I Am a Villain, So What?

Chapter 209: The Sacred Forest

The sisters locked eyes.

Oddly, they didn’t think he had escaped south back to the safety of the Empire. A far more horrific assumption crossed their minds.

"Could it be... he crossed the barrier?" Celestia whispered.

"To go Outside."

Ignoring Viktor’s previous warnings, the two princesses immediately climbed the stone steps to the top of the barrier.

Rumina cast a high-tier mana detection spell. Celestia pushed her innate sensory perception to the absolute maximum, scanning the apocalyptic wasteland.

—And unfortunately, the insane conclusion they both arrived at was correct.

Almost simultaneously, they spotted him.

Far out on the left flank, completely bypassing the charging monster horde, was a lone figure riding a heavily armored warhorse. He was speeding directly into the uncharted Wilderness, heading straight for the ’Sacred Forest’.

Crack.

The sound came from Celestia gritting her teeth. She was so incredibly angry she felt like shattering the fortress barrier herself.

"You... you really make me laugh...! Lucien Ashborne...!!"

Her voice trembled with raw rage. A dense, freezing aura began to leak from her body, swirling like a blizzard, even though the monsters hadn’t reached the walls yet.

Swoosh—

Rumina grabbed Celestia’s wrist.

Celestia flinched. Rumina’s body temperature was naturally cooler than most, but the hand gripping her wrist right now was terrifyingly, unnaturally cold.

"...We need to hold the barrier first."

No breath fogged from Rumina’s lips when she spoke. It was a terrifying indicator of how close her core body temperature had dropped to absolute zero. Her normally amber eyes now looked like meticulously carved, freezing shards of ice.

Rumina grew colder as her anger rose. Celestia profoundly realized this fact as frost began to spread across her sister’s velvet sleeves. The Eldest Princess was absolutely furious.

"...Right," Celestia agreed, forcing her own aura down.

Lucien Ashborne might be an infuriating, detestable lunatic, but they had a siege to survive first.

*****

Lucien gritted his teeth, spurring the heavily armored warhorse straight into the howling Wilderness.

The freezing headwind battered him at forty miles an hour, biting right through his thick winter coat and leaving his face completely numb. The void left by his sudden departure from Winterguard was instantly replaced by the adrenaline of a solo raid.

Screech!

A monstrous cry pierced the howling wind, interrupting his focus.

Lucien glanced sideways. A massive, bat-like chimera the size of a full-grown bison was swooping down from the grey sky, its jagged teeth aimed directly at his neck.

Lucien yanked the reins hard with his left hand, dodging the beast’s initial dive. He instantly pulled the Reaver shotgun from his spatial inventory with his right. Channeling a thin thread of Divine Force into the chamber, he aimed directly at the beast’s screeching head and pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The holy buckshot blew the monster out of the sky. The sheer recoil nearly threw Lucien out of the saddle, but he dug his boots into the stirrups and stabilized the panicked horse.

*****

As he approached the treeline of the Sacred Forest, a dense swarm of lesser monsters blocked the only path forward.

Lucien quickly analyzed the tactical layout. The true enemy commander was hiding inside the forest. It was a brilliant psychological trap. Humanity firmly believed the sacred woods were completely impenetrable to corrupted beasts—like oil and water. Because the Winterguard garrison never suspected the holy forest, the enemy commander had established their forward operating base right on its edge to coordinate the siege.

’...As expected,’ Lucien thought, his eyes narrowing.

However, the monsters blocking his path right now were incredibly weak. The intelligent commander had sent all their high-tier behemoths to siege the fortress walls, leaving their own rear guard severely under-defended. They had fallen into their own trap.

"Alright, buddy, it’s all on you," Lucien muttered, leaning forward to pat the warhorse’s neck. "Get me through this, and I’ll arrange a stable full of the finest mares in the Ashborne County for you."

He shoved the shotgun back into his inventory. Firing a pump-action with one hand while riding through a dense swarm in close quarters was just asking to get dragged off his mount.

Instead, space rippled around his head as he materialized the Primordial Earth Crown.

He didn’t draw deeply on its apocalyptic power this time. He couldn’t afford the backlash; he didn’t want to faint in the middle of the Wilderness. He kept the mana output strictly regulated.

Dozens of sharp stone spikes ripped out of the frozen tundra, floating in a tight, defensive ring around him. As the horse charged, Lucien unleashed the spikes like guided missiles. The floating rocks effortlessly skewered the corrupted wolves and lesser beasts, clearing a bloody path straight through the blockade.

*****

"It’s the sacred forest."

Lucien broke through the monster lines and crossed the threshold. The moment the horse’s hooves hit the mossy earth, the feral beasts pursuing him slammed to a halt at the treeline, screeching loudly but refusing to take a single step inside.

The interior of the forest was an entirely different world. The howling wind vanished. The freezing cold was replaced by a warm, refreshing aura. Golden sunlight filtered through the lush green canopy, and a well-maintained dirt path stretched out ahead, almost as if inviting him in.

Lucien rode slowly down the serene path.

[Stop right there, if you will.]

A polite, echoing voice rang out through the trees.

Lucien pulled the reins, halting the horse. The earth directly in front of them rippled like liquid and slowly rose upward. The dirt and roots seamlessly knitted together, leaving behind a physical form.

The figure that revealed itself looked completely ordinary. He was an elderly man with long white hair, dressed in a simple, faded grey robe. Yet, he radiated a suffocatingly dense, pure holy aura.

Lucien smoothly dismounted. The vibrant green forest, the warm sunlight, and an ancient saint emerging from the earth—it looked exactly like a scene ripped straight out of a children’s fairy tale.

"Pleased to meet you," Lucien said calmly, keeping his hands away from his weapons. "I am Lucien."

[...I see. Master Lucien. It is quite polite to reveal your name to an old man like me,] the figure replied, his voice carrying a strange, resonant warmth.

"Mr. Elias," Lucien stated simply.

[...!]

The old man’s single visible eye widened in shock.

His name was Elias. Centuries ago, he had been a legendary Holy Knight of the fallen Empire, tasked with escorting the Pilgrim on his voyage. Even after his mortal death, his lingering spirit had bound itself to this forest to protect the Pilgrim’s remains—and the holy treasure, the Pilgrim’s Goblet.

Elias squinted at the young man, his surprise quickly melting back into a kind, grandfatherly expression.

[How fascinating. How do you know that name?]

"Because I’ve read a lot about your history," Lucien answered vaguely.

[Then, we are capable of communicating through reason,] Elias said gently, extending a weathered hand forward.

The forest instantly responded to his will. The massive, ancient trees groaned loudly. Thick, glowing roots ripped out of the ground, rapidly intertwining to form a massive, impenetrable wooden wall that completely blocked the path forward. The roots thrummed with raw holy energy, forming a physical and magical barricade.

[Please leave,] Elias requested politely. [You cannot harm me, and this land is forbidden.]

Lucien silently watched the supernatural display. The sheer scale of the spatial manipulation was impressive.

"I didn’t come here to harm you, Elias," Lucien said, his posture relaxed.

At his words, the shifting roots paused.

[You mean to say you will turn back?]

"No. I mean I didn’t come here just to meet you," Lucien clarified, locking eyes with the spirit. "I intend to go to the tomb."

[...!]

The kind warmth on Elias’s face vanished instantly. The holy aura surrounding the old knight spiked, turning violently oppressive.

Lucien’s primary destination was the Pilgrim’s tomb. He had naturally expected to encounter the guardian spirit before reaching the Goblet. If Elias was willing to step aside, there would be no need to waste energy fighting.

However, judging by the murderous glint in the old man’s eye, a peaceful resolution was entirely off the table.

[My mind has changed,] Elias declared, his voice losing its warm echo, turning cold and absolute.

"Oh? And how so?"

[You must be buried here. You know of the tomb’s existence. I cannot allow you to leave this forest alive.]

Lucien let out a short, cynical scoff. Even his death threats are polite.

Crack! Lucien rolled his shoulders, popping his joints, loosening his stiff muscles.

"So you intend to fight me to the death?" Lucien asked one last time, just for confirmation.

[Of course. It is your loose tongue you should blame, child.]

So that’s how it is, Lucien thought. Maybe his bluntness was the problem. But it couldn’t be helped. He had to secure the Goblet to prevent the mid-game disasters.

And more than anything, a small, battle-hungry part of him was secretly hoping it would come to this.

"Good," Lucien said, a sharp, confident smirk breaking across his face. "I have something new I wanted to test out anyway."