[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-i-am-a-villain-so-what":3,"chapter-i-am-a-villain-so-what-i-am-a-villain-so-what-chapter-48":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","I Am a Villain, So What?",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1506373,1956,"Chapter 48: Slime","i-am-a-villain-so-what-chapter-48",48,"\u003Cp>The sky had burned down to a bruised orange by the time I reached the slums. The air tasted faintly of smoke and old rain; even from a distance, the orphanage looked more like an abandoned warehouse than a place anyone should live. No laughter, no sound of life — just the brittle silence of a street that had learned to keep its head down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An old woman stopped me at the corner. \"You don’t seem to be from around here,\" she said without preamble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hard to hide this uniform,\" I replied evenly. \"Why do you ask?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Because if you were from here, you wouldn’t be standing out this late.\" Her tone carried a worn, weary warning. \"Kids have been disappearing lately.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My answer came automatic, almost lazy. \"Thanks for the warning, but I can take care of myself.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She stared for a moment longer — like she wanted to argue — then turned away, muttering something about fools in uniforms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn’t linger. The spot I was looking for wasn’t far — a narrow opening half–hidden behind a pile of splintered crates and rotting planks. The kind of place no one would notice unless they were searching for it. I crouched, pulled the crates aside, and lifted the cover.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The smell that hit me was the city’s underbelly in its purest form — rot, oil, stagnant water, and old smoke all fused together into something that made my stomach tighten. I slipped my Winchester’s strap over my shoulder and drew the long knife from its sheath. Gunfire echoed far in tunnels like these; steel would have to do.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The passage was narrow, damp stone glistening under the weak glow of my lantern. Water dripped from above, slow and rhythmic. Bubbles rippled across a dark pool at the tunnel’s bend. A few small footprints, hurried and uneven, led deeper into the dark.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Good. I followed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Something shifted in the corner of my eye — the faint scrape of claws over stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then a blur erupted from the muck.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A rat the size of a hound lunged forward, its slick fur clotted with filth, teeth bared and eyes glowing like wet embers. The stench hit a moment before it did.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I moved without thinking. The rifle’s stock smashed into its flank with a crack of wood and bone, throwing it off balance. Before it could recover, I stepped in close and drove my dagger beneath its jaw — quick, precise, brutal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rat’s claws raked my forearm in its death throes, a hot sting across my skin, but I didn’t flinch. The creature went limp, collapsing into the sludge with a dull, wet thud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Silence reclaimed the tunnel. The only sound was the faint drip of water echoing off the stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I exhaled slowly, wiped the blood from my hand against my sleeve.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I pressed on, deeper into the dark.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>*****\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Lucien moved deeper into the tunnel, his boots sloshing through the murky water, the air grew thicker — heavier — with that sickly dampness unique to places the sun had forgotten.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind him, far enough not to notice, three other figures dropped into the sewers one by one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment they landed, a chorus of disgust echoed down the tunnel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What the hell?!\" Elisha gagged, pinching her nose. \"It smells like somethingdieddown here — no, like everything died!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It smells so bad...\" Mariella groaned, trying to cover her nose with her sleeve. \"Whose bright idea was this again?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Huh? Regretting already?\" Princess Celestia said dryly, waving her hand in front of her face as a light-blue mana orb flickered above her palm. \"It was your idea to follow him.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mariella shot her a glare. \"Excuse me? Youagreedto it, Your Highness.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Elisha groaned, exasperated. \"Guys? Do you think this is really the time to argue about whose fault it is that we’re standing in a river of literal crap?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"...Fair,\" Celestia admitted, pressing her fingers to her temple. \"Let’s just find out what Lucien’s doing down here before we all pass out.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mariella sighed. \"Yeah, fine. But if we find out he’s just here to brood or something, I’m kicking him into this sewer myself.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Now, now,\" Elisha said, raising her bow and channeling a faint glow along its frame. \"Let’s go before he disappears on us.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They began tailing after me — carefully, silently, though their occasional curses echoed far enough that if I hadn’t been busy, I might have heard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The group didn’t have much trouble with the monsters lurking here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sewer rats lunged from the dark, only to be cut down by Celestia’s conjured ice lances before they even got close.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A cluster of giant bats swooped from above — Mariella’s wind magic sliced them apart in one sweep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Elisha picked off stragglers with unerring precision, her arrows striking through narrow shadows with sharpthunks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, Celestia froze half the tunnel just to keep her boots clean. The entire sewer turned into an ice-carved passage, glittering blue in the dim lanternlight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Talk about being overpowered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But before the three could celebrate their small victory—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>BOOM!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A deafening crack echoed through the tunnels, rattling the walls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All three froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That—\" Elisha began, eyes wide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Celestia’s gaze sharpened. \"A gunshot.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There’s only one idiot who uses a gun in the academy,\" Mariella muttered, already breaking into a run. \"That has to be him!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They hurried forward, boots splashing through icy water.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>******\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I dove behind a half-collapsed support pillar as another glob of viscous green liquid splattered across the wall beside me, sizzling through stone like acid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Damn motherf*cker!\" I shouted, panting. \"Why the hell is there aSlime Kinghere!?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The thing loomed ahead of me like a glistening mountain of emerald tar, its gelatinous surface rippling with every shift. Inside its translucent body, I could faintly make out shapes — bones, armor fragments, maybe even skulls — dissolved and floating like decorations in its stomach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wasn’t this supposed to be achimera?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yeah. According to the game, the monster that attacked the slums was a chimera — dangerous, sure, but predictable. This thing? This was a goddamn nightmare.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most people in other worlds think slimes are beginner monsters. Adorable blobs you squash for XP.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Here? They’re walking catastrophes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its body absorbed most physical damage; it could split, reform, and regenerate almost endlessly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And worse — its acid could melt through steel in seconds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And I, of course, was agunslinger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Physical damage specialist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just my luck.\u003C\u002Fp>",1076,"2026-06-06T04:52:01.856Z",1,"novelbin.me","70623de82ad61cb4172774342d84577acbc4edbb346ee1a3acbf57225048501d","i-am-a-villain-so-what-chapter-49","i-am-a-villain-so-what-chapter-47",230,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-am-a-villain-so-what-cover.jpg"]