Villain MMORPG: Almighty Devil Emperor and His Seven Demonic Wives - Chapter 1536

Chapter 1536: Half-Dead
Villain Ch 1536. Half-Dead

They had survived. Somehow.

But it had been brutal.

They regrouped near the center platform. Allen pulled out a potion—downed it without a word. The bitter taste burned, but the warmth of healing spread fast.

Everyone followed suit. Bottles clinked. Corks popped. Zoe even collapsed backward with a groan, letting the healing wash over her like it was a bath.

Jane flopped onto her summoned bone couch. “Is it weird that I had fun?”

Vivian tossed her an exhausted glare. “You’re definitely broken.”

Allen didn’t speak. He sat at the edge of the glyph. Breathing. Watching.

The Abyss had gone quiet.

Too quiet.

But they all knew what that meant.

The throne was waiting.

And the next trial would be the hardest yet.

Allen remained seated on the edge of the central glyph, one hand resting lazily on the hilt of his sword, the other holding a half-empty potion flask. He wasn’t exactly relaxed—but for the first time in what felt like hours, he wasn’t moving. His cloak, torn and darkened with smoke, fluttered slightly with the faint, unnatural breeze still circulating through the abyssal chamber.

Around him, the girls slowly gathered.

Vivian stretched her arms overhead, then immediately winced and sat down on a broken pillar. “Ugh. I think I broke a rib.”

“Only one?” Jane muttered, eyes fluttering closed. “I think I coughed out a bit of my soul.”

“You don’t even have one,” Bella said from where she sat cross-legged, gulping down a glowing blue potion. Her fox tails drooped behind her like exhausted flags.

Shea flopped onto her stomach beside Allen, wings half-folded and twitching. “I vote we never fight seven dragons at once ever again.”

“I second that,” Zoe said, her voice unusually quiet as she leaned against the base of one of the thrones, the glow from her body dim and flickering. “This is rare, but… yeah. This time was kinda messy.”

“Messy?” Alice asked, her voice higher than usual, strained. “We’re half-dead. And you’re saying kinda messy?”

Allen cracked a dry smile, his eyes still locked on the glyph in the center. “That was chaos.”

Alice pulled her hat back up from where it had half-slid off during the chaos. Her expression was a tired frown. “I mean… what kind of trial comes after that? Seven dragons. Sin-based. With mechanics, rotating targets, split targeting patterns, high resistance… What’s left? A dungeon god?”

“Demon King,” Jane chimed.

Vivian snorted from her broken pillar seat and waved lazily toward Allen. “We have a literal Demon King here, remember?”

Allen didn’t even look up—he just uncorked another potion.

Jane leaned forward on her elbows, eyes gleaming with mischief. “Okay, then… Demon God?”

“Please, no,” Alice groaned, dragging both hands down her face.

Vivian sighed. “We’ve fought world bosses. But this? This wasn’t a boss fight. This was a war room with no tactics—just violence.”

“Still,” Bella said, tail flicking slowly, “they were dragons. What did you expect? Coordination?”

Zoe raised an eyebrow at Allen. “Honestly? I’m more surprised we survived.”

Allen finally looked at her, blinking once. “Same.”

There was a brief pause, filled only with the clinking of potion bottles and the distant crackling of mana-rich blood cooling on hot stone.

“Though,” Allen added after a moment, “you know what surprised me the most?”

The girls turned toward him.

“They weren’t even mini-bosses.”

The silence that followed could’ve shattered a lesser man.

“…Come again?” Vivian asked.

Allen turned his sword over slowly in his hand, letting the dried ichor flake off. “I thought maybe—maybe—they were mini-boss tier. But I tried using my Pact skill just now.”

“Oh?” Jane sat up straighter, now interested.

“Did it work?” Bella asked.

Allen shook his head. “Nothing. No response. No prompt. System flat out ignored the request.”

Shea blinked. “So…”

“They weren’t recruitable,” Allen said. “Which means they’re not flagged as creatures with unique AI or personality sets. They weren’t designed to exist outside the quest instance.”

“Scripted quest monsters,” Alice muttered. “With world boss stats and raid-tier behavior?”

Allen nodded. “Which means—”

“They were made just to stop us from reaching the real challenge,” Vivian finished.

A deep hush settled across the chamber again.

Even the ambient hum of the glyph seemed quieter now.

“That’s… kinda insane,” Bella muttered.

“No. That’s Abyssal,” Jane said with a smirk. “This isn’t normal progression. This is myth-tier.”

Shea groaned, burying her face into her arms. “I didn’t sign up to myth-tier content today…”

Zoe folded her arms, frowning. “Makes sense though. Think about it. The throne’s still sealed. The glyph hasn’t stopped pulsing. And we didn’t get any loot drops from those dragons.”

“No drops, no EXP logs,” Alice listed off. “That’s… actually creepy.”

“Because it means we haven’t finished their purpose yet,” Allen said.

The girls turned back to him again.

“They weren’t here for loot. They weren’t here to reward us. They were here to test if we were even worthy to knock on the next door,” he continued, his tone calm but serious. “Which means phase three… is the real fight.”

A moment passed.

Then Zoe, with a rare smile, said, “Of course it is.”

Vivian cracked her neck, wincing. “Gods help whoever made this quest chain.”

“Don’t you mean whoever’s waiting at the end of it?” Shea asked, voice muffled by her cloak.

Bella sighed, finishing another potion and tossing the empty glass over her shoulder. “Well, we’re alive. That’s something.”

“Barely,” Alice muttered, rubbing her shoulder.

Jane pulled a small biscuit out of her inventory and casually munched it, still laying on her summoned chair. “I’m just saying. If this ends with a throne scene, I want a crown.”

Before anyone replied, Allen stood up.

The movement was slow, deliberate. His cloak trailed behind him, torn and frayed at the edges. His armor was scorched, his gauntlet cracked, and blood still dripped from his chin—but his posture hadn’t faltered once.

The platform seemed to recognize the shift.

The glyph at the center pulsed once—bright, deep crimson—and a low hum began to build, like a heartbeat growing louder beneath their feet.