A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 62
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
62.
“Grrrrr….”
The Erosion Infected emerged from the billowing smoke, shuffling forward with unsteady steps.
Having slaughtered every morsel of prey within, they were all grotesquely drenched in blood.
The only saving grace was that their movements were painfully slow and precarious.
It seemed the hallucinogenic agent was taking effect on them as well.
‘What do I do? Does the nostalgia work on the Erosion Infected too? Or should I just purify them all and risk being discovered?’
I bit my lip nervously as the rotting corpses shambled ever closer.
“Ha… This situation is getting more interesting by the second, isn’t it?”
Serge spouted nonsense while barely managing to deflect the Hair Ability User’s strands attacking one after another.
My stress had reached its peak.
When they were scattered across the vast space, I hadn’t realized how many there were, but gathered like this, the Erosion Infected were quite numerous.
At least over ten of them.
‘…Even if I try to purify them, can I really handle all of them?’
Honestly, I wasn’t confident.
But I couldn’t just stand here and let myself be torn apart and devoured either.
‘Maybe while Serge holds them off, I should climb back up right now and deal with those two first?’
Whatever. Stop overthinking and make a choice, you idiot!
I couldn’t seem to grasp what the best course of action was.
The extreme pressure was crushing me.
That was when it happened.
“Tsk, standing there like an idiot—what are you doing? Planning to play tag with the Erosion Infected?”
A mocking voice suddenly pierced my ears.
As if all the worries tormenting my mind right now were utterly pointless.
“…!”
I spun around in alarm and saw Serge holding thousands of hair strands suspended mere inches from his face.
The dark mass of hair looked ready to swallow him whole at any moment.
It was a grotesque and chilling sight.
“Your… Your Majesty….”
Controlling his ability with apparent ease, he spoke while barely opening one hand, not even looking at me.
“Don’t wander around trying to do something reckless and get your throat torn out. Come here.”
“….”
“I already know the Princess isn’t particularly useful.”
It infuriated me and felt deeply unjust, but I couldn’t refute his words.
With tears welling in my eyes, I scurried toward him.
“W-what are you planning to do?”
“Where did you put that handkerchief I gave you earlier?”
“Here it is.”
I fumbled the item out of my pocket—the one I’d carelessly shoved in earlier—and he sighed reproachfully.
“Child? You should be blocking it without being told. Do you want acute Hexis poisoning?”
His words made me shrink back slightly.
With my attention consumed by the sudden flood of Erosion Infected, I’d forgotten entirely about needing to block the hallucinogen.
Like an obedient child, I immediately covered my mouth and nose with the handkerchief.
“Grrk, grrrrr….”
By then, the distance between us and the Erosion Infected had grown perilously close.
Barely five or six steps away.
‘…Ugh, this is horrifying.’
I clenched and unclenched my fists, preparing myself to purify at a moment’s notice, yet I couldn’t help but feel my legs trembling with fear.
Honestly, the approaching Erosion Infected looked like something from a nightmare.
And the long strands of hair that Serge was holding strand by strand—they were absolutely chilling.
‘What if an explosion happens here? Can he handle all of them alone?’
The male lead was badly injured, and my abilities were practically useless.
Since possessing this body, I’d never felt so helpless.
This was clearly all that madman’s doing….
Yet somehow, hiding behind him made me feel pathetic and contemptible.
That was when it happened.
“Listen well, Princess.”
Serge glanced at me sideways with supreme confidence.
“I’m the type who doesn’t care what dies around me during combat.”
“….”
“So if you don’t want to die, stick close to my back. Understood?”
This man was absolutely exasperating.
‘Is that what you should be saying? Why am I suffering through this nightmare because of you…!’
But I had no other choice.
I nodded reluctantly, swallowing my frustration.
Then he replied with a satisfied tone.
“Good. Now that’s settled.”
If his usually ominous “good” sounded reassuring today….
Had I finally succumbed to the hallucinogen?
“Listen, lady. I have a psychosis where I repay everything I’ve suffered twofold. So don’t feel too wronged.”
“….”
“And one more thing.”
“….”
“I don’t like women with thick hair. Remember that, Princess.”
Why…?
I was thinking just then.
Crack!
Suddenly, there came a chilling sound like something being torn out.
“Aaaahhh―!”
A guttural scream tore through the air.
“What the hell. He was a man?”
Serge’s irritated muttering to himself.
And then, whoosh―!
The woman standing on the landing of the staircase leading upward—no, the man.
The Hair Ability User’s entire body flew through the air.
As if someone had seized him by the hair and hurled him with tremendous force.
Crash―!
“Cough―!”
“Kyaaaaaahhh!”
With a final death cry, the man’s body fell onto the heads of the clustered Erosion Infected.
The Erosion Infected crushed beneath him toppled and flattened like bowling pins.
But it didn’t end there.
Whoosh!
The moment his body struck the ground, it was lifted back into the air.
His hair, fixed before Serge’s face, went taut.
Twang, twing!
“Ugh! P-please… spare me…!”
Just before the wire-like hair snapped one, then two strands, the man’s body that had been lifted was brought down once more.
Whoosh!
It crashed down.
Using the recoil from his hair, the speed and force were even more violent than before.
Crash―!
“Hack!”
“Keeeeehhh!”
The bodies of the Erosion Infected pinned beneath the man twisted and shattered in grotesque angles.
It was truly an innovative method of eliminating Erosion Infected.
Bang, bang, crash―!
True to his word about repaying double, Serge repeated the act multiple times.
Using a human hammer to smash the moles—no, the Erosion Infected.
Whether he had lost consciousness or died, at some point no sound escaped the Hair Ability User anymore.
I stood frozen, watching the horrifying scene unfold with a blank stare.
Then, a sudden sense of wrongness struck me.
‘That’s right. The Explosion Ability User…!’
The other one had been far too quiet.
I reflexively lifted my head and looked toward where he stood.
Like a wild animal in the darkness, I caught sight of strange eyes gleaming orange toward Serge.
“Y-Your Highness! Explosion―!”
I forgot I was supposed to keep my mouth shut and cried out in haste.
But it was already too late.
BOOM―!
A tremendous roar erupted right beside my ear.
This explosion occurred directly beside us, on the right wall.
I screamed and wrapped my arms around my head.
And just as I braced myself for the debris that would rain down upon me.
“Is that all the firepower you’ve got?”
“…”
“Tch, how pathetic.”
A calm voice filled the space.
For an explosion of that magnitude, the surroundings were eerily quiet.
I slowly lifted my head from where I’d been cowering.
What met my eyes was a wall caught mid-destruction.
There was no other way to describe it.
Flames scattered and suspended in mid-air as if seized by an invisible force.
Wall fragments and stones, shattered and swollen, floating in the void.
Faced with a sight that made it believable that time itself had stopped in that space alone, my mouth fell open.
‘…Is it really possible to do this much with telekinesis?’
Not just fire and debris, but capturing the force itself, the energy of the explosion…?
It was an ability control unprecedented even in modern times.
A sudden chill ran through me.
Novels had constantly depicted how remarkable S-rank Awakeners were, but witnessing it with my own eyes was an entirely different dimension.
It seemed I wasn’t the only one left speechless by this almost surreal manifestation of power.
“Th-that’s… wh-what…”
The Explosion Ability User’s lips trembled as his face turned pale.
“I thought the second one would be different… This is troublesome. At least you should be able to level an entire building for this to get interesting.”
“Why, why didn’t the explosion…! My, my ability, what’s wrong with it…!”
“Come forward, Princess.”
Serge commanded me, abandoning the shocked enemy.
I obeyed without complaint and stepped out from behind him to stand ahead.
The Erosion Infected had by now been flattened like compacted meat, not a single one moving.
I deliberately averted my gaze from the blood-soaked white robes caught between them.
Then Serge casually swept his hand through the air.
WHOOSH―!
In that instant, the flames, debris, and force suspended against the wall.
All of the explosion’s remnants flew back toward their originator.
“Wh-what… KYAAAAAAAH―!”
BOOM!
CRACKLE CRACKLE!
The explosion that had momentarily ceased forcibly resumed upon the man’s body.
Engulfed in flames in an instant, the man vanished into ash without even leaving a final word.
“I thought it might be entertaining, but it ended too quickly.”
Serge murmured with a hint of disappointment.
“What did you think, Princess?”
And he kindly asked for my opinion as well.
I couldn’t say anything.
I was grateful this madman was on our side, yet—
92%
The gleaming number hovering above his head was somewhat terrifying.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————