How to Survive as a Villain in a Novel

18 – Villain Punch

The Enrollment Ceremony venue.

As soon as Ryuseo enters, she looks around. According to the rumors, a shameless re-enrollment student is in this venue.

Her sworn enemy, Lee Han.

“…Where is he?”

Her lips, parched with excitement, slide over her tongue.

She intended to take her revenge slowly and painfully, yet she wished to give that brat a smack right away.

“Ah, shoot.”

But he is nowhere to be seen.

Did he notice and hide somewhere?

No, there’s no way he knows I exist.

I investigated him thoroughly, but he doesn’t know me.

That was one of the weapons Ryu Seoa possessed.

Around that time a thought struck me.

-A loud roar filled the air!

Suddenly, a golem erupted in the middle of the venue.

-Terror shrieks amplified the chaos!

The venue turned into a hall of horror in an instant.

‘What the hell is that!’

She first dodged towards the boundary.

Then she narrowed her eyes, glaring at the golem.

Something was strange.

‘I can’t sense any magic from that golem?’

Her mana sensitivity was at a genius level.

Maybe the golem doesn’t have magic in its core?

Why?

She couldn’t guess the reason.

However, she acted quickly.

“Horizon.”

So she tried casting a spell first.

A simple and destructive straight line fire spell.

-A deafening sound followed!

The wrist of the golem, which only showed mechanical movements, was severed.

“As I suspected.”

There’s no magic in the core.

It’s just a large walking corpse.

Why is it here?

Again, her reaction was faster than expected.

– With a rush!

At that moment she flew over the golem’s head to finish it off.

“!”

As she turned her head, she accidentally caught sight of him.

The sight of Yi Han.

– She gasped.

A corner of her heart was jolted.

The balance of the circles through which the magic power was flowing shattered.

The circle of the ‘fire’ attribute began to rage violently.

Extreme anger.

Ryu Seoa clenched her fist as hard as she could.

Even for her, a genius, it isn’t easy to operate two circles of different characters at the same time.

On one side, an archenemy. On the other, an immediate crisis.

‘The Golem comes first right now.’

Ryu Seo-a closed her eyes, composing herself.

She concentrated on the flow of mana within her.

She cooled the highly heated ‘Fire’ circle, with the ‘Wind’ circle.

A quickly recovering balance.

Had there been no ‘Wind’ attribute circle, she would have been burned by her power long ago when she was younger.

“Huuu…”

Having focused, she widely spread her mana reaction.

Simultaneously, she felt the strange external mana.

‘…What’s this?’

A limitless, grimy mana was subtly flowing around.

The destination of that mana was….

‘Golem?’

Opening her eyes, she scrutinized the Golem.

‘The core inside… is it gathering power secretly?’

A pitch-black energy converges in the Golem’s core unbeknownst to others.

The power is enough to blow away everything around at once.

The chill ran down her spine.

This.

It’s going to blow up soon.

“Dangerous!”

She raised her magical output to the maximum.

― Kkaddaddadak

The chilling sound formed by the collision of different mana circles within her.

Two mana circles collided, tearing her apart. But she can’t stop.

“Everyone, get out of the way!”

An urgent yell.

At the same time, she unleashed magic that enveloped the external of the golem.

― Kwaaang!

An immense shock resounded.

Thudding.

The subsequent shockwave and dust enveloped her.

Unable to respond due to the paused mana circles.

― Ziiiiiiing.

Even her screams.

Nothing could be heard.

The rigid floor.

Is she lying on the Golem?

She felt nothing.

However, one thing is certain.

… I couldn’t break the core.

I feel the golem recovering its core.

Just like this for 5 seconds?

I have to avoid it.

“…Ugh.”

Yet, my body won’t move an inch.

My vision is blurred by the scattering dust.

“…He. Help…”

No voice comes out.

Among the apprentices I’ve evacuated.

How many can make a situational judgment?

… Is it impossible?

Detecting the golem’s core in the first place.

It was only me.

In the end, the possibility converges to one.

‘I’m going to die.’

I haven’t even got my revenge yet.

The face of that damned brat, Lee Han, came to mind.

I finally met him.

I finally got to see his pain-stricken face.

I don’t know whether it’s tears rolling down or blood flowing from my torn forehead.

“…Die, Lee Han.”

I cursed through gritted teeth.

I cursed at the face of LeeHan that ascended like a revolving lantern.

“Please…”

If I could run the circle a little bit,

I want to tear this mirage in front of me.

It wouldn’t come out of my mouth.

“Die…”

“Don’t you like it?”

…Huh.

Why is the illusion answering back?

“I’m a little too young to die.”

Ryuseo-A slowly blinked.

“Lee Han?”

He was standing in front of me.

It’s not an illusion.

The face of the person I hate the most was there.

His mouth slowly opened.

“The woman trying to kill me isn’t to my taste.”

“……”

I hate her more…

“So. Instead, you die, Ms. Seoah.”

… How does he know my name?

Such a doubt only lasted for a moment.

A tremendous amount of magical power began to gather in Lee Han’s fist.

A vast amount of magic.

And its target point is precisely on his own head.

“Villain Punch.”

A power with such a trashy name.

So, I’m going to die like this.

Ryuseoah tightly closed her eyes.

* * *

‘… Huh?’

What is it?

I’m not dead yet.

Ryuseoah slowly opened her eyes.

Lee Han was still gathering his power.

‘…?’

In the meantime, her body had slightly recovered.

She gritted her teeth and rolled her body.

– Kwaaah!

In an instant.

Lee Han’s punch came crashing down.

Precisely where she had been.

Lee Han’s mouth opened.

“Oh, I missed.”

* * *

“Oh, I missed.”

I guess I gathered power for too long.

[ Remaining ‘Evil’: 0.2 / 12.31 ]

I’ve almost exhausted all of my evil energy, and Ryuseoah escaped.

Oh well.

There’s nothing I can do.

I really wanted to kill Ryuseoah.

How did she avoid it so agilely?

‘Darn. Darn.’

She’s indeed the number one promising rookie in Orbis.

She managed to dodge the genuine punch of a top-tier villain.

[The core of the Golem has been destroyed!]

The core of the wrong golem was destroyed.

– Squelch.

The golem that has completely stopped functioning.

[Scenario Quest: ‘The Corrupted Core of the Golem’ has been successfully completed.]

[Rewards will be issued! Shop currency (10)]

Thanks to this, I ‘accidentally’ completed the quest.

The penalty for villainy is…

‘None?’

Then again, it would be more absurd to receive a penalty in this situation.

From ‘my’ point of view, I merely failed to kill Ryuseoah.

It’s the same from ‘Ryuseoah’s’ point of view.

‘The gazes of others’ were blocked by the dust from the shockwave.

A smile crept to my lips without realizing it.

“hehehe…”

Meanwhile.

[Current Shop Currency: 10]

It’s shop currency that I’ve acquired for the first time in almost a year.

After the Orbis Gate Break, there was no significant scenario quest.

‘I received a penalty in exchange for clearing the quest at that time.’

Because everything I had collected was used to boost the growth rate of all senses excluding sight… This is the first time I actually received enough to use properly.

‘I love shopping.’

First class villain trait. Sincerely into shopping.

I’m already excited about what I can buy.

But.

– Crumble.

Cracks start appearing on the golem that lost its core.

I should start to back away.

However.

“…Ugh.”

Why is she lying like that?

Ryuseoah, laying on top of the golem’s head, seems quite unusual.

‘…Mana rampage?’

Did all her mana circles stop?

Her. Being a special constitution, she must cool down the ‘fire’ attribute circle to ‘wind’. The very reason why I grafted a circle onto her when she was young.

If the circle has really stopped, it’s quite dangerous.

In such a case, you have to forcibly inject mana to recover the circle…

But my power is essentially ‘evil’.

I can’t just inject it recklessly.

“Then.”

I quickly opened the ‘shop.’

[ You have purchased the Elixir of Automatic Restoration. ]

I bought an item that helps recover the mana cycle condition.

The problem is, to apply such an item to someone else, I have to make contact and hand it over.

“If Ryuseo-Ah were to appreciate this, I’ll definitely get penalized.”

Simply put, I must not give the game away.

Hmm.

After pondering for a moment, I went to her who was lying on the golem’s head.

In her eyes, which should be full of rage,

was a bit of doubt.

It was as if she wondered why hadn’t I killed her! Am I going to insult her! Mostly anger, but there was a hint of question in her eyes.

Hmm.

This won’t work.

Doubting the villain’s intention?

I then grabbed Ryuseo-Ah’s throat.

“Ugh!”

Her pale, slender neck was caught in my hand.

I then exerted force.

Strong enough to suffocate her.

“Ah…”

With the pain of oxygen deprivation so intense that she may not even realize I am pouring in the potion.

“No…”

A sound that should not come from her pretty lips was heard.

She, whose breathing was obstructed by a choked neck,

struggled to breathe by swallowing hard.

The more she did, the stronger I gripped her throat.

In her eyes glaring at me, tears welled up.

The anger in them looked so beautiful.

[ You have collected an explicit ‘evil’. ]

Ah, dangerous.

I hope she always looks at me with that expression.

Just as focus began disappearing from her eyes,

I released my grip.

“Kur…uk”

Would the potion have entered her by now?

“It was just a little mistake this time.”

It seemed like I would develop an unhealthy hobby if I enjoyed torturing her any longer.

“Don’t get up.”

I shoved her to the ground and left her behind.

The mess from the unexpected ‘Entrance Ceremony pop quiz’ was said to have been cleaned up by the professors who hurriedly arrived late.

Most likely, they watched from afar to surreptitiously assess the situation before rushing towards us.

But that’s not my business.

[ A new scenario quest has been registered. ]

– Freshman Welcome Party.

Shortly after the ‘Contaminated Golem Core’ quest was completed, a new quest was immediately registered.

Looking at the consecutive events,

I could definitely feel that the main scenario had genuinely started.

It was fine up until now.

As it was within my foresight.

But then.

– Crash.

I cleared the quest without penalty and let my guard down because the cooldown for ‘Restraint’ has also completed. It was my fault for not extending my senses and turning a corner.

“Ouch… Are you alright?”

She should have been thrown far due to her relatively slim physique, but

The girl who withstood the pain inspected my condition.

“Ahhh. Blood! Wait, wait. I’ll heal you right away!”

This student emits the scent of citrus, like that of Saint Anna Kirina.

Of course.

Being exploited by Saint Anna Kirina,

She’s the so-called ‘mana auxiliary battery’, the heroine.

The other ‘eye’ that the ＜system＞ uses to observe this world.

And then.

The ‘real saint’ counter to the created Saint Anna Kirina.

“…”

You, who should have been imprisoned and having your mana exploited.

Why the hell are you here?