I'm Neither the Mastermind nor the Villain

Chapter 15

What is a mountain?

It is a place abundant with vitality.

Why is a mountain full of vitality?

Because there are many plants in the mountain.

Thanks to the plants, insects gather, herbivores gather, and carnivores gather.

Then, what are plants?

Plants refer collectively to grasses and trees.

What are grasses and trees?

Grass is a sanctuary for insects, and trees are a sanctuary for animals.

Grass is low, and trees are tall.

And a mountain is a place densely filled with such plants.

In a mountain so dense with plants, all kinds of sounds fill the mountain.

The sound of insects chirping, birds singing, beasts crying, water flowing.

Such a mountain quietly trembles.

Insects do not cry.

Animals do not come out of their shelters.

Birds do not come to the mountain.

The only sound is just the gentle flow of water.

Then, a new sound echoed through the mountain.

It was a man's voice.

"The mountain is quiet."

That man is me.

I came to the mountain.

*

The mountain visible from the Academy.

Although it is located near the Academy, it is at an ambiguous distance-not close enough to come and go quickly from the Academy.

It looks very close and large, but when you actually try to go, it is surprisingly far away.

Yet it is so clearly visible, asserting its presence and feeling familiar since we see it every day.

This mountain was an ordinary mountain that any Korean could relate to.

The mountain looked very peaceful on the outside.

As if nothing was different from usual.

But what you see on the outside is not always everything.

The moment I entered the mountain, I felt a strange silence and inexplicable tension.

'The air is heavy.'

It felt as if the air itself was pressed flat on the ground.

That feeling grew stronger as I climbed further up the mountain.

This mountain was bizarre.

It lacked what a mountain should naturally have.

There were grasses and trees.

Tender leaves of grass and trees starting to grow now that the weather was warming up.

Such budding plants were no different from the scenery of any mountain just breaking free from winter and welcoming spring.

So, at a glance, the mountain appeared to be full of life.

But beyond that, there was nothing else.

What exists in other mountains did not exist here.

If there is grass, there should be something else, but it was missing.

There were no insects visible in this mountain.

If there are trees, there should be something else, but it was missing.

There were no animals.

No squirrels, chipmunks, or birds making their homes in the trees.

No wild boars, raccoons, or weasels.

-Whoosh.

The wind blew.

I felt it.

Like a stone embedded firmly in place wary of a rolling stone intruding, the aura of the wind was hostile toward the Intruder who had entered the mountain.

Within it, I faintly sensed dark mana.

"Looks like we've come to the right place, Mio."

"Kyeng?"

Mio, who was walking beside me, reacted to my words and looked up at me.

"Please guide me toward the place where the residual mana left by that wind is strongest."

"Sniff!"

At my words, Mio took the lead, as if telling me to follow.

Mio was good at sensing mana.

Especially sensitive to dark mana.

So, delegating this kind of tracking to Mio was most efficient.

The reason I came to this mountain was simple.

Because there are monsters in this mountain.

Saying it like that might not sound so ordinary, but since I'm not in immediate danger, it's fine.

In the original story, around this time, a terrorist attack occurs at the Academy.

This incident, caused by several dark mages and demon contractors, was the first major event the protagonist experienced after entering the Academy.

You know, that kind of cliché.

Monsters invading during the protagonist's entrance ceremony... giant beasts breaking in, that sort of thing.

In The Reincarnator Wants to Live, an incident does not occur during the entrance ceremony.

Instead, it happens two days later.

Two days after the entrance ceremony, a catastrophe unfolds as an enormous number of monsters invade the Academy.

A major incident that causes damage throughout the entire Academy.

If it were last year, the damage probably wouldn't have been so severe.

The difference between last year's seniors and this year's seniors was significant.

I heard that last year's seniors mostly aspired to combat-related fields, so their overall combat power was considerable.

There were many famous people, so in friendly matches with other academies, last year's seniors rarely lost.

They were so fierce and strong that they were called a nation of warriors.

But this year's seniors are noticeably weaker.

There are hardly any students known for strong combat skills.

I heard there are many students in fields unrelated to direct combat, like alchemy or magical engineering.

Which means the overall combat power of the Academy has greatly declined.

And that if hundreds or thousands of monsters overrun the Academy, they won't be able to handle it well.

What would have remained just a possibility last year has now become a real threat.

In the original story, two days later, a horde of monsters overruns the Academy.

The ones who planned that incident were dark mages harboring a grudge against the Academy.

And a demon contractor who took interest in the event.

The reason they chose this timing for the attack was obvious.

Because now is the most chaotic and the weakest time.

And because of that, several casualties occurred within the Academy.

There were just too many monsters.

If they were all weak monsters, it would have been fine.

The problem was, among the large number of monsters, there were also many strong ones.

Fortunately, the truly powerful monsters were all detected early and eliminated by the vice principal and the heads of each year, so there were no damages caused by them.

The problem was, those monsters caught by the vice principal and heads were just a tiny fraction.

The rest kept pouring into the Academy.

Everyone in the Academy joined forces and eventually managed to subdue all the monsters.

But the aftermath of that incident was quite severe.

The divine spellcasters who cast protective barriers and healed to save the students overexerted themselves and had to be hospitalized for several days.

The faculty members, after protecting the students and subduing the monsters, had to continue working with the police to find the mastermind.

The principal was criticized for failing to prevent the terror attack in advance, and the Academy had to close its doors for several days.

It might have been better if there had been no fatalities, but since one of the deceased students was a well-known figure, it became an even bigger issue.

And besides, not only ability users are inside and outside the Academy.

Many ability users live near the Academy, but just as many ordinary people reside there as well.

The damage suffered by ordinary people due to the monsters was also considerable.

Because the dark mages focused the monsters' attacks on the Academy, the damage to ordinary people was relatively small compared to the scale of the monsters,

but each monster was still difficult for ordinary people to handle.

Anyway, the disgrace suffered by the Academy was significant.

To the extent that they were desperate to find all the dark mages who had carried out the terror attack on the Academy along with the police.

Among the Academy's students, there were quite a few martial artists, mages, summoners, and contractors skilled in search operations.

When those students, professors, and the police combined their efforts, they were able to quickly capture the dark mages.

However, the demon contractor who had lent power to the dark mages was ultimately not found.

No, they were found.

It was just that they were discovered dead much later, around the middle of the novel.

It was briefly mentioned in passing, so I missed it, but I learned about it because someone pointed it out in the comments.

Anyway, that was how this incident came to an end.

And now, because of me, this incident will change.

Since I've possessed this body, there's no reason to leave things alone when they can be improved.

All the more so if that incident involves people's lives.

That's why I came to the mountain.

What I intend to do is reduce the number of monsters in advance so that the Academy can overcome the crisis more easily.

It would be even better if the terror attack was canceled altogether.

In this mountain, monsters prepared by the dark mages for the terror attack are lying dormant.

Since they can't prepare a large number of monsters all at once, they summoned them in advance and piled them up like grains across various mountains.

Managing the monsters requires an enormous amount of mana, but the power of the assisting demon contractor was significant.

This mountain is one of those locations.

Identifying the mountain wasn't difficult.

Because after the incident in the original story, the investigation revealed spaces in the mountains near the Academy where large groups of monsters seemed to have been stationed, along with traces of mass creature movement.

So I picked a random nearby mountain and came to check, and fortunately, it seems I picked correctly.

[I can feel them. Swarming like ants.]

I can feel it.

The scent of dark mana that cannot be hidden.

I can feel it.

The presences I sense beneath my feet.

"Then, you all must die."

Muttering to myself, I drew my sword.

-Srrng.

With a chilling sound, the sword was drawn from its scabbard and plunged into the ground.

I focused my mana into the sword.

The blade, infused with mana, turned black and spread mana underground like a conductor transmitting electricity.

I can feel it.

The vast hidden space beneath the ground.

The enormous monsters filling that vast space.

My mana seeps into the underground space.

The compressed mana, dense enough to take form, slowly unravels and fills the space like a gas.

"Marbas, I need your help."

[Leave it to me. You just need to detonate it.]

Marbas's dark mana fills the gaps between the monsters.

Slowly yet swiftly, the mana moves.

And so, the entire vast space fills with mana.

And then, it explodes.