Villain's Odyssey: Enslaving heroines, Conquering Villainesses Chapter 20: Dead?

"Anna?" Azalea called out, floating just outside the mouth of the cave. She’d been in there a long ti. Too long. Even the flight spell tethering was beginning to waver.

"Hey," he called again, but there was no response.

His brow furrowed.

They’d found it—the original cave. He could feel it.

Without hesitation, he willed himself forward, gliding into the frozen maw of the cave. He maneuvered past massive stalactites, sharp and glassy, suspended like icicles of death from the ceiling. The air inside was deathly cold.

He closed his eyes.

Fire.

The tattoo on his hand pulsed. A thin warmth began to spread through him, not blazing, but just enough to fight off the cold—minimal ether usage, efficient and steady.

A smile crept onto his lips. "Now this is convenient."

He drifted deeper in—then stopped.

There it was.

The book.

A skeleton was slumped at the far end of the cave, its bony arms wrapped tightly around an old to. Nearby, a familiar shock of pink hair lay collapsed on the ground.

Anna.

Unconscious.

On the opposite wall, a massive creature was embedded into the ice, one of its four arms torn clean off. The cavern around it looked as if a small sun had erupted within—scorch marks blackened the stone, lted snow hissed on the floor.

Azalea sighed.

"Hey. Get up—or enjoy sleeping in agony."

Her eyes shot open, her body jerking up like a marionette yanked by strings.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she scread, thrashing.

"Good," he said simply.

"FUCK YOU! I HATE YOU! YOU—ARGHHH!" she shrieked, beyond reason. For once—maybe for the first ti ever—she actually cursed.

He didn’t even flinch. "Now kill that nasty thing. I don’t have all day."

He pointed lazily toward a frozen stalactite, firing a precise beam of fla that ricocheted off one, then another, then a third—finally striking the dormant creature dead in the center of its forehead.

Its eyes snapped open.

And, since the blast had co from her direction, it set its sights on her.

Again.

"ONE DAY, YOU WILL PAY! I SWEAR IT!" she bellowed as the beast lunged toward her, still injured but vicious.

There was no ti to rest. No ti to breathe.

She forced herself to her feet, pain flooding her limbs, and summoned her twin swords—one fire, one ice. Without realizing it, her control over her affinity had skyrocketed during these hellish hours. She had evolved, but rage and exhaustion blinded her to it.

anwhile, Azalea floated higher.

"Pardon , dead one," he said casually, kicking the skeleton aside. Its brittle bones snapped, and the book fell into his waiting hands.

He opened it midair, completely unfazed by the chaos below.

"Kill it in the next ten minutes," he said calmly, "or stop breathing."

Anna scread sothing obscene at him, but he didn’t even glance her way.

He flipped the first page. Then frowned.

Serious now.

"It really is it."

A treasure trove of alchemical knowledge, one he’d only known about through his obsessive exploration of the ga’s deepest, unmarked territories. This was the real deal.

The first step.

A grin began to twist his lips—dark, wide, and dangerous.

"Let’s get powerful first... Goddess of Life."

He laughed lowly, a wicked sound echoing off the cave walls.

"I just hope you can kill before I find you."

He was utterly, completely unaware—or maybe just apathetic—to Anna’s dire struggle below.

She had less than five minutes left. Her ether was crumbling. Her body was barely holding together.

The beast was Tier Six.

She shouldn’t even be able to touch it.

But she was fighting it toe-to-toe.

Barely.

Then—SLAM!

She was launched across the cave, crashing into the wall with a sickening crack. Dazed, bleeding, she turned her head—

Only to see him.

Reading. A. Fucking. Book.

"Haaah... Haaah... haaah..." she gasped, vision shaking.

"Fine. If I’m dying... I’m taking you down with ."

Her eyes darkened.

Suddenly, her ether pool expanded—violently.

She pulled it out of her body in reckless abandon, uncaring of the consequences.

She was going to blow the whole damn cave.

She was going to kill him.

But then—

Wait.

What?

He was leaving.

Floating out of the cave, book in hand, leisurely, peacefully—not even looking back.

"WAIT! STOP! CO BACK, YOU BASTARD!" she scread, struggling to gather enough ether.

But it was too late.

He was already gone.

And in front of her—

The beast lunged.

All four arms.

All teeth.

All rage.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

BOOOOOOM.