I Became the Patron of Villains

138. Rikrakka Mur (1)

Kiryana also expected it would take three days to reach the destination, just like Alon.

In the game, it took a shorter two days.

It was natural for the time to increase as they moved with a larger expedition.

However, Alon had a small question during the travel period.

Because of the actual distance.

In fact, whether looking at the Psychedelia map or the map Kiryana unfolded, the distance to the swamp on the map was not that long.

It was a short distance that could be reached with a day’s hard travel.

So he couldn’t understand why it took 2-3 days for such a short distance, but a little over a day after the expedition started.

‘Crazy-’

Alon realized how wrong his thoughts were.

Alon looked down with a sinking feeling.

There was a huge canyon there.

And that was not all.

Beyond the canyon, there were rocky mountains, and beyond that, another canyon seemed to start.

Even the canyon at the end of his sight was divided into dozens of paths.

‘It was because the road was rough.’

It was dizzying for a moment.

He even thought that Kiryana might be abusing the expedition by setting the travel time to three days, it felt that tight.

Thinking such thoughts while descending the canyon.

[This canyon, it was artificially made.]

Suddenly, Basiliora’s voice was heard.

“……What?”

[Just as I said, this canyon is not a natural occurrence.]

Basiliora, who had been summoned for the bored Kkamangi in the coat pocket since yesterday.

For the first time since being subdued, he looked around with a rare serious expression.

[It seems certain.]

“Why do you think so?”

[Look, isn’t the gorge itself split into an elliptical shape?]

“Hmm.”

Alon gazed at the gorge.

He hadn’t properly noticed it before, but as he said, the gorge was indeed split into an elliptical shape.

[Normally, a typical gorge wouldn’t split like this.]

“…Is that why you said it’s artificial?”

[No, it’s not just that. I can sense an echo here.]

“An echo?”

[Yes, it’s very old, but it’s definitely there. Judging by the two overlapping echoes, it seems to have been created by a battle.]

“…I can’t imagine that.”

He tilted his head involuntarily.

It was too majestic to be seen as a mere trace of a battle.

How much time had passed since he started walking with a strange sense of doubt in his heart?

Alon crossed the massive gorge and arrived at a smaller, winding gorge.

“There are multiple paths.”

“In this case, the left path seems to be the best choice.”

“Really?”

“Yes, let’s take that path. Unlike the other paths, it’s wide enough, so even if it takes a bit longer, it should be the best option.”

“That makes sense… Everyone, move to the leftmost path!”

Yutia and Kiriana discussed the paths.

Watching the two converse, Alon suddenly recalled what Basiliora had said earlier.

“Basiliora.”

[Why?]

“Was this gorge also created by a battle?”

[Hmm- well- yes, it was.]

“…? If it was, then it was. If it wasn’t, then it wasn’t, right?”

[That’s true, but-]

Basiliora, who had been perched confidently on Alon’s shoulder, was now looking at the gorge with a strangely subdued expression.

No, to be precise.

‘…Is he looking at Yutia?’

Basiliora seemed to be watching Yutia, who was talking with Kiriana in the distance.

‘I’m not exactly sure why he’s being so cautious.’

I had a rough idea of what it was about.

It was because of what happened just yesterday.

Last evening.

Alon, who seemed to be getting bored of looking around, summoned Basiliora as a playmate for the chirping Kkamangi.

‘Summon me more often! I can see outside, but I want to walk around!!’

As soon as Basiliora came out, he started throwing a fit and yelling at Alon,

‘Oh, what a cute snake.’

[I am the great god Basiliora!]

‘Snake, can I hold you for a moment?’

[I am not a cute snake, human!!!]

‘If you allow me, I’d like to keep you for a while.’

Yutia, with divine power in her hands, dragged him away in his spirit form.

And shortly after, the small snake returned.

[…….]

He started to watch Yutia cautiously.

Alon, curious about what Yutia had said, asked several times, but Basiliora did not answer.

Even when he asked Yutia,

‘Huh? We just played for fun, teacher.’

That’s all she said.

It made him even more curious.

No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t make sense that Basiliora came back in such a state just from playing.

But the recollection was brief.

“Teacher, let’s go.”

Following Yutia, who was smiling gently, Alon started walking towards the canyon again.

……Even after that, Basiliora’s eyes trembled anxiously whenever he looked at Yutia.

And so, two more days passed.

“……Is this the place?”

“We’ve arrived.”

The expedition arrived at the swamp where the forest maw, Rikrakka Mur, lay.

As they walked through the forest, they encountered it.

In the middle of the forest, a small bald mountain—no, Rikrakka Mur.

In the center of the swamp, even though it was in the water, its size was not fully concealed, and the soldiers’ faces turned pale as if their morale had been broken just by seeing it.

The knights also had serious expressions.

Although their faces were not as blue as the soldiers’, their eyes clearly showed blatant fear.

It was natural.

Rikrakka Mur, presumed to be sleeping in the swamp, was too gigantic for mere humans to kill.

Even so.

“I’ve heard stories, but… it’s even bigger than I thought. Can we really kill that thing?”

Even Kiriana voiced her doubts.

Yutia just smiled quietly.

Alon said,

“…I will now explain the plan.”

He began to explain without hesitation.

####

Late at night, under the rising blue moon.

Kiriana quietly looked at the moon, then turned her gaze and spoke.

“Begin.”

“Yes, understood.”

The knight who answered her nodded lightly towards somewhere.

The knight who understood the signal raised a flag imbued with magic, making it shine brightly even in the dark night.

At his signal,

“Turn it!”

The soldiers began to turn the giant pulley.

Creak—Creak, creak, creak!

As dozens of soldiers moved in unison, the rusty pulley began to turn slowly, making a noise.

At the same time,

“The northern pulley has started turning.”

“The eastern pulley has also started turning!”

“The signals have been raised from the west and south as well!”

The knights’ report was delivered.

Kiryana nodded lightly, recalling the explanation given earlier by Marquis Palatio.

‘The task for the allied forces is simple.’

‘In this swamp, there are a total of four pulleys based on the north, south, east, and west. When I give the signal, all you have to do is turn those four pulleys simultaneously.’

‘Once the pulleys are turned, monsters will swarm in, and the allied forces just need to block them.’

A very simple and straightforward plan.

As Kiryana watched the soldiers struggling to turn the pulleys, she brought back the question that had been lingering in the corner of her mind.

‘…How does Marquis Palatio know about the existence of these pulleys here?’

As far as Kiryana knew, not many people were aware of the existence of Rikrakmur.

In the first place, no one could enter the area outside the borders except for the allied forces, and the existence of Rikrakmur itself would have been information found only in ancient books if one was not part of the allied forces.

But strangely enough, Marquis Palatio seemed to know not only about the existence of Rikrakmur but also about this swamp very well.

As if he had originally been here before.

Therefore.

‘…What is this?’

Just as a peculiar doubt began to arise in Kiryana’s mind.

Boom-! Rumble-!

At the enormous sound indicating that the pulleys had completely turned, she stopped thinking and turned her gaze.

“The water in the swamp is draining!”

“…Water?”

It was true.

With a tremendous sound of water, the swamp’s water was draining into the underground, where even the bottom could not be seen.

Confirming the depth that had started to decrease without her noticing, Kiryana.

“…Crazy-“

At a knight’s low curse, she looked straight ahead again and couldn’t help but harden her face.

There lay Rikrakmur, which she had seen for the first time this afternoon, still lying dormant.

A gasp of astonishment burst out.

Its body gradually revealed as the water level dropped.

“…Is that a living creature?”

At the knight’s low murmur, Kiryana also closed her mouth.

Because I deeply empathized.

‘Can that be killed?’

Doubts wildly stirred in my mind.

It was so immense that it reminded me of a colossal fortress.

─────■■■

As it emerged from the shallow water, just a single breath from it startled the birds in the vicinity, causing them to fly away noisily.

Even Kiriana, who prided herself on reaching the pinnacle of superhuman abilities, had to humbly acknowledge the limits of the human race.

She couldn’t help but feel awe at its overwhelming size.

‘…….’

She then looked at Marquis Palatio.

He was moving forward.

Towards the enormous Rikrakkamur, whose single tooth was as large as five humans combined.

Eventually.

After letting out a sigh, the marquis looked ahead.

Rikrakkamur, still not awakened from its slumber.

■■■■■■■─────

The massive body, which could shake the earth with just one breath, exerted an unbelievable pressure on Alon.

No matter how skilled Alon was, there was no magic that could inflict effective damage on a monster of this size.

Moreover, he couldn’t instantly create a new spell with higher firepower than his original level.

He wasn’t that much of a genius.

However, the fact that he had to deal with the monstrosity before him didn’t change.

He had only one thing to do.

To apply magic.

Alon’s lips quickly recited the incantation, deploying the extreme cold from his armor.

Slower than Duke Komalon, but undoubtedly faster than the previous Alon.

“Ice Crystal Spear.”

The moment he uttered the final word, the magic that froze everything within the manifested space-

Crack-crack-crack-!!!

Was deployed above Rikrakkamur’s head.

The magic, constrained to just 2 seconds to conserve mana.

“`

In that fleeting moment, a massive crystal formed above its head.

Certainly, it could deal with dozens of monsters in a single blow.

But it was a crystal too small to inflict any meaningful damage on the colossal body of Rikrakka Mur.

However.

Multiple Manifestations.

Alon’s magic, which had already preceded the spiral magic structure, unfolded the Ice Crystal Extreme once more.

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Crack-!

On top of that, he unfolded the Ice Crystal Extreme once again.

Crack-crack-crack-!!!

And so, what was finally created was a massive crystal capable of inflicting damage on Rikrakka Mur’s colossal body.

Confirming the floating crystal, Alon twisted the law of the crystal as he formed a seal.

“Spiral.”

As he chanted the phrase, the law contained within it imbued the crystal.

The array of ice magic twisted into a spiral.

The sharpest point.

The vast ground like a floating island.

The spiral drill emitted a sound like a tree breaking, scattering its remnants in all directions, creating snowflakes in the spring.

Only then.

────■?

Rikrakka Mur, who had been awakened from his slumber by the snowflakes flying all over his body, opened his eyes.

“Rotation.”

But without caring, Alon twisted the law granted to him once more.

The crystal, which began to rotate clockwise at Alon’s phrase.

As it fell to the ground according to the law of gravity, it gained the penetrating power to pierce through the tough skin of the monstrosity along with the preceding spiral phrase.

-■■■!!!!

With a roar, it pierced through Rikrakka Mur’s body.

At the same time, the last thing Alon chanted was.

“Shatter.”

Forcibly breaking the roughly rotating linear array of magic.

With that.

“`

“`

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■-!!!!!!!

The crystal that had pierced through Rikrakka Mur’s body exploded like a bomb and scattered.

Under the blue moon, ice flowers bloomed.