World’s Strongest Became the Game’s Weakest Villain

I stood in Dawn's room with a hardened gaze. The adventurer had changed into a loose black tunic and shorts before bringing me in. A faint, citrusy smell permeated the tiny room as Dawn fixed up her luggage and made enough room for both of us to walk around.

"Make yourself home," she said. "Do you need anything?"

I shook my head and tried to help Dawn, but was forced to sit back on a chair and watch her. It seemed I had gotten used to Titania's presence in the last four weeks since I kind of missed her.

After Dawn was done clearing up her room, I stood up again.

"I'll take the floor," I said. "Don't bother with a mattress—"

"What. No. I'll sleep on the floor."

"No, it's fine. You should sleep on the bed."

"Brat," Dawn walked closer to me. "You're injured, just sleep comfortably."

"Argh, it's your room and your bed. I am fine with the floor, alright?"

"Not alright at all! Shut up and sleep on the bed."

"No, you sleep on the bed."

"Damn it, you!"

"You!"

The two of us engaged in a stare-off lasting a couple of minutes. In the end, she clicked her tongue and turned away. That's what you get for challenging me in a stare-off, I am pretty much a cheat character when it comes to that.

Dawn placed her hands on her waist. I heard her grin as she turned to me again.

"Fine, stubborn guy. Let's both sleep on the bed."

"Hah!? I'll pass."

"Why? You're chickening out?"

"Remind me who killed that monster again?"

"That is that and this is this," Dawn scoffed. She then leaned lower to meet my eyes and twisted her lips into what I could assume to be a teasing smile. "Hah, you said you're a mature adult, but you're just too embarrassed to do something like this, right? If you disagree then just shut up and take the bed, we-ak-li-ng."

What did—

What did this bitch just call me?

I was already annoyed by that manager, but to think someone else would have the guts too.

I bit my lips and turned away from Dawn. I walked over to the bed and laid down on one end. Dawn smiled, thinking I was going to let her be.

But no way.

I lifted the duvet and patted the bed.

"Come on."

"Hah... I'll just take the floor—"

I grabbed her hands before she could turn away.

"Chickening out? If you're going to give up then sleep on the bed and let me take the floor."

"Chickening... How can you compare an angel to a chicken—"

I pumped my brows and smirked as an answer.

"Fine," Dawn muttered as she sat on the bed and I sat up to get off.

Before I could leave, Dawn turned off the lights from the switch next to the bed and pushed me down instead.

"You—"

"You said it just now."

A light breeze came in from the windows. The small door was completely packed and dark with just some of the moon's light peering in. It was barely enough to get our eyes used to the dark.

Vaguely, I could see Dawn's figure as she spread her legs inside the duvet and laid on the bed.

"Move a bit."

I scooted to my side until my right shoulder touched the walls, but the bed was still too tiny for us to sleep together. More than half of Dawn's body was out of the bed.

"Um..."

The previous atmosphere of confrontation was replaced by a strange awkwardness.

"W-we should sleep on our sides. I'll face you... there's no space on the other side."

Without waiting for an answer, Dawn turned to her right and tried to get on more of the bed. I too turned to my right, feeling a soft pressure on my back.

A stabbing pain went up the stump of the missing finger as the back of my right hand touched the bed.

Insects called.

It was quiet except for the sounds of the outside, that only seemed to be making both our breathing clearer.

"Um, Dawn..." I said. "My hand."

"Ah! I-it's fine... you should sleep facing me."

Ahhh! What was this? How did the atmosphere become so awkward? We were just being competitive, how did it turn into a couple sleeping next to each other for the first time?

I had many questions in my mind, but I didn't want to lose. Going down on the floor would just make her force me up, and staying up and forcing her down would be admitting that I lost.

Like a soldier on a battlefield, I slowly twisted my body.

The bed slightly creaked as I turned to face her.

It allowed her more space, so she wriggled further in and completely rested her body on the bed.

With my right hand on my thigh without facing the pressure of my body, I was more relaxed as well.

But another problem was in front of my face now.

Or should I say two problems?

The two problems pressed against my chest, just slightly. The small amount of contact made it almost seem like I was doing something wrong.

Dawn's breaths hit my lips as our faces were right in front of each other.

We both kept our eyes closed to distract ourselves as much as we could, but like a chain holding us in a prison, our breaths reminded us of the position right as we thought we had gotten away.

Titania's words came to mind.

An otherworldly beauty with purple hair. Sharp features and a countenance that shouldn't be on a human.

I tried to ignore those thoughts, but my breathing had gotten slightly hotter. As if setting off a chain reaction, her breaths grew warmer by the second as well.

As time went by, we slightly leaned closer while still being completely awake. We were so preoccupied with our minds that we had forgotten about our bodies.

Almost instinctively, I adjusted my left hand and brought it closer to my face.

The back of my hand grazed past her chest.

My cheeks flushed and I saw the same effect on Dawn.

Our skin touched on the cramped bed. She was soft, something one wouldn't notice from a distance. But this up close, it was impossible to not sense her slightest movement.

As Dawn's breathing grew increasingly hotter, I closed my eyes.

Just as I had noticed this up close, so did Dawn.

Our lips parted slightly to let out the heat in our chests, it was useless though, since what I let out came back to me from Dawn.

In the dark of the night, Dawn opened her mouth.

"Are you sleepy?"

"Not really..."

"Funny, I can't sleep either."

***

It was 11 AM. I didn't catch a wink of sleep at first but by the time the sun started to rise both of us fell asleep.

I just had to take my time to heal, a night of less sleep didn't matter.

I realized later that thinking so was my mistake.

As soon as I reached the lowest floor of the guild house and was about to move to the restaurant, a bulky figure blocked my path.

"Who?" I asked.

"Your teacher from now on." the figure answered.

"Oh? Mr. Manager, I was just about to come to see you after getting a bite—"

"Boy, didn't you want to train at the verge of death?"

I slowly nodded at his words.

"Did you heal?"

"Not yet, I can't make either energy flow—"

"Perfect," the manager said, smirking. "It took you four weeks in peak condition to clear 90 floors, right?"

"Um... pretty much."

The manager crossed his arms. He muttered something about being strong and a Kobold King, and then he clapped his hands.

Before I could react, I was lifted by the back of my shirt.

"Good. I'll take your state into consideration then. The first part of our training is to continue the dungeon dive."

"O-oh...?"

"You're going to the four-hundredth floor in a week."

"Ah? It sounds impossible, but I can give it a shot," I said. If he was proposing a challenge for training, I would take it. "My spells and ki are sharp after all—"

"I know," the manager's voice rang out.

A chill ran down my spine.

"That's why we leave now when you can't use either."

And so began my training, My initial planning of keeping one foot in the mouth of death was reversed.

For the next many months, many days, many hours.

I only had one foot left outside of death.