The Novel’s Villain

66. The God of Evil Hides His Power (2)

Ah-young came closer.

He expected she would come to his rescue, but he didn’t expect her to make that decision this fast.

After all, she was quite the loser.

‘What to do…’

There was no one around Jin-woo now. Ah-young had to have certainly found the lack of people in the vicinity strange. It wasn’t a problem, however, since it wouldn’t be that hard for him to deceive her anyway.

Regardless, he had no intention of breaking out of his “main character hiding his true power” persona. That would waste all the sincerity and dedication he had put into it so far, after all.

David and a dozen other people indeed saw it, but he had already sent all of them into the underworld, leaving behind no witnesses.

He altered the landscape around him and created illusions of David, Mi-sun, and the others using his abilities, finding this feat much easier to do than the hallucinations he put David and Mi-sun under.

Not wanting to waste this opportunity to completely gain Ah-young’s trust, he decided to give her a spectacular show.

* * *

Ah-young let out a small sigh as she reached the cave’s entrance, unable to bring herself to enter it.

Images of Jin-woo kept coming into her mind. They had only been together for three days, but she felt as if she had known him for quite some time now… Even if she was completely unaware of his existence in her past life.

She thought hard about whether she should save him or not.

‘He wouldn’t have lasted the first seven days.’

Considering his personality, he would’ve died right from the beginning of their arduous journey. This place was hell, after all. Trusting others in this dog-eat-dog world could cost one their lives.

By putting her safety ahead of others, she acquired legendary skills and items as planned. Keeping to that tactic would be essential if she wanted to accomplish the purpose of her regression.

Yet she pulled out her weapon, a unique sword that could only be obtained by killing a hundred wolves alone. She didn’t show this to him before since she’d much rather keep her tricks a secret, but it would’ve been possible to defeat their assailants if she combined it with her strength.

Nevertheless, she still chose to escape since she didn’t want to take unnecessary risks for someone who hadn’t even fully gained her trust yet.

Even if he already did, she saw no value in trust, friendship, or loyalty. Laying down one’s life for someone else was idiotic and nonsensical to her.

‘If David catches him, then…’

He would eat him without remorse.

Known as the Skill Glutton David Lee in her past life, he had the ability to steal other people’s skills and experience by devouring their flesh. The individuals currently following him would be killed and eaten by him as well before the Valkyrie’s return.

In doing so, he would become closer to being hailed as the strongest. Moreover, once he had joined Loki’s ranks, he would become even crueler, learning to enjoy eating his victims alive.

‘If he takes the doctor’s recovery skills, there’ll be no stopping him. I need to save him for the sake of the future.’

Convincing herself that this was the right action, she moved cautiously towards Jin-woo, who was being held captive inside the tent in front of her.

She kept her posture low and her speed slow. Soon enough, she found David smiling slyly and staring down at Jin-woo. In his hand was an iron sword, its blade heated up by the nearby bonfire.

Her eyes widened.

Chhhshhhh!

David pressed the burning red sword against Jin-woo’s chest, causing him to scream in pain.

“I’ll ask you again.”

“Huh… Whoops.”

“Where is she?”

“How would I know? We went our separate ways…”

Mi-sun, standing right next to him, spoke up when their gazes met.

“W-we always decide on a meeting place when we move just in case we get separated. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did that now. That woman also knows this forest so well she can find safe places to sleep here, which means she wouldn’t leave this place since she’d want to keep her geographical advantage.”

David handed the sword to her.

“You have an hour. Otherwise, you’ll be cooked along with the others.”

“Ahhh…”

Ah-young subconsciously tightened her grip on her sword when he pointed to the chunks of meat behind him.

She knew what kind of meat it was.

“Tell me where the girl is!”

“Aggghhh!”

“I’m sure you know where she is!”

“Arrghhhh!”

Sssshhsskkkkk!

Mi-sun tortured him mercilessly while David and his people laughed behind her, enjoying the show.

Ah-young’s complexion worsened the more her ex-ally desecrated Jin-woo, reaching the point where he looked like he was going to die at any moment.

‘Just tell her already…’ Ah-young internally pleaded. She could easily deal with them all if they were inside the cave, but Jin-woo refused to spill her supposed location even though he was already screaming in sheer agony.

The torment they put him through became even more vicious.

‘Why the hell… would you go so far…’

Ah-young’s eyes fluttered.

Mi-sun swung her fist at him, her knuckles scraping against his feverish skin, then stabbed him with his sword.

“Tell me!”

“… Save yourself.” He blurted out, vomiting blood in the process.

He truly was foolish.

Even as he suffered in her hands, he still worried about her.

The sight made Ah-young heat up so much she completely forgot her reason and jumped out of the forest. Running towards him, she slashed through several opponents in an instant.

“Argh!”

“What?!” Surprised, David pushed himself up, but she pounced at him immediately, seemingly incapable of caring less about the risks she’d have to take to do so.

“N-no! Gaaaagh!”

Ah-young’s unique sword pierced deeply through his crude armor and heart with ease. Startled, the people holding Jin-woo down drew their weapons, but she was much faster.

“Sigh… Sigh…”

Her excessive movements made her run out of breath, her muscles seemingly about to break into pieces. Nevertheless, she had accomplished her objective. With David and most of his minions dead, the rest began to run away.

“Unni?”

Mi-sun, holding her blood-stained sword, stared blankly at her. Shocked by her sudden appearance, she unknowingly dropped her weapon on the ground.

“I-I’m sorry… I…”

Ah-young raised her sword and swung it against her, but Jin-woo held her hand just before it could hit.

She gazed at him, her eyes filled with confusion. He could barely stand, but he still managed to stop her.

“… I didn’t think you could be this stupid.”

“Hahaha… I can’t believe you came to save me… I’m touched.”

“Shut up.”

Trembling, Mi-sun flopped down on the floor.

“Awooo!”

The smell of blood lured in the wolves inhabiting the forest, but Ah-young wasn’t worried. Fearful of the unique sword she carried, they couldn’t even dare approach her.

Supporting Jin-woo, the two escaped, leaving Mi-sun behind. With her now outside the radius of her sword’s effect, the wolves surrounded her. The sounds of her flesh being torn apart and her bones breaking soon echoed across the woods, but Ah-young couldn’t relax just yet.

“Stay with me!” She shouted, sensing Jin-woo losing consciousness.

“Just… leave me behind…”

“If I were just going to do that, I wouldn’t have come here.”

He probably wouldn’t wake up anymore if he were to fall unconscious now.

“Why didn’t you just tell them my location? How could you be so foolish?!”

“…”

“We’re almost there!”

They headed to the cave as fast as they could since it had medicinal plants growing in it, a fact only she knew.

Ah-young regretted every bit of her decision back then. She knew this wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t run away out of sheer ignorance and hesitation and instead just fought back against them when they first met. In a way, she wasn’t much different from David.

“Don’t close your eyes, please!” She shouted, her voice far more desperate than ever.

Jin-woo gazed at her and nodded. It wasn’t really him Ah-young was helping but a pillow that had been trending in the Heaven and the Demon Realm these days. It was the same size as him and had his photo attached.

After applying a simple illusion to it, it deceived her quite deeply.

To be fair, the projection was far too real to be called a hallucination. It could’ve fooled anyone.

[Kim Ah-young has gained 5 million good deed points.]

Those with kind hearts earned good deed points, which they could then use to ascend to Heaven and become an angel or be reborn in another dimension. Once they had gained sufficient amounts of it, a Grim Reaper would provide them a consultation upon death, though they mainly recommended Middle-World reincarnation.

With 100,000 points, they could be born into an imperial family, and with 200,000, they’d be able to choose the abilities they’d be born with. To be born with their past life’s memories would cost them 3 million.

In that sense, the amount earned for helping the God of Evil was especially immense. If one were to lead a life of goodness, blessings would indeed come to them.

Jin-woo looked at Ah-young, who was desperately collecting herbs.

‘It shouldn’t matter much if my heart stops twice. That would make it seem like I barely survived.’

Getting through such hurdles so narrowly was an effective method to gain someone’s trust.

He wandered around while she tried as hard as she could to save the pillow.

‘I should look at this place from above.’

Jin-woo flew into the air until he had gone high enough to see all of Midgard, one of the nine worlds of Norse mythology.

This realm was gigantic and surrounded by water, yet Jormungandr, a colossal snake, easily wrapped around it and bit down on its own tail.

Midgard had inhabitants, but there were few of them since the Norse gods used it as a huge training camp, which was most likely why there were quite a few places like the forest they were in scattered all over the place.

Upon reaching the tip of this world, he saw a large rainbow bridge that went across a black space.

‘The Bifrost.’

Valkyries flew around it, protecting the only path connected to Asgard while monitoring Midgard.

Having roughly grasped this area’s structure, he descended into the forest again, then spent his time leisurely eating sweets for a while.

It wasn’t until dawn that he entered the cave, finding Ah-young dozing off while protecting his ‘body double.’

Jin-woo removed the illusion, put the pillow in his subspace, and lay down on its spot. He then made his clothes appear bloody, which wasn’t that difficult to accomplish.

“Ugh…”

Ah-young jolted awake upon hearing his groan. Hurriedly bringing water in a bowl made of leaves, she helped him rehydrate.

“Where are we…?”

“We’re in the cave I showed you. How are you feeling?”

“Everything hurts, but… I can move. What happened? I thought I’d be dead by now…”

“I used herbs.”

Ah-young’s hands were a mess. There were splinters and scratches all over, and they were covered in green goo.

“Thank you.”

“… Don’t get me wrong. I just saved you because I felt uncomfortable leaving you behind.”

“Haha, I see…”

Silence enveloped them for a moment.

“His name was David Lee.”

“Who…?”

“The man who tortured you. He steals other people’s skills and experience points by eating them. In two months, he would’ve had over two hundred skills.”

“Two months? Why does it sound like you know the future?”

“You’re not wrong.”

Jin-woo looked utterly confused.

“It sounds ridiculous, but I’m a regressor.”

“A regressor…?”

His dramatic reaction seemed to have worked.

Ah-young now completely trusted Jin-woo. She looked a bit relieved when she admitted to being a regressor. A smile even appeared on her lips.

Jin-woo began gathering the information he needed from her.

“Is this place meant to train warriors?”

“Yes. The first seven days are meant to tutor the newcomers. From there on, the Valkyries will shove the people into increasingly harsh conditions. At the end of their training program, they would dedicate the warriors that survived to the gods of this realm.”

“… Gods of this realm?”

“Odin, Thor, Loki, and the other Norse deities.”

Jin-woo looked at her in disbelief but soon nodded affirmatively. That gesture of trust essentially told her he was having a hard time believing their current situation was real but that he trusted her anyway.

“Why are they gathering warriors?”

“For war…”

“War? Against whom…?”

“The Western army, the warriors of the desert… Odin promised to send us back to Earth if we won. We fought desperately, holding onto his promise, but… we were dispensable in the end. The moment we ran out of use, they sent us off into the desert to be killed.”

Trembling, Ah-young clenched her fists.

According to her, Earthlings could become strong enough to compete with ordinary gods in combat.

Gods such as Odin and Thor bestowed blessings and powers to speed up their growth, but their fragile bodies couldn’t completely absorb their gifts.

Regardless, their talents were still outstanding. They couldn’t oppose deities individually, but it was an entirely different story when they were united.

Hence, Odin caused internal conflicts after the desert conquest, resulting in the Earthlings killing each other.

David Lee, who became Loki’s minion, apparently played the biggest role in that massacre.

“Right before my death, a god named Saturn approached me.”

‘Cronus.’

Ah-young sold her soul and made a contract with him. In return for sending her back to the past, she’d defeat the gods and present him Odin’s crown.

Considering he didn’t hesitate to leave such a task to her, she had to have been in the same leagues as the Emperors. She was certainly talented. If she had undergone regular training on Earth, she would’ve been a great knight.

According to her, the Earthlings who survived the Valkyries’ trials were turned into Asgardian warriors and immediately sent to the battlefield.

There were a total of 20 Valkyries in charge of Midgard, the strongest of which was the one he saw when he first came here.

‘What’s the matter?’

His eyes turned cold.

He didn’t like it.

They kidnapped Earthlings and used them like consumables, disregarding their promise to return them to their home planet once everything was over. Rather, they threw them away after they had served their purpose.

She shook her head solemnly.

“It would’ve been better if we were sent to the God of Evil’s myth instead.” Ah-young sighed.

Her words intrigued him. He didn’t expect her to talk about him.

“God of Evil’s myth?”

“He recreated the underworld for humans and… drove out useless deities.”

“Well, since gods, including Thor and Odin, rule this area according to you, won’t the God of Evil set his sights to this place?”

“… I haven’t thought about that. I really do hope so.” Ah-young replied, her expression softening. She seemed to like the God of Evil quite a bit.

Silence embraced them.

“If we pray, will the God of Evil hear us?” He asked.

“I’m not sure, but let’s pray that he smashes Odin in the back of his head anyway.” She answered with a smile.

“That’s a good idea.” He laughed.

The God of Evil was known for listening and granting his believers’ prayers.

“A really, really good idea.”

He definitely did like the thought of it.

* * *

Jin-woo put Ah-young under an illusion and immediately moved to the Demon Realm. Gallord ran up to him hurriedly upon reaching the Demon Castle, seemingly already aware why he came here.

“We captured about five of them. The Dopplo clan is thoroughly investigating them as we speak.”

“I see.”

The Valkyries, tasked to abduct his people, tried to enter Earth. However, its defense system sent them to the Demon Realm instead.

Jin-woo and Gallord went to the castle dungeon, where they found the torture engineers and the Dopplo clan hard at work. Even so, they immediately bowed when he appeared.

Locked inside the cells, the Valkyries looked quite terrified.

“Have you finished documenting them?”

“Yes. We can copy their forms down to the very last strand of their hair now.”

“That’s great to hear.”

The Dopplo clan had always been quite reliable. According to them, the Valkyries sent about 200,000 people to Midgard every year. However, at present, they had only transported about 10,000 over.

Still bowing down to him, he spoke up.

“I already contacted Heaven. They said they could immediately prepare 200,000 avatars so precise they’d be indistinguishable from humans. Se-yeon also noted that it’s possible to control them all through Arorong and Darky. They’ll probably be better than the old T series.”

The angels at the forefront of avatar production had become so advanced they were basically creating stronger and better human bodies now. To them, creating such avatars was quite easy.

The Dopplo clan members who had transformed into Valkyries walked over to Jin-woo.

“That’s amazing.”

They were perfect.

When Jin-woo became the God of Evil, their abilities evolved. Not even he could tell the original and the clone apart now without the Magic Eye of Information.

“If Odin wants Earthlings so bad, then I’ll give them to him.” He said, fully intending to supply him with 200,000 individuals.

Odin would be gaining the most powerful army he could ever get his hands on.

A smile crept onto his lips.

“It’ll all be fake, though.”