Demonic Pornstar System novel Chapter 660

Chapter 660: Pigs

Mariana, the S-tier awakened combatant from Colombia, leaned against the railing of New Dawn’s upper terrace with a thin cigarillo pinched between two fingers.

The mountain air was cold enough to bite, but the smoke curled lazily from her lips as if the altitude meant nothing to it. Below, the guild hall hummed with the quiet efficiency of a machine that never stopped running.

Above, the stars were sharp and close in a way they never were back home.

She pulled up the standings on her projection artifact and frowned.

New Dawn sat comfortably at the top, exactly where they belonged. Iron Halo held second, steady and predictable. Ashbound clung to third.

Her frown was reserved for fifth place.

"Runewoven," she read aloud, as if the name itself was an inconvenience. "62,390. Up from dead last in a week."

Chinedu, her fellow awakened, the S-tier fighter from Nigeria, stepped onto the terrace behind her. Mariana didn’t need to turn around to know he was wearing that ridiculous silk robe again. The faint scent of cologne confirmed it.

Off-duty Chinedu was a different creature than the disciplined spear-wielder who stood at attention during briefings.

"The Guild Leader was right to be curious," he said, settling against the railing beside her with his arms folded loosely over the robe’s sash.

"The Guild Leader is always right," Mariana said, and the words came out a little too quickly.

Chinedu’s lips twitched.

"He is," he agreed, generously not commenting on her tone.

Mariana scrolled through the data. Kill rates, zone coverage, and point distribution across encounters. Runewoven’s trajectory was steep and consistent, the kind of curve that came from a team operating at the edge of their capability and somehow keeping their footing.

"It’s not just Grey’s squad either..." she muttered, tapping the cigarillo against the railing. Ash fell into the dark below. "Vaelira’s group has cleaned its act up. Their rotations are tighter, and their zone selection is more aggressive without being outright reckless."

She pulled up a side-by-side comparison of Vaelira’s squad performance from the first week versus the last three days. The difference was obvious even at a glance.

"It’s like someone took that woman aside and told her to stop messing around." Mariana’s braid swung as she tilted her head. "A strict scolding from her guild leader, perhaps. She’s finally behaving."

"Tessa doesn’t strike me as the overly scolding type."

"Who knows."

Chinedu conceded the point with a slight nod.

The silence sat between them for a moment.

Mariana turned back to the projection, drawing a slow pull from the cigarillo. The frown deepened, though her expression carried less annoyance than she intended.

"The Guild Leader spent twenty minutes asking us about him a week ago. Twenty minutes. On a rookie who was in last place at the time." Her fingers swiped through the data a little harder than necessary. "Meanwhile, we’ve been holding first since day one and received a ’good’ and a nod."

The silence said the rest for her.

Chinedu chuckled. Low, warm, and entirely unhelpful. "You know how he is. He doesn’t praise what’s expected."

"I know how he is."

"And you still want the praise."

"I want the acknowledgment," she corrected, chin rising a fraction. "There’s a difference."

"Of course there is."

Mariana shot him a look that could have peeled paint.

"Baby, come on..." came a needy voice full of complaints.

Mariana’s gaze drifted past his shoulder to the terrace door, where a young woman in a thin sleep shirt was hovering with the uncertain energy of someone who’d been told ’five minutes’ about twenty minutes ago.

The girl caught Mariana’s eye and flinched. Whatever warmth she’d been saving for Chinedu evaporated under that stare.

"Scram."

The girl instantly retreated back through the door and closed it very quietly behind her.

Chinedu didn’t even glance back. "You didn’t have to scare her."

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