Villain's Refund System: The Protagonist's Harem Is Mine

Black water closed over Damien’s helmet while the submerged student’s emergency charm flashed several meters below his boots.

The current dragged him sideways amid broken stone, ’damn, visibility is gone, my ribs hurt again, plus somebody keeps screaming through the helmet channel.’

He triggered Flicker beneath the surface and reached the flashing charm, then caught a thin boy by the back of his field harness.

The student kicked blindly until Damien shoved both bodies against an exposed support beam, keeping their heads above rising water.

"Stop fighting me unless drowning was part of your exam plan," Damien said, tearing a tangled strap away from the boy’s throat.

"I cannot feel my left leg, and the current keeps pulling it lower," the student gasped, gripping Damien’s coat while muddy water struck his chin.

Damien looked down and found a stone slab pinning the leg beneath the knee, ’wonderful, lifting that needs strength I do not have, so cheat differently.’

He planted the saber between two cracks and used its guard for leverage while the current shoved debris against his back.

The slab shifted enough for the student to pull free, though fresh blood spread immediately through black water around his boot.

"Hey, climb toward the red light and keep pressure above that wound," Damien said, pushing him onto a tilted platform.

A medical case slammed into the beam beside them, carried from marker six by the same current Damien had moved it near.

’There, one smart decision survived the collapse, thank fuck, now please contain something useful.’

He caught the handle and threw the case onto the platform, then a scaled shape struck his shoulder beneath the water.

Teeth scraped across reinforced cloth while a long gray body twisted around his arm, dragging him away from the wounded boy.

[Rift Eel]

[Level: 102]

Damien drove his saber through the creature’s jaw and released its corpse before another pale shape crossed beneath his feet.

"Those were not listed on the route sheet," he muttered, climbing beside the student, "Halcrest really oversold beginner safety."

The helmet channel cleared long enough for Mina’s voice to break through static, fast and furious above falling stone.

"Damien, answer before I send a construct through every wall below marker seven," she shouted, metal impacts surrounding each word.

"Still alive, one injured student needs the ladder route opened," he replied, cutting a bandage from the medical case.

"Good, stay that way for thirty seconds," Mina answered, "the upper platform is collapsing toward your very stupid location."

Damien tied the bandage around the student’s calf and looked upward as cracks opened across the ceiling.

’Thirty seconds sounds generous until several tons of rock start counting too, you idiot, move.’

He lifted the boy across both shoulders and triggered Flicker toward a narrow ledge, arriving as the previous platform disappeared beneath rubble.

The skill tore mana from his legs while another eel burst out of the water, its mouth opening around three hooked rows.

Damien kicked it aside and ran toward the red maintenance light, though smaller creatures began climbing from every flooded channel.

A fresh panel opened across his sight when the ceiling shifted again.

[Death Flag Detected: Flood Line Collapse]

[Fatality: 93%]

[Trapped Students: 8]

[Survive]

’Eight, I only found one, which means seven people are behind the choke where Lucas was supposed to become everybody’s hero.’

The wounded student pointed toward a broken tunnel on their right, "My team entered there before marker seven dropped, please do not leave them."

Damien stared at the maintenance ladder ahead while the safe route remained open for several precious seconds.

Fear tightened every muscle around his spine, ’I can climb now, no, then seven people die and Lucas arrives afterward to mourn beautifully, fuck that.’

He placed the injured boy beneath the ladder and triggered the emergency lift, sending him upward inside a narrow red barrier.

"Tell Mina I went through the right tunnel," Damien said, turning toward the beast cries, "then keep your leg attached until a healer arrives."

"Wait, Lord Sterling, that route is collapsing right behind your stupid coat," the boy called as the lift pulled him beyond reach.

"It already collapsed once," Damien replied, drawing his saber, "doing it again feels greedy."

He entered the right tunnel through knee-deep water and found seven students trapped behind a broken support arch.

Three rift eels battered their improvised shield wall while a larger shape scraped scales across the ceiling behind them.

’That boss was never here, Divergence brought friends, apparently, and all of them look hungry.’

Damien applied Sinner’s Brand to the largest eel and Flickered through the first creature’s strike, cutting behind its gills.

His saber tally brightened as two hooked mouths grazed his coat, feeding damage into the Blood Ledger through every blocked bite.

[Flesh Debt: 188]

[Flesh Debt: 276]

"Sterling came down here voluntarily," one trapped girl said, holding a cracked shield, "so we are either saved or completely fucked."

"Both options remain available," Damien replied, stepping beside her, "move everyone when I open that arch."

The larger beast smashed through the ceiling and dropped into the tunnel, revealing six legs beneath an eel-shaped body plated in stone.

[Warped Flood Stalker]

[Level: 310]

[Correction Residue Detected]

’Three-ten, seriously? I am level eighty-eight, you absolute clown, why did heroic behavior sound reasonable upstairs?’

The stalker lunged while students scattered behind Damien, and its stone jaw closed across his raised saber.

Force drove him against the support arch, breaking more rock while pain flared through his shoulder.

[Lethal Damage Incoming]

[Stay of Execution Available]

Damien accepted without reading further, and a red clock appeared above the crushing jaw.

[Stay of Execution]

[Damage Deferred: 60%]

[Time Remaining: 01:00]

Pain dropped enough for his arm to move, though every delayed wound waited behind the ticking number.

’One minute, excellent, the monster needs dying before students can leave, then deferred damage ruins whatever survives.’

He twisted the saber free and Flickered beneath the beast, carving one line across its softer stomach before Sinner’s Brand formed.

The stalker turned through solid rock, too large for the tunnel yet strong enough to make space by destroying everything nearby.

Damien kept close under its head, using short cuts while every blocked claw filled his tally toward white.

"Hit the cracked arch whenever this thing swings left," he shouted toward the shield girl, "then run without waiting for me."

She nodded and gathered the others behind her, fear visible across every face beneath flickering helmet lights.

The stalker raised two front legs, exposing its branded chest while the Stay timer reached twenty seconds.

Damien stepped into the attack and took both claws across his back, trusting deferred damage while his Debt hit capacity.

[Flesh Debt: 810]

[Reckoning Available]

He drove the saber upward through the branded chest and released every point before the beast could pull away.

[Reckoning]

[810 Debt × 2.0]

[Damage Released: 1,620]

Silver light tore through the stalker’s core, throwing its six-legged body against the weakened arch hard enough to break an escape opening.

"Move into the opening now, then keep running until you reach Mina," Damien shouted, kicking one smaller eel away as students scrambled through the gap.

The Stay timer reached zero after the last helmet passed him, then every deferred wound landed across his body together.

Damien dropped to one knee while the tunnel ceiling came down, ’fuck, stand up, you idiot, this cave does not get the last hit.’

He saw a bright relic shard inside the stalker’s broken core and grabbed it before triggering Flicker through the escape gap.

Rock chased him into the maintenance chamber while Mina’s constructs pulled students toward the ladder above.

Her hands caught Damien’s coat as he reached the platform, then both of them fell beside the red lift.

"You look absolutely terrible," Mina said, pressing one barrier pack over his bleeding shoulder, "try saying something annoying so I know your brain works."

"Your repair survived," Damien managed, showing her the unbroken saber, "which feels like excellent news for my continued breathing."

The entire lower route collapsed beneath them as Mina launched the lift, carrying nine bodies toward the surface inside one shaking barrier.

[Death Flag Survived]

[Flood Line Collapse]

[All Attached Rewards ×10]

[EXP Gained: 7,456,000]

[System Points Gained: 2,500]

[Level: 88 → 151]

[System Points: 3,600]

Damien read the impossible jump while Mina kept one hand pressed against his shoulder, ’sixty-three levels, damn, getting nearly killed really is the best thing that ever happened to me.’

The lift reached daylight as Lucas arrived at marker nine with Daybreak drawn, several seconds too late for every waiting camera.

Students carried Damien past him while the relic shard glowed inside one bloody hand, and nobody asked who had saved Flood Line Seven.

Damien saw Lucas disappear behind raised phones, ’his rescue scene ended before he arrived, damn, Fate will hate losing this much applause.’