I Became the Mastermind Who Betrays the Heroines

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]

Chapter 36 – Light (1)

When I opened my eyes again.

What greeted my sight was total darkness, without a single speck of light.

I rolled my eyes for a moment.

I couldn’t see anything.

The only thing surrounding me was a sticky, suffocating gloom that seemed unable to sleep.

A backdrop soaked in pitch-black darkness.

I let out a short hum and snapped my fingers.

“Hmm.”

Snap!

A light popping sound echoed in the silence.

The faint reverberation soon became a whisper of an echo, gradually filling the empty void that had once been saturated with silence.

A single thread of noise broke the stillness.

Then.

Whoosh!

Flames sprang up here and there.

As if they had been waiting for the sound to awaken them, the torches mounted on the walls began to ignite.

One by one, the flames grew until they filled the entire space.

Before I knew it, the scene had brightened considerably.

“Ugh… L-Lord Snakes?”

“…What’s going on?”

Beside me stood two girls.

Their faces, glancing around at the surroundings, were filled with obvious confusion.

Their eyes trembled slightly.

“I-I’m pretty sure the magic circle started glowing strangely…”

“The teleport seemed to activate properly.”

“Are we sure we’ve arrived at the right place…?”

“That… I’m not sure.”

Both of them were still tense, remembering the wild surge of mana that had occurred right before the teleportation.

It seemed they weren’t ready to let their guard down just yet.

Perhaps realizing that the priority was assessing the situation, Emilia calmly surveyed the space we were in.

“This place feels strange.”

The air against her cheeks was unusually cold.

A corridor stretched out before us, but there were no windows along the long walls.

Only the torches, spaced along at intervals, illuminated the darkness.

Emilia was lost in thought for a moment before turning to me as if asking for confirmation.

“It feels like we’re underground, doesn’t it?”

“I think so too.”

“For torches to be arranged this densely, it means no light reaches this place, even during the day.”

“The lack of windows is strange too.”

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“At least we can be sure we’re not at the academy.”

The air had that damp, musty smell typical of basements.

It seemed like this place hadn’t been touched in a long time, with layers of dust covering everything.

Despite that, the corridor stretched on endlessly.

“…Something about this feels off.”

The girl mumbled quietly.

As she cautiously scanned the area, Regia, who was standing behind me, grabbed onto my sleeve.

Her hand trembled faintly.

“L-Lord Snakes.”

“Miss Regia?”

“The emergency communication artifact they gave us… It’s not working.”

“Pardon?”

I checked the bracelet on my wrist.

Right before entering the exam, Selena had handed each of us an emergency communication device.

It was supposed to be linked to the supervising professor’s mana, with a blue light flickering on it. But now, it was completely dark, not emitting any signal.

It seemed the device had stopped working entirely.

“I-It’s been like this since earlier.”

“Hmm.”

I checked Emilia’s device, and it was the same.

We didn’t know where we were, whether we had arrived at the correct location, or even if we were still connected to the academy. The communication link had been cut.

In other words, we were isolated.

“Wh-What should we do now…?”

“I’m sure the academy has already noticed something’s wrong. Don’t make a fuss.”

“B-But, Lady Vanity…”

“I said it’s fine.”

The villainess replied, sounding annoyed.

Although she tried to appear calm, she unconsciously bit her nails, revealing her inner anxiety.

A tense atmosphere lingered.

I quietly observed the situation.

‘For now… is this still following the original storyline?’

I glanced around.

The sight of the old basement surrounded me. The deep darkness gave off an ominous feeling.

The damp air felt like the breath of a monster.

Though this wasn’t the exam site, technically speaking, we had arrived where we were supposed to.

After all, this was the stage for the next episode.

I carefully recalled the details.

[EP5. Midterm Exam]

– The Abandoned Laboratory, The Monster That Cannot Laugh –

In the original story, the midterm exam followed a similar course.

Regia’s group was caught in a teleportation mishap, and they woke up in the basement.

If we stayed here, ‘they’ would soon come looking for us.

We needed to move before that happened.

I turned to the two, who were still tense and uneasy.

“Why don’t we look around first?”

“Wh-What?”

“…Are you serious?”

Both of them looked at me in disbelief.

Maintaining my composure, I continued speaking.

“Perfectly serious.”

“We don’t even know where we are. And you want to wander around aimlessly?”

“We can’t just sit here and wait.”

“I’m against it.”

“I don’t understand what you’re afraid of.”

I shrugged lightly, as if to say it was no big deal.

“If we walk around, we might find an exit. And judging by the fact that we’re underground, this seems like a man-made facility… We might even find someone here to help us.”

“But it doesn’t look like anyone’s been here in a long time.”

“That’s all the more reason to move. If no one’s here to help, it’s better for us to start figuring out our surroundings ourselves.”

“…Hmm.”

Emilia frowned, thinking it over.

Most people would argue to stay put, but I had things to do here, so I needed to look around.

There was someone I had to find in this place.

‘Their whereabouts have been so elusive… not even my knowledge of the original story could help locate them, but…’

Today, an opportunity had finally presented itself.

This midterm exam was a trap, and knowing that, I still willingly walked into it for this reason.

Of course, some might wonder why I didn’t just search the entire basement using my powers, but this place was vast and deep.

It was almost as large as the Astro headquarters.

And structurally, it was even more complex.

‘I need to proceed carefully.’

I wouldn’t waste my energy recklessly.

I’d planned this carefully and wanted to make sure it ended smoothly.

Employee benefits really are a burden.

Who else in the world gets asked to find someone’s missing family by their boss?

As I reflected on this briefly.

“…Alright. You must have your reasons.”

Emilia finally responded.

Had she been swayed by my silver tongue again?

Or had she remembered the terms of our deal and reluctantly decided to follow me?

Either way, I was grateful.

“Hehe.”

I patted her head in praise.

Her neatly combed blue hair shifted slightly. Though Emilia frowned, she didn’t resist.

The way she reluctantly tolerated it made the moment even more amusing.

“Shall we start walking, then?”

“Do whatever you want.”

“M-Me too… I’ll go with you!”

We began walking.

Towards the seemingly endless corridor.

***

Meanwhile, in the lowest level of the basement.

A hidden room that could only be reached by descending a maze-like staircase seven times.

In that room sat a man.

“They’ve finally arrived.”

He was draped in a jet-black robe.

Behind him was a symbol resembling the roots of a tree—a symbol of the cult.

The man’s gaze moved slyly.

Tsk, tsk.

His fingers tapped lightly on the desk.

Unlike the neglected basement outside, the room was meticulously clean and well-organized.

In front of the man was a screen.

“They’re handling this more calmly than I expected.”

The large underground complex.

The hundreds of magical devices installed beforehand continuously monitored the situation.

The man grinned wickedly.

“The Vanity girl, the top student, and even a summoner who commands wyverns… It seems our man did a good job. To think I’d be able to acquire such high-quality sacrifices.”

His grin spread with sinister intent.

As he absentmindedly stroked his twisted lips, he began scribbling something in a notebook.

Drip, drip.

Thick, dark drops of liquid fell from the ceiling.

As the pages of the notebook were stained red, the man’s laughter echoed deeply.

“Let’s observe for now.”

It was a process of testing how valuable these sacrifices truly were.

He thought of the ‘creations’ he had released in the basement.

Most of them were failures due to a lack of resources, but—

“There’s one… ‘masterpiece’ hidden down there.”

He stared at the screen showing the farthest, most hidden part of the basement.

In the center of the cluttered underground chamber, only a strange shadow flickered.

The man felt a chill of pleasure run down his spine.

The finest masterpiece created in Belzen.

How much blood and flesh of living beings had been added to create that thing?

His lips moved mindlessly.

“…Beautiful.”

He could only hope the sacrifices would further perfect his ‘artwork.’

His lips twisted in a grotesque smile.

The image of students drenched in blood danced in his mind.

His eyes, hidden by the darkness, gleamed with corruption.

Like a tree with deep, rotting roots.

The man wiped his reddened eyes and clasped his hands together.

“All for the One who is the source of all… Our lord.”

With a momentary prayer, his eyelids closed.

The believer's prayer, covered in blood, was a scene stained by madness.

For a moment, the screen flickered off.

So the man didn’t see it.

[…..]

The narrow eyes watching him from the shadows.

The golden snake flicked its tongue, silently observing its prey.

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]