I Thought I’d Reformed the Villainous Heroine. But Their True Nature Remained Unchanged, and They Were Still Being Doted On—I Just Don’t Have Enough Lives.

My Name Is

The danger level changes depending on how far the mana contamination has progressed.

Initial contamination is just a slight distortion.

The water starts to rot, trees wither, and the land begins to show effects. Weak monsters appear too.

From mid-level contamination, the whole region starts to change.

It mostly keeps the area’s original traits but expands caves or mountain ranges—for example, the area around the cottage getting swallowed by water.

Humanoid monsters appear, so the danger goes up.

Late-stage contamination. The corrupted mana starts affecting the world itself.

Because the corrupted mana refuses to return to normal, it creates dungeons. It draws close to ancient times, and dangerous monsters appear. It’s really bad.

Late-stage contamination can also involve demonic intentions, so the difficulty of clearing it is extremely high.

It’s definitely not a dungeon that a kid who can fight a little can clear.

“—Uwooooo!!”

My scream or shout or whatever it was echoed through the lake dungeon.

Freshwater fish with unnaturally developed fangs glinted and leaped from the water surface. I raised my mana output and swung my sword down.

I flipped the sword and took down a second one right after.

“All right! I can beat flying fish…!”

We were in the middle of clearing the lake dungeon, and the battle had started in a large hall.

By the way, almost all the mana-contaminated fish evolved into flying fish.

Whether in the sea or a river, no matter the original type, they’re called flying fish. As the contamination progresses further from here, they evolve into other monsters.

There was no level concept in this world, but they were probably around level 1 to 3.

I was probably about the same. It was really good that I’d become able to fight.

Even so, I couldn’t shake off the fear of the unknown.

“Young Master~ fighting monsters feels different, right? You can’t get scared.”

“Looks like it! You better not get scared either!”

“Kuhihi, who are you talking to~”

Myris was fighting a giant squid about ten-something meters long.

It was a kraken. Strength-wise, probably level 40 to 50. Its cloudy eyes were fixed on the maid. The raw smell that you couldn’t pick up in the game. The wriggling tentacles were bigger than my body, and even from a distance they were overwhelming.

Myris didn’t flinch at all though.

“I’m talking to the suspicious dark dweller!”

“Treating a cute maid like she’s from the dark is so mean! —Provisional Fixation. Howl, twist, sharp fangs. What you devour is only for instinct. What you roar for is only for duty. Devour even the underside of the soul!”

Myris started a long chant from her unique spell words.

She was going to use a big spell.

While gracefully dodging the kraken’s tentacles, she swung both arms in wide circles.

“Howling Fangs!!”

The space in front of Myris twisted sharply, and semi-transparent fangs flew out all at once.

The kraken tried to block with its tentacles, but the fangs’ piercing power won out, punching dozens of holes in it until it died.

She’s seriously strong…

“Yeees, it’s the lovely cute Myris Kulok!”

“You’re cute Myris, you’re cute! Dangerous but cute!”

“If you’re gonna praise me, do it properly! Ah, watch out Young Master~”

Myris said that while fighting a small kraken this time.

I noticed the change right away too.

The flying fish near the shallow water surface started bubbling and swelling up like they were boiling, then grew huge. Arms even sprouted.

Legs grew, tails grew, and they slowly crawled up onto the water surface.

“Sssshiiiiii”

“Shit!! They evolved into merman marlins!”

Merman marlin.

The monsters that had become humanoid size were flapping their gills. They were a bit bigger than a kid, but their arms were bulging and their whole bodies were sturdy.

Level-wise, probably 15 to 20.

Honestly, they were more than I could handle!

The monster was holding a spear made of water.

“Sssshiiii!!”

The marlin thrust its spear.

I wasn’t sure if I could handle a spear made of water, so my judgment was a little slow and my dodge was late. The spear grazed me slightly.

Ugh?! Is this what the teacher was talking about?!

‘Young Master, fighting monsters is fighting the unknown.’

‘…You mean opponents who might do anything, right?’

‘Yeah. Monsters are abnormal evolutions of plants and animals caused by mana contamination. They’ve stepped outside the circle of evolution, and their one-generation growth is specialized in killing outsiders. They have more moves than normal animals.’

Besides, just getting barked at by a normal animal is already scary.

When you can’t communicate and don’t know why it’s barking, the fear gets worse. The teacher had said that fighting monsters meant constantly battling that unknown.

‘Teacher, should I just observe them?’

‘Hmm… observation is important, but honestly we don’t have that much time. Mages crush them with firepower, warriors pour mana into body strengthening and take the damage to strike. That’s the basics.’

‘…I don’t think I can do either.’

‘Haha, I know. So I’ll teach you other easy-to-understand ways to fight.’

The marlin’s eyes rolled around.

Clear killing intent showed in its eyes.

‘Young Master. Monster eyes are easy to read.’

I managed to dodge the sideways sweep with room to spare by stepping back.

Yeah, it really was super easy to read!

It wasn’t a normal living thing; it was a temporary evolution.

Even if it was humanoid, the opponent barely had any experience fighting people. It attacked with pure instinct, so the start of its moves was obvious and its eyes were blatant!

“Don’t underestimate me!!”

Well, I’d practiced dodging against wild dogs plenty of times!

Even a normal dog, or rather because it was a dog, the unknown was scary.

But once you could move enough to understand the meaning behind the actions, that was how you crushed the unknown in fights against monsters. The teacher had taught me that too.

To learn the unknown, without fearing the unknown, I stepped forward.

“Taaaaaah!!”

“Sssshiiiiii!!”

I dodged the spear thrust and slashed at the torso. Perfect timing.

But the hard scales blocked it, and I only managed to scrape some flesh.

Gah! I misjudged the mana output!! Level shortage!

The marlin glared at me while looking in pain. I was bracing myself to take one big hit, but an interruption came from the side.

“Sssshiii?!?!”

Another marlin barged in and stabbed its spear into the head of the one I was fighting.

While I stood there stunned, I noticed more marlins had appeared.

They all started attacking each other one after another, and the dead ones stood up again, beginning to kill their own comrades.

There was no need to ask whose doing it was.

“—Everyone, dance madly.”

Ilza’s spell words were just that.

With only that, she controlled the monsters’ corpses and made them start killing each other.

Water and blood flew around, but Big Brother Number Three shielded us with its body. My little sister just calmly watched the monsters slaughter each other.

My little sister… making them fight each other looks way too fitting for her…

The battle ended, and quiet came.

The monsters’ corpses stopped moving like their batteries had run out and slowly sank into the water. Ilza already looked like she had lost interest.

Whew… it’s over for now, so let me shout.

“That’s why! It’s just me!! The levels are way too different!! In a bad way!!”

It feels like I got thrown into the last dungeon at starting level?!

And there’s no power leveling or anything! I’m still weak! At least let me go step by step!!

Maybe my painful shout was pleasing, because Ilza smiled.

“I like Big Brother when he tries hard.”

“When my little sister says that, I have no choice but to try hard!! Damn it!”

“Hehe, Big Brother who’s all overwhelmed is adorable too. …Should I be grateful that you let me hear such a wonderful shout?”

Ilza quietly stared at the wall.