A Third-Rate Villain’s Sweet Life Exploiting Academy Bugs – Chapter 45

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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The test began, and our party was transported to the Hellen Mine via the magic tower.

Hellen Mine.

As the name suggested, it was a mine.

It was once a Kobold mine, its numerous caves serving as a temporary dwelling for monsters.

Of course, with the purification of major sacred objects in the vicinity, the remaining monsters had lost most of their power.

Our mission was to investigate one of the unexplored sections of the mine, assessing the progress of purification.

Thin out the weakened monsters and collect samples of black magic density at the heart of the dungeon.

That was the ‘Dungeon Exploration Practice’ as described by the academy.

But what awaited the main characters?

Major incidents, major chaos.

In other words, this was no place for a freshman picnic.

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.

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-Rumble!!!

A heavy thud, followed by

-Crash!!!!

-Crackle…

The ground cracked.

A two-meter wide fissure opened up.

Two greenish-brown golems emerged, slaughtering spiders.

“See? That’s how you break through a spider web! Senior Yeriel! Burn it with fire magic!”

The spider monsters’ tactic was simple.

Spin webs and wait for prey.

Lily’s strategy was equally simple: send in the golems to clear the webs and draw the spiders’ attention.

-Whoosh!

And then, Yeriel would eliminate the tangled webs with her elemental magic.

Golems were resistant to fire, and with Yeriel’s precise control, we sustained no damage.

It was a… decent strategy.

“Unlike some useless… attackers, who would take forever to clear this?”

“Lily, please refrain from making such remarks…”

“Huh? Lily… wasn’t talking about anyone specific.”

‘…’

She was definitely talking about me…

Edwin, even lower in rank than me and contributing nothing, seemed to feel the sting, keeping his head down in silence.

We reached the first fork in the path.

“Huh…?”

It was a three-way split, just like Lily’s hairstyle: left, right, and center.

As everyone hesitated, I, already knowing the answer, spoke up,

“We need to go left. The stalagmites on the right path show signs of Earth Spiders. Their speed makes them difficult to handle with golems.”

Pretending to examine the cave walls with a 1st Circle Light spell, I laid out the bait, and Lily took it.

“Hold on, why are you giving orders?”

Normally, the tank led the party, but

having the archer or rogue scout ahead was a common tactic.

Ignoring this, Lily declared,

“Lily will go right.”

“Maybe we should listen to Lev this time…”

“Are you saying you don’t trust Lily? That guy insulted my golems!”

[Anonymous Feedback: Please add a ‘dislike’ button for Lily Porget.]

[We can’t do that, but instead, we’ll give you a cute Lily. To appease everyone, we’ve added a backstory where she lied about her age, entering the academy four years younger than she actually is.]

“She really was a little kid…”

Thanks to Lily’s tantrum, we headed right.

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Screech!!!!

Hiss!!!!

“Eek!!! Th-they’re creepy! What are those?!”

-Thump!

-Thump!

Earth Spiders, with black and yellow striped fur, the size of two palms.

The setting materials clearly stated that Lily hated spiders, and now I knew why.

“Go away! Go away!”

Their speed was greater than I had anticipated.

These guys, despite their seemingly harmless appearance, were monsters.

Even weakened by purification,

they were driven by an even greater desire to survive and multiply.

If even one latched onto you, obstructing your vision, it would drain your life force, leading to a dangerous situation.

“Die! Die!”

-Thump!

-Thump!

The golems, with their slow movements, couldn’t block all the Earth Spiders.

“Aaaaagh!”

-Slash!

Even Edwin’s swordsmanship wasn’t enough.

Hiss!

-!!

They broke through the frontline, Edwin and the golems, and charged towards Yeriel and Aria in the midline.

“Everyone, fall back!”

Yeriel, being an upperclassman, swiftly reacted.

-Whoosh!

She summoned a blazing wall of fire.

Fire Wall, a 5th Circle spell.

As the spiders’ advance was momentarily halted, I shouldered my crossbow.

I needed to secure a good grade.

Taking a deep breath, I activated Wind Archery.

What I needed now was…

As if reflecting my thoughts, the wind swirled in a spiral pattern, gathering at the firing point of the Ash Grey Scatter.

“Hey, I told you to stay back! What are you doing?!”

“Hide behind the golem. You too, Edwin.”

“Huh?”

Pshhhhewwww!

The moment I pulled the trigger, a torrent of blue wind arrows erupted.

-Whoosh…

The wind swept through Yeriel’s Fire Wall, transforming it into a wave of fire that engulfed the Earth Spiders.

It was over in an instant.

The cave lit up, a blast of hot air washed over us, and then

-Whoosh!!!!

-Screech!!!!

-Sizzle…

Only the smell of burning spiders lingered.

“Ugh… Cough!”

As Yeriel cast a ventilation spell, Lily, who had taken shelter behind the golem, cautiously peeked out.

Then, she stomped over to me, fuming.

“You could have gotten hurt!”

“We wouldn’t be in this mess if you had just listened to me and gone left…”

“What? Are you saying it was Lily’s fault?”

“Almost.”

“…Ugh.”

Lily, unable to retort, flushed red and turned away.

It was only fair to respond to childish behavior with childishness.

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.

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Dungeons were notoriously labyrinthine.

That was a given.

And so, once again…

we encountered another fork in the path.

“…Ugh!”

Observing Lily’s frustrated back,

I spoke up,

“Left again. The wall on the right seems to have a resonating section, suggesting a trap.”

“…Didn’t I tell you to shut up…”

Lily’s voice was quieter than before.

Of course, the resonating wall was just a plausible-sounding deduction I had fabricated.

This time, Edwin stepped forward.

“Lev, are you sure about that…?”

“Probably.”

I deliberately gave a vague answer.

Public opinion was on my side, and as Edwin started heading left…

“Then, let’s go left…”

“No!”

Lily stopped him.

“You’re just guessing! This time, it’s definitely right…”

“Lily, accepting your party members’ opinions and working together are also part of the evaluation.”

Even Yeriel started siding with me.

I approached Lily with an impassive expression and asked,

“You’ll take responsibility if we go right?”

“What…?”

“Can you handle the consequences, even if things get messy?”

“O-of course!”

With that, Lily marched forward.

Yeriel looked at me with worry, but I simply nodded in reassurance.

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The hellish difficulty of ‘Reincarnation Hero’ was no joke.

Every moment was a potential death trap, filled with not only monsters but also betrayal and conspiracies.

Like any roguelike game, it forced the player to make constant choices.

The survival of the characters depended on these choices,

and in dungeons designed to tempt players with loot, these decisions became even more crucial.

And this world I was transmigrated into was even more challenging than the hellish difficulty setting.

According to the novel, Selena would have been here instead of me, ensuring we always took the correct path,

and another A-rank frontline would have been here instead of Lily, making the dungeon relatively easy to clear.

The only real challenge was the raid-level monster, the ‘Flame Fiend’, that would appear later.

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As a consequence of Lily’s choice, the next monsters we encountered were Zombie Kobolds.

‘Experience points, experience points.’

They had goblin-like features, but with a mix of canine characteristics.

Thankfully, their numbers were large, but they weren’t a party; they were mostly melee attackers.

-Keack?

They spotted us and charged.

Even ordinary Kobolds were known for their greed and obsession with adventurers’ belongings,

but corrupted by black magic and driven by a primal hunger, their viciousness was on a different level.

As expected, they swarmed Lily, who seemed like the easiest target, drawn to her large, cone-shaped hat.

-Kyarrrr!

“Eek!”

Lily screamed as a golem punched a Kobold, sending it flying.

-Boom!!!

-Keeek!!!

Edwin seized the opportunity, thrusting his sword vertically into the Kobold, finishing it off.

“Raaaagh!”

-Stab!

-Kegek…!

But it was just one.

-Clank! Screech!

A chilling sound, like metal scraping against stone, echoed from the front.

The Kobolds had surrounded Edwin and were hacking away with their makeshift blades.

One Kobold slipped past the golem’s guard and pounced on Lily.

“…!”

Ignoring her panicked expression,

-Whoosh!

-Thud!

A clean shot, accompanied by the sound of compressed air.

My [Wind Arrow – Quick Shot]

sent the Kobold flying, its body pinning it to the cave wall like a morbid decoration.

-Whoosh…!

The force of the wind disrupted the balance of the Kobolds surrounding the golem.

-Keher?

Aria seized the opportunity and whispered,

“Now’s your chance.”

As she began chanting a holy spell, the surroundings brightened.

-Kerruk?

-Krrr!!!

Blinded by the sudden light and having lost their balance, the Kobolds, accustomed to the darkness of the cave, stumbled and collided with each other.

-Pshhhhewwww!!!

Once again, a barrage of wind arrows erupted from my Ash Grey Scatter.

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‘And we haven’t even encountered the named monster yet.’

We managed to fend off the Kobold Zombies with a combination of my and Yeriel’s area-of-effect attacks and the sacrifice of one golem.

Though the experience points were meager compared to a hidden dungeon, we gained a decent amount of stats.

But everyone seemed exhausted from the continuous battles, and conversation ceased.

-Hesitation.

“Another one…?”

We reached the final fork in the path.

As expected, I spoke up,

“Left…”

“I know! I was going to go left anyway…”

Lily, cutting me off, marched forward.

She didn’t even bother asking for our opinions now.

And… as soon as she stepped forward,

-Whoosh!!!

-Crack!

-Groan…

Her last golem crumbled into pieces.

“Huh…?”

It must have been caught in a trap, weakened from accumulated damage.

-Tremble…

Like a child who had just watched a horror movie,

Lily’s shoulders trembled.

And then, she turned to me accusingly.

“…Y-you said… left… Why did this happen again…?”

“You should listen to people until they finish speaking. I was about to say, left is a trap, right is the correct path.”

“…!”

My playful response seemed to shock Lily. Her eyes widened, and then she lowered her head.

“And didn’t you say you wouldn’t listen to me?”

“…”

“And that you’d take responsibility?”

“…”

She was completely dejected,

her tiny hands clutching the folds of her skirt.

She looked vulnerable.

“Lead the way. Thanks to you, we’re even farther from the dungeon’s heart.”

At my urging, Lily looked around.

Summoning golems, especially two at once, consumed a lot of mana.

Aria had also used a considerable amount of holy power to support her, Edwin was exhausted, sitting down to catch his breath,

and Yeriel, though relatively unscathed, seemed tired from constantly watching Lily’s back.

Lily, facing the consequences of her actions, muttered tearfully,

“I’ll just… summon them… again…”

She was right.

She could just summon more golems.

But that was precisely why she would give up being a Summoner and become a Dragon Tamer.

Lily, the Summoner, was portrayed as a pampered, spoiled rich girl who had only experienced good things in life.

And even though she acted tough, she was soft-hearted and would be deeply affected by the loss of her summons.

That’s why she sought a powerful summon, a dragon, that would never leave her side, leading her to become a Dragon Tamer.

Of course, this too was part of Kaelan’s manipulations and gaslighting.

But the point was, this was the narrative that would break Lily’s spirit.

“Well, I guess we’ll need to sacrifice about 10 more golems to reach the dungeon’s heart…”

“Sob… sob…”

“…?”

Lily’s large, cone-shaped hat bobbed up and down.

“Waaaaaaaah!”

My flat tone was the final straw; Lily burst into tears.

“I-I don’t like you! Sob… I don’t like you! Hic… Why are you doing this to me?!”

-Do you like me?

…Was that… the reason…?

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