WeTried Translations

Translator: Goku

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became a Villain Perfect for Leveling Up

Chapter 021

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21. Forgotten Heart Resonance (5)

The overwhelming power that neutralized Carmen, who subdued me as if I were a baby, in a single blow.

Cold sweat ran down me from the tension that death might come at any moment.

“…”

Fist King Theodore, still standing before my eyes, looked down at me with arrogance.

A gaze as if assessing something about me.

Soon, as if the scan was complete, his mouth opened lowly.

“-King.”

King.

An incomprehensible word was uttered by him, who had no willpower, and simultaneously, my arm was gone.

“Kkeu-heuk…!”

The hand holding Freud’s Fang was torn off without me even noticing and was clutched in Theodore’s hand.

Thud-

He tossed my hand onto the floor, treating it as insignificant.

It rolled powerlessly across the floor with Freud’s Fang and lay sprawled.

As I staggered, clutching my gushing arm, Theodore maintained his stance and extended his index finger towards me.

“Haa…. Haa….”

I thought I could attack at least once.

The wall created by the existence of the strongest boss was immensely high.

…I can’t die yet.

At least, I need to buy Carmen some time to escape.

I swung my still-intact left fist at Theodore.

Thwack-

The sharply flying hand was easily caught by him, and my entire left arm was crushed as its flesh and bones shattered.

“Aaaargh!!! Kkeu-haa-aargh!!”

Having my right arm torn off was bearable, but the agonizing pain of my left arm being shattered was unbearable, and I screamed desperately.

“Pooh-heok…?”

The moment I staggered backward to catch my breath-. A sense of debilitating exhaustion, as if all the oxygen in my lungs had escaped, enveloped my entire body.

When I came to my senses, wondering what had happened.

Blood was gushing from my eyes, nose, and mouth without exception.

“Dean…!!”

Belatedly, I lowered my gaze at Carmen’s scream, and saw a fist-sized hole punched through my chest.

My lung had been entirely torn out without me even noticing.

Before I could even confirm my condition, the Fist King kicked me, sending me flying.

Colliding with overwhelming force, all the bones in my body, starting from my ribs, shattered completely.

I soon rolled a couple of times on the floor and collapsed beside Carmen.

“Run… away….”

With all the bones in my body broken and unable to move, I conveyed this to her in a voice mixed with a metallic rasp.

Fist King Theodore was an existence that absolutely could not be defeated with my current power.

Just then, a ray of light permeated the Abyss as if by a miracle.

…Shortcut.

Fist King Theodore, who appeared as a challenge boss in the game, didn’t necessarily have to be killed. A shortcut to escape would appear after a certain amount of time.

This was incredibly welcome news to me, who had forgotten such a gimmick existed.

Carmen, not even caring about her own broken arm, tried to take me to the newly appeared shortcut in the Abyss.

“No…”

But I shook my head.

As long as that boss was targeting me, Carmen taking me with her would be no different from an act of suicide.

Rather than increasing the danger by escaping together, wouldn’t it be many times better for me, who can resurrect, to stay and draw his attention?

“No…! If we’re going, let’s go together…!”

“Carmen.”

“Please…! Your life isn’t just worth that little!”

I extended my bleeding right arm towards Carmen.

I wanted to wipe the blood from her cheek, but the hand that should have been there was gone, so I couldn’t.

“I’m a bad person, aren’t I?”

“You…!”

“So leave me and go.”

For the first time since being possessed in this world, I smiled.

A gentle emotion, one that didn’t instill fear in others, enveloped Carmen.

“…”

Carmen, facing my sincerity, bit her lower lip with trembling eyes, then gently placed me on the floor.

She forced her feet, which didn’t want to leave, to move, one step, two steps.

Not long after, Carmen succeeded in escaping through the shortcut.

“Ugh…”

Fist King Theodore slowly approached me, grabbed me by the scruff of my neck, and lifted me.

The shattered bones throughout my body hung limp, and an unbearable pain, to the point where I couldn’t even scream, arose.

“A… bastard who can’t even recognize… his own daughter….”

Carmen had been looking forward to meeting Fist King Theodore so much.

To the extent that she turned her back on me, her enemy, meeting her father must have been a moment she yearned for desperately.

The betrayal and despair she felt, for me, surged as rage.

I declared, looking at Fist King Theodore.

That someday, I would kill him.

And that I would make him regret not recognizing his daughter for the rest of his life.

“You, I will surely….”

Crunch

《 Perk ‘Addicted to Defeat’ activated!

- Target ‘Fist King Theodore’s’ level increases by 14. 》

《 Resurrecting at checkpoint. LOADING… 》

“…Huu.”

As I returned to the entrance of the underground prison with the strange sensation of my body reassembling, the tension eased, and I let out a deep breath.

I had died like this, but at least Carmen had escaped alive, so I worried less.

From now on, I had no idea how to escape the underground prison.

Breaking through Fist King Theodore and escaping seemed impossible.

And going back to the Forgotten Heart Resonance again, while I didn’t even want to try…

Since that was the only escape route I could attempt, I set aside my fear and began to climb the stairs.

But strangely, even as I climbed the stairs, I felt no pressure at all.

Certainly, when I walked with Carmen, there was a sensation that shattered my ego.

Now, without such a thing, all I felt was dull, heavy air.

“…”

Upon entering the Forgotten Heart Resonance, the barrier and eyeball that had been there before completely vanished without a trace.

Pondering if there was anything different from before, I realized that everything was the same, except for Carmen’s absence.

“…Could it be.

This Resonance, a place only those acknowledged by the Forgotten Heart could enter.

Unlike me, Carmen had said she didn’t have the qualifications to enter here.

If bringing her, who was unqualified, here had temporarily earned the Forgotten Heart’s enmity…

“Hahaha…. Ha…”

A hollow laugh escaped me.

The action I took for Carmen turned out to be a choice that drove us both to death.

If we had spent even a little more time here, she and I would have been devoured by the Forgotten Heart and no longer be of this world.

…Just like in the 1st Playthrough.

“…Let’s pull myself together.”

Now, I no longer had the right to worry about Carmen.

As our brief companionship had ended, these thoughts were nothing more than a temporary flow of emotion.

Like the suspension bridge effect, we merely relied on each other for a moment because we were both cornered.

As I systematically organized my thoughts, my complicated feelings somewhat calmed down.

Still, there was one thing.

I didn’t forget the goal of one day defeating Fist King Theodore.

A man who was a father couldn’t even recognize his own child.

Because I, who understood Carmen’s despair in that situation more than anyone,

wanted to take revenge, even if it meant being meddlesome.

Thus, I traversed the Forgotten Heart Resonance.

Since Carmen had killed the enemies before, no unnecessary fights occurred on the way back.

With no threats, I considered challenging the boss of the Forgotten Heart Resonance, the Undergrown Fetus, but quickly dropped the idea.

With my current strength, challenging a final boss would only increase its level.

I resolved to return someday when I grew stronger.

Not long after, I was able to reach the entrance.

As the magnificent scenery outside the wide-open palace gates came into view, I was entranced.

The colossal World Tree covering the sky.

And even the heart suspended in the center of the World Tree.

“…”

As I took in the overwhelming scenery, a growing emptiness made me feel smaller and smaller, so I deliberately shut it out and left the tiresome final area.

Upon entering the royal capital, I saw traces of Carmen’s battle.

Numerous demon beasts and corpses lay sprawled on the ground.

That she fought and won against such a large force while handicapped by having to protect me, who was unconscious, also meant her strength was overwhelming.

…Just how strong was Fist King Theodore, who neutralized such a Carmen in a single blow, I could not easily fathom.

Eventually, the paved road ended, and I entered the natural path I had grown accustomed to.

Carefully walking on the dirt path to minimize wear on my feet, I set off on the journey back to the Altar of Lamentation.

….

If I passed by bear nettle berries, I replenished my stamina.

When night fell, I skillfully made a sleeping place.

Repeating that for about three days-moving when morning came.

《 Checkpoint designated ▶ Altar of Lamentation 》

I was able to return to the Altar of Lamentation without incident.

My feet were scraped because I had no shoes, but thanks to walking as carefully as possible, the wounds on my feet were only shallow scratches.

These injuries didn’t seem severe enough to necessitate dying and resurrecting again, so I felt an inexplicable sense of relief as I descended the circular staircase.

Even though I went down to the altar with an excited heart, wondering if Carmen might have returned, she didn’t speak to me.

“…”

…I felt a sense of regret.

Was it because we had run towards the same goal for a brief moment?

Or was it due to the quietness of having no one by my side?

Even with the transcendent power to revive from death, I was still human, so it might have been difficult to overcome the loneliness and emptiness that came over me.

I briefly stared blankly around the Altar of Lamentation. To clear my thoughts, I decided to clean and swept away the dust accumulated on the floor.

It was physically impossible to clean the entire Altar of Lamentation in a single day. So, after simply tidying up a spot to use as a sleeping place, I sat down.

“…Haaah.”

How long had it been since I had rested?

There had been almost no time that could properly be called rest, so this current respite had a great effect in alleviating mental fatigue.

Every time like this, incidents would happen in succession as if by divine mischief, so to avoid such things, I closed the altar’s door.

Darkness naturally descended upon the altar.

Normally, this was an action I wouldn’t have attempted due to my trauma.

However, matters related to darkness, specifically my past with Carmen, no longer instilled fear in me.

I knew that her feelings towards me were not simple vengeance.

And my feelings towards her were a complex sense of kinship.

Carmen was no longer my enemy.

“…”

Come to think of it, all the women I had met so far, including Carmen, didn’t consider me an enemy.

Eirene, who no longer conflated my existence with my 1st Playthrough self.

Maeve, who felt alive because of my existence.

Finally, even Carmen, who had briefly stood back-to-back with me as a companion.

《 Inheriting memories and stats from 1st Playthrough.

Target - Eirene, Carmen, Maeve, Altair, Sigrun 》

I hadn’t met Altair and Sigrun yet. But if I could perhaps eliminate their hostility too…

Wouldn’t I be able to find a ray of hope in this world, which was only despairing?

“…Ha.”

A hollow laugh escaped me.

Wanting to be happy, despite being a villain.

It was a luxury for me, who couldn’t even apologize for killing them, to have such thoughts.

Deciding I should stop having presumptuous thoughts and just sleep, I lay down and closed my eyes.

…That night, I had a lonely nightmare of walking through a ruined world all alone, with no one by my side.

A month passed quickly after that.

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