2025-04-17 20:50:43Despite the tantalizing aroma of bubble-trapped mermaid flesh luring most mermaids and fish swarms, a few rogue mermaids zeroed in on Liam Watson’s raw flesh. They eagerly sank their teeth into his arms and ankles, leaving jagged, ring-shaped bite marks that oozed menace.
Shawn’s breath hitched, nearly stopping. “His sanity’s about to crash below 20!”
[System Alert: Player Liam Watson’s Sanity at 17, below 20. (Berserk) mode activated. Panel stats surging—]
The moment the system’s chime faded, Liam’s lips curled into a sly grin. His critically low stats, long flashing red, skyrocketed in a frenzy—
[Player: Liam Watson (Berserk Mode Stats)]
[Stamina: 7 → 151]
[Agility: 3 → 149]
[Attack: 6 → 167]
[Resilience: 2 → 166]
[Total defense and attack stats exceed 500. Evaluated as a C-rank player. Liam Watson promoted from F (?) to C-rank, now capable of resisting mermaid sailors, mermaid statues, and mermaid larvae attacks.]
Shawn froze for a split second before it clicked. “Right! When Sanity dips below 20, players go nuts and trigger [Berserk] mode, jacking up their stats like crazy!”
“The lower the sanity past 20, the higher the stats climb—up to the player’s max potential!”
Shawn’s mind raced. “This could be good for Liam. At least he can fight back against the mermaids now!”
“Not so fast,” Mason Shepherd cut in, his optimism dimming, his expression hardening. “Sure, the stat boost is a win, and the attack power’s a game-changer.”
“But most players at this point are already out of their minds. The lower the Sanity, the more they act like the game’s monsters. No matter how high the stats, it’s meaningless if they’re just thrashing around like beasts. Sanity keeps dropping as they lose it until it hits zero.”
On the small screen, Liam’s eyes snapped open. His nails sharpened into claws, and his legs swayed fluidly like a fishtail. His eyes, devoid of pupils, glowed with eerie gray cracks and unsettling whites. Fangs jutted from his split lips.
He slashed at a mermaid, his claws slicing it in half. The creature writhed, gills flaring in agony before sinking lifelessly to the ocean floor. Liam watched, stone-faced, his right hand still gripping the Siren King’s. Without that tether, he’d blend right in with the mermaid monstrosities.
[System Alert: Player Liam Watson’s Sanity continues to drop. Current Sanity: 15. (Berserk) mode intensifying.]
[Player: Liam Watson (Berserk Mode Stats)]
[Stamina: 151 → 351]
[Agility: 149 → 249]
[Attack: 167 → 667]
[Resilience: 166 → 966]
[Total defense and attack stats exceed 2000. Evaluated as a B-rank player. Liam Watson was promoted from C to B-rank.]
Shawn’s jaw dropped. “Liam’s stats are climbing way too fast! B-rank already? His potential’s unreal!”
But worry quickly crept back in. “His Sanity’s dropping again. If it falls below 10, he’s done for—”
Before Shawn could finish, the system on Liam’s screen blared a piercing alarm:
[System Critical Alert: Player Liam Watson’s Sanity continues to drop. Current Sanity: 9. (Berserk) mode intensifying.]
[System Critical Alert: Three minutes until the Siren King awakens. Players must clear the stage now!]
“Three minutes left?! Sanity at 9?!” Shawn’s emotions had been on a rollercoaster with Liam, but this was next-level intense.
Watching Liam’s blank face and the Siren King, whose fishtail and eyes were starting to stir, Shawn’s gamer-spectator cool was cracking.
He pinched the webbing of his hand, forcing calm. “Liam, hold it together, man!!!”
Clearing the stage now seemed like a pipe dream, but Shawn, having followed Liam’s journey, didn’t want to see this prodigy crash and burn. His eyes stayed glued to Liam’s screen.
Mason’s right hand clamped his left elbow, his jaw tight, his voice slow and heavy. “Three minutes. Get the Siren King back to the ocean floor, and he might still clear it. But with all these hallucinations and [Berserk] mode messing with him, who knows how much of Liam’s still in there—or if he’s already more monster than the player.”
Other viewers were losing it over Liam’s last-second gamble. Some screamed. Others couldn’t believe he’d fail now, all eyes locked on his screen. They spammed likes, donated power-ups, anything to jolt Liam’s awareness back.
In a dark corner, a few hecklers who’d been trashing Liam all along sneered as if they’d seen this collapse coming, watching coldly.
On the screen, the system kept blaring:
[System Alert: Player Liam Watson’s Sanity continues to drop. Current Sanity: 8. (Berserk) mode intensifying.]
[Player: Liam Watson (Berserk Mode Stats)]
[Stamina: 351 → 655]
[Agility: 249 → 733]
[Attack: 367 → 1555]
[Resilience: 366 → 1776]
[Total defense and attack stats exceed 4000. Evaluated as an A-rank player. Liam Watson was promoted from B to A-rank.]
Scales crept over Liam’s face, his eyes glowing a ghostly green in the water. Each scale radiated danger. Dragging the Siren King, he sank deeper.
The Siren King shifted from a limp, floating state to balancing himself, his fishtail swaying.
The moment the Siren King’s massive fins unfurled, every mermaid around Liam shrieked and scattered. His flawless face filled the screen, leaving viewers breathless at its beauty—and the lethal threat it hid.
Liam’s face was a fortress of black, jagged scales, his hands sprouting more by the second.
The Siren King, by contrast, was pristine, his slender fingers clean and pale. Hand in hand, they drifted through water thick with debris and corpses, their fishtails swaying in sync—a strangely carefree scene, like two mermaids out for a swim.
But this fragile harmony would shatter the second the Siren King opened his eyes.
Because when the Siren King woke, Liam was as good as dead.
“Liam’s hit A-rank already,” Shawn said, his voice a mix of awe and dread. “I knew he had it in him. His potential is off the charts. In [Berserk] mode, he could pull off damn near anything.”
Mason, also an A-rank player, paused at Shawn’s words, a realization dawning. His eyes narrowed. “Wait—Liam knew dropping his Sanity would trigger [Berserk] mode. The system warns every player at the start: [Sanity below 20 activates Berserk mode.]”
Staring at Liam sinking slowly on the screen, Mason’s tone grew certain. “Liam’s playing this on purpose. He let those monsters attack him to tank his Sanity and unlock [Berserk], boosting his stats to the max!”
Shawn blinked, confused. “Why would he do that? He could’ve cleared this without going Berserk, right?”
“Exactly. He didn’t even need to mess with those mermaids. He could’ve hidden in the [Water Bubble], dragged the Siren King to the floor, and cleared it easy,” Mason said, piecing it together with growing disbelief. “Liam’s hunting those mermaids because they’d screw up his real plan.”
“What plan?” Shawn was lost. “His Sanity’s at 7! What kind of plan could he possibly have?”
“Liam chose to let his sanity crash this low,” Mason exhaled, his eyes locking onto Liam’s screen.
“Remember when I said Liam’s chasing the true ending to complete the Monster Book? His Eclipse Harbor Monster Book is almost done. He’s just missing one piece: the [Siren King’s Attack Method]. To get it, he needs the Siren King to wake up and attack him. But a normal Liam couldn’t survive that hit, so—”
“—so he let the mermaids chew him up, tanking his sanity to trigger [Berserk] and pump his stats enough to take the Siren King’s hit?!” Shawn finished, stunned. He gaped at Mason, flailing. “But that’s a god-tier NPC! Surviving an attack from something like that takes an S-rank panel like Spade Thorn’s!”
“Exactly,” Mason nodded, “but Liam doesn’t know he’s up against a god-tier NPC. He thinks this is just a regular game.”
“He’s figured out everything—except that he’s facing a glitch.” Mason popped a lollipop, crunching it with a smirk. “This maniac thinks there’s always a perfect way to win.”
“Liam’s a player who always goes for the optimal play. He cleared out the mermaid corpses, statues, and sailors to make sure nothing messed with his final move against the Siren King. Minimal risk, minimal points spent, max reward path. And he never once doubted his plan was the best. His execution’s near flawless despite starting with an F-rank panel. It’s honestly—”
Mason paused, reflecting on Liam’s run, then landed on a single word: “Terrifying.”
“So, can Liam actually pull this off?” Shawn’s heart was practically in his throat after Mason’s breakdown. “Mason, I’m not following—are you saying he’s likely to clear it or not?”
“No clue,” Mason admitted, chomping his lollipop absently.
His eyes glinted red, fixed on Liam’s screen like he’d spotted something extraordinary. “Liam’s got two paths: fail and die, or succeed and clear it.”
“If he pulls it off, he’ll smash my single-player point record and be the first to log a god-tier NPC in the Monster Book.”
“And as you said, surviving a god-tier NPC’s attack takes an S-rank panel. Right now, only the top dog, Spade Thorn—our so-called ‘King’—has an S-rank panel.”
Mason’s expression darkened. “If Liam makes it, his [Berserk] potential could hit S-rank, making him the second player in this game with a shot at S-tier as a rookie.”
Shawn stared at Liam on the screen, echoing Mason faintly. “A second S-rank?”
Liam and the Siren King drifted hand in hand, sinking slowly. Liam’s vision swam with layered hallucinations, colors bleeding into each other like paint splattered across his mind. His senses started syncing with the illusions.
His brain felt hijacked, conjuring sensory feedback for every warped image the hallucinations fed him.
Yet, somehow, Liam could still tell what was real and what wasn’t.
In one illusion, he saw himself torn apart by a swarm of mermaids, his body screaming with the phantom pain of their bites. For most, that kind of sensory overload would convince them they were already dead.
But Liam stayed ice-cold, certain those mermaids were trapped in the [Water Bubble]. Sure, one could’ve slipped out, but Liam trusted his own moves over the hallucinations. In a moment like this, he’d bet on himself over the mirage.
With an unshakable confidence from god-knows-where, Liam stood unshaken in a storm of maddening visions. His eerie calm sent chills down spines as he counted his heartbeats to track the Siren King’s wake-up timer, sinking steadily to the ocean floor.
[System Critical Alert: One minute until the Siren King awakens. Countdown initiated. Clear the stage now! 59… 58… 57…]
Shawn’s breathing faltered. “One minute left.”
“He’s almost at the floor,” Mason said, eyes locked on Liam’s screen.
The crowd held its breath, barely daring to exhale. Every eye was glued to Liam’s screen, even the hecklers now silent, watching intently.
Liam’s fate hinged on this final minute.
The Siren King’s eyes began to flutter open.
At the exact same moment, Liam, as if he’d predicted it, let go of the Siren King’s hand.
The Siren King floated silently, gazing at Liam. His eyes were pure, marble-white, unnaturally pristine, framed by pale lashes that veiled silver pupils. His long hair coiled around his expressionless, breathtaking face in the water.
That face, paired with those luminous eyes, looked like something out of myth—a celestial elf or a creature of legendary beauty, glowing even in the ocean’s depths.
Viewers were spellbound, entranced by the divine allure, reluctant to see harm come to him.
[System Alert: Siren King awakened! Spectators, keep your distance from the screen! Proximity risks mental contamination by god-tier NPC!]
In Liam’s viewing area, fans inched closer to the screen, entranced, their sanity meters visibly dropping.
Shawn was one of them, staring into the Siren King’s eyes, murmuring dreamily, “So beautiful… don’t hurt him.”
His pupils shimmered silver, mirroring the Siren King’s.
Mason popped a mint lollipop—a slow-release sanity stabilizer—and raised an eyebrow at the screen. “Well, damn. God-tier NPC’s contamination effect is leaking through the screen.”
Most game monsters are polluted through [Contact]. Still, a god-tier NPC’s [Radiation] method could hit players even through a screen.
[System Alert: Mass sanity contamination detected in Liam Watson’s viewing area. Activating protective measures. Forcing Sanity to cleanse for all spectators.]
[Contamination source identified: Siren King. Applying visual blur to neutralize the threat. Spectators may now watch safely.]
A white mist swept through Liam’s viewing area. Shawn snapped out of it, coughing, his pupils fading back to black.
On the screen, the Siren King’s face was now a pixelated blur. Shawn glanced at it warily, then shifted to Liam, his heart still racing.
The crowd, safely behind a screen, had been hit hard by the Siren King’s influence. But Liam, who’d dragged the Siren King this far and only started losing Sanity when the awakening loomed, was on another level entirely. What kind of monster was he?
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Chapter 24: Trapped in the Waxworks of Doom
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Chapter 23: Unraveled Secrets on the High Seas
After diving into Mike’s backstory, Shawn felt regretful about his knack for digging up players’ pasts with his Know-It-All skill. It wasn’t the gift he’d hoped for. This game thrived on raw ambition, drawing in the ruthless like moths to a flame. For them, it was the ultimate stage—a battlefield where high rollers often had blood on their hands. Shawn glanced at the small TV screen displaying Liam Watson, sighing. The game wasn’t over yet, but a butcher was already circling, ready to guard—or gut—his prey.Liam, you’re one unlucky bastard.[126 viewers liked Liam Watson’s stream, 675 bookmarked it, 0 tipped, and 378 gave it a thumbs-down.][Player Liam Watson drew 3,000 viewers in a minute, but with a like rate barely hitting ten percent, most are just here for the drama or to gawk.][High-level player Mike is watching Liam Watson’s stream. Congrats, Liam, you’ve snagged your first big-shot viewer!][Mike gave Liam Watson’s stream a thumbs-down. Ouch, looks like this VIP’s not a f
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Chapter 21: The Price of Fire and Fame
Although Liam Watson knew his plan had a decent chance of success, the final result was far better than he had expected.In-game items seemed to carry amplified effects—those barrels of high-concentration alcohol burned way more fiercely than anything Liam had seen in the real world. That blinding tactical flashlight? So bright it could've seared retinas.As the sun finally rose over the ocean horizon, flooding the world with daylight, the light-sensitive, nocturnal merfolk slowly retreated beneath the waves and disappeared.Only once he was sure that no merfolk were nearby did Liam finally take a breath and open up his game panel.He hadn't had a chance to check it earlier, being a bit preoccupied with... well, grilling. Or rather, fighting off sea monsters. But now, staring at the data on his screen, Liam squinted thoughtfully.[Side Quest: Gerald's Bloody Conspiracy — Completion: 90%]Andrew was dead. The driver had been torched by Liam. And yet there was still 10% left in this "bl
Chapter 20: The Battle With the Mermaids
As the mermaids closed in on Liam's boat, the viewers grew frantic, shouting at the small TV in an attempt to rouse him:"Wake up! Get up and fight the monsters!""Can’t you wait until after you wake up to sleep? Do you really need that extra hour of sleep? Didn’t your mom teach you not to AFK during games?!""I’ve watched so many game videos, but I’ve never seen someone so ready to lose. You could win, but you're just throwing it away!"Amid the chaos of their shouts, Liam, on the small TV, seemed to stir, his eyes fluttering open as if awakened by the noise.He looked toward the boat, now cutting through the water with half a fish head poking out, the mermaids coming closer to his ship.Liam could see their legs below the water, now transformed into eel-like tails. They slithered through the water like serpents, moving swiftly toward his boat.On the boat near Andrew, bloodied and broken remnants of his body floated around, now a mere skeleton, still stained with blood and scattered
