I Became the Patron of Villains (Novel) - Chapter 110 - The God Made by Offerings (5)
Chapter 110 – The God Made by Offerings (5)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Alon struck Receiver Basiliora with everything he possibly could.
After that, there was nothing more he could do.
He had already emptied out everything he had prepared, and his pitiably small mana hole was completely drained.
And yet.
[HUMAN-!!!!]
■■■■■■■■-!!!
Receiver Basiliora was still alive.
“…”
Basiliora let out a grotesque scream while twisting its body somehow amidst the collapsed altar.
Seeing that, Alon clicked his tongue inwardly behind an expressionless face.
Of course, he had never expected Basiliora to die easily.
It had possessed the rank of a guardian god thanks to the faith it had received from the Thunder Serpent tribe all this time.
‘If I had not possessed divinity myself, I never would have even attempted something like this in the first place.’
From the very beginning, there had been only one basis for Alon being able to carry out this plan.
That Alon himself possessed rank.
He had judged that he alone would be able to deal meaningful damage to gods, who took reduced harm from attacks by those who lacked rank.
Of course, he still did not know why he himself possessed divinity.
But in any case, that meant he could inflict meaningful damage on Basiliora as well, so Alon had built this plan, and it had succeeded.
Basiliora had been subdued without dying, exactly as he intended.
‘What matters begins now.’
Rumble.
Watching Receiver Basiliora writhe madly at the sight of him standing before it, Alon carefully took a ring from inside his clothes.
The red-glowing ring he had once received from the great mage Heinkel.
Without hesitation, Alon slid it onto his middle finger and then addressed Basiliora.
“Receiver Basiliora. You now have two choices.”
[Kill you. I will kill you!!]
Basiliora writhed as if mad.
The surrounding rubble crashed down because of it, but Alon continued in the same flat tone.
“The first is to become my servant. The second is to die here and now. Which will you choose?”
A calm question.
But Basiliora convulsed violently.
[Ha! Do you think I would ever become your servant? You may be puffed up because of those beings who protect you, but I will never become the servant of a mere human!]
“Then death is the only choice left to you.”
[Then kill me! Do you think my honor will vanish simply because I was defeated by a human? Ridiculous!]
The negotiation broke down immediately.
But that did not matter.
No, rather, it went exactly according to plan.
“Let me tell you something interesting.”
[What?]
“To be honest, your opinion does not matter very much. Whether you refuse or agree, you have to become my subordinate anyway.”
With those words, Alon extended the red ring as though he had been waiting for this exact moment.
“By the covenant of great Kalgunias, I bind the loser who was defeated in a duel to my service.”
The moment he spoke those words.
A fierce red light burst from the ring on Alon’s hand.
[Wh- what is this-!!!!]
Receiver Basiliora’s body began to be sucked into the ring.
Rumble. Kwaagagagagak.
As the giant body was gradually drawn into the ring, the altar pressing down on it collapsed even deeper.
Alon smiled faintly with satisfaction behind his indifferent expression.
‘Good. It worked just as expected.’
The reason Alon had bothered to offer Basiliora a choice.
Was not to give it a choice or to negotiate.
It was solely to hear a declaration of defeat.
To begin with, the Covenant Ring of Kalgunias he had received from Heinkel was an artifact that could bind and command the one defeated in battle inside the ring, using them like a familiar.
‘…Originally, rather than Basiliora, I should have gone to the region Heinkel told me about, trapped a hatchling dragon, and used that as my familiar.’
But this was not a game.
So Alon had been searching for a servant to place within the Covenant Ring of Kalgunias, and once he learned that he himself possessed divinity, he had finally chosen Basiliora.
“Whew.”
Alon looked at the ring that had completely absorbed Basiliora’s vast body in less than a few dozen seconds.
The ring, which until then had been no more than red metal without any pattern at all, now bore the carved emblem of a serpent.
Looking at that serpent mark, Alon smiled very slightly in satisfaction, too subtly for anyone to notice.
Then he let go of all the tension in his body and lay back.
The sky, which had been nothing but gray before, was now filled with stars.
“A success.”
He celebrated the success of the plan.
His entire body was wetter than ever.
But the feeling was not bad.
####
Three days passed after Alon absorbed Receiver Basiliora into the Covenant Ring of Kalgunias and turned it into his familiar.
“Truly, thank you.”
Receiving the deep bow of Ashgul the Wise, chieftain of the Thunder Serpents, Alon lightly shook his head.
“There is no need to thank me that much. I had my own objective as well.”
“No, I cannot let it pass as something so small. Thanks to you, honored guest, we of the Thunder Serpent tribe have escaped Basiliora and obtained freedom.”
He spoke with his wrinkled eyes deeply bent in genuine joy.
After speaking with Ashgul for a little while.
“Then I will remain only one more day.”
“No matter how long the honored guest remains, we Thunder Serpents will serve you with all sincerity. Please do not worry.”
Alon then stepped outside.
‘If I were being honest, I would like to leave the jungle immediately.’
The only reason Alon intended to stay one more day even though there was nothing left for him to do here after subjugating Receiver Basiliora was Deus and Reinhardt.
…Or more precisely, Reinhardt.
‘It is only natural, considering he took Basiliora’s attack head-on.’
Deus had certainly looked tired, but there was no real problem with his movement itself.
Reinhardt, however, had been in a state of complete grogginess from yesterday into today.
‘…He said he used his ability far too forcefully, did he not?’
While Alon was worrying in his own way.
“H-hello!”
A voice from ahead broke his train of thought.
When he lifted his eyes, he saw a girl there, bowing her head quickly.
“Um, I am…”
The girl awkwardly tried to introduce herself.
But before long Alon realized who she was.
“Is your body all right?”
“Y-yes!?”
“You were soaked through by the rain.”
At Alon’s question, the girl fell into stammering silence.
Then.
“My sister is fine.”
It was not Jenira who answered, but Swift Sirkal, stepping out from behind her.
With a smile on her face that would have been unimaginable when they first met, Sirkal looked at her younger sister, then bowed deeply to Alon.
“Thank you so much.”
“Did you not already bow yesterday?”
Alon recalled how she had bowed repeatedly on the way back to the Thunder Serpent settlement yesterday.
However.
“When I think about what you have done for us, honored guest, I know that no number of bows would ever be enough. Thank you. Truly.”
She bowed deeply once more, and while Alon was struggling with how to respond.
“If you ever encounter trouble in the future, please be sure to call for me. No matter what it is, I will step forward to help you.”
“Thank you.”
“Ah, and tonight there will be a banquet, so please make sure to attend. It is, in truth, essentially a banquet in your honor.”
Swift Sirkal delivered her message and then led her still-stammering younger sister away.
Even as they grew distant, it was plain to see.
The sisters were looking at one another with expressions of pure happiness.
Alon smiled inwardly.
Because he felt an unexpectedly strong sense of fulfillment.
‘…And on top of that, I have earned the trust of the Thunder Serpent chieftain. Later, I may be able to ask for that as well.’
Thinking that, Alon returned to the lodging where he was staying.
The sky, which had been dim from the moment they arrived, was showing the sun at last today.
####
The test subjects created by Duke Komalon were all powerful individuals, one by one.
That was only natural.
Those many test subjects created for Duke Komalon’s Abyssal Core research.
They, or rather, those things, had all once been strong figures who had made names for themselves somewhere in the allied kingdoms, with the sole exception of Kamain.
On top of that, only those who had fully endured the Abyssal Cores were allowed to be called test subjects by Duke Komalon.
In other words, as strong ones who had completely absorbed Abyssal Cores, the test subjects had confidence in their own strength.
But arrogance was forbidden.
The moment those things arrived in the jungle after receiving the order to assassinate Marquis Palladio, they quickly found the marquis in the territory of the Thunder Serpent tribe.
Yet they did not attack recklessly.
Instead, they hid themselves thoroughly and waited coldly for the perfect moment to arrive.
The perfect moment, as Duke Komalon had ordered, to assassinate Marquis Palladio.
That was, until before tonight came.
“Guhk.”
Test Subject Number One coughed blood and looked forward.
His face was filled with disbelief.
Because the scene filling his vision was the torn remains of more than fifteen other test subjects, just like himself.
‘Wh-what…?’
Even while blood streamed from his abdomen, Test Subject Number One forced his mind to turn, trying to understand the current situation.
But his mind could not supply the information he wanted.
No matter how many times he replayed it, two scenes alone remained in his memory.
The first was the sight of Number Three’s head bursting apart in an instant as he spoke of carrying out the assassination tonight.
And the second was what he now saw before his eyes.
Despair.
All the test subjects dead.
That was why, while standing there blankly and coughing blood, the test subject finally saw a young girl walking calmly through the sea of blood.
A young girl with long horns on her forehead and a confident smile at the corners of her mouth.
…The girl who had slaughtered every last test subject here glanced at the bewildered man once, as if she could not understand why he was still there.
Then, with no interest at all, she kicked his face.
Blood sprayed in an instant, and his head was completely crushed and thrown aside.
Then, as if all her business here was finished, the girl turned and began walking away.
A man appeared beside her.
“Boss, why did you bother stepping in personally? We could have sent the underlings to butcher them all just as easily.”
At the question from the man, whose blue skin resembled the moon hanging in the sky and whose body was nearly twice the size of the girl herself, the black-haired girl walking ahead replied briefly.
“Just because.”
“…Just because?”
“Yes.”
“Hm.”
The blue-skinned man turned his gaze toward the Thunder Serpent tribe.
More precisely, toward the man seated among the tribespeople enjoying the banquet.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“May I ask one thing?”
“What is it?”
“…What in the world is that human to you, that you would personally step in and even dirty your own hands like this?”
As he asked, even frowning slightly as though he genuinely could not understand.
The girl gave a thoughtful hum.
As if choosing her words.
How long did she think like that?
Wearing a face more relaxed than the blood clinging thickly to her hands and feet would ever suggest, she finally let out a soft exclamation.
“Ah.”
Then, dragging the word a little lazily, she answered.
“That. That is what it is.”
“That… what?”
“That.”
“…And what is that exactly?”
“Justification.”
“…What?”
And she.
No, the king of the Hundred Ghosts.
Smiled deeply and said.
“That is my one and only justification.”
The king’s bewitching violet eyes glowed softly.
As if all of this were deeply enjoyable.