How to Survive as a Trash Extra Villain

Chapter 96

Kazaks, Adela, Gilbert?

Those three just fight because they like to, so I have nothing to say.

Elisha and Muller?

Why would I mediate between two families with a longstanding feud?

‘But that’s too much.’

It’s their family matter, but the way Shuga, the younger sister, treats Mary is disgusting.

It’s repulsive even to watch.

“Sister! Wasn’t breaking the finest mana stone enough?! Born with the blood of the Deminiyan, a renowned magical family, do you think it makes sense to train with guns?! How long will you keep disgracing our family!”

“….”

Watching Mary, head bowed, unable to say a word, made my blood boil.

“Say something! I really hate you, Sister. You can’t even speak properly, always stammering. Do you know how much it frustrates me to see you?! I’m not kidding, I wish you’d just disappear!”

“….”

“Hey, say something!”

“…Sh-Shuga, I…”

“What! What do you want!”

“….”

Gilbert and Elisha were busy growling at each other, but Bord and Lina weren’t.

“Ugh…”

“….”

But they just watched, frustrated, unable to approach.

Then Shuga turned sharply toward us.

“What are you looking at?! Tauforos! It’s Deminiyan business, so stay out unless you want to break the family pact! Elidore and the rest of you riffraff too!”

Bord, grinding his teeth, turned away.

Lina, with a displeased expression, had no choice but to look away.

As if resigned to the situation, Luri sighed deeply and looked at me.

But then,

“Hey! Trash Martin! What are you staring at?! You worthless extra! Turn your head!”

I stood up.

And slowly walked toward Shuga.

Not Mary, but Shuga.

Shuga, about to harass Mary again, turned and looked at me.

Since I’m quite tall, she had to look up at me.

Not liking that, she glared with a fierce, angry face and said,

“…What, Trash Martin. Wanna die?”

“….”

I smirked, curling one corner of my mouth, mocking her.

“A disowned hound like you, do you even know who I am…”

And then, everything.

Slap!

With a sound, Shuga’s head turned.

All eyes turned to us.

“Wha…?”

Shuga, her face red and swollen, looked at me in disbelief.

“Hey.”

How pathetic.

“You saw me?”

“What, what?”

“Why are you talking down to me like we’re buddies?”

“….”

Noble etiquette is strict.

Lower nobles can’t even look higher nobles in the face or take the lead in conversation.

Only the highest nobles stand above all.

Recalling that rule, Shuga shouted in outrage,

“You, Martin of Ulvhadin. Just a speck from a count’s family…”

“So what.”

“What?”

“So what.”

Shuga’s expression went blank.

This isn’t right?

Her face was comical.

Isn’t it amusing?

Just 17 years old.

This kid, thinking noble rules are everything, acting all high and mighty is laughable.

“Hah.”

I chuckled.

“Shuga of Deminiyan.”

“Don’t say my name so casually, Hound! I’m from a ducal family…”

“Shut up.”

I took a step forward, standing right in front of Shuga.

She had to tilt her head back to look at my face.

“Hey, you… I…”

Her attempts to snap back grew quieter and more stammered.

“D-Don’t… talk… like that…”

Ulvhadin.

A family of hunting dogs with Wild Instinct passed down.

I’m the delinquent, the villain among them.

What does my face look like up close?

I’m curious myself.

“….”

She’s being devoured.

Shuga was being consumed by my presence.

“What’s wrong?”

Her stormy eyes lost their spark, trembling pitifully like a lost lamb.

“With the hound you so casually insulted standing before you…”

As my presence dominated the space, crushing Shuga’s spirit,

“Whoa, let’s stop here.”

A blue spear tried to cut through my aura, separating me from Shuga.

“Who said you could.”

Without thinking, I drew my hunting rifle and knocked the spear away.

A metallic clang rang out as the spear was deflected.

“Ugh, what strength…!”

Muller, startled, thrust his spear again, but I blocked it with my rifle once more.

After being blocked twice, Muller’s competitive spirit flared.

“…This is getting interesting. Wanna go for real?”

The blue spear came at me again.

This time, it wasn’t to separate me and Shuga.

The tip of the Amulrent Ducal Family’s blue spear was clearly aimed at me.

“Block this too!”

Instead of blocking, I reached out.

My rough hand grabbed Shuga’s neck.

“Gah!”

I held her in front of the spear, and Muller, shocked, diverted its trajectory.

“You lunatic!”

“Hey.”

In that moment, I raised my hunting rifle and aimed it at Muller.

“You started this fight.”

Boom!

A blast like an explosion, and buckshot swept over Muller.

His mana shield and cadet uniform’s protective magic activated, but they were heavily worn down, and his body flew back, crashing into the ground.

“….”

Silence filled the area.

“Ugh, ugh! Guh!”

Except for Shuga, struggling and tapping my hand weakly.

I let go of her neck, and her small frame collapsed to the ground.

“Gah! Cough! Ugh! Gasp! Hah!”

Watching her clutch her throat, gasping for air, was oddly satisfying.

Oh, I’m thirsty.

I want to torment her more.

But that thought snapped me back to reality.

‘…Stop.’

I’m not Martin.

I’m Kim An-hyun.

My sense of self isn’t so weak as to give in to mere emotional dregs.

“….”

Looking around, everyone was watching me.

Their expressions and emotions varied widely.

I turned and looked at Mary, who was staring up at me, dazed.

“Cadet Mary.”

“Yes?”

“I gave you the gun, didn’t I?”

“Yes…?”

Mary tilted her head in confusion.

“That’s what it’s for, times like this.”

“T-Thank you…”

I’m not good at comforting.

I’ve never tried, nor wanted to.

But criticism?

I’m confident in that.

I’ve never comforted myself, but I’ve blamed myself endlessly.

This time, I turned to the protagonist party.

“You stupid bastards.”

Gilbert flinched.

“You lot, always sticking together.”

Bord lowered his gaze.

“Too busy tearing into your prey.”

Elisha bowed her head.

“And neglecting Mary.”

Lina closed her eyes.

I wanted to berate them more, but a small hand tugged at my sleeve.

It was Mary.

“W-Well, it might not look good, but they all have their reasons… Please don’t be too hard on them…”

“….”

If the person involved says so, I have nothing more to say.

Instead, I looked around and issued a warning.

“If you’re going to fight, do it where I can’t see. Don’t make a racket.”

That’s enough.

I resolved the ominous feeling Wild Instinct warned about.

It could’ve been a disaster, with the main and supporting characters falling into deep distress.

Thinking about it, was it just this?

Wild Instinct (Lv 3) says that’s not it.

‘What?’

Wild Instinct (Lv 3) warns!

Hostile projectiles are incoming!

My vision flipped.

In a black-and-white world, red lines traced the paths.

Very familiar.

‘This is… the trajectory of projectiles…!’

Dozens?

No, hundreds of red lines filled the space from the center to the surroundings.

‘What the hell?!

This is the academy!

A fortress impregnable even until the late parts of the original story!’

In slow motion, I spotted orbs of light rising from the distance.

I had to intercept them.

Following the red lines, fireballs were about to hit here.

Know-It-All (Lv 3) analyzes!

Mid-level magic Fireball!

Causes a powerful explosion on impact!

Artificially clustered, they explode easily on impact!

Recommend intercepting in mid-air!

Without hesitation, I drew my hunting rifle and loaded one of Nerjin’s meticulously crafted magic bullets.

Know-It-All (Lv 3) maximizes focus!

Identifies the weak points of the fireball cluster!

Wild Instinct (Lv 3) calculates the optimal timing!

Standing upright, I aimed immediately.

Know-It-All (Lv 3) and Wild Instinct (Lv 3) shout: Now!

I fired.

A red gem bullet shot out, embedding itself in the fireball cluster.

The gem’s magic activated, shattering into an explosion.

One fireball burst in mid-air, triggering a chain reaction of countless fireballs exploding.

“Block them!”

“What the hell is this?!”

“【Water Lay!】”

“Hah!”

The remaining fireballs were blocked by Elisha’s red arrows and Mary and Shuga’s magic.

Some surviving fireballs fell among us, but Bord’s Frontkeeper manifested and easily deflected them.

‘This can’t be the end!’

A sudden attack, but it wouldn’t end here.

“Everyone, brace for impact.”

“They wouldn’t try to take us down with such a low-level tactic.”

Prince Kazaks and Princess Adela seemed to think the same.

And as expected, ‘they’ emerged.

The hideous things bursting through the bushes were…

Know-It-All (Lv 3) warns!

Lower demons!

‘Demons?!’

I shot, piercing the head of the leading one.

It fell pathetically, belying the name demon.

But then, a horde of demons, like an army, poured out from the bushes.

“Ugh.”

“What the…!”

It’s chaotic.

I don’t know what’s happening.

Know-It-All (Lv 3) identifies the enemy’s contradiction!

Demonic magic operates on a different track from human magic.

To be attacked simultaneously by both human and demonic magic…!

‘That means there’s more than one enemy!’

“Shadow Knights!”

At the Princess’s call, dozens of black knights appeared around us.

“Slaughter the terrorists targeting me! Find the vile things hiding in the shadows and butcher them!”

The Shadow Knights vanished like black mist, weaving through the demons, unleashing sword energy.

We managed to form a defensive formation and began slaughtering the lower demons, but…

Wild Instinct (Lv 3) warns of an attack surging from underground!

How could I have known it was all a decoy for this moment?

“Everyone, dodge!”

As I shouted, the ground split and began to sink.

The speed and scale were immense.

The protagonist party, Kazaks’s group, Princess Adela, Luri, and I all ran in different directions.

“Argh!”

“Gah!”

“No way to escape…!”

A vast area of ground collapsed entirely.

We all fell toward a dark abyss, like the earth had opened its mouth.

***

When I came to, I was in a dark, gloomy, yet familiar passage.

It wasn’t my first time here.

A network of passages spanning the capital, leading anywhere.

The sewer.

‘Did I lose consciousness for a moment…?’

Falling into the underground… I lost consciousness as if falling asleep.

‘What the hell happened?’

I’m curious.

What could’ve happened to leave me dragged by my legs?

Know-It-All (Lv 3) reports that you fell unconscious due to a pre-installed stun magic while falling underground.

“How far do we have to drag him? Can’t we just kill him here?”

“Even so, it’s a hideout. We should take him to the surface. Just dump him in the slums.”

“Tch.”

Squinting, I saw two people in red robes, each holding one of my legs, dragging me.

The emblem on the back of their robes… a black raven.

‘Defardly?’

I doubted my eyes.

‘The Defardly Empire Liberation Army, here…?’

A formidable villain meant to appear in the mid-to-late story…

‘…It’s gone off track again.’

In the original story, they make a strong impact in the mid-game.

Their end is being crushed by the Sword Demon and Shadow Knights, serving as a disposable plot device to cement Princess Adela as one of the final villains, just an extra group.

…Wait, what’s that smell?

My hair was sweeping through the sewer’s filth and sewage…

“We’re going far. Let’s chop off his limbs and head when we get there. If we put up our symbol, people will realize. Ah, the Defardly Empire, the continent’s master 1,000 years ago, is coming to reclaim its place!”

“…? Didn’t Princess Anette say to just drive him out?”

Killing me is a problem, but something else caught my attention.

‘Anette, a princess?’

“The Chancellor said to kill him.”

“Oh, really? Well then! The Chancellor’s the real power, right? Princess Anette is, well, you know?”

“Haha! Yeah. Our naive Princess doesn’t know much yet. But she’ll thank us later.”

“True, true. Let’s finish this and head to the ritual site. It’s unnerving to miss out when everyone’s there.”

Looks like I’ll die when we arrive.

No more information to gain, so… shall I make my move?

Dragging this out could mean trouble for the others, irreversible trouble.

‘Lucky me.’

I’m alone here.