The Villain Rising: Ascension of Arcane Trickster.-Chapter 203: The Elven Attack.

But the moment I saw her face...

...I almost broke my act for a few seconds.

Because her face had... turned into a writhing mass of fleshy worms, pus bubbling and squirming as if trying to burst out. Just looking at it made my stomach churn and my head ache.

The atmosphere cracked across the hall, like glass about to shatter and everything froze.

I could hear my own heartbeat pounding in my ears, panic crawling up my spine. For a moment, I was terrified this eldritch bastard would collapse the entire place before I could even react.

But then... within seconds, everything returned to normal as if what I had just seen was nothing more than a hallucination.

’What the fuck is happening, Ra?’

I asked the only one who could possibly answer me. Even he didn’t reply for a few seconds which only made it worse.

"Rael... I think the monster is getting impatient."

His voice sounded even more exhausted than before.

"Usually, most of its prey, regardless of their strength, die within a single loop but you have been taking far too much of its time."

He paused.

"And more importantly... I think its internal parts are rebelling."

"They are probably too immersed in the act of your friends. So immersed that they might actually believe they’re real..."

He continued quietly.

"In short, that bastard is suffering from something like a multi-personality disorder. The multiple personas it created are starting to clash with each other."

He let out a tired breath.

"But it’s still just a minor hiccup and it will probably recover quickly."

Then his tone sharpened slightly. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"For now, focus on our plan. Though... it seems our situation might not be as hopeless as I first thought."

’Okay,’ I replied in my mind.

I turned back to Viola. She had already returned to normal and was talking as she dragged me toward the corner of the room as if nothing horrifying had just happened.

"Rael, just follow my lead." She muttered, pulling her baseball bat down into a ready position. "I don’t even know how those disgusting bastards managed to enter this deep into the demon realm."

I followed without resisting, my expression calm and my act intact... even though my nerves were still screaming inside.

"You should be the one staying behind, Viola." I stopped her before she could say anything. "You are a mage, not a close-range fighter."

Despite the baseball bat she always carried, she was a combat mage. That thing was her wand and not a weapon meant for serious brawling.

Noah, who had just arrived, nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Stay back, Viola."

His voice was unusually serious for a bastard who was always looking for new and creative ways to die.

The rest of the group joined soon after. The elves still hadn’t started their attack, instead scanning every being in the hall with those lustful, disgusting eyes of theirs. Their gazes lingered especially on humans, like we were some kind of delicacy.

There were exactly twenty adult elves, all wearing those stretched, twisted smiles that made my skin crawl. Alongside them were ten younger-looking elves.

The adult elf leading the group was radiating an S-Rank aura. The others ranged anywhere from C-Rank to A-Rank.

The younger ones, on the other hand, were all D-Rank. Probably the future generation, dragged down to this world just to be taught their filthy ways.

Everyone in the hall stared at them with wary eyes.

Yet... no one moved. It was as if they were all waiting for something or someone.

"Now, now, people, we would really appreciate it if you all handed yourselves over peacefully. Though personally..."

The elf leader’s already grotesque smile stretched even wider.

"...I would love it if you resisted because I like it rough."

In a hall filled with hundreds of beings from across the Demon Realm, humans, demons and even dragons who had come to Anciana just to relax, thirty elves invading like this should have been a death sentence for them. Especially after the outside authorities are informed of the chaos.

That would have been the case... If the owner of DD’s Wonder wasn’t mixed up with the elves.

That bastard had deliberately limited the guests to barely two hundred in a hall where thousands could have roamed comfortably.

I should have found that suspicious back then but I had been stupid enough to walk right into this place on this particular night. Though, in my defense... it’s not like I knew any of this was going to happen.

"How dare you filthy elves invade the Demon Realm?"

A voice rose in defiance. A woman with blonde hair and crimson-red eyes stepped forward, two horns curled elegantly atop her head.

A dragon and not just any dragon but an S-Rank one. Confidence rippled through the crowd the moment they recognized her.

"Guys, stay near me," Alya whispered to us, her tone cautious. "If a fight breaks out, don’t stray too far."

Everyone in the group nodded.

Noah immediately pulled Viola behind him in a protective motion, his body tense and ready. Umbra Sera positioned herself in front of me like personal bodyguards, her stances sharp and alert.

Even Arza moved closer to my side.

In the real world, I might have thought it was because her life was tied to mine through those engagement rings even if I wasn’t bound but now... I knew better.

They were all just following the script.

The blonde dragon took a step forward from the crowd. Then another man appeared beside her and then another.

A total of four S-Rankers now stood against the single Elven S-Ranker.

The draconic woman smirked. "Now, if you give up politely, we will definitely kill you far more painlessly than necessary—"

But she never got to finish.

A blade made of pure shadow suddenly pierced straight through her body. The attacker dragged it upward in a brutal motion, splitting her cleanly into two.

Her body fell apart in distinct halves as blood and organs splattered across the floor. Even like that... even after being cut in two... she somehow managed to turn her head and look at her attacker. It was the man who had been standing right beside her.

The owner of DD’s Wonder and one of the four S-Rankers who were supposed to oppose the elves.

Immediately, one of the remaining two S-Rankers, a dragon, screamed.

"Mistress Seles, nooooo!"

He lunged toward the owner of DD’s land in blind rage while the other S-Ranker turned his gaze toward the elven S-Ranker as absolute chaos broke loose around us.

But the S-Rankers weren’t fools. They knew that if they fought here, they would drag everyone else into it too.

So with a silent exchange of gestures, they took off from the building, choosing to settle it outside. They could fight without restraint there, without worrying about collateral damage.

After all, the entire radius of nearly ten kilometers had already been spatially isolated from the outside world and no matter what happened inside this zone... No one outside would ever know.

Not that there was anyone outside in this memory world.

And I...

I could only barely keep myself from breaking my act because everything was unfolding exactly the same as before.

Meanwhile, one of the younger elves slowly turned his head toward our group creepily as if it had been watching me since the beginning... His gaze locked onto me as he tilted his head slightly and then spoke...