The Villain's Story

Chapter 979: He who is the storm.

“May I remind you what your job is?”

Amanda asked Alexander, who shifted from his seat. With an annoyed look on his face, he shook his head.

“Yes, yes, I’m to remain until Alan is back, and you are done with your extermination of the beasts.”

He shrugged, turning his head over to the other side of the city, where the Cursed Giant roamed freely. His body was itching for some action, and electrical sparks displayed his foul mood. Amanda coughed, and Alexander forced these sparks down.

Ryan and Howard looked at him with weird expressions, but he ignored it. Alexander could stand waiting until Alan came back so he could tussle with the Cursed Giant, but a part of him was annoyed by the looks he was getting from everybody. They were looking at him as if he was a brat they had to deal with.

He was surprised to see that none of them had any confidence in him slaying the Cursed Giant, and presumed Alan and Amanda would fill in for him when he got beaten. Alexander wanted to scoff at them, but controlled himself.

He couldn’t embarrass Arken’s name, although he was fairly certain the old man would have already rushed to the giant regardless of whoever he was with. Alexander managed to control himself, as he observed the mission.

The team of Titan was dealing with the Beasts, along with the military. They were surprisingly good at it, with Elaine flooding the battlefield with curses and debuffs that regular weapons could work well. Although incapable of killing a beast, they could injure them, allowing Titan’s elite to finish the job.

How did a Light affinity user know how to put curses? Alexander had no clue, and quite frankly, he didn’t want to ask. It irked him slightly, but he was sure he would be slower than them all if he was doing this. It couldn’t be helped; Alexander was trained for fight at most three opponents at the same time, maybe more. All off his skills were intended to deal the most damage to a single opponent in the shortest amount of time.

He was also lacking in the mana department to repeatedly cast many large scale spells. Alexander stood up, and almost everybody in the tent stared at him, giving him weird looks once more. Awkwardly, he said.

“…I’m just going out for fresh air.”

Amanda Wells had already left, supposedly, she was going to utilize her Unique Skill to deal with the beast hordes. Alexander wanted to see that, though it was more so because Festul was pestering him.

He was in the dark about Unique Skills, merely aware of what everybody else knew. He knew Alan had a Unique Skill, but he had yet to share it with anyone. Festul, on the other hand, was a walking—or rather, soul-resting encyclopedia.

[Just go outside and watch.]

Alexander shrugged his shoulders and proceeded out of the tent, ignoring the gazes from the others. He complained inwardly.

‘Geez, if it was Alan or Lucas, I’d get it, but I’m not that damn irresponsible!’

A moment later, another thought crept up.

‘…I’m not, am I?’

Festul sighed within his soul and urged Alexander to watch Amanda Wells closely.

[All Unique Skills are special, skills with a semblance of ego that choose their masters. They are all far beyond the boundaries of normal skills, and there can only be one holder of a Unique Skill at a time, which makes it both dangerous and rewarding. Furthermore, some are capable of evolution, leading their users into defined pathways. Biokinesis is of the similar sort. ]

Alexander focused on the woman in front, carefully watching her every move as he listened to Festul’s explanation.

[Unfortunately for her, when the Universe at large knows of her unique skill… She will be dead at most in a week, or by some miracle, she will be able to survive, provided this world offers protection and opportunities for growth. ]

‘Why would she be dead? What, are there unique Skill hunters in the universe or something?

He jokingly asked, only to get serious when Festul remained silent for an unusually amount of time. With some mental prodding, he was able to get the former supreme to speak once more.

[Yes. She will be hunted down. All Unique Skills have a semblance of ego… and a sort of pride. A strange sort of pride. Unique skills have been documented to pass on to whoever kills the holder many times. Most scholars argue it is because the Unique Skill chose whoever could kill their current host to be better, and latch onto them. This doesn’t always happen, but it has happened enough that every Unique Skill user has a bounty on them.

Many in the universe are hungry for power, and everyone wants a unique skill to call their own. The rank of an individual be damned, the only thing that matters is if they have a unique skill or not, and if such a fact is known, they are besieged by many stronger than them, all of them enter a battle royale to claim the prize known as a Unique Skill.

Alexander pondered for a while, the look in his eyes growing serious as he asked.

‘So is Alan in danger too?’

Festul laughed.

[Oh, oh no. I am certain that not a single being at his own rank can defeat him; as for those higher… maybe a few epic-beings may try, but none above that would even dare. None will go against the House of Death, which is famous for remembering their grudges, and second of all.

As long as that old angry dragon lives, Alan is safe from such a thing. Every Higher-Being is scared shitless of Ariel, especially after she reduced Loki to… something. Nobody wants to piss off Death herself. ]

‘Damn, so what about her?’

[She will either have to cling to the chosen of Agni… Elijah Ardor, was his name? Or Alan Peccator. The Alliance, and humanity as a whole, will be unable to protect her from the many beings that crave a Unique Skill. Only the Houses of the Dragons or the Clans of the God Beasts can offer her protection, provided she can gain entry into them. ]

Alexander nodded and paid close attention to Amanda, who seemed to be in the process of activating her unique skill. Deep within his soul, Festul was also intrigued.

[Alan has been careful with his own Unique Skill, making sure it remains hidden, but she is different. The higher echelons know all about it, and she leveraged her Unique Skill to rise in the ranks… It is admirable, albeit foolish. If she survives the hunters, perhaps another Divine Being may emerge in the universe.

A magical circle appeared around Amanda, whose body started to glow an incandescent white. Alexander had to use mana to stop his eyes from hurting.

‘What are her chances?’

[As an individual? None, none at all. Though, her Unique Skill may change that.]

While the exact name of her unique skill was unknown, the information Maxwell had gathered for everyone included tidbits of her Unique Skill.

Hers was elemental in nature and focused more on the concept of nurturing and storage. Amanda Wells was capable of storing elemental energies and elevating them through unknown means. Furthermore, she was capable of using the elemental energies to augment her body, nurture herself, and expel such energies in the form of devastating attacks.

It was the reason she had reached S-rank at such a young age, and this was but the basics of her Unique Skill. Alexander mused that she could do the same with treasures, particularly those related to elementals. If not, she wouldn’t have pestered Alan for the loot from the Terra King.

Though that was just a speculation, of course. Alexander and Festul watched eagerly as an orb of fire appeared in her hands, and the magic circle around her expanded in size, along with the glow.

[It appears to be alchemical in nature…]

Festul muttered, as Amanda rapidly began the process of nurturing, destabilizing the energy she had, and expelling it the moment it reached a truly dangerous level. The world turned white for a moment, and a raging inferno was unleashed that devoured the beast hordes.

Alexander let out a whistle, impressed, but seeing how tired Amanda was at using it, his expectations died down. Although he knew it was because he was used to seeing Alan spam spells of that caliber without slowing down at all.

It was impressive, if one only considered the destructive aspects of it. The fact that it wasn’t limited to a few special elements heightened it further, but that was it in front of Alexander’s eyes. He knew he could stop her from using a move of this caliber quite easily from afar.

Even if she was guarded by a team, he was confident enough to pierce through them and kill her before she could finish casting. He hadn’t seen everything, though, so he didn’t let pride consume him.

With a tired sigh, Amanda returned to the tent, which exploded in a claps and a cacophony of praises. In an hour or so, she would do it again, and Titan and the army would cull the numbers of the beasts quickly. Alexander returned as well, taking his seat as he waited for Alan to finish dealing with the termites.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long.

“Why is it so hot here!? Which dumbass used a fire spell in the middle of a desert city?!”