5
My Villains Episode 005
2. Opening Eyes (3)
The girl glanced at me with my stupid expression, then grabbed a glass bottle from her waist and threw it while shouting, "Wake up, you idiot!"
"Uh, ugh!"
The glass bottle I barely caught was filled with a red liquid. The iron-rimmed bottle and its color were all too familiar.
A healing potion. In other words, a potion.
As I stared blankly at the glass bottle, the girl who had somehow approached close, kicked my shin with her back foot.
Thwack.
"Ugh."
"If you don't want to die, get up quickly!"
I snapped back to my senses and quickly opened the bottle cap. As I gulped down the potion, the pain throughout my body lessened and the flow of blood noticeably decreased.
"Urgh..."
Although I still had three arrows stuck in me, thanks to the potion's effect or perhaps because my body was originally sturdy, I was somehow able to get up.
Thanks to the belt loop at my waist coming undone when I fell, I was able to pick up my shield as well.
"Huff, huff!"
It was just a shield about the size of a head, but somehow I felt a surge of confidence.
Perhaps because I had already seen blood and passed the brink of death, I was no longer afraid.
It felt like the blood flowing through my wounds was heating up my entire body.
While I was collecting myself, the Elemental Mage who had been shooting wind blades in front of me made a hissing sound.
"Hiss!"
The girl gritted her teeth and swung her wand, but nothing happened.
Has she already run out of magic? It doesn't seem like she used it even ten times?
Although Wind Blade is a rank 2 skill, being a wind-based spell, it's relatively low on magic consumption.
A level 15 Elemental Mage should be able to use it over a dozen times in one go?
My doubts didn't last long. The pirates who had been hiding behind obstacles like piles of luggage, masts, or oak barrels carefully began to rise.
"Is it over?"
"Yeah, it's over!"
"Attack! Kill them!"
Although the Elemental Mage had taken down nearly ten pirates, there were still many pirates left on the ship.
The girl, biting her lower lip, stepped back towards me and shouted, "Buy some time! I've taken care of the archers!"
"What?"
As I responded with a stupid expression, the girl frowned and snapped again.
"Wake up and earn your potion's worth!"
...This girl, did she give me the potion just to use me as a meat shield?
But, can I even properly act as a meat shield?
"Huff, huff." I let go of the negative thoughts and steadied my breathing.
There's nowhere to run anyway. The only way to survive here is to fight.
With that resolve, I barely overcame the desire to retreat.
Looking at the girl's back, I suddenly thought of my niece, Ji-won. Thanks to that, I took a step forward.
My pride as an adult, as a man, made me take that difficult step. It was the second step.
The fact that the pirates were much smaller than me also encouraged me.
After taking three steps like that, I was standing in front of the girl.
"Uwaagh!"
I yelled to boost my momentum, but it might have sounded more like a scream.
Anyway, shouting the battle cry made my mind clearer and my heartbeat stronger. The blood flowing through my entire body made its presence known vividly in my senses.
Feeling that presence, I suddenly recalled the abilities this body possessed.
Right. I was a Blood Knight, wasn't I?
With that realization, instinct guided my will. I focused my mind on the instinct born from blood, filled with intense expectation.
The blood pumped from my heart writhed according to my will.
It was a strange sensation, as if fingers had sprouted all over my body. It was an incomparably unfamiliar experience.
Following my will's command, the blood flowing from where the arrows had pierced began to gather like octopus tentacles and start to wriggle.
The blood that extended out while wriggling like that adhered to the falchion I was holding. The dark red blood enveloped the glowing white blade like a coating.
The blade emitted an ominous color as if absorbing light. And gradually, as it pulsated, the edge turned bright red while the back turned black.
Blood Blade.
The rank 1 skill, 'Blood Blade', is the most basic attack technique of a Blood Knight.
Although it's an active skill, at higher levels it becomes a skill used habitually, almost like a passive.
Its inherent effect is exactly what you'd expect from a rank 1 skill in terms of power, but at high levels, it synergizes with various advanced skills to become more powerful and produce diverse effects.
In a way, it was a skill symbolic of the Blood Knight.
The explanation was long, but the Blood Blade was completed in the blink of an eye. The pirates approaching with a menacing aura flinched when I pointed the bizarrely glowing blade at them.
"Damn, what's that?"
"Is it magic?"
The pirates who hesitated for a moment came to their senses at the shout of a big guy.
"Didn't you see him trembling earlier? Don't be scared, just kill him!"
Seems like my earlier disgraceful behavior left quite an impression.
I groaned at the strange sensation of nerves spreading throughout the blade, then suddenly thrust out my shield.
Clang!
The pirate's sword hit the protruding metal in the center of the shield. Surprised by the unexpectedly light sensation, I thrust out my sword.
Shk!
The heavy blade of the falchion coated in blood dug into the pirate's chest as if cutting through tofu.
Even though it should have been where the chest bone was, nothing obstructed it.
As if possessed, I pulled out the sword, and only then did I feel a chilling sensation crawling up my fingertips along with a cracking sound.
"Whew."
While shuddering at the unfamiliar sensation, another pirate lunged at me.
As if burnt, I hurriedly swung my sword to deflect his axe and kicked out towards his solar plexus.
"Ugh!"
As he doubled over clutching his stomach, this time I swung my sword down at him.
The tip of the swung blade disappeared about a handspan into his neck before coming out below.
He collapsed, spewing a fountain of blood from his neck, and didn't get up again.
"You bastard!"
As a pirate next to me screamed and thrust his spear, I instinctively leaned my upper body back.
Scraaape.
Despite my writhing, the crude spear tip persistently followed, scraping a long mark on my breastplate.
"Urgh."
Just as the spear that had scraped up my breastplate was about to pierce my neck, I turned my head, feeling a burning pain in my cheek and ear. Being cut by a blade was a different sensation from being hit by an arrow.
I instinctively curled up and thrust out my shield, but this turned out to be a mistake.
The pirates who had been attacking in turns rushed in all at once, occupying the space I had retreated from.
"Damn!"
Realizing my mistake, I suppressed the pain and sprang forward.
Three weapons came flying at once, and I swung my sword and shield to deflect two of them.
Clang!
Thanks to the strength of a level 10 Blood Knight, the two swords I deflected slipped from their grips and helplessly sliced through the air.
I had blocked two of them, but the remaining one was still charging. In a hurry, I kicked out.
Crunch.
"Argh!"
As my foot connected with his stomach, he brought his axe down on my leg.
Ugh, I caught a glimpse of white bone below my knee.
No, forget that, it really, really hurts.
It was several times more painful than being cut by the spear, so I screamed out in anger and pain.
"Aaaaargh!"
In that moment, my vision turned red, and I tensed my lower abdomen as I swung my sword with all my might.
A red line was drawn, and two pirates' necks were caught in that line.
Following a rough tearing sound, two heads fell onto the deck with a heavy thud.
"Huff!"
The pain coursing through my entire body and what must be adrenaline or some hormone seemed to have numbed my senses.
It was clear from the fact that I wasn't bothered at all by the horribly distorted faces spewing blood and writhing at my feet.
I didn't stop there. It felt like the boiling blood was controlling my body.
"Bleeurgh, ugh!"
I grabbed the dirty hair of the pirate who was vomiting after being kicked by me.
As I placed the falchion below his neck, the pirate began to plead, spewing dirty remnants.
"Huh, wait, wait! Spare me! Spare-gurgle!"
As his slowly sliced Adam's apple began to spurt blood, I gritted my teeth and cut through flesh and bone.
"Huh, that, what's with that bastard?"
"Damn it- Arrows, someone shoot some arrows!"
Seeing the panicking pirates suddenly struck me as funny. To think I had been scared of such guys with this body, these superpowers.
I threw the head of the pirate with rolled-back eyes at the remaining pirates, and then-
Boom!
I launched my body as if about to destroy the deck.
I leaped into the midst of the pirates and began swinging my sword wildly.
"Aaargh!"
"Fight, fight back, guh!"
Every time the ominously glowing falchion cut through flesh and bone, screams erupted.
The screams of the pirates, their fear-filled eyes, and the uncontrollable power boiling up in my entire body became an intense pleasure licking through my whole body.
I couldn't bear this pleasure, this sense of superiority, this feeling of liberation, and let out a scream.
"Uwaaaaagh!"
The pirates were completely terrified by my psychotic, frenzied performance.
The three or four surviving pirates fled, boarding the small boat they had come on.
The surviving crew members and passengers worked together to clean up the situation. Well, cleaning up just meant gathering the weapons and throwing the corpses into the sea.
What was I doing, you ask?
"Bleeurgh!" I was leaning against the railing, vomiting at the sight of intestines sprawled across the deck.
Every time I tensed my body to vomit, the wounds from the arrows spurted blood.
On top of that, the knee where the axe had struck was exposed to the bone, stark white.
"F-fuck."
I cursed with every inhale as I wiped my mouth with my sleeve.
I tried not to look at the rolling heads and the lower bodies that had soiled themselves as I pressed on my wounds.
As I was doing this, a crew member approached and handed me some cloth that could be used as a bandage. Such a small kindness felt tearfully grateful. Mister, I remembered your face. I'll definitely repay you.
I broke the arrows stuck in my body to make tourniquets. I tightly bound the wounds and tied the cloth folded widely over them.
It hurt like hell, but my vision was blurring, and I felt like I might really die if I left the bleeding unchecked.
"Damn it..."
Suddenly, tears leaked out.
I had fought risking my life to drive away all the pirates, but not a single person was helping me. Well, except for the uncle who gave me the cloth.
It was the same with the magic girl, no, the Elemental Mage. Having fired off Wind Blades and then hidden behind my back, she was in a clean state without a single drop of blood on her.
She was enjoying peace alone, detached from the surrounding commotion, like a spectator at a play.
She was sitting on some kind of fur skin that she had spread over an oak barrel, which she had found somewhere. And she was staring intently at me groaning in pain as if watching a show.
As I struggled for a while to staunch the bleeding on my shoulder with my uncomfortable body, I opened my mouth, looking at the Elemental Mage.