Chapter 17: How a villain is made

The remaining shield bearer said nothing, watching his three brothers leave.

Among the four of them, he was the weakest.

The training process for the Order Knights was grueling.

Aside from mana level, physical fitness was an extremely important factor.

Because they were warriors, not mages.

Kante was an anomaly among warriors, an extremely rare type—we won’t include him in this discussion.

The higher a person’s mana level, the stronger their physical body became, but each improvement was quite limited.

At least before rank seven, blades and spears could still harm a flesh-and-blood body.

However, with proper training, a body’s strength could reach levels above rank seven ahead of time.

Even a rank six heavy-armor knight, if fighting at close quarters against a rank eight mage, might not even pose a threat to that mage.

A rank six beating a rank eight sounds unrealistic—but that’s how it was.

Of course, in reality, if a mage was ever closed in on by an enemy heavy-armor knight, then the mage’s guards would be in for a world of trouble.

Take the Order Knights, for example.

Most of them only knew the most basic magic—rank one Fireball, Water Ball, and so on—just enough to start a fire or get water in the wild.

Aside from their daily physical drills, the only high-level magic they knew was the Reinforcement Spell.

Like all spells from rank one to nine, the increase was based on a percentage of the original value—the stronger the body, the better the effect.

For Order Knights of the same rank, physical fitness was the standard by which their combat ability was measured.

The stronger the body, the more endurance, speed, and strength they had.

Running at high speed for an entire day without tiring was already the norm.

Their armor was extremely sturdy; ordinary physical attacks couldn’t harm them in the slightest.

Why did this knight with the large shield carry a shield?

Because his body wasn’t tough enough, and he needed the shield to compensate.

This kind of Reinforcement Spell was constantly active on them.

Hearing, vision, smell, reaction speed—any stir of wind or cry of a crane could not escape the eyes of an Order Knight.

Of course, these knights weren’t without weaknesses.

They couldn’t see through demons hiding among crowds; they were only suited for head-on confrontations.

Physical damage couldn’t completely kill a heavy-armor knight.

But scorching flames—the heat would transfer through the armor to the flesh inside.

Magical attacks were hard to resist.

No matter how many runes were engraved, they couldn’t block all the magic in the world.

He might have sensed a dangerous presence, but it was too late.

If Kante had been standing here, he might have survived and struck back at the demon.

But standing here was just an ordinary Order Knight.

His shield could block monsters, but not the scythe coming from behind—his back.

By the time everyone reacted, his chest had already been pierced.

Under his helmet was an expression of disbelief.

A translucent scythe passed through his body.

Blood seeped from the gaps in his armor.

He fell backward, heavy and clumsy.

He was neither a rookie nor a veteran; he had seen many battles and carried out many missions.

But this was his first time encountering an executive—a being so rare that even their captain had only seen them a few times.

Magical attacks often came without warning.

The gruesome sight of his death was soon witnessed.

The first scream marked the beginning of the purge.

People stepped back.

A nondescript man was isolated.

He twisted his mouth and laughed loudly.

The church suddenly became terrifyingly silent, only his eerie laughter echoing.

“An executive… under the Demon God… one of the capable ones… Qian Mian Guai. No one knows what… his original race was, but the fall of many cities… was related… to him…”

“Still able to talk. Pity you don’t have long to live. I went to a lot of trouble to make sure you died in this trap. I just didn’t expect a few Order Knights to come out and get in the way.”

“No matter. Once the condition of that captain outside runs out, you’ll all die.”

Paladin Suo Lun gathered his remaining strength and said, “After I receive healing, I’ll tear you apart first!”

Qian Mian Guai chuckled.

“A rank four healing spell. Besides that Order Knight who just died, there’s only one little girl at rank three left. Tell me, who among you can cast that spell? Using a spell above one’s own mana rank will cause backlash—at best, you’ll shorten your lifespan; at worst, you’ll be severely injured, lose all your talent, and become a cripple.”

“Of course, that’s assuming she can learn it. Too bad—I’ve left a big gift here. These scum aren’t worth my personal attention. Enjoy the taste of despair, hahahahaha~”

After the executive finished speaking, his entire body was enveloped in a black vortex.

Soon the vortex dispersed, and his figure vanished.

Silence fell over the whole place.

Before long, it was broken by the sound of a book closing.

Selina let out a long sigh.

‘He’s finally gone. With a speech that long, I thought he’d wipe us all out right here. I just left the newbie village, for crying out loud.’

Still, she was sweating on the inside.

Fortunately, this guy called Qian Mian Guai was a textbook villain—he never got his own hands dirty if he could help it.

That left room for the protagonist to grow.

Whether she was the protagonist or not was another matter.

But at least she saw a glimmer of hope.

She had a general understanding of the rank four healing spell now.

Unlike the rank three spells that only healed surface wounds, rank four was more detailed, focused on internal injuries.

It required a clear understanding of internal organs, a calm mind, and a bit of insight to cast.

As for mana, using all of her mana to cast it once should be fine.

That Qian Mian Guai had calculated everything except that a little rank three nun like her could turn the situation around.

Just as she felt confident, heavy footsteps came from deep inside the church.

So that guy’s automatic cleaning robots had come to dispose of the trash he didn’t want to touch.

This gift was really a fright with no delight.

About three green behemoths emerged from the depths of the church, completely naked, fangs bared, holding crude spiked clubs.

“Goblin… Kings? Three of them?”

The nun sisters inside the church showed expressions of despair.

Their minds were already conjuring up defeat CGs.

And the grotesque kind.

“It’s over. Everything is over.”

“Are we… going to die?”

Outside, a horde of monsters awaited them.

Hiding in the church meant it was the Goblin Kings’ dining hall and breeding ground.

The remaining soldiers gathered together, formed a formation, and charged at the Goblin Kings.

If they couldn’t beat an executive, could they at least beat goblins?

As it turned out, they really couldn’t.

These monsters, three meters tall, didn’t take ordinary soldiers seriously at all.

One swing, one kill—simple as that.

Within a few minutes, the soldiers were all dead or wounded.

These so-called elites were just the tallest among the short—soldiers at rank three mana.

Goblin Kings, on the other hand, as the most powerful variant among goblins, were already rank three at birth and reached rank five by adulthood.

These three were clearly adult-sized, though something felt off.

With the soldiers down, all that remained was Baoluo’s squad.

Baoluo glanced back at Selina, his expression seeming to convey a final message.

Then he led his team and charged forward.

Making a last stand.

‘How tragic,’ Selina thought.

Just a moment ago, she had asked about Suo Lun’s injuries: what would happen if she stopped the low-level healing that was generous in quantity but low in effect?

The sister in charge of checking injuries said that the rank three healing spell had mended some of the wounds—enough to hold for about half an hour.

In other words, she had to kill three Goblin Kings and cast a rank four healing spell on Suo Lun within that half hour.

Quite the challenge.

Selina tried to recall her days grinding in that game.

Question: How do you kill monsters above your level?

You’re fresh out of the newbie village at level five, and you run into a level thirty monster.

For most players, once you understand the monster’s mechanics, all that’s left is a long, tedious grind.

So how did high-level players efficiently grind monsters above their level?

Technical play?

Flashy maneuvers?

Exploiting glitches?

Many options lay before her, but her former mentor once said,

“When death is truly closing in on you, you have no choice but to gather every favorable condition you can.”