"At last! I can now feel at ease with the death of the hero! Without him around I can finally conquer the world!"
Ending his words with a sinister laugh, Rience Valthorne drew his sword, and the hero's body crumpled before him.
With the strongest out of the way, only six remained.
Each of his steps sent shivers through the hero's comrades. After all, if even the hero couldn't defeat him, what hope did the rest of them have? Could they even scratch him?
'Ahh, this damn system. Killing the no.1 hunter of the USA right off the bath. Shouldn't the system fight him at the end?'
[With the Hero's death, the collapse for Earth 1220 is already inevitable. Contacting Administrator in order to inform the successful operation.]
'The hell? What are you contacting now, system? The only thing that you should be doing is giving back my body and stopping this nonsense!'
While the hero's six comrades trembled at the mere thought of facing Rience, the villainous person was there moving at the system's control while his true self was hovering around them like a ghost.
'This damned system. What if you suddenly give back my body? Are you going to leave me with all this mess that you have caused? Ah, I will seriously die if the government finds out that I did all of those things.'
If only he was able to prove that he wasn't the one who did those but System 1220 who took control of him. If only he was able to regain his body back.
Rience wanted to fight the system for the control of his own body, but he couldn't. Ever since that system took control of his body, he was in his ghost form.
Unable to speak, unable to move, forced to watch as his own body acted under someone else's command. The helplessness gnawed at him, sharp and relentless.
The only thing he could do was to vent his frustration by an unrelenting stream of rants and complaints, all confined to his own mind.
"Don't just stand there! Use your most powerful attack and direct it all at him!"
The burly man holding a machete shouted to his companion, even though he was as terrified as them he wanted to live.
"You're right! Let's all attack him!"
As she replied to the burly man, she moved her body and started chanting a spell.
While the witch was preparing for her ultimate spell, the other 5 didn't just stand by. They also started attacking Rience.
"Hmm... Do you think you can stop me? You are all weaklings."
Rience could hear his voice coming out as a smooth, aristocratic silk that made his skin crawl. There was too much coldness in his voice that clearly differs from his true self.
'Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!' Rience screamed internally, his ghost-form clutching its head.
'Those people are all S-class! What should I do if they're guild wanted to take revenge? Let's hope that they will not recognize me even though I am wearing a mask.'
[Error! The Administrator cannot be contacted right now. Try again after 30 minutes.]
'Huh? Why is this system contacting this Administrator? And an error? So this system also makes mistakes, huh?'
While the system was busy controlling his body, the soul of Rience could only watch things unfolding like a ghost lingering around the lobby.
He looked at his body taking a big leap and slashed at the big chandelier at the top.
The chandelier was enormous, far too heavy to be ornamental. It crashed down with bone-rattling force, slamming the burly man into the floor and pinning him there, the sheer weight of it enough to keep even his strength from throwing it aside.
"Nathan!"
As the one in front, Nathan took a direct hit from the gigantic chandelier.
"D-don't worry about me. Just focus on attacking that man!"
Taking the chandelier head on didn't kill him, after all, he was still an S-Rank tanker. His body was tougher and stronger than any of the other S-Rank present.
'Hckk! That chandelier looked expensive! The sofa, the tables, the reception desk and even the tiles are all ruined. That damned system! Let's hope that they will not let me pay for the damages. I'm just a miserable broke-ass B-class hunter!'
As Rience looked around, he couldn't help but think how he would become a poor hunter to an even poorer hunter if he were to pay for all the damages.
Although he was a hunter with one of the highest-paying jobs, his cowardly personality meant he rarely took part in raids so he didn't have a steady income.
For the past 5 years since his hunter awakening, he had only been going to dungeon raids whenever he was broke. After all, if he was thrifty, he could stretch the income from one raid to cover a year's expenses.
'What should I do if I'm discovered? Ahh! System 1220! Stop controlling my body! I'm not a villain. I'm just an ordinary B-Rank hunter! And I'm not even a swordsman! I'm an archer! An archer!'
Rience looks at his body skillfully using a sword while deflecting 4 people attacking his body. He was seriously anxious. Each of his sword slash, was making his heart skip a beat due to fear.
The mere thought of looking at his body having a close-range fight rather than creating a distance from a safe space and then attack was seriously wearing down his mental capacity.
'Ah seriously! Stop using my body!'
As soon as he channeled all his thoughts towards stopping, everything paused. As if time-stopped freezing the battle in front of him.
'W-what's happening? Is this another antics of the system?'
His first thought was that this was another antics of the system. He was not suprised if that fucking System 1220 was capable of doing this.
[Warning! Losing connection with Earth 1220's Villain.]
Suddenly, the system control panel appeared in front of him.
'Losing control? What did it mean?'
[Connecting with Earth 1220's Villain…]
[Error!]
[Connecting with Earth 1220's Villain…]
[Error!]
[Connecting with Earth 1220's Villain…]
[Error!]
[After 3 repeated failures with connecting to Earth 1220's Villain, initializing a request for Reset approval.]
'What's happening? What's all this error about? And what's this request for Reset approval?'
[Error! Due to no response for the Reset approval, automatic Reset initializing.]
'Huh? No response? What's this damned system doing?'
[Reset will start at 10!]
'W-wait! Why suddenly counting down?'
[9!]
'Hey system! Explain what's happening!'
[8!]
'Are you going to destroy this world! Am I going to survive in my ghost form or am I going to disintegrate…? Nooooo! My body!'
In his ghost form Rience tried to forcibly enter in his body.
[5!]
'My dear body, please let me in!'
[4!]
'Ahh! Let me in!'
Rience tried punching, kicking and even forcibly enter his body.
[3!]
'I SAID, LET ME IN MY BODY!'
His vision distorted, and suddenly he couldn't move as freely as he was before in his ghost form. However, the same system notification was still in front of him.
'Finally—'
[1!]
Before he could complete his thoughts, everything became black.