This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

Chapter 124 Everyone Has Cheats, So Let's Not Point Fingers

Rita had always admired this dragon in her previous life—beautiful, proud, and most importantly, it never bullied her. With that in mind, Rita couldn't wait to engage in a proper battle with the creature.

While staying at the back of the fight, Rita expertly slacked off. She occasionally mimicked shooting an empty bullet, aiming her guns at the ground and muttering "biu," saving her precious ammunition. Every now and then, she would perform dramatic rolls as if avoiding a long-distance attack from the young dragon, 50 meters away.

She left the heavy lifting to the undead squad, while she roamed around the battlefield, lighting up the map of the area. This would allow her to teleport freely using her Phantom Shift when she faced the dragon in a one-on-one fight.

At the same time, she closely observed the dragon's attack patterns. Single-target strikes, area-of-effect skills, flight height, the little motions the dragon made before casting spells, and how the flapping wings could affect the trajectory of arrows and bullets—Rita studied them all.

But something felt off. When she turned around, she noticed all the undead around her were staring. They were swinging their weapons into the air, but their eyes were all on her.

Rita: "?"

What is this, a period drama?

She glanced up at the dragon. Sure enough, it was spewing fire into the sky but sneaking glances in her direction with its eyes.

Alright, so she was the only outsider here, huh?

An undead soldier next to her shouted, "Soldier! Why aren't you fighting?"

Rita calmly holstered her guns in her tactical belt and responded with righteous indignation, "Ahem... I can't bring myself to hurt the dragon. A dragon's life is still a life."

Wait, that's not in the script.

The undead, encountering a Blue Star human for the first time, were confused.

Blue Star humans... are they this easy to fool?

The undead captain immediately asked, "Then are you willing to sign a peace contract with us?"

If Rita's *Malice Detector* hadn't been vibrating like crazy, she might have believed them.

But she was done with the charades. Even though both sides had been playing actors, she had gathered enough intel. She knew over a dozen of the dragon's most commonly used skills and had a good idea of its defense and attack strength. Conclusion: she could win.

Most of the map within 20 meters of the dragon was now illuminated. For the closer areas, she could use the *I'm In a Hurry* ability from her Chávez Pocket Watch to teleport as needed.

The dragon was momentarily stunned: Why is she eating now?

Each piece of meat was deliberately small, designed for quick consumption in battle. With just a few chews, Rita swallowed, and thanks to her *God of the Culinary Arts* talent, the food's effects were tripled. Her attack power skyrocketed by 15%.

She downed a bottle of *High-Grade Constitution Potion*, boosting her Constitution by 30% for the next five minutes.

*Shadow Control*! A shadowy figure, identical to Rita, split from her body.

*Now I'm Scary Strong*! For the next few minutes, every bullet she fired would carry magical attributes.

Rita skipped any testing phases, going all out from the start.

The dragon, named Nivalis, was primarily ice-elemental, but her magic wasn't limited to just that.

Rita dodged the dragon's frost breath the moment she saw a white mist forming in its mouth. She cast spells whenever the dragon flapped its wings, using abilities like *Rain of Hatred*.

Whenever black smoke puffed from the dragon's nostrils, Rita prepared to defend against fire-based attacks.

One... two... three... seven...

Every seventh shot, Rita took three extra seconds to aim carefully, ensuring that her guaranteed critical hit landed squarely on the target.

Rita's combat instincts had been honed through relentless solo dungeon runs and nonstop training.

Nivalis had over 20,000 HP and thick skin. Even when Rita scored a critical hit, she only shaved off 800 HP. Against a regular level-14 monster, Rita's current stats could have wiped them out with just a basic attack.

But the dragon had absurd regenerative abilities.

No wonder the book called dragons the "chosen of the heavens."

Rita: "This dragon is basically cheating."

But Rita wasn't much better. With multiple S-rank *Divine Gifts*, an endless supply of potions and meals, legendary weapons, and countless escape tools, she had plenty of tricks up her sleeve.

And she hadn't even shown her full strength yet.

Worried that the dragon wouldn't submit if she felt slighted, Rita hadn't used her *Immortal* ability to control the dead. Otherwise, she could have brought back the fallen villagers to fight on her behalf.