59
My Villains Chapter 59
16. Missing (3)
Crunch!
The grouper's jaws instantly crushed my head.
"Ugh."
If it weren't for the helmet, its grinding teeth would have chewed my head like gum.
I struggled against the suffocating stench and piercing pain in my neck, driving the falchion into the beast's stomach.
"Gergh!"
Just then, something sharp stabbed my thigh from behind.
Thud!
"Gah."
Instinctively, I grabbed the creature that was trying to bite my head and rolled on the ground, so it wouldn't stab too deeply.
Nevertheless, the unexpected strike was terribly painful.
"Ugh, you fish bastards!"
I stuck my hand into the gills of the grouper that was persistently trying to bite my head.
To avoid attacks from the others, I rolled frantically on the water-filled ground, simultaneously groping with my hand to burst and tear whatever I could grab.
"Grrrh..."
With a final hot breath full of stench, it collapsed, and I quickly pulled my head out and stood up, splashing in the water.
Then, as if waiting for this moment, a stream of water shot by the golden molly struck my face.
Swoosh!
"Puhek,"
Gritting my teeth as I raised my shield, a determined voice came from behind.
"Plamya!"
Glancing sideways, I saw the owner of the voice, Mr. Luke, striking the approaching grouper's head with his six-foot staff.
Simultaneously, three streams of blue flames erupted from Mr. Luke's fingertips as he completed the spell.
"Sozhgi e-to!"
At Mr. Luke's command, the will-o'-wisps shot towards the golden molly.
As I mentioned before, despite their blue color, will-o'-wisps weren't particularly hot.
But that didn't mean they couldn't sear a face.
Sizzle!
"Kyaaargh—!"
As the will-o'-wisps enveloped its face, the golden molly screamed and swung its staff.
The will-o'-wisps, which had been swiftly dodging in mid-air, were finally extinguished by the water stream.
By the time the golden molly turned to face me, I had already killed three groupers and grabbed a bone harpoon.
"Hup!"
Thanks to my waist and shoulders springing like a bow, the bone harpoon was launched at tremendous speed.
With its irises constricted due to the will-o'-wisps, the golden molly couldn't notice the harpoon flying through the darkness in time.
Thunk!
"Kegh-"
The harpoon lodged precisely in the center of the slender female body's chest. Though her beautiful face was marred by burns and pain,
"Cikerr- Thuar, Huargh!"
Damn it, why is it so tough?
As the creature strained to chant a spell, the water that had risen to knee level began to ripple ominously.
In my haste, I picked up a broken iron skewer and threw it.
Clang.
But the skewer narrowly missed, leaving a long scar on the stone wall. It was because the golden molly had staggered and fallen.
"Phoenix, get out of there!"
"I want to, but—ugh!"
I struggled desperately to escape from the water, but the groupers surrounding me attacked so relentlessly that I could hardly move.
"Grrrrgh."
"Keregh!"
Some of the groupers surrounding me turned their attention to Mr. Luke. Then, Mr. Luke finally pulled out his last card.
"Otvet' mne, gruz- Vy-polnit' dogovor"
I still couldn't understand the meaning, but it was a spell that had become familiar to my ears.
I quickly grasped the straw ball I had attached to the inside of my shield.
"Krik-iz bezdny, Yaaal—!"
As the 'Scream from the Abyss' spell was completed, the power of the spell cast by the golden molly also enveloped the water.
Crackle!
"Gyaaargh!"
"Kieeeh!"
In an instant, chaos erupted.
The water began to freeze from the surface, and the groupers affected by Mr. Luke's spell screamed and fled in all directions.
The groupers that avoided the spell cowered in confusion, and I rushed in to cut them down before escaping from the water.
The rapidly freezing water clung to my legs, but I gritted my teeth and pulled my feet out, scattering ice shards in all directions.
Crack!
"Hah."
As I stepped onto dry land, escaping the water, an involuntary sigh of relief escaped me.
Looking back, I saw that the water trapped by the invisible wall had already frozen solid.
"Are you alright?"
"Haa, yes. I almost died,"
Crack!
I turned around at the tremendous sound.
Beyond the ice block that filled the passage, the golden molly with a harpoon in its chest was breathing heavily. A horrible smile spread across the woman's grotesquely distorted face.
Damn it, don't tell me—
"Eregh ranterg...!"
"Get down!"
At the spell carried on its last breath, I quickly lay down and covered my head with my shield. Mr. Luke also reflexively ducked, and at that moment.
Boom
The ice block exploded.
***
"Huh-"
Ellen clutched her forearm while leaning against the wall.
As she tightly gripped the wound, making her already pale hand even paler, red blood deeply stained her robe.
It was stupid to pull the crossbow string with an injured arm.
'...It was stupid.'
Yes, no matter how she thought about it, it was stupid.
Coming down to a dangerous place like the sewers alone.
Expecting the secret passage to still be open.
Wasting magic by using spells on zombies and corpse worms.
It was all uncharacteristically foolish behavior.
"Huu, hu, huu."
In fact, although she had acted impulsively, Ellen thought her plan was quite good.
She had a map copied from the sewer blueprints, so there was no worry about getting lost.
If bandits were guarding the secret passage, she planned to burn crystallized sleeping potion to put them to sleep.
Her magic had increased over the past few days, and she had learned new spells, so she thought she could overcome any ordinary threat.
The plan was, indeed, good.
Splash.
"Hm."
Ellen held her breath at the wet footsteps. Then she loaded a fire bomb onto the crossbow with the string already drawn.
Fish-folk generally have strong resistance to poison and sleep agents.
Unless you directly insert poison into their gills or mouth, they're unlikely to be intoxicated.
Therefore, spraying oil and then shooting a flame arrow was the most effective attack method Ellen had at the moment.
'If only I had learned lightning-based magic... Damn it.'
Splash, splash.
As the footsteps approached, Ellen unconsciously held her nose. It was because of the terrible fishy smell.
She had blocked her nose, but her ears were perked up. It was to count how many of them there were by their footsteps.
'Two? Three?'
The footsteps echoed chaotically due to the narrow sewer terrain.
'...I can't tell.'
With senses just slightly above Ellen's average, it was difficult to count the number of enemies.
At this moment, Ellen thought of Phoenix.
Although he sometimes acted like an idiot, Phoenix was always a man who faced danger head-on.
His hearing was so sharp that he could easily detect threats approaching from dozens of meters away.
If he were here, he would have noticed their approach long ago and counted their numbers.
Then he would have pounced like a beast and cut them down in an instant.
'Stupid, pervert, idiot.'
She shook her head, dispersing the face she didn't want to see.
Ellen began to mutter a small spell while moving her lips. With the hand holding her wound, she carefully formed hand seals.
If she had plenty of magic, she could skip the hand seals and chant a shorter spell, but her current situation didn't allow for that.
She had to conserve magic with intense mental concentration, delicate hand seals, and verbose spells.
Sniff sniff.
"Skares Orugh (Baldy smell)—"
"Orugh, Regarh (Smell, looks delicious)."
A bubbling, always chilling voice. Judging the distance by sound, Ellen was sure now was the right time to act.
"Huwup."
Taking a deep breath, Ellen quickly turned and shot her crossbow at them.
Twang, crash!
"Argh?"
"Zerri-hugh (It's an attack)!"
The fish-humans jumped in surprise at the glass bottle shattering on the floor. However, realizing its contents hadn't touched them at all, they burst into laughter.
Watching the fish-humans readjust their weapons, Ellen completed her spell.
"Ignis (Fire)!"
The flames wrapping her left arm gathered at her fingertips, stretched out, and then shot forward.
Whoosh!
"Gergh?"
"Ervirgh (It's magic)!"
As a pillar of fire rose in the middle of the passage, the fish-humans hesitated and stepped back.
Before they could charge, Ellen quickly completed another spell.
"Ventum, Av-em (Wind, spirit)!"
The spell was just two words, and she only made one hand seal. With barely any mental concentration, an enormous amount of magic drained away.
"Ugh..."
Ellen grabbed her head and staggered, but stubbornly maintained control of the spell.
Whoosh. With a small gust, a wind imbued with spirit was born. It was the 1st rank wind spell 'Dancing Spirit'.
"Saltare (Dance)!"
At Ellen's command, the transparent wind spirit threw itself into the pillar of fire. Then, it began to dance wildly.
Whoosh.
The pillar of fire that had been shooting towards the ceiling twisted as it was caught in the spirit's dance.
Thus, a whirlwind of flames engulfed the fish-humans.
"Kyargh-!"
"Keregh (Kill)!"
Amidst the screaming comrades, one fish-human raised its harpoon. Ellen, clutching her dizzy head and staggering, hid her body around the corner as if collapsing.
Swing, crack.
"Huk."
The harpoon that grazed her hair hit the plastered wall, sending sparks flying. Ellen with face pale, pulled the string of her crossbow.
The dancing spirit, with its limited intelligence and self-awareness, wildly swung the pillar of fire for its master.
Thanks to this, four out of seven fish-humans were burned black, and the remaining three had to tuck their tails, badly scorched.
Creak, click.
"Huk."
Ellen, who had been struggling to pull the string, swallowed a groan from the pain of her open wound. Suddenly, she gritted her teeth.
"How stupid."
'I could just throw it!'
Ellen quickly turned the corner and threw a fire bottle at the weakening pillar of fire.
Crash!
The fire bottle missed slightly, but the dancing spirit immediately controlled the whirlwind to spread the fire.
Whoosh!
As the second pillar of fire rose, the spirit continued to dance.
Ellen glanced at the red glow of fire before starting to run in the opposite direction. Beyond the pillar of fire, fish-people were noisily gathering.
Having lost her torch long ago, Ellen had to run through pitch-black darkness.
The floor tiles were broken here and there, causing her to stumble several times, but Ellen persistently ran through the passage.
How long had she been running? Ellen's foot suddenly caught on some protruding soil.
"Kyaak!" Crash, splash!
Not only did she fall hard, but she also rolled down the soil and plunged her head into the central waterway.
"Keuheuk."
The momentarily paralyzed pelvis and knees from the sharp pain, the torn skin on her palms, the sewage soaking her face and hair, the sharply cut forearm, depleted magic, pitch-black darkness.
"Uh... Huh..."
Pain, fear, helplessness, anger, self-blame.
Ellen burst into tears without realizing it.
She knew if she stayed like this, she'd be caught by the terrible fish-humans, but Ellen couldn't move an inch from her prone position.
How long had she been sobbing?
A faint echo was heard from far away.
-Yaaaaal!
Ellen, who had her head buried in the dirt pile, suddenly lifted her head. By then, her crying had already stopped.
It's a spell. Old man Luke's spell!
That old man wouldn't have come down alone, so Phoenix must be with him too. They've come to rescue her!
Ellen was overcome with joy, forgetting that she had come down here on her own.
'Where, which direction?'
Ellen staggered to her feet.
She could hear the sound, but judging by the lack of spell effects, it seemed quite far away.
Just as she was straining her ears to hear any other sounds, it happened.
Kaaaaang!
Ellen flinched at the tremendous roar. It wasn't a simple explosion, but a sharp sound as if something was breaking.
"What was that...?"
No sooner had Ellen muttered than vibrations came from far away.
Rumble rumble.
A roar as if something was pouring down, or collapsing.
Before she could grasp the situation, the ground beneath Ellen's feet shook.
"Ugh!"
A nearby dirt mound caved in, and soil began to flow somewhere.
'Is, is it collapsing?'
Fear filled her blue eyes.
'Where, where should I go?'
The roar was coming from ahead. Ellen instinctively turned around and fumbled through the soil, but it was the worst choice.
Swoosh!
"Uh, kyaaak!"
The flowing dirt mound swallowed Ellen like quicksand in a desert.