Villain Hides His True Colors - Chapter 47

Chapter 47

Booooom–!

Light exploded in the distant sky.

Dark clouds scattered in all directions, sprinkling thick snow, and early evening stars sparkled in the clear sky.

And at that moment, the large robot army abruptly stopped their advancements.

Crackle–Crackle–!

Increasingly deep blue sparks popped from their bodies, and soon, only black smoke leaked out from the interiors.

As they started malfunctioning, meaningless movements were repeated.

“Wh-what happened?”

“What’s wrong with them…”

The candidates, who were preparing for a desperate battle to the death, watched on with puzzled looks.

Meanwhile, some quick-witted people exclaimed.

“Oh…Maybe?!!”

“Electromagnetic pulse?”

Hearing the candidates, I smirked.

A powerful EMP that comes after a nuclear explosion. The resulting heat and excess current phenomenon was enough to destroy the internal circuits of all electrical devices.

As evidence, even the watches worn by the candidates were giving off black smoke.

Frankly, I was surprised by this.

In fact, I had just copied the method I had seen in a game before, and didn’t think it would succeed this easily.

As a result, the level of difficulty in targeting this raid had fallen as if a cheat code was used.

The robots’ mana cores still remained, but the circuit that controlled it was completely broken.

On top of that, their remaining mana was being used for self-repair, and all the barriers surrounding them like a coating had disappeared.

The robots here on this snowy field were nothing more than ordinary scraps of metal.

In other words.

Experience Event!

With mana circling my whole body, I ran forward before anyone else. Snow soared around me with each step.

Wuung–

As my sword let out an eerie cry on the snowy field,

Crack–!

The blade containing bright red mana penetrated one of the neutralized robots’ mana core.

And without slowing down, I immediately stepped on its shoulder and jumped into the middle of the enemy camp.

Boom–!

The mana core exploded one step later and a shock wave was transmitted from behind. Landing on the ground, I lowered my posture and ran in a straight line.

The malfunctioned robots in front of me were repeatedly swinging their swords.

Dozens of blades fell from above my head.

But…

< Phase Change >

*Gas

Those who weren’t using their mana cores properly couldn’t damage me at all.

And for such robots, this skill was enough.

< Vampiric Touch >

*Energy Drain

Turning into a red fog, I flowed like a cloud and began sucking in the surrounding mana cores.

Robots that had lost their power source collapsed to the ground one by one.

The more robots around me collapsed, the more mana was rushing into my body.

To digest the overabundant mana, I changed shape again and pulled out my sword. And then all the mana I’ve absorbed so far was assimilated.

Wuung–!

Red mana overlaid the blade of Red Velvet Curse. The concentration of mana became darker and darker, and finally it turned dark enough to look black.

The grip of the sword fluctuated wildly.

With my stats now…

Every stat was 4.0 or higher.

On top of that, Mana was inching close to 5.0. It was a force close to the peak of the Zenith stage.

So even if it was a bit forced, I should be able to imitate it to some degree.

I finally swung the blade of mana that had been compressed to its limits forward.

Swoosh–!

A black crescent shape began to stretch endlessly as it cut through the robots.

Swik–

Swik–

‘Sword Gust Blast.’

It wasn’t imitated perfectly, but thanks to the abundant mana contained in it, the robot army fell like autumn leaves.

Around me, a huge gap in the middle of the battlefield had appeared. And a pleasant message soon came.

Ding–!

[ Level has risen. ]

Haha, very good.

I couldn’t believe there was such an efficient leveling spot in the world.

Despite having cut many of the robots down, there wasn’t even any indication that the numbers had been reduced.

In addition, there was still a long time left before their self-repair was completed. So in the meantime, I have to gain as much experience as possible.

However, I shouldn’t eat this good thing alone.

< Twin Fire Eggs >

I summoned my cute children, Buldol and Alsun. A pair of red-hot eggs appeared on the snowy field.

“Go and eat as much as you want.”

My children started flying excitedly around the battlefield as they prey on the robots.

Looking at it, I felt full even if it wasn’t me eating.

Ding–!

[ Level has risen. ]

No, I was actually full even if I didn’t eat. The experience they earned seemed to be delivered to me as well.

“Let’s go and help him!”

“Oraaah! Break all the damn things down!”

Eventually, other candidates also joined the battlefield.

At other times, they wouldn’t have been able to touch my experience, but I decided to make a concession with a broad mind this time because I wouldn’t be able to finish it within time anyway.

Well, they shouldn’t die against these robots.

When I thought as such, a sharp woman’s scream penetrated my ears.

“Kyaaaak!”

I hurriedly turned my head with a pounding heart, and there, a naked woman without any clothes was seen falling from the sky.

Ah, right.

Examinee No. 04589 bomb girl, Saki. I was blinded by the Experience Event, so I had forgotten about her.

“Aahh! S-someone! S-save me!”

She struggled to live as she floundered her arms in the air.

Not a single more person can die here.

Furthermore, she was the number one contributor in this operation.

And I never abandon those who have helped me. For those who contribute, they should be treated accordingly.

I immediately summoned my familiar and sent it to her.

The cute baby angel gently accepted her, who was plummeting at a high speed…

Boom–!

“Keuk!”

She coughed up blood in the air and flew away.

The angel that was hit by the impact was summoned back, and I had no choice but to grab her who was falling into enemy territory.

“…”

She flinched with her arms and legs drooped.

Perhaps because she was naked, but it looked like a slug that had been sprinkled with salt.

“Hmm…”

Still, seeing her chest heave, fortunately, it seemed she was still breathing.

Well, she’s alive so it was fine.

Now, more importantly, the Experience Event. Before this Fever Time was over, I had to hurry and gain experience.

I carried her roughly on my shoulder and hunted the neutralized robots.

On the way, some robots had finished repairing and attacked, but fortunately, no deaths occurred.

“Keuh…Experience Events are sweet.”

After all the hunting, when Buldol and Alsun had absorbed all the wastes,

[ Level has risen. ]

[ Level has risen. ]

[ Level has risen. ]

.

.

.

I had reached as high as level 48.

* * * * * * * * * *

When the battle in the snow ended, before I knew it, everywhere was covered with darkness.

In fact, it was still only the afternoon, but the length of night was extremely long due to the high latitude.

In that darkness, the robot army marched at a rapid pace.

Although there were robots scattered along the way, they also had not recovered from the shock of the EMP, so it didn’t take much time to deal with them.

The lone robots fell one by one as we headed to the base camp.

Then, in the snowy field surrounded by darkness, the only bright area came into view.

“Th-that’s the place!”

The light pillar lit the surroundings of the base camp, making it as bright as day.

And inside the base camp, a giant robot I had seen during one of the tests the other day stood as if it were defending the four corners while the remaining robots surrounded it as if standing guard.

“Hmm…”

Observing them from afar, I was certain that the robots were still strange.

Their behaviors were just as unnatural as the other robots who were exposed to the EMP a while ago.

However, that giant robot could be a problem.

It was hard to tell anything from it because it just stood there like a stone statue and didn’t show any other movement.

Under such circumstances, it would be right to say that it was also affected by the EMP, but honestly, things couldn’t have gone so easily.

And most importantly, I’ve still yet to see Dr. Jaegal.

Despite our progress, there wasn’t even a shadow of the supervisor, the main culprit of this incident.

Soon, Mousin, who was hanging from a long pole, shouted.

“O-ominous. Ominous! If we go there, we’ll definitely die.”

“Ahjussi, you’re sensing it’s dangerous?”

“Yes…I can feel death clearer than ever. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever felt in my life.”

“Hmm…”

Regardless of anything else, this guy’s intuition was reliable.

If so, it would be best not to enter there, but I couldn’t give up the Challenge after having come this far.

I looked at the blue swirling portal in the middle of the base camp.

We just needed to run all the way over there somehow.

***

Reaper Scans

[ Translator – Yasi ]

[ Proofreader – Karane ]

Join our Discord for updates on releases! https://discord.gg/reapercomics

***

As soon as I thought about it over and over again, suddenly, someone’s voice came from inside the base camp.

“Hahaha…you’ve made it this far.”

“?!”

The candidates’ heads turned at once. And there, stood Dr. Jaegal in a white gown.

Somehow, his condition looked strange.

Obviously, despite looking this way, his gaze was out of focus as if staring somewhere far away.

He spoke in a relaxed tone.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect you guys to come this far, but on the other hand, I was desperately begging you to come.”

Was he trying to show off? After losing most of his troops in vain, Dr. Jaegal still had a smile on his face.

“What do you mean?”

“Hmm? You’re the one who dared to take the Sochungdan from me at that time. Hehe, this just happened to be the perfect opportunity. Even if it wasn’t, there was something I really wanted to show you.”

And soon, he began to take off his clothes.

The naked body of the ugly dwarf was clearly revealed under the light pillar.

“Hmm?”

Was that what he wanted to show?

Ridiculous.

I focused on his behavior and observed every move so as not to miss it.

Suddenly, the man spread his body wide and shouted.

“Now! Look at it clearly! My body!”

“Fuck!”

This son of a bitch was a pervert.

Somehow, I thought it was unusual since he was still wearing a bow tie, but he must be a very vicious pervert among perverts.

Soon, he quietly continued.

“Thanks to this hideous look, I had to endure the years of contempt, always being discriminated against.”

No, it was probably because he was a pervert.

Wuung—

I pulled out my sword. He shouldn’t be given time to play tricks.

“No matter how much I studied and developed my skills, other heroes were always rated higher.”

Mana was added to Red Velvet Curse, as it heated up red and let out an eerie aura.

“You think I didn’t want to learn martial arts? As an ordinary person, I was always envious of those who could learn martial arts! I hated your brilliant talent!”

There was no robot near him. Then, the opportunity was only now.

It should be possible.

I whispered quietly to the candidates behind me.

“Run straight to the portal when I give the signal.”

“B-but the supervisor…”

“I’ll figure it out on my own.”

“O-okay.”

The short war meeting ended. All that was left was the execution.

I had only one chance.

The distance from him was about 20 meters.

“But now it’s different. ‘That person’ had given me a new blessing. I can now use martial arts now! Euahah!”

< Wolf Hour >

*Charges remaining [0/3].

The world turned red. Even the snow falling from the sky seemed to have stopped.

I shot forward like lightning in the stationary world.

In an instant, the figure of the guy was just a step away. My blade, which had been injected with mana in advance, fell towards his neck.

Swish–!

Done!

His neck was certainly cut. The slowed time regained its original state, and I shouted to the candidates.

“Now!”

But at that moment, I was seized by a strange sense of oddity.

As if something was missing.

What was it?

And soon I realized the reason. There was no blood on my blade.

I immediately looked back. Blood wasn’t flowing from Dr. Jaegal’s body either.

“Haha… It’s useless. You’re trying to kill me with such an attack.”

Dr. Jaegal who was cut said.

“?!”

What was going on here?

Well, who cares.

It was complicated in my head, but if he wasn’t dead, I would just have to kill him again.

Wielding my sword, I ran straight at him. At that moment,

Boooom–!

Suddenly, purple ominous energy exploded from his body.

“Keuk!”

I was pushed back by the backlash, and my body rolled across the snowfield.

Meanwhile, from Dr. Jaegal’s cut head, bloody flesh began to grow.

“Look! This is the completed ultimate body!”

At the same time, robot parts scattered all around me began to stick to the chunk of flesh.

As such, he rapidly grew.

The hideous appearance was as if a hellish monster and cutting-edge technology had been combined.

And at some point, Dr. Jaegal had transformed into a machine in the form of a devil.

A purple haze swirled ominously around him.

“Hahaha…How is it? Isn’t it surprising?”

The moment I stood facing him, the thought that I could never win crossed my mind.

It was hard to breathe under the heavy pressure, as sweat flowed down my spine regardless of my will.

“…”

If his ability in numbers was recognized as A-Rank, now, as he had said, he alone was exuding the pressure of an A-Rank transcendent.

“This is the perfect harmony between technology and martial arts! There are already countless martial arts data stored in this body. Shaolin? Or fist arts? Tell me anything. I’ll show you it.”

I had a thought while looking at this guy who was drunk on his power.

Now was the only chance I had.

I immediately turned around and ran toward the portal. Fortunately, the others had almost arrived at the portal.

Circling mana around my whole body, I ran with all my might.

Then, at that moment,

“Where are you going like that?”

As I glanced back, I saw energy particles clumping together behind his back and forming something like that of a devil’s wings.

“You guys can’t run away from me.”

Boooom–!

A deafening explosion burst out. And when I came to my senses, he had already arrived in front of the portal.

This was really ridiculous!

I thought of all the cards I had in my head, but I couldn’t think of any ways to win.

The game balance was a mess.

“Think of it as an honor. You’ll be the first to see this body use martial arts.”

He pulled a beam sword from his waist.

Energy reminiscent of hellfire was burning around the beam sword. The appearance resembled the final weapon found in some FPS games.

Something…an answer…

There was a portal right in front of me, but I couldn’t overcome it and could only gradually retreat.

After stepping back little by little,

Thud–!

My back touched something hard. There was no place to back down anymore.

At that moment, a status window popped up in front of me.

< HK-MK02 >

Classification: Battle Mount

Grade: C (damaged, A-Grade)

Description: The body of one of the Four Heavenly King series created by the genius engineer Dr. Jaegal. Boasts durability as hard as earth.

“Hmm?”

Looking back, I saw the robot that I had damaged the other day.

“Hehe, yes. Come out from there one by one. I promise to let you live if you can take one of my techniques.”

“Ah…It’s over.”

“N-no, we still have hope…”

“What hope! How are you going to take a technique from that monster?”

The candidates began to criticize each other and bicker. Ignoring them, I looked at the robot.

This…was also an item?

Then maybe…?

“Okay, who will be first?! You, the black-haired boy! It’ll be your honor to be the first one to die.”

Boom–Boom–!

The giant mechanical devil approached me in stride. The ground tilted, and even breathing became difficult due to the pressure he gave off..

In that kind of situation…I took out some useful items and spoke quietly.

“Synthesize.”

As a result, the steel giant immediately began to emit light.

____