Revenge Feels Damn Good
Revenge is sweet.
In games, it wasn’t just overwhelmingly powerful enemy monsters or bosses that drove players up the wall. There was that one blacksmith in a popular RPG from years ago who would randomly eat up equipment durability because his “hand slipped,” turning every player into a raging lunatic. In a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by nuclear war, there was the administrator who threw a tantrum about not having a water purifier, then chased away the poor bastard who’d risked his life to bring one back with some half-assed excuse. And then there were the bitches who pulled every dirty trick in the book only to whine at the end, “It wasn’t like I meant to draw that route, you know~” before getting off with a slap on the wrist.
They all wore the label of “allies” who were supposedly helping us, but in reality their very existence was enough to trigger pure, unfiltered rage. Honestly, they were far more annoying than enemies you could just kill outright. And there were quite a lot of these infuriating ally NPCs in games.
This NTR game was no different. From the very moment of its creation, it had clearly been designed to piss people off.
Throughout my playthrough, it had raised my blood pressure in every filthy way imaginable. Yet because of the system, I couldn’t kill them, couldn’t even attack them, and in the end those bastards all got to live happily ever after while sucking on honey. And right now, standing before me, was one of those “can’t kill even if I want to” NPCs who had especially ruined my mood.
The supply manager of Port Town Rob. The very symbol of military corruption. The bastard who, under the pretext of “supply costs,” forcibly seized eighty percent of our self-provisioned goods. If you refused, the game would force a restart with the message that your army had starved to death. In the end he would appear with a rotten smile, counting his gold coins while laughing at the hero he had tricked.
That piece of shit—Glenn—was now staring at me with a face twisted in terror, an expression he had never once shown in the game.
“W… who… who the hell are you…? W-what the hell is this?!”
“Who am I? I suppose you could say I’m one of the many victims you’ve screwed over.”
“Wh… what…?”
Even while staggering from drunkenness, the fear was obvious. Glenn’s entire body trembled as he stared at me. Watching him like this, I gripped the greatsword dripping with blood and slowly walked toward him.
“You bastard…! Do you even know who I am?! How dare you do this to me?! Do you really think you can lay a hand on this Glenn, the man who rules half of Rob?!”
His face had gone deathly pale. Shaking like a leaf, he began spitting out a variation of lines I’d definitely heard before. Come to think of it, the threats he’d used when squeezing us over food prices had been almost identical. Something about how he ruled half the town, how if we pissed him off he’d kick us out immediately—using every form of pressure and lies to extort money. Since this place really did function as a supply base, the claim that Glenn controlled half the town wasn’t entirely false. But the fact that such a man was embezzling funds and shaking down the Hero Party was a problem all on its own.
And the very lines he was screaming at me right now were making me remember exactly how disgusting I had felt back then.
At least this is a little better. Back then he’d been grinning like an asshole while saying the same crap. Now he’s shaking and screaming it instead.
Feeling that instinctive revulsion rise up again, I slowly raised the greatsword, pouring thick anticipation into the blade, and swung it at him.
“Huh…?”
A single streak of black flame erupted from the sword. The arm that took the direct hit was blown clean off. Blood sprayed from the wound. And then came the pain.
The sensation hit him a beat later, crashing over him like a tidal wave and smashing into his brain.
“!!!! GYAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!”
The scream that tore out of his mouth immediately after was inhuman. An agony he had never experienced once in his entire life swallowed him whole. Glenn collapsed to the floor, writhing and convulsing in torment.
“Youuuuu!!! You son of a biiiiiiiiitch!!!! How… how dare you do this to this esteemed Glenn!!!!”
Watching him squirm like a cockroach, screaming in a mixture of pain and rage, an intense feeling of ecstasy I had never felt before began to bloom violently inside my chest.
Yes… This is it. This is exactly what I wanted to see. I wanted to watch this obnoxious bastard crawling pathetically on the ground like this!
By the time I entered this world, my aversion to killing humans had already dulled considerably. In this situation, watching a man I had wanted to kill for so long writhe in agony brought me nothing but pure, unadulterated joy and pleasure. There wasn’t the slightest hint of guilt or mercy.
They say revenge only brings regret and emptiness… but that’s all bullshit. Now I understand why people burn with vengeance. There’s a damn good reason for it!
Delivering well-deserved punishment to a human who deserved to be punished. Not relying on some half-assed, sluggish, inefficient thing like human law, but personally delivering the punishment of pain with my own two hands. The emotion that surged from that act wasn’t regret or emptiness. It was pure joy… and a deep sense of fulfillment and accomplishment.
Still riding that euphoric wave, I swung the sword again, this time with a light, joyful motion.
“GRRRRRRKKK!!!!”
With a sharp sound, one of his legs flew off. At the same time, a scream like a pig being slaughtered burst from Glenn’s mouth even louder than before.
“Grrk… grrrk… S… save… save me… P-please… W-what did I even do… to deserve this…? P-please… If it’s money… I’ll give you as much as you want… Please… Just spare my life…”
Finally realizing the threat to his life amid the unbearable pain, Glenn began to beg. Yet even now he still had no idea what crimes he had committed. Watching him, I smiled even wider and gripped the sword tighter.
People say this about guys like him: “He doesn’t deserve to live.” Honestly, if I could, I’d love to spend the next hour slowly crushing him…
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the skill to keep someone alive for a long time while torturing them. And more importantly, I didn’t have the luxury of time.
As satisfying as this was, it was time to wrap things up.
Well… no matter how rewarding it feels, this was just a bonus anyway.
With that thought, I swung the sword one final time at Glenn.
“GRRRRRRRRRK!!!!”
Since this rich bastard would obviously receive high-level recovery magic if left merely crippled, cutting off his breath was the correct choice. As a result, his lower body was severed cleanly and fell away. Leaving the screaming, dying man behind, I swung the sword once more, setting fire to the remaining military supplies inside the warehouse.
Black flames imbued with power from another dimension bloomed into bright red hellfire. The intense blaze, as if rising straight from the depths of the abyss, began devouring the supplies and the warehouse at a speed ordinary fire could never match.
Then, leaving that scene behind, I slowly walked out of the warehouse. Since my goal was to win favor, I figured it would be better to go help put out the flames that had only just begun to rise.
But then…
“Hm?”
The warehouse district was shrouded in darkness. With the demon race’s attack already announced, the troops guarding this place numbered less than half their usual strength. The few soldiers who remained were only thinking about rushing to the walls and paid little attention to what was happening here.
“I heard all the guys who went out this time got wiped out?”
“Yeah… One of them was someone I knew. He had a shitty personality so we weren’t close, but still… it’s kind of sad that he’s dead.”
The soldiers chatted while preparing for the coming battle, talking about those who had been attacked. Relying on the light of their torches in the pitch-black darkness, they continued their conversation to ease the tension.
“Anyway, the demons will be swarming soon, so let’s get our minds ready. Well… with General Cassandra here, there’s not much to worry about.”
“With her skill, she can take out most demons in a single blow.”
“She really is amazing. I heard rumors she might even be able to defeat the Demon King’s Royal Guard…”
“Really? Then we should definitely stay alert.”
“Mm… yeah, we should…”
“Wait, what? Stay alert? What do you—”
At that moment…
“K… heh… k…”
“!”
“What the…?!”
A sword suddenly thrust out of the darkness, severing a comrade’s head. The soldiers jumped to their feet, preparing to face the unexpected ambush. But before they could do anything—
“! K… k…!”
“Ghk…!”
Heads were severed from necks and fell to the ground in an instant. They couldn’t even let out a proper scream. The last thing their eyes saw as they tumbled to the floor, filled with shock, was a small figure clad in armor that flickered with a violet hue.
She had eliminated the guards with the bare minimum of noise. One of the Demon King’s Royal Guard, a demon tasked with monitoring and assisting the hero during this mission. The woman named Elisa Eclipse lightly flicked the blood off her blade.
“Then… it’s about time…”
Muttering in a small voice, Elisa picked up one of the burning logs from the campfire in front of her and tossed it into the nearby warehouse. Immediately after, she turned her gaze toward the pier on the side. From the western end, smoke began rising one after another from the warehouses.
Because of the darkness it would have been nearly impossible for normal people to see, but to her eyes the scene of the fires was crystal clear. One by one, small flames began blooming in the warehouses where smoke had risen, as if signaling with beacons. Elisa had gone from the first warehouse all the way to this last one in the western sector, throwing a burning log into each.
Watching the flames finally catch and spread, a faint smile formed on her lips beneath her helmet.
Then… I should go see that arrogant hero who’s making a big scene on the other side.
Although his combat power might be higher than hers, he had dared to say he would help her with infiltration—a field she specialized in. That had left a bit of a bad taste in her mouth. So now that she had finished her own task, Elisa planned to run over to the hero and scold him with a “What, you’re still not done?” as her little revenge.
But then…
“…Found… you…”
“!?”
A slightly slurred voice suddenly rang out. Elisa felt an ominous killing intent wash over her and spun around. The moment she did, a certain being entered her sight.
Eyes without focus, staring in her direction. The face she could never forget no matter how much time passed. The instant she recognized it, the demon executive Elisa Eclipse’s expression froze solid.
Don’t tell me… that guy is the one from back then…?