I Got Reincarnated Into a Game I Was a Top-Ranker in and I Became the Leader of a Villain Group That Will Destroy This Shitty Country - 22

Chapter 22: What the Hero Lacks

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“I see… So he’s keeping their magic power hidden by using the Dark Sight skill he stole from me….”

Chloe nodded, seemingly understanding what was going on. With my hands interlocked with Nia, I began to talk with Chloe in a hushed tone.

“Our magic power is very easy to sense after all. Dark Sight can erase not only our presence but also the magic power visible to others. That’s why this skill is quite handy to have.”

“And so that’s why you held my hand back then?”

“Hey! Don’t say that in front of Nia! Wai-! Arghh! My hand! My hand…!!”

Nia, who had bandages wrapped around her eyes, suddenly got angry. She squeezed my hand forcefully, unable to control her temper. Naturally, my body leaned forward to alleviate the pain even for a bit. Seeing the predicament I was in, Chloe began to laugh while clapping a little. 

“Hahaha… But really, how did you hide Nia’s magic power? Even after I activate magic vision, I can’t see the demon inside Nia.”

“I asked Nia to suppress the demon as much as possible. It seems she can make it so the demon’s face isn’t visible.”

“Hoo… Nia, you’re really amazing too, huh?”

Well, of course. She’s the final boss of this world after all… Besides, right now her magic power is split in half with me. Maybe her power is easier to control now because of that?

In any case, I walked alongside Chloe and Nia while making sure not to attract the attention of the Hero. I walked through the dungeon while carefully scanning our surroundings and before long, a puzzled voice came from Chloe. 

“I know it’s a bit late to ask this, but… What’s the plan? Why did you guys come all the way here?”

Chloe glanced at me and whispered as low as she could. I stared at the Hero. After I was certain he wasn’t looking at us, I shrugged my shoulders. 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Ahahahaha~ But seriously, my performance earlier was pretty good, right?”

“No, don’t play dumb! I know you must be here for a reason! Ugh… Seriously…”

Chloe smiled, a mix of exasperation and amusement could be seen on her face. For some reason, I could feel Nia’s eyes glowing, even though her eyes were supposed to be wrapped in bandages. Well, I shall just write that off as my imagination! Yeah! Her eyes weren’t glowing! Not at all!

“Nia, I’m not cheating, okay?!”

“….Humphhh…”

“Ahaha~ Nia is still the same.”

A surprisingly relaxed mood filled the dungeon, making it hard to believe we were actually inside a dungeon. Right. We had reached the 15th floor with the Hero leading the way. Although Kaltz had agreed to help us back in the 14th floor rest area, but he refused to return to town. He was very adamant in continuing the dungeon diving.

“No, we shall proceed deeper into the dungeon as planned. After all, we’re planning on reaching the 17th floor today, right?”

“But Kaltz-san! I believe we should get these kids to a safe place first rather than keep moving forward! We don’t know what lies ahead and both of them are just children!”

To my surprise, the one who protested against the Hero’s insistence was Alwyn, the healer. It seemed she couldn’t just let helpless children like us be in danger because of her nature as a cleric. However, Alywn’s effort was all in vain. 

“Oh, that’s perfect then. There may come a time when we need to fight while protecting hostages. Let’s go forward to the 15th floor while keeping these children safe then.”

“Wait! Kaltz?! You do know the 15th floor is very close to the boss room, right? It’s impossible for us to protect these children when we don’t even know what’s going to appear on the 15th floor!”

“Brien, are you also going to say the same thing as Chloe? Didn’t you hear what I just said? There may come a time when we need to fight while protecting someone. This is a good opportunity for our practice.”

“But… But…!”

“The break is over. Come on. Let’s go, quickly.”

And that was the gist of what had happened. In the end, Brien and Alywn had no choice but to follow the Hero’s words. As for Chloe, it seemed she had already given up on stopping Kaltz altogether. 

This guy… He’s seriously just like in the original story, huh?

I almost sighed outwardly at the thought. His personality was just like this in the game too. While he had a good sense of justice and responsibility… And good leadership, but there was something crucial that Kaltz lacked. 

….You really can’t sympathize with other people’s feelings, huh?

Empathy. That was the thing that Kaltz lacked the most. He imposed his ideals on other people, labeling those who didn’t follow his ideals as villains arbitrarily. He didn’t have any intention to listen to other people’s feelings. Rather than a Hero, Kaltz was more like a psychopath instead. And this man was the protagonist of this game, Dark Blood Online.

I’m here to see what his personality is like while helping Chloe at the same time, but… Ahh, he’s really beyond help. 

A somewhat complex feeling welled up in me. He was someone I had interacted with the most as a game character for the past four years. I didn’t want to consider him as my enemy so easily. However, Kaltz’s excessive sense of justice was… Disgustingly ugly and selfish. I knew that very well, since I had seen how he fared during the entirety of the game. 

In the end, it seemed we would end up as enemies. Just as I resigned myself to becoming his enemies, the light around me suddenly vanished and an ominous sound could be heard reverberating around the dungeon.

“-?! It’s the enemy! Stay vigilant!”

Kaltz’s sharp voice echoed and soon after, the sound of monsters could be heard, skittering and hissing to us. This sound… The pattern of everything around us turning pitch black… This must be the Tarantula!

“-!! Alwyn!!”

“Kyaaa-?! Ah-! Thank you, Chloe-san…!!”

“Shit… What’s with this web?!”

Chloe threw herself to help Alywn and the four of them looked upward. The confusion was apparent on their faces. I activated magic vision and sure enough, there were give or take 10 enemies surrounding us. The poison spider monster had somehow got us surrounded and were trying to spew their web and venom at us. 

“…Kai, can I kill them?”

With her magic vision, Nia, just like me and Chloe, was able to grasp the situation accurately. I tightly gripped Nia’s hand as she was about to remove her eye bandage. 

“No. This is not our turn to shine yet. Let’s hide for now.”

Right now, we were just a helpless boy and girl in distress that somehow got lost in the dungeon. We couldn’t act recklessly now. If we somehow got our true identities exposed, we would be in a lot of trouble. Hence why, it’d be best to hide in a corner for now and watch the Hero engaging in battle. Fortunately, Kaltz also immediately activated his magic vision and jumped toward the spider clinging to the wall. 

“Die! Divine Cutter!”

So fast. In just an instant, the disgusting C-rank monster Tarantula was torn into five pieces. The skill Kaltz used just now was a B-rank holy skill. He was growing much faster than I expected, making me widen my eyes in surprise. 

He was really chosen by the holy sword for a reason. But…

“Rising Arrow! How’s that? Witness the power of the World Tree-… Kyaaaa?!”

“Bri-Brien-san?!”

“Brien!”

“Argh….”

Fighting together with other people, protecting your comrades… These two were foreign to him. Even though Kaltz was the vanguard, he only focused on defeating the monster without caring about his comrades. In turn, the rear guard ended up getting overwhelmed by the enemies. Even now, Brien had gotten hit by the spider’s poison. She was writhing in pain, clutching onto her shoulder. Alwyn looked panicked while Chloe was gritting her teeth frustratingly, trying to deflect the enemy attacks with her dagger. 

“-?! Brien, you got injured?!”

Seemingly sensing the backside getting wrecked, Kaltz returned. However, the situation was already beyond help. Everyone was completely surrounded by the tarantulas, at the risk of becoming a pincushion by the tarantula’s poison fangs. 

“….Kai.”

“…..”

…Well, I guess I don’t have any other choice left, huh? I need to step forward to help… At least for Chloe’s sake.. Haa… Just why does it have to come to this…

I thought to myself, when suddenly…

“My oh my~ It seems everyone is in danger, huh?~”

A man emerged from within the darkness. His beige hair cascaded down to his waist. He had slanted eyes and just by glancing at him, I could already tell who he was. 

Gebels Zodiac. The mastermind that made the Hero kill Chloe had appeared before us.

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T/N: I know someone like Kaltz. Ended up removing them from my life because I can’t stand their stubbornness ε-(ｰдｰ)