I Got Reincarnated as the Game's Villain-Chapter 42: Conspiracy

This… this can’t be right.

Something’s off… I can feel it. It’s almost as if I’m walking right into someone’s trap, with how easy this has all been.

The moment I set foot in the mansion’s hall, everything went wrong. The floor beneath me…

… it collapsed.

"Damn it!" I cursed, brandishing my katana, ready for anything lurking in the shadows. But what lay below wasn’t what I expected.

A tunnel.

A dark, metallic tunnel.

I glanced up to the gaping hole above me, already sealed shut by the collapsing floor. My exit was gone. Before me stretched an endless length of cylindrical metal piping, leading deep into the unknown.

I sighed. Why a tunnel? And where does it even lead?

-Crick!

I looked down. Scattered at my feet were skeletal remains—bones cracked beneath each step. Had I missed them before, or had I just been too distracted? My mind buzzed with questions as I nudged a skull aside.

"Right. I have only 3 LP left for this journey," I muttered under my breath, steeling myself. "I need to find it and get out of here." With a huff, I shouldered my near-empty pack, noticing just how light it was now that my food supplies were almost gone, and pressed forward into the dark.

The stench hit me first, thick and rancid.

The air was stale and sour, making me grimace. I could feel my senses on high alert.

-Screech!

I froze. My head snapped up, scanning the darkness ahead. I couldn’t see anything, but something had definitely moved.

-Screech!

There it was again… a scurrying sound.

-Screech!

It was getting closer.

I gripped my katana tighter, lowering myself into a crouch, every instinct honed for battle. My eyes strained against the pitch black. Come on… show yourself.

-Screech!

Without warning, my instincts flared, and I dropped to the floor just as something whizzed past, slicing through the air with a bone-chilling shriek. It crashed into the wall behind me, sending shards of debris flying.

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What… what was that?!

I didn’t even look to understand what exactly that was.

Instead, I ran.

I amplified my legs with mana and shot into the deeper part of the tunnel without stopping.

All I felt beneath my feet was the continuous cracking of bones.

Just how many people died in this place?

"KREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

I heard, and I felt my scalp turn numb.

My mind was racing, refusing to accept the fact that was obvious.

I knew which monster that was.

I knew that monster all too well.

"Of fucking course! I knew something wasn’t right with how smooth things were going for me," I muttered, gritting my teeth as I realized just how severe the situation was.

A ryquin.

A freaking ryquin.

But how…?

Yes, Ryquins were the creatures responsible for the destruction of this empire, but that doesn’t explain how a Ryquin is under here.

This should been a hidden location.

So why… why would one be here?

And for how long?

"KREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

I heard it again.

It was trailing me.

Directly behind me.

Desperate to kill me!

"This is the worst possible case scenario! I am at a total disadvantage in this one,"

Not only am I blind to its attack,

This is a rather enclosed space that restricts my movement!

"Maybe I should use the Chronos Lock," I thought.

But then again…

…there’s no telling what comes after this one.

What if I use the Chronos Lock now, only to face something even worse next, but I’m unable to use it again because I’m drained?

BOOM!

A massive explosion erupted ahead, flooding the tunnel with an intense beam of light.

I didn’t know how.

I didn’t know why…

…or even what caused it.

But all I felt was a dread unlike anything I’d felt before.

And just then…

…a strange power stirred within me, and suddenly…

…I understood it.

"Lithmious Blessing," I muttered as the words appeared in my mind. Suddenly, an amethyst aura enveloped me.

"First form: Phase," I said, and immediately felt an overwhelming surge of mana—almost enough to make me collapse. At the same time, the beam of light rushed through my gut.

"NO!" I screamed, at first scared that I had been hit, but…

… I felt no pain.

"Huh?" I blurted in confusion.

What just happened?

What was that power?

How did I even know those words?

So many questions, so few answers.

I looked ahead, searching for the source of the beam, but found nothing. I looked back, and though I couldn’t see a thing… I could smell it.

The scent of burnt flesh.

"Ugh," I covered my nose from the horrible stench and kept running toward the direction that beam came from. I had no idea who shot it, but it was clear they knew I was here and intended to kill me.

"What?" I muttered, a furrow between my brows as I tried to understand what exactly was going on.

What… is this?

Ahead of me was what appeared to be four tunnel routes, which were definitely leading to different directions.

This doesn’t make any sense.

Who shot that beam, and where did they follow?

Tch.

I am going nowhere with this.

Wait.

Think.

I remember hearing a sound.

Yes.

Something like gears rolling before that explosion.

And…

… I heard it close.

I turned back, retracing my steps in my mind.

I am missing something.

From the moment I came here, something’s been bothering me.

How exactly did the dark church know the existence of the [Nikyeon Alloy] in the first place?

How did they know of its existence, and how did they find it?

Hm.

Even when I played the game, I always felt as though there was a connection between the sudden appearance of the ryquins ten years ago and....

....the dark church.

Could they be responsible?

"No… way," suddenly it made sense.

Could the extinction of the dwarfs really be an unfortunate coincidence?

Or…

… is there something more to this than even I, who played the game, knows?

[Ding!]

[User has experienced a reduction in lifeforce]

"What…?"

[User’s LP: 22]

"WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?!"

Did…

… did I just lose an entire LP due to using that blessing?!

-Click!-

"Huh?"

What was that?

At first, it was faint…

… but it grew louder, and I heard it clearly.

-Screech!

No...

-Screech!

No!

"Not one.. Not two... Not ten...."

"KREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

I could hear it.

A hoard of them.

"Just how many are there?"