That’s How They Became Villains

#46. Ruler of the Underworld -5-

Kim Seok-ho was perplexed.

Having once taken Chae Yu-ha hostage and slammed her to the floor, he could tell.

Chae Yu-ha hated when situations occurred that they couldn’t control.

Usually, she tried to hide these feelings by constantly smiling cheerfully…but when she felt a situation had slipped from her hands, there was a momentary collapse in her expression.

It happened just now.

Of all times, in this situation where the most capable Nazha and Seolhwa from the Maker were unavailable, who would have imagined that an S-class hero under probation would appear? Although no one noticed, it was evidence that Chae Yu-ha was acting according to her own beliefs.

Then what about now? Now that the hero who should be protecting the hostage has begun an unexpected rampage, what expression is Chae Yu-ha making?

Kim Seok-ho glanced slightly at First’s face which was distorted with anger.

Kim Seok-ho found the sight somewhat eerie and gulped.

In Minos, there was a rumor about Vitaloids.

Vitaloids manufactured by the Unhwa Group were designed from the production stage to be unable to resist the default algorithm.

From this, it was clear that Vitaloids were strictly robots and could not become human.

However, because their behavior was so similar to humans, by social convention, Vitaloids were already recognized as intelligent life forms.

It was a dangerous thing.

If the Unhwa Group were so inclined one could hardly imagine what the Vitaloids already spread throughout society could do to the city.

‘No, Athena…!! There was no such authorization for lethal force…!! Stop right now…!!’

Kilos shouted urgently from the darkness.

It was a strange feeling, as if the self had been split into two.

The real Kilos was floundering in the deep subconscious while an unknown being was using Kilos’ mouth to speak.

“Athena. I authorize the use of all weapons except explosives. Kill all the villains in front of you.”

“Yeah…Understood.”

-Swish…

The outline of the suit rippled like waves, then the entire suit became transparent and disappeared.

It was optical camouflage.

Rather than becoming transparent, it was similar to emitting a wavelength that couldn’t be detected by human vision or infrared detection to conceal its appearance.

However, if one cannot see with their eyes, they can detect the heat felt on their skin.

Conveniently, the black plasma blade Athena was holding emitted ultra-high heat.

Last closed his eyes. Visual information was completely blocked, and other senses became more sensitive but Last couldn’t pinpoint the source of the heat. It was because the heat source was moving too quickly.

Wait, too quickly?

‘Oh no…!!’

Last belatedly used neural acceleration.

In an instant, the flow of the world slowed down.

Last hurriedly turned his gaze toward the heat source but the bodies of nearly five thugs had been cut in half by the plasma blade already.

They had blank expressions, as if they hadn’t yet realized they were dead.

Last immediately leaped toward the heat source, leaving behind a colorful afterimage.

Nothing was visible, but there was definitely the tangible feeling of the suit.

Last grabbed the suit and forcefully pushed it against the wall of the abandoned factory.

Once again, the world returned to its original speed.

The thugs who had been cut in half collapsed with a thud.

“What, what’s going on…!!”

“This is fucking…!!”

Confusion arose among the thugs.

-Bang!!

Simultaneously, a huge cloud of dust rose from one wall of the factory, creating a hole about 4m wide.

Optical camouflage is a delicate technology.

Athena’s figure flickered and revealed itself, no longer able to maintain the optical camouflage due to the impact.

Athena was secretly impressed.

It was the first time her tactic of deploying optical camouflage and neural acceleration simultaneously had been seen through from the first attempt.

Usually, when deployed consecutively like this, opponents would be flustered and leave openings.

Neural acceleration has a long cooldown time.

Therefore, she had planned to cut down at least thirty people with this acceleration…

However, it was strange that no follow-up strike came after the mount. Athena didn’t know that this was due to Last’s nature of insisting on non-lethal methods.

Athena immediately deployed a reactive elastic shield.

-Thump!

The translucent membrane rapidly inflated, pushing Last away.

“Ugh…!!”

Last was in mid-air.

Athena, who had sprung up like a spring using the anti-gravity device, rammed her 3m large body into Last.

“Kaheuk…!!”

Last flew and got stuck in the opposite wall of the factory.

From within the dust, Athena walked back into the factory with heavy steps as everyone watched the scene with bated breath.

The framework of hero versus villain had already collapsed.

What was about to unfold was a desperate struggle between an S-class hero who suddenly started rampaging, advocating for a massacre, and an A-class hero trying to stop her.

The remaining thugs who had resolved to sacrifice for their boss’ resurrection, Yu-jin and Cheol-ho who were looking for an opportunity to rescue the hostage, and Agio who was buying time to escape the situation.

All of them couldn’t accept the flow of events and were dumbfounded.

And such situations that went out of control were situations that First greatly disliked, especially for Chae Yu-ha, who had firm beliefs about the nobility of heroes.

First thought.

In other words, this was the backstage of the performance, a lawless space where anything could happen without seeming strange.

If this were on stage, it would be fitting for the protagonist to finish things, but.

Not now.

“…?”

Athena tilted her head.

Someone was standing in front of Last, who was on his knees.

It was First.

“Last, you know. I like heroes like you. A steadfast but altruistic hero. A hero so upright that they might even seem like a pushover, not caring about the blood flowing in their body if it means saving others. I think all heroes should follow your example.”

First’s gaze turned to Athena.

“Therefore, Athena. I dislike heroes like you. Unable to do anything alone, and swinging your sword without regard for hostages when someone orders you to. How is that being a hero?”

“…”

“You seem to not understand? Shall I put it more simply? This side is much more fun as a toy than you are.”

Once again, the framework was established.

Hero and villain. Good and evil. First thought this was how it should properly be.

“Athena, what are you doing? The villain has walked down on their own feet. Hurry and kill them.”

“…Yeah.”

-Thump!

The anti-gravity device once again sprung Athena’s body like a spring.

Plasma blades were firmly gripped in both hands. This time it wasn’t a headbutt like before.

The target was the enemy’s head. The subject showed no signs of movement yet.

-Slash.

The blade was swung with a sound of cutting through the air.

However, First’s neck remained attached without a single scratch, with that characteristic confident smile.

‘…!?’ Blink, blink…

The plasma blade, which had been powered off, lit up again and Athena noticed it belatedly.

“Where are you looking?”

First clenched their fist in the air, then something like an invisible hand grabbed Athena’s left arm.

-Crack!!

The suit’s left arm was torn off with tremendous grip.

Having lost an arm in just a moment, Athena jumped back to her original position.

Multiple abilities…?

This wasn’t something that happened because Athena was careless.

It’s just that First was too far ahead in terms of preliminary information.

Athena is human and enhanced humans cannot attack humans. That’s common sense.

However, considering special cases like Royal Road’s hitmen or first-generation enhanced humans, it can’t be said that there are absolutely no enhanced humans who can attack humans.

That’s why Athena wasn’t careless.

The Red Witch’s boss, whose neck she had cut before, was similar, so she was even more cautious.

But multiple abilities? It was an unheard-of case.

Initially, First had disabled the drone that Kilos was controlling, so it was understandable that the power to the plasma blade was temporarily cut off.

However, the invisible hand-like thing that grabbed and destroyed the suit right after was an unexpected blow.

Not knowing what abilities the opponent would use meant that the range of actions she could take was that much narrower.

[Time remaining until the suit’s limiter release: approximately 2 minutes. Damage incurred: optical camouflage damage, neural acceleration overheating, left arm lost.]

Although it’s absolutely unlikely, if Last were to recover and join the other side, the win rate would decrease exponentially but Athena couldn’t back down yet because Kilos’ retreat order hadn’t been given. Then, until the last breath, continue swinging the sword.

Hiss-!

High-temperature steam erupted from the suit.

Seeing this precursor, everyone now knew that the massive slash that Cheol-ho had barely blocked with his shield earlier was coming.

Cheol-ho hadn’t yet overcome the aftereffects of blocking the slash.

First’s electrical manipulation, though she didn’t show it, was also on cooldown.

That’s how tremendous the energy emitted by the plasma blade was.

However, if there was one fact everyone was overlooking at this moment.

“Outside…is very noisy.”

The thugs’ heads turned.

“This voice is…?”

3 seconds until surgery completion.

2 seconds, the door to the operating room opened.

1 second. Simultaneously, Athena’s slash was unleashed.

-Boom!!

Plasma with tremendous heat was shot like a sword aura.

-Whoosh.

And it went out. The blazing blue flame lost energy in an instant and disappeared.

Athena had experienced a similar phenomenon before.

‘No way!’

A startled Athena belatedly looked toward the operating room.

Standing there was definitely a woman whose neck Athena should have cut, the boss of Red Witch and former hitman, and an enhanced human who freely handles heat energy.

Codename W. Real name Eltrinde.

“What did you say earlier? Did you say that I was gathering the remnants who lost their leader?”

First, who had somehow approached Eltrinde’s side, raised the corner of their mouth arrogantly and said.

“Now you understand? What I was doing here.”

Villains gathered around First.

Nazha with dark circles, exhausted Seolhwa, and Kim Seok-ho.

The high-spirited Laman, Grumsch showing off his mechanical arm, and Goliath who envied it.

And Eltrinde, the boss of Red Witch, who could be said to be the cause of all these incidents.

Opposing them was the S-class hero Athena, who had lost one arm in an unfair attack. Just one person.

“Villains are supposed to gang up on their enemies.”

“…Seems like this is as far as I go.”

A somewhat authoritative male voice was heard from Athena’s walking suit.

“…Kilos?”

“Athena. Retreat.”

As if it never happened, the voice changed back to Kilos’ voice again.

With that, Athena, who maximally activated the anti-gravity device, flew up into the air with all her might and fled.

“That son of a bitch!!”

“Waah!! Revenge for the boss and Chunsik!!”

The thugs fired their guns at the fleeing Athena but there was no way they could hit her.

At the sight of Athena getting farther away, First let out a sigh of relief.

For now…one problem solved.

First’s gaze turned to Last.

He was holding the hostage, Chae Yu-ha (Agio), in his arms again.

“Well, now that the interference is gone…shall we continue what we were doing?”

“…”

Last made a complex expression.