I Got Reincarnated as the Game's Villain

"WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING?!" I screamed, then turned to look at the girl—no...

… this…

… this isn't human…

… what the hell is this?!

"#$%^&*())(&%$#$%&*(," Incomprehensible gibberish left her mouth to my ears, and slowly her features began to contort into something… inhuman.

"Shit… I should have realized it," I muttered, willing more strength to move, but my body just wouldn't obey.

A mimic.

I really should have realized this earlier.

No wonder the scene just didn't add up.

Why did it all have to happen the moment I was passing by?

What was a human-looking girl doing in the dwarven empire?

Why did the orc, which should have so little intelligence, sense my presence?

All these questions… now I have the answer.

It's because the girl wasn't even human in the first place.

She wasn't the victim of the orc.

No.

The orc was the victim all along.

But…

… that voice I heard.

Why did it feel so…

… familiar?

"Oh, just perfect," I cursed under my breath as the girl—now identified as a mimic—began taking on its true form. Its body twisted, its face, once human-like, began to contort grotesquely, its nose vanished, and its eyes and fangs turned jet black. It was hideous. Unbelievably hideous.

"KREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" it screeched, then the rope seemingly holding it in place snapped easily as it lunged forward, aiming to decapitate me in a single strike.

Mimics.

I hate these creatures. They have the ability to take on the form of whatever they see, which makes them extremely dangerous since they possess a high level of intelligence.

Not only that, they also have mind-controlling abilities—the power to cast illusions on a victim and render them powerless, unable to defend themselves, and helpless watch as they die.

-BOOM!

It punched me straight in the gut, and I saw my life flash before my eyes.

Literally!

"GAH!" I let out a pained cry and grimaced as I slammed into the hard bark of a ginormous tree.

"Damn it," I muttered, then quickly reached for my katana.

Good thing its hands were still human-like and hadn't yet transformed into claws; if they had, I could've been killed on the spot.

-swoosh!

I heard the sharp slice of wind, and, following my instincts…

… I slashed to the left.

"KREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" I heard as my katana sliced off its claw.

Damn, it's fast.

I didn't give it a second to try to heal itself. I instantly dashed forward and kneed it straight in the jaw.

"Christ!" I cried out in unbelievable agony as its sharp jaw impaled me.

-BOOM!

Before I could gather my thoughts, something slammed into my back, and I was flung back, breaking through multiple trees until I came to a stop at the fifth one.

"Ugh," I grunted, then stood up.

I didn't want to do this, but…

Yeah, screw this!

I awkwardly summoned mana from the deepest part of me, which I guessed to be the mana pool, and directed it quickly to my neck.

Yes.

The chronos lock.

-Swoosh!

I heard, but instead of panicking…

… I grinned.

Suddenly, the world lost its luster, and everything turned gray.

It started.

"Ugh," I groaned as I felt an immense weight pressing down on me.

"Tsk."

I don't know why, but ever since I got mana and tried using the chronos lock, I've been facing this dilemma. It's as though a tremendous amount of force is pressing down on me. But, there's something else I also noticed. It's this:

[Mana: 1000/x]

[Mana: 999/x]

[Mana: 1000/x]

Yeah, that.

It keeps fluctuating; it's as though the mana is being restored the moment it's used, which is kind of…

… weird.

I mean, that should be impossible. Mana can't restore so quickly, no matter how talented the user is. Even after the protagonist gained that cheat, [Relic of The Creator], he didn't have such rapid mana regeneration.

So I suspect it has something to do with the chronos lock.

Could this be why all of this is happening…?

Well…

… let's think about it after this.

I tilted my head ever so slightly, and there, I found the creature's claw just by my neck. So, I grabbed the hilt of my katana and instantly chopped its head off.

"Sigh," I sighed as time resumed.

Hm.

This is a really broken ability. If my mana refuses to reduce, doesn't that mean I can stop time indefinitely…?

'Nah,' I shook my head as I recalled the pressure that always came once I paused time.

Perhaps that's the drawback; all these ridiculously overpowered abilities always come with a downside. And since the drawback of this one, which was probably supposed to be immense strain on the mana pool, isn't applied, maybe it brings a new type of drawback so I wouldn't one day just decide to pause time indefinitely.

Or…

… this mana, as a whole, is wrong.

Perhaps it has a peculiar reason why it can't deplete and causes… whatever this is.

"Sigh,"

I sighed once again, looking at the head of the creature as it rolled to the side and stopped.

"Let me see…" I muttered, rummaging through my bag. "Do I even have healing potions?" I asked no one but myself, raising an eyebrow, but luckily, I did as my hand brushed against something I instantly recognized as the potion. I pulled it out quickly and downed it, and just then, I felt my energy restoring, and my wounds closing.

"I really need more of this," I muttered, staring at the empty potion bottle. But suddenly…

-Woop!

-BAM!

"What the—!" I yelled as the bottle in my hand was destroyed instantly by something so fast I couldn't follow it. I looked to the side, and there, I found an arrow embedded in the trunk of a tree.

"Shit…!" I said and was about to turn when I heard a voice. That very voice I heard scream before. That voice which felt so…

… familiar.

"Who are you…? And what are you doing here?" the voice asked, and for some reason… tears slipped down my cheeks.

At this point...

... I just don't know what is wrong with me.