THE PERFECT VILLAIN: Another chance with a system
Chapter 35: Hero’s Blade

Chapter 35: Hero’s Blade

"Hey! Where’s the hero?"

Lambadack rested her hands on her waist and leaned closer, scanning the chamber with obvious annoyance. Her gaze swept past the fallen path and the three figures before her.

"He’s not here. It’s just some bunch of sidekicks."

Dreece sighed and folded her arms.

"Told you he’d go right. Now we’re stuck with a bunch of losers."

"What kind of hero takes the right? Everyone knows the right is always the trap, and if you’re dealing with a small demon, you choose the left." Lambadack’s face tightened with visible disappointment. "Aright, what a waste."

The blonde-haired girl drew her sword and charged at Lambadack, who stood slightly closer than Dreece to their position.

"I am an A-rank adventurer, don’t underestimate—"

Before she could even blink, Lambadack moved.

In a single swift motion, she severed the girl’s head and appeared elegantly behind her, the severed head now in her right hand.

"You were saying?" she muttered without even looking back.

The blonde girl’s body dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.

Lambadack let go of the head and dusted her palms against each other.

"How disappointing."

"Sylvia!!!"

The chestnut-haired girl’s scream rang out in horror, while Vael watched from several feet behind. So this was the kind of mistake he had been talking about. Even among S-rank demons, the Disaster Twins were an elite force. One could even call them calamity-class demons.

The A-rank adventurer stretched a trembling hand toward Lambadack, but before she could do anything, Lambadack was already in front of her, her fist driving straight through her gut.

Blood slipped from her mouth before her body dropped to the ground.

Vael watched the scene unfold without surprise.

The outcome did not shock him in the slightest. He had hoped, at the very least, that the girls would put up enough of a fight to give him something useful. Instead, they had turned out to be as irrelevant as their names.

What a waste.

The thought echoed Lambadack’s words from moments earlier, and a faint smile touched his lips before he could stop it.

That was when Lambadack’s voice cut into his thoughts.

"Hey, you."

She pointed at him.

"You’ve got a nice blade there. Fall on your sword and you’ll be let off easily while we take the sword. That would be us granting you mercy for such a fine weapon."

Vael smiled and began walking toward them slowly.

"Apologies, demonesses, but I can’t do that. Seeing you win your last two fights with pure brute force hasn’t benefited me at all. I’d like an actual display of your abilities and skills. That would certainly be more beneficial to me."

Claire: Do you intend to kill them?

Absolutely not. Two reasons. They’re far too valuable to waste like that, and besides, how would I explain to Cael that I singlehandedly killed two S-rank demons as a B-rank?

Claire: Oh. Then you intend to play around and acquire more skills.

Certainly.

As Vael drew closer, Lambadack and Dreece froze for a moment in stunned silence. Then Dreece burst into laughter.

"He’s confident. I like him."

Lambadack tilted her chin up toward him.

"Such disrespect! Now kneel."

Vael, still walking toward her, suddenly stopped.

His heightened senses caught something strange.

In an instant, he ducked, his head nearly grazing the ground.

A sharp sound sliced through the air. The impact struck the walls and even the closed mouth of the doorway.

Claire: New skill acquired. Unique skill; Split.

What the hell? She was about to cut me in half.

Lambadack began clapping her hands.

"You’re fast. I didn’t think you’d dodge that."

"I surprise myself sometimes too," Vael said, standing upright again.

Dreece, who had been a few feet behind Lambadack, unfolded her arms and sighed.

"Very well then. My turn."

She reached for the hilt of her blade and, in a blink, she was gone.

The next moment, she reappeared in front of him with a strike.

Vael countered instantly with his blade.

The two of them clashed again and again, each impact throwing off visible shockwaves. Then, with one swift motion, Vael tossed Dreece backward until she stopped beside Lambadack, who now had one hand under her chin, studying him with narrowed eyes.

"You’re not an A-rank like the others, are you?" she asked, her gaze drifting toward the sword. "That blade... where have I seen it before?"

"Oh, it’s mine," Vael replied.

Then he remembered the rumors he had heard in the Demon Realm—that Lambadack had been chasing Aurelian.

It would not be surprising if she recognized the sword.

And she did.

"Wait, that’s Aurelian’s blade. How—how did you get it?" Lambadack asked.

Dreece finally took a proper look at it.

"It’s the hero’s blade!" she exclaimed. "Who—who are you?"

I wonder what relationship they have with a blade that leaves them this terrified.

Was I really that much of a threat to them in my past life?

Without wasting any more time, Dreece stretched out her hands and launched a blinding yellow flame toward him.

Vael immediately raised a barrier around himself.

The intensity of the flames struck the shield hard enough to leave a spiderweb crack across its surface.

Claire: Noted. New skill acquired. Unique skill; Solar Flare.

Interesting.

Vael thought for only a moment before stretching out his hand toward Dreece and activating Split.

The force moved through the flames and severed her right hand cleanly.

Dreece froze as she stared at her arm.

Before it could even hit the ground, Vael moved.

He passed between them in a blink and stopped several feet behind them, his back to theirs. Tilting his head back slightly, he held her severed arm in his left hand, the blade still in his right.

"Looking for this?"

"He’s fast," Dreece muttered.

"That’s not the issue here, Dreece," Lambadack stammered, her face draining of color. "He used—he used my unique skill."

"Yes. It’s your skill, and it’s even sharper. It shouldn’t be able to cut through my hand that cleanly," Dreece replied.

"It would if I applied enough mana to it," Lambadack said. "And if it can pull it off, then he’s nothing short of S-rank or higher."

Without waiting for Dreece to respond, she opened a portal and dragged them both inside before the other could protest.

She wasn’t afraid of losing.

She was terrified of the unknown.

Vael sighed in exhaustion and turned toward the bodies of the other two adventurers.

Just then, the cave mouth exploded.

On the other side, Cael stood in perfect composure.

It seemed he had searched the entire path he had taken and found nothing there. The force of the explosion made Vael step back slightly.

Claire, did you get that abilities?

Claire: It’s simple elemental magic. Fire. And I got it.

Just elemental? I thought it would be a unique skill.

Vael was still lost in thought when Cael began examining the area.

"Tell me," he said at last. "What happened here?"

"We were attacked by demon heirs," Vael replied, tossing Dreece’s severed arm toward him. "They both lost their lives in the process."

Cael looked at him for a long moment.

He had been told Vael was a B-rank, yet somehow this man had survived while two A-rank adventurers had died.

Either he was lying about his rank, or the A-ranks had sacrificed themselves to land a significant blow while he merely survived.

But before he could ask anything else, his eyes fell on the blade in Vael’s hand.

Recognition flashed across his face.

His eyes widened in disbelief.

He looked straight at Vael—who was still wearing Niel’s face—and his voice dropped lower as he asked:

"Where did you get that blade?"