A Little Game We Like to Call "Mafia" (3) - 46
"Everyone, I have an announcement to make!"
We all turned our gazes to the fatherly man, wanting to see if he had become crazy after dying once.
"So, someone was somehow able to get pass our system and killed ToastedBao, SickoMode, and MellyBeat. To be honest, it was my fault, for making us implement a system that wouldn't even work." He said in a completely calm voice, to our surprise.
"And now, because we only have 4 left, it's basically impossible to use any strategy."
We all nodded at this, having all come to this same exact conclusion.
"So, I guess, we'll just have to base it on luck now."
We all prepared to walk off and do our tasks, but then he said one last thing.
"By the way, I'm the "Sheriff"."
We all froze, before continuing to walk to where our first tasks were.
'Wow, insane gamble you're going for, Tauros22.'
I shook my head, grinning widely under the cover of my hoodie.
'But it's all for nought.'
I couldn't help but start laughing wildly, not caring if somebody saw me, as I knew that they would just attribute the laughing to a mental breakdown or something else.
...
Night approached, and I had used the rest of the vials that I had bought at the beginning of the trial.
I went to sleep with no worries on my mind, peacefulness rushing over me, an emotion I hadn't felt since starting my climb, bringing me to the darkness.
...
Waking up, I stepped outside, blinking rapidly under the blinding sun.
I took my place next to the other hooded figure, watching the water in the fountain make its rounds.
"So, you decided to save yourself?"
"Who would've thought that you would use something as insidious as poison, and Execution's Embrace at that."
"Wow, color me truly impressed! You seem to know your way around death."
"Of course I do, we all have. I just deal with the more... elegant side of it. How would you go about administering Lady Death?"
"Oh, just look at me as a sloth, one holding quite a deep power of course."
"So you're one of those... would you accompany me up the Tutorial?"
"Or course, it was always my intention to enter into a partnership with you, Lady Lacida."
"As it was mine, although, I only figured out how capable you were after a few days. So yes, I do truly intend to go into a partnership with you Ma'am GFishe."
We closed the deal by shaking hands, and a system prompt showed up in the sky, telling us that we had signed a contract, one that was unbreakable due to the system.
"I hope we have a fruitful partnership."
"As do I."
[Ding! You have completed the 4th floor trial! Teleporting Players "GFishe" and "Lacida" to the setting of the 5th floor trial.]
We both put on our fake smiles and held each other's hands as the familiar light engulfed the both of us.
...
So, I'll explain what had happened to all those confused.
Basically, I had tried to finish off everyone by poisoning them, but, the "Doctor" had decided to save themself. Obviously, the system would realize that this would become an infinite loop as it had never put in a rule saying that the "Doctor" couldn't save themself.
So, after figuring out each other's intentions during the night, and concluding that there was only one way to make sure that the both of us survived, we both signed the contract with each other.
I mean, we pretty much both could guess that the System would have sent us to a death match or something to resolve the tie, so, with the contract, harming each other was made impossible until the end of the Tutorial, making it so that the System had to pass both of us.
So, now, we both had 50 extra extra stat points, and were rich, with all the money we bet on ourselves, but still, nowhere as rich as THAT guy had been when he climbed the tower. I still couldn't believe that he had somehow tied with the God of Chess.
'Well, I can only try harder. I must kill that guy, for Onee-chan.'
Those were my last thoughts because, for some reason, I completely blacked out.
'How?'
That had been the only thought going through my mind as I looked at the young girl next to me.
'She somehow... outsmarted me?'
I had for some reason thought that I was the smartest, after not being able to face any worthy opponents since starting my climb up the tower.
They had all be as dumb as dirt, literally just falling straight into my machinations.
But, that had changed as this trial started.
At first, I thought that I had been the one controlling things, but as the game progressed, I couldn't help but find multiple inconsistencies.
It was only after the third day that I realized that I had been screwed over, bad.
Being blinded by my arrogance, as I was a self-proclaimed "Poison Master", I hadn't thought that anybody else was able to use poisons.
'Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!'
After accepting my defeat, I had just used the "Doctor's" power on myself, and had gone in today ready to fall in with what the other wanted.
'I guess, I don't always win.'
This was a lesson that I would never forget.
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Sorry for not uploading the past three days. I had an SAT on Thursday, and then I got really sick, so I've been lying in bed the past two days. So... uhh, yeah, sorry about that.
Also, I'll be releasing another chapter today, because we reached the 75 ps mark the other day, so stay tuned.
1. The Discord server is up!!!! The link will now be here, in the paragraph comments, in the chapter comments, in the synopsis, and on my profile. Join if you want to get chapter updates quickly, and if you want to be privy to any new information regarding the two series as soon as possible.
The new discord link (This one will work.): https://discord.gg/8ePQESSSHT
2. I would like to shout out a book that I'm editing. Check out "World Online" by "jdbeue" a top 30 author on Webnovel. I'll assure you that the series is good, which is kinda obvious due to the author's quality, and that it's worth checking out.
3. Powerstones for extra chapters:
So, here they are:
75 PS - 1 extra chapter
100 PS - A deal just for this week, it'll be another extra chapter, and another teaser of the commissioned cover for OTR. (If you haven't seen it, the first teaser is on the discord channel, the second one will also be posted there.)
150 PS - Another extra chapter
200 - ??? (I'll go there if we even get there, although I seriously doubt it.)