Targeted By The Protagonist As A Villain-Chapter 38: Bodyguard (5)

Eric glanced at the dead man’s body for a moment and thought about doing something to it, but ultimately decided against it and began dragging Celeste’s unconscious body out of the penthouse instead.

Honestly, he really wanted to loot the dead man’s body, especially since he knew what kind of armor the man was carrying, but the toxin that had been released into the penthouse was still lingering in the air, and Eric could feel his body growing heavier with each passing minute despite trying to not inhale any of it or move at all when the man had first revealed himself.

As Eric dragged Celeste across the ground however, he thought back to what he had told her during the fight.

In the novel, Aurora more often than not came across villains who were stronger than her, whether in terms of raw strength or overall power, when she met them for the first time.

That was especially true when she first started learning magical energy and began going up against villains who were far more experienced with it.

Because of that, Aurora constantly had to think outside the box.

She had to come up with unique, strange, and sometimes even outright insane solutions on the spot in order to overcome the difference in strength.

And the method Eric had told Celeste to use earlier in the fight was one of those solutions when it came to airborne toxins.

The novel never fully explained how it worked, but apparently Aurora had figured out that many airborne toxins, especially the ones some villains loved to use to torture people, did not settle into the body immediately.

Instead, they lingered in the lungs for a short while even as they continued causing harm.

So by lowering the pressure in the lungs and focusing on expelling whatever was still in the airway and lungs, it was possible to force a large portion of it out through violent coughing, which coughing would happen anyway once the lungs were put under pressure.

Of course, it didn’t remove all of the toxins from the body, and Celeste definitely still had some left in her system and now needed a proficient healer to get the rest out, but it had been enough to let her move again and eventually win the battle.

Anyway, after dragging Celeste’s body out of the building and onto the surprisingly nearby empty sidewalk by himself, Eric couldn’t help coughing up some blood as well and weakly sat down on the ground next to her.

"So inconvenient." Eric wiped the blood on his shirt and looked up at the sky.

But since the dark grey building that his penthouse was in was one of the tallest buildings within a few blocks, he could only see parts of the evening sky.

It was interesting though.

His parents had built him that building all because he had asked for one on a whim when he was a kid, so he had always been the sole residence of it.

Just as Eric was reminiscing about the past however, and he was about to go lay down on the ground because of how exhausted he was becoming...

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

A bunch of footsteps could be heard coming toward him from both directions of the sidewalk, and before he knew it, dozens of people wearing either armor or normal clothing, but carrying powerful auras and artifacts, quickly began showing up.

Everyone kept about thirty meters of distance from Eric and Celeste, though, and just stood there quietly.

The looks on their faces varied from fear, shock, anger, disgust, and indifference as well... but there was not a single positive emotion among the crowd.

Seeing this, Eric immediately knew...

"The Astral Dawns... so that’s why the streets are empty, huh." Eric recognized the astral light emblem that some of them wore on their armor or cloaks, and wanted to sigh loudly, but couldn’t.

Seriously, his luck was the absolute worst.

He could barely even move his body from the toxins he had inhaled earlier, his only bodyguard was currently unconscious next to him, and now an organization had shown up first to try and kill him.

And not even a small group like he had at least anticipated. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

But still, he had miraculously somehow survived Celeste’s group to begin with, even though it had all stemmed from a misunderstanding, and so Eric didn’t give up hope just yet.

With that in mind, Eric lifted his heavy body up from the ground and straightened his back.

"I don’t suppose you’re here for something good?" Eric looked at everyone and said in a jokingly manner, but his face showed no trace of humor on it whatsoever.

Nobody responded to his question, and instead continued staring at Eric and Celeste’s lifeless corpse.

No one had seen the fight that had occurred earlier right before they got here, but it was evident from this scene alone that Celeste had lost.

And the one responsible for her loss?

Naturally, it was the only other person here, the guy the distress signal had been sent about, and the guy they were all supposed to kill...

Eric Porter.

"So that’s why she didn’t want us to come here and told us it was a misunderstanding after the distress signal... she was worried for us." A middle-aged man wearing a black suit and standing at the forefront of one of the groups spoke with grief in his voice.

The Black Sovereign, a title everyone referred to her by since nobody knew her real name, had managed to create a realm of her own and was undoubtedly one of the strongest beings in the world who was willing to use her strength for the greater good.

It was a noble trait that not many other great beings like her possessed, and everyone in their inner circle greatly admired that about her.

So the fact that she was lying lifelessly on the ground like this in front of them now... it made everyone here very angry.

But they all knew better than to recklessly rush in and attack Eric immediately without thinking.

Thankfully...

"Eric Porter. Our main leader is coming with the main force soon, along with many other groups and organizations willing to take you head on. We are only the reconnaissance and are fully prepared to die for the greater good. Do not resist, and we will make it quick and painless." The middle-aged man stated firmly.

"And I don’t get a say in any of this? I’d like to live after all." Eric knew the answer to this but asked anyways.

"No, not only have you killed The Black Sovereign, but you’ve also very clearly hidden your power from us for a very long time now, and almost nobody ever does that unless if they have some bad ulterior moltive in mind. You are a very dangerous person, and must be put to rest." The middle-aged man replied.

Hearing this, Eric really wanted to facepalm, and in fact, he even lifted his hand slightly to do so, but since that caused everyone around him to flinch and draw their weapons, he quickly dropped his hand and shook his head slightly.

But maybe he also shouldn’t have done that, because the moment he shook his head in disbelief, everyone in the organization began casting projectile magic in order to attack him.

The middle-aged man for some reason however gestured his hand to the side, causing everyone to stop their chanting.

Afterwards, the middle-aged man said, "We don’t know his true capabilities yet, so I will be the first one to go and attack him. Try to figure out as much information as possible so we can relay it back to the main force if any of us escape, and if I don’t make it out alive... I want to tell everyone here that it was an honor being your team leader."

Then the man took out a weird-looking, slightly transparent grey knife with faint white cracks running through it and cast some spells on his body.

Once he finished casting, he immediately vanished from Eric’s sight and appeared right behind him before Eric could even react.

Then, with one clean and smooth movement, he drove the knife into Eric’s neck.

However, since this artifact could not harm the physical body and had instead been created to mentally flood the target with unbearable pain and fear, enough to shatter even the strongest will, the blade passed through Eric without resistance, leaving no physical wound behind as it attacked his mind instead.

Afterwards, the man quickly backed away to create some distance and waited for the effects to settle in before actually beginning his attacks.

Everyone else waited as well.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

But no matter how long everyone waited... nothing happened.

There were no screams, no grunts, not even a single reaction from Eric whatsoever.

All they got was a dead, emotionless look from him.

"That’s... impossible..." The middle-aged man was dumbstruck, while almost everyone else shifted uneasily and grew even more terrified.

That blade should have at least affected him to a certain extent, even if he didn’t scream out in agony.

It always did.

Without fail.

And yet, they watched as Eric raised a hand and touched his neck where the blade had passed through.

Then he finally turned his head toward the middle-aged man and said...

"...Ouch?"