Became the Patron of Villains

Despair.

That was the first emotion Reber felt when he came down below the cliff and volunteered himself as bait together with the migrants.

Because the sight of the colony, which had already been overwhelming just from above, became even more terrifying once they descended beneath the cliff.

From atop the cliff, at least the horizon had still been visible.

But once they came down, what Reber and the migrants saw was nothing but flesh masses.

On the ground.

In the sky.

At the ends of the mountains visible in the distance.

Across the earth.

Even on the stones embedded into that earth, the weeds, and the trees so rotten they looked ready to crumble apart at a touch.

All they could see were flesh masses, and nothing else whatsoever.

“......Haha.”

Reber, who until now had endured countless attacks without wavering, finally broke.

He realized it.

That this was a disaster.

Something no mere believers could possibly deal with.

......Perhaps a disaster that even a god could not do anything about.

“W-what do we do—”

“We-we need to go back up even now—”

“R-run—!!”

Voices rose from behind Reber, followed by frantic noise.

He could see his people, their minds dyed in fear by this overwhelming scene, bolting away in panic.

He knew their struggle would mean nothing.

Because from the moment they descended to the ground, and from the moment the flesh masses noticed them, running had already become meaningless.

────────-!!!!

The horde of flesh masses charged toward them.

Was there truly no other method?

Perhaps there had been another way—

Just as such thoughts repeated over and over in his mind filled with terror.

He saw a man.

The one who had descended together with Reber.

Even while he and all his people were drowning in fear, Evan was calmly watching the flesh masses rushing toward them.

No, he did seem tense to some degree.

But that was literally only tension.

For someone standing before imminent death, he was comparatively calm.

Unlike Reber.

“Are you not afraid?”

A question that, depending on how one looked at it, could even be rude.

But even at Reber’s question, Evan merely looked at him and—

“Of course I am.”

—nodded with certainty.

“I trust him.”

He answered with a faint grin.

A blind faith close to certainty, without even the slightest hesitation.

The moment Reber was about to question that blind faith—

Crackle—!

He saw it.

No, everyone on the ground saw it.

The stars that rose in the sky.

The countless stars that restored the world dyed only in red back to what almost felt like its original color.

And the next thing they saw was the gigantic lightning formed atop the cliff.

And the last thing reflected in their eyes was—

Saaaaaa—!

“!!!”

The purple aura that had burst forth before anyone realized it.

An aura that somehow felt strangely familiar.

And then.

The lightning fired through the purple radiance pierced straight through a monster. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

Like lightning striking down from the heavens.

In an instant.

────────!!!

The massive roar deafened their ears.

All they could see was the enormous crater gouged into the earth, the meteor shower of white stars falling from the sky, and—

“Ah.”

—the flesh masses exploding apart at a terrifying speed.

A low gasp escaped from someone.

Within that gasp, there was neither fear nor terror.

No, strictly speaking, such things could no longer exist.

Because the flesh masses that had been charging at the very front to kill them had all already been burned black and died beneath the lightning—

Crack-crack-crackle—!

And even after wiping out the vanguard rushing at the front, the lightning did not stop.

No, it was increasing.

The more flesh masses it killed.

The more stars vanished from the sky.

The more the lightning multiplied.

Endlessly.

Continuously.

And so what appeared before their eyes was a gigantic tree.

Created while purifying the flesh masses—

A gigantic tree that even now continued expanding without end toward the entire colony that had felt to them like overwhelming terror itself.

And when that massive tree continued growing and growing until it finally swallowed the horizon.

““......””

The migrants’ eyes turned toward the edge of the cliff.

And eventually, in their eyes—

“......Impossible.”

—there filled wonder and awe.

####

“Lord Alon!”

Alon lightly waved toward Penia, who came running from far away, but soon covered his mouth as a cough rose up.

“......”

And after confirming red blood staining his hand, he slightly frowned.

“Lord Alon!?”

[Kyuuu-]

Just like Penia, who cried out in shock, Blackie popped out from his chest pocket with a worried expression.

Even while stroking Blackie, Alon waved his hand toward Penia as if saying he was fine.

In reality, it was not that serious a problem.

‘As expected, my control is still lacking.’

The reason Alon coughed blood was nothing special.

It was merely a minor side effect caused by operating magic power at the absolute limit within the magical environment he had found during the battle against the Seat.

No, viewed long-term, it was still serious enough to be considered a major side effect.

‘......Even after spending quite a long time preparing the magic, it still ended up like this.’

When fighting the Seat of War, perhaps not at the beginning, but by the latter half, optimized magic—at least familiar magic—had required only an instant to cast.

But now, despite taking considerable preparation time, the strain had still reached his body.

‘As expected, the absence of phrases and hand seals is significant.’

Alon once again realized the convenience of phrases and hand seals.

“Are you all right!?”

Looking at Penia, who had already approached his side before he realized it, Alon nodded.

“I am fine. It seems to be a side effect caused by operating magic power to the limit.”

At Alon’s answer, Penia let out a large sigh as though relieved.

However, seeing her fidgeting as though she had questions, Alon immediately grasped her curiosity and opened his mouth first.

“It is not that I became able to use phrases and hand seals again.”

At Alon’s words, Penia nodded.

“......I already knew that from watching. Then what you used just now was— you created the phenomenon itself, right? And the ‘law’— you probably created it through divine power.”

Alon showed a slightly surprised expression.

Because despite having seen it only once, she had immediately grasped so much.

“That is correct. I did not expect you to understand that much. Even so, there are still many areas that need improvement.”

“......Is that so?”

“Yes. I think I now understand why hand seals and phrases exist.”

Penia immediately understood what he meant.

“......Certainly, the phenomena phrases and hand seals can create are somewhat absurd. Even I would have thought it impossible to create them without laws if you had not shown me yourself like this.”

“Lady Heinkel never tried using phrases without laws either.”

At Penia’s words, Alon nodded in agreement.

“But still, this is fortunate. It means you can engrave laws through divine power, right?”

At her continued words, Alon nodded and answered.

“That is true. However, that is not actually the important part.”

“......It is not?”

“Yes.”

Naturally, laws engraved through divine power were different from laws engraved into the world in many ways.

Laws engraved into the world could be drawn out freely through sentences, but laws engraved through divine power consumed enormous amounts of divine power itself, and the time required to grant those laws was also long.

Furthermore, laws created through divine power were single-use, and unlike laws engraved into the world, they could not be detailed.

In other words, in a sense, laws created through divine power were inferior versions in many ways compared to the sentences he had used until now.

However, what mattered to Alon was not those facts—

“If this works, then once we return, I will be able to engrave one additional law.”

—but the fact that once he returned to the original timeline, he would be able to engrave one more law into his magic and use a total of two laws.

In short, today’s magic had merely been a byproduct born from Alon creating his system.

“!”

Perhaps realizing that, Penia looked deeply shocked for a moment, and after glancing at her once, Alon—

“For now, let us head down.”

“Ah, yes—!”

—turned around.

And watching Alon walk away with his back turned.

Penia—

‘......He is far away.’

—found herself thinking that without realizing it.

####

Right after the gigantic flesh masses filling the horizon were burned black.

Alon’s group immediately began crossing that endless horizon.

Because even though Alon had destroyed the entire colony, he knew naturally that this might not be the end.

And so, while hurrying onward, Alon’s group fortunately managed to cross the horizon quickly without any additional attacks.

And continued their journey toward Keremenia.

The time it took was five days.

During that period, Alon felt several undeniable [N O V E L I G H T] changes.

There were three major ones.

The first was that once they escaped the gigantic colony, the attacks from flesh masses noticeably decreased.

In fact, after the third day, there were no attacks at all on the fourth day, which made the change feel especially obvious.

The second was the scenery visible before their eyes.

Until now, the world they had seen consisted only of dry land pulsing with flesh masses.

But what about now?

The disgusting flesh masses were no longer visible across the earth.

Instead, there were scattered living trees and weeds.

And small groups of monsters and animals could be seen as well.

Of course, even so, the gigantic organ floating in the sky had not disappeared, nor had the red world regained its original colors, but even just this much clearly gave a sense of stability.

And the third and final thing was—

“Th-that, perhaps— does the food not suit your tastes?”

“No, it is not that......”

“It is not! You there! Come here for a moment—!”

“It is really fine—”

“Please wait just a moment!”

Reber’s behavior.

No—not just Reber’s, but the behavior of all the migrants traveling together with them had changed greatly.

And if one had to say how it changed—

“......This is rather burdensome—”

“Not at all!”

—it had become extremely burdensome.

“......” freёwebnovel.com

Alon looked at the food laid out before him.

There were not many types, but considering the migrants’ current food situation, it was luxurious to a degree that even calling it a feast was insufficient.

Alon felt burdened by the changes that occurred after he annihilated the flesh masses, but he did not deliberately stop them.

Because he needed divine power, and to obtain divine power, he needed awe.

......Of course, he was not planning to actively gather it himself right now, but there was also no need to erase awe that had naturally arisen.

And so he endured this strangely burdensome lifestyle.

And after moving for several more days like that.

“We have arrived!”

“K-Keremenia!”

At last, they were able to reach Keremenia.

The city called the final bastion of living beings.

And as Alon’s group headed toward the entrance of the city—

“Ah, it seems the sage has come out personally to greet us!”

“......Come out personally?”

“Yes! Perhaps the sage foresaw that we would arrive at this time.”

Hearing Reber’s words, Alon turned his gaze ahead.

Just as Reber said, before the entrance stood a woman who seemed to be the sage Reber had spoken of, together with a line of soldiers.

And.

“......Huh?”

At the same time, Alon heard Evan’s bewildered voice from beside him.

A voice sounding unable to believe what he was seeing.

Normally, Alon would not have been able to guess Evan’s complex emotions, but this time, even Alon understood him.

Because the face of the woman standing there as though welcoming them alongside the soldiers—

“......Yutia......?”

—closely resembled someone he knew very well.

A small smile appeared on the sage’s face.