Transmigrator. Tower. Villains. (4)

It wasn't like this in the novel. Lutein had no idea that Ativan knew of his plans. Lutein should have taken the hit and fallen down the cliff into the den of monsters.

That should have been his stage to awaken his SSS-Class ability.

But that wasn't the case anymore.

It was different, but Ativan had to move.

For the life that he held right now, pushing Lutein down was necessary. Killing him would only bring a worse result, though. Who would be the SSS-Class hunter if not for Lutein? To clear the tower, to avoid turning this place into a hellhole, and to keep his life right now lest Lutein killed him, Ativan had to push that bastard down.

No, he had to leave him on the brink of death.

His hands steadily clasped the scroll again.

"Tsk. Bastard," Lutein spat on the ground. No matter how he tried, though, he couldn't hide the series of calculations he performed from Ativan. It was clear to the transmigrator that he was scrambling to find a way to live.

"I have to do this, or I would be the one dying..." Ativan muttered.

Lutein's eyes widened, as if he had just graced his ears with the biggest wad of ox crap in the world, but Ativan didn't care.

Steadying his breath, the cold Ativan started tearing the length of the scroll.

Lutein thought and though as the sound of the scroll tearing apart echoed in the dungeon.

He realized. There was nothing he could do anymore.

If only he was stronger. If only he was faster. If only he had lived the right way from the beginning.

Regret flooded through the Lutein's head.

'No.' Lutein thought. Just how many people had looked down on him? Just how many people had ignored his cries? It wasn't him who was at fault, it was this cold, indifferent world.

Anger burned through Lutein's eyes, his teeth clenched down as spirit coursed through his body.

And a fireball crashed into him.

In a single go, Lutein was knocked off his feet and dropped into the cliff.

The tale of the Tower's SSS-Class Hunter had entered its prologue.

***

Ativan grasped his chest and fell to his knees.

A long exhale spilled from his lips as his widened eyes trembled.

In a rush, he raised his fingers to the wound on his cheeks and pressed down.

A stabbing sense of pain coursed through his head.

"Fuck..."

It was real.

All of it was real.

Even if he wanted to, he couldn't deny it. He couldn't deny it for a long time now.

A simple office worker tired of life had turned into the starter villain of a webnovel.

"I survived..." he said. "I survived. I survived. I survived..."

He kept uttering the same words as if he were a chicken about to be slaughtered. It wasn't much different in his eyes.

This place, was one where death loomed on top of everyone's heads. And even amongst them, he just had to become the one with the highest and closest chance of death.

Three months.

That was the time it would take Lutein to come out of the cave with his SSS-Class Ability, [Digest]

It was a power that let him steal one skill and 10% stats of everything he ate. Inside a double dungeon, he would eat and eat until he became a powerhouse. And if that was not enough, he would set his eyes on creating a new world and eat some more.

"Do all protagonists have to be fucking psychopaths?!" Ativan screamed. "Couldn't people like a fucking goody-two-shoes for once?!"

He was forgetting that he was someone with multiple first comments on the very novel he was cursing out.

Ativan lowered his head until his forehead came in contact with the cold stones of the dungeon floor.

What should you do when you transmigrate into a hit tower-fantasy novel?

Stick to the main character? You underestimate the extent of chaotic good protagonists.

Become a side character? And what side character never has a chance of being turned into a corpse to fuel the main character's growth?

A bystander, a minor character, or the Main Character's party, none of those were the correct answers.

Instead, there was another character that these stories generally held. You had to find them.

That's right, you should find and bite on the skin of the overpowered character who will keep you alive even if you die.

That very one you're thinking of. The cold-hearted, aloof, overpowered character called a regressor.

"But..." Ativan scowled as his fists clenched. He slowly raised them, and with all the rage in his heart, he screamed as he banged on the ground.

"The Tower's Regressor is a Fucking Coward!!"