Reincarnated as the Final Villain's Vessel

”Wow... you don’t look good at all.”

Two voices echoed in sync like they’d agreed to say this beforehand as a script for a play, and both of them were clearly surprised.

I was sitting trying to gather enough focus, and in front of me stood both Izel and Leona, wearing clean armor, they’d obviously had an easy time the last few days... these bastards hadn’t gotten any attacks on their side, so here I am asking them to come here and give us support after our numbers shrank a lot.

Izel folded her arms; her orange eyes focused on me intensely like she was trying to set my skin on fire. ”What the hell is wrong with you, you look like you’re about to die, like a mummy in its last days before it gets buried in ice...”

Even in this state she made me blink for a moment. ”A mummy buried in ice? Where did you hear that?”

She shrugged like it was the simplest thing in the world, just general knowledge every farmer knows. ”I read it in a book.”

Unlike this idiot, Leona had her hand under her chin, staring at me with narrowed eyes. ”Hmm... are you sure you want to do this, no offense, but like Izel said you’re in terrible shape.” And unlike the other one, Leona didn’t try to hide the worry in her voice.

I shrugged weakly, but I managed to keep some swagger in my tone. ”It’s better than getting eliminated, I’ll go back to the fortress and get treated after I hit a few of them, and then they hit me.”

Izel clicked her tongue. ”Arrogance! If I had half your ego, I would’ve taken over the Empire.”

Everyone stared at her like they were staring at a potential traitor, until Ivan put his hand over his mouth. ”Traitor!”

”No, you idiot, I’m saying if... just if!” she screamed at him angrily.

Unlike them Leona kept her eyes on me for a few moments, thinking about my life choices for me, in the end she sighed like she didn’t see a way to convince me with her kindness. ”Alright, should we head out now, it’s almost time.”

I nodded, the pain and weakness still gnawing at me from the inside, but I’d tried to adapt to it over the past hours... just trying to push it out of my head.

Like splitting yourself in two, one part feels the pain and the other controls the body... strange, but kind of possible, even though it’s not very effective in this state.

My essence still felt unsettled and my body was half numb, but it’s fine... just a few more hours and I’ll be out of this, leaving everything else to them.

....

With the sunset complete and a glimpse of the moon appearing in the sky through the islands above us, our team of 8 came down onto the fourth level island, the only path that leads to Emeris’s island and mine... the same one Theo and Riven used before.

The bridges were far from each other, separated by the unpurged forest full of monsters, on top of the rocky terrain of this place.

And since the Auerlion group was moving without even trying to hide from our watchers’ eyes, it was easy to track them... and of course they had to cross through here anyway.

But knowing when they’d arrive would be great for surprising them, especially since there were 27 of them plus Demir himself, so I think setting a trap for them on their way is better than waiting for them to knock on our door... part of me is doing this just to leave... but I’m still thinking about what the others will have to face.

So, with Leona and Izel coming now, we made a strong team, and with Emeris, who’d come down from the other side and join us in the forest in a bit, I think it’ll be enough, maybe not to finish them but at least to push them back.

Unfortunately, Elliot can’t come and leave his area, otherwise this would be easier, maybe even with a chance of finishing them off here completely.

What tiring thoughts for my already tired self... I could barely see in front of me through the darkness of the night, on top of the fog at the edges of my vision.

”Hey!” An elbow hit my ribs which made me jump from the pain, the hit had no strength behind it... but it hurt, really.

I looked weakly and resentfully at Izel, who pulled back. ”Sorry, I didn’t think you were... you know, in pain, you just looked about to pass out so I’m helping you... just, if you feel like you can’t keep going, let them hit you and you’ll be fine.” She hurried to justify herself... does she feel guilty, if I were her, I’d have taken the chance to bully.

I’m not a bad person.

I let out a breath without answering and closed my eyes for a moment, trying to push my consciousness forward, and leave every pain and strange feeling somewhere behind.

The essence flowed painfully through my body as I activated my ability, the information that flooded me didn’t help my condition, that’s when I signaled the rest to head to the meeting point.

...

Some monster corpses lay lifeless on the ground, if my nose were fine, I’d be smelling a foul metallic smell right now.

In the clearing empty of trees and in the middle of the darkness, there was me plus 10 other people, now that we’d met up with Emeris and part of her team who came with her.

Like I expected, she got into a heated argument with me about health and why I’m messing with myself like this, but in the end... well there wasn’t really anything she could object to, I was going to go take care of my health after all.

So, she ended up with an angry frown, and tore these poor monsters apart the moment they appeared in front of us.

After a few moments the group kept moving through the darkness as quietly as possible, hiding our presence from the forest’s inhabitants.

My sense was covering a vast area as I led them around the monsters, still there was something really annoying here... why the hell is he always lurking in the shadows.

Is he scared we’ll die or what, maybe every group had a supervisor ready to step in, and it looks like this one got stuck with us or something... but his looks on my back were annoying, especially now.

Well, maybe because it’s obvious, I’m not okay, so let’s forget about it.

Soon enough we reached our destination where the end of the island showed some distance away between the trees, there the vines gathered in the ground, forming the bridge that leads down.

From there twenty-seven people were making their way up in silence, and it looks like we were a little late because I already felt them close to arriving.

All that separated them from the edge of the island was a few hundred meters, so without delay I nodded for everyone to take their places.

Sarah pulled back behind the trees and rocks, putting herself at an angle invisible to their eyes, but open enough for her arrows to pass without trouble, and another person holding a bow was doing the same thing.

Close to the tree line the long-range attackers like Ivan and Izel settled in, and even Emeris... hidden in the shadows of the trees so the enemy wouldn’t spot them from the start.

Then there was Garon and me, we moved closer to the end of the bridge, and there each of us hid on a separate side, behind blocks of big rocks covered in dirt and vines.

Leaning my back against the damp stone, my breaths were coming out fast and uneven, the cold sweat dripping down my forehead... on top of that, straining my ability made my condition worse, but I soon narrowed the range down to just enough for me to fight, and that gave me back some strength.

Ignoring those annoying looks from the shadows, I gripped my sword, honestly, I didn’t know what I was doing here... my vision went dark for a moment before it came back.

And the cold fire burned inside my chest, like something was slowly falling apart. ”Come on, just a little more... just so I don’t get eliminated,” I muttered, some stupid encouragement for my stupid self.

That’s when I felt them, then heard them... it was their steps landing on the hard surface of the island, then the rattle of their armor, followed by some whispers that grew as they got closer... feeling more at ease and letting their guard down.

When the first foot landed on the ground nothing happened, then the second, and the third... by the fifth, things changed.

The sharp whistle of an arrow piercing the air, then after it the explosions and flames flooded the place in a ringing that tore my head apart.