How to Redeem a Trashy Side Villain

Chapter 154: Bull Rider

Spinning through the air, I hit the ground hard and felt the air in me leave but I didn't have the luxury to catch my breath as I saw the face of a shark coming straight down towards me like a missile about to land.

Getting myself off the ground, I aimed my palm to my right and shot out an excessive amount of lightning, enough force to propel me away.

Thonk!

I could see the shark demon shaking its nose as it just struck the ground at full force.

"You think I'm prey?" I asked. "I don't even taste good."

That was a lie. Demons found my soul delicious and Diana has mentioned how tasty my blood was multiple times.

The shark demon gathered itself and resumed its hunt.

It might look like it was playing with me because of how it would disappear, reappear, pull out tricks, but I could say with certainty that it was NOT playing around.

It finally spoke in the demon tongue, "I will eat you!"

Groaning, I rubbed my shoulder as I said, "Yeah. I noticed that."

It must not have expected me to be able to speak and reply to it in its own language because it momentarily stopped in its tracks before resuming a second later.

As I dodged, I spat out the blood that was in my mouth and splashed it into its eye.

It didn't blind it. Of course it wouldn't. It would be idiotic to even assume this would happen but I was able to feel its hesitation and flinch as the foreign liquid entered its eye. That fraction of hesitation was all it took for its flow and movement to falter.

That moment was all I needed to push forward before it could disappear on me again. Closing distance in a single breath, I used Gon to carve a sharp line through the space between us.

Driving the blade through its side, it sank in but not deep enough.

"Tch! Almost had you there, sharky boy!"

The skin and flesh's resistance would've made it impossible to cut through but thankfully, I had Gon on my side.

'We try again Master!' Gon told me.

The shark demon's body twisted in response, bending in a way that was not possible for a shark from back home, which made my stomach turn. Before I could pull my blade back and brace, the tail struck me like a hammer and I was immediately airborne.

I spun in the air, feeling like I weighed a total of zero kilograms. Or pounds for the Americans.

The impact came and it came hard as my body slammed on the ground and proceeded to skid across for what felt like a comically long time.

The debris caught in the current began to float, behaving like it was in water, yet I was still bound to the ground like I was out on land.

I stabbed Gon into the ground and slowed myself to a complete stop.

For a second, I didn't move and breathed the single word, "...Okay." The word was barely able to make its way out of my throat.

That one hurt. Yeah. That one stings like a bitchhhhh!

My chest felt a little tight, so I began breathing in a meditative way while watching in the corner of my eye the shark demon heading back in my direction.

"That was a good one. I'll give you props for that."

Pulling Gon out of the ground, I stood up and exhaled sharply, relaxing my shoulders.

The water in front of me was shifting so much that it looked like the vibration of a speaker when loud music is being blasted.

Using my forearm to wipe my blood off my mouth, I asked out loud, but more so to myself, "Why would I have it easy?"

I'm the protagonist of this story. Not one that resolves everything with ease but one who struggles and overcomes.

I'm not a bitch. No need to complain. Enjoy the moment.

"Pussyclaat!" I screamed as I ran.

The shark demon must've felt motivated seeing me take damage because it was moving even faster than before.

It came from above. Below. To my side. From my front. From my back.

At one point, it felt like there were at least ten sharks in the tank with me.

A violent and crushing pressure appeared around my leg, followed by this sickening, tearing sensation that didn't even register to me as pain.

I simply regenerated it and continued running.

Twisting away, I forced some distance between us as it had to turn around. Before it could reach me, lightning burst out from my palm in a seemingly wild and uncontrolled surge. However, the lightning all gathered at the spot I was aiming for.

I also leapt into the air, using the momentum to launch myself backwards.

"Killing two birds with one stone."

When I landed, I planted my right and was about to plant my left.

"Eh?"

I looked down and muttered, "Ah."

Somehow, I hadn't even noticed that my leg had been bitten off a second time.

I could see the bone, flesh, and blood pouring out and floating upward into the water.

"Ah… When did that happen?" I wondered as it grew back. "Please be mindful where you bite me. I can regenerate limbs but not clothes. I don't want to be naked."

Slamming my hand against the ground, I flipped myself into the air and managed to land on the shark demon just as it was about to make contact.

I stabbed Gon in its back.

Rather than pulling it out, I decided to hold on. "Oh, this is a terrible idea. But… wouldn't it be so funny?" I pondered.

The realisation came immediately and it didn't stop me from following through with my plan.

The shark demon's entire body reacted to Gon piercing through it. Violently, I might add.

Twisting, snapping, thrashing around, it looked like something had possessed it and it needed to be exorcised.

"Cálmate! Cálmate, stupid bull!" I screamed as I was holding on for dear life while it whipped through the domain as if it had lost whatever composure it had left.

Gripping onto the handle with both hands, it was the only thing preventing me from being swung off.

"This is not exactly as fun as I thought it would be!" I screamed. "How do people find it fun to ride bulls?!"

The water around us exploded as the demon surged forward, diving, rising, spinning, flipping, etc.

"I'm not letting go so stop the struggle. Just calm down and let's have a nice chat," I spoke to it in demon tongue.

Did it agree to my request? Of course not. What kind of demon would listen to a man who just stabbed their sword through its back and proceeded to ride it around like a bull?

Instead, it responded to my request by rolling.

My entire world was flipped upside down in an instant and I was dangling in the "air".

It flipped back around and my body slammed back into the demon's body. I tightened my grip purely on instinct, worrying that I might let go from the impact.

Gon, you better not slip on me!

'I will not slip, Master! But you might!'

I'll try my best not to let you down!

It twisted again, and again, and again. Each time was faster than the last as it was trying to throw me off.

"Why are you trying to evict me? Are we not friends?" I asked.

"Please, just stay… still!" I grunted. Obviously, it continued doing its thing because why would it ever listen to me?

It dove straight down towards the ground at an extremely fast pace.

The pressure around us began to increase and the water around me compressed in a way that caused my ears to ring.

At the very last second, just before it hit the ground, it pulled up and the shift in momentum nearly yanked me away. Thankfully, it didn't. "Okay. Okay! This is fine. This is fine," I told myself. "This is survivable—!"

It turned right back towards the ground and began another dive straight down.

Then it dove again. And again. And once more.

"Are you not motion sick? Or would it be more accurate to call it sea sick?!" I yelled. "Because I'm about to—"

Another violent twist and it was so sudden that my grip slipped a little. But a little was enough.

"Ah…" I uttered as my body lifted off the shark demon's body.

One hand slipped off the handle, then another, but before I could be swung off, I managed to catch it with the first hand that slipped off just in time.

"You almost had me there!" I screamed, trying to stabilise myself. Motivated by the success it had found, I was rewarded with another violent reaction from the shark demon as it bucked upward like a raging demon, then plummeted back down.

How much time had passed since I began riding the bull?

A few minutes?

A minute max?

A few seconds?

I wasn't sure, but it felt like forever.

The performance I was putting on would've made me the number one paid bull rider in the world. But there was only so much luck and skills could do for me.

Eventually, the momentum of my body was so heavy that Gon was pulled out of the demon's body on its own. If I had let go of the handle, it would've remained planted in the back, but if I did that, I would've lost my weapon.

As Gon and I were expelled from the shark demon's person, for a split second, I just floated there. I was staring at the shark as it continued swimming forward, only realising a couple of seconds later that it had succeeded.

It turned around and began heading in anticipation of where I would land.

When I looked down, like cartoon logic, that was when gravity remembered I existed and I began dropping towards the ground.

"Yep," I sighed. "That checks out. I would've kept floating if I had never looked down. I should change my name to Tom and start wearing a cat costume."

Descending faster and faster, I flipped myself upright.

Boom!

Landing on one knee, a palm planted on the ground, I looked like a superhero.

If anyone else saw me, I would've been too embarrassed to show myself ever again. But I was alone, if you ignore the shark demon trying to eat me to death.

"Landing like that sucks," I wheezed. I stood up and got into a stance.

The moment the shark demon was about to chomp me into pieces, I sidestepped and avoided it by the tip of my fingernail.

Slice!

I left another gash on its body.

"That's what you get for being a bad boy!" I screamed.

The shark demon turned around and, rather than swimming back, it stayed in place for a moment. It then snarled.

"Oh crap. Did I upset it?"