"Traveler, how does it feel?"
After continuously playing more than a dozen games, Rios asked about the other's feelings.
"Can't win, can't win at all."
The blonde girl shook her head, completely despairing of the scenes from the previous match.
If the Abyss monsters didn't have the Abyss portal, she could still win against the Abyss side through operation and layout.
But ever since the Abyss portal appeared, she couldn't win no matter what.
The Natlan pieces had high combat power, but once killed, they died and couldn't revive.
While the Abyss monsters were relatively weaker, the Abyss portal continuously supplied monsters—kill one batch, and the second batch comes right away.
And even more terrifying, if you don't kill this batch, the second batch still comes.
The Traveler had tried attacking the Abyss portal immediately, but Mavuika had prepared in advance, placing a group of monsters to defend the portal, and ordering another group to harass the Traveler.
Sometimes, Mavuika would deliberately layout to lure the Traveler's pieces in, then wipe them all out like wrapping dumplings.
"Even the Traveler can't win—this Abyss portal is too terrifying." Paimon said worriedly, "If we really have to fight the Abyss monsters in the future, won't we definitely lose?"
"Paimon, no need to be so pessimistic." Mavuika smiled and said, "From my perspective, the game difficulty Rios set is actually much stronger than the real Abyss."
"In the war I experienced 500 years ago, although the number of Abyss monsters was similarly huge, it wasn't as despairing as on the chessboard, where there's no hope of turning the tables."
Hearing this, Paimon relaxed her brows and smiled: "So that means we can actually still win?"
"Of course!" Mavuika nodded slightly and smiled, "Didn't you notice that in this chessboard, Rios never made a move the entire time?"
Paimon was stunned for a moment, then reacted with an "ah": "Oh yeah, the Pyro Archon didn't make a move in this chessboard at all."
"In the past, she would have definitely launched a barrage of rockets early on."
Paimon was all too familiar with the power of rockets.
If the Pyro Archon made a move, the Abyss monsters that had given them headaches earlier would be completely eliminated in the blink of an eye.
"Besides that, Kinich's strength is actually weaker than the real one." Mavuika added, "The current Kinich has obtained part of the divine power—ordinary Abyss monsters don't even have the qualification to stand in front of him."
"Oh oh!" Paimon opened her mouth in surprise, "So, even without the Pyro Archon's assistance, we can quickly eliminate the Abyss monsters and deal with the Abyss portal."
"Exactly." Mavuika revealed a satisfied smile.
"Actually, there's one more point."
After Mavuika finished, Rios spoke up to supplement: "Although the guy controlling the Abyss monsters has some intelligence, it can't layout as precisely as Mavuika."
"In real combat, even without my and Kinich's help, eliminating the Abyss portal isn't that difficult." Rios said.
"That's really great!" Paimon felt relieved and let out a long breath.
Earlier, after seeing the Traveler lose so many games, she had almost thought that if the Abyss really invaded on a large scale, Natlan would definitely lose.
And after learning from Rios's mouth that this planner had secretly increased the difficulty, Paimon's mood lightened up a lot.
"Why deliberately increase the difficulty?" The Traveler was somewhat puzzled.
Since it was simulating real combat with the Abyss, shouldn't it perfectly replicate the Abyss's strength?
Strengthening the Abyss so much—did it really serve to train them?
"The reason Rios set it up this way is mainly to hope the warriors don't get complacent and always treat the Abyss as the most dangerous enemy."
Mavuika helped explain.
"Although the difficulty Rios set is indeed a bit... exaggerated, it can make Natlan's warriors stay vigilant against Abyss monsters, and I agree with that."
After handling work-related matters, Mavuika would still take time to train the warriors who obtained new equipment.
She could feel that after getting powerful equipment, some warriors had developed a sense of underestimating the Abyss monsters, and this mindset was spreading to those around them.
So what about Abyss monsters? I'll mow them all down with one magazine!
What Abyss monsters? I thought they were just moving targets.
Mavuika could understand the warriors' feelings—like when she got the improved Flamestrider from Xilonen, her mood was much better than usual.
But fighting Abyss monsters with that mindset would definitely lead to big losses.
Her plan so far couldn't guarantee 100% success, so there was no way to activate the special Night Realm War to revive the fallen Natlan people.
If these warriors were too arrogant and careless, getting caught by an opportunity from the Abyss monsters, then the ones who would die in the end would be them.
Rios deliberately tuning up the difficulty to keep everyone vigilant against Abyss monsters was, in her view, very necessary.
However, including the fact that Abyss monsters could transform into Archon-level powerhouses was a bit exaggerated.
[Oh... so it's to keep Natlan people vigilant against the Abyss.]
[That's fine then—I thought the Pyro Archon was torturing us.]
[Family, who understands the feeling of getting team-wiped by the Abyss in five turns?]
[You actually lasted five turns? I got wiped by the Abyss in as few as three turns.]
[Have to say, this design is really good—I truly experienced the feeling of being continuously killed by a sea of Abyss monsters.]
[This game is probably deliberately meant for players to lose—no need to wait for guide streamers to release guides.]
[Mindlessly losing a few games to unlock the follow-up plot—I admit the Pyro Archon's arrangement worked.]
[In the future, if I encounter blood-dripping dogs, I might have to go around them.]
After hearing Mavuika's words, some players expressed understanding, but some players expressed understanding but couldn't accept it.
[Since you want Natlan people to stay vigilant against the Abyss, go torture the Natlan people—why torture us players?]
[Although you'll give us 1500 Primogems, the hurt in our hearts can't be healed by any amount of Primogems!]
[Wait, 1500?]
[1500 Primogems!]
[You mean we can get 1500 Primogems without even half an hour?]
[You can't even get this many doing a whole day of main quests, right?]
[Forget main quests— just opening treasure chests might not give this many Primogems.]
[Then it's fine.]
[What mental trauma? We've all forgotten it!]
1500 Primogems.
Server-wide amnesia!