I Became the Patron of Villains (Novel) - Chapter 138 - Rikrakkamur (1)

Chapter 138 – Rikrakkamur (1)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Kiryana, like Alon, had expected it to take three days to reach their destination.

In the game it had taken only two.

Naturally, moving with a much larger expeditionary force meant it would take longer.

Even so, Alon had held a small question in his mind during the march.

The actual distance.

Whether he looked at the Psychedelia map or the map Kiryana had spread out, the swamp did not seem particularly far.

At a glance, it looked like a distance that could be covered in about a day if one moved with determination.

That was why he could not understand why it would take two or three full days.

Then, just a little more than a day after the expedition began…

Damn.

Alon realized just how wrong he had been.

He looked down with inward shock.

There was a gigantic canyon there.

And that was not all.

Beyond the canyon rose stone mountains.

Beyond those, there seemed to be another canyon.

Even the farthest chasms visible at the edge of his sight split into dozens of branches.

So it was because the path was this rough.

The scale of it was enough to make him dizzy for a moment.

He even found himself thinking that Kiryana’s estimate of three days might be almost too tight for the expedition rather than too generous.

While they were descending into the canyon…

[This canyon was made artificially.]

A sudden voice reached him.

It was Basiliora.

“…What?”

[Exactly what I said. This canyon did not occur naturally.]

Basiliora had been summoned the day before to entertain Kkamangi, which had clearly started growing bored while sitting inside Alon’s coat pocket.

Now, for the first time since being subdued, the little serpent wore a rare serious expression as it looked around.

[Yes. It seems certain enough.]

“Why do you think that?”

[Look at it. The canyon itself is split into an elliptical shape, is it not?]

“Hmm.”

Alon looked over the canyon.

He had not consciously recognized it, but Basiliora was right.

The canyon really had split into an elliptical pattern.

[Ordinary canyons do not split in this form.]

“…You are calling it artificial from that alone?”

[Not that alone. There is an afterimage here.]

“An afterimage?”

[Yes. It is very old, but it remains. Judging by the way two afterimages are mixed together, this place seems to have been created by a battle.]

“…That is hard to imagine.”

His head tilted almost on its own.

This enormous canyon felt far too majestic to simply call it the trace of some battle.

He continued walking with that strange doubt in mind.

After more time had passed, Alon crossed the great canyon and reached a smaller region where the paths twisted in scattered directions.

“There are several possible routes.”

“In this case, the path to the far left looks best.”

“Does it?”

“Yes. Let us go that way. Unlike the others, it is at least wide enough. It may take a little longer, but it seems the better option.”

“That is true enough… Everyone, move along the leftmost path.”

Yutia and Kiryana exchanged opinions over the route.

Watching them talk, Alon suddenly remembered what Basiliora had said earlier.

“Basiliora.”

[What is it?]

“Was this canyon also created by a battle?”

[Hmm… It is, yes.]

“…What kind of answer is that? Either it is or it is not.”

[That is true, but…]

Basiliora, who sat on Alon’s shoulder, was looking at the canyon with a strangely cowed expression that did not match its usual bold attitude.

No, more precisely…

Is it looking at Yutia?

Basiliora seemed to be looking not at the canyon but at Yutia in the distance, who was speaking with Kiryana.

I do not know exactly why it is being so cautious, but I can guess where it started.

Yesterday had already happened, after all.

The evening before, Alon had summoned Basiliora because Kkamangi had started squeaking as though it was tired of merely looking around.

“It is stifling in there, so summon me more often. I can see the outside, but I want to move around myself.”

The moment Basiliora emerged, it raised a huge fuss and complained at Alon.

Then…

“My, what a cute little snake.”

[I am the great god Basiliora.]

“May I hold the little snake for just a moment?”

[Did you not hear me? I said I am not a cute snake, humaaaan.]

“If you would allow it, I would like to keep it with me for a little while.”

And then, in its spiritual body, it had been dragged away somewhere by Yutia, whose hand was wrapped in holy power.

A short while later, the little snake returned.

[…]

And from then on, it began watching Yutia’s mood.

Alon had asked repeatedly what Yutia had said to it.

But Basiliora refused to answer.

Even when he asked Yutia…

“What? We only had a little fun together, Teacher.”

That was all she said.

Which made it even stranger.

No matter what, Basiliora had returned in this state.

The claim that they had simply played did not add up.

But the recollection lasted only a moment.

“Teacher, come along.”

Following Yutia’s gentle smile, Alon began walking deeper through the canyon once more.

…Even after that, Basiliora’s eyes continued to tremble uneasily every time it looked at Yutia.

And then, after two more days had passed…

“…This is the place?”

“We have arrived.”

The expedition reached the swamp where the Forest Maw Rikrakkamur dwelled.

They moved through the forest.

And then they saw it.

There in the middle of the forest stood something like a small bald mountain.

No, it was Rikrakkamur.

Even though it was submerged in the water at the center of the swamp, its bulk was too vast to be hidden.

That alone was enough for the soldiers’ morale to collapse.

Their faces went pale.

Even the knights wore grim expressions.

Their faces were not as ashen as the soldiers’, but fear was plainly visible in their eyes.

Naturally so.

The sleeping Rikrakkamur in the swamp was simply too large for humans to kill.

Even Kiryana, who had only known of it through stories, spoke in a doubtful tone.

“I had heard about it before, but… it is even larger than I expected. Can something like that really be killed?”

Yutia merely smiled quietly.

Alon, meanwhile…

“…I will explain the plan now.”

…began the explanation without hesitation.

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Late at night, beneath the blue moon.

Kiryana looked up at the moon for a moment, then turned her eyes and spoke.

“Begin.”

“Yes. Understood.”

The knight who answered immediately gave a small nod toward somewhere else.

The knight who received the signal raised a flag infused with mana so that it shone clearly even in the darkness.

That was the sign.

“Turn it.”

The soldiers began turning the great capstan.

Groan, groan.

As dozens of soldiers moved at once, the rusty mechanism began turning slowly with a grinding noise.

At the same time…

“The northern capstan has started turning.”

“The eastern capstan has started as well.”

“Signals are coming from the west and south too.”

The reports from the knights came in one after another.

Kiryana gave a small nod and remembered Marquis Palladio’s explanation from earlier.

What the Allied Army must do is simple.

There are four capstans in this swamp, one each to the east, west, south, and north. When I give the signal, all four must be turned at once.

Once those capstans are turned, monsters will begin swarming in. The Allied Army must do nothing but stop them.

It was an extremely simple plan.

As Kiryana watched the soldiers straining to turn the capstans, the doubt that had lodged in one corner of her mind surfaced again.

How does Marquis Palladio know there are capstans here in the first place?

As far as Kiryana knew, not many people even knew that Rikrakkamur existed.

To begin with, nobody but the Allied Army could move beyond the border.

Unless one belonged to the Allied Army, information about Rikrakkamur itself should amount to little more than what could be found in old books.

And yet, strangely, Marquis Palladio seemed to know not only that Rikrakkamur existed but also the layout of this swamp itself.

Almost as if he had been here before.

Just as that odd doubt rose again in Kiryana’s mind…

Thud. Rumble.

The capstans finished turning, and the great sound cut off her thoughts.

“The water in the swamp is draining.”

“…The water?”

It was true.

With a tremendous roar, the swamp water was draining into an underground space whose bottom could not even be seen.

Watching the water depth drop in an instant, Kiryana turned forward again at the muttered curse from one of the knights.

And she could not help but harden her face.

There, exactly as she had first seen it that afternoon, lay Rikrakkamur.

Still sleeping.

As the water receded, its body was gradually revealed.

“…That is a living creature?”

At the low murmur from one of the knights, Kiryana too fell silent.

She understood the sentiment perfectly.

We can really kill that?

The doubt tore through her mind.

It looked as large as an enormous fortress.

And then…

The instant more of it emerged from the water, its single breath alone was enough to startle every bird in the area into flight.

Even Kiryana, who considered herself to have reached the realm of superhuman mastery, had no choice but to humbly acknowledge the limits of the human race.

Overwhelmed by that size, she felt reverence rise in her without meaning to.

Then she looked toward Marquis Palladio.

He was walking forward.

Toward Rikrakkamur, whose single tooth was large enough that five humans combined would struggle to compare.

Finally…

After letting out a slow breath, the marquis looked ahead.

Rikrakkamur was still asleep.

Its gigantic body made the ground tremble with each simple breath, and even Alon felt the pressure of that impossible bulk.

No matter how capable he was, he still possessed no spell powerful enough to deal meaningful damage to a monster this large.

And he could not create an entirely new spell of higher firepower on the spot.

He was not that kind of genius.

Even so, the fact that the monstrosity before him had to die did not change.

That left him only one thing to do.

Apply magic.

The moment Extreme Cold unfolded from the armor on his arm, Alon’s lips began reciting phrases at once.

Slower than Duke Komalon, but unmistakably faster than before.

“Frost Crystal Painted Halberd.”

At the final word, the spell that froze everything inside its manifested space…

Crack.

…unfolded above Rikrakkamur’s head.

A spell constrained to only two seconds of time and a limited area in order to save mana.

Within that instant, a huge crystal formed above it.

Certainly large enough to destroy dozens of monsters in one blow.

But still too small to inflict a meaningful wound on Rikrakkamur’s gigantic body.

Even so…

Multi-Manifestation.

Alon’s mana, which had already prepared a spiral structure in advance, unfolded Frost Crystal Painted Halberd once more.

Crack.

And then unfolded it again atop that.

Crack, crack, crack.

At last, what took shape was a crystal massive enough to finally inflict damage on Rikrakkamur’s enormous body.

After confirming the floating crystal, Alon formed a seal and twisted the law inside it.

“Spiral.”

As the phrase was recited, the law contained within it settled into the crystal.

The arrangement of ice mana twisted into a spiral.

Its sharpest point.

Its floating surface wide as a small fortress.

With a sound like timber being torn apart, the spiral drill cast fragments everywhere, scattering them like spring snow.

Only then…

Rikrakkamur, startled awake by the snow of crystal falling over its whole body, opened its eyes.

“Rotation.”

Alon paid no attention and twisted the law granted to him once more.

The crystal began rotating clockwise at his command.

Then, following the law of gravity as it fell, and combined with the previous law of spiral, it gained the piercing force needed to break through the monstrosity’s hide.

It drove straight through Rikrakkamur’s body with a thunderous impact.

And the final phrase Alon recited was…

“Shatter.”

He forcibly broke apart the violently rotating arrangement of mana.

As a result…

The crystal that had pierced Rikrakkamur’s body exploded outward like a bomb.

And beneath the blue moon, an ice flower bloomed.