I Am a Villain, So What?

Chapter 214: -Help me

"RAAAAAHHHH!"

I roared as I plummeted from the sky, channeling every ounce of my remaining natural mana into Elias’s Holy Sword. The ancient blade ignited into a blinding, golden meteor as I fell, aiming a devastating, two-handed downward strike right into the densest cluster of the horde.

Whoosh.

The moment the tip of the sword touched the frozen earth, it felt as if all the air in the battlefield had been instantly sucked into a vacuum.

And then.

KWA-WOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A storm of absolute light surged outward. There was no grand magical principle or complex formula to it. The sheer, unadulterated release of pent-up divine mana from the holy weapon simply turned the surrounding terrain upside down.

A blinding flash of light burst forth, expanding large enough to illuminate the desolate lands far beyond the fortress. The kinetic shockwave launched the corrupted beasts into the air like weightless ragdolls before the holy energy incinerated them mid-flight.

"Ugh... G-Guh..."

I couldn’t even come to my senses because of the localized gale blowing outward from the point of impact. I was gripping the hilt of the sword with every ounce of my remaining strength, boots digging into the shattered earth just to avoid being blown away by my own attack.

When the roaring winds finally died down and the blinding light faded, I slowly raised my head.

"...Huh."

I couldn’t help but call it an absolute catastrophe.

Starting from the exact point I had struck, a massive, smoking crater—like a dragon had taken a bite out of the earth—was carved into the frozen tundra. Not even a single drop of black blood or a scrap of flesh could be seen in the immediate radius; the beasts had simply ceased to exist.

Farther out from the blast zone, I could see mangled parts of monstrous bodies, and even further out, the surviving beasts were screeching in terror, fleeing the holy epicenter.

’T-The barrier!’

I suddenly realized the sheer scale of the shockwave and snapped my gaze back to Winterguard.

──The barrier was still standing. There was some collateral damage, of course. The outer surface of the glacial ice hit by the storm was heavily scored and scratched, looking as though a giant invisible claw had raked across it. But it hadn’t shattered.

That wasn’t my primary concern right now, though.

My whole body was violently trembling. The recoil from forcing that much raw energy through my mortal circuits was devastating.

This is bad, I thought, my knees threatening to buckle. I didn’t expect the physical blowback to be so intense. So much for a clean, dramatic entrance.

I looked up at the towering fortress wall.

My gaze fell on Commander Arthur, who was standing at the very edge of the highest parapet, leaning over the stone. He was staring down at me as if I were some kind of newly discovered, incredibly dangerous alien creature.

I managed a strained, trembling smile. It was meant to be a sign of camaraderie.

Then, I clearly mouthed the words to him:

-Help me.

Responding to my plea, Arthur’s mouth moved with absolute, deadpan clarity:

-Are you insane?

*****

A moment later, I was humiliatingly hauled through the air by Arthur’s telekinetic grip. I floated upward over the sheer drop like a wet towel hanging on a clothesline, entirely lacking the dignity of my explosive entrance.

"Ah, thank you," I groaned as my boots finally touched the stone of the battlements and Arthur released the spell. "I owe you my life."

Arthur had a lot he clearly wanted to yell at me, but he pinched the bridge of his nose and held it back for the moment. There was a much more pressing issue.

"So, what now?" Arthur demanded, his voice dangerously low.

"Huh?"

"It’s great that you made it back alive, and it’s fantastic that you blasted the vanguard into ash. But thanks to that little stunt, the ice barrier here is severely destabilized. It’s not a matter of the left or right flank anymore; the whole front is shaking! What are we going to do if the main horde regroups and charges again? Are you going to launch another reckless suicide attack?"

Arthur pointed a heavily armored finger at the gleaming blade still gripped in my hand. "And what in the Gods’ names is that sword? Don’t tell me you just happened to pick up another apocalyptic holy relic during a casual stroll!"

I coughed, thoroughly embarrassed by the scolding, and laughed awkwardly. "Ha... haha..."

Arthur’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief. He understood instantly. Are legendary holy artifacts just lying around in the snow like pebbles now?!

Before Arthur could interrogate me further, heavy, furious footsteps stomped across the stone. It was Commander Viktor.

The veteran Ashen Knight looked profoundly relieved that I had made it back in one piece, but that relief was completely overshadowed by a towering, volcanic rage.

"Have you completely lost your mind?!" Viktor roared, his voice echoing over the howling wind. "With whose permission did you cross the barrier?! I told you on the very first day you arrived: whatever your identity is, whether you are an academy cadet or the heir of a County, I do not care! While you are stationed here, you are my subordinate! You are not to pull a stunt like that without my explicit permission!"

Arthur didn’t intervene. Viktor was absolutely right; what I had done was a gross violation of military doctrine, and it had been incredibly risky.

Just as Viktor drew breath to continue his tirade, a sharp, authoritative voice cut through the tension.

"That is quite enough, Commander Viktor."

Princess Rumina stepped forward from the stairwell, her fur cloak billowing in the wind.

"I believe Cadet Lucien must have a very good explanation for his highly erratic actions," Rumina said smoothly, her metallic amber eyes locking onto me with predatory focus. She stepped closer, lowering her voice. "And if you do not provide a satisfactory explanation this instant, you aren’t going anywhere."

Three pairs of intense, highly demanding eyes locked onto me. Arthur, Viktor, and Rumina.

I gulped quietly, clearing my throat.

Honestly, I wasn’t nervous. In fact, I had been waiting for exactly this kind of stage. I needed a grand excuse to present the core I had harvested from the Wilderness to fix the barrier, and this interrogation was the perfect setup.

I straightened my posture and put on the most serious, solemn face I could muster.

"It came to me in a vision," I lied smoothly. "Last night, while I was resting... I had a profound dream. A whisper in the wind told me that if I ventured beyond the wall, I would find something in the Wilderness that could solve our current, dire predicament."

A dead silence fell over the parapet.

Arthur, Viktor, and Rumina stared at me as if deciding whether to throw me off the wall themselves.

"A dream," Rumina repeated, her voice dangerously flat. "And you expect us to believe that?"

"Yes," I replied with a completely straight face.

Rumina’s eye twitched. "How much of an idiot do you think we are?"

"I wouldn’t dare, Princess, to even entertain such a thought," I answered politely.

"And yet you speak such absolute, insulting absurdity to my face," Rumina hissed, stepping closer. "If you don’t want to reveal your secrets, just keep your mouth shut. Do not attempt to lower the collective intelligence of everyone standing here."

Seeing the Eldest Princess genuinely getting angry, Arthur quickly intervened to de-escalate.

"So," Arthur said, gesturing to the glowing blade in my hand. "Is that sword the thing you were talking about? I have to admit, its firepower was indeed formidable... but can a sword really replace a defensive barrier?"

"Oh, no," I said casually, waving the Holy Sword dismissively. "I wasn’t talking about this. I just got the sword as a complimentary item."

You got a supreme holy weapon as a complimentary item?! Viktor looked like he was about to suffer an aneurysm on the spot.

I didn’t wait for another round of screaming. I reached deep into the inner pocket of my winter coat and pulled out the true prize I had secured from the Dryad boss in the Mystic Forest.

I held up my hand. Resting in my palm was a massive, glowing green orb, covered in ancient, petrified roots. It was physically pulsating, glowing with a rhythmic, emerald light like a living, beating heart.

The Titan’s Heart.

The moment it was exposed to the air, everyone on the wall physically flinched. The sheer, overwhelming wave of pure natural energy emanating from it was suffocating.

Rumina, a high-tier royal mage, gasped softly, taking a step back as her senses picked up the insanely dense, uncorrupted mana radiating from the object.

"What... what is that?" Rumina asked, her anger instantly replaced by academic awe.

"This is the Heart of the Forest," I explained calmly, holding it up so the emerald light cast shadows across their stunned faces. "Or, you can call it a Titan’s Heart. It is the intact mana core of a mutated Treant that had evolved to an apex boss level in the Wilderness."

I looked directly at Arthur.

"As you can sense, the mana inside this thing is incredibly dense and entirely pure. In our current predicament, where the magical barrier is failing due to the Frostward Core burning out... this Heart can be used as an immediate, high-capacity replacement to power the fortress wards."