1. Hidden Difficulty? Hell Difficulty!
It was a tranquil village.
Rain poured down, forming a translucent waterfall outside the window and on the stone wall.
Lightning accompanied thunderous roars, making it difficult to distinguish day from night.
Inside a house shrouded in white mist, stood a young girl.
She wore a pure white headpiece on her bluish-green long hair, a black cinched dress with a white lining, and her cute legs were tightly wrapped in white thigh-high socks.
If one ignored her blood-stained right hand and the bloody cleaver, she would be nothing more than a perfectly normal maid.
At her feet, lay an obese old woman whose heart had been pierced through.
The old woman’s death was horrific, unbearable to look at.
But upon closer inspection, one would notice that the old woman’s body was covered in non-human scales and bizarre fleshy tissues, hollow eyes, and sharp claws.
The maid leaned over and plunged the cleaver into the “old woman’s” heart.
Clearly, she was the murderer of the old woman.
But she wasn’t a cold-blooded assassin hidden among the populace on a mission, nor an ordinary girl who had gone mad after an accident. Instead, she was a pitiful transmigrator who had just narrowly escaped death at the hands of an enemy.
The girl’s name was Reina. A few minutes ago, she was a delicate young man sitting at his computer desk, playing the recently popular new RPG, “Candice: Domination of the Four Realms.”
“In this RPG, you will play as a fallen noble young master, uncovering the mysteries of the world, fighting monsters to level up, driving out invaders of other races, defeating the Kings of the Four Realms, and saving the world.”
This game was so difficult that the developers had significantly lowered the difficulty standard.
After he cleared the highest difficulty and became the first player to find the hidden ending, thus immortalizing his name, fatigue caused his face to roll across the keyboard. He accidentally adjusted to a higher difficulty button and, in a fit of pique, clicked “Start.” All he felt was a flash of white before he transmigrated into this world.
Reina realized that perhaps her excessive gaming had led to her demise, but she quickly understood her current predicament.
After transmigrating, she witnessed the old woman mutate from a normal human into a monstrous creature with fangs and a ferocious face. She personally killed the ignorant fallen noble young master, the protagonist of this game – he was the handsome, black-haired man lying in a pool of blood.
Subsequently, she and the novice guide, who was also the one who killed the male lead – the berserk, beast-transformed Grandma Einstein – engaged in a desperate struggle. In her despair, she found a cleaver and barely managed to secure victory.
After the crisis ended, Reina sat alone by the bed and began to review.
“First, I transmigrated as the young master’s maid, with zero combat ability, capable of little more than acting cute.”
“Second, this world has short days and long nights, with the sun rarely seen for days, and monster levels are extremely high.”
“Finally, our male lead, the young master, died at the very beginning. There’s no so-called system or cheat ability whatsoever!”
Reina felt like dying.
Then, she quickly realized an even more terrifying problem: “The young master’s maid is a girl cursed by the Dragon King. According to the normal main storyline, the young master will awaken after the maid is fully transformed into a vassal/familiar.”
If she remembered correctly, that plot point happened a month later in the summer.
If the young master had killed the transformed maid at that time, Reina’s storyline would have ended there.
But if the young master hadn’t been able to kill the maid, she would have been taken away and completely become the Dragon King’s forbidden plaything!
But now the young master was gone, meaning the maid would definitely be captured!
She might as well die then!
Reina was on the verge of tears. Since she didn’t transmigrate as the protagonist, at least arrange for her to be a character with some combat power!
What was the meaning of being a mere passerby maid with only a beautiful appearance and a curse?
Moreover, being captured wasn’t the end of it.
The fully transformed maid would later appear as a high-ranking Dragoness, becoming the protagonist’s enemy.
This path would also lead to various indescribable plotlines, completely turning this game into an erotic dating game!
As for how much magic power the little maid would be infused with by the Dragon King during this process, Reina simply dared not imagine.
In other words, if Reina didn’t stop all this from happening, she would very likely become the Dragon King’s little darling wife, leading to various R18, indescribable scenes.
Almost without thinking, Reina silently roared to the sky: “I don’t want to be turned into a pitiful star-wrath by the Dragon King!”
As the saying goes, life is a series of ups and downs…
Fate always strikes you hardest when you’re at your lowest.
There was barely a month’s time left, which was not good news at all.
She could only be saved if she killed the Dragon King within this month.
It’s important to know that while this RPG emphasized action and freedom, it urgently required operational skills and strategy. Even on peaceful difficulty, it would take at least a month to clear.
Even the “Hell” difficulty on paper took 3 years of in-game time to beat.
Reina, utterly despondent, inadvertently looked out the window.
A few lanterns illuminated the street. In the faint light, a procession of soldiers marched by.
In the center of the burly Dragon Knights, clad in scarlet armor, was a young girl being guarded.
The black fabric of her dress contrasted with her pure white skin. Her graceful figure and divine beauty made all the so-called celebrities and painted ladies seem vulgar and stiff.
Raindrops fell on her pristine white shoulders, but they didn’t wet her; instead, they slid down an invisible protective layer and dropped to the ground.
If one ignored her intimidating purple vertical pupils, she was a stunning beauty capable of captivating an entire nation. Her silver-white hair gradually transitioned to purple at the ends, and her matching wings and horns were relaying a cruel truth to Reina:
“How did the Dragon King get to my doorstep?”
If she remembered correctly, this was the novice village, wasn’t it?
You’re not supposed to be the final boss, directly blocking the entrance and killing everyone is just too unfair!
The Dragon King was the chief of the Four Kings of the Realms, and one of the final bosses.
She was also the one who cursed Reina.
Even from afar, Reina could feel the terrifying power gap between herself and the Dragon King.
At first, she had a thought: seize the opportunity, and based on the Dragon King’s attack patterns, slowly grind down the final boss to achieve a world record for a one-day speedrun!
But reason quickly struck her down: the Dragon King’s stats undergo a qualitative leap at each difficulty level. If a system prompt popped up now, she would see that the total combat power between the two sides differed by several “zeros.”
What’s more, she was currently under the Dragon King’s curse, and could lose her sanity and be toyed with at any moment.
Based on her gaming experience, Reina performed a simple calculation: even ignoring the Dragon Demon Generals guarding the Dragon King, ignoring the curse, ignoring the terrain effects… Reina would need 40 days of non-stop fighting, without food, drink, or sleep, to scrape the Dragon King to death with the cleaver in her hand!
Leaving aside everything else, in 40 days, wouldn’t the curse have already taken full effect?
Furthermore, judging by the nature of transmigration, she only had one life; once she died, that was it.
Reina clenched her fists, looked at the Dragon King outside the window, glared fiercely, and silently thought: “I’ll let you off this time, you small fry. Next time, you’ll see what’s coming!”
But to her surprise, the Dragon King also glanced at her.
Though it was just a fleeting look.
Reina initially thought she had misseen it, but she quickly dismissed that notion.
Because, the next second, the Dragon King actually changed her path and walked directly towards Reina’s room!
“Your Majesty, the Dragon King, may you be well.”
“This is the hour of the goat, Your Majesty, the Dragon King, thank you for your grace.”
“Your Majesty, the Dragon King, I am your loyal believer.”
Reina inadvertently saw the scene outside the window.
Despite the continuous light rain, residents emerged from their homes, gazing at the Dragon King with dull, lifeless eyes, and kneeling on both knees, like a group of devout followers.
Reina held her breath, greatly shocked: These people must be controlled!
And just a few minutes ago, that old woman grew fangs, her face turned ferocious, and she transformed into a scale-covered lizard monster that attacked her.
Judging by the residents’ reactions just now, these people seemed to be possessed or “replaced” by something.
Regardless, I must also show respect to the Dragon King.
To survive, I must endure.
If she glared at the Dragon King again as she had just done, she would surely be living on borrowed time.
Reina glanced at the corpses of the two “ancestors” on the floor and immediately felt despair.
She could act, but how could she hide the bodies?
If the bodies were hidden, what about the bloodstains on her hands and the floor?
At this moment, there was a knock at the door.
Reina knew that delaying was not an option. Suddenly, an idea struck her. She opened the door to greet the Dragon King, her tone shifting to the same slow and respectful manner as the other residents.
“Your Majesty, the Dragon King…”
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