Young Master's PoV: Woke Up As A Villain In A Game One Day

I had no time to think.

One moment, I was blinking dust out of my eyes and trying to make sense of the hell-storm stampede barreling straight toward me.

The next, I was moving just as the first spider-monkey lunged at me with a loud shriek.

The sound it let out was so unsettling — like a shard of broken glass being dragged across an old blackboard — it burrowed into my skull and made me regret having ears.

I immediately raised an arm, and the earth rose with it.

A colossal hand of stone erupted from the ground and caught the charging creature mid-sprint.

Then, with a single thought, I made the hand close into a fist.

The beast shrieked again in panic and agony as it was being squashed — before its body cracked and caved in.

Its limbs contorted unnaturally.

Its exoskeleton split like fruit under pressure.

When the hand uncurled, it dropped the crushed carcass to the jungle floor with a dull, lifeless thud.

But even before the corpse hit the dirt—Another shriek rang out.

Then another.

And another.

More of its kind were coming from all directions now.

One dropped from the canopy, hitting the forest floor in a twitching scuttle.

Another bounded from the trees to my left.

Then four more broke through the brush with inhuman speed — their limbs skittering and mouths foaming.

In mere seconds, I was being rushed by over a dozen of these abominable spider-monkey hybrids.

Neither of them were quite as large as the gorilla-spider from before.

But they were definitely faster and hungrier and crazier.

So my response was instant.

I conjured more hands.

…Yes, I was spamming one move.

So what?

One after another, titanic hand-like constructs of soil, stone, and dead roots erupted around me — each one rising like the grasp of ancient giants clawing their way out of hell.

They tore through the clearing with seismic rage.

Some of the creatures were caught mid-air and slammed into the ground with bone-splitting finality.

Others were batted into trees.

Their bodies snapped on impact like twigs hurled into stone.

One beast was torn in two — pulled apart by two opposing fists that crushed it from either side like a child ripping apart a toy.

And still… they never stopped coming.

More of them poured into the clearing, wave after wave — like a living tsunami of hungry, rabid animals.

They weren't just running toward me.

They were piling over each other.

Crawling through the corpses of their own kind.

Digging their claws into anything that moved — or didn't.

They were driven not by reflexes or survival, but a primal kind of hunger that I feared would never end.

It was a deeply wrong sight.

And I was just taking it all in when one of the spider-monkeys landed on the back of a stone hand I had summoned to crush it.

Startled, I watched as it skittered up the stony surface and crawled toward me like an actual overgrown spider — like gravity didn't exist for it.

Its mouth opened with a hiss… and I swear its face split into four petals that peeled back to reveal rows of needle-thin teeth.

Then it leapt straight toward my head.

I whipped the stone hand upward and smacked it mid-air like a gnat.

Its body collided with a tree, bounced once, then flopped to the ground in a twitching spasm.

But it wasn't dead.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the luxury to worry just about it.

Because ten more spider-monkeys came pouncing at me from practically all directions — from the branches, from the brush, from behind.

One was even falling from the sky!?

"Aghh, fuck it!

" I cursed and discharged more Essence into the ground under me.

The ground rumbled in response… before sizable strips of soil and stone tore free, rising upward to form tall walls.

These walls — these thick slabs of rock and tangled roots — then curved inward, pressing closer and grinding together.

One after another, ginormous dome-shaped structures began closing and trapping dozens of spider-monkeys who had either rushed in too fast or were too slow to move away in time.

The walls snapped shut like bear traps, imprisoning the beasts inside.

I heard their muffled screams.

They shrieked and scraped at the inner walls with their claws in a desperate attempt to dig their way out.

But they wouldn't make it in time.

Just like that, I had caged dozens of those abominations for the time being.

…And it still wasn't enough.

They just kept on coming!

They didn't care that I was stronger.

That I was faster.

That I could kill them with a snap.

They just didn't care.

Because there were always more of them.

I gritted my teeth and decided to hop back a few steps, when—Splatch—!

My left leg froze.

I looked down and saw a thick sludge of webbing clung to my shin and the ground, anchoring me in place.

I jerked my leg once.

Twice.

But it was of no use.

The webbing had hardened around my leg like cement.

I was about to use more force, but another spider-monkey crouched nearby fired one more glob of webbing from the barbed end of its tail.

The sludge struck my right leg, anchoring that too.

And just like that, I was the one trapped now.

Both my legs were glued to the ground.

And the horde was zeroing in.

…That was when I saw Lily.

She still hadn't moved.

From the looks of it, she couldn't.

She had collapsed unconscious on the ground.

The gorilla-spider loomed above her, one segmented spear-limb already raised high.

I realized then — it wasn't just going to kill her.

It was going to devour her.

Now, I could very well have left Lily there.

Hell, I was tempted to.

But in the game — in one of the plotlines where Lily died during an event — Michael fell into a deep, gnawing depression.

For the better part of the story after that, he was bitter and gloomy and completely useless.

And I really didn't want to deal with that Michael.

…So I made a decision.

Fighting was pointless.

Winning was impossible.

But surviving?

That, I could manage.

I didn't waste time trying to free my legs.

I simply willed the earth beneath me to move as a small army of spider-monkeys continued advancing on me.

The ground obeyed.

It surged up beneath me like a rising tide.

Dirt and stone parted under my will, forming into a mobile platform that started dragging me backward in a swift retreat.

It felt like I was surfing across a cresting wave with bare feet.

At the same time, I conjured another earthen hand — this one near Lily.

It burst forth in a great upheaval of soil and dust, then snapped toward her limp body and scooped her up before the gorilla's spear-limb could pierce through her chest.

The monster roared, but its prey was already gone.

The stone hand lifted Lily gently against its massive palm and raced toward me.

Within seconds, it was gliding beside the earthen wave I was riding.

Together, we rushed deeper into the woods.

Behind us, the forest exploded into shrieks, chatters, and rustling chaos as the beasts began chasing us.

I reached for Lily — only to duck a split second later as a four-armed monkey jumped at me from the trees somewhere on my right.

But long before it could reach us, a stone lance sprouted from the ground beneath it and skewered the creature like meat on a spit.

Every other spider-monkey that dared approach us met the same fate — impaled on jagged spikes or blocked by sudden walls of stone.

Then I reached again and grabbed Lily's limp body from the earthen hand.

I didn't cradle her.

There was no time.

I slung her over my shoulder like a sack of grain and kept moving.

"Come to think of it," I muttered to myself, feeling the wind on my face, "I seem to be carrying a lot of young maidens through battlefields lately.

"Lily groaned faintly.

Behind us, the monsters were closing in.

The wave of earth was carrying us forward, but it wasn't enough.

I needed more speed.

More space.

…Or just maybe more chaos.

Then, a genius idea struck me.

You see, this forest was too thick.

Too lush.

As a result, there was far too much oxygen in the atmosphere.

And more oxygen meant…Everything was that much more combustible!

Fire would spread here like madness on gasoline.

A grin crept across my dirt-smeared face.

I reached into my Soul Arsenal.

…And summoned a Card.

It materialized before me in a rain of light sparks, and the moment its rune flared up, fire sprang into existence in my hand.

In the next second, I was holding a whip of swirling flame, burning hotter and brighter than I ever remembered it burning.

Without any hesitation, I swung it wide in a blazing arc overhead.

And the forest around me exploded.

KAAABOOOM—!!

Trees ignited in an instant.

Scorching pillars of fire rose skyward as the blaze leapt from trunks to branches.

Leaves turned to ash mid-air.

Vines withered and ferns blackened.

The fire spread faster than it should have.

It was greedy and it was ravenous.

And it was perfect.

Behind us, the shrieking paused for a beat.

Then returned louder and angrier.

The beasts mindlessly tried to push through the flames.

Some were incinerated instantly.

Others didn't care.

But one — one creature — plowed through the blaze like a mad bull.

The gorilla-spider.

Its monstrous body barreled through the inferno — its black fur aflame and blistered skin crackling with heat.

But it still didn't stop moving forward.

And the rest of the creatures followed.

Dozens, if not hundreds, of spider-monkeys gave chase.

They were screeching and burning — flooding in behind the gorilla-spider like soldiers following their king to war.

…But by the time they tore through the wall of fire—Lily and I were nowhere to be seen.

Because we were no longer above ground.

•••Yes, this had been the plan all along.

I'd used the fire as a distraction to erase our tracks and burn our scent.

The moment the forest had gone up in flames, I used my innate power to carve a hollow cavern into the earth… then dropped us inside.

It had taken less than three seconds.

I left narrow ducts for air — small and hidden, snaking between layers of stone — then sealed the entrance behind us.

And just like that, we vanished.

The fire raged above.

The monsters howled and clawed and searched.

But they'd find nothing.

We… were safe.

For now.

I slumped to the ground, feeling the adrenaline draining from my veins and exhaustion come crashing back.

Everything was suddenly so still and quiet.

The heat from above trickled down in waves — turning the tempreture warm, but not smothering.

I dropped Lily's body beside me.

She was bruised and bleeding, her skin chafed and smudged with soot, her blood soaking into the dirt.

I didn't move.

I just breathed.

In.

Out.

The scent of ash began to seep through the vents.

The world above had become completely engulfed in fire and smoke and silence.

Then… Lily stirred weakly.

A tiny sound escaped her lips — half a groan, half a cough.

I turned to her and placed a hand over her chest.

Her heartbeat was still strong.

Yeah.

She'd live.