A Third-Rate Villain’s Sweet Life Exploiting Academy Bugs – Chapter 48

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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The Flame Fiend was a B-rank named monster, making it roughly equivalent to an S-rank regular monster.

It was a formidable foe, even for a party of third or fourth-year students.

However, whether due to the ‘Reincarnation Academy’ fanfiction author’s lack of imagination or deliberate intent, the Flame Fiend’s skillset was a mere watered-down copy of the [Flame Emperor] from ‘Reincarnation Hero’.

The Flame Emperor was notoriously difficult in the game; it took over a week for clear strategies to appear on the forums.

In comparison, the Flame Fiend, despite its lower rank, was less intelligent than its counterpart.

In short, I could confidently say that I knew exactly how to defeat it.

The only issue was that if it entered its berserk state, I wouldn’t be able to finish it off without the [Execution] skill.

But that didn’t matter. I had a plan for that as well.

However…

-Whirr!

I had simply spammed the Flame Fiend with Multi-Shot, Quick Shot, and Curved Shot, mashing the Q, W, and E keys in a panic…

But a single, azure streak of wind, or perhaps a laser, pierced through its arm.

-Keeeeeek!!!!

The Flame Fiend, finally noticing its injury, clutched its arm and writhed in pain.

Strangely, the path of the arrow, its trajectory, left behind a lingering afterimage, a single streak of light.

As I was pondering this anomaly, a status window appeared.

-Cha-ching.

‘I… didn’t expect this…’

A combination skill that had existed only on the test server of ‘Reincarnation Hero’.

It had been completely removed with a hotfix even on the test server, due to concerns about potential workload overload from the sheer number of possible skill combinations if implemented on the live servers.

‘This is OP!’

And a 3-in-1 skill, saving precious skill slots… What a sweet deal.

But there was no time to marvel.

Unlike my original plan, I was now in front of Aria, and I had to defeat the monster without using ‘Demonization’.

-Kyaaaaargh!!!

Did demons recognize their own kind?

The Flame Fiend’s health bar appeared.

I had used a considerable amount of wind energy, but a single shot wasn’t enough to finish it off.

It would activate its ‘Inferno’ pattern at 66.6% HP

and enter berserk mode at 44.4%.

The standard strategy would be to control my damage output from now on,

but I wasn’t with the full party.

There was no frontline, just Aria and me.

In other words, if I allowed another attack or witnessed a single pattern activation, it would be game over.

My Threat level was at 99, leaving me with only one more chance for a critical hit.

‘So, I’m supposed to exploit another bug, right?’

I had no choice.

The author’s intentions were clear.

He wanted to force the Flame Fiend into berserk mode if I couldn’t defeat it in one shot.

But there was one thing he didn’t anticipate.

-Cha-ching!

Normally, combination skills couldn’t be registered alongside their component skills,

but during the closed beta, skills that were already registered weren’t removed, a bug that worked in my favor.

In other words, I could use the combo skill, ‘Afterimage Arrow’, as both Curved Shot and Multi-Shot.

I reloaded the Afterimage Arrow, imbuing it with half my remaining wind energy.

-Whirrrrrr!!!

The Ash Grey Scatter vibrated as if about to shatter,

-Whoosh!

and its crimson, sleek body began to draw in all the surrounding air, forming a spiral pattern.

-Click.

Then, it suddenly fell silent.

-…

The calm before the storm.

And the moment I pulled the trigger,

-Boom!!!

A hurricane of compressed air slammed into the Flame Fiend.

A deafening roar,

multiple, overlapping afterimages, painting a trail of destruction,

as Afterimage Arrows were launched in a frenzy.

-Wheeeeeeeeee!!!

-Wheeeeeeeeee!!!

The wind arrows, resonating in my hand for as long as their afterimages lingered,

transformed into blue lasers, piercing the Flame Fiend’s body.

-Kyaaaaaaa!!!

-Kyaaaaaaa!!!

\

‘Health threshold met.’

Its Rapid Fireballs interrupted and its HP plummeting, the monster finally noticed me.

-Thump!

-Thump!!!

-Thump!!!

It stomped its feet,

preparing to activate ‘Inferno’ before entering its berserk state.

[Inferno (Active)]: Activates whenever its health drops by 33.3%.

Fires 5 homing fireballs in 8 directions, inflicting the ‘Unquenchable Flame’ debuff upon hit.

5 stacks trigger a powerful explosion.

‘Screw your pattern.’

The Flame Fiend launched homing fireballs from eight points on its body. It didn’t matter.

The ‘Wind Barriers’ I had placed around it earlier came into play.

-Whoosh! Whoosh!

Something tried to erupt from the monster’s body with every stomp,

but

-Bang!!!

-Kyiik?

-Boom!

-Keeeeeeek!!!

The ‘Wind Barriers’ absorbed the homing fireballs.

And when the debuff reached 5 stacks, it would trigger an explosion.

The fireballs, trapped within the barriers, detonated.

-Boom!

-Kaboom!

-Kaboom!!!

The deafening roar intensified with every stomp.

It had long since drowned out the Flame Fiend’s screams.

-Gurgle… Gurgle…!!!

Its body swelled up like a balloon, contorting and spasming,

-Kyaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

and with a final roar, it activated its berserk mode.

‘Now!’

-Whoosh.

At that moment, I fired a single, light shot from my crossbow, enchanted with the 1st Circle spell, Ice.

-Clink!

The seemingly harmless bolt

-Kyaaaaaaa!!!

-Thud!

forced the monster to its knees, its legs buckling.

The berserk mode was canceled due to the successful groggy.

Groggy cancel… a tactic I frequently used for speedruns in ‘Reincarnation Hero’.

The conditions for triggering groggy were elemental advantage and status ailments.

A water-attribute attack exploited the Flame Fiend’s weakness,

and since it was classified as humanoid, it was susceptible to the Stun status ailment, though not easily.

In ‘Reincarnation Hero’, being hit by explosive attacks with loud noises could trigger stun.

So, it had been self-stunned and groggied by its own ‘Inferno’ pattern.

-Kyiik…! Kyaaa!!!

The fiend, kneeling on the ground, desperately trying to cover its weak points with its thin, membranous wings, was a pitiful sight.

“Stay put.”

-Whoosh!

I channeled all my remaining wind energy, preparing for the final shot.

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At Clarice Academy, the students’ choice of weapons was generally predetermined.

Lineage came first, and no one questioned their inherent talents or the paths laid out for them.

The crossbow.

The weapon wielded by the hunter who had saved Aria.

And the weapon that Lev Denec, and only he, now used as his primary weapon.

That’s why everyone had underestimated him, believing he would fail the selection test.

‘That’s why I thought he looked… lonely.’

Aria had felt a sense of loneliness emanating from Lev.

She even imagined him battling an invisible foe, a hidden burden he carried.

Should she continue to doubt him…?

What if all his actions, every single one,

was simply a desperate struggle to survive?

‘…’

His back, as he rushed to save her…

It overlapped with the scene of his duel with Edwin.

Andras, the Great Demon.

That ominous, repulsive magic… It surged forth again, threatening to engulf her in a dizzying wave of terror.

-Whoosh!

“…!”

But it was paradoxical.

What erupted from his crossbow was a beautiful, azure wind, leaving a trail of shimmering afterimages.

As if illuminating the path he walked alone,

or a gentle breeze guiding him forward.

It spoke to her heart.

-Beeeeeeep!

-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pierced through the heart by the sound-splitting Afterimage Arrow…

the Flame Fiend turned to ash.

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