A Third-Rate Villain’s Sweet Life Exploiting Academy Bugs – Chapter 16

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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The moment we entered the unique barrier and opened our eyes again, the forest became even darker, and an eerie wind blew.

Edwin, who was at the front, slowly began to step forward.

Look at this guy.

“Hey, hey, hey.”

“…Huh? Me?”

Edwin, who finally turned to look at us, seemed out of it as if he was lost in thought.

It’s a rule of thumb that the tank should lead the party…

“You’re the vanguard. You should give us some instructions.”

“Oh, yeah.”

Even though he had awakened as an executor, he was still disappointed.

Did the author deliberately take away his intelligence to push Caeran?

“Then I’ll take the lead, so everyone keep a certain distance…”

“Hah…”

Frustrated, I spoke in his place.

“First, since we don’t have time, let’s talk while moving. The positions are already set anyway.”

“Sure.”

“Okay…”

Aria and Hazel nodded in agreement.

Just as we were about to depart,

“Wait!”

At that moment, the person who sniped at me was Melissa.

“Why are you naturally instructing us?”

“What?”

“You’re the one who cheated on the test. Are you telling us to listen to someone like that?”

“Then you lead.”

“Huh?”

Melissa faltered.

She was the type to get flustered when given the baton to lead.

A typical second-in-command style.

“As we learned in the lecture, Edwin in the front, you on the right, me in the back, Aria on the left, and Hazel watching all sides, that’s all. What, do you have a better method?”

When I casually said that, Melissa started picking on something else.

“You, you, you’re the rearguard. We don’t know when you might try to ruin the test, isn’t it a dangerous position? How can we trust you?”

Hmm, it’s a controversial remark…

It could be taken as an insult to all rearguards, so Edwin started to meditate.

“Wait, Melissa, that’s too harsh… We’re a team…”

Despite his words, Edwin also showed signs of unease.

He was probably still thinking about the duel with me.

But this made it clear.

Even if I was suspicious, seeing as they didn’t particularly ask about it, it seemed that Aria and Edwin weren’t exchanging information with each other.

Given Aria’s personality, if it wasn’t a character she had opened up to, she had a bad habit of keeping secrets to herself.

“Alright, then…”

I came to a simple conclusion.

“I’ll go as the vanguard. That solves it, right?”

“What?”

“You said you’re anxious. So let’s switch positions. You take responsibility for the deduction?”

“Uh… then the rearguard… uh…? Deduction?”

Melissa pondered as if she hadn’t expected this reaction, so I passed the turn to Aria this time.

“Aria, what do you think? You’re the one who suggested forming a party with me.”

Aria answered in a monotonous voice as if she wasn’t particularly interested.

“…I think it’s right to go with the original positions. Arbitrarily changing positions during the test would likely result in a deduction, and Melissa and I need spell incantation, so the middle guard is appropriate, and Hazel isn’t suited for the rear either.”

At Aria’s straight talk, Melissa had no choice but to back down.

“If Ria says so… ugh… alright.”

“Aw, what a pity, I wanted to try being a vanguard for once.”

Melissa glared at me once and retorted.

“You, don’t cause trouble.”

Then, seeing her turn her head away, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

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As the rearguard, I slowly walked behind everyone.

“It’s… scary…”

As Hazel, who still had little presence, said, the forest was getting darker and darker as we went in.

Fortunately, Aria’s divine magic had no significant problems illuminating the path.

It was annoying that Melissa kept glancing back at me to check on me occasionally.

“I said I won’t betray…”

“Sorry, but it’s because you’re disappointing that I have to check.”

“Yes, yes… if you say so.”

According to the novel, three types of demons appeared in the test.

-Goblins

-Goblin Necromancers

-Rag (It)

‘The key would be to defeat the necromancers.’

Necromancers had a gimmick of resurrecting goblins for a certain period of time, so it was best to clean up thoroughly.

The newly resurrected goblins wouldn’t give spoils, so each resurrection would be a loss in terms of stamina or time.

After walking for a while.

“Behind.”

I stopped the party.

“What?”

“They’re coming from behind. Aria, light this way.”

-Kieek!

-Kiek, kiek!

Demons began to howl, twisting their necks in the darkness.

-Eek!

Among them, only Hazel let out a scream.

And in sync with that sound, dark shadows slowly began to reveal themselves.

The black figures rushing at us suddenly stopped as bright light poured out from Aria’s priest staff.

‘As expected, the first ones are goblins.’

Two large hobgoblins.

Low-level monsters that gamers would find familiar.

But since they were humanoid, they had at least minimal intelligence and could perform sneak attacks.

Therefore, letting your guard down was a no-no,

‘They look fucking ugly.’

Perhaps reflecting the game’s inflation or the author’s taste, they weren’t simple goblins but hobgoblins.

The differences from regular goblins were that their skin color was dark red, and demon horns grew irregularly.

I had also seen these monsters a lot in the game, so I expected to feel not only familiarity but also friendliness, but actually seeing them in person, I felt even more relieved to have chosen the rearguard.

I wasn’t mentally prepared to face such hideous mugs head-on and cross swords with them.

“Disgusting…”

As expected, with their undeniably grotesque appearance, Melissa chanted spells with a frown.

-Kieek!

The goblin spat something out like that,

“?”

And passed by me, rushing towards Edwin.

“!!”

“Hazel, come this way!”

“Uh… okay!”

Just as Edwin and the hobgoblin were about to collide, magic arrows made of flames began to explode on the hobgoblin.

-Kiek!

Casting speed befitting the top student,

it was Melissa’s 3rd circle magic, Fire Arrow.

The magic arrows, which could be inferred to be well-refined based on their shape and impact sound, pierced through the hobgoblin’s body.

-Kieek!

However, they didn’t fall so easily either.

Instead, their tough skin was burning and emitting a foul odor, becoming more and more hideous.

And I was just observing this.

What?

I had no presence in this situation.

[Recluse – Gamer trait is activated]

[Recluse]

[Aggro: 2]

[*When aggro reaches 100, enemies (demons) will recognize you]

The reason the hobgoblins targeted only Edwin despite me being the closest was simple.

The succession ability was obtained as the price of the confession attack, which was said to be absolutely unchangeable and only happens once in a lifetime.

Recluse.

This trash succession ability that I thought was useless changed when equipped as a passive with the Gamer trait.

It was a function that erased my presence, in other words, my aggro in game terms.

“Die.”

-Swooosh!

‘Whoa…’

One of them was already melted down and knocked out by Melissa’s fire arrows.

-Kieek!

The hobgoblin, who suddenly lost its comrade, charged at Edwin again.

But there’s no way it could match Edwin, who had awakened as an executor…

“Ugh!”

“Kuh! No… more…”

Or not…

The sight of him struggling after one exchange.

You need to train more…

While everyone’s attention was diverted like that, I loaded the bowstring onto the fixed frame of the crossbow.

-Rustle.

I anticipated that a goblin necromancer would crawl in and try to revive the hobgoblin.

“!”

“At this distance, it’s easy to hit even without seeing.”

I focused only on essential stamina and hitting the target all weekend long.

“Hey, what are you doing…!”

Ignoring Melissa, who noticed me belatedly,

I took a deep breath, aimed carefully,

and slowly exhaled… pulled the trigger.

-Twang!

The arrow was fired at the same time as I felt the recoil ringing in the crossbow itself.

It was a blunt yet light touch.

-Thud!

The arrow drew a subtle parabola and pierced through something in the darkness.

[Critical hit!]

[Aggro: +12 -> 14]

-Kee… ek…

-Thud.

It was probably… a one-shot kill.

As Aria brought light to where I had shot the arrow,

“…Hieek!”

“This… this is…”

A goblin, roughly adorned with skull-shaped handicrafts, trembled its legs and soon collapsed limply.

“Did you… see this coming?”

I remarked as everyone alternated between looking at me and the goblin in a daze.

“What are you doing? Reorganize and collect the spoils.”

As I rummaged through the belongings of the goblin necromancer, Aria also came to help.

“Ugh, hot…”

And our lady, Melissa, also squatted down and started rummaging through the corpse.

“Ugh, hot hot…”

Perhaps she had innate cat’s paws, or it was hot, but she couldn’t touch it easily.

“You burned it too much. Didn’t the certificates burn too?”

At those words, Melissa shouted, “Blaah!”

“No, they didn’t!”

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By the way, as expected, it was a one-shot.

There should have been some sort of protective barrier for a necromancer, but it was a clean one-shot.

This wasn’t because I was strong.

It was simply because a critical hit was triggered, not because of the 2% luck attached to the crossbow proficiency.

In “Reincarnated Hero,” there was only one way to raise the critical hit probability to 100 percent.

It was that when attacking an enemy who didn’t recognize me, the attack that hit was guaranteed to apply a critical hit.

The damage was also applied at 300%.

It was a perk that all characters had by default.

The game company’s intention may have been to give an advantage to attacks made from a stealth state.

Still, since I had the Recluse trait, as long as I managed my aggro, it was practically infinite critical hits for me.

The gap between the fanfic and the game is a flaw that only I received from the game system.

[Foundational Gamer]

This was indeed a cheat passive.

‘Now, time to face, Rag.’

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[huuuuu……. man i hate doing this stuff wtf is wrong with me?]