Became the Patron of Villains Novel MTL - Chapter 151

Chapter 151
An unexpected event occurred.

Alon was completely bewildered by what was unfolding.

His forehead creased on its own accord.

He witnessed a Scorpion smashing through the wall and forcing its way in.
It was a deeper shade of black than his memory served, but its identity was unmistakable.
This was a monster that wielded the artifact of pride.

‘Why?’

According to Alon’s knowledge, the Scorpion was supposed to remain dormant in its lair until the protagonist confronted it.
It simply should not be here, roaming freely.

Alon could not make sense of it.
“Bro…ther?”
He briefly glanced back at the sound of Seolrang’s voice close by.
Seolrang, who had been cradling a black cat just seconds before, was now staring at the Scorpion with visibly shaking eyes, as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Alon followed her gaze and turned his head.
‘Ah-‘
It was only then he noticed the Beastman riding atop the Scorpion.
A Beastman with hair the color of ash and snow.
The instant he registered that presence.
“1”
The man looked directly at Alon, grinned, and then vanished, leaving only a streak of black lightning behind.
“Acceleration.”
Acting on pure instinct, Alon formed a hand seal and threw himself backward.
A reflexive action, with no time for conscious thought.
That instinct is what saved him.
Boom-!!
A blast of black lightning struck the exact spot where Alon had just been standing.
“Wow, you’re fast? Honestly, I didn’t expect you to dodge. A pity.”
The ground where he had stood was utterly pulverized.
The man stepped out from the cloud of dust, a wide, thick smile plastered on his lips.
His manner was casual, but Alon’s mind was racing.
Yet, no matter how hard he strained his memory, Alon could not place the identity of this Beastman.
No, it wasn’t a failure of memory.
‘…Is this like the situation with Duke Komalon?’
This was a character who did not exist in the original narrative. The moment Alon realized this, his expression grew taut.
“Who are you?”
The Beastman’s lips, emerging from the settling dust, slowly curved.
“Me? Well, how should I put it? The older brother of the simpleton standing behind you? Or perhaps— an apostle who serves the Great Pride?”
“An apostle?”
Alon’s thoughts became a tangled mess.
He had only heard a few words, but he was already trying to piece the situation together from those clues.
However,
“Seolgak, bro…ther?”
As Seolrang muttered again, Alon was compelled to look at her.
Her eyes trembled at the edges as she stared at the apostle’s face.
But,
In contrast to Seolrang, the man called Seolgak kept his relaxed demeanor.
“Yeah, Seolrang. It’s your brother.”
“How… how can this be?”
Her question was filled with disbelief, as if she were navigating a dream.
Seolgak seemed indifferent to Seolrang’s reaction; the smile never left his lips.
“What are you so curious about, little sister? Why I’m still alive? Sadly, this isn’t a good time for a reunion. I have a job to do.”
Instead, he turned his attention back to Alon,
“1”
and materialized directly in front of him once more.
Seolgak thrust his fist toward Alon’s heart without a moment’s hesitation.
Alon wasn’t fast enough to react,
But the blow never connected.
“What are you doing, brother?”
Seolrang had intercepted it.
“Bingo.”
Seolgak’s smile widened.
“What are you doing?”
“What does it look like? I’m doing what is necessary.”
“What task?”
Seolrang, still confused, asked again. Seolgak responded by tapping her head lightly with his free hand.
“Yes, a task. A task that must be completed to remake my sister into ‘a great being.’”
Seolrang’s face was still a mask of unanswered questions.
Seolgak let out a sigh, as if disappointed,
“Really— you were always a high-maintenance sister. I prepared everything so carefully before, and yet you’re still not broken and holding strong…”
“What are you talking about?”
Seolrang’s voice quivered with confusion.
But no matter what emotions Seolrang displayed,
“Don’t bother trying to understand, sister. From now on, I will reshape you into a being more fitting for your purpose.”
Seolgak grinned, and
“!”
At that moment, Alon remembered a past conversation with the Golden Dragon Lainisius.
“Not at all. The vessels they descend into are first prepared by the Apostles.”
“…Apostles?
“Yes, they frequently break the spirits of those with high talent to make the descent easier.”
It had been a brief exchange.
Remembering it didn’t mean Alon now understood everything.
He still had no information about this ‘Apostle of Pride’ before him, or about Seolrang’s history.
He only knew that her village had been destroyed.
To form a proper chain of cause and effect, the information he possessed was severely lacking.
But if there was one thing he could predict with certainty,
“Let’s save the most precious part for last. First, I’ll clean up the patchwork my sister has been so diligently building.”
-It was what was about to happen next.
A moment later.
Crack-!
With a flash of black lightning, the guild building where the Golden Mane tribe gathered began to shatter and explode.

***

Meanwhile.

Chaos had engulfed the fortress of the Colony.
“What is this!”
Karsem’s eyes were wide with shock.
An enormous monster had already demolished the main wall, invaded the inner city, and was now running amok in the capital.
Fear, horror, and a sense of powerlessness overwhelmed him.
Even though he had studied magic for just over half a year and achieved the first rank, he was utterly useless in this situation.
So, as Karsem watched the monster grow larger in his vision,
“Your Highness! You must retreat!”
He finally turned his body after a knight’s belated shout.
He wanted to stand and fight the monster too, but he knew better.
Confronting it now meant certain death, and a rash charge would only get the knights loyal to him killed.
Unlike his former self, Karsem was acutely aware of the responsibilities that came with his title of prince, not just the privileges.
Believing a rational decision was needed, he turned to leave.
“We must retreat and wait for the Barbarians to arrive!”
He moved to join the knights, but
At that very moment.
“Uh-!”
He turned toward a pained groan.
A young maid.
The girl had apparently twisted her ankle and had fallen to the ground, weeping.
She was looking up in terror at the Scorpion, which had already breached the inner fortress and reached the garden.
Seeing this, Karsem’s steps faltered.
He knew, even then.
The odds of saving the maid were slim.
It was foolish to even try.
Yet Karsem was torn.
He knew he was no hero.
He knew he didn’t possess the strength to be one.
Still, a scene replayed in Karsem’s mind.
Marquis Palatio and Seolrang, who had saved Filian from death without a second thought.
His own actions in saving the Merkiliane domain without any regard for his personal safety.
What about himself?
He had been a lazy glutton; why had he pushed himself so hard for the past six months?
Karsem had run all this way because he wanted to become someone like them.
“Your Highness!”
“Go on ahead!”
As he shouted, Karsem pulled the wand from his pocket and summoned the wind. For someone with less than half a year of study, his magical control was notable. He swiftly enveloped the young maid in the wind and yelled,
“Whoosh!”
He dove to the side just in the nick of time.
Boom!
The Scorpion’s massive pincer slammed down with perfect timing right where they had been.
Squeak!
As the pincer dug into the blackened, oxidized earth, Karsem scrambled to his feet and sprinted madly towards a decorative well that connected to the underground water system.
“If I can just get down to the sewers, it won’t be able to follow…!”
He chanted another spell, freezing a path on the ground.
A slick sheet of ice instantly formed between him and the well. He slid across it, evading another attack from the monster, and was just about to leap into the waterway when,
“Ah.”
Despair washed over his face.
The entrance to the well he had fought to reach had collapsed from the recent tremors and was now completely blocked.
Above him, the monster’s shadow fell over him once more.
Karsem saw the monster aiming its pincer at him again, and in that moment of gritted teeth,
“You’ve done well to hold out.”
“…What?”
Karsem found,
Standing before him was a girl with an unfamiliar eye on her back.
And then,
Dozens of golden rods materialized, deflecting the Scorpion’s pincer.
-!!!!
The Scorpion, enraged by its failed strikes, let out a maddened roar and swung its pincers furiously.
The relentless assault began to shatter the summoned golden rods, but,
“Hmm— It would be problematic if the master were to take a rest at a time like this,”
Rine remained completely unshaken.
Just one day earlier, she could not have been so calm in this situation.
Having only fully awakened ‘the Eye of the Tracker’ very recently, her abilities would have been insufficient to stop the Scorpion.
The reason Rine could be so composed today was simple.
Yesterday, just after Alon had departed for the ruins,
Rine had discovered a hidden site in the desert using the first clue provided by her newly awakened ‘Eye,’ uncovering secrets not even found in the library.
The information she obtained from the ruins was minimal;
Indeed, only two things: that ‘the Eye of the Tracker’ is ‘the key,’ and a method to mobilize ‘the Eye’ to a limited degree.
But that was enough.
She might not know the full extent of how to use ‘the Eye of the Tracker,’ but she now knew the entities it could summon.
Therefore,
“Well, I needed to test a newly discovered capability anyway, so this is convenient.”
With a calm expression,
-“Gather.”
She issued the command, and
With that,
Whooosh~!
A halo formed from the giant eye behind Rine.
Suddenly, countless golden rods erupted forth, weaving together into a specific shape around her.
First, a skeleton formed.
Over this framework, another layer of golden rods twisted and turned, encasing the skeleton.
Then, numerous rods chaotically interlaced above it, taking on a definitive form.
And so,
What finally emerged was a door so colossal it easily dwarfed the city walls.
And then,
Grooooaaaaarrrr!!!!
“The magic-tech weapon of the Ilaneph Empire, ‘Pluto.’”
With a sound that seemed to shake the very heavens, the circular door began to open.
Emerging from within was something that could even overwhelm the Scorpion,
“…A hand?”
Even Karsem, trapped in his despair, stared up dumbfounded at the mechanically constructed hand.
Composed of countless components and golden rods, it was a gigantic mechanical hand that seemed capable of clutching the sky.
Its sheer presence made the world feel alien; a hand vast enough to blot out the sun, now occupying the airspace above the fortress.
“Limited deployment,”
Rine commanded.
“Divine Punishment.”
The awe-inspiring hand of a deity shot downward toward the earth.
Its purpose: to punish the abomination that had no right to exist in this world.
Boommmmm!!!