Chapter 31: Listen to Me First, Lady Demon God

Special Event!

-A dimensional rift has appeared in the [Assassin of the Abyss] weekly boss battlefield.

-The non-aggressive monster, M∀LICE, will temporarily appear.

-Defeating M∀LICE will grant a buff that only applies during the weekly boss battle.

-She's here!!!!

-Demon King stonks!

-Bro told me! You gotta pull for new characters

A temporary weekly boss event was hastily added to fulfill the Lady Demon God's request.

While there was official content planned for release later, it was just added due to the Lady Demon God's request.

A buff designed to help not just single target damage dealers but also AoE damage dealers easily defeat the boss by gaining enhancement buffs from defeating trash mobs.

It was a strategy to kill two birds with one stone by collecting more Magi-engineering research data in the process.

-114 second clear with [Demon King]

-Oh it's faster than before

-Praise be to new Reino

-This is what the Lord of Death's legacy is about!

-To those souls who skipped me~ Just you wait~

When the event began, significantly more powerful damage was shown compared to the Demon King's previous performance.

Clear times were shortened and players' perception of the new character started to change. Or rather, almost changed.

-But why does it take me longer to kill it

-The Lava Snake's damage keeps going to the trash mobs instead of the boss

Until the bouncing damage style of the Demon King's summoned creatures came under scrutiny.

-No hit the boss not the trash mobs!

-Damage varies with each try

Whether you defeat one or two M∀LICE, the buff doesn't stack.

But their HP pools are awkwardly high to clear with just the Demon King's basic attacks and ultimate pure AoE attacks.

As a result, the summoned creatures' lava attacks that should be focused on the boss kept leaking to other targets.

-[Knight] 104 second video

-Wait the Knight is faster?

-Wasn't this buff designed for the Demon King? What's the point of the Demon King if Knight is faster

Adding insult to injury, when a video came out of the Knight killing one M∀LICE, getting self-buffs through passive skills, and defeating the boss faster, the community erupted even more.

"Dream Apostle."

"Yes, Lady Demon God."

"Have you deceived me?"

The Lady Demon God leaned her face close to mine.

Even though I was omnipotent within this dream world, it wasn't easy to overcome the immense pressure emanating from her.

Had I been mistaken due to her recent childlike behavior?

"I have not."

"Then why is the perception of my Reino still like this? No, it seems to have gotten even worse than before."

"I... can explain."

"Do explain."

"When the trash mobs that appear as events in weekly boss battles are defeated, they provide buffs, correct?"

"...Yes."

The Lady Demon God's eyebrows furrowed.

"Compared to the previous single target damage dealer [Knight Ren], [Demon King Reino] is a character capable of AoE damage."

"...Y-Yes, that's right."

I could see her eyeballs rolling around.

"So I thought providing this event would improve [Demon King Reino]'s metrics. No, they actually did improve. However... since [Demon King Reino]'s core summoned creature damage style uses bouncing attacks, a significant amount of damage that should go to the boss itself leaks away."

"What... what is this 'bounce' you speak of?"

"Ah, in our game, bounce refers to attacks that hit the main target first, then subsequent hits bounce to nearby targets."

A damage style that can handle large numbers of enemies while still being somewhat viable when there are few targets.

We adopted it to design the Demon King as an AoE specialist while still being able to handle single target situations.

There was also the intention of adding some drawbacks to prevent the performance from being too powerful.

"I-I understand for now... but why does this 'damage' leak?"

"Due to the bounce mechanic, players can't control where hits after the first one go. So even if they want to focus all their damage on the boss, it inevitably leaks to nearby trash mobs."

"...Didn't you say Reino was an AoE damage dealer? Why is damage leaking to trash mobs a problem?"

"She is indeed an AoE damage dealer. Her basic attacks and ultimate are all AoE attacks. Only the summoned creature attacks use bounce. Bounce can do both AoE and single target damage."

"...Is that so?"

"Yes. After the trash mob event started, [Demon King Reino]'s total damage and clear times improved dramatically. Even though it's a temporary event, it's much better than before."

"Then why do they speak ill of my Reino?"

"That's... due to several complex factors. First, those who can't afford to pull for a new character when they already have [Knight Ren] are trying to create a perception that existing characters are sufficient. Also, since the previous limited damage dealer [Knight Ren] specializes in single target damage, they have an advantage in weekly boss battles even with the buff."

"...Nnnngh! I don't understand!"

The Lady Demon God frantically messed up her hair.

"Just forget about buffs and everything else and make Reino stronger! This is an order!"

So it comes to this after all.

[Demon King Perlereino apologetically smiles saying "I'm sorry, this child is a bit intense, hoho."]

I glanced at the real Reino who was smiling cheerfully next to the Lady Demon God.

-Why don't you just reveal your identity now? She's obsessing over the game character because she doesn't know Reino has been resurrected.

[Demon King Perlereino laughs awkwardly saying "I'd like to but... I missed the timing, ahahaha."]

What timing?

Just say it already.

"Haah, Lady Demon God. Listen to me first."

"...Are you going to confuse me with strange words again? Don't try to deceive me."

"Oh, damn, just listen first. Look. Let's say I heavily buffed the current character [Demon King Perlereino]'s damage. Like making her ultimate do several times [Knight Ren]'s AoE damage."

"...Yes."

"Then what would happen to those who've been enjoying other characters they've lovingly raised?"

"As long as Reino does well, other things don't matt-"

"No, that's not it. Everyone would be angry. And where would that anger be directed?"

"...At you, the game developer?"

Ah, right.

I would be the primary target.

"That's... true, but I wouldn't be the only one attacked. The character that most broke the game's balance would be targeted too. Right or not?"

"Right..."

"And that's not the end of it. Future characters would be compared to [Demon King Reino] too. If they're weaker than the Demon King - why pull for this? Demon King ruined the game. If they're stronger than the Demon King - why pull for anything else? Demon King ruined the game. That ugly girl who ruined the game. Like that."

"Reino is not ugly. Rather, she is the most beautiful in this worl-"

"Come on! It's just trash talk from players. Not saying she's actually ugly. Anyway, people would eternally criticize Demon King Reino that way. Even though Reino did nothing wrong."

"...That cannot be allowed."

"Right? And this isn't the end."

"It's not?"

"Think about it, Lady Demon God. There could be variation characters of Demon King Reino. If we buff this Reino now, it would be weird to have a reason to release such characters."

"Varia... what's that?"

"It means releasing different versions of Reino as characters. For example... a [Swimsuit Reino] wearing a bikini?"

How could we milk just one episode's scenario and lore only once?

We need to release variant after variant to squeeze out money.

That's why most of the skills from the episode, including the ultimate that follows the setting of controlling lava, weren't put into this [Demon King Perlereino].

Those hype skills need to be saved for selling later in [True Demon King Perlereino] or [Constellation Perlereino].

"S-Swimsuit!"

"There could be [Pajama Reino] or even [Young Reino]."

"Pajama! Young!"

The Lady Demon God gaped in shock at my words.

[Demon King Perlereino incredulously asks "Why are you suddenly trying to sell me out?"]

-You could've just revealed your identity first and restrained the Lady Demon God.

[Demon King Perlereino pouts saying "But this is a once in a lifetime opportunity!"]

[Demon King Perlereino rubs her hands together saying "When else would I get to see this child running around excitedly for my avatar?"]

...This one's not normal either.

How did I end up entangled with such strange demon folk.

"Swimsuit... bikini... rashguard... pajamas... bear onesie..."

"Anyway, Lady Demon God."

"...Yeees?"

Called from her daydream, she responded with a blank expression.

"...Don't worry about performance. We have hospitality content prepared anyway."

We had new content ready to cater to AoE damage dealers from the start.

I just made this hospitality event to buy time until then by appeasing the Lady Demon God.

Originally planned to release it right before [Demon King Perlereino]'s hospitality ended to milk money, but.

A bit early is fine.

Need to find new monetization strategies.

Rather than performance, methods to empty players' wallets...

What could there be?

"Like releasing equipment items such as exclusive weapons?"