This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist-Chapter 616 - – Divine Game: Chaotic Blocks 7

Rita still had a borrowed tunneling skill she got from a treasure chest back in Round 8 using [Repay].

It was the one that let her phase into the space pirate ship — [Shadow of Nothingness]. She grabbed it the moment the original user was ejected from the ground after the skill expired.

Rita timed her use of [Repay] based on the borrowed skill's 5-minute duration. Its 3-minute cooldown had long since passed, but [Snowy Summer], the skill allowing her to phase into the ship, only had 18 seconds left.

If she wasn't a treasure chest by Round 18, she'd have to borrow another skill from someone else.

At 8 minutes and 30 seconds into the game — Round 18 — Rita's body finally lit up with a pale golden glow.

This was the moment she'd been worrying about… and waiting for.

The second the glow appeared, she activated [Lonely Antenna Baby].

— At 2 seconds, she spent 3 points of Arcane Energy to use [Family Bucket], then targeted the nearest player with [Grand Opening Special].

[Grand Opening Special] didn't have auto-tracking, but its power and speed scaled with Intelligence and Agility combined — the arrows were lightning-fast and hard to dodge.

Cloud-like arrows burst out, and after hitting the first crew member, they scattered, hunting down new targets on their own.

In that instant, both space pirate ships were swallowed by a mist of arrows.

— At 3 seconds.

Blocks started popping up on the ground.

Rita: "Nivalis!"

No need for more instructions. Nivalis immediately started collecting. The Teletubby skill was too strong — she couldn't see or sense Rita's position.

Just as Rita told her: stay focused on picking up Blocks and don't waste time dodging attacks from treasure chests.

— At 4 seconds.

Rita gave up on the Blocks on the right side of the pirate ship — Nivalis was already headed that way. As the two ships crossed paths, she jumped to the other one and started gathering the Blocks there instead.

— At 8 seconds.

All dropped Blocks vanished. Even if a skill landed late and dropped a Block, it couldn't be picked up anymore.

Rita leapt toward Nivalis, tossing her a set of Blocks that couldn't be instantly assembled — they'd need 3 seconds of manual fusion. Nivalis didn't seem surprised by the extra pieces.

— At 9 seconds.

Rita canceled the Teletubby skill and activated [Shadow of Nothingness].

She'd burned too much mana — she couldn't afford to keep going, even with [Regular Savings]. It was too early in the game to go all-in.

[Shadow of Nothingness] let her become intangible and move freely for 10 seconds.

While hiding inside the pirate ship, Rita gave Nivalis her instructions:

"Tell me the locations of the other two treasure chests and what skills they're using. Report any changes immediately."

As she assembled Blocks, Nivalis replied:

"The chest at the stern of Ship A just phased out for 5 seconds — all attacks missed. The player in the fifth row of Ship B is invisible."

— At 11 seconds.

"The Ship A chest just teleported to the other ship. The Ship B chest jumped down to the bottom of the pirate ship."

— At 14 seconds.

"The chest from Ship A disappeared again — left behind a pale golden light pillar at the stern. The chest from Ship B is still at the bottom."

— At 16 seconds.

"Most players moved to Ship B. The chest at the bottom was forced up."

Rita said: "Go to the stern of Ship B. Stand where the first chest disappeared. The moment I appear, change into your original full-size form."

— At 19 seconds.

[Shadow of Nothingness] ended. Rita was ejected from the pirate ship, landing in a seat.

But one treasure chest was still invisible — meaning she couldn't target it to borrow a skill. The other had used a phasing skill earlier, which hadn't done much and would waste her [Repay].

The moment Rita reappeared, a barrage of skills, bullets, and arrows flew at her from all directions.

But she was ready. She burned Arcane Energy and used Phantom Shift to instantly teleport to the stern of Ship B.

She charged toward Nivalis. Without hesitation, Nivalis activated her transformation skill to grow in size, then lifted her tail and covered Rita.

— At 21 seconds.

The pirate ship kept shaking. Melee-class players rushed in, trying to lift Nivalis's tail.

She immediately flipped over, pinning Rita under her belly, gripping the ship's edge with her front paws, tail and back claws hooked onto the seats.

Fortune finally flipped in their favor. Rita gasped for breath.

The crew tried to kick Nivalis over together. Her strength couldn't hold out.

— At 22 seconds.

In under a second, Nivalis was flipped, revealing Rita underneath.

Before Rita could even stand, she cast a skill: [Top Chef? Top Chef!]

Everyone on the ship froze and turned to look. Even the players watching the match from below the ship — and the little gingerbread ticket vendor — stared straight at her.

— "What? You're a Top Chef?!"

— "What? You're a Top Chef?!"

— "What? You're a Top Chef?!"

— "What? I'm a Top Chef?!"

Everyone within 100 meters, friend or foe, was hard-stunned for 3 seconds.

Even Nivalis, just thrown off the ship by her tail and climbing back up, let out a furious roar.

— At 24 seconds.

The treasure chest at the stern had its skill wear off. The moment they became visible again, their eyes locked onto Rita.

— "What? You're a Top Chef?!"

Rita finally exhaled. She'd been waiting for this moment.

If it hadn't worked, she was ready to burn her stored mana from [Regular Savings], use [Survive Until the End] to turn into a ring, and have Nivalis swallow her…

— At 25 seconds.

The Top Chef skill ended. Rita immediately used [Repay] on the other nearby chest player.

Even in the rush, she scanned the skill description — confirmed it cost mana — and triggered it.

Right in front of everyone's eyes, she vanished from the ship's stern!

All the players still staring from earlier now had nowhere else to look — their gaze shifted to the treasure chest player whose skill had just ended.

Chest Player: "..."

Fiery wings, dragon pet… he suddenly remembered who this was. Heard some rumors, too.

BS-Rita. That player just now was BS-Rita, right?

Five seconds later, the invisibility-phasing skill Rita borrowed hadn't worn off yet — but Round 19 had already begun.

She wasn't a treasure chest this time, but she wasn't in a rush to cancel the skill.

Nivalis was already on the move — going after the treasure chest.