Became the Patron of Villains Novel MTL - Chapter 140

Chapter 140
The earth gives way, and Rikrakamur plummets downward.

Fighting wildly to avoid being swallowed by the chasm, Rikrakamur thrashes without control.

But with the swamp gone and no footing left to find, his movements were useless, and his frantic efforts only worsened his situation.

!!!

Finally, with a dreadful howl, Rikrakamur drops into the abyss’s depths.

Alon dives after him without delay, descending into the darkness, and reflects internally.

‘All the required preparations are now finished.’

In reality, achieving this outcome wasn’t meant to be instantaneous.

The plan was initially laid out in three separate stages.

The first stage was a confrontation with Rikrakamur in Psychedelia.

At first, Eliban would face the creature alone in the swamp.

Then, the allies who had followed Eliban would activate the four pulleys positioned to the north, south, east, and west to empty the swamp, marking the beginning of the second stage.

After that stage was finished, the land would collapse, and the third combat stage would start below ground, in a pit much like the abyss.

In short, it was designed to be a lengthy and grueling conflict, but Alon had managed to bypass two of the three stages entirely.

By intentionally bringing in friendly troops to operate the four directional pulleys, he managed the first stage and the intermittent monster assaults at the same time.

By dealing significant injury to Rikrakamur, he provoked the beast to expel dark fluid, canceling the enchantment that kept the swamp’s foundation intact.

In this way, he shattered the ground and moved directly to the third stage, avoiding the second completely.

Now, only the third phase remained for Alon.

As he fell into the abyss, he drank a mana potion and began weaving hand signs for his ultimate strategy.

‘It might push me to my limit, but there’s no other method to finish this creature.’

BOOOOM!!!

A tremendous blast resounds from the bottom of the pit.

It meant Rikrakamur had landed.

Alon spoke as he finished the hand signs.

“Connection—(連結).”

He recited the spell while forming the seals.

When he finally landed in the subterranean space, dimly lit by the faint glow of moonlight,

Alon came to a halt, completely bewildered.

The cause?

Rikrakamur, who should have been writhing in agony and wrecking his surroundings after the impact, was now perfectly still.

“……?”

A small, nagging doubt caught in Alon’s mind.

“…!”

It was only then that he realized a shocking truth.

‘…A hole?’

Right in the middle of the massive creature’s stomach, which now lay upside down and lifeless, was a gigantic wound far larger than anything Alon could have caused.

***

From the very moment he met Rikrakamur, Alon had felt something was off.

It was the creature’s eyes.

This monster was supposed to be defeated only after three phases.

When it reached the third phase and its health fell below 30%, its eyes would turn crimson, and it would fly into a frenzy for one last stand.

Yet, from Alon’s very first strike, Rikrakamur’s eyes were already red.

Meaning, Rikrakamur had entered its enraged state before Alon even launched an assault.

No matter how powerful Alon’s attacks were, they shouldn’t have been enough to deliver a death blow.

Rikrakamur was, after all, a fiendish being.

Even Eliban, with his main-character talents and absurd plot-driven strength, would have struggled to land a single decisive blow on Rikrakamur unless he had chosen the path of magic.

Alon gazed fixedly at the fallen beast.

There, in the middle of its stomach, was an enormous hole far bigger than anything he was responsible for.

‘…What does this mean?’

He tilted his head in puzzlement.

Of course, the situation was highly favorable for Alon.

He had managed to capture Rikrakamur, which he needed even at great expense, with relative ease.

Still, he couldn’t just ignore the puzzle.

‘Why did Rikrakamur have such an injury? Or was it part of the original storyline that he would be wounded around this time by someone else?’

Thinking it over, he gave a slight shake of his head.

No matter how he considered it, that didn’t seem right.

That huge injury would take Rikrakamur, whose regenerative ability wasn’t especially strong, many decades to heal.

Even if it did heal, the scarring would be severe.

So, only one logical possibility remained.

Someone must have battled Rikrakamur before Alon arrived to confront the monster.

Who could have fought such a duel with Rikrakamur?

Narrowing down the suspects wasn’t hard.

Someone capable of not only fighting the monsters that guard the artifacts of the Five Great Sins but also inflicting such a severe wound.

As far as Alon was aware, only a handful existed.

‘At most, a few hidden masters and the Four Great Factions.’

Of course, this world held far deeper and more complex mysteries than Alon originally understood, so jumping to conclusions might be unwise.

Still, among those Alon knew of, only that small group could have wounded a monster so severely.

‘Could it have been Juju’s doing?’

He wondered with an odd sensation, but soon dismissed the idea.

Juju wouldn’t act recklessly without a definite “purpose.”

After thinking it through, he resolved to move forward.

His objective in confronting the monster was solely to obtain the artifact of the Five Great Sins.

Alon stepped into the gaping wound in the dead Rikrakamur’s belly.

If things had followed the original plan, he would have had to enter through Rikrakamur’s mouth, confront the thorny tentacles inside, and survive another exhausting ordeal.

But with the belly already torn open, that was unnecessary.

Soon enough, Alon found a massive cavity that defied all expectations of a living creature’s interior.

In the huge space, one object stood out.

Right in the center, he saw one of the artifacts of Wrath—the crimson spear.

Without a second thought, he walked to it and pulled it from the ground where it was stuck.

The crimson spear came free easily, without needing any special effort.

Its design was surprisingly simple for an artifact of the Five Great Sins.

Aside from a rounded groove carved near the base of the spearhead, it had no engravings or ornaments.

Moreover, it gave off no particularly evil or menacing aura, but Alon was sure it was one of the Five Great Sins artifacts.

He had seen this item before in the game.

Alon quickly secured the spear.

Boom! Crashhhh~!!!

“?”

It was then he noticed the entire cavity was falling apart.

The very reason Rikrakamur had become a monster was the artifact of the Five Great Sins.

Now that the artifact inside its body had been removed, the creature was starting to disintegrate.

What confused Alon was how quickly it was happening.

‘It didn’t collapse this fast originally.’

After a brief moment of doubt, he began moving to flee the collapsing space.

“Ah.”

He let out a soft sound as his eyes fell on the area around where the spear had been embedded.

The instant he spotted a crimson pearl,

Snatch!

He seized it and rushed out of the cavity.

Once safely outside, Alon saw

“???”

Blackie, absorbing the crumbling remains of Rikrakamur.

***

The following day.

The expedition team, having defeated Rikrakamur, started their journey back toward the border.

Still, they felt a little let down that they hadn’t discovered why Rikrakamur had sent monster waves toward the fortress wall.

Even so, having eliminated the source, the expedition didn’t linger any longer and departed the swamp—now just an ordinary forest.

They arrived at the border with no major differences from when they had left.

The only visible change, if there was one, was…

“……”

The knights and soldiers who had joined the expedition were watching Alon so closely it felt like their stares were boring into him.

What’s more, their faces were all filled with respect and admiration.

Alon looked around at the party, briefly meeting their eyes.

‘This is a little excessive.’

Of course, Alon knew their admiration and reverence came from a real sense of awe, so he didn’t intend to reprimand them.

But he couldn’t help feeling the weight of their attention.

Especially since, in Rikrakamur’s case, it wasn’t as if Alon had done everything himself.

True, he had struck the final blow, but it felt like another had already done the bulk of the work, leaving him only to finish the job, which left him somewhat unsettled.

Still, setting that aside, Alon had something else on his mind just then.

“……”

Blackie, clinging to his chest.

The little creature turned its head toward Alon, apparently sensing his gaze, and let out a quiet ‘Meow?’ sound.

‘…Is this really alright?’

Alon had watched the day before as Blackie absorbed all of Rikrakamur’s collapsing body.

Even though nearly half of the enormous creature had turned to dust, the rest had been absorbed by Blackie, who had jumped from Alon’s chest to do it.

“Hm.”

Alon turned Blackie’s small form over, inspecting it carefully.

‘There doesn’t appear to be any difference.’

Its look was exactly the same.

Its size hadn’t grown, and it didn’t seem any stronger.

Even when Alon checked its magical abilities just to be sure, they were the same as before.

For a creature that had absorbed such a powerful monster, the total lack of change was bewildering.

Alon had only just learned that shadow dragons could absorb things, but to see no effect at all afterward was peculiar.

‘…Lainisus knew about the Unity of Shadows, but he didn’t know anything about shadow dragons. Should I ask Ri e for more information?’

As Alon studied Blackie, the small being simply tilted its head quietly in return.

It was a warm spring day, yet the sunlight felt unusually harsh.

***

Three days to the hour after the expedition’s return to the border:

“Welcome back, Marquis.”

“Yes.”

“It appears you’ve made history once more.”

“What do you mean?”

“I haven’t heard any specific accounts, but judging by the way the soldiers and knights are acting, you must have done something remarkable again.”

As Evan motioned toward the still-admiring soldiers and knights,

“You’ve arrived, brother.”

“Yes, Saint. I’ve just returned.”

“I’m glad.”

Yuman came forward with his typical gentle smile.

But soon, his face grew solemn.

“…Did Cardinal Yutia do anything?”

“No.”

“…Cardinal Yutia?”

“No, nothing happened.”

With a look more serious than before,

“Brother, I must ask you again—keep your distance from Cardinal Yutia.”

“What?”

“She is dangerous.”

Yuman whispered this to Alon once more.

‘…Why is he saying this now?’

Alon was inwardly confused yet again.

Still, they had returned safely.