Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: Villainess
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Villainess.
The head of an unknown enemy shot up into the sky.
A strike seized in that one instant, targeting the gap.
‘...Lucky.’
More precisely, my condition was at its peak.
Since falling into this place, I hadn't faced any opponent while feeling off.
“...Fast, huh?”
“Closing the distance in that instant was key. As was slashing straight for the throat.”
“I figured it'd be tough since he's strong. But giving a mage space? What an idiot.”
“Hehe, this is our Yuseong's skill.”
“Yuseong's the one who killed the enemy. Why are you so proud?”
“...”
Lucia clamped her mouth shut at Soyeonhwa's words.
Yet she gazed at me with eyes pleading for help.
Indeed.
I got it.
This wasn't the time for bickering.
‘As expected of Lucia.’
With such a kind heart, it must be incredibly stressful hearing others call her the Execution Princess or whatever.
-Whoa...
The holy sword let out an incredulous voice of admiration.
I shook off the Brain Dragon Sword once.
Then I stared in one direction.
Maggot-like humans whose names I didn't know.
Scattered everywhere were those harboring the same alien power as that one.
“S-Spare me!”
“What the hell are these things?!”
Flames and smoke billowed in all directions.
It was total chaos.
Amid it all, the guild members I'd seen in the Cradle were guiding people, desperately trying to save the citizens.
‘Tch.’
I shot Chloe a brief glare before letting it go.
With the protagonist here, her presence was the issue.
‘But that's not a crime.’
She was just like that detective from my past life's comics, Conan.
...I needed to keep my distance.
But more importantly.
‘Time to clean up.’
Weeeeng!
I sliced through the body of a charging black insect and pressed forward.
*
Rumble!
A violet flash struck down.
Purple lightning laced with black incinerated the bugs.
Even in the Cradle, overflowing with talent, this was a rare sight.
Ermé knew who the man causing it was.
“It's always a spectacle.”
Ermé sighed deeply as she watched.
These guys weren't supposed to come today.
They should have arrived a week later.
‘What the hell happened?’
She sighed and swung her sword.
Flames blazed along her blade.
Now in the midday sun, solar power outshone lunar might.
Whoosh!
Flames erupted, melting the bugs.
They left behind pitch-black smoke upon death.
Fire or lightning attributes could burn even that smoke, so no issue.
‘Knew it, but they're a real pain.’
Insect monsters' trait.
They carried poison and spewed it on death.
That's why they were so dangerous.
Fire or lightning had to incinerate the smoke too.
Hence, troublesome and annoying.
Such were the Demon King's forces.
Ermé eradicated the poison thoroughly, then eyed a strange entity.
A blue-glowing spider-shaped metal.
It was killing the bugs.
[Greetings. Hello.]
“Wh-What?”
Why was that here?
A robot said to exist in ancient times, before the first hero.
Why now?
[Troubling. Reacting like that to a person is rude.]
“Not a person?”
[Query. Cheongju is a robot with personality based on Han Yuseong.]
“Yuseong made you?”
[Affirmative. Owner of Cheongju named Han Yuseong, confirmed.]
“How'd you take out those bugs?”
[Boast. This unit links with one of Han Yuseong's gifts. Uses it to exterminate bugs.]
Ermé watched the blue spider robot hurl potion-like vials.
Upon hitting bugs, glass shattered.
Red liquid erased them.
“...Bug spray?”
[Affirmative. Those are impure beings. Weak to holy water.]
“You made holy water?”
[Negative. This unit lacks such proficiency. Using antidote pre-made by owner.]
“Yuseong's antidote handles them?”
So the antidote was holy water level?
Ermé chuckled in disbelief, then dismissed it.
‘But with that guy, not surprising.’
To Ermé, Han Yuseong was like that.
Seemingly reachable, yet mysteriously distant.
Knowable, yet onion-like, layers peeling to reveal more.
The problem? Each revelation outstripped any knowledge she had.
‘This is a hit.’
Business plans formed naturally.
Han Yuseong's antidote lethal to Demon King's minions.
Demonstrate it, show the feats.
‘Guild Master won't stay aloof forever.’
And above all.
The Empire's eyes would turn to her. Scary, but.
A gamble worth taking.
Her mind raced. Demon minions moved.
This antidote? Worth hundreds of platinum coins minimum.
But Ermé's head cooled instantly.
Profit good, but priority: save as many as possible.
[Impossible. This unit refuses further overwork.]
“...”
Overworked machine?
Ermé was baffled, but survival first.
As she swiftly exterminated bugs.
Flash!
Light melted the bugs.
Golden radiance spread, dissolving all.
“Annoying. What the hell is this mess?”
A sharp voice laced with irritation.
Ah.
Good.
Ermé sighed in relief.
The surest help had arrived.
Veronica.
“What're you doing here?”
Veronica scowled at her.
Ermé smiled back.
“You lost your mind? Smiling in this?”
Veronica snapped.
That temper unchanged.
But Ermé knew how to handle her.
So.
Ermé.
Used the magic word.
“Yuseong was looking for you!”
“What?”
Like a feral dog at another's house.
Turning into a gentle pup at home.
Her sharp eyes and irritated expression softened briefly.
Lips twitched up ever so slightly.
A minuscule change.
Even the quick-witted might miss it.
But the Golden Witch, master of threats, persuasion, and bribes, caught it.
‘Sorry, Yuseong.’
Didn't want to use this.
“We need to get to Yuseong now!”
“Why go to the chef...”
“He's in danger right now!”
*
Thump thump.
My heart beat quietly.
I stared blankly ahead.
Something pitch-black like an egg.
But grotesque. Exposed flesh pulsed like it lived.
‘Heart.’
Like a heart.
It throbbed with black light.
“Wh-What is this?”
“Ominous.”
Lucia and Soyeonhwa openly grimaced at the heart before them.
-...A seed of evil.
The holy sword spoke upon seeing it.
‘What's that?’
-A seed to bloom evil. When it hatches, the Corruption Prince's true elites emerge.
‘Then destroy it now...’
-Impossible with your power.
The holy sword stated firmly.
-Even that Black Hope Hole or Volkan couldn't destroy it.
‘What?’
Shocking.
Black Hope Hole and Volkan couldn't?
Then.
I looked at the holy sword.
-Sorry, but... I can't in this state.
‘Goddess's divine weapon, right?’
-My power isn't fully released. Need official hero declaration and goddess's blessing.
‘...’
No way out now.
Soyeonhwa and Lucia attacked the ominous thing.
“This thing's unfazed.”
“It's not blocking attacks—feels like something's diverting them... We can't handle this.”
Tremor in Lucia's voice.
Something endlessly ominous ahead.
Like a bomb, capable of catastrophic damage to the Cradle.
I stared at it.
-The seed's structure warps space. All attacks touching it divert to another dimension... Then summons Corruption Prince's elites inside.
‘What kind of cheat ability is that?’
-Not your place to say, but it is. High cost aside, you can't do anything now.
‘How strong are the elites?’
-Volkan, Black Hope Hole? Plus Guild Master? Win rate around 70%.
‘...’
70% win.
30% loss chance.
But that wasn't the worry.
‘How many die?’
-At least one. Seed links to Prince's space and elites. Beyond your level. Normally.
‘...’
Holy sword oddly calm.
Would've urged flight before.
Expecting something from me.
[Kuhuhu...]
A bizarre laugher.
A person? No? Devoured by insects, unrecognizable, staring at us.
[Too late. For you. This Cradle vanishes without trace.]
“You'll die first.”
[Doesn't matter... Hopeless life anyway. Better unhappy world than happy one.]
I frowned at the cackling man.
-Tainted by evil. Demon King's magic permeates his bones. Kill him.
Holy sword said.
[Await His elites here. Worship! As He tramples all life!]
I stared at him, then the seed.
From holy sword's explanation.
His words.
No doubt it'd bring disaster.
“Seed of evil...”
“Known only from texts. First time seeing one.”
Suddenly.
Volkan and Guild Master arrived.
[Oh? Slaughter Volkan and Crimson Wretch. Heavy-asses arrived.]
“Didn't expect a corpse clinging to Demon King.”
Guild Master eyed him with contempt.
[Kuhuhu... One of you three dies today...]
The wretch laughed gleefully.
No one denied it.
Sensing the omen?
Lucia and Soyeonhwa's eyes trembled.
I eyed the seed.
Thump thump.
Pulsing like a heart.
“Han Yuseong, and his lackeys. Stay back.”
“Can't fight while protecting you.”
Volkan and Black Hope Hole stepped forward.
Didn't attack seed. Knew it futile.
-Well, yeah. Empire's got competent folk.
Holy sword nonchalant.
-So, doing it?
‘Have to.’
Holy sword spoke like seed invincible.
Volkan, Black Hope Hole, Guild Master looked troubled too.
‘...Not entirely impossible.’
Thief's Divine Realm.
Thief's Extremity evolving to divine domain.
Thus?
I sensed more acutely than before.
-...Your talent's endlessly bizarre. Sword Hero has holy sword... But maybe you...
Holy sword trailed off.
-No, even if not that far, you can. Pity for holy bow, but your root is 'stealing.'
Somehow deflated tone.
I stepped forward.
Seed of evil.
Holy sword said: blocks space, summons elites inside.
‘Then.’
Steal.
‘The space itself.’
I reached out.
My hand sank into something with a squelch.
Crunch.
[Huh?]
Wretch gawked, uncomprehending.
I looked at what I'd stolen.
[Seed of Evil.]
-Stole the space? No, the thing itself...?
“None of you three dying today.”
I grinned at the wretch.
He didn't know yet, but in uncertain fights, trash-talkers get smacked. Rule of thumb.