Miss Witch, even if we're poor, we can't sell ourselves!

Honey was supposed to be doing her usual live stream on the lakeside stage tonight.

She is the official host of the Thousand Stars Adventure project. During the first test, her regular program was to ride that broom covered with lanterns every night, flying over the Lantern Street, to introduce the newly discovered stage, the newly emerging idols, and the player groups that were already somewhat famous in the game to the audience.

The lakeside stage had just finished a performance, and the comments were still asking for an encore, while Honey was already blowing kisses to the camera and riding a broom to the next stop.

Just now, a system message in gold font flashed directly into her field of vision.

[Hidden Boss - The Demon of Twilight has been triggered]

【Southern Dense Forest of Dengrong Street - Firefly Tomb】

Difficulty: B+

Honey's eyes lit up immediately.

"Dear viewers—!"

Her voice rang out amidst the whistling sound of the broom cutting through the air.

"Just now, the first hidden boss of this Thousand Star Adventure closed beta test has been discovered!"

"Our adorable little idol is currently battling the BOSS in a tomb deep within the dense forest south of Lantern Banyan Street!"

"Everyone, buckle up, I'm going to fly you there—!"

She suddenly lifted the broom head upwards, and the broom, adorned with small lanterns, drew an orange-red arc in the night sky, shooting straight south from the direction of the lakeside stage into the dense forest.

The comments section immediately erupted in excitement.

[Faster!]

Who's so fast? It's only been two days since the server opened!

I love watching girls fight!

[Go! Go! Go!]

The street beneath Honey's feet, known as Banyan Tree Street, was rapidly shrinking, transforming from a warm, golden sea of ​​lights into a checkerboard pattern, before disappearing beneath layers of tree canopies.

Meanwhile, at the Moon Forest Magic Academy, in the freshman dormitory.

Asase and Yoru squeezed together on Asase's lower bunk, their blankets crumpled up and piled at their feet, their tablets propped up on their laps, the blue light from the screen casting a bright and dark glow on their faces.

The steamed buns on the table were a late-night snack that Asase had brought back for Miya when she came back that evening. They were already cold, but neither of them cared about eating them.

"Finally, we can see a fight scene!!"

Xiaoye grabbed Asase's arm and shook it vigorously, the ends of his short red hair brushing against Asase's shoulder, his voice filled with barely suppressed excitement.

"Shh~!"

Asase covered Yoru's mouth with her other hand, her eyes never leaving the screen.

"Don't speak, just watch first."

Honey's broom is already suspended high in the sky above the dense forest, and her camera is zooming down.

Passing through layers of tree canopies and the glow of fireflies dancing among summer insects, the image finally settles on the open ground of the tomb surrounded by ancient trees.

A crooked stone tablet on the grass, white wildflowers covering the ground, and warm golden fireflies flickering on and off.

In the very center of the scene, Fran's scythe danced in the moonlight, each strike precisely repelling the monster that emerged from the black mist with its claws.

The bloodshot in her eyes grew increasingly intense, and with each breath she exhaled a wisp of crimson mist. Her speed increased by nearly twice as much as before, and the blade of her scythe left silver afterimages in the air.

The viewers in the live chat immediately recognized which idol it was.

Is this a baby?

[Holy crap, Sister Fran!]

[Big scythe and small wings, absolutely!]

That's why I said this mask-wearing rule is just a gimmick.

But that monster was no simple creature either.

Honey's camera zoomed in, giving the hidden boss a close-up for the first time.

There were no eyeballs in their eye sockets, only two eerie green flames burning quietly.

His mouth was split from the corner of his mouth to his ears, and his fangs, layered upon layered, were each as long as a finger.

Its body constantly switched between solid form and black mist. Each time Fran's scythe struck, it would turn that part of its body into mist so that the blade could pass through, and then re-condense into claws from another direction to counterattack.

The fight between the two had been going on for several minutes. Several patches of grass had been overturned, a stone tablet had been knocked over, and rubble and dirt mixed with white flower petals were scattered all over the ground.

Asase, who had been staring intently, frowned.

The eye sockets replaced by eerie green flames, the mouth that split to the ears, and its tactical method of hiding its body in the black mist to maneuver—these features combined matched an ancient book she had found in her family's collection when she was a child.

"This isn't a monster that the system created out of thin air."

Asase's voice suddenly became very serious.

"This is a real monster that existed in history. It was a monster with a name and a name from the great war a thousand years ago. Because it specifically targets people who are walking alone at night and ambushes them from the shadows, it is called the 'Monster of the Night'."

Xiaoye, who was excitedly shaking Asase's arm, suddenly stopped upon hearing this.

She leaned closer to the tablet, looking very interested.

"...What exactly is her ability?"

Asase lowered her head and thought for a moment.

"Completely block out people's vision, or rather, swallow up all the surrounding light sources."

"The one in the game is much smaller, so it should be a clone that has been greatly weakened by the system, but even if it is a weakened version, its attack logic probably still follows the original."

"—In other words, it could unleash that move at any moment!"

As soon as Asase finished speaking, the screen went black.

The sounds of wind rustling through the leaves, the chirping of summer insects, and the distant sounds of fireworks all vanished.

Xiaoye instinctively grabbed Asase's hand.

"It's really dark... I can't see anything at all..."

The number of comments on the screen was also skyrocketing.

[It's stuck]

[Don't complain if it's lagging, it's not lagging for me.]

My connection is so slow!

[How can something like this happen in a live stream?]

Shortly after, a dull thud of a scythe slamming onto the ground echoed from the darkness, and then the screen returned to normal.

In my field of vision, the gloomy monster lay on its back on the upturned grass, black mist seeping out from its many wounds, shrinking smaller and smaller like a deflated balloon.

One of her fangs was broken, and her limbs were still twitching. She could only let out weak moans in the pool of blood.

Fran knelt on one knee next to the monster, using her right hand to support herself against the scythe to keep from falling.

She had a cut on her left arm that ran from her shoulder to her elbow, and a large piece of her sleeve was torn off, revealing skin covered in blood.

Beside the dying monster, a third figure appeared out of nowhere.

A white fox mask with red stripes covered the upper half of the face, and the fox's eyes on the mask curved into two cunning arcs.

The front of her pink traditional costume still bore the dust stains she had made when she fell in the mud.

A few drops of the monster's blood splattered onto the small flowers embroidered on the belt and were dripping down.

is her? !

Fran's pupils contracted sharply.

She clearly remembered telling the little guy to hide, and there was no one around during the fight.

But in that darkness where nothing could be seen, the little guy somehow found himself in the very center of the battlefield.

Fran lifted her head with all her might and saw the girl walking up to her.

Mi Ye tilted her head, and the two curved lines drawn on the fox mask looked both innocent and sinister in the moonlight.

She held up her index finger to her lips and made a small sound.

Thank you!

As soon as she finished speaking, Mi Ye slashed and killed the lice, secretly retrieving the empty louse that had absorbed all its life force, and then disappeared into the night.

The cool night breeze swept across the tomb, swirling the white petals that covered the ground in it. They danced in the air for a few moments before falling back onto the grass.

The summer insect's light flickered twice, then returned to normal.

Fran, leaning on her scythe, fell to the ground, blood still dripping from the wound on her left arm, her face filled with confusion and anger.

Her lips moved, and judging from the shape of her mouth, she was probably cursing.

The little wings flapped weakly behind it, but ultimately couldn't hold on and collapsed to the ground, disappearing.

Millions of viewers in the live stream were stunned.

What's going on here?

[Is this the sound of a lucid dream?]

[I'm a long-time fan, this is definitely the sound of a lucid dream!]

[No way, how could this be a lucid dream? She's a girl with no personality traits, okay? How could she be speaking in such a playful tone?]

Wait a minute, did you guys notice the fox pattern on her mask?!

Is this the one from "The Ghost of the Flower"?

[How could that be! I just watched the first-person perspective livestream, this is a special NPC!]

[That's right, the quest panel also mentions special storylines.]

[They even turned an idol event into a game of Werewolf!]

The camera shook slightly, and while trying to steady the broom, Honey frantically adjusted the shooting angle, attempting to find the small figure in pink ancient costume among the shadows of the dense forest, but there was nothing there.

The old trees and the dancing fireflies swallowed up all traces.

Only the black mist still seeping from the monster's wounds proved that everything that had just happened was real.