The Demonic Games (Disgardium Book #7): LitRPG Series, Dan Sugralinov [the read aloud family TXT] 📗

raid skipped floor 11 and broke the seal on the gates of floor 12. Sinner, the floor’s boss, was easy prey — an ordinary skeleton in rags, with twin blades. That floor was the lowest reached that day.

After analyzing all the boss fights, Octius started his overview of the main bulk of the contestants, who hadn’t taken part in the top players’ raids.

Roman the curser united with Meister the jeweler and other non-combat players. The mighty raid methodically farmed the first floor, rooting out every mob and chest until, by the end of the day, they had heroically cleared the level. Once done, all the survivors headed to the village to divide the loot and prepare for the second floor.

But it was something else that really stood out. The singer Michelle, an elegant dryad, played a central role in the group by stunning the world with her altruism. Roman got distracted with a philosophical debate with Meister. The others joined in, and in the end the group accidentally pulled several packs of mobs. Roman’s curse didn’t do the job, and soon the Hellhounds were calling other mobs from all across the floor. Michelle started singing and took aggro, drew them away. She saved the group, but died herself. Unfortunately, for the second time that day. Michelle was knocked out of the Demonic Games.

The overview dragged on for an hour. This was peak viewing time for the stream of the Games. The viewers voted for the best and worst players of the day based on what they saw in the highlights.

Octius declared the results of the vote. There were no surprises: he called out the best player, Quetzal, and the worst — me. And there was only a two-percent gap between me and Destiny Windsor in the vote. Such a shame that non-citizens had no right to vote; I might have had a chance with them… As for what my reward was exactly, that I would learn tomorrow in the Cursed Chasm.

Toward the end there was a minor sensation: the viewers saved Michelle the dryad from ejection, which required over 90% votes in her favor. That happened rarely, as the people liked eliminations and their resulting drama. Few liked the Demonic Games to go on too long, either. Michelle burst into happy tears and her raid flipped their table in joy.

Then there was the interview, but almost all the questions were formulations of the same — what was I doing at the bottom of the Pitfall?

“I was getting ready to fight the last boss,” I answered. It wasn’t untrue. What was all this for, after all?

After the interview, Kerry walked me to my room and asked if I wanted her to keep me company. She seemed to be suffering more from my enforced solitude than I was.

“It’s fine, Kerry. Go rest. I need to be alone.”

“Think of something, Alex! I wish you heard what they all say to me!”

‘They all’ were the other assistants, taking out their dislike of me on Kerry.

I fell asleep in a sea of roiling thoughts. It was hard to plan without knowing what ailment my character would be saddled with next. Keep leveling up Meditation? Develop my spirit? One more day and I might not catch up to anyone. They’d clear all the bosses I might be able to handle, and then there wouldn’t even be any mobs left to scrape any experience from.

I couldn’t think of anything. I started leafing through Disgardium Daily to see what they were saying about the Games.

Falling short and disowned by his friends

 

Is the Class-A Threat a nothingburger?

 

Several journalists contributed to the main material for Disgardium Daily. Clark Katz himself had taken up the pen. Ian Mitchell and Axel Donovan were among the names I recognized. My answers to Ian’s questions the day before were part of the material in separate blurbs, and without the part about the punishments. At least they left Aaron Quan’s name in. And Denise Le Bon even responded. In a five-second holo video, the famous model said:

“I’ll gladly send Aaron Quan a t-shirt from my new clothing line…”

Axel Donovan set the Snowstorm-approved tone right from the start of the article:

Alex Sheppard’s vain entry into the Demonic Games has lifted the rose-tinted glasses from many of his fans’ eyes. It couldn’t have been any other way in the sterile conditions of the Cursed Chasm. You can’t become a real champion without team spirit, true camaraderie and support in the face of opponents. Sheppard has lost all that, and it’s his own fault…

 

It was pointless reading the top comments. I’d suspected for a long time that Disgardium Daily cleverly manipulated public opinion in favor of the preventers and the corporation. It wasn’t hard to figure out that the comments they liked the most got the most votes.

Winwald | +9.62m | 2 hours ago

 

This is exactly what I’ve been waiting for. Seriously, folks, remember that battle that didn’t happen at the temple in the desert. Scyth ran away then, and he ran away today. When he attacked Destiny’s raid, I spat out my beer. I mean, seriously bro? Get a grip! But then what happened? The pathetic loser just sat at the bottom of the Pitfall all day long like a frightened puppy!

 

Sha Nin | +6.35m | 3 hours ago

 

It’s embarrassing! Both for the other contestants and the class-A. There’s nothing happening, it’s boring! BORING! Primitive tactics, predictable maneuvers. Scyth at the bottom of the Pitfall? Haha! Call out some NPCs, send ‘em upstairs!

 

Parturnax | +5.84m | 1 hour ago

 

Remember how I said I was going to send my wife and kids to the in-laws so I could watch the Games in peace? Well, the wife suspected something and came back. Alone. She probably thought she was going to find me with another