The Villains Need to Save the World The Villains Need to Save the World
At the Aldridge Empire’s seaside resort, Oldrango City’s coastal region, the Meredith Artificial Ruins at the center of Phoenix Island, in the underground world of the pyramid arena zone. After bidding farewell to the Royal Secret Guards, Bella and the girls had already completed lighting up two Holy Lamp points. At the moment, there were five academies who had finished the Holy Lamp lighting.
To not delay the competition, Bella decided to split up. Assassin Lola would bring the Holy Lamp up to the obelisk at the top of the pyramid and light up the third point. Currently, the only ones in this pyramid arena were Bella and her small team, so it was fine for Lola to go alone. Bella and the remaining three Renegades, Demonic Swordsman Kriss, Fallen Dragon Knight Lisha, and Assassin Noreya, went together towards the most dangerous fourth Holy Lamp lighting point: Anubis’s burial chamber under the pyramid.
Once they cleared all the dangerous Cursed Demonic Beings from the underground chamber, Bella immediately used her Demon King subordinate summoning spell to summon Lola down from the top of the pyramid. The top wasn’t affected by the Hell Mandala before and there weren’t any Demonic Beasts up there, so it wasn’t dangerous. It was sufficient to let Lola go alone. The Hell Mandala was trying to get to the top of the tower earlier but was unlucky to meet Bella and the girls, forcing it to retreat.
No other Twelve Academy students came over here to the pyramid arena, so Bella and the girls didn’t really have to worry about much. On the way down to the catacombs, Bella tried to log into the Savior System to see if she could find any information about the Hell Mandala in comparison to what they knew. The Hell Mandala heads weren’t supposed to be human heads at all, and nothing like brain matter should come out when destroyed.
Since the three-headed Hell Mandala escaped, it proved that it had intelligence, which was a serious problem. If the opponent was intelligent, it might ruin the Twelve Academy Exchange Tournament if they didn’t pluck out the problem from the roots. In order for her summer bikini beach party “gentlewoman dreams” to be realized, Bella would not hesitate to get that Cursed Demonic Being executed as soon as possible.
Hell Mandalas were not supposed to be intelligent. After checking the Savior Camp’s system’s database, she found that the Hell Mandala records clearly stated that this Cursed Demonic Being didn’t have any intelligence. This was certified by the highest level Fates themselves, so the probability of a mistake was minimal. However, Bella thought of another possibility. They might not be fighting a Hell Mandala, to begin with, but some other Cursed Demonic Being.
And Bella’s guesses were quickly proven correct. They followed the shortcut down to Anubis’s burial chamber. According to the original design plan, this place should also be an empty coffin with only a Holy Lamp lighting point in place. However, the imitation wolf-headed coffin had long mutated and was filled up with strange Demonic Beings.
The entire catacomb hall should only be at the size of a volleyball court, but when they arrived, they found that it was now at least the size of four soccer fields. Clearly, someone had come in and secretly expanded the place. The entire underground burial grounds were filled with vines, the very Hell Mandala’s vines that attacked them earlier.
At the location of the coffin at the center, something like a silkworm’s chrysalis could be seen, and the silk wrapped around it was black in color. For a moment, Bella and the girls could not tell the contents inside. The curse and resentment energy around the coffin could easily be felt, so no matter what this guy looked like, it was definitely one of the Demonic Beings from the Cursed Land without a shadow of a doubt.
The girls who had mysteriously disappeared before could all be found here, each of them wrapped up in silk-like cocoons and hung down in mid-air. Their hands were crossed in front of their chests and their legs were bound together. This posture was very much similar to how the ancient Egyptian pharaohs were buried. They looked just like mummies. Naturally, all the clothes had been stripped from the girls. Moreover, the girls here were all of the martial professions, ranging from Knight, Swordsmen, Warriors, Assassins, Archers, and the like. If they did not bring any special magic protection equipment, then they were basically defenseless against this type of illusion magic.
They weren’t dead, however, just unconscious. The Demonic Being was likely using their life force as nutrients for itself, but fortunately, there weren’t that many girls who were caught. Most of the girls weren’t well-known in the academy, and their cultivation was not great either. So, the amount of energy that could be drawn out from their bodies by the Cursed Demonic Being was limited and it could not evolve quickly.
Bella also saw many cocoons that had already turned into skeletons inside. From the looks of it, they had been left behind since a long time ago. Empress Manya Felan mentioned to Bella that during the construction of Phoenix artificial island, the local craftsmen hired for the job had mysteriously disappeared. After the island was built, the bizarre phenomenon still persisted, but the ones who disappeared had turned into the fishermen anchoring their fishing boats on the island instead.
Bella finally found the reason behind their disappearance. They had all been dragged underground by this Cursed Demonic Being and turned into fodder. This Cursed Demonic Being had likely existed before Phoenix Artificial Island was even built. In the organization of manpower to build the island, even Empress Manya Felan had no idea this horror existed and had built the Phoenix Artificial Island around where it lived. So, it would be strange if nothing happened; it was just a matter of time.
Phoenix Island used to be semi-closed, so rarely would anyone come here. People went missing at sea every day, so this wasn’t really an issue. This year, since the venue for the Twelve Academy Tournament was changed to this place, a lot of people had arrived, which highlighted the issue at hand. This Cursed Demonic Being was likely to have existed for a very long time, way before Phoenix Artificial Island was even built. Now that it noticed people gathering at the island, it reawakened and began its hunt with the humans as its prey.
The girls were unlucky. This arena was supposed to be used by the boys the next day, but because there were too many girls, they had to temporarily open this place for the girls, sort of to “test the waters”. However, things almost went out of hand.
After Bella and the girls appeared, the master of the coffin finally made an appearance. The black silk filaments peeled off by themselves. Due to the invasion of humans in its home base, the Demonic Being resting inside the coffin had no choice but to come out in advance to check on the situation, even though it had not fully evolved yet.
It was an alien-looking Demonic Being similar to a human in shape. Standing at around four meters tall, its skin had an almost morbid pale blue complexion. It looked like a completely nude male statue but without any reproductive organs around the crotch. There was no way about it; the humans absorbed by the Demonic Being in the beginning were all male, so its appearance leaned on the similar gender, just short of the reproductive organs that it had yet to inherit.
If Bella and the girls didn’t show up to stop it and allowed this guy to continue evolving, then after it sucked the life force of those girls, it might end up turning into some strange demon with both male and female characteristics. Since Bella was here, its performance would come to an end. The two heads that were attacked by Bella earlier had already withered off to the side. They were also derivatives of its main body.
“Brave adventurers, the life force in your body is much stronger than those women. How about it? Fuse with me!”
“You’re so ugly, yet you want to steal the wisdom from the Human Race? There are no Demonic Beings as shameless as you in the Abyss!”
“Big Sister Bella is right. Despite being ugly, you still come out to harm people. That’s your wrong.”
“Hey you, the sword in my hand will judge your sins.”
Bella finally understood where the intelligence of the Demonic Being came from. It had beheaded the humans it caught and those heads were turned into flowers after being fed off by the vines. The thing Lisha cracked just now really was a human head, and this guy had collected no less than a hundred of them over the years. Hence, it was normal for it to be intelligent. Looking at the Hell Mandalas among the vines in this catacomb, each of these flowers was the product of the fusion between a human head and the Demonic Being.
It could make human sounds only because it had the intelligence of a human. However, the voice that came out was void of gender and much more like a mixed mechanical noise. That it could harvest humans’ wisdom made it much more intelligent than its other Demonic Being peers. If nobody stopped it, it might continue to develop.
“So what? You should just join them!”
The humanoid Demonic Being sped over. As if receiving its instructions, the vines in the catacomb covered the skies and surrounded Bella and her group. The vines this time were much stronger than the ones before. Moreover, the Hell Mandalas’ high-pitched screams were echoing throughout the catacomb as they attacked. The sound waves could almost shatter a human’s organs.
Sonic attacks from Demonic Beings had rarely been recorded in the history of the Human Continent, but Bella had prepared special earplugs in advance. After putting them in lightly, the sonic attack was rendered useless. Considering that the other party had human hostages on hand as well as human intelligence, Bella and the girls quickly launched their attacks to stop it from holding the hostages at gunpoint upon defeat.
Bella and Lisha charged almost simultaneously, while Kriss stood still, hundreds of swords flying out from her side to form a special “Blade Storm”. The tens of thousands of vines could hardly get close to them and would be cut into countless little pieces as soon as they got close, completely suppressed by Kriss’s Blade Storm.
Assassin Noreya disappeared. She had gone into a stealth state and was preparing to land a fatal blow on that Demonic Being at any moment. Bella and Lisha attacked from different directions. Lisha charged towards the Demonic Being’s legs, as its feet were connected to the ground just like the roots of trees. With that, Lisha directly broke the link between it and the vines.
Bella leaped up and smashed her fist at that humanoid Demonic Being. The humanoid Demonic Being’s empty features showed a hint of contempt. It was still very confident in its own abilities. The moment when the fists of both sides were about to collide, something suddenly happened. Bella’s right hand morphed into the Demon God’s hand, the somewhat terrifying Demon God’s Claw to be precise.
The humanoid Demonic Being could no longer retract its fist. Its entire outstretched arm was cut off by the Demon God’s Claw as dark blue blood splashed out in all directions. Knowing that things weren’t looking good, the humanoid Demonic Being was just about to retreat when Assassin Noreya suddenly appeared in the air, stabbing down from behind with her dagger. Her attack was like lightning, and she stabbed the humanoid Demonic Being seven times in an instant.
“Too careless. You’re the real prey who’s being hunted here.”
With the completion of Assassin Noreya’s final attack, the humanoid Demonic Being was critically injured. Seven fatal wounds were enough to let it rest in peace. This humanoid Demonic Creature had seven organs that functioned like hearts, which was the reason why it had never been killed by anyone.
Now, encountering the rule-defying “cheat assassin” Noreya, it could only admit defeat. With all seven of its vital organs pierced at the same time, it had no chance of survival. Plus, it had its feet knocked off the base by Lisha, so even its ability to replenish its energy was crippled. It soon fell to the ground.
“You… You’re not humans!”
“When did we ever say we were human? You can go now. I’ll be taking over your memories.”
“Wait… Lord Demon King, I will follow… Ah!”
Bella’s Demon God’s Claw pressed down without hesitation on the humanoid Demonic Being’s head, and a large amount of energy was sucked from its head into Bella’s hand. Based on the law of darkness, a Demon God could plunder everything from lower demons at will. This guy had some crucial memories, and they might just be able to find the actual location of the Cursed Gate on Alan Island.
After sifting through the useful memories, Bella sent the energy back into the humanoid Demonic Being’s head. She didn’t like this Demonic Being’s energy, so she slightly increased the amount when pouring the energy back in. Unable to bear all the energy, the humanoid Demonic Being soon lost its breath and was beaten back into its original form.
After dealing with all this, Bella used the dissolving potion she got from the alchemists to dissolve the humanoid Demonic Being. From what she saw of its memories, the situation was not good. The entrance of the Cursed Land was not on Alan Island but rather on Phoenix Artificial Island. It had been here before the island was even built. The exact location was the final arena of the “Light of Dawn” event.
According to the fragmented memories of this Cursed Demonic Being, the Cursed Gate was already half-opened, and the entrance was different from the one outside of Oldrango City. It was also older than that one. Recently, there had been a lot of people eyeing that place, such as the descendants of the Bridges Kingdom, who were aiming to obtain the mysterious curse power to restore their nation, the deep sea civilization, who wanted to stir trouble, and so on.
Lola arrived, as promised, at the final lighting place, and thus the Olsylvia Academy became one of the twelve to advance to the “Light of Dawn” event. They were just slightly faster than the last two Augustus Alchemist Academy and the Frederica Maritime Academy, which was a progression many expected.
Bella was right in predicting before the competition that many main teams had their eyes on them. The other academies had no idea who was in command and kept blocking the way of their main team with the human flood tactic. As they were unable to kill anyone, Blood Demon King Eleanor and the others had no way around this and could only protect their team from falling into the others’ ploys.
The ones sneaking about behind the scenes also failed to prevent the Olsylvia Academy from progressing into the finals. Who would have thought that the five people in the secondary team that disappeared at the very start were the real team of the Olsylvia Academy? The one that should have been the main team was only there to attract the attention of the others. On the second day of the event, other than the discovery of the Cursed Demonic Being in the pyramid arena, the rest of the areas were basically normal, and the competition ended smoothly.
Excluding Bella and the four, no one knew that this Cursed Demonic Being even existed. The girls who were caught were already in a hallucinating state and could not remember anything. Bella arranged for the Manasvir Empire’s Royal Secret Guards to send them somewhere relatively safe.
At night, in the makeshift villa not far away from Stella Tower, Bella secretly met up with Empress Manya Felan, whom she had summoned with a special contract. When Empress Manya Felan was called, she was clearly taking a bath in the palace’s baths. Before she could figure out what was going on, she dropped down onto the large bed in the room.
“This place is… Bella, can’t you wait for me to finish my bath before you summon me over?”
“Nope. Manya Felan, you didn’t survey the place well when you created the artificial island. Something awful almost happened. Oh, you seem to have developed a bit more. Let me take a look.”
“What bad thing was going to happen? Bella… Wait, don’t kiss… Wasn’t there… Wasn’t there still important business…”
Bella looked at Manya Felan’s fair and wet body, which still had a few rose petals from the bath stuck to it, and couldn’t help but shove matters aside for now. She pinned Empress Manya Felan down on the bed and showered her with a flurry of kisses. After resisting for appearances’ sake for a little bit, Manya Felan quickly gave in and sunk into pleasure.
After the storm subsided, Bella cuddled with Manya Felan in bed as they whispered to each other like long-time close friends. If Bella could stop burying her face between Manya Felan’s breasts to suck on the two sensitive points from time to time, then the two of them would look just like a couple of friends. After understanding the situation, Manya Felan had no idea that the Cursed Gate turned out to be on Phoenix Island.
For a transmigrator with no combat ability like Manya Felan, she was a mere passerby in the eyes of the Savior Camp. It was already their greatest mercy for them not to remove her name from the Saviors name list. A lot of information was not revealed to these passerby transmigrators, so Manya Felan had no idea about the Cursed Land. Her status was even lower than the F-rank system-type Saviors.
Bella was quite disapproving of this Savior ranking. Manya Felan built herself an empire standing for over ten thousand years. This merit was much more than what some bottom feeder Savior who could only beat the Demon King’s lackeys could achieve. So, how did she end up being treated as an “outsider”? She really felt upset in her place.
“Bella, I have no idea about that, and I’m really sorry. Why don’t we cancel the tournament and change the venue?”
“No need. We’re already family, so I can just deal with it for you. I’ll think of a way to handle the Cursed Land. If it’s really impossible, then we still have a bunch of Savior buddies who can come help out.”
“Thank you, Bella. Oh right, I almost forgot something important. Does Princess Kriss share that type of special relationship with you as well? The Gabriel Empire seems to be preparing to hold some sort of marriage recruitment activity, and Princess Kriss is also taking part.”
“That old fox is at it again. So be it then. I’ll just head in and propose to her officially. That will stop anyone from having any funny thoughts.”