Became the Patron of Villains Novel MTL - Chapter 190

Chapter 190

A thunderous bellow quakes through the massive root, causing the very atmosphere to shudder.

Rising from the deep recesses of the World Tree’s foundation, Basiliora unleashes a cry from its colossal maw, effectively announcing its descent upon the mortal realm.

This overwhelming aura causes the Ashes to recoil in fear.

Those who had been charging toward the elves are paralyzed, crushed by the weight of the divine entity that has manifested before them.

“_!”

The elves, rendered mute by the unfolding spectacle, can only stare with jaws dropped in sheer amazement.

Kwa-ga-ga-ga-kak—!

Basiliora begins its advance, facing down the tens of thousands of Ashes.

However, calling it a confrontation would be inaccurate.

It was nothing short of a unilateral massacre.

With merely the forward momentum of Basiliora’s gigantic form, hundreds of Ashes are trampled beneath its immense bulk. They are pulverized back into the ‘true’ dust they were destined to become, vanishing from existence.

The Ashes, savagely gnawed and expectorated by Basiliora, are flung outward, destroying other Ashes upon impact.

It is a literal, one-sided extermination.

The elves are horrified to witness such catastrophic power.

‘How can this be happening…? I thought magic was impossible to use in this place!’

Blood rushes to Rim’s head, her mind reeling with questions as confusion overtakes her.

Just then—

“Rim.”

“!”

A voice addresses her.

It remains steady and collected.

A potent magical aura radiates from the bracelet adorning his right arm. Despite controlling that unfathomable ‘god,’ he displays no signs of exertion.

It is the voice of the marquis.

“Are you injured?”

“I-I am fine.”

She replies instinctively with formal politeness.

The marquis cocks his head slightly before inquiring further.

“The entity you referred to as the ‘Ash Seeder’—is it located deeper within?”

“Ah, most likely.”

He continues his questioning.

“How long are you able to endure?”

“…Pardon?”

“I am asking how long you can survive amidst the Ashes.”

“If it is only around five minutes, I should be able to hold out somehow—”

As Rim scans the perimeter with anxious eyes while answering—

“That will suffice.”

Without a moment’s delay, Alon pivots.

“Basiliora.”

He vaults upward, landing securely on Basiliora’s back.

‘Excellent. It is exactly as I predicted.’

Even though he had been informed that magic was nullified here, Alon had descended beneath the roots without a second thought.

This was because he understood that even in a magic-void zone, artifacts—specifically the ‘Salvation of the Wanderer’—retained their functionality.

‘Psychedelia also had areas where magic was restricted. However, more significantly…’

As he accesses his memories from the game, a sudden realization disturbs him.

‘…Wasn’t the rule that magic couldn’t be utilized?’

Setting aside the fact that he had employed an artifact to escape peril, Alon recognizes a crucial detail—he is currently wielding magic.

“…Hmm.”

As he senses the mana circulating through his veins without resistance, his perplexity lasts only a split second.

He immediately redirects his focus to assess the battlefield.

‘There is still a vast multitude. Or perhaps… has their count actually grown?’

Basiliora had been eradicating the Ashes from the instant it arrived on the roots. Yet, the swarm of Ashes remained immense.

In fact, it seemed as though their numbers had multiplied since the beginning.

Even in these dire circumstances, Alon does not retreat; instead, he pushes deeper without hesitation, intent on slaying the ‘Ash Seeder.’

He does so because he recognizes the true nature of these Ashes—or rather, the ‘Creatures of Greed.’

Alon casts his gaze downward.

unlike before, when they scattered as white dust, they now charge forward radiating a crimson luminosity, resembling the damned.

They were undeniably the ‘Creatures of Greed’ that Alon was familiar with.

‘But for what reason…?’

The Creatures of Greed, true to their title, only manifest when the Sin of Greed has fully awakened.

This implies—

Logically, these monsters should not be present here.

To put it another way—

The Sin of Greed has been roused.

Before he can unravel his knotted thoughts—

!!!

A hideous, indescribable screech assaults his hearing, forcing him to look up.

And there, Alon sees it.

Dominating his field of vision is the ‘Ash Seeder’—

Or rather, the entity he recognizes as the ‘Mother of Greed’—a gargantuan worm.

“-”

Alon instinctively narrows his eyes.

The instant Basiliora draws near, the beast, perceiving the danger, erupts from the Ashes where it had been concealed.

Its mere appearance is grotesque enough to mar even Alon’s typically stoic countenance.

Its colossal back is jagged, resembling a volcanic ridge, with innumerable orifices endlessly spewing forth more Ashes.

Molten magma flows ceaselessly from its visage, akin to a living volcano.

And finally—

Alon identifies the massive pincers, which appear large enough to grapple even Basiliora.

‘Just as I thought, it is indeed the Mother of Greed.’

He was now certain.

Basiliora immediately surged forward to neutralize the Mother of Greed,

■■-!?

However, before it could clamp its jaws down, its body jerked backward.

Puhwaaak—!

This was because magma had started to erupt from the creature’s entire form.

Furthermore, the Ashes that had been ruthlessly crushed by Basiliora mere moments ago went into a frenzy the second the Mother of Greed was engaged, frantically scrambling up Basiliora’s frame.

‘It seems even Basiliora’s hide cannot completely withstand that.’

Nevertheless, Alon remained calm.

He possessed knowledge not only of the Creatures of Greed’s weaknesses but also the precise method to dispatch the Mother of Greed.

The only complication was—

‘Mana, is it.’

Eliminating the Mother of Greed was straightforward theoretically.

If he utilized the Ice Sealing Technique he had created with Fenia, the Mother of Greed looming before him would be reduced to nothing more than scattered ice crystals.

The entity was critically vulnerable to water.

The issue, however, lay in the environmental conditions.

For the Ice Sealing Technique to be viable, the entire area occupied by the adversary had to be under Alon’s dominion.

While his internal mana flow might be stable, externally, it was susceptible to disruption.

And this specific space—

It was far too expansive for Alon to dominate solely with his mana.

This meant the Ice Sealing Technique was effectively useless here.

But it didn’t matter.

Alon possessed ‘another’ method to slay the Mother of Greed.

“Blackie.”

[Meow]

With a sigh, Alon summoned him,

And immediately, Blackie, who had been nestled in his chest pocket, scrambled up to his shoulder.

Then,

Without pausing, Alon forged a mana connection with Blackie.

“Shadow Wood (木).”

He whispered the command.

Simultaneously, Blackie’s tail glided down Alon’s limbs, melting into the shadows.

Dluk!

Suddenly, crimson eyes began to materialize all across Blackie’s form.

In a flash, shadows expanded from Alon, spreading onto Basiliora’s gigantic body.

Watching the process, Alon formed a hand seal.

Tuduk!

The expanding shadows halted in unison.

Tuduk~! Tudududuk~!!

At that moment, four shadowy arms sprouted from behind Alon’s back, and the darkness began to shroud Basiliora.

This particular magic had been discovered by pure accident.

Following Kylrus’s guidance to keep a constant link with Blackie while casting, Alon had noticed that Blackie’s shape mutated in reaction to his mana inscriptions, prompting him to investigate the phenomenon further.

Therefore, the magic was neither perfected nor complete.

He had only successfully mapped four compatible inscriptions out of six.

But that was sufficient.

That amount was more than enough to bring down the Mother of Greed facing them.

As the first Shadow Seal finalized, the shadows emanating from Blackie draped over Basiliora.

With the second Shadow Seal, the shadows enveloping Basiliora hardened, taking on the appearance of massive iron plating.

Then, as the third Shadow Seal completed, the iron-like mana construct shifted again, layering its molecular density.

And finally—

“Basiliora—”

At Alon’s command, Basiliora charged once more, coiling itself around the Mother of Greed, which was spraying magma in every direction.

The Mother of Greed, in a manic state, ejected magma even more violently.

However, Basiliora’s body, now protected by multiple layers of dense shadow armor, suffered only trivial damage from the full-force magma assault.

Finally, as the fourth Shadow Seal locked into place, the shadow armor encasing Basiliora began to writhe.

And then—

Shadow Engraving (影印).

Thornwood (棘).

Pitch-black spikes erupted all over the Mother of Greed’s body.

Bone-chilling, obsidian thorns.

---

-!!!!!

A horrific shriek exploded from the throat of the Ash Seeder.

Simultaneously, its colossal bulk crumbled.

Ku-gu-gu-guk!

The entire World Tree shuddered, seemingly on the brink of collapse, threatening to engulf all life within it.

Yet, despite the chaos, the eyes of the elves were locked onto a single focal point.

The location where the Mother of Greed’s massive form was crashing down.

They could not speak a single word.

Even among them, Rim, the elf who had served as a Paggade for the longest duration, watched with eyes wide in absolute disbelief.

Because she understood.

Even if every Paggade assembled and struck in unison,

Nay, even if every Shadow Leaves present joined the fray,

‘That’ was a monstrous entity they could never hope to vanquish.

And so, Rim stood rooted to the spot, staring blankly.

As the gigantic corpse hit the ground, blasting ashes outward.

As the Ashes faded away alongside the beast.

And then—

She beheld him.

Standing atop the head of the great god, his black coat fluttering like a living shadow.

In this domain where no one save for the Great Ones could wield mana,

He alone manipulated magic as if it were effortless.

‘He is the Primordial Elf.’

The Queen’s voice suddenly resonated in her memory.

She had never once given those words any weight, viewing the title of Primordial Elf applied to a mere human as absurd.

However, in this instant—

“…Ah.”

A quiet gasp slipped from Rim’s lips.

Like a sage attaining enlightenment at the break of dawn, her eyes brimmed with awe.

---

Meanwhile—

[Meow-!]

“Good work. You controlled it properly this time.”

[Meowwww~]

Blackie rubbed its cheek affectionately against Alon’s face.

While praising the creature, Alon turned his attention to the site where the Mother of Greed was disintegrating into dust along with the countless other mobs.

The immediate crisis was resolved, yet a lingering question persisted.

‘Why was the Mother of Greed present here?’

There was no reason for its existence in this place.

This implied that somewhere within this area, the ‘Sin of Greed’ was being contained.

As his mind became cluttered with speculation—

[There is something over there.]

Heeding Basiliora’s deep, resonant voice, Alon shifted his gaze.

precisely at the center of where the Mother of Greed had been hiding, he spotted a mirror.

A large, weathered mirror, roughly the dimensions of a door.

Dismounting from Basiliora, Alon approached it.

And then, he realized—Someone was standing within the reflection.

It was not his own image.

Upon closer inspection, the figure bore an uncanny resemblance to him.

Clad in a ragged coat, its face was obscured, as if hidden behind a hazy veil, similar to the dragonkin.

Then—

[First.]

[The technique is Reversal of Heaven (逆天).]

The figure suddenly uttered those words.