How to Survive as a Trash Extra Villain

Chapter 117

"Your growth is unparalleled! Given time, you could defeat him! But now’s not the time for bravado!"

I shouted, blocking Gilbert’s path. What was my expression? Despair? Fear?

But… why… why, Gilbert, were you so calm…?

"Remember the Marquis Vistavern terror incident, Martin?"

How could I forget? The marquis, who dominated the black market, orchestrated a massive terrorist massacre in the capital.

"I couldn’t do anything there. Just spouted lofty words."

"…"

"I’ll apologize again here. I wasn’t in my right mind then. I’m sorry."

"You’re not in your right mind now either. Snap out of it! How can you even think of fighting that thing?!"

"I’m perfectly sane, Martin."

Mana and stellar force swirled around Gilbert’s body, creating a beautiful spectacle. His name was Gilbert. The chosen protagonist.

"I vowed never to repeat that failure. I’ll save everyone. To do that, I’ll become as strong as needed. Even if it’s an unprecedented, uncharted realm, I’ll achieve it."

His unwavering eyes held unbreakable conviction. I was at a loss for words. The ‘protagonist correction’ cloaking him seemed to materialize, radiant.

"I’ll go ahead. Join me. I’m counting on you."

Gilbert passed me again, leaping toward where Brahmus raged. He jumped onto a building’s roof, hopping from roof to roof, charging at the beast like a moth to flame.

"Insane…!"

Flee. Survive here. Take Lilac and escape to the ends of the earth.

But the white bracelet on my right wrist… caught my attention. The advice of a man who’d guarded the world alone came to mind. The guide to a new ending. The Peacemaker’s Star Child.

"Until the day we save the world from the apocalypse, we’re together. While I’m gone, I entrust the capital to you. The Imperium Empire’s capital is humanity’s greatest city and its final bastion."

"Four warriors who’ve stepped into the true pinnacle beyond platinum knights—diamond knights—are needed. Many platinum knights too."

I, too, was a Peacemaker. The Star Child believed in me.

For his plan, for the new ending… I couldn’t lose Gilbert here. He was the key to ending the apocalypse!

‘Damn it!’

I belatedly chased after Gilbert. My speed quickly caught up. Seeing me, Gilbert smiled, as if he’d trusted I’d come. Damn it. Clueless jerk.

Irritated, I looked away, and the surroundings came into view.

‘…Spectacular.’

People were flooding out. A massive crowd fled endlessly from where Brahmus feasted. Carriages and horses trampled those ahead. A child, separated from its mother, wailed. Parents screamed their child’s name. But their reunion seemed impossible.

‘This is a demon lord…’

A towering presence that plunged the world into panic just by existing.

"Gilbert!"

"You’re safe!"

Then we met figures running across rooftops toward us. Elisha, Mary, Bord, Lina. The protagonist’s party, complete, looked at Brahmus wreaking havoc in the distance instead of greeting us.

"That’s a demon lord."

I spoke to them. The party turned to me.

"Far beyond the demons or worshippers we’ve faced. Their mere presence drives people into fear and despair, and if they wish, they can easily crush nations. The evil incarnations we denounce in churches… like gods to fanatics."

I still felt skeptical about fighting. This was madness. If possible, we should flee. That’s right.

"We’re like flies that’d get swatted in one hit."

"…Let’s go."

Silently, Gilbert charged forward. In that moment, I… felt pathetic.

His radiance.

My pettiness.

He was the protagonist.

I was the trash extra villain.

The stark contrast made me feel utterly insignificant.

"Lord Gilbert!"

Lina, his knight, followed without hesitation.

"Stop, you lunatics! What’s the difference between this and a suicide squad?!"

At my words, Lina glanced back.

"I believe."

"Believe in what?!"

But without answering, she chased Gilbert.

"Insane…!"

"Sorry, we’re a bit like that."

Bord raised his shield and climbed to the roof’s edge. Elisha and Mary followed.

"Without a great shield-bearer like me, Gilbert would struggle, right? I can’t not go."

Bord grinned and moved forward. Elisha followed.

"Watch closely. We’re different from back then."

Back then surely meant the Marquis Vistavern incident. They’d grown stronger. No longer helpless.

"…I’d say that, but honestly, we need even a child’s help. You’ll help, right?"

Mary followed Elisha.

"Please, Cadet Martin…!"

In the end, the entire protagonist party plunged into the fray.

"…Ha…!"

That’s the protagonist party. Heroes destined to save the world. If this weren’t a novel, if they weren’t crafted characters, they’d just be… fools.

…But it was always fools’ folly that brought miracles.

‘Idiotic jerks…!’

A death trap. Look at the red sky, red earth, red rivers. Plants withered, and life fled from death’s maw, but none could escape. People fleeing to the ends of the earth hit an invisible wall and fell. A barrier.

‘This is already the demon lord’s domain!’

No wonder Malice Wraiths kept spawning. Lesser demons sprouted like weeds around us.

Look at the chaotic Imperium Academy. This was hell incarnate.

‘I want to flee.’

But I knew.

‘I can’t.’

My task was clear.

‘I have to fight.’

But I wasn’t the protagonist.

‘It’s too terrifying.’

This scared me more than anything I’d ever seen.

"Damn it."

One truth hit me hard. I envied, hated, and denied him, but one undeniable fact.

‘I’m not the protagonist.’

The protagonist was Gilbert, charging ahead without a hint of fear.

"…What’s the difference between him and me…?"

What was it? Why was I frozen here, paralyzed by fear…?

Wild Instinct (Lv 4) urged us to move… to muster strength.

Know-It-All (Lv 4) encouraged us, saying we had reasons not to retreat.

Yes, reasons. I had them. Damn right I did!

‘Lilac.’

The coffee wagon was likely in the grand plaza.

‘If I go there…’

Nerjin was there. My presence would only make clearing small fry slightly easier.

‘On the other hand.’

Look at the beast devouring academy buildings with its maw. With a barrier up, how far could I escape?

‘Where I need to go…’

I had to fight, even if it meant death. Finally, the shotgun rose in my hand. My trembling left hand gripped the Rosary of Grace tightly.

‘Let’s go.’

I took a deep breath. I drew up mana and stellar force throughout my body. The Swiftness enchantment in my boots enveloped me. I sprinted forward, leaping from roof to roof, reaching the protagonist party instantly.

"Whoa!"

"Martin!"

"Three minutes."

Three minutes? They turned, not to me, but to Brahmus. Three minutes against that beast devouring buildings?

"Keep him from moving."

"…Is there a way?"

Gilbert asked. That damned jerk… I was dumbfounded and shouted in anger.

"You’re asking that? You charged in without a plan?!"

"…But I couldn’t not go."

Idiot. …Fine, he’d learn after getting hurt trusting that protagonist correction. But today, that’d mean death, not injury.

‘…Feels like I’m dancing to his damned protagonist correction.’

But no choice.

"Three minutes, right?"

Elisha, holding her summoned red bow, stared into my eyes.

"Yes."

"Alright. I don’t know if it’ll work, but I’ll try."

She was easier to deal with.

"Sorry for being reckless, Cadet Martin."

"You know you’re reckless."

"Thanks for believing in us."

Crunch. Brahmus swallowed the magic department building whole. The more he ate, the larger and stronger he grew.

"We have no choice but to trust you."

"…"

Though I inwardly cursed the protagonist party for this hopeless situation… they were right. We had to trust each other and do our best.

"Please. You… you’re…"

A Peacemaker. Elisha swallowed the rest.

I hadn’t realized, but I’d left many traces before the protagonist party. Especially with Dr. Keren and the Eudialyte Desert demon.

Dr. Keren had interrogated if I was a Peacemaker, and the high-ranking demon summoned with Nelson as a sacrifice mistook me for a Cosmos Empire survivor.

Even my talks with the Nameless Revolutionary in the ecological park, handing over data.

"Whatever, we don’t have time."

Bord looked gravely at where Brahmus raged. Five academy buildings had already vanished into his stomach.

"Martin, as you said, we’ll buy three minutes somehow. Keep him from moving, right?"

"Correct."

The protagonist party charged toward Brahmus.

[Ah, aaah…! Hungry…!]

Each step Brahmus took sent a boom reverberating.

The academy’s defensive and interception magics fired thousands of arrows and spells, but Brahmus seemed unscathed.

"[Heavy Rain!]"

Mary summoned storm clouds. Torrential rain pelted Brahmus.

[Refreshing! It’s been a millennium! A bath!]

Still no damage. Mary’s magic wasn’t weak by any means.

The rain stopped, and the clouds compressed, firing a high-pressure water cannon like a fire hose.

[Hmm, ticklish…!]

Brahmus swung his massive arm to disperse the clouds, but they dodged, evading his attacks.

"Graaah!"

Below, a giant of mana rose. Bord’s Frontkeeper. Brahmus flinched for the first time, but.

[Still a fledgling.]

He opened his mouth, swallowing the giant whole.

"Urk!"

Bord felt a chunk of mana ripped out, quickly retreating to chug a mana potion.

Meanwhile, Elisha’s red arrow left a crimson trail, striking Brahmus' face.

A massive explosion, followed by a secondary blast, engulfed his face in red energy—a spectacular sight.

But Brahmus' revealed face showed no wounds or pain.

[Kuh, haha, haha!]

Lina climbed onto Brahmus' body, swinging her sword, but only her blade chipped.

[Hmm?]

Brahmus slowly turned to his side. A faint, barely visible scratch marked it.

Only Gilbert’s sword, cloaked in deep blue mana and white stellar force, could wound Brahmus.

[Stellar force…! How… that power…!]