Episode 2 of the Overly Competent Villain

soul magic

An avalanche is not something that can be caused by making a loud noise or detonating some bombs.

This is a task that requires more precise calculations and preparation than you might think.

And I know very well experts in this field.

“Looks good.”

Shigarna snow mountain railway that arrived to escape the avalanche. Stop the snowmobile and stop.

The landslide was narrowly unable to sweep up to the railroad tracks and stopped midway. You don’t have to worry about going back naked.

“Pietro. Get down.”

Louisa, who drove the snowmobile with me, said as she stopped the mobile.

“Good job, Luisa. Your skills are still the same.”

“With this, this mission is over.”

“Then. I deposit the reward as usual.”

Louisa set off on her own with Heiney Squad’s skinny Roy and hulking Gehrig.

[Who the hell are they? It’s a face I’ve seen a few times.]

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“Hiney Squad. They are former mercenaries from the special forces operating in the northern part of the Empire. It’s an old relationship.”

The Heine Squad led by Louisa is a mercenary group that has been working with me for a long time. It’s hard to find mercenaries with the same level of skill and credit.

They are masters of mountain warfare. An all-around mercenary unit that has learned everything needed to annihilate enemies in the rugged terrain and snowy north.

The reason why they brought them to the sanctuary, and the reason why they escaped through the snowmobile by causing an artificial avalanche was for this purpose.

“Eh, what the hell is this…”

Roden was stunned at the sight of the snow covering the bottom of the mountain. Not even that.

When the warlocks attacked the sanctuary, I wanted to die without moving, but rather wiped it all out.

“Come on, Jacques Pietro. You can’t…”

“Did you expect it? Of course. Ever since I decided to find you.”

The gaze asked how that was possible, but I shrugged my shoulders and kept it a trade secret. You can’t say you heard it from the archmage from the future, can you?

“Mr. Roden. You should have known from this. There is a traitor among the guardians of the sanctuary.”

“That, that’s still…”

Roden also seemed to agree with me, but he couldn’t bear to say that there was a traitor among his colleagues.

I don’t know which of the Guardians is the traitor. This situation is Osman’s experience, and I am a third party.

‘I’m going to ask to confirm, but can anyone really guess?’

[Yes, recently… no, until 10 years later, most Guardians are dead. It’s because he may have faked his death to be sure that there is a traitor among the survivors.]

This archmage was useless in information warfare.

‘Well, I have no choice but to outsource this part.’

I said as I grabbed Roden’s shoulder.

“From now on, you head to the hideout of the Guardians. Find the traitor there. If you don’t defeat the traitor, it will be impossible to follow the revelation of the stars in the future.”

“Okay. Then about you…”

“I don’t want you to divulge any information. This is not the time to reveal yourself.”

Roden had no choice but to understand why I wanted to hide my identity. Anyway, it’s enough to hear from Osman about the sanctuary or magic.

There’s no need to reveal my identity to those involved in the sanctuary where the traitor resides.

I patted Roden on the shoulder and let him go.

“Now then…”

There was no stepping in the footsteps of Osman, who lost his Relic and wandered. As a bonus, even unexpected profits by dealing with raiders.

If that’s the case, I’d say it’s pretty successful.

[There is more important news than that. Relic has opened your soul magic.]

“At 0.53%? Be generous.”

An avalanche swept away Warlock Humpty and his minions. His subordinates are gunmen and swordsmen with no special abilities, but Humpty was different.

Hannibal Humpty. The first order of the Golden Dawn, a secret society of black magicians, ‘Magus (Great Mage)’.

Until Archmage Osman rose to the rank of Archmage, he was a powerful man who reigned as his nemesis.

A warlock who seized the activated relic and occupied the relic until he was killed by Osman. Of course, he has some share in the catastrophe of the stars.

[It’s thanks to the relic being activated by the guy’s death.]

“So how does it feel?”

Soul magic is said to be the magic of possibility. Backing up the achievements of the soul with conceptual calibration.

In my case, it seems that it is close to unlocking magic because I have already achieved too many achievements.

From Relic’s point of view, it feels like he’s backing me up by correcting future results for me who contributed greatly to the catastrophe of the stars.

[Illusion of the villain.]

“The villain’s vision?”

Following the aesthetics of the villain, is it the illusion of the villain now? Surely it won’t grow like a series?

[This is your soul magic analyzed by Relic.]

Villain’s welcome.

– A survivor who has been running away from everything all his life.

-The only prisoner in Alcatraz who has not escaped.

– Highest level wanted bounty. But he always ran away.

Analysis as if summarizing my life.

It’s ambiguous, but I was able to quickly figure out what kind of ability this was.

────

Blinking yellow flicker in the field of view. It was when I turned my head to follow that direction.

‘Osman. shield···!’

– Kang!

With the sound of something breaking, standardized mana dissipates in front of my nose. I opened fire right away, but he ducked back and dodged the bullets.

“Chit…! Was it a wizard!”

He looked at his blade, which was blocked by the shield, as if regretting it.

“One swordsman survived. I don’t think it’s normal.”

“You bastard…”

Humpty’s man, who probably survived the avalanche, glared at me without fixing his grotesquely twisted left arm.

It’s probably not the level of expert… If so, they would have been able to protect themselves from an avalanche.

“How dare you…! I will kill you.”

I can’t even move because my legs are broken. I’m guessing I’m aiming for a chance to use up all the ammo and reload with a check shot.

‘Preparation of magic bullets…’

It was then. Along with the roar of steam, the sound of a train approaching could be heard from across the tracks.

That was enough to divert the swordsman’s gaze for a moment. The moment I stepped back lightly and stepped back from the railroad tracks——

“this guy···!”

The guy realizes my intention and tries to cross the railroad tracks. I pulled the trigger to stop it.

-bang!

“Kuh…!”

A swordsman who deflects it. said Osman hastily.

[I will prepare the magic bullet.]

‘no it’s okay.’

[Pietro?]

If you use magic bullet, there is no back. Because the gun can’t stand it.

The important thing now is the guarantee of perfect victory. What he needs isn’t magic bullets.

-bang! Tattang!

The moment the revolver’s residual ammunition is consumed, a train passes by, blocking the view between him and me.

“Kuh…!”

A groan from beyond. He glared at me, but I couldn’t do anything in front of the train that was running wildly.

like that.

The yellow light flickered and then disappeared.

* * * *

“Kuh…!”

Swordsman Malcolm burst into anger, unable to hide his nervousness.

“A weak child!”

As the train passed, the guy on the other side of the tracks disappeared from sight. Worst of all, he gets on a train and runs away.

Considering the speed of the train passing through the snowy mountains, it is impossible to get on a running train unless you are a driver, but this is the middle stop of the train.

If the train stops and he gets on board, it won’t be easy to find.

────!!

However, the train passed the stop without slowing down at the stop.

‘Okay, it seems he chose to pass by after hearing the gunshots.’

It was a reasonable choice for the train driver. There was even a roar like a bomb exploding due to magic, so I chose to just pass by for safety.

‘Now, as long as the train passes…!’

A train passes by. The momentary barrier that protected him had disappeared. Malcolm tried to punish him right away, but…

“what?”

has disappeared. Malcolm forced his broken foot to reach the other side where Zach had just been standing.

Nowhere. The place where he stood a moment ago is empty. The ghost was supposed to sing.

“Did he jump off a cliff?!”

such a reckless thing? When Malcolm comes up with his own guess, he suddenly sees footprints left in the snow.

Jack’s Footprints. It went around a few steps in the snow and was right next to where Malcolm was standing——

-Clap!

“uh?”

A series of processes for pulling the ball of a pistol. And bang!

Malcolm’s brains scattered in the snow left clear marks.

* * * *

“This is how it feels.”

After confirming kills on the swordsman’s corpse twice, I let the corpse fall off the cliff and expressed my impressions.

[······Remnants of tricks.]

“It’s efficient, too.”

The soul magic ＜Villain’s Illusion＞ acquired this time was truly a magic specialized for stealth.

Visually express the gaze tracking me, and the moment you get out of that gaze, you can activate ‘magic’.

Stealth magic invisible to anyone. It is truly the ‘illusion of the villain’ that disappears like an illusion.

“Are you going to get something like this in the future?”

[To be able to acquire such tricks with ancient magic, the aesthetics of sorcery…]

Osman, who was a great wizard, seemed dissatisfied with my magic.

“So what is the first magic you got?”

[It was a magic that separated the soul from the body. Truly a mystery that even modern magicians cannot reproduce… groan.]

“How come the answer is not cool.”

[After separating the body from the soul, the memories of hardships came to mind as the enemies robbed the body.]

“Tsk tsk, shouldn’t you have been more careful?”

Osman didn’t argue with the practicality of my magic, as if he didn’t use the first soul magic he had obtained very usefully.

[By the way, you deal surprisingly well with knights. Isn’t it the second one already?]

At that, I smiled. It is disrespectful to real knights to treat these guys as knights.

“Don’t talk nonsense when you know it. A sword user is a simple swordsman. The real thing is an expert first.”

In the past, as gunpowder weapons and magic engineering made remarkable progress, and plate armor became meaningless in the present era, the minimum requirements for cold weapon users increased enormously.

Sword users who could not strengthen their bodies with magical powers could not even pass the lowest cut-off for knights, which led to the extreme elite level of the knight class.

“A real knight is a name given to people like her.”

[Like the Count of Wittenberg?]

“·······.”

It’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time.

“Anyway, you need to verify your abilities. Whether it’s magic bullets or soul magic, you need to sort out how to use them.”

[Maybe you need a lab. About 200 km west of here is the Guardians’ secret training ground—-]

“You are so naive.”

Does it make sense to go to the place where the secret is hidden even after seeing that his secret has been stolen right away?

[Then what should I do?]

“I have to make it. From scratch.”

[Ha… It’s not that easy to build a facility that can research magic. From the patented measuring device classified by product number to the barrier wall made of a special alloy to ensure that sufficient safety distance is secured to prevent mana from escaping, it is said that one to ten items stand out. Unless you go to a place that was made a long time ago—”

* * * *

A small city in the southern part of the Empire.

When a huge airship lands in the sky, workers pick up and unload items one after another.

“Everything moved, Pietro.”

“Hey~ Thank you for the fast and speedy delivery, Pardin. It must have been difficult to find.”

“I’d like to say that if you give me money… but it was difficult to secure something like this because it’s for military use. People who wanted to get it lined up.”

The dark-skinned man is a famous transporter on this floor. Necessary goods… A specialist who usually obtains goods that should not be distributed.

Artwork sold on the black market, military equipment that cannot be distributed as classified equipment, and even people.

“I’ll even finish setting things up. I know you’re not an expert on this side.”

“Good service.”

“With this, I paid off my old debt.”

It’s clear to connect and disconnect, so I also use it.

“I always put the account into the place where I deposited it. Spin it three times and it’s completely safe, so don’t worry and spend it.”

“Your money is always reliable. It was a good deal.”

After receiving the transporter’s handshake, I gazed at the magic testing ground that was gradually being set up in the warehouse. If you drag it on for a long time, you will get caught, but for the time being, no one will be interested in this place.

Until the scenario in which the established ghost company ran away due to bankruptcy was executed.

[This, this… a magic engineering lens costing a million Gulic?!]

[I-I can’t believe it… You made the magical power conductor out of silver? It’s money that you would only see in the imperial royal magic corps!]

[Now, wait a minute. is that for real? The latest R09 grade magic-blocking mithril alloy? It shouldn’t have even been released at this time?!]

Osman was a great wizard, but he developed his skills as he lost his Relic and lived an impoverished life on the run.

It was enough experience for a young boy from a rich family who was studying archeology to arm himself with the spirit of a beggar.

“Well, since it’s contraband, I gave you a double for the regular price.”

[Hey, man… how much money did you spend?]

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I shrugged at Osman’s trembling gaze.

“It’s all a numbers game.”

[Damn it, you criminal! Somehow, he was endlessly wasting money!]

“The sword genius and the magic genius. I must have something to deal with the slaughter genius.”

I think it was just money.

I may not have been a knight or a wizard, but I made a lot of money.

I was rich.

Much more than my enemies think.