After successfully eliminating Bronya, valerius was quite satisfied.
"Let's call it a day. Time to head back."
He hadn't expected to meet his quota so quickly tonight. Although he still wanted to see what the other players were up to, going back first was clearly the safer choice.
Leaning on his cane, he headed toward his room.
When he reached the underground maze, valerius quickly noticed something unusual.
The small piece of paper that had been stuck to the door earlier had fallen off.
"Oh? They've been here."
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he continued forward as if nothing had happened.
After turning several corners, a blue figure silently flashed past in front of him.
"That's… Clorinde!"
Recognizing her at a glance, valerius immediately decided to follow.
Livestream
[Bronya: That was close… I almost got discovered.]
When she saw valerius returning earlier, Bronya had nearly been scared to death. Thankfully, she had arranged for Clorinde to intercept him in the middle, or they would've been completely blocked.
Seeing valerius chase after Clorinde, Bronya finally relaxed.
Time was extremely tight now. As long as Keqing was given enough time, they would be able to figure things out.
At this moment, Keqing had already arrived outside the room.
She pushed open the heavily rusted door.
Inside, everything was covered in ominous runes.
"This… is so creepy."
Even Keqing was startled by the sight.
It looked exactly like some kind of cult sacrifice altar.
She carefully entered and scanned the room.
Runes covered every surface. In the center stood a massive altar, and beneath it, a glowing pentagram emitted faint light.
After searching around, Keqing suddenly pulled out a parchment notebook from beneath the altar.
She casually flipped it open, and her eyes immediately lit up.
[That hateful demon deceived me… deceived everyone. We never should have summoned him… He will kill us all…]
[It's over… I'm the only one left. I must complete the final ritual… As long as I finish it, I can drag him back to hell.]
[I'm injured… I can't complete the ritual alone…]
[If anyone finds this notebook, remember…]
[Three days at midnight… time-distorted area… pentagram…]
[Stand alone within it and chant the demon's true name: "valerius Baby, you're the most handsome, love you, muah~" and you will pierce the gates of hell, sending him back…]
[Remember… never trust a demon's words. They are liars. All promises are false.]
"This… is the way to defeat valerius?"
After reading everything, Keqing felt dizzy.
Why was his "true name" like this?
[Attention—Player Clorinde has been eliminated!]
"Gasp!"
The sudden elimination announcement startled Keqing.
Clorinde had been covering for her. Now that she was eliminated, it meant valerius wasn't far away.
Carefully closing the notebook, Keqing put it back where it was.
Activating Spatial Gate, she vanished from the room in an instant.
Livestream
[Luocha: Huh? Didn't valerius say he'd only eliminate two players tonight? Why is there one more?]
[Herta: Didn't the notebook say it? A demon's words can't be trusted.]
[Bronya: It's fine. Miss Keqing already found the method. Maybe it'll work tomorrow night.]
[March 7th: "valerius Baby"… hehe.]
[Bronya: Uh… sigh…]
They had found a method, but valerius's so-called "true name" was really hard to accept.
"Baby" was bad enough, but "muah" too?
[Kafka: Heh…]
[Silver Wolf: Heh…]
[Ruan Mei: Now this is interesting.]
[Jing Yuan: Looks like… they've fallen into another trap.]
[Bronya: What do you mean? Didn't we find the method?]
[Seele: That notebook was written by valerius himself~~~~!]
The players in the game didn't know, but the viewers had watched everything.
The so-called way to defeat valerius was something he wrote himself.
If they really followed it…
Just thinking about the scene was enough.
[Bronya: Huh?!]
[Luocha: ...…]
They were done for.
They thought they were scheming against valerius, but they'd fallen into another trap.
[Clorinde: So… I died for nothing?]
[Sparkle: LOL… Fast forward to "valerius Baby, please eliminate me."]
[Ganyu: Keqing!!! What are we going to do?!]
[Hu Tao: Why am I kind of looking forward to Keqing shouting that out loud?]
[Xingqiu: Me too.]
[Beidou: Are you guys serious? Keqing is from Liyue!]
[Chongyun: Boss, aren't you curious too?]
[Beidou: Uh… a little.]
After eliminating Clorinde, valerius returned to his room.
He glanced at the notebook on the altar and chuckled quietly.
"They won't really do it, will they?"
He sat down and lifted the crow off his shoulder.
"Lumine, what do you think that scene will look like?"
"Caw—Caw—"
Lumine was furious. She was practically fuming.
How could this guy be so evil? Not leaving them any chance at all.
"Heh. You're lucky. If Clorinde hadn't blocked the way, you would've been eliminated instead."
"You should be grateful."
The crow stopped struggling.
Thinking about it, that really was true.
Now that the first three eliminated players were confirmed, didn't that mean she wouldn't be punished?
Suddenly, Lumine felt much better.
But this made Clorinde extremely unhappy.
She had sacrificed herself for nothing and still had to take punishment, while Keqing only brought back something like this?
Just thinking about it was painful.
Livestream
[Navia: That's so sneaky, tricking them like that.]
[Chevreuse: Clorinde is definitely getting punished.]
[Charlotte: I smell a headline.]
[Clorinde: ...…]
Hey, could you at least talk behind her back?
She could already imagine how much trouble she'd be in back in Fontaine after this.
From what she knew, Diluc and Ningguang barely went outside anymore and stayed home all day.
What was she supposed to do then?
On the other side of the space.
Firefly stared at Lumine beside her.
"Wasn't Bronya the traitor? Why did she get eliminated?"
"Uh… well…"
Lumine didn't know how to explain.
Inside, she was cursing valerius nonstop.
Is this boss even reliable? You eliminated Bronya—what am I supposed to do now?
"Did valerius betray her after using her?"
"Probably."
Yes. That's right. It was all valerius's fault.
"Then we should be more careful. Don't fall for his tricks."
"Okay."
Lumine hadn't expected Firefly to come up with her own explanation so easily.
Since she'd already figured out a reason herself…
Lumine could only go along with it.
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