MV – Chapter 155: The Minor Villain’s Escape Room

In the darkness, a girl silently observed as one lone figure fought against countless enemies, feeling a sense of awe.

One of the Tokos raised his Thunder God Sword and launched an attack. The speed of the sword, true to its name, struck with lightning-fast force. A strike that would down an ordinary person without giving them time to react and was impossible to block, even for a master.

And yet, just as the blade was about to slash downward, the man’s knife hand intercepted it. No, it didn’t stop it; rather, as his knife hand touched the sword, the blade itself shredded as if it were clay. The sword’s momentum didn’t falter, slicing right through Toko himself.

Though only a knife hand, its cutting power surpassed that of any divine or magical sword. It seemed unbelievable, but the outcome spoke for itself.

“This one’s beatable. No way I’d lose to some petty crook.”

“The sword… I can’t see the sword.”

“Don’t falter! Keep attacking!”

The Tokos pressed on, determined to bring down the man. But any attempt to slice sideways was preemptively countered, severing their torsos. When they used lightning magic, it was torn apart, space and all; if they struck in unison, he would vanish like mist, only to defeat them faster than they could react.

The Tokos were no match for him.

“The Tokos are not weak…but to think they can’t even touch him. That’s a surprise. What was that hunter’s name again? …Was it Hoodlom? No, Lanpeach? Such a strange alias.”

She continued her observation, undetected. The thousands of Tokos had mostly fallen, their corpses dissolving into glowing threads and disappearing.

“Fufu, they may be wiped out at this rate. But within this space, all struggles are futile.”

The Tokos reappeared from the darkness with a twirl of her index finger. They charged toward Lanpeach with a diverse range of appearances just as before, though some had barely a resemblance to their former selves.

“Within the domain of The World of Fated Existence, I am invincible. I can manifest the endless threads of future fates. Your destiny is to be gradually drained of energy and ultimately fall. Even if you can cut through destiny, erasing the infinite fates is impossible.”

The Tokos weren’t weak, though they weren’t particularly strong either. Lanpeach had subordinates capable of wiping out thousands without a scratch just like Lanpeach.

However, Toko’s true strength wasn’t power, it was speed. Their skill lay in overwhelming the enemy, inflicting damage bit by bit, even with minor hits.

Since ancient times, the girl had used swift warriors to trap enemies in this space and eliminate them. Afterimages appeared everywhere, making it seem as if there were many of them.

“Future threads are infinite. The one who exhausts their strength first will be you. Surrender before it’s too late, and perhaps luck will favor you… An existence capable of severing fate should be Orihalha’s trump card, but if I recruit you, you’ll be our Joker.”

Lanpeach was eliminating the Tokos with speed hard to even perceive. Only the gleam of silver hair remained behind him, and the bodies piled up.

“…Just the fact that you are an existence that cuts through fated immortality makes you a threat already, and yet, your combat ability rivals that of upper-level demons. A human who can fully manifest as a spirit warrior, without falling to a beastly form… How did Orihalha manage to create such a being?”

Spirit warriors are powerful, but inferior to demons. Their essence leaned towards that of spirits, enabling them to wield only a fraction of their true power. This often caused them to take on beast-like forms. Such degraded spirit warriors posed no threat to her.

“But for one to fully integrate… How did Orihalha create such a being? Examining the corpse or studying him after he surrenders should answer that question.”

No matter how strong, there are limits to both stamina and magic. The girl thought of advising surrender when signs of exhaustion appeared, so she continued watching, but…

Thirty minutes passed…

Lanpeach continued fighting without any loss of sharpness.

One hour passed…

If anything, his movements seemed even sharper.

“E-Endless stamina? How does his spirit power not deplete…? I-Impossible. There has never been an enemy like that befo— no, there was one.”

She grew grave, remembering a long-ago foe who had also fought endlessly and remained unscathed.

A human who delighted in defeating demons of that era. Their strength had been beyond belief, a terrifying enemy she’d been fortunate enough to seal away.

“She had to be sealed within a dimension, but even so, creating the coordinates needed to seal that space meant we could never fully trap her. If we try the same with this man…would it work?”

She could summon Tokos infinitely, but she, too, had to remain here to do so. And her power had limits.

Lanpeach may have grown accustomed to the rhythm, he was now dispatching the Tokos with minimal effort. He sidestepped at the last moment without even raising his fists against their swords, downing enemies with minimal motions.

If she continued to leave this unchecked, it could end badly. She stared at Lanpeach, but grew irritated that she couldn’t foresee his future. If someone was nearby, she could have viewed the future indirectly from their perspective, but he was alone.

She bit her nails and grew agitated, unaware that she had given him too much time.

◇◇

“Good grief. You think I’m gaining any experience from this? Even if each of these guys is only worth one or two points, it adds up if I defeat enough, right?” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach was beginning to get irritated by the monotonous battle as kept dispatching the enemy with fluid, relentless strikes.

“Damn it… I’ll stop him, no matter what!”

Unable to even touch Lanpeach, Mohawk Toko crouched low and suddenly accelerated, attempting a tackle. The plan was likely for allies to attack once he halted Lanpeach’s movement.

“It’s useless.” (Lanpeach)

[Circle Blade]

Lanpeach pivoted on his left foot, and spun like a top, his right leg shooting out to slam into Toko’s head like a hammer crushing a watermelon. He spread his arms, and spun again, slicing through the surrounding Tokos with his knife-sharp hands, downing them in one clean sweep.

“Still, this is getting boring. Libra, have you figured out where we are?” (Lanpeach)

He was fed up with the endlessly respawning foes. They aren’t weak, but not strong either. He had ample time to recover between skirmishes, but it is a pain already. There’s no one who would enjoy endless spawning stages.

[I’ve got it! Thanks to Libra-chan’s sharp perception and spatial analysis, I have confirmed this is actually nowhere. It’s probably a dimensional rift, even the ground here is borrowed!] (Libra)

“A dimension in nowhere? So a world of nothingness? How do we escape then?” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach frowned at Libra’s theory, slicing through a lightning they shot along with the very space around it.

[There’s no way out. It’s not a closed-off space. It’s an endless void. Trying to escape from here is like swimming through space hoping to escape the universe.] (Libra)

“So the only option is to surrender? That’s not good… Wait, then how did they get here? They were thrown in with teleport, right?” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach swirled through the oncoming Tokos, and deftly severed their swords, moving as if dancing.

Their refusal to falter despite the massacre was almost admirable. Good grief.

[I think she briefly linked this space with the real world to bring them here. Setting coordinates before deactivating it.] (Libra)

“Well, that’s unusually insightful, Libra. I think I get it. So they granted the concept of an observable dimension to this place.” (Lanpeach)

Though complicated, Lanpeach felt he owed Libra a response for the attempt.

(If this is an imaginary space, returning to the original world should be impossible. Normally.) (Lanpeach)

But there might be a way.

Lanpeach smirked as an idea came to him. It might not work, but it was worth a try.

“How about it, Hunter? Changed your mind? Or will you choose to waste away in this place?”

She must have been watching the events unfold. Her voice rang out with a tinge of arrogance. It seems she doesn’t think losing is possible.

If he truly couldn’t escape, surrender would be the only option. So this is an invincible cheat space.

“Hm, I’ve been thinking, Miss Headhunter.” (Lanpeach)

“If it’s the terms of the contract, I’ll consider your requests as best as I can. So you are ready to accept the position?”

What a hasty lady. She probably has been able to control things her way up to now. Her abilities are impressive after all. This is most likely a spell that requires a lot of time to prepare, but it shows its worth.

“Nah, I said I would put it on hold, didn’t I? Once I return to HQ, I’ll consider it positively.” (Lanpeach)

“Fufu, but didn’t you say if you can return to HQ?” 

She must have been confident there was no way out. Lanpeach responded to her mocking laugh with a sly grin, pointing his index finger at empty air.

“I don’t really understand this imaginary space stuff, but I figured something out. I just need to create spatial coordinates, right? Like this.” (Lanpeach)

[Spatial Isolation]

A crisp slice cut through the space, sealing it off.

“This technique seals off an existing space. So, it means I can set space here.” (Lanpeach)

He focused extraordinary power into his index finger. This was one of his few, if not his only, offensive skill.

“When I destroy this sealed space like this…” (Lanpeach)

[Psychic Laser]

[Spatial Destruction]

The isolated space exploded and fractures spread across it.

“I’m setting a normal space and then destroying it. In other words, I am assigning real values to this space.” (Lanpeach)

The world cracked with a sharp, crisp sound, and light began to leak through the fractures.

It seemed to be in a dojo, glimpses of normal space peeking through.

“Now that it’s a normal space, this one can no longer exist. Well then, see you again, Harkein person.” (Lanpeach)

“It is unfortunate. Until next time, Lanpeach-san.”

He left behind the girl’s voice, which sounded calm but carried a hint of urgency, as the world returned to its original form in a bath of light.

Previous Chapter l Next Chapter