The Villain's Story

"Everyone, pack your bags. We're leaving."

As they heard his words, they first didn't register them in their minds. For their minds were too busy with processing the yellow beam that they had seen rise in the sky dyeing it golden.

But it was then, That he spoke again, repeating those same words.

...what?

Why are their bodies moving?

Why were they doing what he just said?

What...was moving them?

Only Elijah stood rooted to his spot as if his words didn't have any effect on him...but the rest...did so without questioning it.

They couldn't speak.

They could only move their bodies to do what he said.

He began to move, and as they turned their eyes towards him.

All they could see, all they could register in their minds in the cold and desolate land.

Was not his hair that was fluttering a little. His hair that was as white as the land they stood upon.

And it was not his face.

His eyes, which were so captivating, appeared to be the highest quality bright blue diamonds one could ever hope to have.

His eyes, which seemed to be so magnificent, so beautiful, so mesmerizing, so...captivating.

And commanding.

They began to glow a blue light that shined brighter by the second.

And they all looked at those two bright blue diamonds shining.

Shine brighter than even the fire they were all huddled around a little while ago.

***

'Well, they listened quite spectacularly...except for our protagonist.'

I thought in my mind and began to move, and as I did I activated [Dragon Eyes] and slowly began to use it to its full power.

All to find what had happened.

My vision expanded to the entire floor, and my head was hurting due to the massive amounts of information my brain had to suddenly process.

However, I persevered through the pain and began to interpret the information coming into my brain.

And I was able to conclude, that is the reason for all this.

Was a Stampede.

The unique phenomenon occurs only when monsters from a lower floor ascend despite the risks.

And a chain reaction occurs.

Until they all reach the topmost floor, and because they cannot leave the labyrinth, Enter a free for all.

A battle royale where the weak monsters die and the strong continue to fight.

However there was a problem, and that was that the weakest currently here were in the most danger.

We're us, students.

The monster of the fifth floor was moving, running around in a frenzy.

And they will soon come to our location.

'...this is bad.'

I thought. The current situation was extremely bad.

What do I do?

Either we hide in the cave and I block the entrance with Ice.

...or fight through the hordes of weak monsters and hope to reach the entrance before the real threat comes?

The first one is suicidal but the second one is also suicidal.

Either stay and hide, with the risk of being found by thousands of monsters stronger than you that have a very high chance of finding you with their innate abilities.

Or fight through hundreds of monsters weaker than you as you ascend trying to escape.

...

...

...

I choose option 2 I guess.

...but not all of us will make it, even with me and Elijah here, especially our numbers which would attract even more monsters.

'It doesn't matter, I'm the team leader of 'My' team, only they are my responsibility.'

I thought as I calculated the chances of survival before telling them all to get moving.

I'm a man who does my job seriously.

No matter what I'm someone dedicated to it.

And as the team leader of team 55.

Only their safety is my responsibility.

Not Elijahs Team.

And among my team, Alex and Sabrina have the highest priority.

Alex, who's the next sword saint?

And Sabrina, who I am the bodyguard and must protect at all costs.

For she had my soul crystal within her.

And if she dies...then unfortunately I die too.

and maybe I need to protect the other protagonists.

Maybe.

***

*Zap!*Crackle.*

'How long have we been fighting?'

Sabrina thought to herself as she fired Thunderbolt after thunderbolt at the monsters around her.

They had been swarmed by monsters native to the fifth floor as they made their way upwards.

And then it was total mayhem, as they fought and fought every monster that they encountered.

At first, there weren't many, but then their numbers just kept increasing and increasing.

Artic Fox, Frost Bears, and frost wolves, the three monsters native to this floor came out in droves and attacked their team again and again.

And Among the group, Her, Elijah, Alex, and Alan seemed to be the ones doing most of the killing, with the others just struggling to keep up.

She stayed in the middle and bombarded the monsters with thunder skills.

Alex, who stayed in the back of the group and protected their rear, however, would sneak his hand into his bag and take out a mushroom and eat it occasionally.

Elijah was honestly flying with feet covered in flames providing enough propulsion to keep him flying as a jetpack would.

He was blitzing everywhere with a sword of flame as he made sure each and everybody was safe.

And then there was Alan, who was at the front and was the spear of the group.

In the front and charging forward relentlessly.

Every strike of his spear reaped the life of a monster.

Whether it was a Frost bear, frost wolf, or Artic Fox.

Every monster that was in his way died without even putting up much of a resistance.

And he would occasionally fire of no it's of ice behind, particularly at the monsters that had gotten close to her or Alex.

He would do this for his other teammates too... except Kyle.

But his main focus appeared to be her and Alex.

And whenever he turned his head back.

She saw a face covered with blood that didn't belong to the monsters around them.

It belonged to him, and he didn't been injured.

His eyes were shining and bleeding.

****

...it hurts

It seriously fucking hurts.

Although [Dragon Eyes, ] helped me keep the situation under control...they seriously fucking hurt.

They allowed me to see everything around me but also put a massive strain on my eyes.

The monsters around me are nothing...and the monsters above won't be anything special as well.

The problem is...can I endure until then?

'... it's going to be hard...but I need-?!'

Whilst I was thinking, my head suddenly jerked to the right as I stopped in. my tracks and muttered.

"...fucking hell.."

So much for being the strongest human alive Arken Miller...

You let one dangerous monster escape from you.