Villain Hiring: Help! Author Wants Me Dead-Chapter 131: Final Phase

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We pushed westward, ducking under thick branches, stepping over broken bark, everything we could do gather more points.

Aurelia panted behind me, and Erza seemed still too hyped up to feel even the tiniest bit tired.

I didn't say much.

None of us did…

There was something in the air.

Heavy.

Tense—

It wasn't just the hunt or the desperation for points.

It was something more serious.

Like the forest itself was holding its breath.

"AAARRGHHHHH"

A howl. Deep and sharp, followed by a high-pitched yelp.

We froze, half-crouched behind a bushy slope.

Erza peeked first, her eyes narrowing, body still like a predator ready to pounce.

The girl turned back to us and whispered, "We found it."

I leaned over, and there it was—towering over the clearing like it owned the damn fucking

place.

A wolf.

No.

Not just a wolf.

This thing was massive.

Easily fifteen feet tall on its hind legs. Its fur was silver but matted with black streaks running down its spine, and one of its eyes glowed a sickly green.

Its claws dug into the ground like it was carving the land itself, and its chest…its chest had two cores pulsing inside it—one red, one blue.

"A dual-core beast…" I muttered. "What kind of Tier 1 beast mutates like that?"

Aurelia's voice was a whisper. "That's not a normal mutation. That's alchemical. Someone made this."

But that wasn't the weirdest part.

The weirdest part was the five figures already fighting it.

'Team D.' I thought, instantly recognising the uncanny group since this was the only group whose people I was most unfamiliar with.

They'd found the beast before us.

And from the look of things, they weren't doing half bad.

The leader, a guy with silver hair tied into a bun and a long glaive spinning like a windmill, kept striking at the beast's legs while his teammates focused on controlling the field.

Another was using chains of smoke to wrap the creature's hind legs, holding it down just long enough for a flame burst to hit its side.

The wolf howled and thrashed, but Team D was coordinated.

Better than I expected…

They were coordinating better than us—

"Should we jump in?" Erza asked, her eyes still fixed on the fight.

"No," I replied immediately. "We wait."

"Wait for what?" Aurelia asked, rubbing her temples like she could actually do something usefull when her powers were almost totally useless right now.

"For an opening. Either they bring it down and we snipe the kill… or it starts wrecking them and we clean up the mess."

Aurelia gave me a sidelong glance. "Remind me again why you got made team leader?"

"Because I'm petty and desperate," I said with a half-smile.

Erza chuckled. "Honest. I'll give you that."

A few minutes passed.

We watched.

The silver-haired glaive guy from Team D—Ren, I think his name was—leapt up and slashed across the wolf's shoulder, drawing black blood.

The wolf howled and knocked him back with one swing of its paw.

Another member jumped in to shield him using some kind of hardlight barrier.

They were struggling, sure—but they weren't losing… yet.

Then I saw it.

The beast's movements slowed just a fraction.

One leg limped.

The smoke chains were gone, burned away, but its balance was off.

"Now," I whispered. "We go now."

Erza didn't need to be told twice. She leapt over the brush and let out a roar that echoed through the trees.

"Let's go!!"

'What the hell?' I cursed inside my mind, already feeling a number of stares of the Group D on us.

"Fuck." I mumbled, "We had to make this as discreet as possible—Ughh…"

Knowing that our cover was already blown, I ran after her.

Aurelia groaned behind me. "This is going to be a disaster…"

The moment we entered the clearing, Team D turned to look at us like we'd spat in their soup.

One of them—the flame caster, a girl with green war paint under her eyes—yelled, "This is our kill!"

Erza didn't reply. She just launched herself at the wolf's side and delivered a blazing uppercut into its gut.

The creature staggered, caught off-guard by the sudden assault.

The glaive guy cursed. "Are you kidding me?!"

"Nope," I said, reaching forward with both hands.

My fingers buzzed with raw, sharp hunger.

[Soul Siphoning Activated]

The beast's outer mana shell cracked just a little. Not enough to weaken it, but enough to piss it off. It turned toward me, eyes gleaming.

Perfect.

"Dario," I whispered through the communication earpiece we all reviewed, "mark this place. We're going for the boss."

"You're fighting it?!" came his panicked voice.

"Yeah. And so is Team D."

"…"

An almost too long silence followed with a "Oh. Good luck not dying." Message—

'Thanks, buddy' I thought.

"That was an amazing motivation."

The wolf let out another roar, tail sweeping the battlefield like a scythe.

I ducked, rolling as I slid to its behind as Erza engaged its front.

Aurelia… well, she mostly ran circles and shouted helpful things like "Left! Dodge left!"

but at least she wasn't in the way.

The real chaos started when Ren, the Team D leader, charged at me.

"You think you can just swoop in and steal the kill?!"

"Yup," I said, parrying his glaive with my dagger.

He spun, kicked me in the chest, and I stumbled back.

"Erza!" I called. "Deal with the mutt!"

"What about this idiot?!" she shouted, glancing at Ren.

"I got him!"

She grinned. "Finally."

Then she punched the boss wolf in the face again. The beast retaliated by swinging a massive claw, narrowly missing her and gouging the earth instead.

Meanwhile, Ren and I clashed again. Sparks flew. Literally—his glaive sparked against my dagger.

"I'm not letting you take this from us!" he shouted.

"You want it so bad? Beat me for it!" I replied.

Back and forth we went, blades ringing out in wild contrast to the snarls and growls of the wolf behind us.

I wasn't stronger than Ren.

But I was desperate. And desperate men fight dirty.

I threw sand in his eyes.

He screamed.

"Screw you, Noah!"

"Join the line!" I yelled, ducking under his next swing.

Just then, the wolf roared and knocked Erza flat with a tail whip.

She hit the tree hard.

I spun.

Erza growled. "I'm fine!"

Ren was blinded for a moment.

I lunged.

[Mana Drain – 40 Mana Absorbed]

I fueled it all into a single slash across the boss's leg.

[Critical Hit!]

It stumbled.

Everyone froze.

Even the wolf.

Then it turned—towards me.

Uh-oh.

"Final phase," I muttered.

"Here we go."

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