I Woke Up as the Villain

Despite the effect of Cool-headed skill, Yu-Seong immediately felt light-headed. After taking several deep breaths to calm down, he transformed Pharaoh’s Caprice into the form of a battle suit.

“Oh my, that’s cool. I was wondering what that ring was…”

Yu-Seong was pressed for time, but he couldn’t be hasty about things. He was planning to carry out his preparation slowly, one spear at a time. He glanced at the Gate of Life behind Rachel with the Barrier Scroll inside.

As mentioned, the Barrier was made up of quite complex forms. Even if only a part of the pattern drawn in the scroll was distorted, problems would arise throughout the Barrier. As a result, the Gate of Life would open the way.

‘Though, it would be better if it could be completely crushed.’ 

But likewise, the possibility of Yu-Seong being able to do it was extremely low. It was impossible to reach the Barrier Scroll by passing Rachel, who was blocking the way.

‘The only way is to use the Jump Ring, the second ancient relic I received from Ji-Ho hyung.’ 

Jump Ring was one of the gifts Choi Ji-Ho had given Yu-Seong. It was an ancient relic containing the ability to take a short leap of about 10 meters and it could only be used once. If this was used, even Rachel wouldn’t be able to prevent Yu-Seong from reaching the Barrier Scroll. Unfortunately, however, the probability of opening the Gate of Life was extremely low even if he arrived at the Barrier Scroll.

‘Considering Rachel’s abilities… Likewise, it’s impossible.’ 

As if reading Yu-Seong’s thoughts, Rachel shook her head. “Don’t think about useless things. If you aim for that, I might get a little angry.”

“I’m all set. Let’s start.”

With that, Yu-Seong grabbed the bunch of spears gathered on the floor and threw them at Rachel as vigorously as possible to scatter them. There was no significant intention of using it as an offense. He was literally trying to put weapons all over the place. After repeating that several times in a row, he ran to the front… No, he pretended to run, then picked up the closest fallen spear, and threw the spear toward the Gate of Life behind Rachel.

Rachel lightly hit Yu-Seong with the tip of her index finger and floated him into the air. She smiled at him as he threw out a spear at her. “I can’t tell whether you are scared or not scared. Well, shall I look forward to seeing how much you could entertain me?”

Rachel easily blocked Yu-Seong’s attack with one index finger. She didn’t use any strength. First of all, it was due to her curiosity about Yu-Seong’s skills.

“Hmm…”

Rachel saw that Yu-Seong immediately gave up the spear and fell back to the floor. She stretched her index finger, aiming an attack at Yu-Seong’s shoulder. However, Yu-Seong’s body blurred after being stabbed in the shoulder. It was an illusion, the Wind Control.

“Oh?” Rachel widened her eyes in surprise, but she still received Yu-Seong’s attack easily and gave her first counterattack.

On the other hand, Yu-Seong couldn’t afford to rest.

‘Although it’s good to save Illusion of Wind Control as much as possible…’ 

Speaking of it, Yu-Seong’s attack and the Wind Control was one of his groundworks. However, there was no room to fight against Rachel, the S-rank monster, while not using it.

Also, Yu-Seong expected her to watch his skills in the beginning with ease. For Rachel, this was all just a game, something she could enjoy while Ghost was doing the mission. Thanks to that, he was able to do it easier than expected.

‘As planned…’ 

Rachel and Yu-Seong's positions changed. While she was focused on the Illusion, Yu-Seong once again used Wind Control to pass her side at once and got behind her. Now, Rachel could not guard the Barrier Scroll behind her back.

‘Up to here.’ 

Nevertheless, Yu-Seong did not run toward the Barrier Scroll. To be exact, he couldn’t run to it. Rachel’s hatchet – which suddenly appeared – was above Yu-Seong’s head and even passed right in front of his forehead. If he had taken just one more step, he would have been split in half and died instantly. He did not quite cross the line.

Yu-Seong's forehead was drenched in cold sweat as he sighed with relief.

Rachel smiled with cold eyes. “Hey, gold nugget, that was dangerous. You know that, right?”

Instead of answering her directly, Yu-Seong took out an index finger and shook it at Rachel’s hatchet. “You just broke a rule.”

“Oh, that’s a shame. Instead, I’ll also close my eyes as a penalty.”

Before Yu-Seong said anything, Rachel shut her eyes immediately.

‘How cunning…’ 

Would a skilled person like Rachel be unable to read Yu-Seong’s movements just because she closed her eyes? Instead, she would not make the mistake of being confused by an Illusion as she did before. She even naturally treated it as part of the game, as if it were a penalty on her part.

“And hereafter, I will swing this ax whenever you try to cross the line. Anyway, I still promise to use only one finger in the sparring game with you.”

“All right, but how about something like this? For example…”

Yu-Seong swiftly picked up a spear on the floor, rotated his body, and threw the spear away. At the same time, or actually even faster than that, Rachel’s hatchet flew, halved the soaring spear, and stuck to the ground. The real surprising thing happened shortly after that.

Kwajik-! With a destructive sound, the hatchet that was stuck on the rooftop floor returned to Rachel’s hand when she lightly reached out for it.

“This is what happens.” Rachel smiled.

Yu-Seong gasped.

‘I knew it, but it’s like Thor’s hammer.’ 

Mjolnir, the hammer used by Thor, who was the god of battle in Norse mythology, had the characteristic of returning to the user’s hand like a boomerang. Thankfully, Rachel’s ax was not a special weapon like Mjolnir.

‘Special Skill, the Thread of Destiny.’ 

Many people thought that the Slaughterer Queen was a physical-type player because she engaged in intense melee combat. However, surprisingly she was a psychic-type user who led the battle based on Thread of Destiny skill which dealt with transparent threads that could not be seen with normal Skills. Of course, no one in the world knew this truth except Rachel herself.

Skilled hunters hid more than 30% of their abilities. This was to draw the opponent’s oversight and cut the opponent’s life using a trump card at the decisive moment.

The more similar their abilities were, the larger the difference was in knowing the opponent’s abilities or not in determining the life-or-death outcome. Thus, it was a matter of course. In that sense, Rachel’s fighting style was very useful to confuse the opponent.

‘Basically, it makes people mistake me as a physical type. And it doesn’t matter if he is lucky enough to find out about the thread.’ 

It was not just inanimate objects that the Thread of Destiny could control. As the Skill name suggested, Thread of Destiny could control even human movement. However, if only paying attention to Rachel wielding the ax, one couldn’t even imagine that the Thread of Destiny had such ability.

‘The more I know her, the more I’m scared of her.’ 

Rachel was cunning enough to make people creeped out. She enjoyed her nickname – ‘Slaughterer Queen’ to deceive her Special ability – the most powerful weapon she owned – and set up most of her General Skills composition into physical reinforcement type.

Therefore, Yu-Seong thought it would be useless to approach the Barrier Scroll.

‘It’s a relief if I don’t get caught by the Thread of Destiny and get taken back to this place.’ 

Perhaps Rachel – offended by Choi Yu-Seong crossing the line – would behead him right away. Rachel was different from Kim Do-Jin. She did not have a strong sense of pride and was not that competitive. She enjoyed playing games and didn't care about breaking rules. If Do-Jin did not take advantage of being the novel’s main character, she might be a more demanding enemy than him.

‘Nevertheless, the first goal has been achieved, so all I have to do is just to complete the next step safely.’

Yu-Seong gasped and picked up a fallen spear again.

Rachel waited for Yu-Seong to make his move in a relaxed manner with her eyes closed and arms folded. She said, “Hey gold nugget, shall this noona[1] give one piece of advice? Sometimes having too deep thoughts is rather poisonous.”

At the same time, Rachel’s hatchet flew through the air once again. This time, the target was Yu-Seong who had stopped trying to organize his thoughts. The hatchet narrowly cut the tip of Yu-Seong’s ear as it passed.

The moment blood splashed into the air, Yu-Seong felt his heart clench and bowed his head.

Whiririk-! The hatchet that cut Yu-Seong’s hair just now flew back in the opposite direction by the Thread of Destiny and returned to Rachel’s hand.

“I’m adding a third rule. If you bore me from now on, this ax will continue to fly toward you.” Rachel smiled brightly with her eyes closed as she spread three fingers exactly in the direction where Yu-Seong was standing.

A quick look at bit.ly/3iBfjkV will leave you more fulfilled.

There was no more time to think. Yu-Seong did not hesitate anymore and rushed toward Rachel. He picked up a spear and aimed at Rachel’s ankle.

Jumping lightly and turning over in the air, Rachel held out only one index finger at the end of the spear that Yu-Seong wielded and said, “And from now on, I’m going to pull some strings too.”

“Keck…?!”

Along with Rachel’s words, a direct breaking force was applied to Yu-Seong’s wrist that was holding the spear. Yu-Seong did not hesitate again this time, putting down the spear and picking up another. Then, he stabbed in the middle of Rachel’s forehead as she fell back to the floor. The spear seemed to dig into her forehead, but Yu-Seong could not feel anything getting caught in his hand or digging into the flesh.

‘Illusion?’ 

No, it wasn't an illusion. Yu-Seong just felt that way because Rachel was moving too fast.

“Our gold nugget, it’s going to hurt a little.” Standing upright again, Rachel used the tip of her index finger to flick the end of the spear. The vibration of her movement shook Yu-Seong entirely.

“Cough-!”

In the end, Yu-Seong coughed up an entire mouthful of blood.

“Ah, I’m bored.” Rachel let out a sullen voice.

Yu-Seong intuitively felt what those words meant. He turned sideways, even though he was in a dizzy state, and he saw a hatchet tearing his shoulder and passing right next to him.

There was no time to hesitate. Yu-Seong rolled on the floor and threw out a spear. On his back, a cool yet hot feeling swept fiercely and passed.

Holding the hatchet that returned after tearing Yu-Seong’s back with her left hand, Rachel removed his spear with an index finger and nodded with a gaze full of madness. “It’s a bit more fun now!”

Feeling the adrenaline rush into his head as the battle reached its extreme, Yu-Seong even forgot his fear somewhat and cursed, “You’re the only one having fun! Damn it!”

1. "Older sister" in Korean if the speaker is male ☜