Villain Hiring: Help! Author Wants Me Dead-Chapter 48: *Bonus Chapter*

[STATUS]

Name: Noah D. Romero

Race: Human

Title: The Fated Villain

Heavenly Physique: Gluttony

Strength: 14

Agility: 16

Mana: 0

Charm: 7

Soul Power: 41

Skills: Soul Siphon (Lvl 1), Mana Drain (Lvl1 )

I stared at my status window, letting the numbers sink in.

They hadn’t changed much.

Actually, they had barely changed at all.

A tired sigh escaped my lips as I let my head fall back against the dirt wall of our tiny hideout.

My arms ached, my ribs screamed every time I moved, and my skin still burned from the acid spit of those spiders.

And yet…

I was still weak.

"...Tch."

"What’s with that face, kid?"

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Damien’s voice echoed in my head, laced with his usual amusement. The bastard was enjoying this.

"I don’t know, Damien," I muttered dryly. "Maybe it’s the fact that I almost died. Again."

Damien chuckled. "Ah, but you didn’t. You survived. And even better…"

"You realised something important, a major flaw in your plan. You want to get stronger, but the numbers aren’t moving fast enough. That’s just how it is, brat. Strength doesn’t just appear overnight."

I clenched my fists. I knew that. But that didn’t change the fact that I was still too weak.

And I couldn’t afford to be weak.

Not when Ma was injured.

Not when that thing was still waiting outside.

Not when death was always one bad decision away.

I exhaled slowly, staring at my Soul Power.

41.

It was the only stat that had gone up exponentially—just slightly.

I hadn’t noticed it before, but during the fight, something had changed.

When I covered myself in Gluttony to survive the Mana Bomb’s explosion, I hadn’t just repelled the damage—

I had consumed it.

Not in the way a normal mage would, not like how adventurers absorbed mana into their cores and used it to cast spells.

I didn’t have a mana core. I never would.

That was the condition for awakening the Seven Sin’s physique

I had to destroy my mana core.

Gluttony was different.

It didn’t absorb. It devoured.

I could consume mana—not to store it, not to wield it like a mage, but to restore my own energy.

A slow grin tugged at my lips.

"Well, well," Damien mused, clearly entertained. "You finally figured it out."

I exhaled. "So… if I use it right, I can keep fighting longer."

"Bingo," Damien said. "But don’t get cocky. It’s not like you can just eat infinite mana and be fine.

Your body is still weak.

If you go beyond your limit, you’ll burst like pieces of chicken keema."

I frowned. "How much can I handle?"

Damien snorted. "No clue. Why don’t you find out?"

I groaned. Of course, that would be his answer.

***

Shifting my gaze towards the tiny entrance of our hideout, my mouth could not help but groan.

The roots of the old tree hung low, twisting together like a cage, creating a narrow opening just barely large enough for me to squeeze through.

Outside, in the thick mist of the explosion’s aftermath, I could still imagine it.

The Tier 1 Scaled Spider.

Its red, glowing eyes had been shimmering like dying embers in the darkness, its body partially hidden behind the smoke. It hadn’t moved much when I had detonated that bomb—

But not for long.

Sooner or later, it would recover.

And once it did?

I knew we would not stand a single chance of resisting against him.

A sharp pain throbbed at my side. I winced, lifting my torn, blood-stained shirt to inspect the burn. The acid spit had eaten away at my skin in patches, leaving behind a sickening, raw burn that still sizzled faintly.

I was too injured to fight in my current state.

If I went out there now, I would die.

But if I waited too long?

The spider would break through.

"…fuck."

"Good, you’re finally thinking," Damien said. "Now tell me, genius. What’s your plan?"

I licked my lips. I needed a way to fight.

I couldn’t rely on brute force. My Strength was too low.

I couldn’t rely on speed. The spider was faster.

I couldn’t rely on mana. I had none.

But I had Gluttony.

And that meant—

I had a single chance.

I took a deep breath, clenching my fists.

Step one.

Recover.

I reached into my grandma’s space ring and pulled out one of the few healing pastes with Ma, they were way less effective than the healing potion but we only had one left and I couldn’t afford to waste it now.

Considering I would be even more injured after the fight.

The thick, greenish paste smelled like absolute shit, but I didn’t hesitate as I applied it over my wounds.

The pain hit me like a truck immediately.

I gritted my teeth, sucking in a sharp breath as the medicine burned against my acid wounds, like a fresh layer of fire melting into my skin.

I bit back a scream.

Damien chuckled. "Oh, I felt that."

"Shut up,"

A few moments passed, and the burning gradually faded into a dull ache. I could already feel the salve working—it wouldn’t heal me instantly, but it would keep me from collapsing mid-fight.

Step two. Prepare a counterattack.

I pulled out the dagger from Ma’s waistband—the only real weapon we had left.

Its edge was chipped, and the metal darkened from repeated use, but it was still sharp enough to kill—if I could find a weak spot.

"The joints," I muttered to myself, recalling what Ma had tried before we started running. "Leg joints, underbelly, or eyes."

The eyes were too small. The belly was too hard to reach.

That left the joints.

If I could cripple it, I could slow it down.

Step three. Don’t die.

…Easier said than done.

But I didn’t have a choice.

I clenched my fists, steadying my breath. My entire body still felt wrecked, but I could move. I could fight.

I wasn’t strong.

I wasn’t fast.

But I was desperate.

And sometimes?

Desperation was the deadliest weapon of all.

***

A/N:

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