How to Redeem a Trashy Side Villain

Chapter 155: Violet's Ability

As multiple rows of teeth were about to clamp down on me, who was pinned to the ground by the blades that made up the crown, I was about to use one of the cards that I had been hesitant to use to survive, when I suddenly felt the domain break.

I'll put my faith in you!

I closed my eyes.

As the teeth made contact with my skin, it was a split second away from biting my entire body when I heard this booming sound.

Booooom!

I opened my eyes and saw that the shark demon was no longer above me. Instead, there was a large fist that belonged to my minotaur friend. The domain of water was also gone.

I sat up and looked forward. The shark demon had turned into paste against the wall.

"I can't believe you held your own," Tavros said.

Turning around, I looked behind and saw all the piles of ashes as well as demon cores that were begging for me to pick up.

"I'm sorry for underestimating you, friend. You're stronger than I thought."

"It's okay. I don't look particularly powerful. I look more like a…"

"Pretty boy?"

"I was going to say model, but that works too."

How does he even know what the concept of a pretty boy is?

Tavros looked at me with pure admiration. It was an expression of someone who had just witnessed something incredible.

"Why didn't you force your way inside?" I asked. "I could've used the help. You know what happens when humans kill non=Lesser Demons, right?"

Before answering, Tavros went over to the paste on the wall and gave it one last hit, ensuring that the demon was dead.

"I just finished my battle as well. It was incredible timing. I killed my last opponent just as you left the domain."

Squinting my eyes, I stared at him with suspicion but chose to dive deeper into the matter.

"Now, shall we get out of here? I'm tired of this place. I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to," Tavros said.

"...Get out? We?" I uttered, confused.

Didn't he just tell me earlier that he was trapped in here?

"How?" I asked.

"Your pet, Violet, is capable of many things."

Speaking of Violet, as soon as she heard her name being called, she poked her head out of my shirt.

"Care to explain?" I asked, looking down at her white face. Her tongue poked out and slithered as she chirped.

'Master, when we entered this place… the Underworld, I felt a connection with my ancestors.'

"Your ancestors?" I repeated.

Tavros couldn't hear Violet speaking to me telepathtically but he put the context clues together and told me, "Her race originates from here."

'I heard their voices! I felt their presence! They're gone, but they're still here. And they granted me their wisdom.'

"So you weren't lying to me when you told me that you didn't know what your abilities were the first time that we talked?"

She shook her cute little head as hard as she could.

It was with the condition that I was pulled into the Underworld that she was able to learn about what she was capable of doing. Which… I still don't know what that is.

"Take my word with a grain of salt, as I've been trapped here for a long time, but your snake there might be the last of her kind. Or at least one of the few remaining ones. The last time I was free, I recall only one being alive and they were on their last leg."

I turned to Violet and asked her, "Is this what you were trying to keep a secret from me earlier? The conversation you had with Tavros?"

Violet nodded.

"Why?"

'I didn't want to make you sad.'

Taking my index finger, I gave her head a few rubs and she closed her eyes, reciprocating the energy.

Truthfully, I wouldn't have been sad if she had told me. I also didn't really feel sad about it at the moment. It's not like I knew any of those snakes personally. However, there was no use telling her the truth. Best to protect her from it.

"Your snake there has a very interesting ability. My ticket to freedom."

Before I could ask what it was, Tavros continued, "Shall we, Violet?"

"Chirp!"

Violet slithered out of my shirt and landed on the ground.

At first, I didn't have many expectations because of how cute she looked as she slithered closer to Tavros. That was a mistake on my part because Tavros had already implied that what she was about to do was capable of freeing him when he had failed to do so himself for hundreds of years.

Then she opened her mouth.

What is that supposed to—

"...Eh?" I uttered.

Her small mouth stretched. It was able to fit a whole baseball. Then it stretched some more. It could fit a basketball. Then it kept stretching and stretching and stretching.

"What the…"

I didn't even know what I was looking at. The rest of her body remained as small as one finger and yet, her mouth was so large that it was large enough for me to walk through.

Blinking once. Then twice, her mouth continued to expand.

"What am I looking at here?" I pondered, raising a hand to cover my mouth that had a jaw detached from the rest of the skull. "Is she going to do what I think she's going to do?"

Once Violet's mouth was so large that it reached the ceiling, Tavros walked forward.

"Thank you, Violet," he said as he stepped inside. He was careful not to stab her with her horn. He seated himself comfortably inside, then he sat down and made himself as small as possible.

Then Violet closed her mouth and swallowed.

"I mean… I guess this is getting a taste of his own medicine. He now gets to feel what it is like to be inside of someone's mouth," I muttered as I took a seat.

I had no choice. I was starting to feel a little lightheaded from what I just witnessed.

My cute little snake just did something so incredibly disgusting that I will never be able to look at her the same again.

There was a large bulge in her body now, and as it traveled from the head towards the tail, different parts of Violet became stretched, skin warping around Tavros, whom she had swallowed. She was like some kind of living tunnel.

I buried my face in my palms.

That's so disgusting.

However, I made the decision to stick my head out. I had to see everything through so that I could understand what was happening. I wish that they had explained what they were going to do in advance.

When the bulge reached her midsection, it paused.

Then her body began to shift. There was this rippling motion where the bulge was. It was as if something inside was being digested.

Is she actually eating him? Is what they meant by freedom just Tavros dying?

I doubt that was the case but if it was, what a funny and stupid way to die.

Then Violet opened her mouth again. The bulge in her body moved back towards her mouth and—

Fwoomp!

Something came out and hit the ground with a heavy thud.

Looking at it, I said, "That's Tavros. But it also… isn't Tavros?"

It was like a shell of him. I couldn't feel the overwhelming presence; there was only this faint lingering mana signature that was still impressive, but was nothing compared to before.

Even just looking at it, it felt like there was no weight to him. No essence of what made Tavros… Tavros.

"Alright, Violet," I said as I stood up. "I have questions. A lot of them, as a matter of fact."

Walking over to Violet, I crouched down and gave her a few pats.

"Did you just kill my friend?" I asked.

Violet shook her head.

'He's not dead.'

"Then what's that over there?"

'That's your friend's body!'

"I see that. How come it's… it's… a corpse?"

Violet didn't respond. Instead, she exhaled and smoke began pouring out of her mouth. The smoke was thick and dark.

It expanded until I was entirely covered by the smoke just for standing within her vicinity.

"Is this the rest of my friend's remains?" I asked, reaching out for the smoke. "I just met you today, but… you already feel like a brother."

I was jesting, of course.

To be honest, he didn't even feel like a friend to me yet. We were just friends in name.

Then the smoke suddenly began traveling towards a single spot. No longer surrounded by the smoke, I watched as the smoke condensed and swirled into a defined shape.

The shape got clearer and clearer until it was evidently a humanoid shape. A humanoid shape with the head of a bull.

"Is that… Tavros? Is that you?" I asked.

It was him but much smaller. So small that he was about as tall as my forearm.

"You're… you're a ghost now," I uttered.

Tavros looked down at himself, flipping his hands, inspecting his arms.

Then he looked up at me and smiled.

"Not quite a ghost," he said. "More like a soul detached from my body."

Looking at the giant corpse behind him, I began to piece some things together.

I asked Violet, "Did you separate his soul from his body?"

Violet nodded.

"But… why? Wasn't your soul the one attached to this place? How would that make a difference?"

Did these two perhaps not think more than once before making this decision?

Tavros floated his way over to me. He gave me a pat on the shoulder, albeit a fake one because I couldn't actually feel him.

"Believe, my friend. This will work," he smiled. He then stepped back and began flipping and spinning around, all excited.

"...Fine. If you believe, then I believe."

A part of me was doubtful but the other part of me felt a little more reassured with how confident Tavros seemed to be.