I Became the Leader of a Villain Organization

Chapter 22: The Protagonist (4)

“I like the look on your face when your hopes are dashed.”

With that, the man in a Germanic SS uniform laughed. A man who went by the name of Colonel Hydra Waltz.

“The face you make when everything you desperately believe in crumbles, when your hopes are betrayed!”

Colonel Hydra spreads his arms exaggeratedly and begins his villainous rant. I listened, and, without speaking, reached for the next cigarette from my bosom, which……was not there. No, it was here just now.

“Alas, you may take pride, for it is not an honor granted to all, but only to those who have ever believed in hope–who know the weight of despair when that hope is taken from them!”

In the aftermath of the shock, an unopened cigarette must have fallen somewhere. It must have fallen with the house when it collapsed.

“…….”

I spin around and stare at the butts that fall at my feet, but I have eyes to see, so I put up with it. My mouth is bored and by now, the villain in front of me is about three verses in.

“He who knows the beauty of hope, will surely understand the beauty of despair!”

No, he’s not done yet. He was just about to continue into verse four and five.

“So, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?”

The man in the SS uniform, Colonel Hydra Waltz, stopped his rant and looked over.

“Ho, ho, you’re not afraid, and you’re not surprised.”

“…….”

“There’s a part of you that believes otherwise, isn’t there, for example–that you’re an imperial pawn.”

Hella cleared her throat and looked away but I didn’t answer, just waited for his next words.

“I don’t know what you believe, but I’d call that a ‘hope’ too! I can’t wait to see the look on your face when that hope you believe in is shattered, trampled on, and you despair!”

Apparently, he wasn’t having any of it so I gave up trying to talk to him anymore.

I turned my head and looked at Hella beside me. She looked as desperate as Colonel Hydra had said.

“Why were you so desperate to hide the ?”

“Because it’s a magic book that should never fall into the hands of this country’s military.”

“I think it’s already in the hands of that colonel.”

“……Yes, it’s all over, nay, it was all over from the beginning.”

Hella laughed self-deprecatingly in the despair of having her life torn apart and denied.

“What the hell did I do, all this time…….?”

I said to her self-deprecating laugh.

“I’m going to make you an offer.”

“An offer?”

“Because you don’t seem like the kind of person who would break a promise.”

Her entire life was a testament to that promise, that was why I could trust her.

“I’ll take the out of his hands, place it in the safest, most trusted place in the world, and protect it. In return, you will tell me everything you know about ‘him’. Can you do that?”

I offer, and Hella gives me a look of incredulity. You’d think she’d say something senile.

“You guys……really, really work for the Breton Empire?”

“We don’t work for the Empire, or any country for that matter.”

“How can you say that-?”

“Believe it or not, we are free.”

I said.

“I could give you back the but whether or not something like this happens again is none of my business. Is that what you want me to do?”

“!”

A short silence descended.

“Are you sure you can……?”

Hella asked after the silence, her voice trembling.

“─Under these circumstances?”

In a voice of disbelief, not even believing in me but I can’t help it.

I didn’t answer, but looked around to see the power of the enemy ─ this situation she was talking about.

The highest level of command, the Day of the Dead, had unfolded and was still unfolding as an endless stream of the dead were crawling up from the cracks and crevices of the broken earth.

In addition to the Immortal Battalion, the Duchy of Germania’s vaunted armed gendarmerie, the nation’s most elite organization of commanders and the head of the Corpse Hawk himself were there.

He had also gotten his hands on a legendary grade magic book, the , which is said to be the ultimate in command skills.

I looked at the leader of the Corpse Hawks, Colonel Hydra Waltz, a man who was taking it easy, savoring the situation, not doubting his victory by even 0.1%.

I’ve heard the name of the Corpse Hawks over and over again. It’s an organization that appears in every series, and when it does, it’s 99% of the time a villain.

The organization is officially known as the Fourth Division (Amt.Ⅳ)-Secret Corpse Resuscitation Bureau of the Royal State Security Agency (RSHA). Commonly known as the Corpse Hawks.

But the colonel who leads it is a new face and the same can be said for Hella.

‘If you play the game normally, it’s an episode or quest that the protagonist will see in the new game.’

I had a general idea of the situation. Nothing was going to change.

“Please give the command-”

Aria leaned in beside me, her voice barely above a whisper. Not overtly revealing her identity, not even uttering the captain’s name. Silent, waiting for my command.

“You are not to touch anything.”

“Understood.”

I said.

It’s not that I don’t trust them. Rather, I trusted them too much.

“Looks like the tactical meeting is coming to an end, too. Ah, it’s been a long one, and sitting back and waiting isn’t as easy as I thought it would be!”

As I finished my thought, I saw Colonel Hydra watching me and smiled.

We’re getting closer and closer to the encirclement of the dead that surrounds us on all sides.

“Do you have any idea how to get out of this situation?”

“No…….”

I replied, the Colonel’s eyes widening in surprise at the answer, and Hella smiling bitterly at an outcome she hadn’t even expected. I didn’t care, and asked.

“Why should I get out of this?”

I have no secret plan to get out of this situation. I didn’t need to.

“Hmm, I thought there was a part of you that believed otherwise, that you were merely a member of a class that did not fear death.”

Colonel Hydra laughed.

“Well, that’s worse than I thought.”

The dead moved. Flesh, blood, and bone moved, joining the ranks of those still crawling endlessly up from the cracks and crevices of the broken earth.

Until they were a wall of death, united and closing in on all sides.

The Wall of the Dead, a wall of lion’s flesh and bone moved of its own accord. With each march, they weave their flesh into a tighter chain of flesh and bone.

There was no escaping the mountain of corpses.

“”

I stretched out my arms in silence before me and opened my mouth briefly.

The name of the river of wailing that flows through the Underworld, the frozen lake at the bottom of Hell in the New Testament.

“Magic, is it?”

“Ooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I love this!”

There are no additional attributes added because I have to save mana. Above all, there was no need to add attributes to the dead in this area.

It’s an area-of-effect spell that shreds Abyss’s level 150 Abomination into nothingness. There’s no doubt about its power.

“…….”

All I can do is just watch the sight of equal wide-area magic that must be learned through legendary grade grimoires colliding in silence.

“─”

– Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Frosty snow falls along the wall of death.

The wall of the dead, the chain of flesh and bone that binds them together, feels as if it will never crumble, and the first wind blows.

As the breeze lightly kissed the fleshy walls of the corpses, flesh tore, bones shattered, and blood spattered, as if struck by a mace.

Slipping through the cracks of the dead, the southern breeze seeped in, shredding, butchering, and devouring flesh, blood, and bone like a blender.

Each gust of wind danced like a breeze, releasing sword energy, carrying with it an outrageous cutting power and destruction.

Winds that topple mountains of death made of hundreds and thousands of corpses.

However, even all the winds that tore and shattered the barrier of flesh and bone were only a ‘slightly ferocious breeze’ in the face of the coming storm.

So, when I was waiting for the real storm to come, the storm suddenly stopped.

The storm that was supposed to appear and land beyond the horizon, beyond the sea, disappeared like a lie.  But still, with each exhalation, a breath, white and thin as ice, leaks out.

“Alas, thou art merciful.”

“Aah, what! I feel like I’m going to piss myself……ugh, ugh, ugh!”

“Hush, Alice. A lady should be a little more careful with her words.”

“─”

The sound of their voices seemed so far away but as far away as they seemed, Hella had to question what she was seeing.

Was this truly the work of a single mage?

And even if it was, how could a spell of such magnitude and power be unleashed with just a single word of chanting?

Before she knew it, the ground around her was frozen solid white.

The cracks and crevices of the earth have been filled with ice like a lid, trapping all the dead in ice crystals that would otherwise climb out of the ground.

And even this is only a small portion of the whale’s back peeking out of the water.

She only saw the tip of the iceberg.

So, what’s underneath, and what is she standing on?

A chill ran down her spine.

This is not humanly possible.

No, not even if it were possible–can you call a mage capable of such a thing a ‘person’?

“─”

Colonel Hydra Waltz was not much different.

“Ah, ah.”

He realizes that his teeth are chattering inadvertently and tries to stop, but his body doesn’t listen so he just stares blankly.

His face was as if he was standing on a dock and watching a tsunami coming towards him: hopeless.