The Villain Bought the Female Lead - Ch. 100
The center of the battlefield.
This place was somewhat removed from the crimson waves.
The ground beneath was not covered with flesh and bloodstains, but with a white snowy field.
What stained it were the traces of two beings.
[Why… why why…!]
Ami’s bloodless face twisted with rage. His eyes, torn apart by fury and inferiority, stared at Helion.
Fifteen years ago, he had definitely been the prey. He could have been easily hunted.
Therefore, he had left him to mature! To savor him better in the future!
Though he knew that humans could grow strong quickly, this was beyond reason. He had liberated his power.
Crrrack.
Ami’s teeth ground together as he lunged forward once more.
His entire body was armed in a shell, including a vicious-looking helmet, and his speed was lightning itself.
The scythe on his scorpion-like tail aimed for Helion’s neck.
But this too failed.
It was effortlessly blocked by the holy light shield that Helion had deployed.
[Prey, you’re a prey! Prey, I say!]
Ami’s violet mana flickered.
It was as soft as smoke rising from boiling water, yet as unpredictable as lightning striking the ground.
Ami, pouring out all his mana, pressed forward to break through the shield. Around Helion, spheres of magical energy created by Ami began gathering mana like planets attracting gravity.
[Helion, you are nothing but prey⎯⎯!]
At Ami’s shout, the mana shield protecting Helion shattered, and the magic orb, fully charged with energy, shot forward.
No matter how much a hero’s body had been trained over the years, the destructive force was strong enough to pierce through it in an instant.
Ami withdrew to avoid being caught in the shockwave.
But from within the aftershock, Helion walked out, unscathed.
Not a single wound.
Not even a scratch!
[This… this doesn’t make any sense, does it⎯?!]
Ami had been overconfident in his strength, boasting of his status as an Archbishop.
The title of Archbishop was reserved only for those chosen among the bishops.
Against their overwhelming might, most heroes were nothing more than prey.
The archbishops who had died so far had been overwhelmed by groups or slain after their weaknesses were exposed. No exceptions.
But Helion.
What was he?
The fact that he was blocking him, an Archbishop, all by himself was intolerable.
At the same time, he was enraged. No matter how strong he was, he was still human. A lowly creature! And yet, here he was, struggling against just one of them.
If only he could touch him, he could steal the soul within his flesh….
Then. Ami sensed it.
And so did Helion.
[What…? Why are <they>…?]
Something incomprehensible was happening.
It was a presence more ominous than even her own.
It was invisible, but its existence was undeniable in this space. While most couldn’t sense the mana, Ami and Helion could.
Helion’s once-calm eyes wavered slightly.
Ami saw it clearly.
He grinned and prepared to charge again.
Though the current situation was humiliating, he could endure it.
[Well, what do we do now?]
It seemed that the tide of the battle was about to change.
***
Hmm, was there really no further twist?
This was strange.
The flow of this battle was significantly different from previous ones. While I should be pleased that things were progressing smoothly, I felt a certain sense of dissonance.
It was flowing too smoothly.
[Keerrrk, kerrrk!]
As I continued experimenting with curse magic, such as weakening and decay spells, on the approaching priest-level enemies, I surveyed the battlefield once again.
None of Helion’s team members had been injured yet. Finn looked particularly rough, but that was about it.
Ami and Helion’s battle at the center also leaned in Helion’s favor. As expected, Helion, that monster, was overwhelming Archbishop Ami, even after his full liberation.
Meanwhile, the additional participant, Frikkanrisk, was effortlessly crushing bishops and freezing singular entities into pieces.
At this rate, the heroes would soon claim a clean victory without any casualties. On the other hand, Altife would be completely annihilated.
A stabilized battlefield.
A guaranteed victory.
Yet, this current unease was more of a gut feeling than a precise judgment.
The future win was certain. But… something felt off.
Everything was too intact, too perfectly in place, which made it feel unstable.
Not a single unexpected variable had appeared.
I at least expected Cardinal Beleth’s bishops or another Archbishop to show up….
[Kreee⎯⎯!]
I tore a gaping hole in the chest of a giant Altife that had been acting arrogantly in front of me. I used my familiar, Taesan, another large-bodied creature.
Taesan’s power output was nearly perfectly calibrated.
… this part was good, but.
‘Something is definitely wrong.’
I cast a curse on the priest-level enemies trying to attack me, creating a wall. They would serve as a barrier against the oncoming red tide.
Even if it was just a hunch, I needed to verify it.
Every problem started with doubt.
Wooo⎯
I gathered my focus and drew in mana.
I imbued the gathered mana within my imaginary heart with a specific attribute. This would allow for interpretation, a characteristic aligned with curses. It was a trait that pierced through the essence of all things.
The magic I was about to cast was intended to detect and potentially break any curse magic that might be affecting me.
… just in case.
Normally, I specialized in familiars and curses.
Despite having reached a high rank in curse magic, becoming adept in understanding it…
If someone had placed a curse on me that made me see an illusion… that small chance had to be confirmed.
Since I had strong resistance to curses, unless it was an incredibly high-level one… if it wasn’t Helion’s specialty, I should have noticed it immediately.
Yet, I checked.
Because I knew of <her> existence, the one capable of trapping me in such a snare, I couldn’t rule it out completely.
As the refined mana traveled through my imaginary veins and spread to the ends of my body…
Reality revealed itself.
“Well… damn. The worst scenario came true.”
I muttered unconsciously.
A high-level curse had indeed been cast upon me.
It was a formula so complex that even someone with an exceptional mind and abilities would need time to solve it, especially since it was a format I had never seen before.
Without any hesitation, I began to solve the formula quickly.
I infused magic into the formula, altering its form and deriving a new equation.
Each formula had its own answer.
The current formula’s answer was <imprisonment> and changing that required the rules of a penetrating equation.
It was not something that could be resolved simply by understanding the curse and the formula. In fact, recognizing it only granted you the right to face the problem.
After several failures, I finally managed to discover the rule. I altered the formula according to the discovered rule.
The answer derived from the modified formula was <liberation>.
This became the key to escaping the prison I was trapped in.
It was fortunate that I had the relic with me. Otherwise, it would have taken much longer.
I took out the dagger I received from the church. I poured the deciphered mana into it and drove it in.
Crash⎯!
The world that had surrounded me shattered. It fragmented and disappeared, as if a hammer had struck a window.
***
And then, the truth that had been hidden behind it came into view.
It sent chills down my spine.
It was a sense of urgency I hadn’t felt in a long time.
“Frikkanrisk.”
The divine beast of winter was in a wretched state.
She had been protecting me in accordance with our contract. As one of the Twelve Divine Beasts, she wouldn’t have easily been overpowered, even by someone like Ami, but she had been utterly devastated.
Blood spurted out of her mouth along with a few words.
“Human. So… you’ve finally awakened.”
The divine beast that had been protecting me while I was under the curse. Besides her, there were four corpses of heroes from Dortmund scattered around.
I said <scattered> because while some of them were still recognizable, others were so mangled that it was hard to identify them at a glance.
What I had been experiencing was an illusion.
In the grand scheme of things, Dortmund still had the upper hand. But right here, the situation on the left flank was horrific. We had taken severe damage while I was under the curse.
A curse.
A curse…
I had anticipated it, but if I hadn’t been suspicious, I wouldn’t have even noticed the difference. Even with my level of comprehension…
It was a scenario I had considered least likely.
Now that the worst-case scenario had arrived, I found myself becoming more composed, analyzing the situation more quickly.
[…….]
There was a woman.
A woman with silver hair that must have shone brightly in the past, but now looked dull and lifeless.
Her deep blue eyes were filled only with darkness, devoid of any light. It was as if she rejected the idea of containing all things within her gaze.
Though she had the appearance of a human, her body was grotesque in many places. Her legs and arms were covered in bulging veins, and her skin was unnaturally pale, like that of a corpse.
She was the one who had cursed me.
Despite her delicate frame, she wielded a massive great sword that matched her own size. The sword was decorated in a macabre manner, with skulls attached to it, much like the scythe of Ami or Zagan.
When our eyes met, she realized I had broken free from the illusion. She lightly swung her sword in the air and took a stance.
The weight of the sword meant nothing to her.
“Human… run away.”
Frikkanrisk, staggering, pleaded with me, her voice tinged with desperation. It wasn’t because she had any special feelings for me; it was because it would be problematic if I, the one who had to fulfill the contract, died.
But the gaze she fixed on me, as if seeing her son through me, seemed sincere.
“……”
Frikkanrisk was my insurance. My personal safeguard against unforeseen situations. She had fulfilled her role meticulously.
I could say with certainty that if it weren’t for her, I would have died here.
Dead.
Or perhaps I would have wandered forever in the illusion, not even realizing I was dead.
“Can’t speak, I guess?”
Ignoring Frikkanrisk’s concern, I addressed the woman exuding an ominous aura.
She didn’t say anything.
To be precise, she couldn’t.
She couldn’t feel any emotions, and she wasn’t allowed to.
Her body and emotions were no longer her own. After a certain incident, she had lost all control over herself. That was how she became the person she was now.
Run away and leave her behind?
Sorry, but I couldn’t do that.
It was questionable whether I could even escape from this place, but even if I did, the tide of the battle would completely shift, leading to our defeat.
Even if Kshanoll and the others on the right flank of the battlefield joined forces, it would still be a problem. No matter how strong they were reputed to be, there was no way they could defeat her.
“I really didn’t want to meet you this soon… but it can’t be helped.”
If I at least had something like the disposable magic amplification ring I used when I captured Zagan, it would have been better, but now I have nothing.
I had to face her with just the consumable relics that helped counter the curse and my own abilities.
What I had to achieve wasn’t defeating this woman. It was holding out. I needed to keep her occupied, even though she surpassed me in both cursed magic and physical abilities.
‘No, it’s strange to say I’m holding her off. After all, she’s here to target me.’
If she were a hero, she would have been known as a magic sword master of great renown.
She would have stirred up the church, pushed her way forward among the esteemed heroes, and might have caused a major upheaval in the hero rankings.
She charged at me.
She moved so fast that I could barely see her, leaving only an afterimage.
“Fine, let’s see what you’ve got. After all, I’m the only one who can handle you!”
If I hadn’t read the original and known her weakness, I wouldn’t have been able to show such bravado.
Her dull silver hair fluttered as she moved.
She was an opponent I couldn’t defeat in my current state, the archbishop of the Goddess Church, Salecius.
And once, she was human and a potential hero.
⎯The older sister of Alicia, who was once called Charlotte.
Her emotionless blade gleamed menacingly.