Young Master's PoV: Woke Up As A Villain In A Game One Day

Chapter 237: This Is Fine (Everything Is On Fire)

The blue-haired boy stood frozen behind Ray, face illuminated by the lingering flames, eyes wide and unblinking.

He stared at the blackened field where the tentacled-millipede had been moments ago... then slowly turned to Ray with silent awe. ”Wh-What was that? And how did you—?”

Ray flipped his hair back with exaggerated flair, looking far too pleased with himself. ”Name’s Ray Warner. You may continue basking in my greatness. As for how I did that? You see, the air here is supercharged with oxygen. This phenomenon makes my explosions way more dramatic. Great for content.”

The boy blinked. He looked like he was about to say something — maybe properly introduce himself.

But Ray raised a hand to cut him short.

”No need to tell me your name,” he said smoothly, winking at the camera. ”I’m gonna forget it anyway. Just call me Boss. And I’ll call you my Lackey.”

The blue-haired young man scowled and opened his mouth in response, clearly ready to protest—

When suddenly the trees around them began to shake.

Not rustle.

Shake.

Like something big — no, a lot of big somethings — were stampeding toward them.

Ray’s brow creased. ”...What’s happening?”

The Cadet next to him rolled his eyes with the weary resignation of a babysitter who was done with his job. ”Your dramatic explosion just rang the dinner bell.”

As if right on cue, tens — no, dozens of tens — of those same tentacled-millipede abominations burst from the treeline ahead.

The earth rumbled. Bark splintered. Branches snapped like brittle bones. Roots tore out of the ground as those creatures surged forward like a living, screeching flood of flesh-eating insects.

Ray nearly swallowed his tongue. ”Oh, hell no!”

He let go of the camera again and whipped his hand upward.

KABOOM—!!

Almost immediately, a second explosion detonated from his palm — this one even louder and hotter than the one before.

A torrent of fire rolled through the clearing like a tidal wave of destruction.

The front line of monsters didn’t even have time to react. They were incinerated mid-charge — their bodies reduced to charred husks that collapsed into heaps of sizzling cinders.

The blast echoed for miles.

...But then the smoke began to clear.

The ash drifted.

And more came.

Even more.

From the trees. From under the ground. From everywhere, those harrowing millipede horrors kept coming in a flood, their tentacles flailing and eyes glinting.

Their screeching drowned out any other noise in the forest. The only sound that remained was a chorus of chittering teeth and death and slime.

The whole clearing trembled under their combined weight, the rapid skittering of their countless legs sounding like a rainfall made of knives.

Ray’s breath hitched. ”This is bad. This is really, really bad!”

The boy beside him tilted his head slightly, frowning. ”Why? Just keep blasting them. Their numbers are already thinning. Four or five more of those explosions and you’ll wipe out the horde.”

Ray shook his head like a man who knew he was screwed. ”I can’t! My power allows me to fire only three explosions before there’s a cooldown of at least a few seconds!”

”...Oh,” the boy groaned as he realized the severity of the situation now.

Running was not an option. These millipedes were much faster than them.

If they tried to run anyway, the horde would easily catch up to them and rip their flesh to shreds in mere seconds — seconds that would take for Ray to reuse his power.

Fighting was also not an option. Because against that many beasts, they wouldn’t last a heartbeat.

Ray should’ve known all that, but he still weakly pointed toward the woods. ”So we run, right? I vote we run. I strongly vote we—”

”No,” the Cadet spoke, and placed a hand on Ray’s shoulder.

Ray flinched. ”Wh-What are you doing?! Don’t touch me! Why are you touching me?!”

The young man’s gray eyes were calm — too calm for how grim the situation was — as he responded, ”I’ll give you a thirty percent boost in your power. In return, you must vow not to use your Origin Card for the next three hours.”

Ray gawked. ”What?! Are you—!?”

”The vow,” the boy said, louder this time. ”Do you accept? If you do, give me your verbal confirmation and blast those things to smithereens.”

Ray glanced up.

The monsters were already on them, barely meters away.

Death wasn’t coming.

It was already here.

”Fine!” Ray screamed. ”I agree!”

The instant the words left his mouth, he raised his hand and fired the third explosion.

—KWA-BOOOOOOM!!!

The third explosion wasn’t an explosion at all.

It was a catastrophe.

It was like several truckloads of TNT going off at once.

The sheer force of the blast split the earth.

A blazing shockwave tore through the clearing, turning everything in its radius to rubble, soot, and smoldering ash.

Trees didn’t burn — they ceased to exist. The ground didn’t crack — it cratered like it had just been struck by a meteor. The air itself turned molten.

The first few rows of the millipede horde evaporated, reduced to scorching dust in the blink of an eye.

The next few rows were thrown backwards, limbs torn off mid-air, their twisted carcasses slamming into trees that exploded on contact.

The clearing was increased in size by several meters as the explosion pulverized and leveled anything standing in its way.

Ray’s clothes flapped violently in the backdraft, his hair shooting upward like it was trying to flee his skull.

In the end, he couldn’t control the recoil and was flung back.

The blue-haired boy stepped slightly to the side as Ray crashed behind him with a solid, undignified thump.

”...Arghhh!” Ray groaned, curled on his side. Smoke still rose from his palm. His ears rang. His vision jittered. He blinked at the utter devastation in front of him with something between terror and admiration.

Then he looked up.

The Cadet he’d rescued just a few minutes ago now stood tall over him, back to the firelight, blue hair gently swaying in the wind that carried embers like fireflies.

Ray’s lips, dry and cracked, trembled a little as he spoke, ”Wh... What did you say your name was again?”

The boy grinned.

”Vince. Vince Cleverly.” He held out a hand. ”Now let’s get moving, Boss. That little fireworks show of yours probably drew in even more beasts. I spotted some spider-monkey things to the east of here last night. I’m not looking to become their lunch today.”

Ray stared at the offered hand for a long second. Then awkwardly took it. ”Yeah. Fair.”

Vince pulled him up, then pointed at the short sword in his hand with his chin. ”Also, I’m keeping this. Consider it a small payment for saving your sorry ass.”

Ray opened his mouth in wordless protest. He wanted to argue that he did the saving first — but at the moment, he had neither the strength nor the breath to mount a good case.

Maybe this was what it felt like to get scammed.