Fated to Be Loved by Villains
chapter-184

Pack, was known as a large Demonic Creature, but it actually couldn’t be considered as that in terms of size.

Of course, those wolves were still as big as a family house, but considering how most of the large Demonic Creatures I had encountered so far seemed like they would be able to undertake a siege whenever a couple of them gathered, it felt like a reach to put Pack in the same category as them.

Still, these punks were categorized as such for a reason. Because they always worked in groups, their combat power was beyond that of medium-sized Demonic Creatures.

They were natural hunters, perfectly fitting with their wolf-like appearance.

Their claws could easily tear up even hard steel. They were swift and durable enough to chase their pursuers until hell froze over. Not only that, they had a strong sense of smell that could easily locate their hiding prey.

To fight against these things while my abilities were fucked over by the Nullifying Shroud wouldn’t be easy.

“Kill me gently—!!”

Not to mention that I…

Was rushing into them naked.

To those Demonic Creatures whose staple food was human blood and flesh, I probably looked like a well-butchered meat served directly into their mouths.

“...?”

Because of the absurd situation, their eyes went blank for a moment, but they still ultimately followed their instinct.

System Message

[ A moment of danger has been detected ]

[ Determined the situation as life-threatening. ]

[ Skill: Desperation raised to EX-Grade. ]

Not long after, they showed their aggression. One of them, with yellowish saliva dripping out of its mouth, immediately charged at me.

Wearing a fierce look, it swung its front paw at me with a strong enough force that could smash rocks to pieces.

-!

-!!

Alright.

As I was smacked by its front paw and flew into the air, I let out a sigh of relief.

Half of my plan was completed the moment these fuckers were completely focused on me.

The worst case scenario here would be if they completely ignored me and ran toward the others. In that case, I’d need to retreat immediately or die after failing to.

This might sound strange, but, thank God I charged at their asses after taking off all my clothes.

If I was an ordinary person, I’d be split in two as soon as they hit me, but thanks to Desperation, my durability was increased significantly.

[ Mastery Info ]

Mastery: Iron Man 鐵人

Grade: Common

Proficiency: 0%

Description: Warriors of the Tribal Alliance repeatedly put themselves in extreme situations in order to constantly train their ability to react to such situations. It is very risky, but effective.

[ ■ Endurance to various injuries and pain is increased. Reduces the intensity of pain and allows for easier movement even when severely injured. ]

[ ■ Recovery becomes much better than when in a normal state. ]

[ ■ In cases of fatal injuries, sensation of pain are blocked, increasing survival chances. ]

[ ■ Effects are proportional to the Endurance stat. ]

System Message

[ Fatal injury detected. ]

[ ‘Mastery: Iron Man’ blocks the sensation of pain. ]

And there was also this Mastery.

Like I said, at the moment, Desperation enhanced my durability.

Unlike the others, Desperation and Mastery wasn’t considered as Special Power.

In other words, though I couldn’t use Law or Divine Power, I could still fight with my physical power.

“...Hmph!”

Also, all I needed to do was to hold on for as long as I could.

While deflecting the wolf’s attempt to strike again with its front paws, I took its attacks as ‘gently’ as possible.

If I continued to hold out for a long while like this, other Demonic Creatures would likely join one by one to help their comrade who seemed to be struggling alone.

And that was precisely what I was aiming for.

So that a bunch of them come at me all at once.

[...So, why are you doing this, again?]

No time to explain. Later!

[Is there even a way to survive in the first place?!]

“...”

Come to think of it, this person also had a side where what he said differed from how he actually felt.

On the outside, he might have seemed like he was criticizing me, but he was actually worried about me inside.

Of course there is.

I believed in this world.

Well, to be more precise, I believed in this world that was built upon the foundation of the game system that was Savior Rising.

Because both this world and the game always used the same ‘rules’, at least in the weird parts.

That was why…

My plan was going to work.

As I thought so, I looked at the Pack who was coming at me.

“...”

The longer I held on, the less parts of my body that retained its senses.

System Message

[ HP below 1% ]

[ You are on the verge of death! ]

Even though such a message popped up…

Even though I was scared…

I will hold on.

Until all of the Demonic Creatures around gathered here.

And…

As soon as I was sure that they had all gathered…

“Now!”

I shouted.

That was the ‘signal’ I told the others that I would let out before I came here,

As I did so, I activated the built-in skill of the Soul Linker.

< Item Info >

[ Soul Linker ] [ Exclusive Equipment ]

[ Enchantment: Epic ]

[ ‘Hero Shard’ Fusion ] [ ‘Evil Essence’ Fusion ]

◎ Built-In Skills ◎

■ [ Image World ] [ Skill Grade: A+ ]

[ Summon a Spirit Body to create a unique domain in the surrounding area. Within the domain, certain abilities possessed by the Spirit Body can be used. As further levels of consciousness unlocks, the range of the domain and the number of abilities that can be used increases. ]

{ Current Available Abilities }

[ Mastery: Solidarity ]

[ To a knight, comrades are family. You can partially share the buffs applied to yourself with nearby individuals.]

It had been a while since I last used this skill.

In any case, it was the perfect skill to use here.

As Desperation was applied to others, Caliban’s Image World was displayed in that instance.

System Message

[ HP 0%! ]

[ Entering a state of suspended animation! ]

As such a message popped up in front of me due to the injuries I received…

And as my eyesight slowly became dimmer…

-!

-!!

-!!!

My entire field of vision was engulfed by the sword wind swung by Iliya.

The first thing I saw as soon as I came to my senses was the sight of Iliya pouring potion on me with teary eyes.

“...Are you crazy?!”

“...”

Stop shouting. My head hurts.

I struggled to get up before examining my body.

Even after all those injuries, I became able to move again just from her spraying me with a recovery potion.

Vive la Iron Mastery! This kind of recovery is inhuman, sheesh.

That aside, Iliya was glaring at me with a really, I mean, REALLY fierce look.

“Why did you suggest us to do that?! You almost died from that!”

“...U-Um… J-Just because?”

Completely flustered, that was the only answer I could say.

Well, technically, I died once, since you know, I entered the state of suspended animation and all that because my HP dropped to 0%.

“I mean, I already planned on doing it from the beginning.”

“...What?”

“I told you that I’d probably die once, no?”

“...”

I went through all that effort of gathering every one of the Demonic Creatures in one place, thus creating a golden opportunity. So, how did it make any sense to miss such timing just because I got swept up? Nah, you have to seize the moment I made, right?

Like, that was the reason why I charged at them naked and attracted their attention in the first place.

To create the ‘opportunity’ for Iliya and Faenol as they gathered in one place to attack me.

‘So that it would be easy to defeat’ those guys.

You gamers would know the strat. It was called ‘aggroing’.

Those fuckers were agile, so if we didn’t gather them in one place and deal with them at once like that, they’d be really hard to deal with.

Furthermore, no matter how strong my stats were, the situation was urgent. I had to risk my HP dropping to the brink so that my simple, yet foolish scheme of keeping them in one place while getting them to attack me could proceed successfully.

[...I don’t think you’re supposed to defeat those guys in the first place, though.]

“...”

[Just think about it. Fighting them head on is equal to suicide. What they wanted you to do was probably for you to hide and avoid those guys to the best of your abilities. I don’t know why they went this far, but if we think about the Ordeal, chances are they want you to avoid those guys.]

He was right.

But as I said earlier, I needed to make Iliya stand out to send her to the Last Ordeal.

Just hiding while focusing on our survival would be a little… You know…

That wouldn’t guarantee us to stand out.

Because it wouldn’t be cool.

[...You crazy motherfucker…]

“...”

[I swear you’re the only motherfucker in this entire continent who’d risk his own life to make someone look cool. Seriously, are you actually just suicidal?]

“...”

[The worst thing is that you wouldn't even make her stand out that much. You’d gather all the attention, you crazy motherfucker.]

Wait a fat moment.

How the fuck would it even work out like that?

As I was flustered by what Caliban said,

Iliya, Talion, and even Faenol who were in front of me, looked at me in shock.

“...”

Why are you guys looking at me like that?

We succeeded, so it’s all good, isn’t it?

“Y-You know, last time I did this, I found out that...”

I blurted out, forcing a smile to liven up the bizarrely dark atmosphere.

“It was okay to be dead for 10 seconds in a state of cardiac arrest.”

This was something that I experienced a few times in the game. I learned that it could also be applied here when I was split into two by Yuria.

Apparently, even though my HP dropped to 0, I could come back to life as long as I could breathe before I died for real.

Since I survived this time, that rule had been proven once again.

“...So,”

Iliya said with a groan.

“Are you saying that it is A-OK as long as you don’t die? Even if you end up being no different from a corpse? What if, by a one in a thousand chance, something goes wrong?”

“Why would I even think of failure? It’s something involving you, you know?”

“...”

I put a thumb up while grinning.

“Even if I die, I’ll make it a success.”

“...”

Hearing me saying it as if it was a natural thing to say, Iliya grabbed her own head.

She looked like she was agonizing, not knowing where to start.

“...Excuse me, Teach.”

“Hm?”

“We have talked about how you used Lana like an object before, have we not?”

“...Yeah, we have?”

She approached me, who was staring at her confused, and held my shoulders.

“Sorry for what I said back then.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your humanity hasn’t been worn away. You’re just a true lunatic who thinks that anyone who is capable enough could be used as an object like that.”

“...”

“If you are someone who believes that can somehow work and even willingly put yourself in such a situation, it’s reasonable to think that you would use others the same way. After all, if you can do it, why can’t they? I guess it does at least seem fair.”

“...”

I unconsciously stepped backwards in response to Iliya’s paradoxically murmured shouts.

Her eyes looked lifeless.

I felt chills run down my spine as I watched her firing off such words with blank eyes.

“...U-Um, f-first, why don’t you calm down?”

“No.”

“...”

“Teach. Have a seat.”

“...Why?”

“Because I need to knock some sense into you.”

“...”

“You need to realize how important you are to others, Teach. So, you need to fix that habit of yours, the one where you kept on saying things that put fire to people’s hearts. It makes me feel good, but hearing it at this moment is making me frustrated!”

“...”

Was that a compliment?

“Listen carefully. I’ll fix you.”

“...”

It did not seem so.

This was the first time I saw her speaking harshly to me like this.

Uh, could it be…?

I was being scolded by her?

[You are.]

“...”

[And hell yes, you deserve it. Actually, no, you shouldn’t just get scolded, she needs to make you shed tears until you’re on the verge of death.]

Seeing them like this, I could see why they were siblings.

Because by the time Iliya stopped her nagging, I really was almost on the verge of crying.