Reincarnated as the Final Villain's Vessel

I opened my eyes to see the low ceiling of the tent, the sound of the rustling leaves crept into my ears like thousands of small bells, and the sunlight that had been coming through the fabric before I slept had faded... now there was nothing but darkness here inside.

I felt a strange heaviness in my eyes, and a fog filling my head, like I’d forgotten something... exactly like how you forget a beautiful dream the moment you wake up.

I had an urge to close my eyes again, maybe I’d remember what I’d just seen.

But I didn’t...

I got up from my place and rubbed my face. ”Haa... was it a dream?” I muttered as I headed out of the tent.

There the campfire burned, eating up the wood and making faint crackling sounds, the sun had disappeared and there was nothing left but the ghost of the sunset on the horizon.

The essence flowed and I activated my ability, I felt all the life and the people in the tents.

Instead of Garon it was Ivan sitting near the fire, looking inside the hanging pot and moving the spoon, while singing a quiet tune.

It was only when I came closer and sat on the tree trunk near the fire that he noticed me. ”Oh... Caius, I didn’t notice you were awake!”

Those words made me open my mouth and look at him with dead eyes... if he didn’t notice me then how the hell is he keeping watch alone.

I was going to start talking but I lazily closed my mouth... that was a lot of explaining to do for him, and well, at least I woke up alive.

I looked toward the forest. ”Nothing happened while I was asleep?”

Ivan pulled the spoon out of the pot. ”Yeah, so far nothing’s happened... I think I’ll wake up the rest for dinner, well the girls aren’t asleep and Garon is meditating.”

Garon is meditating?... that’s unexpected.

I didn’t think about it as I stood up from the trunk, twisted my spine and stretched my arms a little, Ivan blinked toward me. ”We’re not going to start the purging until morning, right?” His voice was tense as he looked back and forth between me and the dark blackness between the trees.

I gave him an amused look as I smiled. ”What do you think?”

He swallowed. ”Please Caius... going into a forest of black trees that absorb light at night is cra—”

I waved at him, cutting him off. ”I’m joking, we’ll start in the morning... anyway don’t do anything until I get back.”

I was going to turn around and start walking but he cut me off. ”Where are you going?”

I raised my eyebrow. ”To the forest obviously... I’m going to take a round to see what’s exactly in there.”

I turned and started walking toward the tree line, Ivan’s voice calling me from behind. ”Wait!, aren’t you going to have dinner?”

”No.” I waved my hand as I answered, the contents of that pot didn’t look appetizing... no, they looked like anything except appetizing.

So while the sun was about to disappear completely, I stood in front of the beginning of the dark forest, only standing here could I really feel the size of the trees.

Their straight trunks were as thick as seven people like me put together, stretching upward at a height of more than twelve meters, their black leaves moving with the breeze without stopping, making their sound like they’re made of metal.

Yeah, it looks kind of like a horror movie, especially since inside it was too dark.

Good thing I don’t really need to see, after all I felt every detail around me enough to walk into the forest without tripping on any of the tangled roots on the ground.

The sound of my steps was completely gone, it faded under the rustling of the leaves... like everything faded in the darkness.

I blinked... or so I think, when the darkness is this thick it’s hard to tell whether I’m opening my eyes or closing them... but of course I was opening them.

I’d already pulled one of my swords and held it in my hand, the upside was that I didn’t feel any Rank 5 monsters... maybe there isn’t one on this island... I hope so.

But the Rank 4s were there... not one or two, but many of them.

And while I was walking deeper, I caught it out of the corner of my eye... a familiar light, not the kind that drives away darkness.

No, it just existed on another level outside matter... the soul of a Rank 3 monster... I felt it before my eye even caught it.

So when its long limb shot out from my right aiming to tear me apart, I’d already spun on my heel, my sword wrapped in a layer of glowing essence as I cut toward its limb... I didn’t see its shape or any details but I felt it.

And I felt the sword pass through the flesh until it came back into the air again, followed by a faint spraying sound of blood rushing out.

A sharp scream rose like scraping a board, it was painful to my ears, and so horrible that some of the hair on my arm stood up from the chill.

Without hesitating I stepped forward as I dodged another limb, at the same time my sword moved fast, carving an arc of light in the darkness that reached what looks like a thick neck.

The tip of my sword barely reached its flesh, but the cut extended beyond the limits of the steel, formed with raw essence.

The next moment the screaming went silent and the light of its soul faded and the darkness came back.

”Do I look at it or just ignore it?” I muttered, thinking about whether I should pull out a glowing lamp and look at its shape or not.

Normally I would, but from what my mind had drawn... this thing isn’t pretty, unfortunately... of course there are pretty monsters, I just don’t meet them.

In the end I gave in as I pulled a lamp out of my ring and turned it on.

The light shone and drove away the darkness in a circle a few meters across, revealing the trunks of the giant trees, and the tangled roots on the ground covered with the black leaves that looked like they were drinking the lamp’s light.

And on them the body of this thing was thrown lifeless... well, what is this exactly?

A big ball of black flesh had fallen at my feet, big enough to reach my waist, connected to what looks like a part of that thick neck I’d cut, there were no eyes, just several empty round holes... trembling a little and secreting foul fluids.

And a few feet away the sticky liquid poured from where its head had separated from its body...

Its body was dozens of black limbs thrown on the ground, with claws at their ends... all of them very long, going and gathering in the same direction where its neck stretches from.

Maybe luckily the light wasn’t strong enough to reach the rest of its body where its limbs and its neck meet in one place... and I bet the mouth is there... I mean there’s no monster that doesn’t have a mouth... of course under the higher ranks.

And by every standard in the universe, I’d give it negative one million in beauty, and rank it as the ugliest thing I’ve seen up close.

At least the Fallen Star Shard was acceptable.

Well, all I saw was its fingers.

...

Hours passed while I moved through the forest, when I killed the first monster the light I made drew in all the nearby creatures.

And yeah I knew that would happen... I wanted it to happen.

So for hours, I moved between the giant trees, my sword carving paths of light that stretch beyond the range of the steel, cutting everything that tries to hit me.

The sharp screams echoed dozens of times, and the sounds of spraying blood and dead bodies hitting the ground became like a new tune, one that drowned out the sound of the black leaves.

I killed dozens of Rank 3 monsters, renewing my essence from their dead bodies and going deeper into the dark forest, until I met one at Rank 4.

I didn’t see it because the darkness covered it... but what my mind formed was a shape like those monsters.

But several times bigger.

Its limbs as thick as the trunks of these trees, sharp claws that could cut me with one blow, those holes in its head made sounds that kept making the hair on my arm stand up.

Its long limbs moved like tentacles, moving away from its main body and heading toward me, finding me somehow through the darkness.

It was faster than me and stronger than me... but I was smarter than it in the end.

I dodged it, ran between the trees as I circled around it, made its limbs wrap around the thick trunks, tying themselves there trying to catch me.

I didn’t cut them... why would I do that?

The sounds of the ground collapsing boomed, and some of the giant trees tore from their roots and fell from the strength of this thing... but they fell toward its body, onto its limbs, tying it down more and more.

When its screams rose to pierce the barrier of the forest and spread through the darkness, I stood in front of it, its round head full of bleeding holes coming down on me in a last attempt to resist its fate.

All it took was a step to the side, and I let its head hit the place where I was standing.

The roots tore and the ground shattered into a big crater, from it the fragments flew and hit me and the shockwave threw off my balance for a moment.

But only for a moment, because the next moment I stood at its extended neck, laid out in front of me because of its last struggle... even on the ground its diameter was higher than me.

I cut and my sword left a trail of light behind it, sinking into the rotten black flesh, and the range of the cut extending with the essence I pumped into it.

One cut was enough to slaughter it, and its soul faded into the darkness.