Reborn As The Minor Villain In A Romance Fantasy Novel

[Pretty long chapter, sorry about that]

Vanessa pulled back on her bow with her fingers straining against the tension of the mana-string as she immediately shot an arrow forward, watching it tear through the air like a missile.

The projectile whistled with a high-pitched scream, leaving a trail of shimmering crimson light in its wake that illuminated the dark oily fog of the battlefield.

'Just attacking it is a foolish thing to do.' She thought as the arrow collided with the skin of the monster and instead of tearing it open, it binded two tentacles together.

The arrow didn't pierce; it expanded into a web of viscous, hardened blood that acted like a biological glue, pinning the thrashing limbs to the asphalt. 'There needs to be a plan of movement…'

The core could be anywhere inside its massive slimy body and there was no way to search for it with simple external strikes.

The creature was a mountain of regenerative meat, and every hole they punched into it was sealed by the time they drew their next breath.

'I guess I could use blood to track it.' Vanessa thought as she drew back with her wings throwing caution into the wind.

It was possible to carve openings and inject blood directly into the bloodstream of the monster to find where the core was.

If she could get her mana-infused blood inside its circulatory system, she could "feel" the vibrations of its organs like a sonar map to find the core.

A tentacle shot through the air heading in her direction, its serrated suction pods whistling as they cut the wind, and before she could even morph the blood to defend herself, a bullet tore through the air and collided with the tentacle making it go pop and spraying blood across her barrier again for the umpteenth time today.

"I've got you covered, Guild Leader!" Trisha yelled at her from the top of a building that she was positioned in and landed three more shots in succession, destroying more tentacles instantly.

One of Selene's Guild members, a tall woman with sparking blue eyes, made a sign with her hand and shot out lightning at the tendril coming at her, setting it on fire instantly from the sheer amount of power that was packed in that strike.

The electricity cooked the slime on the monster's skin, turning it into a foul-smelling crust and another one came at her side but it was obstructed by her Sister, a woman with a stoic expression, who had slammed her foot into the ground, jutting out a sharp pillar that pierced through the tentacle at once and with a wave of the woman's hand, the pillar turned into sharp pieces of stone that zipped through the air, targeting the suction pods along the tentacles.

The monster screeched as she pierced all of them and the first one followed with a bolt of lightning coming forward, finishing off the maimed limb.

"Guild Leader would have killed this thing at once." The first one said with a sigh.

If she wasn't immobile that is… The woman wasn't still happy about the fact that the woman she had dedicated her life to got married so suddenly to a man who already had a bunch of women with him.

It felt like a betrayal of the Guild's pride. 'He doesn't respect her at al–'

"Coming through!" Raven said as he rushed past the two of them heading forward along the destroyed road.

His feet kicked up sparks as he sprinted over the buckled concrete. There were several awakened being held by the tentacles by their barriers, dangling like cocoons, and he intended to get them out.

'With the power that Master gave me…'

After being picked off the streets by Lucius, Raven had learned a lot of things from watching him… Mostly it was about switching on your Day 1's when you got a better opportunity but that wasn't the major thing.

To anyone else, Lucius looked like a selfish king, but Raven saw the truth. Lucius was a person who cared for others… He protected his loved ones and cared for people even though they offended him and most of all, he was strong.

Raven wanted to be strong… not as equally strong as Lucius, that was an impossible dream, but enough that he could actually protect people that he cared about when the time mattered. He didn't want to be the one being saved anymore; he wanted to be the shield.

'But right now…' Flames conjured along his hands burning in a bright crimson as he poured the new mana that he got into his spell and blasted the first tentacle.

The flame that he shot arched outward and slammed into the tentacle, spreading like wildfire and burning it completely, freeing several people who fell to the ground with gasps of relief.

The reason that it was spreading like wildfire… or at least what Raven guessed was the reason was simply because of the slime that surrounded its body. The thick, oily substance acted as a perfect accelerant, turning the monster's own defense into a death trap.

A tentacle shot at him from behind a pile of rubble, but Raven was prepared.

He dodged to the right completely, letting it shoot by him with enough force that it blew his hair backward and the wind of its passing stung his skin.

He ran his hand along the side of the tentacle as it passed, lighting it completely up before removing his hand and focusing on blasting more people free from the tentacles.

'I need that promotion baby!'

Matthias slowly emerged from the shadows atop a building and looked down on the destruction that was everywhere.

From this height, it looked comedic even. The tentacles were attacking and Awakened were being thrown around like pinballs in a rigged machine but at least it wasn't gruesome like how most dungeon breaks were, leading to deaths. Lucius's spatial barriers were doing the heavy lifting, keeping the casualty count at zero.

'I… I need to…' He took a deep breath, forcing his face to stay the regular poker way, hiding the frantic beating of his heart. 'I need to rescue a cute girl.'

Sure he had a crush on Trisha initially, but it was a well-known fact that Trisha and Erika had crushes on Lucius even when he was married which was crazy to him.

It was like everyone was under some sort of spell. Regardless, there was no way that he was going to be able to match up to his Boss, so he decided that he was going to chase after a cute girl from either Guilds instead.

He needed to find his own romance amidst the violet blood and rubble.

He glanced over at Lucius who was currently sitting on a blond older woman while the other three girls were laughing about something on the neighboring rooftop.

Yeah… there was no way he could try any captain from the Supreme Guild. They were the elite of the elite plus it looked like he ha charmed there too.

They were out of his leagues by far, also it was the same for the Guild that Selene led… which was the Diamond Scorpion Guild or something like that.

Matthias didn't bother to keep track of the names but the girls there were strong and didn't need saving… which left him with one more option.

He scanned the peripheral of the fight, looking for a maiden in distress.

"Ahhhh!!!"

Ava shouted while running on one of the rooftops.

She had probably landed the GRIMMAW jet outside the range of this battle and had just now returned on foot… a tentacle was chasing after her which made her the perfect target for saving. She was sprinting toward a dead end and her face was pale with terror.

'I guess I have to flex, huh?' Matthias thought as he ran off the rooftop he was on and jumped from the edge.

A regular Awakened would fall and though a fall from this height wouldn't kill them, it was certain to leave a scratch or a broken ankle.

However the same rules did not apply to him as he melded into the shadows mid-air, disappearing into a blot of darkness.

Ava on the other hand had turned around holding her weapon, her hands shaking so hard she could barely grip the hilt.

"Shit shit shit!" She cursed while looking at the incoming tentacle heading toward her direction.

She was a captain of the GRIMMAW Guild that knew weapons in and out, she could disassemble a railgun in thirty seconds, but there was one thing she did… She had a fear of tentacles which was why she couldn't function properly in close combat against this thing. It was a deep-seated phobia that turned her legs to jelly.

Ava looked at the incoming tentacle and then at the back of the building where all that was left was clear air… If she jumped down, there was a chance that she would survive with injuries, and just as she was about to do so, Ava blinked.

The tentacle had completely been carved through by a man with twin daggers, splattering his whole body in blood.

The man had appeared out of her own shadow like a ghost. The tentacle that he had cut from the main stump tipped over the edge of the building and landed on another one, freeing a few people who had been pinned beneath it.

'Woah…' Ava thought, that was cool. She stared at the man, who stood in a low crouch as the violet ichor dripping off his blades.

The man swooshed his hair backward with a cool motion, and shadows coalesced around his figure, clearing and revealing a man that was part of Lucius's streaming squad and also a member of GRIMMAW… his name was Matthias if she remembered correctly.

"Hello there." Matthias said, his voice dropping an octave to sound more heroic. "I hope the tentacle didn't trouble you…"

"It really was troubling but I'm glad you helped me out." Ava said giving him a sweet smile making Matthias's heart skip a beat.

This was it! The lighting, the timing, the gratitude! This was the perfect girl that he had been looking for!

"I'm sorry to trouble you but do you know a way down from here… without practically hurtling to our fall?"

Matthias extended his hand, his palm open and inviting.

"I do… only if you trust me." Matthias said, tilting his head slightly.

[@PogChamp_Zane: MATT IS SPITTING RIZZ!]

[@MageLife_99: wait is he actually smooth?]

[@HunterSimp_X: look at that shadow entry tho, 10/10]

[@E-Girl_Vex: he's trying so hard i actually respect it]

[@VoidWatcher: RIP Matthias's heart in 3... 2...]

"Sure." Ava placed her hand in his with her skin soft against his own, and Matthias smiled. He felt like he had finally won a battle that mattered.

"You can call me Matt, that's what my friends call me." Matthias said and immediately they sunk into the shadows, the world turning cold and dark for a brief second before they reappeared on the ground where the main fight was taking place.

Ava looked around in surprise, her eyes wide as she took in the instant teleportation.

"Sinking into the shadows is so cool." She told him, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "Thanks for the help, now there's someone I have to–"

"Ava!" A woman with brown hair and muscular arms punched through a tentacle nearby, turning it into mere flesh and blood.

Ava's eyes lit up as she saw her.

"Em!" The two ran at each other and immediately Em lifted the woman by her ass, sinking her hands into Ava's meaty behind as she kissed her deeply right there in front of the wreckage.

'H-huh?' Matthias blinked, his outstretched hand still warm from her touch.

He stood frozen, unable to fathom what was going on… His perfect cute girl was being kissed by another girl? And Em was being... very thorough with where she was putting her hands.

[@MattSadHours: PRESS F FOR OUR FALLEN SOLDIER]

[@CuckWatch_2026: oh no... the despair on his face is peak content]

[@Gacha_God: I actually feel bad but this is hilarious]

[@Salty_Siren: he really thought he had it 💀]

[@Viewer_Alpha: lucius is getting wives and matt is getting trauma]

The shock was too much for his brain to process.

Matthias's eyes rolled back into his head and he passed out right there, his body hitting the dirt with a soft thud. A whip of water came hitting Em from behind, drenching the kissing couple.

"Stop doing that in public. We're on a live broadcast, you idiots." Another captain told her before continuing the attack on a nearby swarm.

Em pulled away from Ava, grinning shamelessly, and another tentacle zipped toward the fainted Matthias sensing a stationary target.

However… Cyrus interrupted it with a parry of his blade full of mana, sparks flying as steel met monster hide.

He completely deflected the tentacle into the air, making Ava shout in surprise as the limb whipped over her head.

'How disappointing…' Cyrus thought as he looked at Matthias who was frothing at the mouth on the ground.

The boy was too weak-willed for this world, perhaps he needed to introduce his friend to some prostitutes to broaden his horizons.

The tentacle came again, seeking revenge, but Cyrus just focused his mana into the tip of his sword and thrusted outward, creating a burst of mana that destroyed the tentacle completely, shredding it into purple confetti then he reached down and lifted Matthias from the ground properly, throwing the unconscious man over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Fel, cover us!" He yelled out as he started running toward a safer zone.

Felix fumbled for his glasses on a shorter rooftop with shaky hands. He pushed them up the bridge of his nose, squinting at the chaos.

"It's always Fel this… Fel that…" He muttered under his breath, his voice filled with a familiar bitterness.

He was the weakest link out of the group, or so he told himself. If it was fire magic then Raven had him beat in raw output; if it was sheer physical ability then his brothers and everyone including Erika had him beat as well.

Sometimes he wondered why he was still in this group of monsters, however that didn't mean he was going to disappoint when his brothers called for him.

"Felix, aren't you going to do something? Or are you just going to count your freckles?" Erika asked from beside him and he ran a hand down his face, exhaling slowly.

"Fine…" He said and his eyes glowed behind his glasses, the mana in his circuits beginning to activate.

He used the only thing he had as a trump card over Raven. "Combust."

He didn't throw a fireball. Instead, he focused on the molecules of oxygen surrounding the targets.

Several tentacles were snaking toward Cyrus at rapid speed, but they caught fire immediately from the inside out and burned into crisps. There was no projectile to dodge as the air itself simply turned into a furnace.

'I see… Everyone is putting in work…' Vanessa thought and closed her eyes, hovering in the air as her crimson hair billowed.

She took in a deep breath, sensing the mana signatures below. The tentacles were endless and even attacking the head didn't work. 'It's time for me to put in work as well.'

Her eyes opened and gained a deeper crimson glow as blood seeped out of her tattoo, swirling around her arms like twin vipers.

She raised her palm in the direction of the monster's head, then shooting several beams of blood out.

They tore through the air with enough force to create sonic booms, piercing into the monster's head and coming out the other way.

The monster didn't die, but that wasn't the goal. The blood had already seeped into the monster's blood as the flesh healed up, acting as a parasite.

Now she moved upward while letting the blood flow through its system… The monster was constantly being attacked by the other Awakened, but that didn't really matter to her anymore; her "scouts" had already made it deep inside the beast.

'Now where the hell is that core…' Vanessa thought as she shot several arrows made of blood, binding up several tentacles alongside the first two to make sure they didn't keep hitting other people.

She was knitting a cage around the monster, but apparently Grimm didn't get the memo because he cut through the tentacles in a crazed manner, undoing her restraints just to show off for the cameras.

She sighed as the people in the chat glazed him some more.

'Well whatever… I've almost got it.' Vanessa thought as she sensed where the blood flowed.

She could feel it passing through a series of massive pulsating air sacs which were the monster's lungs then it moved through a labyrinth of digestive tubes filled with corrosive acid that hissed against her mana.

She felt it bypass a secondary brain near the base of the neck, and then she finally found it. A massive, vibrating sphere of pure mana tucked behind a layer of reinforced bone near the tail. 'Good… right ther–'

"Babe, the core is moving toward one of the back tails." Lucius's voice suddenly sounded in her head.

It threw her offguard, nearly causing her to lose her flight path, but then again, should she be surprised? He could practically create clothes with space, was there anything he couldn't do?

'I know.' She grumbled in her head.

Lucius, sitting comfortably on his "chair" on the rooftop, raised an eyebrow.

"I can hear you, you know?"

'So you can read my thoughts now? Tch, talk about intruding your wife's privacy…' Vanessa thought as she focused, making the injected blood cover the core like a shroud, ready to detonate.

"It's not actually mind reading, it's just that I'm making sure only you can hear what I say with the help of space. It's like a knock off of telepathy." Lucius said, his voice echoing in her mind with perfect clarity.

'Stop flexing your overpowered skills on me and let me do my job…' She thought back, her fingers twitching as she prepared to snap her palm closed but just as she was about to finish it...

"Hurry up so we can rank you up to S-rank already." He said.

Her concentration broke instantly, her heart skipping a beat as the blood shroud slipped, letting the core free for a split second.

The blood attached to it again quickly, but she was still paralyzed by the surprise. "What? You think I forgot? I've just been busy with everything. We'll make sure we do it tonight when you get back from work."

'...'

Lucius raised an eyebrow on the rooftop, looking down at her fluttering figure.

He didn't hear anything from Vanessa… Was that the wrong thing to say at this point in time? Was she mad that he brought up work during a fight, or—

'I love you.' She told him, the thought hitting him with the force of a tidal wave. 'I love you so so so so so so so so so so so so so–'

"Hey, I don't think saying 'so' many times is health–"

'So so so so so so so so so much… I'm sorry for ever doubting you! As punishment, I'll stick a dildo up my pussy and ass when we get home.' She thought with feral intensity, and then she snapped her hand shut, detonating the blood inside the core.

At first nothing happened, it was just a dull thud deep within the monster and then, a chain reaction started.

The tentacles began blowing up completely from the inside out, the pressure from the core's destruction causing the limbs to burst like overfilled balloons.

Violet ichor smeared the ground, the air, and everything else, painting the barriers of the different Awakened in thick purple blood.

The main body of the beast deflated with a wet hiss, and the barriers of the fighters dropped a moment later as the threat vanished.

"It's over…" Vanessa muttered under her breath, her chest heaving as she wiped a smudge of purple from her cheek.

All that remained was the shredded head of the monster and a heap of rotting meat.

The rift had began closing, the edges of the portal fraying into nothingness, but for some reason, the air didn't get lighter. Instead, it became thicker with corrupted pressure.

Something emerged from the back of the fallen monster.

The massive muscles of its neck gave way, tearing open to reveal a human figure with purplish skin and long black hair.

It was a man, barechested and lean with his skin covered in glowing veins.

The back of the monster released clouds of hot steam as more and more of his body was revealed, along with a massive, blackened sword that looked like it was rotting.

Somehow, Grimm was already on the back of the monster, his spear held low as he looked forward at the man with a curious expression.

"Yo, are you... a survivor?"

The dark aura around the man thickened instantly, turning the steam into black smoke.

Vanessa reacted before anyone else, using whips made of blood to latch onto Grimm from the puddles surrounding the place. She yanked him away just as the strange person stabbed forward with the blade.

It wasn't just a stab… A shockwave exploded outward that trembled the air and cracked the remaining pavement for hundreds of feet.

'What the hell?' Vanessa thought as she threw Grimm to the side with her eyes wide.

This wasn't a monster; it was a person, but the mana coming off him was foul. There were so many stream comments flooding her vision that she had to turn off the chat function entirely and instead switch to the reading feature on her tactical glasses.

The glasses showed her the readings of this person and the numbers were off the charts, flickering in red warning signs.

He gave off the same corrupted mana as an A-rank boss would.

'A person that survived a dungeon, huh?' Vanessa thought.

He was a survivor… There were several cases of people surviving in dungeons until they broke, but from what she could see, this man had been submerged in that energy for so long that it practically made up his skin now.

He was more monster than human. 'I need to bring him in and-'

BOOM!

The man didn't give her time to think.

He ran along the puddles of blood, his speed so immense he looked like a blur, closing the distance between them within an instant. He pointed the blackened blade directly at her chest with the tip full of killing intent.

It had all happened in an instant. The viewers on the stream held their breath and everyone sure that Lucius would have to move to save her but Vanessa's next actions took the words out of their mouth.

She didn't need saving.

She twisted her body mid-air, dodging the strike by a hair's breadth as the black blade hissed past her ribs. She tackled him after that with her wings providing a burst of momentum and then Vanessa slammed him into the ground with a bone-crunching impact pinning him to the dirt as her foot buried in his back at a certain joint that pulsed with blood.

Normally, a strike there would be fatal to any regular Awakened, but with her control, it just overloaded his nervous system and knocked him out cold.

"Haah…" She let out a long, weary sigh while bundling him up with ropes made of hardened blood.

She had already expected something like this would happen, Dungeon breaks always had a final sting.

She stood up, looking at the cameras with a defiant, beautiful grin. "We won!!!!"

Vanessa threw her fist into the air, the crimson blood on her knuckles catching the light, and everyone else… the Awakened, the squad, and the millions of viewers at home shouted along in triumph.

They had won against an A-rank Dungeon Break within 30 minutes.