I Became the Patron of Villains (Novel) - Chapter 103 - Malaka Ruins (3)

Chapter 103 – Malaka Ruins (3)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The reason the mages currently inside the Malaka Ruins could not use mana was because their mana was scattering.

Drawing the mana within the body outward and arranging it was the basis of spellcasting.

But this space scattered that mana into the air the instant it was drawn out, making arrangement impossible.

That meant that even Theon, the one who had created this entire situation, had been magically neutralized as well.

However, there was only one reason Alon was the exception.

‘Fixation holds the mana arrangement in place.’

That was because he could use an incantation that enforced the laws of magic under any conditions.

‘…If not for the hint on the wall, I might have ended up as bug food while trying to find a solution. Well, the current situation is not exactly safe either.’

Still, he was not free to relax.

Even if he could use magic, this situation, which forcefully dispersed mana itself, worked greatly to Alon’s disadvantage. No, to any mage’s disadvantage.

‘No matter how much mana I pour in, it still takes time to arrange it, so the efficiency of my spells is terrible. On top of that, the finger guard and the bracelet are unusable. That means I can cast at most three times, no matter what.’

Alon assessed the current situation calmly and looked around.

Mutants shaped like mosquitoes as large as human beings buzzed through the air on frequencies uniquely disgusting to insects.

And not only in the air.

On the moss-covered stone.

On the walls of the ruin.

On the floor.

Behind his back.

The entire ruin was covered in grotesque insects so horrifyingly strange that it was revolting.

“That is impossible.”

While Alon was looking around, Theon’s voice of shock came from the front.

“No one should be able to use magic here…!”

Theon had gone so far as to open his mouth in disbelief.

Despite the heightened reaction, Alon devoted every bit of his attention to calmly assessing the situation.

‘I have to finish this in one strike.’

Countless area spells that could resolve the situation flashed through Alon’s mind.

There were many area spells he could use.

Regrettably, he could not use them now.

If he cast an area spell here, Evan and the mages would get caught in it. No, in truth, they would almost certainly get caught in it.

But at the same time, if he tried to pick off the insects one by one with individual attacks, the number of spells he could cast was hopelessly insufficient.

So while he considered the problem.

‘…Wait. If the mana is scattering…’

A thought suddenly came to him.

“Decomposition.”

He spoke aloud.

The weak spell he had just been gathering disappeared all at once.

The magic broke apart into tiny grains and scattered in every direction.

A sigh of despair rose to the lips of the mages, who had been clinging to even a little hope.

“As I thought. Of course.”

Theon, too, recovered his confidence and swung his dark staff once more.

The insects flying through the air changed threateningly in that instant.

Yet behind his expressionless face, Alon thought calmly.

‘As I thought, even if it scatters, the mana itself does not vanish.’

He looked around.

Grotesque insects were charging to kill him.

Yet he did not despair.

Because he could clearly see it.

The mana he had decomposed had naturally spread throughout the room because of the characteristics of this place.

And on top of that, the moment he realized that because he had not released the hand seal, he could still control the mana spread through the room exactly as he wanted.

“Whew.”

Alon let out a light breath.

Keeping the seal formed with his left hand, this time he formed a different mudra with his right.

“Clear Light.”

Crackle.

Once again, a sphere of lightning formed above Alon’s hand, this one radiating a far more brilliant light than before.

“Acceleration.”

At the same time, the lightning devoured the surrounding air and bathed the space in a splendid blue radiance.

And just as the insects’ thorn-like mouthparts and legs were about to touch Alon’s body.

“Designation.”

The flash was fired.

Kwagagagagak.

In an instant, the sphere of lightning Alon had created began mercilessly piercing the flying insects.

It rose into the sky and smashed through the head of one dropping from above.

It swept sideways and tore through the body of another that had been moving to crush his hand.

It curved and pierced the body of another that had bared its beak toward his heart.

Drawing lines of blue light, it pierced only the insects as though it had been guided.

The flash, which wiped out every insect in scarcely any time at all.

Crack.

Vanished only after piercing Theon’s heart just as he hurriedly tried to swing his staff again.

“…”

Soon, rain made of mutant insect corpses began falling onto the floor of the ruin.

Their limbs fluttered.

Green fluid splashed down over the heads of the mages.

Yet not a single one of them moved to avoid the corpses.

Riyan, too, wore the green fluid over her hair and still made no move to wipe it away.

She only stared at one place.

At where Marquis Palladio stood.

“Ah…”

A low exclamation escaped Riyan’s mouth.

Even she herself did not realize what feeling was mixed into that low, long breath.

And the man standing at the center of all those gazes, Alon himself.

‘Ah, ah… I am going to die…’

Behind his expressionless face, he was almost in tears from the symptoms of mana exhaustion brought on by investing a little too much mana and resolving everything in only two spells.

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Immediately after that.

Alon, having hastily poured a potion into his mouth for emergency treatment, realized that the mana in the ruin had returned to normal at the moment Theon died.

“…Marquis.”

“What is it?”

“What in the world was that? I saw something vaguely similar when you practiced, but I have never seen magic like that.”

“You probably never will again.”

‘Because I have no intention of using it again.’

Alon held his throbbing head and resolved that much.

The spell he had used just now was a combination of two incantation-based magics.

First, taking advantage of the fact that the room scattered mana everywhere, he intentionally decomposed mana and spread it through the entire area.

Then, among the mana still under his control, he arranged only the patterns attached to the insects and to Theon.

After doing that, with the other side of the structure, he inserted an incantation that would guide the spell toward the specific mana arrangements he had designated.

That was how he completed the magic from a moment earlier.

Still, as he had just said, he would probably never use this spell again.

To begin with, a method like this only worked in a place where mana scattered through the air.

And controlling it in such a manner was horribly inefficient.

The proof was that his headache still had not faded.

“…Really? It looked cool, though.”

“Magic is not used because it looks cool.”

“No, well… I was only speaking loosely.”

How long had it been since he exchanged those words with Evan?

“Marquis, I am sorry. And thank you very much.”

Soon, Alon received Riyan’s thanks.

“There is no need to bow that deeply.”

“There absolutely is. If it had not been for you, Marquis, I would already be dead. Thank you. Truly, thank you so much.”

As she bowed to a full ninety degrees at the waist, Alon once again told her that it was unnecessary.

“That is why, if perhaps…”

Only after finally raising her head did Riyan try to say something.

Then.

Rumble.

The ruin suddenly began to shake.

The mages, who until just a moment ago had been recovering their tools so they could leave the ruin first of all, tensed at once.

Yet contrary to their expectations.

“Stairs…?”

What appeared when the great shaking stopped was a staircase that had not existed in the central arena moments earlier.

That staircase led underground.

And all of the mages immediately understood.

That whatever Theon had been talking about earlier lay there.

But only for a moment.

“Please take this item for yourself, Marquis.”

“…Are you sure?”

“Of course. Everyone else agrees as well.”

At Riyan’s words, Alon turned his eyes.

There, the mages were bowing their heads.

“It is my first time seeing a whole group of mages bow at once.”

Evan whispered that while looking at them.

“…Then I will not refuse.”

Having accepted what was offered, Alon walked down the stairs into the underground without hesitation.

There he soon found a single door and letters written before it.

Just like before, it was strange ancient text that Alon could nonetheless read.

On the door was written.

‘Unity leaves its legacy to the mage who fled at the end without forgetting the incantation.’

“…”

Staring fixedly at the letters, Alon soon opened the door.

With a creepy creaking sound, the door opened.

Contrary to what one might expect, the space inside was not dark at all, but bright enough that he could see clearly.

And there, Alon saw two things.

One was an egg.

A pitch-black egg resting upon an altar, as though it could swallow all the light in the world.

The other was writing.

And not just any writing.

“…Unity of Shade?”

It was a phrase that looked like the key to self-nature manifestation.

Seeing the sentence written on the wall behind the dark egg, Alon stepped closer to inspect the egg in more detail.

“Hm?”

Then he noticed a sentence written in ancient language on an old parchment laid beside the egg as well.

1. Until the Shadow Dragon is born, feed it nothing but mana.

2. If the Shadow Dragon is made to consume more than a certain amount of a mage’s blood, break the egg without fail. If not broken, the Shadow Dragon will become a Death Shadow Dragon and rampage.

There were two warnings in total.

After reading them, it was not difficult for Alon to understand what Theon had been trying to do.

‘…Was he trying to turn the Shadow Dragon into a Death Shadow Dragon?’

He did not know the reason.

But that much at least seemed certain enough.

‘Someone deliberately tried to drive the existence called the Shadow Dragon into a Death Shadow Dragon by using mages…’

Naturally, he spent a moment thinking about whoever stood behind Theon.

Then yet another question rose in his mind, and he tilted his head.

That question was about Critenia Siyan, the king of Asteria.

‘Theon himself spoke of the ambush, so she cannot be related to that. But if she sent me here, then that means she clearly knew something…’

It was true that there were already some rumors among mages that Alon used magic from the ancient age.

Even so, there remained something he could not understand.

‘Well, once you go there, you will understand why I told you to go to the Malaka Ruins.’

That was what she had clearly told him.

And the Malaka Ruins only revealed their true value if one could read the ancient language.

Which meant.

That Critenia Siyan clearly knew that Alon could read the ancient language, and that being here would benefit him.

‘…What is this?’

Alon wore an even more puzzled expression.

But only for a moment.

‘…For now, I should go back up.’

Putting the question aside, he lifted the dark egg and started climbing back to the surface.

…The egg was very heavy.

And at that same time.

“He should be arriving soon.”

Siyan, who was returning to Theria in a large carriage big enough to be called a room by itself, spoke quietly.

At that one remark, the secretary who had remained silent until then opened his mouth.

“Your Majesty seems to pay a great deal of attention to Marquis Palladio.”

Attention, attention.

Siyan leaned back more deeply into the backrest.

“Does it appear that way?”

“I beg forgiveness, but yes.”

“Well, that is true enough.”

“Forgive me, but may I ask what part of him draws Your Majesty’s attention so strongly?”

“What part, you ask…”

She thought for a moment at the secretary’s question.

Then she smiled softly.

“Who knows.”

Instead, she asked the secretary in return.

“What part does it seem to be, to you?”

“…”

At that question, the secretary did not dare answer.

Only.

In the secretary’s eyes, Siyan’s Golden Chronicle Eyes seemed, perhaps by imagination alone, to shine a little more brightly than usual.