This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist-Chapter 288: Arrogance Is the Prelude to Destruction

Rita’s body was paralyzed, but her hands worked tirelessly, pulling healing and buff potions from her bag. Bottle after bottle, she smashed them open, letting these valuable items, worth tens or even hundreds of gold coins, disperse into the water.

She had never been so generous to herself before in this life.

Now, she wanted to drown Miyaas in the best items she had, treating him as if he were her favorite child, showering him with all the gifts in the world.

Miyaas’ skeletal hand held a potion as well. Soul Catcher gripped it tightly, floating toward Rita.

On Rita’s interface, the first two skills of her Divine Gift were still mid-evolution. The name Thief God flickered, as though struggling to take shape.

She glanced at the potion in Miyaas’ hand. Its radiant glow and crystalline contents bore an uncanny resemblance to the master-grade potion Mistblade Moon Emperor had once gifted her. That potion had restored all health and mana, increased all stats by 300%, and lasted half an hour. But Miyaas’ potion looked even more extraordinary, its brilliance outshining anything she’d ever seen.

Miyaas, you’re spoiling me too much.

The mechanical mask covering her face had drifted away, leaving her exposed. She dared not use Fog Comes for fear of disrupting the ongoing devouring process.

Just as she was about to encase herself in a Lightning Cage, an overwhelming frost suddenly engulfed the entire whale.

In that moment, she felt the smallness of humanity in the face of nature—a vast expanse of ice spreading infinitely in all directions. The chill was suffocating. Her breathing and heartbeat were the only sounds she could perceive in this frozen silence.

The mysterious currents within the whale froze solid, and Miyaas’ skeletal hand halted inches from her face.

Only the six-pointed star arrays and a few runes continued their slow rotations.

Outside, Nivalis’ voice rang out:

"Aurora Shield!"

It was so spectacular that Rita almost wanted to cry. Finally, her protégé had learned to unleash a grand move before shouting its name.

"Rita! Did you see that?!"

"Wasn’t it amazing?"

"I only froze the currents, so I didn’t affect you! Isn’t that awesome?!"

If her face weren’t entirely frozen, Rita would have smiled back at the spirited young dragon outside.

So impressive, Nivalis.

Seconds later, the six-pointed star arrays dissolved into the water, and every glowing sea demon rune on Miyaas’ skeletal remains dimmed completely.

A voice echoed in Rita’s mind. It was the same neutral, genderless voice she had heard when she first acquired the Thief God Divine Gift, proclaiming: "Greed, madness, restraint, and cunning—you are worthy to walk the mortal world in my stead."

But this time, its tone was less arrogant and more relaxed, almost carefree.

"Arrogance is the prelude to destruction. Ascension to divinity is the beginning of one’s fall."

Her talent interface showed that the evolution process had completed, and the three sealed items in her inventory—Wrathful Moon, Chávez’s Time, and The Evil Eye—were restored.

Still, Rita didn’t let her guard down. When Nivalis asked if she should lift the Aurora Shield, Rita firmly told her to keep it in place.

Using her Disguise skill, Rita transformed into a diminutive goblin. This created enough space within the massive ice block for her to move. She retrieved the potion from Miyaas’ skeletal hand and activated [I’m in a Hurry], teleporting herself out of the whale.

A flash of light, and Rita appeared in the sky outside the whale, her body still exuding a biting chill. The intricate arrays that had covered half the instance’s space disappeared. Rita immediately teleported to Nivalis’ side with Phantom Shift.

Only now did both of them breathe a sigh of relief.

Nivalis wasted no time using Expert’s Touch to heal Rita, while Rita tried to use A Big World, A Small Me to shrink the whale back down and seal it in a container. Her plan was to cut the whale into pieces, just as she had done with its tail, and scatter Miyaas’ skeletal remains across the chaotic temporal currents. She would then take a small fragment to the high tower.

But it didn’t work.

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The whale couldn’t be shrunk.

Rita examined the aftermath inside the whale: charred herbal ashes, dulled gemstones, disabled machinery, countless empty potion bottles, shattered skill crystals, and the scattered equipment of devoured creatures.

She quickly realized the issue.

The whale had been a meticulously crafted whole. Every material, array, and formation inside had been carefully calculated to create a stable balance, protecting Miyaas’ remains for years. Experience new stories on novelbuddy

Now, with the whale’s internal structure in disarray and its exterior breached, A Big World, A Small Me couldn’t shrink it down—it wasn’t a single entity anymore.

Rita couldn’t leave things as they were.

Miyaas wasn’t dead.

While Divine Gifts were the core of every creature, losing one didn’t mean immediate death. Miyaas still had his skills, his vast reserves of power, and over a hundred levels’ worth of experience.

If she didn’t finish him now, she would be leaving a powerful enemy behind.

This was likely the most vulnerable state Miyaas would ever be in. If she didn’t seize this opportunity, she might never get another chance.

Rita instructed Nivalis to maintain the Aurora Shield and even refresh it for good measure. She suspected Miyaas might have prepared a contingency plan—a final counterstrike if he lost his Divine Gift.

Not just possible—inevitable.

Still, with Miyaas’ absurd level and defenses, there was no point in trying. Rita and Nivalis didn’t have the firepower to take him down. They couldn’t even pierce the whale’s skin, let alone harm Miyaas himself.

Rita reviewed every skill she had and finally opened her mailbox. She sent 10 empty skill crystals—her entire stock—to Jameson, instructing him to have Sanchez craft 10 [Vampire] skill crystals.

Moments later, the skill crystals arrived in her mailbox:

[Vampire]: 20% chance to drain 1% of the target’s HP.

Rita told Nivalis to be ready with another Aurora Shield if the current one dropped.

She also handed Wrathful Moon to Nivalis with firm instructions:

"If I say ’retreat,’ immediately use Time Walk to return to a few days ago. Once you’re out of the instance, call Shadow.Q and tell her to assemble a team to surround Miyaas at this time and place. Tell her his level, condition, and weaknesses. She’ll know what to do. If the call doesn’t go through, send a message. You team up with her often; she’ll listen."