[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-villain-s-pov":3,"chapter-the-villain-s-pov-the-villain-s-pov-chapter-344":6,"glossary-terms-598":24},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","THE VILLAIN'S POV",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},336531,598,"Chapter 344: The Cost of a Few (1)","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-344",344,"\u003Cp>– Frey Starlight’s POV –\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was still wandering through the endless deserts of the Ultras continent, trudging forward as a violent sandstorm howled around me, tearing apart everything in its path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But even so, I didn’t stop. I wrapped a piece of my clothing around my face, leaving only my eyes exposed, and pressed on through the blinding sand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It had been four days since I parted ways with the other students after our battle against the witch Beatrice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’d spent those days running like a madman, searching for them, but I found nothing. No trace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There weren’t many people in this world whose deaths would truly affect me. The ones close to me were so few, I could count them on one hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet ironically, most of them were now among the other elite students...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I wasn’t the kind of person to break down if people around me died randomly. I’d already grown numb after losing those I held dear again and again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I couldn’t accept the idea of losing the few who remained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Step by step, I pushed through the storm, refusing to stop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whenever I had the chance, I opened the system interface to check on them...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Affection Points:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Snow Lionheart: 50\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sansa Valerion: 75\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Danzo Smasher: 50\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ghost Umbra: 50\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These were the only four whose affection points had surpassed 50, which meant I could still locate them using the Third-Person Perspective skill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s how I confirmed they were all still alive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But knowing their location was another matter entirely. All the terrain here on this damned continent looked the same.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I kept staring at their names on the screen, even as the sand whipped into my face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sometimes, I hesitated to use the skill, afraid of what I might find. Afraid they’d be dead. Torn apart by the Ultras. I couldn’t shake those thoughts from my mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But deep within that anxious heart of mine... I knew I was a hypocrite.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because I was still clinging to the Nameless Mask. I still remembered the Unnamed King, the man who once fought Agaroth himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And somewhere inside my exhausted heart, I feared him more than I feared losing my friends.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the people I cared about died one by one... what would I have left?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I know myself better than anyone. If that happened, I’d become nothing more than a cold, unfeeling killing machine... incapable of caring about anyone ever again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And that... is the very definition of one man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A king without a trace of emotion — Nameless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The more I became like him, the more something inside me began to die. I feared I was losing myself piece by piece.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe that’s exactly what the blue-eyed one wanted ... the one who knew my future and was paving the road toward it by any means necessary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Against a power that immense, all I could do was fight back against the current of fate that kept dragging me into new suffering, hoping what I had would be enough.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I could never escape my own pessimism — this cursed mindset that always turned my worst thoughts into reality. It gave me insomnia. These eyes of mine had seen enough horror to last a lifetime...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, in a fleeting moment, my eyes fell upon another name — one I had left off to the side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Affection Points:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ada Starlight: 99\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My sister Ada, the last remaining member of my family. The only one who held this much affection toward me...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I wondered how she was doing on the other side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How was she dealing with everything? Would she try to save me?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Of course she would.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a faint smile, I kept moving forward, unaware of the storm that was unfolding across the world...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>---\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>---\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The disappearance of the temple students — of the strongest generation — was no small matter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A war between the Empire and the Ultras was already inevitable. What happened only accelerated the process.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>– Shezclar Bay –\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Part of the Demon Sea that divided the two continents... located on the eastern shore of the Ultras continent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This bay was known for its perpetual fog — so thick it completely blocked visibility year-round.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Normally, it remained quiet, teeming with nightmare creatures swimming freely below.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now, that calm had been shattered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even the dense fog could no longer hide what was coming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For the first time in history, Shezclar Bay had become a battlefield .. one where armies prepared to tear each other apart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The mighty fleet of the Empire, its colossal ships casting vast shadows across the sea, had forcefully broken through the Ultras’ naval defenses, clashing against them in the open waters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For countless hours, the thunder of long-range magical cannons and mortar shells echoed without pause.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The nightmare creatures that roamed the seas fled in terror, unable to comprehend the madness of humans so eager to slaughter one another.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Fire, you useless bastards! I know you’re not out of shells—I gave them to you myself, damn it!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Iris Sunlight roared from the main mast of the Sunlight family’s flagship, his flaming beard dancing with the wind. The family had taken command of this sudden assault.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Fire!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With every order, artillery shells ripped through the sky like rain, bombarding the enemy from above.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, Iris’s fists ignited with flames as he launched explosive fireballs with his own body .. turning himself into a walking artillery cannon, obliterating enemy ships single-handedly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But they weren’t the only ones attacking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Ultras retaliated just as fiercely, dealing heavy damage in return.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Damn it...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Iris clenched his teeth, his gaze fixed on the chaotic battlefield.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hundreds of Imperial ships clashed against hundreds of Ultras, who refused to let them advance an inch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Iris had rushed to the frontlines the moment he heard about what had happened to his sons—and his nephew.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet, to his surprise, it was as if the enemy fleet had been waiting for him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Iris! The situation’s bad!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He turned to the voice beside him—a younger man clad in a crimson combat suit, with blazing red hair and an eyepatch over one eye.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was Gal Varion Sunlight, second-in-command of the Sunlight family and father of Phoenix Sunlight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Gal... what happened?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a grim expression, Gal pointed westward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Something’s tearing through our ships on that side.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Iris narrowed his eyes, trying to peer through the thick mist. Then he saw it—destruction sweeping across that flank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What the hell is going on?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>*Raaaaaaaagghhhhhh!!*\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before he could grasp the situation, a monstrous, gut-wrenching scream pierced his eardrums like a dagger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In perfect sync with that cursed cry, one of the ships was shredded into pieces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he saw it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A knight clad in dark armor, carrying a colossal sword on his back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He leaped into the sea, running wildly across its surface on three limbs—his body defying logic as the ocean became his hunting ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a single swing, he demolished another ship and slaughtered everyone aboard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That knight was no ordinary being.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was one of the Hollow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was Pontiff Sulyvahn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tearing through everything in sight, the Pontiff was ready to keep rampaging—until a massive beam of fire struck him from the sky, blasting him hundreds of meters back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He landed unharmed, glaring furiously at Iris, who now hovered above the battlefield in midair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So, you’re the one they were talking about? The Hollow, or whatever you are.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Iris’s body flared with blazing heat, boiling the sea beneath him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then burn in hell!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Channeling a torrent of flame, Iris launched a meteor-sized fireball straight at the Pontiff, aiming to erase him from existence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Sulyvahn roared and leapt into the air, his sword cloaked in dark aura.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With one swing, he split the fireball in two and continued charging forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Gal Varion appeared beside him and delivered a missile-like punch to the Pontiff’s side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The impact sent him flying once again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gal, still airborne, stared in shock as Sulyvahn stood up .. completely unharmed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Be careful, Gal. This bastard is SS+ class.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I figured that much already, brother.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ignoring the constant barrage of shells overhead, the Sunlight brothers focused their attention on the monstrous Pontiff, who snarled and lunged at them.\u003C\u002Fp>",1380,"2026-05-30T03:41:22.346Z","2026-06-01T04:30:12.387Z",1,"novelbin.me","75fbe3ee63d2aeb4f47cd9fbc056a89fb3a3752091346b4fd95b276e39350131","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-345","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-343",866,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-villain-s-pov-cover.jpg",{"terms":25},[]]