The Villain Bought the Female Lead - Ch. 13
A sudden gust of wind blew, and the monster was swept away. The young girl, Freesia, thought it was just the result of the sudden wind. But no, it wasn’t. The presence of the woman holding a sword emitting a brilliant light immediately dominated the air in front of Freesia.
Blood sprayed and white hair fluttered. She gritted her teeth, and her eyes gleamed with a fierce intensity.
“Princess…?”
It was the woman her sister had recently become so enamored with, the one she couldn’t stop talking about. This woman, with beauty straight out of a fairy tale, wielded a massive sword and decapitated the monster in one swift motion.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, Freesia.”
Alicia, who had saved Freesia from the crisis, repeated her apologies. Her eyes quickly took in the horrific surroundings. Corpses were strewn about like ragdolls. One was Edel, who had just lost his life, and the other two were their parents.
“I’m sorry for being late… I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”
Alicia’s apology was not directed only at Freesia. She was speaking to all the villagers who had turned into corpses.
Alicia did not shed tears. She thought that shedding tears while having let them die would be akin to mocking them. Instead, she gathered all her strength in her eyes. In her eyes that burned like flames, more fuel was added.
Ssskkk.
The sound of withered grass being trampled echoed from all around. In the wide-open space, red monsters who had witnessed their comrade’s death were rapidly gathering.
Alicia raised her sword even higher. There was no hesitation in her movements. This might be the last time. She might really die. Though such thoughts crossed her mind, she moved even faster to shake them off.
Zing—!
Alicia designated a radius and cut down the monsters that crossed that line one by one. With each strike, a monster’s head fell with a thud. One could feel the vibration resonating from Alicia’s aura-enveloped sword.
One by one. The heads of the monsters that invaded the area fell to the ground.
At a glance, it seemed like she was holding her ground, but upon closer inspection, her continuous movements were rough. Unlike her usual graceful and smooth motions, each of her actions was overly forceful, sometimes drawing her body in.
Even now.
“Urgh…!”
After slaying one monster, she couldn’t seamlessly connect her next move and was pierced in the side by the tentacle of another nearby monster.
Alicia endured the pain.
Swish!
Then she cut off the tentacle and immediately charged forward, slicing the enemy’s neck.
[Groan.]
[Scream!]
[Growl.]
[Huh?]
[Gr-r-r-r—]
The more she killed them, the more annoying the sounds became. What initially seemed like a dozen monsters now appeared to be several dozen surrounding her.
Alicia did not stop moving. She faced all the enemies gathering around Freesia. She did not make more than two moves per monster. The speed at which they swarmed in was too fast. If she used more than two moves, Freesia and her own blood would soon spill all over.
Crack.
This time, Alicia’s rib was broken. She was hit by a charging monster. Even so, she did not stop her movements and continued them seamlessly. She stepped on the fallen monster’s corpse and leaped forward.
Whack.
After cutting down another monster, tentacles from two different monsters pierced each of her legs. She immediately severed them and charged again, but her speed and power were gradually diminishing. As time passed, the radius she was protecting shrank, and the monsters closed in.
“Grr, ugh…!”
The monstrous claw eventually reached Freesia. Freesia clasped her hands over her mouth, suppressing the scream that desperately wanted to escape.
Alicia knew what that gesture meant. She had experienced the same thing when she was young. That moment of watching her sister’s last moments in a narrow warehouse, trying to stifle her gasping breaths.
Leap!
Gathering magic at her feet, Alicia jumped and flew towards Freesia. Her actions were not driven by judgment or consciousness. Her body moved instinctively.
“…!”
However, Alicia’s desperate attempt did not reach Freesia.
Crunch.
The monster accurately bit down her flying body. The monster’s large teeth engulfed Alicia.
Snap.
Her bones shattered. Indescribable pain spread throughout her body. She wanted to scream out and express her agony.
Alicia clenched her teeth even harder, shoving her sword into the monster’s eye. Though her posture and strength were lacking, the sword easily pierced through. It was the only spot that could be stabbed without aura. With aura, it was naturally easy to pierce.
The monster screamed and spat out Alicia, whom it was biting.
Thud.
Covered in saliva and blood, she fell helplessly.
Her legs… no longer worked. The only things she could move were her hands. Dragging her body along, she tried to crawl towards Freesia, but soon, even that stopped.
The monster, devouring something greedily like it was enjoying a delicious meal, had blood all around its mouth.
Snap.
The sound of fragile bones being ground by teeth.
Alicia could no longer lift her head.
At the moment when her muscles trembled and an inexplicable feeling of elation surged through her body, as if the limits of her brain had been lifted—
Alicia met her death once again.
***
“Oh dear… thank you, beautiful young lady. Thanks to you, things have gotten much easier. Hm? What’s wrong?”
Alicia grabbed the village chief’s shoulder to stop him from acting. Through countless repetitions, she had learned that actions were more effective than a few words.
A stronger force than the shocks she had felt so far permeated her body. It started in her brain and tormented her entire body through her nerves. But Alicia was relieved to feel this pain now. It wasn’t the end last time. She had another chance.
As she calmly assessed the situation, she sensed things she hadn’t before. The unique mana that had been circulating in her body until now had completely disappeared. This time was distinctly different from her previous deaths.
She calmed her body by controlling her mana as if taking a deep breath. Then, she stepped forward to the threshold. And then. The grotesque creature that appeared.
[Growl—?!]
She cut it down in one blow.
“Oh, my goodness…! What on earth…! Y-young lady… just now…!”
Alicia responded calmly to the flustered village chief. She told him firmly that he should not come outside under any circumstances.
The village chief couldn’t understand the situation, but he had seen the monster that suddenly appeared and witnessed her skills. He nodded and decided to follow her instructions.
Alicia carried the monster’s corpse outside. Monsters were rushing in from a distance, shaking the ground like a swarm of clouds, but they hadn’t yet invaded the village. Luckily, the one that had barged into the warehouse seemed to be the vanguard.
Using her aura-wrapped sword, she mutilated the corpse. Blood splattered everywhere, and unknown organs and flesh were scattered.
She knew that witnessing the death of a comrade would provoke a reaction from them. Using this one corpse, she lured other monsters. And she turned the lured monsters into corpses to draw even more.
After finishing the mutilation, Alicia did not just wait around. Although some monsters were charging at her, others ignored her. In that case, she just needed to show them something more intense.
Shifting her weight forward, she sprang out.
Thump!
Alicia slid forward, fiercely colliding with the monsters. The muscles in her grip were not excessive. Her body burned hotter than ever, but her mind was cool.
Ssss.
Even her footsteps were different from before. Light as if dancing at a ball, but her penetration was fierce. She maximized her central and peripheral vision to gather all the information she could. Her hearing assisted her, aiding in the delicate tasks.
Ssssh—!
A growing ripple. Twenty slices, twenty necks. Alicia’s speed in slaying the monsters increased. She seemed to be quickly adapting to her movements, surpassing her limits.
Perhaps because she killed more than 20 monsters in an instant, she was attracting considerable attention from them. A significant number of monsters that had been attacking the village were now gathering around Alicia.
There was no such thing as order among the monsters. They didn’t spare their own lives. They just rushed at the opponent to attack. That was their way of thinking.
Alicia slaughtered the monsters swarming from all directions like ants. If she was at risk of being attacked, she widened the range of her sword strike to cut down two at once or used the momentum from dodging one tentacle to decapitate another.
When she was completely surrounded by corpses and incoming monsters, unable to move, she unleashed her magic like she did when she was in a pit of insects. This would push them back or temporarily halt their movements. She used that moment to continue killing and relocate.
Although it consumed a lot of magic, there was no choice. And unlike during training, the situation was different. Alicia was now constantly drawing magic from the air.
[Kreeeek—!]
The monsters screamed.
Suppressing her fear of them with anger, she realized that each one was no big deal. She could easily kill them using what she had learned.
However, the problem was their numbers. The endless swarm.
She was doing her best to attract as much attention as possible, but the influx of monsters didn’t stop. The village was already crawling with them.
Ssssh!
A sensation that was finally felt. A sharp tentacle brushed against her arm. Though she swiftly sliced the attacker in half, more of them rushed at her.
Boom-!
She had just unleashed her mana, but she had to use it again. The situation was getting increasingly urgent, and she couldn’t wait for her magic to fully recover.
She killed the monsters mechanically. Gradually, she moved more by instinct than consciousness, accumulating small injuries. Alicia tried to keep herself alert each time, but her stamina and mental strength were not infinite.
The sword she held grew heavier and heavier.
Monsters charged at her relentlessly. Four at once. In her current stance, it would be difficult to slash them while spinning. She needed to release her mana…!
Again, a blue light spread from Alicia’s body. The three monsters within her sight were pushed back, their movements restricted.
Wait, three…?
Where was the fourth one?
Thud.
Alicia nearly lost consciousness. The one that had charged from behind crashed into her with all its might. Alicia was flung high into the air, barely holding onto her consciousness, twisting her body to swing her sword.
Screech!
The monster’s neck was half-severed, emitting an ear-piercing sound. Her awkward position prevented her from delivering a killing blow. The wounded monster lashed out desperately with its tail like a whip.
The tail hit Alicia hard.
“Ugh…!”
Struck in the abdomen, Alicia’s mouth gaped open as her light body was hurled quickly over the monsters. The amber eyes of the creatures followed her. Some stood with their mouths open to catch her, others leaped with their mouths agape.
This was… death.
Alicia’s body began to succumb to it once more. In that fleeting moment, everything seemed to move in slow motion. Both herself and the leaping monsters.
She had faced death countless times, but this was the first time she experienced such a phenomenon. Perhaps it was something only felt when truly facing death.
No, no, no. Discard such weak thoughts.
“Ugh….”
Alicia moved her body. Time flowed so slowly that even though her airborne body seemed almost still, she strained herself to the brink of bursting.
Bit by bit, ever so slightly.
The sword moved. Slowly, towards the face of the approaching monster. But the monster’s speed was far greater.
As her sword advanced just a fraction, the monster drew three times closer. In this moment, where she wasn’t even sure if she was breathing, she fought with all her might to survive.
Then, something appeared in the corner of her vision.
It was round and white, something cold and light that would melt upon touch—a snowflake.
Not just a few, but a flurry of snowflakes, far more numerous than the monsters, falling from the sky. Looking closely, the surroundings were blanketed in snow. The place where she had been fighting, the distant stone walls—everything was covered.
She didn’t know when it had started snowing. She hadn’t noticed in the midst of the battle. Had she been too preoccupied to see?
Tuk.
A small snowflake landed in Alicia’s eye. It blurred her vision, preventing her from seeing ahead clearly.
The monsters were approaching. She had to stop them. If she died here, the villagers would all… all…!
Just then, something black appeared in her obscured vision. It came out of nowhere, as if conjured from empty space, looking directly at Alicia.
Sister… is that you?
In the recurring visions of her deaths, she often saw her sister, Charlotte. She would appear and disappear like a mirage, so it might be her.
It had to be her.
“You’re making that dumb face again. But, fine… I’ll overlook it this time in honor of your efforts. You pass, Alicia.”
For a moment, she almost stopped breathing.
The flow of time she thought had halted seeped into her lungs with a delicate breath.
The black figure in her vision blurred further, becoming completely distorted. She couldn’t discern its shape anymore. However, the more distorted it became, the more certain Alicia felt.
“Well done. To have come this far. You’ve exceeded expectations.”
A voice full of arrogance, looking down on others. A man’s voice, dripping with conceit.
Hearing that voice, Alicia forced her trembling lips to call out to him. The word, heavy with countless emotions, barely escaped her mouth.
“Master… Vargan….”