Villain Hiring: Help! Author Wants Me Dead

My pride had taken a hit, and I was gonna show them just what all I could do when triggered.

kekekek

They could roast me all they wanted.

Let them laugh.

Because I was going to win this damn treasury challenge.

Even if I had to fumble through every system menu to do it.

"Alright," I said, lines forming on my forehead and cracking my knuckles. "Formation again. Let's go."

"Wait," Erza asked suddenly. "Did you even check if the point share's actually working now?"

"...No?"

Everyone groaned in unison.

Aurelia pinched the bridge of her nose. "Dear gods. I'm filing a complaint with the System. Or Grandpa. Or fate itself."

"Yup," Seraphina said flatly. "We're so doomed."

I raised a finger. "Okay, one more beast, and we'll check if it splits properly. Deal?"

Erza threw her hands up. "Fine! But if it glitches again, I'm petitioning to be captain. At least I know how to press a damn button."

"Deal," I muttered under my breath as we advanced deeper into the forest.

My mind was ready.

My body was prepared.

As for my system settings, they were correct this time.

Probably.

***

20 minutes later,

"Easy," Erza said, brushing her hands off.

"Only like five hundred more of those and we all may even lead." Dario said, looking at a blue screen in front of him.

Thankfully, after the first kill, the point sharing system started working properly, saving me a whole lot of embarrassment.

Since then we'd been fighting non stop, killing which ever beast we found.

Most interestingly, however, we found out 5 minutes before of a public ranking for the total amount if points in a Team, and the current break off was:

[System Ranking]

No 1) Team C = 270 Points

No 2) Team B = 190 Points

No 3) Team D = 110 Points

No 4) Team A = 90 Points

Yeah…we'd lost a little too much time on chatting and well…setting a proper distribution metjod for the points that we were lagging too far behind the other teams.

"Don't jinx it, it is bad as it is that we are only getting unawakened beasts to fight and only a single Tier 1 beast came across us." Seraphina warned Dario, annoyed at our current situation.

We had been slowly picking up pace and catching with the other teams due to Erza charging at the beasts at full speed and my Soul Siphoning.

I knew there was no time to be scared and thus showed no tantrums in revealing my powers.

Compared to that, Aurelia was pretty much useless since her abilities were useless against the beasts and Seraphina still dod not seem to warm up enough to us to show us the abilities bestowed upon her by her chosen god.

As for Dario, though a little slow, seemed to be doing his job well in finding targets for me and Erza to rapidly kill.

Just then, another growl came—this one deeper.

Erza turned her head. "Three more. Left side."

She didn't wait. She raised her hand jumped at the figure of the beast.

A shriek followed.

Another one down.

Dario teleported into the trees, reappeared a second later, and dropped beside me, panting.

"Bad news," he said, panting. "There's something huge to the west. Like… massive."

"Tier 2?" I asked.

"Maybe more," he said. "It left claw marks halfway up a tree. And I think it saw me."

I looked at the others. "Alright. New plan."

Seraphina sighed. "Already?"

"We handle the small ones for now. But we go west in ten minutes. Erza, Aurelia—you'll come with me. We'll check out the big one."

"What about the two of us?" Dario asked.

"You sweep this area. Pick off whatever you can. Watch each other's backs."

"You sure splitting up is smart?" Aurelia raised an eyebrow, knowing that Seraphina, although good at combat, refused to show her powers for some reason.

"No," I said honestly. "But we need points. And I need to see what's in that treasury."

Erza smiled, knowing my personality due to being with me for a while in the battle of Villo Greek. "Now that's the villain I know."

Thus, we split out.

The forest wasn't quiet anymore.

More beasts started creeping from the trees, smaller ones, mostly. Some looked like deformed deer with red eyes.

Others were like snakes with legs.

I took down two more with Mana Drain and a dagger I borrowed from Dario.

[+10]

[+10]

Erza blasted one that tried to sneak up on me. Her hands lit up like stars before her attack hit the creature.

[+10]

Erza, of course, was on a rampage. She roared louder than the monsters and fought with her fists like a berserker out of legend.

While we cleared the beasts here and rushed with Aurelia towards the west in search of that big fish, I could not help but wonder which Team Pixie was put in and if she was fine.

I had remembered seeing her standing next to Vayu before I enetered the portal…

She'd be fine…right?

As for why I split up with Dario and Seraphina, it is because even if Sera just uses her superior and smooth combat skills along with Dario's ability to help scout their enemies first, they should be fine.

Aurelia backed us all up—albeit mentally.

She was left with the duty to help us in scouting the place and help in guiding us around the place since she was the only one who wasn't fighting.

Well, she was technically working like a literal decoy…but we don't talk about that.

I like to believe that we were working like a real team.

But I couldn't stop thinking about that hidden quest.

One item from the treasury.

Anything.

A weapon.

A forbidden scroll.

A relic from the old world.

Something that could help me change my fate.

I wasn't here to just win points.

I was here to rewrite the story.

And I'd do whatever it took to make sure I came out on top.

Even if it meant fighting the biggest beast in this forest.

Even if it meant beating everyone else.

Because in the end, only one person was walking away with that reward.

And it was going to be me.

***