I Became a Dark Fantasy Villain-Chapter 446

Ian’s vision blurred, and his ears rang. Time seemed to slow to a crawl.

Rumble... rumble...

A distinct rumble spreading from within snapped Ian’s consciousness back;it was the bead of chaos essence.

Though time still felt sluggish and his senses remained dull, Ian recalled being swept away by the shockwave. He also remembered reflexively deploying the Platinum Barrier the instant the mist had flared—and the chaos-condensed eyeball swelling between Inaskurgl's ribs.

So this is what happens when the balance collapses.

Yog's whisper from earlier echoed in his mind.

No matter that Inaskurgl was free from its bindings, that eyeball couldn't be its true body. It was a separate entity, likely chaos itself, corrupted by the creature’s madness and now given physical form.

Inaskurgl was dead, but the chaotic self it had failed to fully merge with was still alive. Having grown powerful enough for even an archdemon to barely suppress it, perhaps it could be said to have escaped its prison, in a sense. Though certainly not through normal means.

Then, would this not have happened if I’d absorbed the chaos while the creature was still alive?

As Ian pondered this, the faint whistling of the wind grew gradually sharper. His vision cleared even faster than that. At least, it was clear he hadn't been blinded.

Regardless, the sight that unfolded before his clearing eyes was enough to instantly banish his stray thoughts.

The sky was coated in a viscous darkness that felt unnaturally close. Through it, concentric waves pulsed endlessly outward from the center of the battlefield. With each ripple, the expanding circles shed the gray magic composing them down onto the land. The surroundings were already rapidly being stained gray.

Is the barrier collapsing?

Or perhaps the chaos given form was unleashing the full power of its domain. Either way, the outcome was equally grim.

Boom, boom, boom!

As the roar of the wind intensified, all of his senses sharpened—including the feeling of the shockwave and the lingering sense of weightlessness.

Soon, a sudden chill behind him made Ian reflexively curl into a ball.

Clang—

Tumbling across the ground, Ian slammed down the Platinum Barrier on his left arm, skidding to a halt.

Perhaps because his tension and focus surged back, his body only felt numb and tingly, devoid of pain. No limbs were missing, nor had his senses vanished.

"Phew... phew...." The ragged breaths he had been holding back finally burst out.

It seemed he would need a moment to fully recover from the impact, but regardless, he had survived. It couldn't have been solely thanks to the Platinum Barrier.

The armor covering his body had played its part;specifically, the faint halo of light spreading from the White Phosphor Armor and Greaves had protected his vital points.

On closer inspection, this halo scattered light like a rainbow, revealing shimmering, scale-like patterns. It was the Blessing of White Phosphor, an ancient spell on the armor and greaves that he rarely noticed but which always quietly performed its duty.

Rumble... rumble...

Of course, it was also thanks to the chaos power being emitted by the bead of chaos essence. Perhaps due to absorbing some of Inaskurgl's chaos, the essence bead—now slightly larger and harder—was brimming with power.

So, it's fully charged now.

As the thought crossed his mind, quest completion windows popped up before his eyes. The Time of the Hunt quest and the quest received upon entering the boss battle had completed one after the other.

Immediately, new quests followed. This time too, there was more than one.

[Time of Collapse] and [Unstable Amalgamation.]

Crack, crack—

Hearing the ominous sound spreading through the dissipating shockwave, Ian immediately closed the windows and raised his head.

Only then did he realize he had been blown back several tens of meters. The cross-pupiled eyeball, rising as if growing, was quite far away. Of course, the creature's presence remained sharp and distinct.

Ian was able to perceive, in minute detail, the chaos power condensed within the eyeball and the magic flowing into the creature. It was probably because the essence bead he held had absorbed a portion of that creature's chaos.

Crackle—

Regardless, the eyeball rising while scattering red light looked almost like a hideous flower born from a curse. It felt even more so because Inaskurgl's ribs sharply surrounded the optic nerve, which rose like a stem.

Crack, crackle—

Around it, the severed pieces of Inaskurgl were gathering and reattaching. Tentacles extended like roots from various points on the cross-section of the upper body, pulling the pieces together.

The tentacles swelled grotesquely, filling the gaps between Inaskurgl's pieces like adhesive. Having been haphazardly patched, Inaskurgl writhed and rose.

While the eyeball, presumably the main body of the chaos, sank slightly between the ribs, Inaskurgl's head, attached crookedly to the side of the torso, gaped its maw wide.

"----!" An eardrum-tearing scream erupted.

Simultaneously, the amalgamation's eye-light drew a distinct red cross in the air, and it sucked in the gray magic pervading the area at tremendous speed.

It wasn't just magic being drawn in. Ian, too, slid toward it as if pulled by magnetism.

What the fuck? frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

The pulling force instantly grew stronger. As his body began to lift off the ground, Ian hastily turned around, drawing the sword from his waist.

A golden Mantra shone dazzlingly in the center of the pure white blade.

Clunk!

The blade, infused with dragon magic, dug deep into the ground. Even then, it continued to be dragged in a straight line until Ian retracted the Platinum Claws, finally anchoring firmly. Ian, gripping the hilt, planted one foot on the ground like someone clinging to a steep slope.

"I-Ian! Iaaaan!" A scream echoed from behind him.

Ian snapped his head up.

In the distance, Diana was flailing her arms and legs, drawing rapidly closer. She must have been watching the situation blankly and, without a chance to properly resist, started getting pulled along.

…Lucy. Where is Lucy?

Even as his heart sank, Ian reflexively kicked off the leg braced against the ground and pulled his sword free. His body flew in an unnaturally slanted parabola.

"Ian— Help me! Ian!"

"Reach out!" Hearing her continued screams, Ian shouted, his head tilted up toward her.

Diana, flailing as she drew nearer, snapped her head toward him. Beyond her mask, her terrified eyes were visible. As if throwing her whole body forward, she stretched both arms out toward Ian. Taking in the entire sight, Ian also reached out his hand toward her.

However, his left hand sliced through empty air by a mere hair's breadth. Diana, eyes wide, spread her hand open.

Thud.

The edge of the Platinum Barrier caught her fingertips. Diana grabbed onto it, her body swinging in a swift parabola. Tensing his left arm, Ian slammed the sword in his right hand down onto the ground.

Creak—

Even though the magic hadn't fully surged into the blade yet, it dug deep into the earth. Ian's body, which had been getting pulled along, rapidly slowed. At the end of his slightly bent left arm, Diana's body swayed as she dangled from the Platinum Barrier.

"This crazy... crazy fuck...."

While Diana groaned, Ian pulled his left arm closer to his body. Leaping up, Diana clung to Ian with her whole body like a monkey.

She panted in apparent relief, but only for a moment.

"What the hell... what the hell is that? What's happening right now?" she spat out in a trembling voice, hugging Ian's armor even tighter.

However, Ian, gripping the sword hilt with his right hand, didn't answer. Bracing himself with his right foot, head raised, he urgently scanned his surroundings.

His gaze finally settled on something behind and above him. He had spotted the back of a demonic warhorse, its body lowered almost flat against the ground.

Kreee…

The creature, its back to the amalgamation, was scratching at the ground as if trying to climb a steep slope. It almost looked like it was crawling in place.

The moment he saw Lucia's form clinging to the creature's neck, just like Diana was clinging to him, Ian finally let out a sigh of relief.

Swoosh—

Right after that, a pitch-black lump shot across Ian's vision like a stone and fell somewhere below.

Just as Ian paused, a loud crashing noise erupted from the opposite side. Ian, who had been about to look down, snapped his head the other way.

His brow furrowed slightly. It was unclear when they had gotten there, but far off, two Black Lions were tumbling across the ground, scattering darkness wildly and flailing with their drawn weapons.

"Stab it on the ground calmly! Calmly!" Hyked's shout followed.

Ian's head lowered slightly. Hyked was quite far away;he seemed to have been tossed around by the shockwave just like Ian. He had also plunged his sword into the ground and was holding firm.

Woosh—

Once again, a large shape swept past Ian's eyes as if falling. Amidst the smell of burning and a foul stench brushing his nose, Ian's head followed the object downward.

It was the corpse of a shadow beast. Its burned and crushed state made it appear to be the one Lucia had killed. And it didn't take much thought to figure out where it was being sucked toward.

Squelch, crunch!

The beast's corpse slammed into the amalgamation and was immediately sucked in as if falling into a swamp. Flesh swelled like a mutation on the crushed parts, and an eerie light flared in the opposite eye socket as it gaped its maw in a grotesque convulsion.

Crunch, crackle—

The amalgamation had transformed into a state incomparably larger and more hideous than before. It was the result of indiscriminately sucking in surrounding corpses and continuing the fusion.

The fusion included Inaskurgl, the crushed demonic warhorse, the burned and mangled shadow beast, and even Pauline, the Black Lion clad in pitch-black armor. The crushed armor bulged as if something was packed tightly inside.

Squelch!

And even now, the corpses of shadow beasts were continuously sticking to it.

It also resembled a grotesque sculpture made from a pile of corpses, or perhaps an amorphous void monster that had descended after swallowing countless sacrifices. This impression was stronger because the fused corpses moved as if reanimated, with sharp, blade-like bones and tentacles protruding from between them.

But what Ian was truly focusing on was something else. The moment he looked at the amalgamation, his vision warped, distorting concavely. It felt as if the entire area was turning into a giant antlion pit centered on the creature.

Crack!

Hearing the cracking sound spreading from beneath the ground, Ian realized this wasn't just an optical illusion. It was likely because of that eyeball, still sucking in magic even now. The power accumulating in the eyeball nestled between the ribs was growing immense, enough to distort space-time itself.

Time of Collapse…

The name of the quest finally flashed through Ian's mind. If time continued to pass like this, the space-time of the area would surely collapse along with the barrier. He didn't even want to think about what would happen after that.

Could it be?

Ian took renewed form of the amalgamation, which was still growing larger.

Does it start weak and get progressively stronger over time until it can’t handle the power and self-destruct?

Ian finally realized that getting sucked in by this gravitational force and plunging his sword into that eyeball might have been the easiest strategy all along.

Moreover, he possessed the bead of chaos essence. Even if that thing tried to swallow him, it was more likely he wouldn't be fused. It was a thought that made the back of his neck stiffen, but this was no time to indulge in such reflections.

"Diana. Grab the hilt." Ian spat out, forcibly pulling one of Diana's arms off him with his left hand as she clung to his chest.

"What?" Diana, who had buried her face in his neck, snapped her head up. "What are you talking about? Why the hilt?"

She tensed her right arm as if resisting, but she couldn't overcome Ian's strength.

Lifting Diana's right arm above her head, Ian added, "Because I plan on letting go soon."

"What?" As Diana's eyes widened behind her mask, Ian turned his gaze toward Hyked in the distance.

Watching Hyked, who was still checking on the Black Lions, Ian continued, "If you don't want to, just keep holding on. But if you come with me, you'll become a part of that monster."

"No... crazy... fuck... wait...." Though she stammered, the strength left Diana's arm. Fumbling over Ian's right hand gripping the hilt, she finally grasped the upper part of the hilt tightly.

It was then that Hyked's gaze turned toward Ian. Looking at his dark blue eye-light, Ian gave a slight nod downward.

As Hyked's eye-light widened, understanding the meaning instantly, Ian continued speaking to Diana, "You must never lose this sword. Treat it like your life. If a situation arises where I need it, throw it hard. Throwing accurately is your specialty, isn't it?"

Extending his left hand to the side, Ian looked down into Diana's eyes again. "Just don't hit me with it. If you understand, let go now."

"No... what on earth... are you trying to do?" Even as she slowly unwrapped her legs from his waist, Diana stared blankly up into his eyes. Her left arm, at least, remained wrapped around Ian's back.

"What do you think?" Ian replied, pulling the left hand he had extended forward again. An ominous-looking black sword materialized silently from the empty air.

"I have to kill it before everything goes to hell." Finishing his words, he unhesitatingly let go of the Light Sword's hilt held in his right hand.

New novel 𝓬hapters are published on fre ew𝒆bnovel.com