How to Survive Against Villains Chapter 120

Chapter 120: Awakening Signal (5)

Lick, lick―

Lily twisted her head this way and that, trying to escape the ticklish sensation, but it was no use. Annoyed by Keros’s persistent licking, she grumbled and opened her eyes.

“Huh? Where is this place?”

Rising from her seat, she rubbed her eyes and glanced around. Aside from the sound of rain, the only thing she noticed inside the carriage was that it was just the two of them. The coachman had vanished, and the carriage was left stranded in the middle of a dense forest.

Pointing to the rain pouring down from the night sky, she looked at Keros.

“Did I sleep for a long ti?”

“Woof.”

“Half a day? That’s barely any ti at all. You should’ve let sleep until morning.”

Yawning and seriously debating whether to go back to sleep, she suddenly shivered.

The wide-open carriage allowed the cold wind and rain to blow in freely.

If there was one thing she hated more than trouble, it was the cold.

Deciding that it would be better to rest in a warm inn, Lily wrapped herself in her robe and stepped outside.

The heavy rain drumd against her robe.

As soon as she exited the carriage, Keros jumped down and took the lead, walking ahead.

Finding the nearest village was always Keros’s job.

Pfft―

The mont Keros disappeared, Lily’s figure sank into the ground as if swallowed by it.

***

“Wow, this is impressive.”

Erging from the forest, she saw a well-paved road co into view.

The wide road was bustling with countless people coming and going. rchants, rcenaries, and various familiar figures in identifiable outfits filled her vision.

Carts and wagons were rolling here and there.

There was so much to see.

It was the largest crowd of humans she had encountered since leaving the forest.

As she followed the road with her eyes, a massive city wall appeared in the distance.

Even if several villages were combined, they wouldn’t match the size of that wall.

The great city of Blyer.

The mont Lily saw the colossal wall, she realized it was her destination and patted Keros on the shoulder.

With a small sigh, she felt the soft sensation of Keros resting against her neck.

After stroking the head of Keros, who had switched to his stuffed toy form, she left the forest and approached the road.

She wanted to blend into the crowd and observe the humans up close.

“……?”

But her wish was not granted.

As soon as she stepped onto the road, the long line of people split, forming a gap around her.

It was as if an invisible wall had sprung up, with everyone maintaining a certain distance from her.

It was a reaction similar to what she had encountered in the previous village, but it felt subtly different.

Was it because the crowd was so much larger?

Unlike those who had simply avoided eye contact before, so here looked directly at her with eyes full of emotion.

Fear, and beneath that fear, a deep resentnt.

For soone like Lily, who had grown up surrounded by nothing but love, the unfamiliar emotions of hostility and loneliness were strange and uncomfortable.

Could those people in the previous village have had the sa look in their eyes?

She hadn’t been paying attention, so there was no way for her to know.

Just as she was debating whether to ask soone for the reason, a loud grinding noise echoed from the direction of the city wall.

Grgrrrk!

“……!”

With the sound of gears turning, the massive iron gate began to open slowly.

Monts later, the bustling noise of the crowd suddenly died down, as if doused by cold water.

Curious about what was happening, Lily peeked out and looked beyond the gate. The crowd, which had been packed tightly together, quickly parted in half, revealing a group approaching from within.

“…Huh?”

A red wave.

A group of figures cloaked in red was rapidly advancing. The people nearby scrambled to flee in terror before they even arrived.

Filthy, ominous spiritual energy filled the air.

The oppressive atmosphere instinctively made Lily frown.

‘Dark shamans.’

As soon as Lily identified who they were, the red wave ca to a stop in front of her.

Before she knew it, she was left standing alone, facing the group.

The dark shamans quietly observed her.

Monts later, the shaman leading the group reached out a hand toward her.

Wooong―

“…….”

Lily glanced at the cloak draped over her shoulders.

The cloak began to tremble slightly, emitting a faint vibration.

As soon as the shaman channeled spiritual energy, the cloak responded.

A red cloak.

Plain red cloaks could be easily purchased at any shop.

But a cloak that resonated with spiritual energy and emitted a unique presence like this was not sothing one could buy anywhere.

She had thought it was just an ordinary cloak, but now it was reacting to the shaman’s energy, revealing a sinister aura.

‘Spiritual energy synchronization.’

Lily imdiately understood what was happening with the cloak.

This was a common technique used by witches to verify identities. Every year, hundreds of people disguised themselves as witches and tried to enter the forest, so such verification was necessary.

This cloak was essentially an identification badge.

Slowly, Lily scanned her surroundings. She saw countless people standing at a distance, frozen in place.

Hundreds, maybe even thousands of people.

She inspected the clothes they were wearing. Not a single person was wearing a red cloak like hers.

Only then did she understand why people had reacted to her the way they did.

Just as the wide-brimd hat was a symbol of witches, the red cloak appeared to be a symbol of the dark shamans in this region.

It was sothing she could have noticed earlier with a bit of attention, but Lily was thoroughly indifferent to things she didn’t find interesting.

Thinking itself was too much of a hassle for her.

The shaman, having finished verifying her identity through spiritual synchronization, began conversing quietly with the other shamans.

‘They just confird my identity using the cloak.’

Lily’s pupils briefly flashed bright yellow.

When she activated her Eyes of the Full Moon, a talent granted by her Full Moon’s Gift, the spiritual energy pattern emanating from the cloak beca visible.

She quickly analyzed the pattern and committed it to mory.

A curse.

The owner of this cloak seed to have been a dark shaman specializing in curses.

“Curse Division, Agreild.”

“…….”

“Why are you late? We sent multiple recall signals.”

The shaman leading the group appeared to be the one in charge.

Their voice was rough, like tal scraping against tal, and their tone was gender-neutral, making it hard to tell if they were male or female.

The voice had been altered using a spell.

As expected of dark shamans, who were always up to sothing shady, none of them revealed their faces.

Even the na Agreild, which they had just ntioned, was likely a false one.

They seed to rely on spiritual synchronization to confirm each other’s identities, which worked in Lily’s favor.

Communicating through shamanic spells was actually more convenient for her.

While she was clueless about worldly affairs, when it ca to shamanic arts, she possessed knowledge that surpassed even that of the elder grandmother.

Especially when it ca to dark magic, it was one of the few areas she had a genuine interest in.

Recall signal?

She instantly understood what they ant by that.

“I lost it.”

“You lost your communication crystal? And where are your other companions? Did you forget the Nest’s rule that you must always travel in threes?”

“…….”

“Where are you coming from?”

“From the northern village.”

“…The northern village?”

Noticing the shaman’s suspicious expression, Lily quickly wracked her brain. Though she hated the effort of recalling things, once she focused, she could rember everything she had ever heard.

If this red cloak belonged to a shaman, it must have been from a village where she encountered shamans.

“Bandie Village.”

“What was your mission?”

“Gathering sacrifices.”

“Hmm…”

While answering, Lily scanned the group of shamans. She needed to prepare for any worst-case scenarios.

There were twenty-five of them in total.

That was a lot.

Among them were figures that weren’t shamans. She noticed large, heavily armored beings with crimson plate armor.

She couldn’t sense any life energy from them. Activating her Eyes of the Full Moon, she saw that their insides were hollow, filled only with an eerie, chaotic aura ford by attaching nurous souls together.

‘Shamanic puppets.’

They appeared to be Van Dyke models, a standard type of puppet used by dark shamans.

Given their weight, this format would be incredibly inefficient. Why had they designed them like that?

Normally, shamanic puppets were wrapped tightly in cursed bandages to maintain their shape, but these ones were entirely encased in heavy armor.

They seed to have focused obsessively on defense.

While briefly lost in thought, Lily flinched and turned her head.

One of the shamans standing next to the leader was extending a hand toward her.

She could see spiritual energy gathering.

‘A spell? Have they figured out? Where did I slip up?’

Her judgnt was swift.

Fifteen dark shamans, ten shamanic puppets.

Without Keros, it would be a burden.

The problem was that too many eyes were watching.

If Keros revealed his true form here, she might have to return to the forest.

She didn’t want that.

She still wanted to explore the human world.

Just as she was about to signal Keros to prepare for escape, the spiritual energy pattern forming in the shaman’s hand caught her eye.

It was similar to the pattern she had seen emanating from the cloak.

A curse.

Moreover, the energy was weak.

Hoping for the best, Lily mimicked the shaman’s curse pattern and combined her spiritual energy accordingly.

Since it was a simple, basic pattern, it seed doable.

Monts later, as the shaman released the curse, Lily released an identical one.

“…Kugh!”

The shaman’s body briefly turned black as he staggered. Seeing this, Lily also staggered slightly and then calmly dispelled the curse.

Dispelling the curse wasn’t difficult.

She simply reversed the pattern.

If the shamans had witnessed her process of dispelling the curse, they would have been shocked, but for her, it was an easy task.

The shaman attempted to cast a few more curses, and Lily quickly imitated each one.

Although they were curses she had never seen before, they were simple enough that she had no trouble replicating them.

Eventually, the lead shaman intervened.

“That’s enough. There’s no need for further doubt.”

They had cast every curse recently developed by the Nest.

Her identity was confird.

The reason for the excessive verification was the recent incident involving shamans who had been dispatched to Laup Forest and killed.

A direct order had co from the Master.

Any shaman traveling alone must have their identity verified.

Since most dark shamans were forr criminals, recruiting them without verification was risky.

They used the engraved cloak for the first round of verification and the latest shamanic spells developed by the Nest for the second.

“Take this.”

“…Huh?”

The shaman tossed her a crystal orb about the size of a head.

At first, she thought it was a communication crystal, but it appeared to be a supplentary tool to extend the communication range.

‘They have sothing like this?’

It was the first ti she had seen such an item.

Gripping the crystal orb, Lily tried to make sense of the situation. It seed she had evaded suspicion, but sothing still felt off.

“The Master has given an order. You’re to join us from now on.”

“…What?”

“We’re moving out.”

The shamans quickly moved through the crowd, parting the sea of people as they advanced.

Caught up in the montum, Lily ended up following the group in the direction she had co from.

Looking back, she saw the great city of Blyer growing more distant.

The warm bath, the cozy bed, and the highly anticipated food of the great city faded from view.

‘…What do I do now?’

She had planned to spend ti in the city while searching for Arthur Clayton, but her plan had gone awry.

Judging by the tense atmosphere, it didn’t seem like she could slip away anyti soon.

‘I guess I’ll wait for the right mont and escape later.’

The shamans seed to have enhanced their physical bodies, as their movents were remarkably swift. Lily focused on keeping up with them for now.

They dashed through the dense forest, navigating steep, rugged terrain with ease, showing no intention of stopping even in the pouring rain.

Where are they heading?

Her question was soon answered through the crystal orb she held.

It was a supplentary tool for communication.

The main communication crystal, held by the leading shaman, emitted a constant stream of voices.

It seed like they were exchanging real-ti information, as if engaged in a conversation.

[What’s the status on Blyer’s side?]

“All available forces have been deployed.”

[Are all the Van Dykes fully armored?]

“They’re fully equipped.”

[We’ve detected a golden presence. Avoid engaging in direct combat if possible.]

“Have you identified the target?”

At the shaman’s question, the previously noisy communication channel fell silent. Monts later, a languid male voice echoed from the crystal orb, causing tension to ripple through the shamans.

The group ca to an abrupt halt.

Who is it that made them stop like this?

[It’s the Lord of Blyer.]

“…Chung!”

[Identified as Alex Marcia, a rising star from Beneta and a newly erging mber of Hunt.]