NOVPUBIn the early rounds, she couldn't grab any Blocks at all — until Rita gave her a bold idea: transform into a creature the same size as the pirate ship and just launch herself onto it. As long as the treasure chest hadn't left the ship or phased out, she was bound to crush it eventually.
And since crewmates couldn't hurt each other, there was no risk of being ganged up on.
By Round 18, Nivalis had collected quite a few Blocks — at least 20, by a conservative estimate.
Rita was just about to fly in and strike at the treasure chest when she suddenly looked up — the moon had appeared.
It was an "L"-shaped moon. Just as she looked, it shifted — turning into a square, like a Block that kept morphing.
Holding onto a seat to steady herself, Rita cast [Who Will Cut the Moonlight] at the moon-Block.
This skill could only be used during gameplay — outside of game zones, skills were disabled.
It hadn't even been a month since she last cut moonlight in Chaotic Restaurant, but that was before she used [Phoenix Seat].
[Phoenix Seat] had not only reset the cooldowns of all combat skills — it also refreshed this one, even though it technically had an invisible cooldown that wasn't listed.
With her right eye throbbing in pain, Rita ran toward the stern's peak. The ship was now tilted 90°, and she had to time her move just right — she needed to plant a [Romantic Tourist] travel marker at the ship's highest point for later.
Her pain tolerance was far stronger than before. Every combat class she'd taken had included training on how to keep fighting through agony — both melee and ranged.
As the ship swung upward, Rita stood at the prow, looking down at the theme park.
She couldn't choose a ride — who knew what the rules were for those — so she marked a vending machine as her travel point.
Then she turned around and went looking for the treasure chest.
But this round… it was a disaster.
At the moment the treasure chest player from Round 19 leapt between the two pirate ships, they activated a skill — a wave of icy magic radiated out. The moment it touched the ship's surface, it spread like wildfire.
At this rate, both ships would be sealed in ice within 3 seconds.
Every player touched by the spreading frost was grabbed by claw-like tendrils of ice and flung into the air.
The ships kept swinging, but Rita — sharp as ever — instantly figured out what the treasure chest player was trying to do.
They wanted to separate the players from the ship — to forcibly trigger the "away from ship" penalty. If any player went more than 3 seconds without touching the ship, they'd be teleported into the ship's interior and frozen in place for 5 seconds.
Those 5 seconds of immobility meant the chest player could escape group attacks — and potentially wipe out multiple players.
What now?
Use the Teletubby skill? Useless.
Just because she couldn't be seen didn't mean she didn't exist — if she got hit by AoE while frozen, it wouldn't matter if she was invisible or not.
Standing at the ship's stern, Rita watched the frost creep toward her like a snake.
Across on the other ship, she spotted Nivalis. The ice-dragon was staring at the frost too.
Nivalis had probably realized something was wrong — but the speed of the chest player's leap, skill cast, and frost expansion had been way too fast. She might not have had enough time to figure it all out.
From Rita's perspective, the best thing for an ice-dragon like Nivalis to do was dip the tip of her tail into the frost.
That way, she'd still be in contact with the ship — and flexible enough to dodge incoming attacks.
The treasure chest player was the perfect reference — if they could do it, so could Nivalis.
But Rita didn't give her the answer directly.
Instead, she gave Nivalis the question: "She's trying to make every player lose contact with the ship — trigger the 3-second rule and freeze them inside for 5 seconds."
She believed Nivalis could figure it out. And if not… losing a Block or two was a small price to pay for that kind of lesson.
As she passed the message to Nivalis, Rita turned and sprinted, activating a skill:
— [Mist Arrival]!
In an instant, her Block avatar turned into thick mist, clinging to the ship's surface and flowing downward toward the underside.
She couldn't afford to get frozen on the deck — if she did, and stray AoE skills from a fight landed on her, she'd be in serious danger.
She had [Family Bucket], sure — but so did others. Everyone had their own tricks.
The fog drifted downward as the frost chased close behind, freezing it inch by inch.
Mist and frost merged, locking her in place at the transition between the ship's side and bottom.
Rita knew she'd been hit — a system message rang in her mind: "You lost a gray Block."
But she also knew she was still in contact with the ship.
And she knew B8017913 had detached from her — but that loss was acceptable. It was small, and in the chaos of players, it might avoid getting hit altogether.
She called out to Nivalis in her mind: "Did you solve it?"
Nivalis: "Hehe, I just merged with the ice."
Rita: "Your whole body? Which part of the ice?"
Nivalis: "…The stern."
That pause said everything. Her voice even sounded a little guilty — the attacks had probably already started, and Nivalis had realized there was a flaw in her positioning.
Nivalis: "But I flew out quickly… still, sorry, I wasn't fast enough. I lost a Block…"
Now wasn't the time for self-critique.
Rita snapped into command mode:
"We'll deal with that later. Is any treasure chest frozen? If so, now's your chance — attack it! Just dip your tail into the ice and keep touching the ship."
The seconds ticked by. Rita didn't dare move out of the ice just yet — if she left too soon, she might not be able to come back.
Players had all left the ship at different times, which meant the freeze duration would vary too. Altogether, that chest player had at least 7 seconds of free attack time.
If the ice lingered, even those who broke free first might get frozen again if they didn't act fast.
This was the chest player's harvesting phase — but also the crewmates' window of opportunity.
Rita couldn't micromanage every one of Nivalis's actions, but she couldn't just let her flail blindly either.
Rita: "Attack the frozen chest — not the one casting the frost."
Rita: "How you attack, what you choose to do — that's up to you."
Rita: "From now on, I'm your stopwatch. One… one-point-five… two… two-point-five…"
