Villain Ch 1748. Who Impersonates The Devil Emperor? [Part 2]

Red_King scratched his head. “She’s been making a lot of noise lately. After Elio kicked her from his guild, she’s been stirring drama like it’s a raid boss mechanic.”

Allen didn’t even want to unpack that. “So, this whole impersonation thing… it’s not new?”

Red_King shook his head. “Nah. Some of them have been doing it for a while. Most were just cosplaying. But recently? It’s escalated. They’re forming ambush teams. Setting up ’loyalist trials’ in open PvP zones like this.”

Allen narrowed his eyes. “Trials.”

Red_King nodded grimly. “Yeah. You enter an open PvP field like this, and they say ’If you survive, you’re worthy of fighting or joining the Emperor.’ Like they’re testing people.”

Allen stared at the horizon. The cliffs, the mist, the flickering shadows under the violet sky.

“And people actually want to join that?”

Red_King shrugged. “It’s edgy. It’s got lore. And it pisses off guild mods.”

Allen almost laughed. Almost.

Instead, he huffed, ’So this whole time, I’ve been getting blamed for raids I didn’t do, because a bunch of PvP weebs wanted to LARP as my fan club?’ he thought.

Allen rubbed a hand across his face. “Unbelievable.”

Red_King chuckled. “C’mon. Maybe it’s a compliment?”

Allen turned his head, deadpan. “They copied someone else’s name, title, and class tree—and used it to trap newbies for content.”

Red_King tilted his head. “Yeah, okay, when you say it like that, it does sound like something a creepy cult would do.”

“Creepy is generous.”

They kept walking, the air getting heavier with every step. The terrain here was different. Wrong, almost. Roots didn’t just twist—they stretched sideways, like they were trying to crawl away from the ground.

Stones floated lazily midair, defying gravity like it was more of a suggestion than a rule. Even their shadows didn’t behave right. They dragged the wrong direction, like something unseen was pulling at them.

Allen touched one of the floating stones as they passed. It pulsed faintly under his fingertips—warm, thrumming, like a heartbeat buried in obsidian.

“Maybe that’s why they lured Alex here,” Red_King said after a long silence.

Red_King adjusted his grip on his sword, his voice low. “Well… he’s been getting a name lately. You’ve seen it.”

Allen nodded slowly. That was true.

Red_King grinned. “You should read the comment section about him. It’s wild.”

“I’ll pass.”

They walked further into the twisted stretch of the Field. Allen noticed how even the ambient noise seemed thinner here. No wind. No distant monster shrieks. Just an uncomfortable hum in the air, like static waiting to snap.

Red_King kept going, “Anyway… he’s hot stuff right now. Not just in fights. He’s getting rep. People are starting to watch him. And, well… if I were some edgy fanboy cult trying to act like I served the Devil Emperor, I’d want a guy like him.”

Allen frowned. “He’s a healer.”

“Exactly,” Red_King said. “You don’t lure DPS for these things. You need support. Someone who can boost your squad, keep them alive longer. If they’re planning some big public fight to fake a ’summoning’ or whatever? A well-known healer makes the whole thing look more real.”

Allen’s jaw clenched slightly. “So he’s a prop.”

Red_King’s smile faded. “Or a target.”

Allen wasn’t sure if he was more irritated… or impressed.

“Someone really thought this through,” he muttered.

Red_King glanced sideways. “Yeah. Honestly? It’s kinda genius. If you think about it—”

Allen cut in, his tone flat, “I don’t want to think about it.”

Red_King lifted a brow but said nothing.

The air shifted again—thicker this time. Not like before. This wasn’t the silence of a trap. This was tension. Real and sharp, like the edge of a knife dragging across skin before it breaks.

Then—

A distant noise cut through the heavy quiet.

-Clang!

Followed by a burst of magical discharge.

Then more.

Red_King stopped walking. “Was that—?”

Allen raised his head slightly. “Did you hear that?”

“Sounded like…” Red_King narrowed his eyes. “A battle?”

“No.” Allen’s gaze locked toward the direction of the echoes. “A hard one.”

They didn’t waste more words. Their bodies moved before their thoughts caught up—boots hammering against scorched earth, sliding over floating stone, ducking under twisted branches of sideways-growing trees.

Allen sprinted ahead, faster, lighter. Like the air around him knew to get out of his way. Red_King followed close, heavier, louder—like a wrecking ball with intent.

As they broke past a jagged rock outcrop, the sound became clearer.

Not just clashing steel.

Screams.

Spell detonations.

Channeled buffs shouted between gasps.

And the distinct rhythm of desperation. The kind of fight you don’t win clean.

They crested a rise and stopped just before the ridge—ducked low behind a crumbled stone pillar streaked with old blood.

What they saw below made Red_King’s eyes go wide.

“Holy shit.”

In the basin below, lit by flickering violet stormlight and the chaotic flares of magic, a group of four was barely holding ground at the center of a broken shrine.

Allen’s eyes immediately locked onto one figure.

Alex.

He was kneeling, staff out, arms shaking as he forced out a pulse of healing energy that washed over the others in a fading green shimmer. His robes were scorched, his health bar barely stable, and sweat streaked down his face as he screamed for another cooldown to tick through.

Next to him was a girl Allen didn’t recognize—maybe a monk class, twin tonfas blurred as she blocked an incoming strike from a berserker twice her size. Another was a sorcerer struggling to hold up a mana barrier. And the fourth—half-covered in scorch marks and bleeding—was Elio.

And one more player?

Already down. Their body was slumped to the side. Gear broken. Respawn timer ticking.

Red_King leaned forward slowly. “Is that… Elio?”

Allen’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah.”

“And Alex is—damn, he’s healing hard.”

But it wasn’t just the desperation that got to them.

It was what surrounded them.

No less than fifty players circled the basin. Formations were tight. Ranks layered. Several healers, multiple tanks, and far too many DPS. Every single one of them was high-level. Organized.

Coordinated.

Allen’s gaze sharpened.

“These aren’t randoms.”

Red_King shook his head. “No. This is a raid team.”

Allen nodded once, slow. “And that’s not a PvP match.”

Red_King muttered under his breath. “What the hell is going on?”