Although a Villain, My Wish is World Peace

After clearing away all the black sand blocking my view, the devastation around me came into full view at once.

Not only the corpses of magical beasts and skeletons that had rushed at me and been pierced by ice spears, but where bone bombs had exploded, craters large enough for several people to fit in had formed.

Looking at the ashen ground scorched by magic power, I let out an empty laugh. Seeing it like this, it felt like I had fallen into the middle of a battlefield. The scene before my eyes was such a mess it was hard to believe it was created by just two awakeners.

Well, both Han Seo-hyeon and I used techniques pouring out magic power without holding back, so I suppose it’s natural.

I raised my trembling body.

There’s no time to relax. As time passes, this area will be covered in sand again. And Han Seo-hyeon will hide again.

So I need to find Han Seo-hyeon now while the view is clear.

“Ack.”

But my body wouldn’t move as I wanted. Ray quickly asked me as I staggered:

—Are you okay?

I wanted to answer that I was fine, but how could I be? As always, the price for raising the output was certain. Perhaps because I had used mana from mana stones with a body that was already not in good shape, even the slightest movement felt painful as if my whole body was being stabbed by needles.

—You, you!

Ray made a fuss. Ah, I wiped the warm liquid flowing from my philtrum. Earlier I had vomited blood, but now it was a nosebleed. Perhaps because I had overused mana, my mana circuits were overheating, and my whole body was burning with fever.

‘When I quit Weltschmerz and retire later, maybe I’ll start a hunter academy.’

Look at Han Seo-hyeon. When he first came to me, he could barely summon a few rats, but now he’s become such an amazing hunter.

Maybe I have quite a talent for raising people?

—Is this the time to make jokes!

‘Haha…’

I chuckled. If I didn’t make jokes like this, the pain throughout my body would be unbearable. I felt like I wanted to rip out the nerves feeling pain in my body and send them somewhere far away.

I desperately continued my thoughts.

‘Well, even without me, Seo-hyeon would have become strong somehow. Still, it’s a bit embarrassing to be beaten by the staff I gifted him.’

—Right, it’s embarrassing. So focus and get your act together. Unless you want to die at the hands of your cherished subordinate.

‘That’s right, I need to pull myself together.’

My reason flickered momentarily from the extreme pain. I just wanted to lie down and spout nonsense, but I can’t do that.

First, I need to find Han Seo-hyeon. I forced my eyes that wouldn’t open properly to blink wide.

Past the corpses strewn about, piles of bones, craters, and blackened trees, next to a rock.

Han Seo-hyeon was there beside that rock.

After fighting that guy for a long time since coming here, I could finally face Han Seo-hyeon.

The distance between Han Seo-hyeon and me was only a few dozen meters.

I swallowed my breath as soon as I saw Han Seo-hyeon’s appearance.

“Seo-hyeon-ah.”

Of course, there was no answer to my call.

I didn’t expect an answer either. It’s just that the moment I confirmed Han Seo-hyeon’s face, his name escaped like a groan.

Han Seo-hyeon’s face was as pale as a corpse, kneeling with his eyes closed and staff extended forward. Han Seo-hyeon’s body, half-submerged in the black sand flowing from the staff, looked in poor condition even at a glance.

The blood vessels standing out prominently were filled with a dark energy, and his lips were also dyed black.

It was like looking at a mana poisoning patient.

—It can’t really be mana poisoning. Han Seo-hyeon is an awakener with high-grade talent.

‘No matter how much of an awakener he is, if his ability is abused like this, his body will break down.’

As expected. Han Seo-hyeon’s body, which had been extracting magic power without proper rest for days, was already abnormal.

The mana stone that had fused with Han Seo-hyeon’s body was extracting magic power without any consideration for Han Seo-hyeon’s body.

At this rate, he’s no different from a filter extracting the magic power contained in the mana stone.

I was furious enough that my eyes rolled back in my head.

How dare you make Han Seo-hyeon like this?

Fortunately, the culprit behind this was right nearby.

Behind Han Seo-hyeon was a strange monster that looked like a transparent planarian. About the size of a kindergartener. With shining white wings attached, it was gently swimming through the air behind Han Seo-hyeon, looking at me.

The two black dots on its face resembling a ray made the already pretty creature look quite cute.

It was ironic. That such a horrible deed was committed by something that looked so adorable.

The moment my eyes met the creature’s black pupils, the system informed me of its identity.

「You encounter the ‘Deceiver’.」

The fact that such a thought was heard means this creature’s identity is quite special.

Well, it would be a problem if something that can freely manipulate awakeners’ minds was ordinary.

The Deceiver, huh.

‘This is a monster I’ve never seen before.’

—Same here.

Unlike Ray who has a detachable memory that brings up useless information whenever needed, it was very unusual for me to encounter a monster I had never seen before.

That’s because I graduated from Babel Academy, considered the best in Korea. Although my evaluation there was the worst, I practically lived in the library and read almost every book there.

But this is the first time I’ve seen something like this.

‘It doesn’t matter what it is.’

Whatever it is, killing it is enough.

The Deceiver, huh. I’ll take your life as punishment for deceiving us. The Deceiver, fluttering its small wings behind Han Seo-hyeon, smiled at me.

“Yeah, I’ve decided to tear you to shreds.”

Before I collapse, I need to somehow take down that thing.

If I can just take down that thing, I can turn this situation around right away.

As the Deceiver’s body flashed, Han Seo-hyeon’s magic power started moving. Seeing the black magic power starting to gather again, I muttered a curse.

If sand spears fly at me again when I can barely stand, that will be the end of everything.

“Ptui.”

I spat out the blood that kept rising from inside. My body is already at its limit. If I hadn’t been gradually recovering my body with super regeneration in between, I would have collapsed long ago.

But the situation isn’t bad. Haven’t I finally found a way to end this nonsense?

I grabbed a mana stone with trembling hands. Ray spoke in a horrified voice, having read what I was planning to do just from that small action:

—You can’t mean…

‘It’s all over now.’

—You won’t be able to handle it.

I know too. What happens when I use high output consecutively. There’s a reason I don’t use over 70% output. Because I really feel like I’ll die if I do it repeatedly.

But…

‘It’s right in front of me.’

I inserted the mana stone into the bracelet. And immediately drew up magic power.

The magic power spreading from the bracelet became white lightning crackling at my fingertips.

The lightning from my fingertips immediately flew towards the Deceiver. Han Seo-hyeon slammed his staff on the ground.

The lightning I summoned flowed into the ground along Han Seo-hyeon’s sand.

The Deceiver was still gently swimming behind Han Seo-hyeon, looking at me. Would it be an exaggeration to feel like those round eyes were mocking me?

Yeah, you can block my attack once, and maybe twice.

Just as my body is a mess, Han Seo-hyeon’s body is also a mess. No matter how much magic power I invested to clear the surroundings, the fact that everything is so clean now means Han Seo-hyeon is also too exhausted to summon much sand again.

Which means…

I fired lightning repeatedly. The speed of lightning is like light. The movement of sand was inevitably slower than that.

Each time I fired lightning, the amount of black sand protecting the Deceiver could only decrease.

And when the amount of sand noticeably decreased, I raised the output to maximum.

I gathered magic power again and again to the point where the surrounding air changed. The magic power assimilated to me instantly changed the nature of the magic power in the surrounding air.

The moment my hair stood up from static electricity, I snapped my fingers.

At that moment, the lightning became a huge light flying towards the Deceiver.

The lightning I summoned immediately struck the Deceiver. Lightning crackled around the Deceiver’s body and its body twisted.

The Deceiver fell to the ground making a strange sound.

It was pathetically weak.

It was a fragile and shoddy creature that was hard to believe caused all this. As soon as the sand protecting it disappeared, it fell ridiculously easily.

It’s done.

The Deceiver collapsed, and Han Seo-hyeon fell to her knees. I smiled seeing that sight.

But what I didn’t expect was… that the Deceiver had also prepared an attack while defending.

“Kuhuk.”

After coughing up blood, I slowly lowered my gaze. A sand spear was stuck in my side.

Damn it.

Only then did I feel tremendous pain. My vision tilted. I collapsed to the ground.

—Wake up, wake up!

Ray’s voice belatedly rang in my head. Ray’s voice that I couldn’t hear due to tension now finally reached me.

‘You should have… told me earlier.’

—I did! I did! You weren’t sane enough to hear it!

Ah, this isn’t good. My vision was gradually turning black. I felt my clothes getting soaked with blood flowing from my side.

Sacrificing flesh to gain bone was a strategy I often used, but I was caught by that Deceiver in exactly the same way.

The white Deceiver was trembling, but unlike me who had taken critical damage from this attack, that thing’s body was still intact.

Though it was trembling from the shock of being struck by lightning, it meant it was still properly breathing.

‘I must kill it…’

I tried to somehow squeeze out mana, but with my gradually fading consciousness, I couldn’t produce anything.

I needed to at least properly feed that thing a magic bullet or something…

—Don’t lose consciousness. Hey? Are you listening to me?

Ray’s words gradually faded away. I tried to answer something, but my thoughts wouldn’t connect properly.

Gradually, even the pain faded.

I was just sleepy.

At that moment, something appeared before my blurry eyes.

It was the white skeleton I had suspected to be Han Jo-hee.

That skeleton, which hadn’t shown even the tip of its nose until now, suddenly appeared between me and Han Seo-hyeon.

Whatever summoned that, it probably wasn’t the Deceiver or Han Seo-hyeon. They should be in disarray from the lightning I fired.

I had never heard of skeletons moving freely without a necromancer’s orders, but originally this skeleton was an oddball that would occasionally pop out when Han Seo-hyeon lost consciousness.

Why, and why now of all times, did that thing appear?

The white skeleton stepped forward.

It moved towards Han Seo-hyeon and raised its hand to pat his head. But that was only for a moment.

Raising its fist, it struck Han Seo-hyeon’s crown.

Puk, hearing that quite painful sound, I chuckled.

“Ah.”

That must have hurt quite a bit.

With that thought, I lost consciousness.