How to Redeem a Trashy Side Villain

Chapter 153: Little Fishy

"What's going on here?" I asked.

"Don't worry about it, friend. You'll see it when you see it. Please stay as far away from the entrance over there as possible. I'll try my best to make sure that none of them reaches you. It'll be even safer if you stay in my mouth. Would you—"

"No," I gave a firm answer. One time was more than enough.

As I watched Tavros head over to the entrance to greet the demons, I noticed that the smile on his face didn't fade away one bit.

Violet slithered her way up my body and I asked, "What did you tell him?"

'Good news!' Violet answered.

"Hahahaha!" Tavros laughed, his shoulders rolling. He cracked his knuckles and did some stretches. "I can't believe the day would come so soon. If they want to come back so badly, then let them come!"

There was this low rumble from beyond the walls as I could hear the multiple sets of footsteps return.

"Why are we listening to the rookie's opinion?" one of them uttered.

"Please! Just… trust me. My gut says to check a second time."

"If your gut is wrong, I'm going to gut you, then eat your guts!"

The twelve demons had returned.

Do I turn around and run into the tunnel? I thought about it for a second before sighing. It seems that circumstances had now changed and Tavros was planning on confronting the demons.

I was wondering how powerful Tavros was. Guess there's no better way than to see it for myself.

"Do you feel that?" one of them asked. Their voices weren't particularly loud, but they echoed and I was able to hear them as they left through the hole in the tunnel.

"Is that a second presence in the room?"

"Rookie, guess it is your lucky day. You'll live to see another day."

One demon stepped through the tunnel, then another, and another, until all twelve stood directly in front of Tavros.

Getting a clear look at these demons, one had way too many arms. Another had none. One demon was so thin that it looked like it would snap, while another barely fit through the entrance.

Their eyes all landed on Tavros and none of them looked tense.

They must not have realized that Tavros was no longer playing the fool.

Then, their eyes turned over to me.

"Well," one of them muttered under their breath, "I didn't expect to find a human here. What a lovely treat."

Killing intent suddenly rose from all twelve, but before they could dash my way, Tavros stepped forward. It was just one step but that was all it took for the twelve demons to take a step backward.

It was like the entire room had been tilted toward him.

"The twelve of you took your sweet time getting here," he said.

There was no response. The twelve demons were tense as their killing intent rose; they were starting to come to an understanding about the situation that they were in.

The fool was no longer a fool.

The minotaur was back!

All twelve of them moved at the same time.

The closest one lunged with a—

Crack!

It lost its head.

I didn't even see Tavros move from his spot.

One moment, the demon was alive. The next moment, the decapitated body hit the ground.

I watched as the head rolled around the room. Black blood had splattered across the floor.

Eleven.

Chaos erupted harder than a volcano. The room exploded into so much motion that it felt like I was watching a time-lapse.

A massive demon swung its arm and Tavros caught it mid-strike. With one pull, he ripped it clean off the torso before driving his horn through its chest.

Another leaped from above and Tavros caught them midair before slamming them into the ground so hard that the floor shattered beneath them.

Stepping back, I continued stepping back further and further.

"He's so powerful," I uttered.

"You're telling me that most of his powers are sealed and yet he's still this powerful?!" one of the demons yelled, providing me with very important information and exposition that felt strangely convenient.

Getting lost in the dominating display being shown by Tavros, I almost missed one of them breaking off from the group.

They were heading straight toward me.

"Shit. Of course it wouldn't be this simple. Hey, Tavros! You missed one!" I called out.

"I see it!" he barked back but he was dealing with the others all at once. "Survive for a moment. I'll be there as soon as possible."

Yep. No immediate help was coming. At the very least, this demon lunging in my direction didn't seem to be a noble.

They were fast but not faster than I was expecting.

Twisting my body to the side, I was able to barely avoid the claws that tore through the spot where my chest had been half a blink ago.

Steading my stance, I muttered while squeezing Gon's handle tightly, "Guess I'm doing this."

It didn't wait for my introduction like you would get in a typical fight in a novel.

It just attacked again. And again. And again.

It was relentless.

It used an assortment of attacks from its claws, its teeth, and even its limbs that would bend in ways that they shouldn't.

Blocking what I could, I dodged what I couldn't.

Each impact sent vibrations up my arms. It was strong, stronger than anything I'd fought recently, but it wasn't stronger than Selgaath.

I can handle this.

"Tch," I spat as I slid back, feet scraping against the ground. "You're not giving me any time to catch my breath? Isn't that rather rude of you?"

It replied to me with a loud screech.

Getting up right in my face, I was able to just dodge at the very last second and use the bottom of my foot to kick it away from me.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we get it. You're ugly. No need to show off that ugliness so close. What if I end up getting PTSD because of you?"

It swung again and this time, I was able to catch it.

Its claws pressed against my forearm, digging in just enough to go through my skin and skin.

Tensing my muscles, I held it for a moment before cutting off its arm with Gon, activating its ability.

It screeched loudly as it jumped backwards, leaning its head in my direction as if cursing at me.

As I wiped the blood from my forehead, I said, "Why are you getting mad at me? You're trying to kill me. If anything, I'm doing you a favor by removing that tumor you call an arm."

"Screeeeeech!"

"You know, you're not the only one who can go on the offensive," I said as I dashed forward.

As he threw an attack, I twisted past the arm, using Gon to redirect it, then with my free fist, I drove it straight into its side.

Thud!

It staggered but not much. But enough to create enough space for me to continue the motion of my sword and bring it into a downward arc.

It recovered from my attack quite fast as it parried my sword with its claws.

The two of us shared a little dance where we parried each other.

However, the demon broke free from the dance first as it was able to grab me with its one arm and rush all the way to the wall, slamming my back against it.

It was a hard slam, squeezing out the air from my lungs.

"Okay," I wheezed, "that one hurt. But doesn't your arm also hurt?"

I broke free from the hold and kicked the demon off of me, then immediately dodged my head and watched as its claws plunged into the wall. It was stuck for a moment, and I was able to leave a gash in its chest but not before it pulled back.

Hurry up over there. I don't want to get pulled into their—

It seems that in a moment of recklessness, I forgot my own rule of never raising unnecessary flags as the demon activated its domain and I was pulled into it.

The domain I was in looked like I was underwater, except I was moving normally and my feet were planted on the ground rather than elevated due to swimming.

The demon who was missing one arm was nowhere to be seen. The next instance I saw them, I was barely able to avoid their strike from above.

"You became a shark?!" I screamed. I was looking at this shark-like creature that was swimming through the domain, unlike me who was anchored to the ground. It had a crown made of blades on its black head. It had a white belly.

At least its fin looked injured. The damage I had dealt it had transferred.

It turned around and began dashing back in my direction.

Opening its mouth, rows of sharp jagged teeth were mere inches from my face before I rolled and avoided it.

Sending a lightning bolt, it struck but didn't seem to do much damage.

"Isn't lighting strong against water? Who made this video game?! They don't understand the strength and weakness system?!"

Pushing down on the ground, I was able to leap off the ground, dodging another attack.

The water, if you could even call it water, rippled violently as the shark demon missed me again by mere inches.

Landing hard, I dropped to the ground and felt my hair being grazed by the shark demon's body.

"That was close," I muttered as I pushed myself back onto my feet. "Okay. The plan is simple…"

Was it to win? No. Not happening. Not because I couldn't kill it. I felt that if I were to use all my cards, I'd probably succeed, but I really didn't want to acquire another curse. Two was more than enough for now.

I don't need to win. I just need to not die and survive until the time limit of the domain runs out.

I wasn't sure how long this domain would last. Selgaath's was thirty minutes, but this could be hours or a measly one minute.

I could only find out the answer once it's over.

Thankfully, the rule of time conversion was always the same. There was also the matter of time conversion. How would the time here translate to the outside world?

The only rule was that the time in the domain was faster than the outside world.

The shark demon circled me from above and would dodge the lightning spells I sent. I couldn't help but notice that projectiles were much slower in this domain.

"How and why do you even look like a shark?" I asked. "You didn't look anything close to one prior to this."

The shark above me swam away and vanished from my sight. I also lost hold of its presence. It truly felt like I was alone.

"I know you're out there. Don't make me wait too long. Come on out, little fishy."

Feeling a ripple behind me, I twisted and—

Clang!

I was able to catch its teeth with Gon just before they could clamp down on my shoulder. The force alone sent me flying along with the trajectory of the shark demon's path.

Trying to create some space between us, I elevated my body and pressed both feet against its head. Then I pushed off, pulling my sword out at the same time.

I could hear its teeth clamping, but I was already tumbling and rolling someplace else.

Catching myself, I got up and let out, "...Tch—!"

My arms stung but nothing seemed to be broken.

"Is that all you got? At this rate, I'll die from boredom before I die from blood loss!" I taunted.

That was just a front.

I whispered to myself, "Just survive. Bell, just survive. That's all you have to do. Don't get greedy. There's no point in having a third curse. We can't handle it yet. Not yet. Not yet!"

I felt the water shift from my left, but as I jumped, I felt the presence above me.

"Whoa!"

I looked up to find nothing.

Suddenly, it burst from below instead.

"You're kidding me! How?!"

It was able to grab a hold of my arm and I immediately cut it off, freeing myself.

Ignoring the pain, I activated the code to regenerate it. "My shirt!"