The Greatest Villain of All Time Has Returned
Volume 1, Episode 1
001
Rumer.
A planet bearing a peculiar name, it was literally a land of monsters.
A battlefield of countless monsters and powerful beings.
This vast place of endless war and unknown end could literally be described as hell.
And I was...
Clang!
...nothing but a mere human who had fallen into this hell.
Among beings that could crush steel with their fingers and smash human bones to powder by simply pressing down, a human was nothing but an infinitely pitiful and weak existence.
I was such a human—I, I Seojun.
'Human.'
A human who wouldn't be strange to die at any moment.
A human who could be praised for enduring even a single day here.
Though I was nothing more than such a human.
'I survived.'
In the end, I survived here, on the planet Rumer.
'One year. Ten years. One hundred years.'
At some point, I even stopped counting the passage of time.
Having survived like that, I was now...
"Kwoooooo!"
...standing before the existence that could be called the king of Rumer, the planet of monsters.
* * *
-The King of Rumer.
A transcendent apex predator even in this place teeming with monsters, existing on a completely different level.
An existence possessing unconventional, overwhelming power that could instill absolute terror from merely facing it.
The shocking memory from when I first encountered such a being, the King of Rumer, was still deeply embedded in my mind.
-Is this all? Not even worth a diversion.
Over a thousand monsters, even dragons bearing different horns and scales.
The King of Rumer had felled them all alone.
-Ssssh.
Though I had been watching that scene from afar, the moment I felt like my eyes had met those of the existence called the King of Rumer, I felt overwhelming terror.
My body grew numb from the fear constricting my entire being, reaching a point where I couldn't move a single finger.
-By any means necessary.
From then on, I avoided the existence called the King of Rumer.
Because I didn't want to feel that overwhelming terror ever again.
Because I didn't want to feel that bone-chilling fear, the kind that made me think dying would be better, ever again.
But that was...
-Fear.
...not something that could be solved merely by avoiding the King of Rumer.
Another terror was waiting for me.
As time passed, various fears began to encroach upon my mind.
-Who am I?
Identity.
-Why do I exist?
Existence.
-Why do I keep living?
These thoughts began to torment my mind.
After spending an uncountable amount of time in these hellish days, beyond one year, ten years, and one hundred years, I began to forget my identity, my existence.
Each time these repeated, I would mentally collapse and be swept away by tremendous fear.
And eventually...
-Kwooooo!
...I began to go mad.
It would be stranger not to go mad in such a situation.
To the me who had gone mad, I needed a goal to shake these things off, a reason for me to exist, and...
-Goal.
The King of Rumer became that goal.
-Perhaps.
I thought that by killing the King of Rumer, my world, these hellish days, might change.
This was also a kind of suicide attempt.
A life I had tried countless times to end but couldn't on my own.
It was like an attempt to have someone else end that life for me.
And so now...
"Kwooooo!"
...I faced the King of Rumer, who had been an existence of fear, directly.
"So it was you."
An ordinary male build.
Silver long hair reaching down to his chest.
Pupils bearing a deep yellow hue.
A humanoid form with a large horn protruding from his forehead.
'Demon King.'
The King of Rumer looked like a Demon King seen only in novels.
If I fumbled through old memories, he might be called handsome, emanating such a presence.
Compared to him, I was...
Crack.
...a monster.
A horrifying monster in appearance, with not a trace of human form to be found.
But this couldn't be helped.
To survive here as a human, I had to abandon my humanity.
'The reason.'
The reason I had been able to survive on this planet, Rumer.
It was because I had been a test subject of some unknown organization.
The ability I possessed was...
[Assimilation]
The ability to attach flesh other than my own and assimilate with it to use a new body.
At the research facility where I had been, this was merely a lowest-tier ability that allowed one to display slightly stronger stamina and strength, but on Rumer, the land of monsters, it was different.
-Crunch! Craaack!
The first was a goblin's arm.
When I attached a goblin's arm in place of my severed one.
-I became able to use goblin poison.
A supernatural ability.
Having obtained that, I could survive here.
But everything comes with a price.
As that price, I had to abandon my humanity.
'Legs.'
Dozens of sharply extending legs.
These were obtained after capturing an existence with three horns that had been powerful even on the planet Rumer, the Arachne Queen.
Slither. Sliiither.
Also, the dozens of tentacles replacing my severed right arm.
These belonged to the Lucon, which had four horns.
Besides that, my eyes, organs, and everything else were from monsters.
The only thing that currently allowed me to think of myself as me was one thing.
'My brain.'
Only that was uniquely mine.
Arms, legs, skin, lungs, heart, and other organs were all from monsters.
"You dare, without a shred of fear, to have killed the pets I raised. Was it you?"
The King of Rumer I was looking at had a proper human appearance.
But looking like a human was merely his outer appearance.
'Seven horns.'
The seven horns growing on his head and body.
That proved he was the King of Rumer.
And so I...
"Kwooooo!"
...let out a massive roar and charged at him.
Toward the King of Rumer in human form, who had become the goal for me, who had gone mad.
* * *
The desperate battle had finally ended.
It had been a grueling fight.
With the sole determination to kill him, I had recklessly devoted myself to battle.
Because of that, I didn't know how much time had passed.
Drip. Drip-drop-drop.
My entire body was tattered, and the bodies of the powerful monsters had all fallen away.
As a result, I had become a grotesque form of mere scraps of flesh.
Everything I had built up until now on Rumer, the land of monsters, had fallen away.
But it was fine.
'I won.'
Because I had ultimately emerged victorious in battle.
Because I had finally succeeded in defeating the King of Rumer, who had been my goal.
'He's definitely dead.'
That mad monster, the King of Rumer, stood there as if nothing was wrong.
But he was definitely dead.
The fact that he stood still like a robot with its functions ceased was the proof.
Scrape. Scraaape.
I desperately crawled toward him, who stood upright.
Crawling arduously in a form of mere flesh.
A small noise like a sack of flour scraping the ground occurred.
How much time had passed like that?
'....'
Finally.
I arrived before him, the King of Rumer.
Slither.
I crawled up toward him.
I crawled up his upright legs.
-I must take it.
I had thought that during the battle with the King of Rumer.
I had thought I must take the appearance of the King of Rumer, who had a human form.
-For a true monster to wear a human appearance.
It felt like a considerable disconnect.
Because I, who had been human, was wearing the unmistakable form of a monster.
That was why I had thought I must take it.
But now, that reason had slightly changed.
'I...'
cannot die like this.
I will survive.
Now that the time to truly die had come, the desire to live surged.
Perhaps because it finally felt like the end.
'Now.'
That was why I was crawling up his body.
Slither.
With a body that had become mere scraps of flesh, with only my brain remaining, I crawled up to the top of his head.
At that moment.
'Assimilation.'
I used Assimilation.
Then.
Flash!
A red radiance burst forth from his body.
The whole world was dyed red.
My vision was completely filled with red.
At the same time.
Sliiither.
I felt my body connecting with his body.
The symptoms of using Assimilation were felt intact.
'Like this.'
If the Assimilation proceeded as usual, his body would soon become mine.
Just like the monsters' bodies I had used before, it would become mine.
Just as I was thinking this.
'......!'
A bizarre scene occurred.
'This is.'
An unfamiliar sensation I had never felt when using Assimilation before had abruptly reared its head.
'My body.'
It wasn't simply the feeling of flesh being attached.
I felt my body seeping into his body.
'I can't see.'
The red radiance still dominated my vision, so I couldn't see anything.
Only this unfamiliar sensation felt through my skin.
I couldn't visually confirm what kind of change was happening now.
Then, after a brief moment, the moment my vision returned.
"......!"
I couldn't contain my surprise.
Because it was different from when I had used Assimilation normally.
'It's gone.'
My body, which had been reduced to mere scraps of flesh, had completely vanished.
I checked again and again at the unbelievable scene, but the result was the same.
My vision had also changed to that of the King of Rumer, to his vision.
'Just now.'
The unfamiliar sensation I had felt.
The feeling that I was seeping into his body had actually occurred.
It wasn't that my flesh had been attached; I had perfectly transformed into the appearance of the King of Rumer.
Snap.
All his body parts, including his hands and feet, moved freely according to my will.
The existence that had been on a different dimension from ordinary monsters, who had inspired overwhelming terror, had now become me.
'What happened?'
Why had such a scene occurred?
While I was bewildered.
Ding!
[The system recognizes the new master of the final boss, Aion.]
A blue message I had never seen in my life floated before my eyes.
[Setting new master.]
A language I hadn't heard in a very long time rang in my ears.
'This is.....!'
Having experienced these things, I felt like tears would flow at any moment.
That thing which had now grown distant.
'The human language.'
How long had it been since I heard the human language?
Though I didn't know what it was, that wasn't important right now.
The fact that the human language had reached my ears was more important to me.
In this place where nothing but monsters existed, it was no different from a ray of light.
Then at that moment.
[Setting I Seojun as master.]
[As the price for conquering the final boss, the planet Rumer is destroyed.]
[The player returns to the original world.]
Human language continuously rang in my ears.
With that, my vision was dyed in deep darkness.
The Greatest Villain of All Time Has Returned