Villain Hides His True Colors

Looking at the new Challenge, I had no choice but to stare blankly at it.

Angra Mainyu.

Suddenly appearing one day was the world’s first villain to be designated as an SS-Rank.

According to many experts in the past, with the advent of Angra Mainyu, it was said that the advancement of humanity had regressed by at least ten years, and in fact, one of the reasons why the demon army was able to conquer Earth so easily was because of the irreparable damage that was done by him prior.

In any case, I didn’t expect his name to appear here…

I was just chasing Eighth Layer Hell, and unexpectedly, somehow a bigger figure had popped up.

If so…it was only right to think that he had something to do with Eighth Layer Hell.

Alongside Angra Mainyu in the past, there were eight powerful monsters who referred to themselves as his ‘Apostles.’

Each one of them was as powerful as the best A-Rank hero. 

People had wondered where the hell these monsters had come from, but looking at it now, they all seemed to be related to Eighth Layer Hell.

And coincidentally, there were exactly eight of them.

“Hmm…”

If I were to go by the flow of the first round, there was about five years left before Angra Mainyu would appear.

But now that a Challenge had appeared, it meant that something had changed.

This case was bigger than I had thought.

On top of that, a God?

He naturally used to call himself a ‘God’ in the past, but at the time I thought he was just a mental patient…

To think he was really a God…

Like the Turbak God I had fought, was the existence of a God so easy to come across?

Until now, I was confident that I had discovered most of the content, but strangely enough, since the beginning of the second round, I felt like unknown existences were continuing to emerge.

This wasn’t going to be easy.

It was a pleasant surprise that new content had opened, but in fact, I didn’t have the confidence to deal with Angra Mainyu right now.

However, the reward at stake was too sweet to quit after having come all the way here…

As expected…I couldn’t just give up like this.

It would be the shame of a gamer to walk away when a delicious reward was right in sight.

Not to mention, according to the description of the Challenge, it simply says to stop his ‘resurrection,’ so perhaps he had not yet regained the power he had in the past.

…If I assume that was the case, then it wasn’t like the chance of winning was a long shot.

With firm determination that had almost faltered, I looked at the boundary in front of me.

At a first glance, it looked like a seemingly ordinary tent at a construction site, however, on closer examination, I could see the space distorting.

I didn’t know what was waiting for me over there, but…

The more delicious a reward was, the more dangerous the hunting ground would be.

I took a small deep breath before walking into the tent.

Soon, the surrounding landscape twisted and the place where I was standing changed in an instant.

A vast cave filled with red crystals.

Due to the glistening red crystals that were coming from all sides, I felt as if I had just entered a ruby mine.

“Th-this is…?”

Jane, who had walked in the boundary one step after, anxiously looked around.

And beside her, Elizabeth also wrinkled her forehead before picking up a piece of a crystal that had fallen to the ground.

“Noah…it seems this is the stone from earlier?”

“Hmm…indeed.”

I didn’t have to check the item information.

This ominous, sticky feeling emanating from the crystal wasn’t easy to imitate.

And, it was clear there was something lurking here. Maybe I could find out the cause of White Face.

***

[ Translator – Yasi ]

[ Proofreader – Karane ]

When I thought as such,

“Wh-what’s that…?”

The dwarf who was standing awkwardly pointed her finger at one side.

I looked in the direction she was pointing. And there, bright red lights were shining in the dark.

At first, I thought it was just more crystals, but…

“Hmm?”

Whether it was due to the effect of the newly active genes, but the forms gradually came into view more clearly.

A bunch of gray hairs wriggling in the dark.

Squeak! Squeak, squeak–!

The number of rats was impossible to count. In the dark, their eyes glowed an eerie red.

“Human, human, human, human.”

“Food is here. Food is here. Food is here.”

Their voices craving for food came into my ears.

Soon, the pack of rats hiding in the shadows slowly began to creep out.

“Kyaaak! I-I’m going to die! If we stay here, we’ll all die!”

The dwarf standing anxiously said with a sharp scream.

With an annoyed look, Elizabeth, who was next to her, calmed her down.

“Don’t make such a fuss and just keep quiet. This isn’t a big deal.”

“L-lie! How can we fight against such a large number? I-I’m leaving! I’m leaving!”

The dwarf shook off Elizabeth and ran towards the boundary’s entrance we had just entered.

“Ugh!”

It was funny to see her run in a hurry and fall.

I could have stopped her halfway if I wanted to catch her, but I left that kind of fellow alone.

“Noah, is it okay to just let her go?”

“Well, she doesn’t have much use now anyway, and it would be troublesome if she had stayed. It was probably for the best.”

I guess she didn’t believe we were capable.

In fact, looking at the number of rats in front of us now, it wasn’t unreasonable to think so.

It was truly a rat horde.

Because of the vast number of rats, it had reached the point where the ground couldn’t be seen at all.

After the dwarf had disappeared through the boundary in a hurry,

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!

Not long after, countless numbers of rats began to swarm us at once.

Seeing such a sight, it was certainly warranted for the dwarf to have been scared. It looked as if a giant wave was flooding in.

I turned to Elizabeth.

“Huu…Noona, please protect Jane.”

“Okay! Leave it up to me!”

I immediately created a blade made of wind. A sharp wind spun atop my hand.

Squeak–!

The rats who had been running in front were instantly split in half, splattering blood on the others.

No matter how strong they had become after eating that unidentified crystal, at most they were just rats living in the sewers.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!

They rushed forward without hesitation even though they had seen the dead bodies rolling around right in front of them.

I continued to throw at them whenever that happened.

Squeak–!

They were constantly cut down. Blood spilled, and more and more corpses piled up in front of my eyes, forming a frontline.

However, they continued to rush in at the cost of their own lives.

No matter how fast they were being cut down, the number was so high that their distance gradually closed.

As a result, their frontline, which was pushed out little by little, had almost closed the distance.

I didn’t think I could deal with them using anymore. Realizing that, I clicked my tongue.

“…I didn’t want to get blood on me.”

Wuung–!

I took out Red Velvet Curse and cut down the fearless rats rushing in.

Squeak–!

With a stroke of my sword that was imbued with mana, dozens of rats were cut down.

The rats’ dismembered bodies piled up one by one in front of my eyes.

“Too disgusting.”

After an unknown time, the endless waves of rats stopped. What was left were countless rat corpses scattered everywhere.

A terrible stench stung my nose.

“It really stinks.”

I frowned and summoned Buldol and Alsun. They immediately began to eat the rats on their own without me having to tell him.

Meanwhile, as the bodies scattered on the ground were automatically sucked into their mouths like a vacuum cleaner I wondered if they had gained some kind of new ability.

A cave full of blood and stench was quickly cleaned up.

Maybe I could set up a cleaning company?

While I was looking at Buldol and Alsun with a pleased look, Elizabeth quietly walked up and handed me a towel.

“Are you all right?”

“This isn’t much. You’re making a fuss over nothing.”

I didn’t like the filth and blood all over my body, but the rats were no threat to me.

It was only troublesome.

“Hmm…these were the new clothes I just took out. It’s dirtied again.”

Come to think of it, it felt similar to how I had felt during the first round.

At the time when I was conquering the world with the demon army, countless guys would rush at me as the rats had earlier.

Although they weren’t like these clumsy rats, it could be said that they had gathered like rats.

While I was wiping away the blood, just in time, Buldol and Alsun had eaten up all the bodies in the area.

At last, the area where the rats had clogged up was revealed properly.

And there…

A large sarcophagus made of the red crystal.

Not only were there many talismans with unknown patterns attached to the sarcophagus, a red blood-stained rope was wrapped around it.

It was constantly giving off a sinister haze.

“This…?”

At a first glance, it looked ominous.

“Ah!”

Elizabeth, looking at the sarcophagus, quickly exclaimed.

“Noah! I found it! The energy flowing out of there feels the same as the curse.”

“Really?”

“Yes, yes! I’m sure! I think the energy flowing out of there is the cause of White Face.”

“Hmm…”

It seemed a part of the quest was solved.

I approached the sarcophagus that was exuding a sinister energy. Soon, I imbued mana onto my sword and slashed at it without hesitation.

Swiik–

Surprisingly, the seal that was protecting the sarcophagus was easily cut off.

Opening the lid of the sarcophagus, there was an unknown arm as dry as a mummy.

“Hmm…this…?”

An unidentified arm. However, looking at it like this, I could vividly feel the cause of the sinister energy was flowing from this.

Black malice was spreading in all directions to the point where my skin felt numb.

Red Velvet Curse was vibrating stronger than ever before. Soon, its information appeared.

Classification: Body 

Grade: S 

Description: The right arm with the power of Angra Mainyu.

“Huu…”

Although it was just a piece of body that had been cut off, the status window was recognizing it as an item.

It was also an item as much as S-Grade.

Ah…it would be a waste to just destroy it like this.

It seemed to be worth keeping…

However, in order to solve the quest, I had to destroy this…

Was there any way…?

When I was agonizing over it, all of a sudden the hairs on my body stood on end and I heard a voice from behind my back.

“You…Who are you?”

I quickly pulled out my sword and looked back. And there…

A monster whose whole body was covered in scales was looking this way in disbelief.