What If the Strongest Villain from the Original Story Became the Protagonist's Ally? - Chapter 8 - Unparalleled, and Retribution

A mysterious girl had gotten behind me. A cold iron blade was pressed against my neck.

“A knife, huh. And… a girl?”

I glanced backward slightly. It was indeed a girl. Around elementary or middle school age. Quite young.

“! Move and I’ll kill you!”

The girl put strength into the hand holding the knife. She was definitely trying to kill me.

However—Clink!

When the knife hit my skin, it simply broke. Moreover, it hadn’t even cut through the outermost layer of skin.

“Too bad. You can’t kill me with a toy like that.”

“Tch!”

The girl took out several more knives and desperately swung them. But no matter how hard she tried, no matter how many consecutive strikes she delivered, the result didn’t change.

My body, enhanced by mana, wouldn’t be damaged so easily.

“Hup!”

Crack!

The dreadlocked man in front kicked the table between us toward me.

My vision was filled with the table.

I touched its surface.

I pushed the table out in the opposite direction with force. Since I’d completely killed its momentum before pushing, the table didn’t break and instead flew toward the man. In other words, a reflection.

“What!?”

He probably never expected to be counterattacked from practically zero distance. The man’s reaction was slightly delayed.

Even so, he clenched his fist and smashed the flying table.

Crack crack crack!

The table split in two with a tremendous sound.

The man’s vision opened up all at once.

“Yo.”

However, by then I was already right in front of him.

“How does it feel to have your own underhanded tactics used against you?”

“Tch! Die!!”

Whoosh.

The man’s fist caught my face—specifically, the tip of my nose. But it was useless. Same as the knife.

Thud!

With a dull sound, the man’s fist collided.

Naturally, my nose took no damage.

Rather…

“Gah!? M-my hand…!”

The one who took damage was the man who’d punched. His fingers were slightly red.

“It’s useless even if you enhance your physical strength with mana. Do you think attacks from guys like you would work?”

I’m officially cheat-level, you know?

“Damn! What the hell are you!?”

The man quickly backed away. He kicked away the sofa to create distance. The other two flanked him on both sides.

“Before I answer that question, answer mine too.”

“Hah? A question?”

“That hairstyle of yours… how do you ask for it?”

I’d actually been curious about it for a while. It was quite elaborate, different from normal hairstyles, right? When someone showed me something like that, of course I’d be curious. I’m only human.

“Kill him! Right now!”

The man flew into a rage after hearing my question. Didn’t he learn that impatience leads to loss?

A small shadow moved behind me.

Even though she should know knives didn’t work, the girl approached me for the third time with a knife at the ready.

I heard a small, weak voice.

“Assassination magic—[Snake.]”

A sharp thrusting technique exploded forth. It would deal zero damage even if I took it normally, but I decided to look cool.

I caught the tip of the girl’s knife between my index and middle fingers and stopped it.

“!”

“Peace, peace. Just kidding.”

“Assassination magic—guh!?”

She was trying to use another incomprehensible magic, so I pulled the knife toward me, grabbed her neck, and pinned her to the floor. Totally a crime scene.

“Nope, that’s not allowed. You seem to use interesting magic, but I don’t approve of a girl swinging things like this around.”

Saying that, I crushed the blade of the confiscated knife with my bare hands. It was probably poison magic. That magic from earlier.

Even if poison entered my body, the byproduct of the magic core—a decomposition function—would activate, making me immune to poison. I’d be fine even if a viper bit me.

“Useless brat! You guys, let’s all kill him together!!”

“Roger!”

“Leave it to me!”

The dreadlocked man and the other two—a young man and the busty woman—attacked from behind. I left the girl who’d lost her weapon and stood up, swinging my arm at just the right timing.

Just from that, all three of them were sent flying pathetically.

“Gaaaahhhhh!?”

“Kyaaahhhhh!?”

“Uwaaahhhhh!?”

All three hit the wall from the impact, and everyone except the dreadlocked man passed out. Only the man who seemed to be somewhat capable of using mana endured. Applause, applause.

I approached the man while clapping. Since he was lying on his stomach like a frog, I lightly stepped on him.

“Guh.”

“Ahaha. ‘Guh,’ he says.”

Amusing. I stepped on him again and again. Each time, the man writhed in apparent agony. But this was justified violence.

“Hey, old man.”

I asked straight to the point.

“That girl… I thought she was dressed pretty heavily, but when I pinned her down I understood. She’s taken quite a lot of injuries. Nothing but bruises.”

Yes. That was right.

The girl from earlier had many wounds on her body that could only be explained by abuse. These guys had definitely been violent toward her.

“What did you do? Isn’t she your comrade?”

“Guh… D-don’t screw with me! That thing is just a tool, a wretched orphan—gyaaahhh!?”

Unbearable to hear. I accidentally slipped and crushed the bone in his arm. The man rolled around from pain even worse than when his stomach was stepped on.

Tears and drool flowing, he said pathetically:

“It… it hurts… it hurts…! Stop, stop it! I didn’t do anything…”

“Nothing? You’re not bad? No no. That’s way too convenient.”

No good. Sins must be judged equally. The reason you hadn’t been judged until now was because no one stronger than you had appeared.

But now I’m here. I removed my mask and showed the man an evil smile.

“I’ll properly hurt you, okay? Don’t worry. I won’t kill you. Just slowly experience the same amount of pain that girl tasted.”

I slowly raised my foot. My target was the lower body—his right leg.

If I was going to bring criminals to Iris and the others anyway… it would be better to crush their limbs so they couldn’t resist, right? 

No one answered that question. The answer had already been decided.