WeTried Translations

Translator: Goku

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became a Villain Perfect for Leveling Up

Chapter 006

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Altar of Lamentation (3)

Unlike with Eirene, Carmen truly didn't touch me as long as I didn't do anything special.

Sometimes she would sweep her hand meaningfully across my face, but she didn't torment me beyond that.

“Dean. What did you do after killing everyone in the ruined world?”

As I sat with my legs drawn in the invisible darkness, Carmen, who was guarding me, asked about the 1st Playthrough.

‘After killing NPCs...’

Back then, I reveled in my level 999 strength, changing equipment and massacring every boss I saw.

Somehow, I ended up catching all the hidden bosses, and I remember seeing an ending where light fell upon the world.

...If viewed that way, it was an ending one could call a happy ending.

“…I saw light.”

“Light? What light is there in a ruined world?”

“....”

Since she wouldn't believe me anyway, I answered simply and then shut my mouth.

Then, Carmen's quiet breathing seemed to become a little agitated.

“Don’t…lie. How could a murderer like you see light….”

“See? You don’t believe me.”

As expected, she didn't believe me even when I told her.

Perhaps because my appearance was so villainous, she refused to listen even when I told her only the truth.

As someone who enjoyed the 1st Playthrough as a game, I merely did everything I could.

Wouldn't anyone, if a passing NPC was wearing equipment that looked stronger than theirs, think they wanted to try that equipment?

If I had known this action would lead to such a future, I would have cherished and listened to every single story of the NPCs.

If so, instead of this kind of depressing story, I would have been dreaming of a wonderful future, laughing with many companions.

“…Is that true?”

The sound of clothes rustling was heard, and Carmen’s voice, now calmer, soon followed.

“You… defeated the butterflies that obscured the light?”

“If so, what? Will you release me?”

The butterflies that obscured the light, I did indeed defeat beings far removed from what people generally imagine as angels.

That wasn’t the final boss; the true final boss was a being that looked like an underdeveloped fetus in an ovum.

I think the boss's name was 'Underdeveloped Fetus'.

It was a bizarrely difficult boss with four phases, but for me, at level 999, it was defeated absurdly easily.

Unable to believe that I, a murderer, had saved the world, Carmen made hesitating noises a couple of times as if to say something, then faltered.

“…I won't believe it.”

Ultimately, the conclusion she reached was the rational choice of not believing.

“If you saved the world…, I wouldn't have returned here.”

“...Think what you want.”

In Desperado Reunion, where playthroughs themselves were content, there was no way Carmen, an NPC, would know there was a power to revert everything to the timeline where it all began.

The setting where the protagonist, having defeated all bosses and gained divine power, is made to choose again.

Of course, that was the setting of the first installment, and Desperado Reunion 2, which I was possessed into, couldn't be arbitrarily judged to have the same setting.

“Let me ask one more thing.”

As if she wasn’t tired of this Q&A, Carmen posed another question to me.

“Then why did you kill the living? If you were trying to save the world, it would have been better to take them as companions.”

As Carmen said, I remember there was a system in the game to take companions.

Of course, I merely saw them as sources of equipment.

“I needed equipment.”

“Equipment?”

“That’s all.”

With the intention of letting her interpret it as she wished, I deliberately gave an answer that could be interpreted in several ways.

“…You’re truly insane.”

She seemed to have decided to see me as pure evil, and after cursing me as insane, she didn't speak to me further.

A murderer with no interest in saving people, only concerned with himself.

It was the moment my existence was defined for Carmen.

The reason she kept asking questions was probably that she saw me repeatedly being murdered in the academy through her Far Sight and wondered if it was true.

But what can I do?

This is the only truth I can speak, and even if I spoke my true feelings, she wouldn't believe me.

I merely accepted this reality.

At least Carmen didn't kill me every chance she got, unlike Eirene.

The fact that there was no visual information whatsoever was truly horrifying.

Yet, the paradoxical fact that Carmen was by my side kept me from going insane.

As if I had nothing more to say, I lay down on the floor and closed my eyes.

Though it was the same darkness whether my eyes were open or closed.

“Cough…!”

Just as I was about to sleep peacefully, Carmen approached me and grabbed my neck with her hand.

“If I…do nothing… you won’t touch…! Cough!”

Contrary to her words that she wouldn't kill me if I didn't resist, I was greatly flustered by Carmen's sudden attempt to murder me.

“I’ve changed my mind. You have no reason to live.”

“*Cough…!*”

“Try to escape within this narrow altar. If you’re caught, you’ll die, but you’ll be alive as long as you aren’t.”

“*Gasp!!*”

I twisted my body as much as possible to somehow escape her grasp, then frantically ran through the invisible space.

Thud-!

“*Guh…!*”

Then my foot caught on a slightly protruding ledge, and I face-planted onto the floor.

With no light whatsoever, I couldn’t see anything ahead, so even walking properly was a problem.

“Are you scared?”

“Fuck…!”

Unable to even feel the sharp pain of hitting my nose directly, I hastily tried to get up and run, realizing Carmen had approached me, but.

“Why don't you experience my despair from back then?”

“Aaaaargh!!!! Aaah!!!”

Carmen stomped on and broke both my feet, forcing me to crawl desperately across the floor.

Accustomed to all sorts of torture thanks to Eirene, I screamed but still crawled on the floor, moving as much as possible in one direction.

The altar wasn't a completely sealed-off place.

If I could just reach the door, I could open it with my will.

If I hadn't panicked when the door closed right after I first arrived at the Altar of Lamentation, I wouldn't have had to engage in this kind of chase.

Regretting that I hadn't thought of it due to my extreme mental state at the time, I moved my body as much as possible, and.

“Was this how you felt when you killed me?”

“Please, spare-!!”

Crunch-!

Before long, Carmen stomped on my head, crushing it completely.

《 Perk ‘Addicted to Defeat’ activated!

- Target ‘Carmen’s’ level increases by 10. 》

《 Resurrecting at checkpoint. LOADING… 》

“Try running away again, Dean. I’ll give you 10 seconds.”

“Haa…!”

As Carmen’s voice reached me the moment I opened my eyes again at the checkpoint, I hastily crawled on all fours across the floor, running away miserably.

There must be a staircase somewhere leading to the door.

If I could just find that, I could somehow escape.

The floor…, what did the floor look like?

I need to revive my 1st Playthrough memories as much as possible.

I remember the Altar of Lamentation having a structure made of circular pillars.

There must be a spiral staircase somewhere.

I tried to move by predicting the floor's shape, but the floor was flat without any distinguishing features, making prediction impossible.

“Alright. 10 seconds are up.”

“Aaaaargh!!”

As the 10-second time limit given to me ended, Carmen soon stomped on my head with persistence, crushing my skull.

《 Perk ‘Addicted to Defeat’ activated!

- Target ‘Carmen’s’ level increases by 10. 》

《 Resurrecting at checkpoint. LOADING… 》

It wasn't like being threatened with a weapon, as with Eirene.

Nor was she even using magic.

Carmen simply killed me with ease, as if playing with a bug, using only her own strength.

It was futile to even wonder how high her level was, given her perfectly intact limbs; upon resurrecting at the checkpoint, I immediately ran out.

“Gasp…! Huff!!”

Absolute silence descended in the darkness.

Carmen didn’t utter a single word or make any presence known, as if she didn't want to reveal her location.

Whatever it was, the fact that she wasn't making any sound was as good as good news to me.

I quickly found a wall, rubbed my body against it, and used a crawling method to move towards where the stairs were.

“I found it…!”

Then, I felt small ledges gradually increasing in height, and realized it was a staircase.

Although I wanted to stand up and run up, I had already fallen and died on the stairs once before.

So I moved on all fours even when climbing the stairs.

The thought that climbing stairs on all fours was more comfortable than on two legs was fleeting.

“Oh…!”

The long, long staircase seemed to have ended, and I could ascend to a place where there were no more ledges.

“…Please, please!!”

Carefully feeling the floor with my hands to avoid falling off a cliff, I headed towards where I thought the door would be.

Whoooos-

The altar’s door, having read my will, opened, and the light I so desperately craved poured in.

“Go ahead and leave. If you can.”

Leaving behind my pounding heart at the sensation of finally being able to leave, just as I was about to dash out, a woman blocked the door.

Light red hair.

Even scarlet eyes that pierced through the world.

Her beautiful features, framing those eyes, were looking at me and sneering.

“Get out of the way!!!”

Far from being mesmerized by her unrealistically beautiful appearance like Eirene, I immediately recalled the memories of being brutally murdered and clenched my fists, lunging at her.

As I was confident in self-defense, I threw a punch that was reasonably decent, but.

Carmen, as if my punch seemed too slow, easily twisted her body to dodge the attack.

Whack!!

“*Guh!?*”

“*I* was murdered by someone like this. I truly can’t believe it.”

Having dodged my punch, she landed a kick to my abdomen, sending me sprawling to the floor.

I was now far from the altar door I had almost reached, precariously stopping at a spot where a little more backward movement would send me tumbling down the stairs.

Carmen, dressed in an outfit a dancer might wear, slowly approached, having equipped knuckles on her hands.

“*Cough!* …Fist King?”

At that sight, the strongest boss in the game suddenly overlapped in my mind.

Fist King Theodore.

Even I, a level 999 munchkin player, remembered struggling with his bizarre patterns.

“…Do you know my father?”

As expected, it seemed I was correct, and Carmen revealed that Fist King Theodore was her father.

Carmen’s father, Fist King Theodore, was a boss trapped in an abyss.

A hidden boss one could access by completing a gimmick within an underground prison.

The process itself was so complex that I had reviewed it countless times and even made notes to avoid forgetting it for the 2nd Playthrough.

As her father’s name suddenly came up, Carmen stopped her attack.

“…Ah, is Father alive?”

At her uncharacteristic behavior, even stammering as she cautiously asked me.

“Yes.”

I slowly got up, conveying the truth, then.

“Father is… alive….”

“*Gasp!!*”

I immediately grabbed Carmen’s waist and threw myself with her down the stairs.

Whoooosh-.

An immense wind pressure, as if tearing skin, enveloped us, slowly bringing us closer to the floor.

I was tightly embracing Carmen’s waist, intending to commit a mutual suicide, but.

“Daddy….”

As her soft mumble entered my ear.

Thud-!!

Just before we crashed onto the floor, I instinctively wrapped my body around her to protect her from harm.

《 Perk ‘Addicted to Defeat’ activated!

- Target ‘Carmen’s’ level increases by 10. 》

《 Resurrecting at checkpoint. LOADING… 》

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