Chương 51: [That Time I Finally Became the True Protagonist of a LitRPG]

The ghost of the Craven King howled with the voice of a thousand wolves as he dashed forward, trying to strike my very soul with the very necrotic energy that kept him chained to this plane.

'Feh. Waste of my time'. I thought as the hand swung through my body.

"You fool! You didn't even try to dodge!" The Craven King laughed.

"Now I have stolen a portion of your life energy — in a few more swipes you'll be little more than a husk!"

"Is that so?" I asked with a yawn.

"Let me check my stats…" I pulled up my stat screen and scrolled up to my vitality stat.

"Did you take some?" I said as I flipped the screen over so he could see my score of 999, 999, 999, 999. Rounded up.

"I really didn't notice."

"W-what?! That's impossible?! How can your life energy be so strong?!"

"Feh. Simple. I've been non-stop grinding 'being alive' for the past eighteen years of my life. Plus I was born with an absurd amount of stats already on account of my being the chosen one. 1+1 = 2 reasons you suck and I'm better than you."

"I-Impossible!" The ghost took another swipe, only to find my stats remained untouched.

"The only impossibility is the odds you'll ever beat me, you sorry excuse for a corpse."

"N-no I mean that's literally not how it works!" The Craven King growled.

"But fine! I can't kill you! But you cannot kill me either. For I am a ghost, and thus you need special weapons to harm me: weapons you do not have, PEASANT."

"I guess we would be at a stalemate… if you weren't wrong and stupid." I chuckled before pulling up my stat screen and smacking him across the face with it.

"B-but how?!"

"Put a few more points in common sense next time, old man. My stat screen is intangible right now. You're intangible too. Two negatives become a positive, so that means I can beat you up with the stat screen."

"All wrong! Are you just making this up as you go?!"

"Just accept your own weakness and stand down. I wouldn't mind beating you to a second death, but Also Elara 2 wants you just dead the one time. So float down… before I do something you'll regret." Just one look at my eye and the Craven King could tell I wasn't fooling around… and if he touched my soul he should know I don't have mercy to spare.

The reality of his situation was looking him directly in the face: the only question was if he'd have the courage — and the brains — to realize he only had one actual choice here. If he didn't want to be sent back to the goddess as a pretzel, anyway. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. The Craven King started to sweat, which dropped immediately to the floor since he was still intangible. But after a few more seconds of tense silence, I merely smiled.

"Heh. Unlucky for you, I enthusiastically believe in consent. And since 'silence' doesn't mean 'yes', I have to assume it means 'no, I will not give up, you must kill me.'""What kind of messed u- yes, I give up! Fine!" The Craven King huffed.

"But even if you've defeated me, you'll never defeat this dungeon! Behold: a door!" The ghost pointed to the thick stone door he had been wailing at when we arrived.

"I've been trying non-stop for the past 400 years to get inside! What odds do you empty-headed idiots have to succeed where I failed?! Zero! Zero odds! Where I failed to stop you, the genius of this dungeon and its terrible construction will certainly succeed!"

"Feh. Watch and learn, old man. Maybe we can get your puzzle-solving stat up a level or two before we send you off." I stepped up to the door and read the encryption carved into it. There is no puzzle here the door is just really heavy. I scratched my chin.

"... I'm pretty sure there's no puzzle here and the door is just really heavy."

"When did I say there was a puzzle?" The Craven King asked.

"Wait. If the door is just heavy and there's no other trick to it, why don't you just phase through the wall to all your stuff? You are intangible, after all," Elara 2 pointed out.

"Ah, dang. Woopse lol." The Craven King slipped past me and vanished behind the wall. He was gone for exactly ten seconds.

"You couldn't grab your treasure cuz you're transparent?" I asked.

"Yeah so I can't grab my treasure cuz I'm transparent, yeah." The Craven King shrugged.

"Aight well I'm out peace." He sunk below the earth to begin his mandatory stay in hell, leaving the rest of us alone in the cave.

"Feh. Call this a 1988 independent horror film franchise cuz that was child's play." I brushed my hair aside.

"Now let's solve this puzzle and get out of here." I examined the door again, and re-read the inscription a few times just to make sure I wasn't missing anything. When I was confident I had everything sorted out, I opened my stat screen once again and increased its brightness to max, then casually opened the door. Y'see, it was pretty dark in the cave. So by increasing the stat screen brightness to max, I made the door light-er. Haha. Good joke. Really nailed that one." Wow! There's so much treasure!"

Elara gasped as she stepped inside.

"Why are we here again?"

"My family's greatest wrong has been righted today," Also Elara 2 sniffed.

"And it's all thanks to you, protagonist kun. I… I think… I think maybe I feel more than just gratitude towards you right now."

"Us too for some reason," Elara and Elara 2 agreed, all three girls turning to face me with faint blushes crawling up their cheeks.

"I… I think…" A distant crack of thunder. The whisper of faraway winds.

"I think I…" The world began to shake. The sun started to set.

"... I love you." And then the earth itself erupted.