So, after all this talk about Demon Kings, the power that descended onto me was just the Demon King’s ability itself!
But why haven’t I felt anything all this time?
Lin Ran thought back.
Aside from naming and the discharge ability he just received, he hadn’t felt any sense of being a Demon King.
Given that, he didn’t plan on taking the role of a damage dealer.
“I’ll play support. The Demon King’s abilities are pretty balanced. You, as a Flame Mage, can’t really support, can you?”
Lin Ran could only offer this explanation.
Wang Fatty scratched his head and thought for a moment.
It actually made sense!
Pairing a 60-point damage dealer with a 90-point support was much better than having a 100-point damage dealer with a 0-point support.
“Big Brother Lin Ran is the best! Every time, your judgments are way sharper than my dumb brain! Hahahaha!!”
Wang Fatty joked, self-mocking as he spoke, automatically calling Lin Ran “Big Brother.”
But Lin Ran knew, if he were truly brainless, he wouldn’t have survived this long.
[Detected #18029 team battle arena. Team role assignments completed.]
A cold notification echoed in the minds of the five.
[Invasion starts early. Next up is the First Wave of Thieves.]
[Please proceed to defend your assigned cabins.]
[In this defense round, killing enemies does not provide crystal cores. At the end, 100 crystal cores will be directly distributed. Please allocate them yourselves.]
[Failure Condition: If any cabin is stolen.]
The announcement ended.
Lin Ran had just opened his mouth to give orders, but his voice was instantly drowned out by Fatty’s booming roar.
“You two women, you both have some combat ability, right? The three of us will defend three cabins! Brother Lin Ran can definitely handle one alone!”
“That little guy—no, the small one there, do you have any fighting power?”
“If not, let Brother Lin Ran protect you. His strength is more than enough!”
After saying this, he hoisted his fire hammer and charged into the swarm of thieves with a howl.
Honestly, Wang Fatty was being too modest.
Was this really being brainless?
He’d immediately analyzed the strength of the incoming enemies and allocated two reasonably strong defenders to two battlefields.
Even without being sure of his own strength, he showed confidence in himself.
He took advantage of others’ disinterest, didn’t reveal anything about being the Demon King, and simply emphasized having enough strength.
Clearly, he was no foolish brute but a clever man.
If Lin Ran had to allocate the battlefield, he probably would have made a similar choice.
Still, he couldn’t help but note—
Wang Fatty, assigning those two women to himself, what a burden…
But Lin Ran trusted him.
Because in the face of the First Wave of Thieves, Wang Fatty could easily solo three lanes—
The first wave consisted of small Goblins and Gnomes, ultra-weak creatures.
Under Wang Fatty’s fire hammer, one powerful swing with a fire spell created a miniature mushroom cloud like a missile blast, leaving behind a field of scorched corpses.
The two women, Shen Yu and Liu Yan, clung to him like chewing gum.
They kept shouting things like “Wang, you’re amazing!” and “Go, Wang!” as if they were cheering him on.
Yes, they had no intention of fighting at all.
Even when Wang Fatty was injured during spellcasting because he couldn’t attack while chanting, Shen Yu didn’t heal him.
Lin Ran didn’t care about this disaster—he was happy to relax and had no desire to educate those two women.
With his passive ability, staying away from women was the best option.
“Vera, prepare to intercept at the window with ranged attacks.”
Then, he raised his Favorability Pistol and fired into the sky.
“I hope the corrosive liquid bursts like fireworks!”
Before his words faded, the corrosive liquid exploded overhead, splashing down onto each thief.
In an instant, those touched by the liquid began collapsing one after another!
On closer inspection, each place where the liquid touched had developed a gaping hole!
Of course, this kind of corrosion alone wouldn’t have been fatal.
What really killed them was Vera.
She wielded a machine gun—an armament that only appeared after multiple Puppet Evolutions in dreams—and sprayed bullets at every spot the corrosive liquid touched.
This was the noble strength of an advanced puppet.
Starting the game with a machine gun—how could others compete?
Still, since he had a monster army, there was no need to reveal everything yet.
The first wave wasn’t too much pressure; he decided to focus on learning about his teammates for now.
He walked over to the silent Qi Xiaoyu, smiling kindly.
“Hello, I’m Lin Ran. Since we’re both support, let’s exchange ability information.”
“Hello, I’m Qi Xiaoyu.”
His voice was clear and clean, pleasant to the ear.
But the next moment, he glanced at Lin Ran’s head and his eyes widened in shock, retreating several steps.
“D-demon king…”
Lin Ran smiled, patted his shoulder, and made a shushing gesture.
Qi Xiaoyu nodded, saying nothing more.
He silently began pouring liquid from his cauldron into small bottles.
Lin Ran leaned over and glanced inside, finding potions that caused negative effects like [Slowness] and [Weakness].
To be honest, he wanted them.
Vera’s abilities were mostly positive buffs; she hadn’t made any negative effect potions yet.
So, the Witch’s Cauldron ability mainly produced negative-effect potions?
“My strength should be obvious, so just leave things to me for now. You focus on logistics and distribute the potions.”
Qi Xiaoyu’s lips curled into a small, genuine smile.
He seemed truly happy that his abilities were recognized.
Encouraged, he quickly stood and tried to hand the potions to the other three teammates.
But after only two steps, Wang Fatty’s furious roar echoed from afar.
“Damn it! My crystal cores! Are you two wooden statues?!”
Lin Ran looked back.
Wang Fatty was raging, stomping in fury.
Earlier, he’d been showing off in front of the two girls, which gave several fast Gremlin Thieves a chance to sneak into his cabin and steal his hard-earned crystal cores.
He’d suspected the women were useless, but hadn’t thought they’d be this useless.
Both of them had been standing right at the cabin entrance!
They couldn’t even stop two low-level thieves—what was the point?
He couldn’t get healed when injured, and even when charging ahead, there were no golems to draw enemy fire.
The women started out sulking, afraid to speak, but as the scolding went on, even they became anxious.
Shen Yu was the first to speak, her expression twisting into a mixture of grievance and rage.
“What kind of attitude is this? You’re a man—why are you yelling at two women? Fighting is a man’s job anyway. Now a small thing goes wrong, and it’s all our fault?”
“Exactly! We’re not your hired bodyguards! We have the right to choose our combat style! Why should we meet your standards? Just because you can throw a few fireballs doesn’t mean you’re special!”
The more they spoke, the more heated they became, finally ranting about the injustice of the world and how men couldn’t be relied upon even to climb trees.
At last, Liu Yan summed it up.
“Pah! You fat pig, just because you have some ability, you discriminate! You’re just like that Lin Ran—both enemies of women! People like you deserve to be single for life!”
Enemy of women…?
When did I pick up such a strange title?
As the words fell, two Dream Eaters walked out of the cabin.
One belonged to Wang Fatty’s cabin—clearly, it had come out to support him.
It was about the same height as Wang Fatty, with muscle lines like a boxer.
Just by standing calmly, it radiated an invisible aura of authority.
It glared coldly at Liu Yan and Shen Yu as if they were insignificant bugs.
Was it protecting its master?
But rather than a lover, it felt more like a big boss.
Damn, look at that Dream Eater—reliable written all over!
Now, look at the other one…
“Is there drama? Where, where?”
It was my own Dream Eater, An Mengyue, here to watch the commotion…
She even tripped at the doorway and fell face-first.
Lin Ran’s vision darkened.
Still, among the monster girls he could reveal, only An Mengyue was available.
Also, amid the bickering, the 100 crystal cores for surviving the first wave had automatically distributed.
And, as luck would have it.
All 100 crystal cores landed in the hands of An Mengyue, the resident miser.
Was there any hope of getting that money back…?