Villain Hides His True Colors

A tall man with braided pigtails stood in a deserted alley.

The man’s name was Snoop. However, because of his cruel nature, he was nicknamed ‘Mad Dog.’

As an officer of Blue Mage, he was particularly famous for punishing those who had fled the organization. And the reason why he was here now was to track those the organization had suddenly lost contact.

“Tsk, it has been too quiet recently.”

He clicked his tongue and spat on the ground.

It seemed discipline had laxed in such times of peace. He couldn’t believe so many had deserted this time.

And, this could be seen as a challenge to his authority.

Unless he set a good example this time, others may think he was easy in the future.

I’ll put an end to it once they’re caught.

He thought of ways to kill the deserter more cruelly and painfully.

Suddenly, one of the members who was searching the area shouted.

“Hyung! I think you have to come see this!”

Were they found already? He took out a pair of scissors that were useful for pruning and ran toward his subordinates.

“Good! Make sure they don’t run away!”

He didn’t know what had made them decide to run away, but considering how much trouble they had caused him to come all the way here, he thought he would start by cutting off a few fingers.

That was what he thought as he entered another alley.

But…

Instead of the members he was expecting, only dried bloodstains remained.

And between the bloodstains, a small piece of a torn blue shirt caught his eyes.

“This…”

He widened his eyes.

Finding bloodstains on the streets was as easy as finding grass, but it was a different matter when blue clothes were in the mix.

Only members of Blue Mage would wear blue in Kowloon.

No one else who lived here wore blue unless they were tired of living.

Damn it!

His relaxed thinking became tense after seeing the sight.

The members hadn’t run away from the organization but were attacked by someone.

If that was the case, who in the world dared to do such a thing? The answer was obvious without much thought.

“Those red sons of bitches! I knew this would happen!”

Snoop gnashed his teeth, recalling the Red Blood Alliance.

He didn’t like the ceasefire from the beginning. If you’re a man, don’t you have to go all the way, dead or alive?

And, it seemed Red Blood Alliance had become more brazen after seeing how relaxed Blue Mage had been.

“Fuck! That’s why I said we should strike first.”

It was just an idea in his mind, however, was there someone who had thought the same on the Red Blood Alliance side?

Naturally, there were many people who didn’t obediently accept the ceasefire. No, perhaps from the beginning they had planned to stab them in the back.

His face crumbled and he shouted.

“Hey! You there! Go and tell Chris about this right now. Those red sons of a bitches had put a hit on our guys.”

“Y-yes sir.”

“It’s war now. We’ll lose our life if we continue to drag our feet.”

The moment one of the members ran, a gunshot suddenly rang out.

Bang–!

The head of the member who had been running burst into pieces.

As soon as Snoop saw that, he immediately ducked to the ground and shouted.

“It’s an attack! Get down!”

However, some members, who had been slower than him, couldn’t immediately respond.

And as a result,

Dudududu–!

“Kuaaak!”

“Keuhok!”

Nearly half of the members fell to the ground in front of the series of bullets.

Soon, on one side of the alley, Red Blood Alliance members armed with guns appeared.

“Hahaha! You smurf bastards!”

“I’ll kill you all!”

At a first glance, their number seemed to be more than 20.

On top of that, as if they were very determined to come this time, they wore bullet proof vests.

As a result, the Blue Mage members who had taken out their pistols and fought back had no choice but to be helpless.

Damn it! At a time like this…

There was no chance of winning at this rate. The difference in firepower was too great.

At last, Snoop sprang up and shouted.

“Run! We must get out of here!”

Following his instructions, the surviving members recklessly began to run.

Meanwhile, Snoop used his prepared magic on where the Red Blood Alliance members were gathered.

Green smoke with an acrid smell of rotting grass spread in all directions. Immediately, members of Red Blood Alliance, who were momentarily hallucinating, began firing in the wrong directions.

“M-mother? Why are you here?”

“Kueaaak! Bugs!”

Snoop took advantage of the confusion and ran with all the strength he could muster.

Bad Trip wasn’t the kind of magic to deal against a group in this way, but there was no other way now.

In addition, they were out in an open area. It wasn’t known how long the hallucination would last.

We’re running out of time, we have to get out of here!

Sure enough, after a moment, Red Blood Alliance members who had come to their senses recognized him and began firing heavily again.

“Mad Dog is over there! Open fire!”

“Don’t let that bastard get away!”

Bang–! Bang–!

“Keuk! Shit!”

Snoop wrapped mana around himself to defend against the flying bullets.

Even though firearms were ineffective against those who have awakened mana, in the face of a constant stream of bullets, it was bound to strain the body.

His mana rapidly decreased, and one by one, scratches were left behind on his skin.

We just have to hang on a little longer. Just a little more!

They would be able to avoid the attacks once they went around the alley that was just around the corner.

With that in mind, he put strength into his legs. But at that moment,

***

[ Translator – Yasi ]

[ Proofreader – Karane ]

Swiik–!

Along with the rough sound of wind breaking, he heard something flying in.

And then…

Psh–!

“Kuaaak!”

As he was running, one of his thighs was pierced and he rolled across the ground.

A terrible pain as if his thigh was on fire. He quickly felt his consciousness wavering.

“…Keuh…”

He looked down at his thigh.

There was a thick iron bar that seemed to have been pulled out from somewhere.

Blood was flowing out endlessly through the penetrated area. Even if he wanted to pull it out by hand, he couldn’t even touch it because of the pain that was making his head dizzy.

N-no…

Urgently looking up, he saw Red Blood Alliance members slowly walking his way.

At the head of the group was a short and ragged man.

“Dwayne…”

‘Little Boy’ Dwayne.

A dwarf native, he was an already longtime rival who had joined the Red Blood Alliance by the time Snoop had joined Blue Mage.

Dwayne looked at Snoop and grinned.

“Long time no see. Snoop.”

“Fuck off! You son of a bitch!”

“That’s a very disappointing thing to say. Do you know how much I’ve missed you? Hehe.”

Snoop didn’t know when Dwayne had picked it up, but he saw the pruning scissors he was carrying a while ago in his hands.

He felt his body trembling unconsciously when he faced his sadistic smile.

A-a way out…

He desperately looked around.

But wherever he looked, the only people left were those from the Red Blood Alliance.

He was the only one remaining from Blue Mage.

Dwayne came up to him and showed his hand.

“Do you remember this?”

“…”

He had only two fingers left, a thumb and an index finger.

“You cut off all my other fingers and made me play rock-paper-scissors…Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for a day like this to come?”

Shink–! Shink–!

Dwayne approached Snoop with the pruning scissors.

“Hehe, I’ll make your fingers the same today.”

“Fuck…”

Snoop uttered a curse. Dwayne continued in a soft tone.

“Or, if you beg me for your life now, I am willing to spare you. What do you think?”

“Ptooey! Fuck you!”

“Well, I expected that.”

Dwayne smiled insidiously as he wiped the saliva off his face. Seeing that, Snoop realized today would be his last.

Born as a man in Kowloon, he had lived a lifetime.

There had been numerous crises, but he had never begged for his life.

For a man’s pride was more important than his life.

Although he had no regrets, if there was one thing left to be desired, it was that he wished he could have fought them before getting ambushed like this today.

“Which finger shall I cut first?”

“Hyung! Why don’t you start with his toes? Wouldn’t that be more fun?”

“Haha, shall we?”

“L-let go of me! Let go of me you son of bitches!”

Snoop resisted violently, but they rushed in and forcibly stripped him. Soon, he felt the touch of cold metal between his toes.

“You better bite your teeth tightly.”

Snoop closed his eyes reflexively the moment he felt strength was put on the scissors.

Crunch–!

The sound of bone breaking penetrated his ears.

“Ku-kuaaak…Huh?”

Snoop unintentionally screamed, but he didn’t feel any pain.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked at his toes. It was still in one piece.

I’m sure I had heard a noise…?

There was also something strange about Dwayne’s expression in front of him. His eyes were wide open and he was frozen in place like a statue.

H-huh?

Was this a trick to mess with him? As soon as Snoop thought as such, he heard another sound.

Crunch–! Crunch–!

The sound of something being chewed. He slowly turned his head.

Then, standing there was a wolf as big as a house chewing someone in its mouth.

?!

An unrealistic sight that he had never seen in his life.

Regardless if it was the Red Blood Alliance or Blue Mage, everyone here could only stare blankly at the figure.

Wh-where the hell did this thing come from…?

The wolf spat out the man and spoke.

“It smells terrible.”

The body was so damaged that even the shape was hard to recognize. Along with the terrible sight, everyone’s sense of reality that had flown away quickly returned.

“M-monster!”

“Euaaak! R-run!”

Members of Red Blood Alliance ran away in all directions. But no matter how fast they ran, the distance was narrowed at once as soon as the wolf took a leap.

As such, the wolf bit and killed the escapees horribly.

Was it because he realized that he couldn’t escape from here? Dwayne, calling his men, shouted.

“D-damn it! Attack! Attack it!”

“D-die!!”

They immediately opened fire.

The area became brightly lit from all sides. Among the projectiles were even missiles from rocket launchers.

Dudududu–!

Bang—!

Terrifying firepower reminiscent of a battlefield. Nobody thought the monster would be safe with this amount of force.

“I-is it dead?”

But…

“Hehe…As expected, the wolf form can take hits.”

The monster was giggling with its long muzzle as if it had found their attacks amusing. But besides that, there wasn’t even a scratch on its fur.

“I’m going to get things sorted out now.”

In a blink of an eye, the monster disappeared from sight, leaving behind only a red afterimage as it swept its surroundings.

After a brief moment, members of the Red Blood Alliance were torn to pieces without even being able to scream.

Next, the monster pressed the lone Dwayne with its feet.

“Oh? This is kind of hard?”

“Keu-keuahuk!”

Dwayne, whose strength was so powerful that he could crush concrete, was pitiful shaking his legs as he barely endured the monster’s feet.

His face turned red as if it would burst, and the veins in his eyes burst and it became bloodshot.

In the end, did he run out of mana? His body compressed little by little.

“P-please…spare…”

He looked at the monster for the last time and begged. Someone who didn’t give up even when his fingers were cut off was now begging for his life. 

However, the monster didn’t seem interested in such words.

“N-no!”

Crunch–!

Like a bug beneath a wheel, Dwayne’s body exploded so horribly that it had become unrecognizable.

The monster rubbed the remains from its feet on the ground as if it was wiping away dirt.

Soon, it slowly turned and looked Snoop’s way.

Keururu–

Each breath it took was reminiscent of an echo inside a cave.

Meeting the monster’s gaze, he found it impossible to breathe properly under the enormous pressure.

Along with a tingling sensation in his spine, his arms and legs didn’t listen.

“A-ah…”

An overwhelming fear dominated his body. His crotch became wet, regardless of his will.

However, with the will to live, he managed to squeeze out a strain of words.

“P-please…s-spare me…”

The monster stared at him and spoke.

“Do you have any thoughts of hiring a mercenary?”

“…Huh?”

Snoop had no choice but to look up at the monster with a blank look.

* * * * * * * * * *

“I-I’ll be done in no time. I’ll go and come back!”

After the iron bar was pulled out of the man’s thigh, he was barely able to stand up, as could be seen from his legs trembling.

His figure looked quite precarious.

“You’re okay alone? Or should we go together?”

“No, no, no. I-it’s really all right. I-if I use magic, I can reduce the pain…So I’ll go alone.”

“Hmm…okay.”

Whether he was trying to show me that he was really okay, or that he was desperately trying to get away from me, I watched him as he left to call the boss of Blue Mage.

Good. So far it was going as planned.

Jane had told me about her complicated family’s history after I had received her request for revenge.

And based on the information, the conclusion was…

There were two targets for revenge in this Challenge.

First, her parents had died of White Face, the same illness that was currently plaguing her brother.

It was a strange disease that was said to be only found in Kowloon.

I didn’t know exactly what it was, but Elizabeth, who had examined it, said it seemed to be a kind of curse.

It smelled suspicious and was something that needed to be investigated further.

My instinct as a gamer told me. There was something hidden behind the streets of Kowloon.

Maybe it was related to Eighth Layer Hell that I had been looking for.

In any case, catching the person who was spreading the curse here was one of the targets.

Anyway, the other target of revenge was easier than I had thought.

Jane’s older brother had died in a conflict between the Red Blood Alliance and Blue Mage.

However, he hadn’t died in a fight but was executed as a scapegoat after being betrayed by the cartel in which he worked for, so it could be said that both the Red Blood Alliance and Blue Mage were involved in this problem.

And, all problems would be solved neatly if I erase both cartels, but…

There was a small problem here.

Like roaches, their numbers were too large to hunt and kill one by one.

If I caught one or two of them little by little, it was obvious that all those who noticed my existence would begin to hide somewhere.

For this reason, it was necessary to use my brain in order to target such bugs.

Her side should be done by now, right…?

I contacted Elizabeth using .

Soon, a mysterious person covered in shadows appeared in my status window.

“Ah! Noah!”

The mysterious person said brightly.

Rubbing her face, the flickering shadow disappeared and her usual appearance was revealed.

I looked at the icon and spoke.

“Noona, I’m almost done with my side. I think I’ll be done talking with the boss of Blue Mage in a little while.”

Elizabeth tapped her chest and raised her chin.

“Ahem! I’ve already finished my contract with the Red Blood Alliance!”

This was what I had planned.

Elizabeth and I were on different sides, hunting each other’s organization.

Originally, I had intended to induce a war, but for some reason they were already preparing for one.

I was lucky.

Thanks to this, the intermediate step was skipped and I would be able to weave myself into a mercenary role more naturally.

Now that war had begun, neither side would back down or hide as freely since the supremacy of Kowloon was at stake.

Hehe…on top of that, I could earn extra income as a mercenary.

I spoke to Elizabeth, who had a look as if asking for praise.

“Yeah? But you remember everything I said, right?”

“Of course! I already know where the armory is. I’ll take all the money and worthy treasures for Noah later on. Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay! Good job.”

“Hehe…”

“All right, let’s get in touch later, ah, be careful not to make a mistake if you run into me.”

“Okay! Noah, take care of yourself, but if you miss sister, feel free to call me anytime…”

I stopped contacting her when she was about to start talking nonsense. She seemed to lose her mind with a little praise.

Although her ability had risen to a very useful level…

Still, it seemed there was nothing I could do about that mental head that wasn’t all there.

As I thought as such, just in time a blue luxury sedan was approaching.

They came sooner than I had thought.

The boss of Blue Mage must be on board inside there.

He seemed to have really done his best to run.

Soon, a man with glasses got out of the sedan that had stopped in front of me.

He looked me up and down as calm as could be.

“Y-you’re the one who asked to see me?”

But unlike his expression, he wasn’t very good at voice acting.

As I looked at him, a smile came out of my mouth.

Hehe…I was already looking forward to it.

Sure enough, watching others fight was the most entertaining.