I’m Really Not Trying to Be Chased by the Heroine as the Villainous Playboy! – Chapter 225

Chapter 78: Nia’s Epiphany

Nia really wanted to curse right now.

With serious injuries, she couldn’t run fast enough, and seeing Black Claw Andy about to true detonate a corpse left her no time to hide back into the ruins.

Winning was one thing, but dying because of a corpse explosion at the end was just too tragic, wasn’t it?!

Just as Nia was at her wit’s end, she saw the Sword Demon suddenly lunge at her, pulling her tightly into his embrace.

He was here to save her, though it felt a bit rude to think that way. But the elven girl’s instinctive aversion to contact with the opposite sex made her very uncomfortable—

It should be this way, really.

But the oddly familiar position made her think of another figure, and she unconsciously gave up her struggle.

A bizarre yellow-green light erupted, consuming everything around them with corrupting power. The ground was scorched, the city walls shattered, and many thieves who couldn’t escape became mere bones.

This wasn’t just an explosion; it was the power of a cult, causing any flesh that touched that yellow-green light to visibly decay and rot at an alarming rate—terrifyingly so.

Nia heard countless wails and chilling howls.

However, the figure of the Sword Demon stood like an unmovable wall, the safest refuge, blocking it all out.

After a long while, the raging storm finally calmed, and she managed to look up at him.

“Are you okay?” Roy subconsciously lowered his voice slightly.

With his blood-soaked robes and shadowed face, his figure should have been somewhat frightening, yet it strangely made Nia feel at ease.

“I’m fine; compared to me, Sword Demon…”

“Don’t worry about me. Just take care of yourself.”

Roy released the girl from his grasp and promptly turned away without a second glance.

Watching the Sword Demon’s retreating figure, Nia felt bittersweet, but at that moment, she noticed something left behind in her arms.

She had wanted to call out to him and return it, but when she looked closely at the object in her hand, her eyes widened in shock.

It was the now-broken Black Obsidian Shield.

This was a gift that had belonged to Roy.

In that moment, the Sword Demon’s figure intertwined with that of the Black-Haired Boy in her mind.

So it was him protecting her all along.

Nia finally understood why her heart raced. For a moment, her admiration and respect for the Sword Demon mixed with her soft feelings for the Black-Haired Boy, becoming a tangle of emotions that ultimately erupted into unstoppable sweetness that flooded her chest.

A faint shimmer of tears filled her verdant eyes as she gazed at the boy’s departing back, pressing her hand to her chest, her fluttering heart refusing to calm down.

The adventurers had the ruins of the castle as cover; though they were scared stiff, they suffered no further losses.

On the other hand, the thieves’ group had already lost Black Claw Andy, and then his corpse had exploded, delivering a huge blow to both their morale and physically.

The remaining thieves were utterly powerless to resist, and without Roy needing to intervene again, the adventurers stepped forward, beheading them one by one.

After a thrilling night, Roy returned to the group at dawn.

He used the excuse of helping the Sword Demon clean up the remaining enemies in the north, which didn’t raise any suspicions from Reid and the others.

At this point, the practical assessment had completely ended, and everyone set off on their return journey.

By the following evening, they finally returned to the Adventurers’ Guild.

Other teams had also returned.

Some teams, the students and adventurers almost immediately went their separate ways, while others shared a relationship that was as harmonious as family.

The former meant students had offended the examiners and received low scores, while adventurers displeased the nobles and would face trouble later, leaving both sides at a loss.

The latter benefited both—students scored high while adventurers connected with these young talents, gaining valuable contacts.

Some teams even worked perfectly together, achieving notable accomplishments.

Most of these teams came from the second-year upperclassmen who had already partnered with adventurers in their first year, making their cooperation much more efficient now.

One team even killed a Sequence 7 vampire bird, stirring the entire guild.

Unfortunately, tonight, the main attraction of the Adventurers’ Guild was undoubtedly Roy’s team.

“You killed Black Claw Andy?!”

The tavern’s hostess exclaimed, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

Reid shook his head, practically puffing out his chest with pride.

“That’s not all!”

“We wiped out the entire thieves’ group completely!”

Among the seven underground forces in the Academy City, the thieves’ group was not the strongest, but they clashed the most with adventurers, causing the guild the most headaches.

The Adventurers’ Guild had assembled teams multiple times to eliminate the thieves, but none had succeeded; instead, they lost several valuable A-Rank adventurers while Black Claw Andy gained quite a reputation.

How could a team responsible for a practical assessment, with students no less, say they wiped them out just like that?!

Black Claw Andy was blown to bits, so he couldn’t even bring back his head for a bounty reward.

But Reid specifically left a few surviving thieves to bring back as prisoners to tell the truth.

These were thieves just below the rank of the leader and vice-leader—known criminals on the bounty list. With their testimony, everyone finally believed this achievement.

Of course, no one believed that Sequence 8 Reid could beat Black Claw.

And Reid had no intention of taking all the credit. Instead, he raised his cup, standing on the table, continuing the adventurer’s tradition of bragging.

“Black Claw Andy was tough! But compared to Sword Demon, he’s nothing!”

“The Sword Demon? The new A-Rank one?”

“Is he really that strong? Not even Black Claw is his opponent?!”

Many glanced around, trying to find that dark-robed swordsman.

“But why isn’t he here for the victory celebration?”

“After all, Black Claw was a strong enemy; the Sword Demon must have gotten injured badly and is recovering!”

Reid heard this and waved his hand, a teasing look of “you all are too young” on his face.

“Injured? With him dealing with that Black Claw?!”

“Let me tell you, the Sword Demon only used one sword to take that bastard down!”

One sword to defeat a Sequence 7?!

The crowd was momentarily stunned before bursting into uproarious laughter.

This is just too ridiculous! Not even many Sequence 6 could pull off a one-sword kill on a Sequence 7, right?!

Under the laughter, Reid argued vigorously with them, his face flushed and neck thickening.

The Academy City was unlike elsewhere—here, extraordinary beings were as numerous as the stars and not uncommon.

But a strong person who could defeat a Sequence 7 was an entirely different story, worthy of attention from any faction.

Under the shadows, a small black snake slithered by, its expression grave as it noted this information.

The truth was, Roy hadn’t won so easily; it was just a matter of combat style, making it seem like a one-hit kill.

Blood Qi Condensation cost him vitality, and using it once would leave him weakened. A single sword strike was quite a considerable drain.

Of course, he still had tricks like Weapon Projection: Dragon Tooth, Flames of Renewal, and Extinction, among many others. Even the Iron Blood fighting style wasn’t solely dependent on one weapon but involved projecting various weapons in succession to confuse the opponent. He simply hadn’t unleashed everything, considering the need to hide his identity.

Roughly estimating, he could certainly hold his own against a Sequence 6, not to mention keep safe. As for Andy, being an upper-tier Sequence 7, he needed a little effort, but defeating him was absolutely certain. It was just that if Andy had tried to flee immediately, Roy, lacking long-range attacks but high-speed movement, might not have been able to stop him. That’s why he had resorted to some provocation to incite Andy’s anger.

However, he had grown somewhat numb to these exagerations. Looking on the bright side, the more outrageous the rumors, the easier it would be for the outside world to misjudge his power.

Compared to the Sword Demon’s empty reputation, he cared more about the real gains from this ordeal.

[Congratulations on completing the reverse命 node!]

[Current reverse命 node: Nightingale]

[Nightingale reverse命 progress]: 20%

[Reward]: Reverse命 point +1