Chapter 38

Unlike the protagonist succubus, who was not particularly adept at conserving energy, or perhaps those who were good at conserving energy had already died in the previous chaotic battles. As a result, the protagonist succubus easily won several victories in the following matches.

The few demons remaining in the area were all missing limbs or exhausted to the point of being like dogs. One by one, they were easily dispatched by the protagonist succubus.

"If I can keep this momentum, I might still be in peak condition when I face that pale-faced vampire!" The protagonist succubus thought this while looking at the half-dead horned demon in front of her.

The horned demon was a high-ranking devil, with a status similar to that of a six-armed snake demon. If he were at his prime, he would have been a formidable opponent. But now, he was different.

His abdomen was slashed with a terrifying wound, and his internal organs and intestines were spilling out uncontrollably. His long horns on his head were cut off, his nose was sliced in half, and what should have been his eyes were now just two bloody holes, making him look incredibly pitiful.

Some of his wounds had already scabbed over, while others were still fresh, indicating that he had been recently beaten.

The numerous new and old wounds had almost drained all his blood, and the blindness-induced fear had driven him into complete madness.

The horned demon roared loudly and swung his thick arms wildly, fighting against non-existent enemies in the air, exhausting his last bit of strength.

"He'll die soon, that guy... But if possible, I hope he dies slowly, so I can recover more of my strength."

Not far from the horned demon, the protagonist succubus dragged a few relatively intact corpses to form a slope and leaned against it. She squinted her eyes, watching the horned demon's final madness, and thought to herself.

The intense elimination matches, the life-threatening conflict with the eight-armed snake demon, the easy and pleasant cleanup of the remaining enemies, and the rest—she felt she was quite lucky. Or perhaps she was very good at finding loopholes in the rules—only when all the participants were dead would the barrier disappear. So, as long as she didn't deliver the final blow to the horned demon, she could keep slacking off until he exhausted himself to death.

"I'm really cunning, aren't I?" The protagonist succubus said this to herself, then closed her eyes, preparing to take a nap.

On the other side of the barrier, the other three gladiators, who had already defeated their opponents, glared at the protagonist succubus. After enduring for a while and realizing that the protagonist succubus wasn't going to kill the horned demon, a gladiator dressed as an assassin, with his body wrapped in a black cloak and his face hidden, couldn't help but shout:

"Damn it! Don't be so消极比赛 (lackadaisical)! Where are the referees? Why don't they disqualify this bastard?!"

After that, another dark elf holding a trident couldn't help but curse loudly.

On the other side, a man in plate armor, looking like a metal can, sneered darkly, watching these demons tear each other apart—his holy emblem on his armor revealed that he was a paladin of the Church of Ranseldar, the Dawnbringer.

It wasn't hard to guess why a paladin would be here—to kill demons, to eliminate evil. If there was a place better than the Abyss to fight demons, he would have gone there. But because he wasn't of an evil alignment, he naturally received more hostility and more battles in the Abyss. He had survived this long because of his astonishing strength.

Moreover, as a paladin, he would definitely be the "priority target" for the other gladiators once the battle began. Despite being surrounded by numerous demons, he still managed to survive and win. Such skill was truly commendable.

He might be the strongest of the four participants.

"Probably... useful." The protagonist succubus glanced at the paladin with the corner of her eye, then lay down on the pile of corpses, closing her eyes to rest, ignoring the curses of the assassin and the dark elf warrior.

After cursing for a while and seeing that the protagonist succubus still didn't react, the other gladiators stopped wasting their energy. They all imitated the protagonist succubus, sitting on the ground to rest.

The signal for the battle to begin would be the death of the horned demon. Once the horned demon died, the barrier would disappear, and the battle would commence—though no one said it, the two evil outsiders, the chaotic good protagonist succubus, and the lawful good paladin had all understood this rule.

Not really.

After they sat down, the protagonist succubus secretly held a throwing knife. She calculated, observed, and then threw it, simultaneously drawing her longsword and charging towards the paladin.

The horned demon's death and the disappearance of the barrier meant—instinctively, the paladin felt something was wrong—the horned demon shouldn't die so quickly!

He immediately opened his eyes and saw the protagonist succubus charging at him. After a startled "Ah!" he stood up but found his legs heavy as lead, his body aching, and almost unable to move—

"Damn it, because I started resting, my muscles relaxed—this cunning—"

In the next moment, the protagonist succubus' longsword pierced through the gladiator's cheekbone and into his brain.

In the battle from sixteen to four, the first victim was produced.

After killing her first opponent, the protagonist succubus immediately turned around and saw the black-cloaked assassin and the dark elf with dual tridents standing up as if nothing had happened, quietly running to a distance not far from her, ready to charge and backstab her.

"Damn, out of the four, not a single good person! Buddy, you died too unjustly. Why did you come to the Abyss to participate in this?" The protagonist succubus sighed, lamenting the unjust death of the paladin—among the demons of the Abyss, the term "paladin" was synonymous with "gullible fool."

Thus, the only decent person among the four was dead, leaving only these three scoundrels in the game.

—Oh right, the protagonist succubus is chaotic good—killing a paladin shouldn't change her alignment, right? The protagonist succubus thought this while staring intently at the two remaining scoundrels.

At the same time, the two scoundrels also stared intently at the protagonist succubus and the other scoundrel. The three of them glared at each other, gripping their weapons tightly and on high alert, none willing to make the first move.