The Villain has Perished

If you are born in the World of Swords & Magic, the first thing you would think of would be magic, isn't it?

After all, magic is something that exists only in fantasy, it isn't present in the 'normal world' like the swords that are in 'our' real world.

Creating fire tornadoes, destroying mountains with a flick of lightning, summoning meteors, controlling time. Wasn't all of it impossible unless you were living in a fantasy?

It was the same for me and (un)luckily I was living in a fantasy world. If I trained enough, I could use all of those amazing magic spells.

However, this world also followed its own rules. The most basic rule was talent, talent to use magic. It was the <Mind> skill.

<Mind> skill gives one the ability to control their body and thoughts to superhuman degrees. With it controlling your subconscious actions is as easy as breathing. You would be able to control your heartbeat and even decide the dreams you have in sleep. Simply put, <Mind> allows one to use almost the entire 100% of their brain.

Magic was a field that required the magician to complete complex calculations in their mind. As such, those with <Mind> skill have it 100 times easier to learn and progress in the path of magic than non <Mind> skill holders.

It was guaranteed that <Mind> skill holders would become powerhouses in the future if they were nurtured properly.

But it wasn't easy to gain the <Mind> skill.

A turnout of 100 <Mind> skill holders out of 1 Billion beings is considered a very high turnout.

Unlike most skills <Mind> was a skill that couldn't be learned by training. You either have it from birth or pray to the RNG god that you somehow gain the skill.

What was I trying to say with this long sermon?

If you find someone with <Mind> skill make them yours. Turn them into your slave, your underling, or someone who looks up to you and follows all of your orders without hesitation.

As long as you want to reach the apex in this multiverse, you need to have a <Mind> skill holder working for you at the minimum.

While I was busy thinking of the requirements of supreme talent in magic, Orca's voice brought me out of reverie.

"I t-think the attack began."

At his words, I closed my eyes and listened closely. Above, on the ground, the footsteps became irregular, as if they were hurrying over somewhere.

Nodding to Orca, I headed toward the door leading to the outside. It was a handless door that needed to be pulled up from the bottom.

I called out to Orca while lifting the door. "We should leav–"

Spurt—!

"W-what…?" I looked below, at my chest. A small pointy piece of metal was peeking through the center of my chest.

"Die!"

Orca instantly turned the blade stabbed in my back, and attempted to kill me. At the same time, I coated my arms in mana and elbowed him.

Bam—!

He flew back and crashed into the leg of the table.

Breathing heavily, I released three treants into the room. "Cough! Cough! Two of you bind him and you keep an eye on the entrance."

The rusted knife that Orca used to attack me was still stabbed in my chest, but I didn't pull it out. Instead, I applied pressure on my injury.

"Why did you… do that?" coughing blood as I spoke, I glared at Orca.

He was held in the air, the vines wrapped around each of his limbs. He scowled at me with hate-filled eyes. "It's because of you…. Because of you, our village is going to be destroyed!

Wasn't it enough? You killed thousands of our brethren! Yet, you are going to cause the death of tens of thousands more… Y-you murdered everyone… even after they begged for their life… "

Orca broke into tears as he recalled the scenes of death and destruction.

It seemed that he was resenting humans. He resented me.

What would he do if I told him that after Coalescence all monsters with low mana affinity in this world will go berserk and attack anyone without discrimination? And that included his tribe who had poor mana affinity.

When Coalescence begins tens of thousands of monsters would leave the forest of silence and trample everyone in their path. The Orc tribe would be at the forefront of massacring the human settlements.

Orca tried to repeatedly wriggle out of his bondages and attack me. "Why aren't you answering!?

You can understand us! You know we aren't the mindless monsters you humans make us out to be! We are also living and breathing beings like your species! How can you slaughter us as if we are livestocks!

It is you who is the monster!"

The blood leaving my body wasn't slowing down. However, my focus never left Orca. I couldn't let this end without my answers. "Cough!...Didn't you also help me? What… are you trying to say now?"

Orca flinched. He chewed his lips until they bled and lowered his head. His tears weren't stopping. "I-I shouldn't have listened to the chief. If only I k-killed you before today… if only I didn't wait like the chief said…"

My eyes widened as I listened to his mumbling. " 'wait like the chief said'? You weren't tortured to betray me, were you? Cough!... Since when have you been working with the orcs?"

A twisted smile appeared on Orca's face. Close to his death and knowing that he couldn't change the past, his only bliss was my shock. "I left the witness of the orc tribe's escape. They knew about your plan to attack them from the beginning. Even the Great Apes were aware… yet.."

Orca was more knowledgeable about the forest than me. It shouldn't have been impossible for him to leave clues about my existence, hidden from my eyes.

"They attacked the Orc tribe?" I scoffed at Orca. "You are blaming me for the upcoming fall for the forest, but can you truly say that all of the blame lies with me?"

"Cough! What about the Orc tribe and Great Ape tribe who willingly followed my plan? They thought they had me in their palms and attacked each other for supremacy and now you are blaming it on me?

What about you, Orca? Are you sure that helping orcs and killing me is what you actually wanted? You had more than enough chances to kill me yet you didn't."

Orca's words made it clear, he had been planning to betray me since the beginning.

But my <Reader> attribute never relayed such intentions to me. It would have been fine if my <Reader> attribute couldn't read Orca, this wouldn't be the first time it failed to work on someone.

However, my <Reader> worked on Orca and it read that he wanted to help me.

Orca was able to trick my attribute. That was the only explanation.

To achieve that. He would need to control his subconscious actions and countenance perfectly and use them to deceive me.

'I can't believe I was lucky enough to find a <Mind> skill holder~'

At first, it was only a shot in the dark. Orca was a physically weak orc. It meant he was the rare subspecies of orc suited for magic, Orc shaman.

In this entire world, there won't be more than 5 Orc Shamans. Their subspecies have a very high affinity for magic, comparable to high-elves.

While I hoped that Orca would be a <Mind> skill holder, I never actually thought it would be possible.

Timing Jae-sung's appearance for my escape was only a backup plan. Contrary to what I said to the orc chieftain, I didn't know that they were aware of my plans.

I created the backup plan for a 1 in 1000 chance that Orca had betrayed me since the beginning and my plans had been exposed. Can never be too careful, you know.

But when my original plan of assassinating the orc chieftain and escaping failed I was happy. Because it meant that I was betrayed~

'Orca must've been controlling his actions and expressions perfectly to trick me and it worked. But that ended up backfiring for him. Because it became the ultimatum that he has <Mind> skill.'

As I stood up and pulled the knife out of my chest, Orca stiffened. His voice shook and he said, "H-how did the bleeding stop? Y..you what are you…?"

"Is that what you need to ask right now? Isn't there something else that matters more to you? Like… the survival of your brethren."

"...What do you mean by that?" Orca muttered quietly at my words.

A small smile surprisingly appeared on my face. "Didn't you understand? I will help you save your tribe."

It was too easy to create a net to destroy the forest of silence. But with the confirmation of Orca having <Mind> it felt like the time I wasted inside this forest was worth it~

I would need to readjust my plans to save the tribes but, hey, as long as I was having fun wasn't that all that mattered?

"Work for me and I'll save your village." I whispered to Orca.

"Stop lying! You are the only one who cannot say that! You have no right to make fun of us!"

A small pool of blood appeared beneath Orca. His wrists and ankles were bleeding heavily from trying to break free from the vines.

"You don't want to help your village?" I circled Orca and spoke each word slowly, to entice him. "Maybe I was right? Although you say you want to save your brethren the truth is actually the opposite. Deep in your heart, you want them to die because they mistreated you for being weak."