Me, the Weakest Member of the Hero’s Party? I’m the Villain Though? - Chapter 77
I spotted Kyle swinging his sword not far away. He severed the lich’s arm, but as if it were a lie, it grew back again.
“Kyle! The life vessel!”
I shouted as I ran toward him. At the same moment Kyle turned his head, the lich also saw me.
“You wretches, how dare you touch my life vessel!”
The lich screeched in a grotesque voice and thrust out its hand. The white skeletal arm stretched out toward me, elongating like melted cheese.
“What the—”
I shrieked and shrank my body down instinctively. Expecting unbearable pain to crash over me, I squeezed my eyes shut.
“What are you doing, not even running.”
At the voice that rang out the next instant, I snapped my eyes open to see Gerard standing in front of me, his brows drawn tight.
“G-Gerard…”
A bright blue light was bursting out over his shoulder. Gerard, who had deployed a shield spell, reached a hand out to me with a calm expression.
“I’ll take it to Kyle, so hand it over.”
I was about to pass the life vessel to him without thinking, then hesitated. I remembered how we failed to get any information last time because they’d killed the lich outright.
“We can’t kill the lich. We need to extract information.”
“I know, so just give it to me for now.”
With an unconvinced look, I handed the life vessel over to him. Gerard withdrew the shield and brought his staff close to the vessel.
“Lich! If you don’t call back your monsters right now, I’ll destroy your life vessel!”
His booming voice echoed thunderously across the mountain. At once, the monsters that had been screeching with strange cries all froze and turned to stare at Gerard.
I’d said we needed to get information, but the threat was so textbook that I was left speechless.
“Lysian! Are you okay? You’re not hurt anywhere, right?”
Leaving the frozen lich behind, Kyle came running toward me in a panic. Afraid he’d start fussing over me again, I answered deliberately briskly.
“I’m fine.”
“How did you get the life vessel? Did you find the dungeon?”
Despite my effort, Kyle cupped my dust-covered cheek and checked me over for injuries.
“We ran into the mine back there, and there was the lich’s dungeon inside.”
As I pointed back the way I’d come, I saw Derek and Elonen rushing toward us as well.
“You even managed to bring back the life vessel. That’s impressive!”
At Kyle’s words, I let out a small breath.
The impressive one wasn’t me, it was Kyle. While I was wandering a maze to retrieve the orb, he’d been fighting the lich the whole time.
“Elonen and Derek did most of the work, I just delivered it. You were fighting the lich the entire time, right? That’s way more impressive.”
When I slipped in a quiet compliment, Kyle draped an arm over my shoulder.
“That’s just what a hero does. It’s not that big a deal.”
He said it jokingly as he turned his head, but I saw his ears flush bright red, like they were on fire. He was clearly embarrassed inside while pretending to be calm.
I was about to tease him at the interesting reaction, when the lich suddenly shouted and stole my attention.
“Give me back my vessel right now!”
Did it really think yelling like that would make us return it. Judging by the quiet click of Kyle’s tongue, he seemed to be thinking the same thing.
“If you answer only what I ask, I’ll return the vessel and even spare your life. So first, send all the monsters away, then come over here and stand quietly.”
Gerard spoke in a tone like a strict teacher. The lich obediently recalled all the monsters and came to stand in front of Gerard.
“What are you so proud of, standing there with your head held high. Kneel down.”
Gerard threatened it while waving his staff as if he might strike. After hesitating, the lich dropped to its knees with a thud.
“I-I’m sorry…”
“You know you’re sorry? Who told you to pull something like this?”
While Gerard continued scolding the lich at length, Elonen and Derek joined us.
“As long as it can answer questions, right? Then we can just smash everything except its mouth.”
Derek said that while gripping his sword, so I wrapped an arm around his shoulder and stopped him.
“I know you’re angry, but let’s hold back for now and hear it out.”
As I patted Derek’s back while he continued fuming, Kyle naturally stepped in between Derek and me.
“What do you want to ask? Let’s hurry up and get it over with.”
The lich, which had been hanging its head miserably while being scolded, flinched and trembled.
“G-Get it over with? You’re not planning to kill me after learning everything, are you? I believe the hero wouldn’t be someone so despicable.”
The sheer absurdity of a villain trying to lecture a hero about morality made me let out a small sigh.
