I Got Reincarnated as the Game's Villain-Chapter 52: The Legacy of the Fallen [8][Edited]

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

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A young man who had been fighting valiantly against the monstrous creature now stared in horror as the beast rushed forward, grabbing him by the head and swallowing him whole.

It was still nighttime, but as Auston had come to understand, there was no rest in this world.

This place was a nightmare.

He looked around. The once many teams who had banded together to form one major group, irrespective of race, were now slaughtered, reduced to a measly four survivors, each desperately trying to escape.

This was torture.

Auston held his sword tightly, slicing through the last of a slimy, glob-like creature before turning to face the main monstrosity responsible for all this death.

"Damn it," he cursed under his breath, realizing the last of his team members had been killed.

"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The creature—a towering, centipede-like monstrosity with countless writhing tentacles—lashed out at him. But Auston’s emerald eyes glowed bright green as he muttered, "Nephta’s Bloodline." He dashed forward, somersaulting to avoid the appendages that sought to impale him.

"Third form: Constant Existence," he growled.

One of the creature’s tentacles grabbed him mid-air, flinging him violently across the battlefield. But as he twisted and slashed at it from behind, the monster turned in confusion, ensnaring him once again and hurling him toward its gaping maw.

This time, however, a bag of potions took his place, falling into the creature’s mouth instead.

"Got you," Auston mumbled, now hidden behind a bush.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion rocked the area as the potions detonated inside the creature, obliterating its head into paste.

"Sigh…" he exhaled, realizing his mana was now just a fraction of what it had been before he used his bloodline ability.

"I can’t fight anymore," he muttered under his breath, knowing that engaging another creature would be suicide. With his mana nearly depleted, any battle would place him at a severe disadvantage.

Crunch!

The sound of a twig snapping behind him made him tense. He turned, but before he could react, cold metal pressed against his neck.

"Who are you?" a cold, feminine voice asked.

"An elf," Auston replied, his eyes scanning the area for something he could use with his bloodline ability. He knew he didn’t have enough mana for any major abilities—just one more altered reality, and that was it. But he was determined to make his next move count.

"An elf?" the voice repeated.

He nodded.

"Turn around. Slowly," she commanded.

Sighing internally, Auston complied. As he turned, he realized that what had been pressed to his neck was the arrowhead of a drawn bow.

"Wait…" he frowned, staring at the person holding the arrow. "Melina?"

The woman’s squinted eyes widened in shock as recognition dawned on her.

"Auston?" she gasped.

…

…

"Are you sure it’s okay for him to be here?" This time, it was Larson who asked me, and I already understood why.

I shot a side glance at the person in question—Auston Tallen, the only bastard who could annoy me with just his face. I remembered this idiot like I knew the back of my hand. He was the same person who had disgraced me at an event where most noble families were in attendance.

It was out of goodwill on my part. I had seen him being shunned by everyone and laughed at by most of the nobility, even by his own brothers. Given the influence I wielded—my looks being one of the major reasons for that—I decided to lend this idiot a hand, at least to make those annoying nobles shut their mouths in envy.

I met the fool and tried to start a conversation, but he acted like I wasn’t there, like I wasn’t standing right in front of him. I even asked him for a dance, but the bastard actually had the gall—the effrontery—to tell me I was pestering him and that I should get out of his face.

He made me seem like some… simp.

Damn it!

The memory just wouldn’t fade, even after all these years.

After that event, I stopped attending most noble gatherings. I was still ashamed of what he had done to me.

"No, it’s okay," I said, and both Linda and Camila gave me a weird look.

HEY! I AM NOT THAT HEARTLESS!

Though just the sight of him irks me, I don’t really hate him. At least, not anymore—not after I did some digging and realized why he acted the way he did. It turns out his mother died four years after he was born, and there were rumors she didn’t die a natural death. Some said she was poisoned. But those were just baseless whispers, as there was no evidence, and the Tallen family was tight-lipped about the entire situation.

That explained the bullying he faced. His father didn’t favor him much, and that meant his siblings—who hated him, much like most of mine—were free to treat him however they pleased.

Plus, I can’t just stand by and watch another elf die because of some sentimentality. I’ll get my revenge one day—and in full measure—but not now. Not at the expense of his life.

Right now, we were at the edge of a mountain, and opposite us was the forest. Luckily, I had a relic with me that had a barrier function. It was a high-grade relic with a potent barrier so strong that only someone who had surpassed the Genesis level—at least at the Ascension level—could do any real damage to it.

The only downside to this relic was that it couldn’t stay active for long, as it would eventually run out of mana and deactivate. When it did, I’d have to recharge it with my own mana.

"Thank you," he said, and I regarded him for a moment before turning my attention to more pressing matters.

At least he isn’t an ungrateful brat.

"Linda, how exactly can we inherit these blessings?" I asked, as it seemed like the only way we were getting out of here.

"Well, there are different conditions for that. Sometimes, you just have to pass the trials; other times, survive long enough—or rather, be the only survivor…" she said. I frowned, hoping it wouldn’t come to that.

"But most of the time, you just have to find the fragment of the god who created the world and defeat it," she said, and I exhaled.

"But how do we do that?" Camila asked. Linda just shrugged.

"I don’t know. Everything I’ve told you comes from past explorations and records on Legacies. But none of those records mentioned how to locate the fragment. They did say, however, that the fragments are sentient, so maybe it won’t just be sitting in one place," she noted, and I nodded.

"So… we’re finding this fragment," I said, and they all nodded. At least now we had some direction.

"But," Larson said. I turned to face him.

"What?" I asked.

"How strong are these fragments, exactly? Fragment or not, it’s still a part of a god," he said. I could only sigh.

What other choices did we have? Nowhere was safe—there was literally nowhere to hide in this cursed world.

Plus, it was only a matter of time before we started running low on food. From what that beast-girl back in the cave said, something else was coming—something I did not want to be here to witness.

"We have no choice," Camila responded to Larson. "It’s better than running in circles," she added, and we all nodded.

She was right. The longer we stayed here, the more monstrosities we would encounter. The more monstrosities we encountered, the more time we’d waste. The more time we wasted, the faster we’d run out of food. And when that happened, survival would become nearly impossible. All day, I hadn’t seen a single edible creature. I had a sinking feeling it was intentional—to make us desperate, to the point where we’d either eat the poisonous creatures as they were or...

...cannibalism.

Well, vampires would surely look forward to that. Those disgusting creatures could sustain themselves on blood, after all. Though I wasn’t entirely sure. I’d heard they occasionally consumed blood to bolster their power, but I’d also heard rumors they could eat normal food. I doubted it was true.

"Alright, tomorrow we’ll climb this mountain," I said. Camila looked at me incredulously.

"Why?" she asked.

"We need a better view of this place, and a landscape view is only possible from somewhere high, like the top of the mountain," I reasoned, and she nodded.

"Alright," I said, then turned to look at Auston. "So, what are you going to do?" I asked.

"I…"