The Villainous Me Turned the Losers into Blackened Bosses-Chapter 226 - So This Is Just a Typical Mental-Type Gimmick?!

—

Seeing that Lucifa was determined to engage him in a swordfight, Will had no choice but to...

Compromise.

“Uh... just a heads-up, I don’t represent the average melee skills of adventurers. You probably shouldn’t use me as a benchmark for your future combat strategies.”

“Who starts a fight with a boss by admitting they’re bad at melee?!” Lucifa snapped.

Clang.

Clang.

About ten seconds later, Will and Lucifa had exchanged two rounds of swordplay.

To be honest...

Lucifa was definitely not a “swordsmanship expert” as a boss.

And Will was certainly not a “swordsmanship expert” as an adventurer.

Their exchanges were so basic that Shuna was probably shaking her head behind them, and if Treya were here, she’d likely sigh in polite disappointment.

Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.

Their movements were slow, their techniques lacked creativity or fluidity, and their duel felt more like a classroom swordsmanship drill than an actual battle.

But...

Something about it felt “familiar” to Will.

How to put it?

Even though Lucifa was encased in armor, making it impossible to see any “human” movements...

Even though her sword was technically part of her arm and not something wielded by a “human”...

Her sword techniques bore a striking resemblance to the Entark royal swordsmanship that Treya had learned from the “demons.”

For instance, the wide, sweeping strikes combined with feints of varying speeds—Will had never sparred with Treya, but he had seen her practice those exact moves countless times.

What exactly are demons in dungeons?

This place was called “Tenth Demon Castle.” Did that mean there were nine other “Demon Castles” before it?

And the swordsmanship Treya learned from the demons—was it some kind of universal demonic style?

“You’re zoning out! Your mind just wandered!” Lucifa’s vertical slash forced Will to retreat several steps.

“How do you know that?!”

“I’m a mental-type boss. Of course I can read your thoughts!”

“Is that really how you’re using your mental abilities?!”

“If you focused more, I wouldn’t have time to read your mind, would I?”

“Actually, it’s because your sword techniques... remind me of a friend of mine...” Will admitted.

Hearing this, Lucifa’s movements faltered slightly, her sword swing losing some of its force.

“But this is demonic... hmm... could it be that what I see in you is... demonic...” she began to say.

Before she could finish, Will seized the opportunity. With his free hand, he targeted the “shadow” beneath her feet—

“Light Rend.”

“!!!”

The spell had already been pre-channeled into his ring, requiring minimal energy to cast.

Will had noticed that Lucifa relied on the shadows beneath her feet as platforms for her agile movements. Without those shadows, her impractical high-heeled armor would make balancing nearly impossible.

So...

If he could eliminate her shadows!

Will took a step back as Lucifa’s downward slash caused her to overextend forward.

Thud.

Without the support of her shadows, Lucifa fell heavily to the ground.

“Oof... I hit my head.”

Uh...

Will barely managed to suppress his laughter.

This truly was one of the most unconventional boss fights he’d ever experienced. Normally, bosses were far more experienced than the adventurers they fought. But Lucifa exuded an almost comedic inexperience—like someone saying, “This is my first time being a boss; don’t laugh!”

Her high-heeled armor, designed for sliding on shadows like skates, was completely impractical for recovering from a fall.

Even worse, her arms were swords. This made it nearly impossible for her to use them to push herself back up.

Will watched as she tried and failed to get up multiple times before finally sprawling out on the ground in a defeated “X” position.

“I... I can’t get up! How do I take this thing off?! And don’t you dare attack me while I’m down!”

“If I wanted to attack you, I would’ve done it already. Do you think I’d wait through three failed attempts at standing?”

“Alright, fine! Let me get these arm swords off first. Then I’ll have a chance.”

“I’m making my move now,” Will teased.

“No no no! Bosses are supposed to have invincibility frames during phase transitions!”

“Then hurry up and transition already!”

“Stop rushing me!”

Watching Lucifa struggle to remove her arm swords so she could stand up properly reminded Will of his past life.

Back when he used to test new boss designs for game levels, it wasn’t uncommon for bosses to fall over and get stuck in the ground due to glitches.

Apparently, dungeons weren’t all that different from their small-scale game development projects after all.

“Alright, can you give me a hand? I’m almost up,” Lucifa said after finally removing her arm swords. She extended one of her small hands toward Will for assistance.

“What are you going to do if you run into other adventurers outside? Do you think anyone else will help you up like this?!” Will scolded as he grabbed her hand.

“You sound like a dad scolding his kid for not knowing how to cook! Stop yelling at me!”

“Fine,” Will sighed as he pulled her up.

There was something about Lucifa that stirred mixed feelings in him. While he had encountered playful bosses in other dungeons before—and while he knew from the original story that most dungeon Empresses enjoyed lively lives within their domains...

Lucifa was the first to lay it all bare without any reservations.

Perhaps months without adventurers had left her overly unguarded.

Or maybe her desire for adventurers to explore her dungeon and delve deeper into its mysteries was simply too strong.

Or perhaps...

She was just inherently friendly toward adventurers.

Either way...

Will couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her.

As he helped her up, Lucifa suddenly pulled him closer with surprising force.

Then...

She locked eyes with him—those striking purple eyes of hers.

Oh right. Purple eyes.

From the moment she appeared, those eyes had carried an otherworldly allure. Now that he looked closely, he noticed swirling rings within them—like classic hypnotic tools designed to draw someone into another world with just one glance—

“Finally got you looking up. Welcome to ‘Your Deepest Fears’—there are three stages, so take your time!” Lucifa declared triumphantly.

!

Will blinked and found himself somewhere else entirely.

He glanced behind him—Shuna wasn’t there.

Mental-type abilities.

Right...

This had to be either a “dreamscape” or a blend of reality and illusion—a hallucination crafted by Lucifa, a demon who excelled at mental manipulation.

But what kind of illusion was this?

Mental-type bosses typically created challenges tied to their victim’s inner psyche—forcing them to confront and overcome deeply personal fears.

So...

“Your Deepest Fears,” huh?

Alright. This sounded like the typical “I’m a mental-type boss; let me manifest your inner fears” trope. Nothing new here.

He’d seen it plenty of times before.

But what exactly were his fears?

Will froze for a moment as he gazed into the thick fog surrounding him. Emerging from the mist were...

Three very familiar girls.