Being a Villain is My True Calling

“My name is Iron. A B+ rank hero.”

“…B+?”

The Instructor was slightly taken aback.

B+.
Certainly a rank that could be considered an upper-tier hero, but to her, it was a level she had effortlessly dealt with in the past.

‘…Could it be he doesn’t know who I am?’

Either he didn’t recognize the Instructor or was unaware of Eclipse.
Otherwise, his brazen appearance before her, without any semblance of an ambush, made no sense.

“…Don’t you know who I am…?”

“Huh? Of course I do, an Eclipse executive! That organization that Maekon or Paekon or whatever has been active in recently, right?”

From his words, it seemed he was ignorant of both.
Unaware of the Instructor and oblivious to Eclipse.

‘Well… it has been 5 years since my last public appearance…’

While it had indeed been 5 years since the Instructor had made a public appearance, she found it hard to believe she had been completely forgotten in that time span.

“…So you intend to stop me…?”

“Huh? Ah, yeah, I’ll stop you. If you erase the information here, my meal ticket disappears.”

“…?”

His reasoning seemed odd.
Surely the association wouldn’t dismiss precious upper-tier heroes just for failing a mission…?

While puzzled, the Instructor decided not to dwell on it further.

Sring-

“If, if you try to stop me… I’ll, I’ll cut you down…”

“We’ll see about that.”

Kuhwoong

The Instructor set down the large bag she had been carrying on her back and instantly charged at his neck with a clean horizontal slash, as if testing his reaction.

Wheeeek-

A threatening straight strike aimed at his neck.
Yet Iron remained motionless until the very last moment before impact.

Kkang!

The clashing of metal sparked as their blades met.

“No good~”

The grinning man’s neck remained unscathed.

“Physical… enhancement type…?”

“My ability enhances my skin, giving it a mineral-like density.”

Kkwwak

Iron clenched his fist and threw a punch at the Instructor.

Kaaaaang-!

The Instructor hastily blocked with the flat of her sword, but the force sent her flying into the wall, shattering her blade.
With a slightly more serious gaze, she looked at Iron.

“Well? Not impressed yet?”

“…Ugh.”

Seeing him act so smug after knocking her away, the Instructor felt utterly disgusted.

‘…Creep…’

This unsightly creep, leering shamelessly at her, made every cell in her body recoil in revulsion.
Especially his overt ogling of her chest made her feel even more repulsed.

‘I should deal with him quickly…’

With that resolution, the Instructor discarded her broken sword and charged at him wielding a different weapon from the bag she had set down earlier.

Zzzzzzak!

“Oof, that was a close one.”

I dodged the incoming ice chunks and looked at her.

“So, how do you plan to escape now?”

The furious scowl on her face made it seem like her glare alone could freeze me solid.

“Another smoke grenade? Or maybe collapse a wall to block the path? Or a trap? Yeah, that sticky goop was quite annoying. Or maybe take a new hero recruit hostage like before? Ah, but there are no heroes here, and it’s a dead-end leading to this large room, so none of those options work, do they?!”

Um, well…

‘She seems a bit more enraged than I expected…’

Perhaps I pushed her too far?

“…The reason I keep evading you is that you insist on pursuing me. If you had simply turned a blind eye, I would have cleanly taken what I needed and left.”

“You call that a hero’s duty? To ignore a villain? What kind of hero would do that?”

You make a fair point…

I chuckled as I looked at her.

“You really don’t know anything, do you?”

Then again, how could she know?
Despite her brusque attitude, she is an upright hero who firmly believes in people.

Didn’t the heroes in the original story face quite a bit of criticism for being too naive and only realizing the truth much later on?

“Well then, what will you do now? I’m currently in a tight spot.”

Until now, I had only created simple objects to aid my escapes, but after several hours of this, I could feel my mana gradually depleting.

“As you said, this is a dead-end, Queen. No people around, just a large open space, making most of my previous evasion methods impossible.”

Judging from the sheer size, it was likely originally intended as a large experimental area, but without any obstacles, what could I do?
Setting traps would be the only option, but seeing how she had encased the surrounding floor in ice, she seemed prepared to respond at any moment.

“…So what will you do? I will capture you.”

“Is that so? Then…”

I slightly lifted my shoe and tapped the floor.

Tuk tuk

‘As I suspected, there’s a space down there.’

I smiled faintly as I looked at Ice Queen.

“It seems I’ll have to find a way to evade and escape you by any means necessary.”

“What are you up to now…”

Before she could finish speaking, I tossed a bomb.

“Damn it…!”

Countless bombs rained down from the sky above.
Ice Queen attempted to freeze them with her ability, but it was beyond her capacity to stop them all.

Kwaaaaaang!!

Eventually, several bombs impacted the ground, creating massive cracks in the floor.

And both Ice Queen and I fell through the collapsing surface.

Kwaaang!
Kkaaaang!

‘Sh, shit, how is she this strong?!’

Iron looked at the fiercely rampaging Instructor before him.
After trying out a few different weapons initially, once she realized her strikes were landing, she had switched to exclusively using blunt instruments to batter Iron relentlessly.

Ppaak!

“Aaaaack!!”

Hweeeek!

Even as Iron clenched his fist tightly and tried to counterattack, the Instructor effortlessly evaded, as if already accustomed to his patterns.

‘Did she read my attack patterns again?’

While Iron’s attacks had initially connected a few times, the Instructor soon adapted, and from that point on, she didn’t allow a single strike to land as she overwhelmingly dominated him.

‘She squinted her right eye, so a jaw strike is likely next.’

‘Left pinky twitching and shoulders angled slightly? It’s a kick pattern.’

‘Ah, she furrowed her brow. Just a straightforward punch, so I only need to guard my vitals…’

This was her ability in action.
The Instructor had no limits when it came to absorbing knowledge.

As such, she could instantly analyze and learn the habits and tells associated with an opponent’s actions in real-time, allowing her to react like a seasoned veteran who had spent years defending against those very attacks.

Ppaak!

“Aaaack!!!!”

From the receiving end, it was bewildering and outrageous.

“This is cheating…!”

Frustrated by the drastically divergent situation from his plans, Iron gritted his teeth.

‘Should I… use it?’

As Iron reached into his pocket, his fingers brushed against a smooth vial.
He thought using it would allow him to turn the tide.

‘Yeah. Let’s use it.’

Since he had intended to use it moderately during the fight anyway, he decided now was the time, rather than wasting it on petty games.

Snicker

The lustful expression returned to Iron’s face, which had been filled with irritation until now.

“…?”

‘Does he… get off on being hit…?’

Unintentionally indulging his presumed kink, a shiver ran down the Instructor’s spine.
Now aiming to end this quickly, she charged at Iron.

“This, this is the end…!”

Just as the Instructor wound up for a powerful overhead smash…

Chwaak!

Iron sprayed her with a reddish liquid.

‘Got her!’

The Instructor was perfectly drenched in the liquid.
Iron’s lips curved into a smirk.

“Phah! How’s that? Can’t use your powers at all now, can you?”

Evading the Instructor’s hazy, unfocused attacks as her concentration waned, Iron sneered at her.

‘The ability suppressor worked perfectly!’

Ability suppressor.
Though Iron had dubbed it that, it was an unofficial medicinal treatment still under development by the researchers here.

An unintentional by-product created during their regeneration research.

‘Normally, it would be more effective if ingested orally, but skin contact alone provides a decent effect.’

Iron clenched his fist and threw a punch towards the Instructor’s left cheek.
However, she momentarily staggered before evading.

Iron was convinced.
She was undoubtedly an ability user, most likely of the sensory type.

‘Otherwise, there’s no way she could read and evade my attack patterns!’

In that case, evading his attacks would now be difficult for her.
Iron began indiscriminately attacking her.

‘Now she’s just a powerless ability user!’

The beautiful woman before him was nothing but a helpless, powerless individual.
Someone who couldn’t resist no matter what he did to her.
Just a beautiful yet utterly helpless woman.

“Wha, what’s going on…”

A woman he could unleash his vile desires upon without consequence, or so he thought…

“Why, why are you still evading…?”

Iron had assumed that once drenched with the suppressor, the Instructor would be unable to evade his attacks.

‘How is this possible? The drug was genuine, wasn’t it?’

And yet her abilities remained?
A chill ran down Iron’s spine.

As the Instructor tilted her head, seemingly puzzled by his behavior…

“Ugh… my body does feel a bit sluggish, though…”

She then tossed the blunt weapon over her shoulder and said,

“But, but not enough to stop me from capturing you…”

Kwaaang!!

Sneering derisively at Iron, the Instructor swung her weapon towards his head.