Am I The Villain?

27. Welcome To The Forsaken Region. Please Enjoy Your Stay!

Our two pairs of feet sloshed on the muddled dirt path as puddles of water reflected the dying light of the dusk sun. The road we travel is a road rarely traveled only by suicidal maniacs, greed blinded treasure hunters and desperate vagabonds. Vegetation and holes adorns the makeshift dirt path, impeding our movements. Around the narrow passageway, tall snow covered cliffs ascend into the sky and rain down flakes of snows unto the top of our hood covered heads.

Crawling grotesquely on the side of the cliffs are pale leathery reptilians the size of a car. Their bulging black eye beads follow our every move with caution. Soft feline purring sounds reverberated from their vibrating throat. Content with just watching, they didn't even bother climbing down from the cliffs to attack us. Looking closely, I can see pale blue mana softly swirling inside of them.

The boy walking beside me hasn't spoken much since we left Carina. He is just walking without minding the various creatures gazing us. His hood is pulled down covering most of his upper face in shadows. Beyond the shadow, void colored hair covers his right eye. I tried making small talks like I usually do but he just answered them shortly with one or two words. The only useful information I inferred from our one-sided conversation is that his name is Adorean. He didn't even bother telling me why he's going to the Forsaken Region in the first place. Likewise, I also didn't tell him why I'm here either.

We walked in silence until the passageway opened up at the end of the valley. Orange tinted landscape of winter wonderland was laid bare in front of us, complete with frigid boreal trees ornamenting the endless white plains. Far in the distance, the tip of a spiring crumbling tower peeks out from the horizon.

I turned toward Adorian, "Where should we camp out for the night? Should we go into that forest and try to hunt some food too?" I consulted while pointing at the snow frosted woods ahead of us.

"Sounds good." He succinctly replied with an ever unchanging expression.

As we were about to resume our journey, something flew up from the forest. It's a deep wine colored winged creature with. The creature rose up far into the sky before sharply diving toward us at a screeching speed.

Magical circles quickly engraved themselves to the snow around Adorean and monsters hastily leapt up from them. A massive golem with body made of iron stepped in front of Adorean to cover him while small sky colored wolves stood behind him. I also formed a wall made of thick ice to cover me. The wall is covered with sharp sturdy pikes of ice. Why ice? Because it fits the theme of this level—err, area of course!

The creature deftly dipped down to avoid crashing into our defenses. The ground trembled as he collided with the earth, sending snows flying around it. After the dust has settled, I can finally see the creature closely. Its head is stretched backward with folds of meat bulging out, forming a vaguely brain-like shape. Just like me, skin covers the holes where its eyes are supposed to be. Its body is skeletal thin of skin and bones. Four long limbs stretch out from its humanoid torso forming a pair of arms and legs. Red mana flows inside it. An Old One!

How should I approach this fight? I could just impale it with my tentacles and get it over with or I could squirt it with black liquid and watch it slowly die in pain, but neither of those options are fun. Back when I was flying to the Capital, I also saw monsters down on the ground. Out of pure cruelty and mischief, I rained down my black liquid on them. Like bombing civilians with a drone, they didn't even get a chance to fight back. THAT was fun for a while, but then it got stale after I rained on the twentieth group of monster I found.

Besides, I already promised not to use Viltria's or Yorheim's overpowered abilities. No tentacles, liquid, or teleportation allowed on this journey. Just for fun.