting the blood flow without end.
Tan Xiao had no awareness of the danger right behind him. He let out a light laugh and replied, “Because in this puppet game, with humanity almost wiped out, all of mankind needs women to save it—so of course they need to keep them around!”
“Oh… that makes a lot of sense.” The corners of Lucia’s mouth curved into a cold smile, and her vine-arms thrust forward in unison!
In that instant—
The vines stopped dead in the air!
A mysterious message surfaced in her mind:
【The Princess cannot attack a friend.】
What?
Lucia blinked, then tried to attack again!
Still nothing!
Not only could the vines not advance by a single inch—they retreated, limp and slack. What was going on?!
【The Princess cannot attack a friend.】
The message entered her mind again.
Damn it all!
Everything had been going perfectly. Why did she have to run into this?!
Lucia felt a surge of frustration. If she had no other choice, she’d have to go after those other two. But her defensive capability was very low, and taking on two people simultaneously was not a safe bet.
Tan Xiao was still talking cheerfully up ahead. “Actually, I’ve thought about it—if I lose my life in a game and don’t leave behind any descendants, would that be a bit of a shame? After all, I’m the only one left of the Tan family line! …Ah~ have you thought about this? Personally, I tend to prefer Asian women, but if it’s for the sake of all mankind, having a mixed-heritage child isn’t entirely out of the question… What do you think?”
He turned around with a grin to ask Lucia.
And came face-to-face with two dangling vines trailing to the floor.
Tan Xiao stared. Two seconds passed. Then he slowly tilted his head up to look at Lucia’s pretty face.
“…Holy mother of—a half-plant female zombie?”
Lucia’s brow snapped into a tight frown. She retracted the vines, spun around, and ran!
“Stop right there! Don’t run!” Tan Xiao broke into a sprint after her and swung his sword! Every last impulse of chivalry had evaporated!
One vine was severed—like cutting through an arm—and in an instant, dark-colored blood came spraying out!
Lucia screamed in agony. She stumbled and fell to the ground. Before she could beg for mercy, Tan Xiao planted a foot on her and drove his sword through her heart!
“AHHHHHHH!!!”
The wretched shriek pierced the ears—at first still the voice of a person, then growing sharper and sharper, becoming the howl of a mountain demon!
Tan Xiao watched with his own eyes as a living, breathing golden-haired beauty was reduced, by his blade, to a shriveled old monster. Even the vines wreathing the exterior of the castle writhed and twisted as if in agony—and then withered and collapsed!
The sword in his hand was soaked in “blood” so dark it had turned greenish-black. The blade began to heat up, growing hot enough to almost burn.
Tan Xiao let go.
The sword—once a plain, ordinary iron blade—now gleamed with a brilliant sheen. A gorgeous red gemstone appeared from nowhere at the hilt—
And then, in a flash, it was gone.
【Congratulations. The King’s Sword has been successfully transmitted. Please wait patiently for the game to conclude.】
Tan Xiao stood dazedly in place.
After a moment, he looked down at his hands, unable to believe it. “That’s it?… I barely did anything, and it’s already over??”
—
On the other side, Max and Ken—notified of their elimination—were even more baffled than Tan Xiao. “That’s it? I didn’t even do anything…”
—