The Reader and Protagonist Definitely Have to Be in True Love
chapter-68-2-30041322

Chapter 68.2 – Reader: Eat, sleep, compete

The 38th demon god was defeated. Next up was arena 37 which also had a god with consciousness: Phenex. After the bout with Halphas, they were not sure what kind of attitude the possessed god would have towards them. Therefore they decided to take a break and recharge before they head to the next level.

During the break, Du Ze had a question mark over his head as he watched Xiu turn his left hand over and over, examining each side again and again. After fighting Halphas, Xiu became extremely concerned about Du Ze’s left hand; several times Du Ze thought Xiu was staring at his left hand so much that it was almost like he wanted to swallow it up.

Do you somehow feel dissatisfied with this young man’s left hand, Moe Lord?

Just as Du Ze was unable to bear it anymore and wanted to ask Xiu about it, an anomaly appeared in the arena. A small magical formation appeared suddenly and a figure emerged from it. When the newcomer stepped out of the teleportation array, both sides were stunned – they knew this person.

The human god of war, Ares, was frozen with shock when he saw Du Ze and the others, but he quickly recovered and dashed to Halphas’ teleportation array. All of this happened in a flash. Du Ze brain hadn’t yet been able to process the appearance of the god when he saw him disappear into the teleportation array. The array dissipated into the air; nothing was left.

Du Ze almost coughed up blood. He wanted to knock on the door of the array and to say: Open the door, you have the ability to steal other people’s teleportation method, you should also have the ability to open the door, ah!

They all looked at the vanished teleportation array where Ares had disappeared. Violet anxiously asked: “What are we going to do now that the teleportation array to the next arena disappeared?”

“Heidi said that each level’s checkpoint resets whenever someone goes through it.” Alice took her sister’s hand in hers and said comfortingly: “If what she said was right, it should be fine, we might just have to fight the demon god Halphas again.”

Just as Alice finished speaking, a “plop” was heard and the Black Dove appeared in the arena. Du Ze saw Halphas’ blood-red eyes widen as a hint of an emotion flashed through them. It was … horror?

Halphas flapped his wings fiercely and everyone naturally fell into an alert posture — just to see the black dove kill himself.

All of them: “…”

Du Ze was silent for a while before looking at Xiu: “What happened?”

–What did you just do to make the demon god afraid?

“Who knows?” said Xiu lazily, leaning on Du Ze.

His strong sixth sense told Du Ze that it’s better if he doesn’t know too much, so the silly, cute reader blamed all of the strange events on the protagonist’s halo. Because of Halphas’ “good intentions” they quickly passed through to the next level of the arena. Even though he hasn’t done anything much, Du Ze was full of excitement. Some silly, cute person pulled Xiu into the teleportation array. If they hurry, they might be able to see that jerk in arena 37.

They teleported into arena 37 but it was empty and there was no sign of Ares. Du Ze was disappointed and he wondered what happened since the previous demon gods had not been defeated that quickly.

“Someone else appeared so fast?” said a childlike voice and Phenex appeared.

Seeing that the other person showed no signs of hostility, Xiu put away his sword and asked: “The god of war was just here?”

“Yes, I let him go. I can let you go, too,” Phenex said. “I do not like fighting and death is not something unbearable for me. I am very familiar with it.”

Du Ze had not expected to meet with such a friendly demon god. Someone who will freely allow all those ascending the tower to pass through is simply good news. Phenex looked over and gazed at the fluffy chick on top of Du ze’s head. The small Phoenix seems to recognize this as the demon god who can change into the form of a Phoenix and stared at him with its beady black eyes, merrily calling out to him: “Chirp chirp ~”

“I have not seen a Phoenix chick for a long time,” exclaimed Phenex. “Bael’s descendant, here is a small gift from me to you.”

Phenex changed into a beautiful Phoenix; the Phoenix’s fiery body slowly grew smaller and smaller. As it burned down almost to nothing, the bright red flame burst open and turned into a rune. A red crystal now stood in the place where Phenex had been.

At the sight of the crystal, the small Phoenix’s eyes widened like a drunkard smelling wine. “Whoosh!” It flew over right away at the speed of light and greedily swallowed the red crystal. Rich fire elements gathered in the small Phoenix’s body and it seemed to feel very good as it issued a long tweet. The sound started out sounding immature but by the end of it, the Phoenix’s cry had become full and deep.

When all the flames had dispersed, an unusually exquisite Fire Phoenix appeared in front of Du Ze. It had long and beautiful tail feathers and faint traces of fire bloomed along the length of its magnificent wings.

The Fire Phoenix flew above Du Ze; it seemed to want to nest on Du Ze’s head like before but now its body is too big for that. So the Fire Phoenix perched on Du Ze’s shoulder, its head bent down as though it had been wronged.

… Well, even if it becomes beautiful, its essence is still that of a fool.

After the Fire Phoenix interlude, they continued to move forward. From the 36th onwards, the demon gods had the strength of a Sword saint. It took Old John a day to defeat one. In order to save time, Muir began to fight, too. To ascend from arena 36 to arena 19, it took them three days. The remaining 18 demons had the strength of a War God. If Xiu does not join the fight, it will take three days to pass an arena.

When the 2nd ranked demon was defeated, they had been in the demon god arena for almost a week. These days all they did was eat, sleep, and play; there was no respite from this routine. Du Ze and Xiu stood in front of the last teleportation array. Once they enter they will be sent to the final arena and come face to face with the first demon god.

Du Ze subconsciously looked at Xiu. He wanted to ask Xiu about this several times, but every time he tried to speak he found that he didn’t know what to say. Xiu noticed Du Ze looking at him. He reached over and pulled Du Ze with him into the teleportation array without hesitation.

Du Ze gazed at Xiu’s hand that was holding on to his; that hand is strong and full of determination, banishing all doubt.

This man will keep going and no one can stop him.

A group of people came to the last arena through the teleportation array. Before they had completely emerged from the array, they saw a figure falling in front of them. It was the human god of war, Ares, and this time he no longer looked spirited. He seemed to have been burned by a high temperature, with many spots on his body still smouldering. He was barely breathing.

Opposite the group, the first demon god slowly put down his hand and a sound like thunder rumbled through the arena.

“Welcome to my arena,” Bael announced.