Life Of A Nobody - as a Villain

The first thing Rio noticed after the land shift beneath him, was he was in a cave. And that it smelled like sulfur here.

Good news, it was pretty big and open.

Bad news, that meant that's how big a monster lives here.

His mana spread thin on instinct and he breathed a sigh of relief as he found no living sign in the cave. But this trip sensing also gave him an idea about where they were.

Deep in the center of Eisjer, far away from where they were, and even further away from where they should be.

"We need to leave." Rio said to Katherine as he traced his hand on the wet larvae on the stone walls. "Now."

Sadly however before he even turned around, a shadow loomed over his body, before a shockwave of hot air sent him crashing against the corners.

"Damn it. It just had to come back now." Rio said, staring at the giant monster standing at the entrance. It's large body blocking their only way out.

Towering nearly twenty feet tall, the monster was called Typhoress, a chimera-like beast with twin heads of a dinosaur, and a body covered in jagged, obsidian scales like that of a dragon. The only thing it lacked were those wings that could scare everyone. But not having them in a closed space battle like this, was only giving it another advantage in disguise.

One of it's mouth dripping with molten lava, and the other spewing cool air and jelly liquid when it breathed.

Fangs in their open mouths couldn't even be counted, but they just looked sharp and scary.

Their eyes wide open with a large iris and vertical pupil like that of serpents, stared at the two invaders who barged into its house.

If dealing with this two-headed chimera wasn't scary enough, from the Typhoress's back a serpent sleeping across it's spine like a parasite slithered into the cave.

The large snake stared at them and hissed heavily, raising the bar of difficulty and differences as two pairs of small wings appeared on its back.

It was dark inside the cave, making it harder to make them out. But Rio's vision had always been better in darkness. (Perks of being with Nyx.)

"Aikyaa too?" Katherine said in wonder as she looked at the winged snake hissing at her.

Rio looked at Katherine and he could already judge her condition without using any of his skills. She was already worn out from their earlier battles, and even though she downed the mana potion, it hadn't fully done it's job yet.

Now, suddenly faced with a two-headed chimera and the winged serpent, things had gone from bad to worse.

He kind of missed having those cloaked idiots who were always watching his fights from shadows around. But sadly they weren't teleported together, and looking at the map, even if they tried their all, it would take them more than a few minutes to get here and be of any help.

Meaning it was up to him now, to either find a way to survive and slip away, or slay these two. He took a deep breath with closed eyes, and when he opened them again, a clear plan was already forming in his head.

"Run." He said and grabbed her hand , pulling her to follow him further back into the cave. Putting a bigger gap between the monster and them. But the Typhoress wasn't going to let them off that easily.

The chimera's molten head opened its maw, spewing a wave of lava across the cave floor. The molten liquid sizzled as it advanced toward them, and the cave was instantly filled with the pungent stench of sulfur. Rio leaped back, grabbing Katherine and rolling both of them behind a pillar of sorts.

"That was close," Katherine huffed, wiping sweat from her brow.

Before Rio could respond, the other head—let out a high-pitched screech. As it exhaled, a sticky, jelly-like substance splattered across the cave floor, hardening almost instantly as it came into contact with lava. Forming the floor into a slick, icy surface that made maneuvering nearly impossible.

If that wasn't enough, the bigger giant also punched the wall and started throwing crushed stones like bullets so they couldn't jump out and run here and there.

"Great, it's smart too," Rio growled, calculating their next move.

Katherine conjured a weak wall of ice between them and the serpent, who taking advantage of their hiding, the Aikyaa began to slither closer. The snake's hisses echoed, its eyes glowing a dull green. It slithered faster than anything Rio had ever seen, zigzagging between the chimera's legs with unnerving speed.

The pair of monsters covered each other's weaknesses perfectly. One held off the height, and the other watched the ground.

"Just hold off the beast for some time, I'll kill the snake." Rio said, surprising Katherine who responded back immediately, "You sure, Aikyaa are trickier to deal with. I've seen a whole group of adventurers getting wiped out by that slippery snake."

"Trust me, I got it." Rio lied, and peeked out the pillar, "On three." He said as he raised his fingers and started counting on his hands.

Once that was done, the duo both rolled out from different directions, Katherine backed off and started shooting shards of ice towards the giant monsters. While two shields of ice floated in front of her, blocking the rocky stones.

Rio, on the other hand, rolled over and started throwing his threads all over the cave walls. Unlike their normal color of bluish mana, they were covered in black blood dripping from his fingers.

As though poison has little effect on snakes and dinosaurs, every second mattered.

The snake soon hissed in response, thrashing violently as Rio's threads dug into its scales. With a sharp pull, Rio yanked the creature off balance, sending it crashing into the side wall.

But the Aikyaa was far from finished. Its wings fluttered, and it let out a venomous hiss as it shot toward Rio with alarming speed, almost resembling an arrow let loose.

He dodged just in time by turning his body sideways, but still feeling the rush of wind as its fangs snapped inches from his face.

"Fast bastard…" Rio muttered. He ducked low, coating his hand into mana, before punching sideways. His fist connected with the side of its head. And though the impact felt satisfying, the snake barely flinched.

As he prepared for another strike, the cave trembled again. The Typhoress had grown impatient. Katherine was doing her best to hold it off, but her ice magic couldn't even penetrate it's skin. Each of her strikes was just making it more annoyed.

The molten lava head roared, spewing another wave of fiery death at her. She defended herself by conjuring a desperate ice barrier, but the strain of it showed clearly on her face. And though she tried to act tough and stand straight, her steps fumbled and she nearly fell in the way of fire.

"Tsk." Rio clicked his tongue in displeasure, throwing a golden disc in her direction that hovered over her body. Forming a golden light barrier that covered her whole.

"Recover." He said, and turned to face both the monsters himself.

'Skuld, a little help.' he said in his heart, but the goddess of fate seemed too busy watching him with a sour nose, then coming forward to help him.

'How dare you call her a bratty kid, now suffer the mighty Skuld's wrath.'

Yupp, that's what the petite valkyrie probably thought watching him struggle.

Rio clicked his tongue again, and lit his fingers on flames of hell.

The hungry hellfire seemed to have found it's dinner as it spread to every thread, following the movements of his mana, soon reaching the mouth of serpents where his threads got tied when he punched.

"Got you," Rio said with a smirk, watching the snake flail in midair trying to put the flames on it's head out. But hellfire kept burning like a crown on that head. Making those scales shine in red, before they too began to melt.

Though the taste of victory was short lived as the Typhoress seemed to have identified his magic, and already figured out a way to show him the middle finger.

It opened its second head and spewed out the jelly like substance onto his threads, slowing the ascent of flames. And then it turned even more shameless as it grabbed the snake's body and started waving it around like a mace.

The hard skin and scales of the serpent worked better than normal rocks which failed to break his threads. And soon the trap was broken.

His threads just hanging along the walls, broken in pieces.

Rio looked down at his fingers which had all but burned, and took his spell back with a frown.

"I don't want to kill you big fella. Let us go, and I'll let you go too." Rio said, cracking his knuckles as the passive blessings of healing started taking effect.

He wasn't sure if the monster understood what he said or not, but seeing at the monster rear it's head back and suck in a heavy breath, he got his answer.

"As you wish," Rio said as he stood between Katherine and the Typhoress and pulled his sword out.

"Silence Star Art _ shooting star." Rio muttered holding the sword in front of his eyes, before shifting it sideways and swinging forward.

A blazing force of light released from the sword, colliding against the burning blow of lava and ripped it in two.

The heatwaves passed along sides of his body and Rio couldn't help but stagger, as he looked at the towering monster, who was still on it's two feet.

All that his strike did was break two of it's scales, causing them to fall down, and form thin cracks on the other few.

"..."

[...]

Fuck…

That's all Rio thought as he merged into the shadows and disappeared from his place. Right before the super angry monster swung the burning serpent onto his place. Forming a raveen of the hard floor.