Raising Villains the Right Way

Everyone present there held their breath.

A divine-blood even larger than the Colosseum.

......Because of the one who called himself the Poison Swallower.

Alon blankly lifted his gaze upward.

At the same time, rough, panting breaths of the fighters reached his ears.

It was not just one.

Most of those present here, merely from witnessing the being before them.

Were exhaling ragged breaths as if they had been engaged in an intense battle for hours.

It was a very strange thing.

And yet, Alon understood why the ’fighters’ were behaving that way.

“Kh—”

Hearing Evan’s stifled groan from behind, as if he were suffocating, Alon thought.

’It’s suffocating.’

It was truly bizarre.

No battle had broken out.

The situation had not changed, and the Anomalous entities that had been attacking them seemed to have lost all will to fight, bowing their bodies as low as possible before the giant spider in reverence

Or perhaps it even looked as though they were bowing in fear.

As if they did not want to be chosen.

Nothing in this world had changed.

Only the divine-blood before their eyes had appeared.

And yet.

Just that alone was suffocating.

As though his breathing were being deliberately restricted, an unpleasant sensation of his breath gradually growing shorter.

Recalling that, Alon controlled his breathing as much as possible and organized his thoughts.

’This is the situation I wanted.’

In fact, in a way, this was the situation he had been hoping for.

In order to resolve what had happened in this Colony.

It was not about killing Karaan, but about dealing with the divine-blood that was the root cause in the first place.

And so, just as Alon steadied his breathing back to normal and tried to move his body.

[So, you are the one called the Star Eater.]

Suddenly, a resonant voice rang out.

A voice so resonant that merely hearing it made his mind itch.

At that, Alon immediately called out to Penia.

”Penia, Evan.”

“Yes.”

“Get everyone inside the Colosseum, and prepare.”

”Al, right.”

Penia, who nodded her head with effort, soon led the fighters together with Evan toward the inside of the Colosseum.

However, the Poison Swallower showed no particular movement.

As if it felt nothing at all about their actions.

Instead, what it did was ask the same question as before.

[Are you the ’Star Eater’?]

A natural hesitation followed.

Should he affirm it and hear what it had to say.

But that thought only lasted a moment, and Alon answered.

“Why do you call me that?”

At that, the Poison Swallower stared straight down at Alon and replied.

[Indeed, you yourself are not even aware of what you are.]

“What?”

[It is understandable. Still, it is curious. How does a mere creature of this world come to be spoken of by them?]

”If I were to demand an explanation, would you give one?”

At the follow-up question, the Poison Swallower leisurely continued.

[I refuse. I do not particularly enjoy doing pointless things.]

“Pointless things?”

[You will die. In that case, would explaining not be a useless act?]

Calmly.

Yet as if stating something utterly obvious.

“For someone who used humans to gather faith, you’re awfully arrogant.”

[So that is how you think? As expected of a human. But do not misunderstand. I merely did so because it seemed the most efficient.]

“So then, did it have any effect?”

[As you can see, it was not particularly satisfying. I realized that without reaching creation, it is difficult to gather faith in such a manner.]

“You accomplished nothing.”

[Is that the worry of a mere creature? There is no need for that. By your presence here, my actions changed from useless to not entirely bad.]

”What?”

Soon, the Poison Swallower rotated its dozens of abyss-like eyes in all directions.

Chiiiiik~!

It began spewing white threads all around.

Threads so thin that even Alon’s eyes could barely distinguish them.

In an instant, they spread throughout the entire Colony.

[Very well, I will tell you.]

As if its mood had grown generous, the Poison Swallower looked down at Alon and spoke.

[’The Rot Eternal’, he is trying to kill you.]

Those words were impossible for Alon to understand.

He knew nothing about the Rot Eternal. He had never even encountered such an existence.

Even so, the reason Alon recognized that being.

Was thanks to the information handed over by the Wanderer.

The Rot Eternal.

Among the divine-blood, it was the one who led one of the four largest factions.

Alon could not quickly digest the story that had been given to him like that.

[So stop resisting.]

At the Poison Swallower’s continued words, he lifted his gaze upward.

“Why?”

[If the Rot Eternal is targeting you, then you are inevitably destined to die. Even if you survive, that path will be an endless road of thorns.]

“So you’re telling me to entrust my life to you instead?”

[Yes.]

An answer far too calm.

Yet filled with absolute certainty.

But naturally.

”I refuse.”

Alon rejected it outright.

[Is that so.]

At the firm response, the Poison Swallower showed not the slightest regret.

It merely accepted Alon’s refusal with composure.

And then.

[In that case, there is no helping it.]

The Poison Swallower’s muttering echoed.

[I will have to kill you.]

The sky entered Alon’s field of vision.

Soon, he saw it.

In that brief moment, the enormous spider web formed across the heavens of the Colony.

And—

Drip— plop— drip~!

The venomous liquid falling from the sky, no, from between countless strands of webbing.

[Then let us see. In my home, how long you can survive.]

***

Alon silently looked up at the sky.

A ceiling that had not existed until just moments ago had formed, scattering venom onto the ground.

Chiiiiiiik~!!!

As he watched the venom that fell beside him emit a pungent stench and melt the land away, Alon frowned beyond his expressionless face.

It looked deadly enough that even a single drop touching an ordinary human would cause their body to melt away and vanish on the spot.

That was not all.

The Anomalous entities that had been bowing their heads in reverence to the Poison Swallower just moments ago began rushing rapidly toward the Colosseum.

The situation was not good.

However.

”Seolrang.”

”Yeah.”

“Please take care of the Colosseum.”

“.....”

”Got it, Master.”

Even so, defeat did not take shape in his mind.

Pajijijik!!!

Seolrang, who had been standing calmly behind Alon, instantly turned into golden lightning and began annihilating the Anomalous entities charging toward the Colosseum.

All that remained along every path the flash passed through were the corpses of Anomalous entities.

Other than that, nothing existed.

Letting out a deep sigh amid it all, Alon once again looked up at the sky.

The venom that had only been dripping one or two drops at first was pouring down more and more as time passed, and the poison that melted even the barrier Alon deployed in an instant without meaning was lethal even to him.

Seolrang might manage, but Alon was not agile enough to evade the endlessly falling venom from the sky.

Alon continued to stare at the sky.

Venom he failed to avoid fell toward him.

The distance was so close that even if he threw himself aside immediately, he could not dodge it, and there was utterly not enough time to cast magic to block it.

Yes.

If it were the Alon of the past, that would have been the case.

”Hoo—”

A small sigh escaped Alon’s lips.

At the same time, as if they had been waiting, six Water-Freezing Seals were formed behind his back, and at the very moment the venom falling from the sky reached right before Alon’s eyes— the small sphere formed in his hand appeared and vanished.

And then.

Jjeojeojeok—!

The world froze. The falling venom froze in place.

The Anomalous entities that had been running toward Alon with the Colosseum behind them all froze at once.

[!]

For a brief moment, the Poison Swallower expressed surprise with its dozens of eyes.

However, the frozen wasteland that had instantly frozen everything around did not stop there, as if that were not the end, it climbed up along the venom falling to the ground and began freezing the spider webs spread across the entire Colony,

[What—]

At the moment the Poison Swallower voiced its confusion, it could see it.

A star beginning to rise in the web-filled sky.

From various parts of the Poison Swallower’s body, which until then had appeared endlessly relaxed, threads burst forth, wrapping around the ice that had frozen everything.

And in the blink of an eye.

The ice that had enveloped Alon and was wrapped in those threads began melting from the venom, and the Poison Swallower melted away all the ice while continuously spewing threads, sweeping the ground below with dozens of eyes.

From the fact that high-ranking divine-blood had already begun taking interest, and because of the unknown aura faintly emanating from Alon’s body, it had judged that it needed to be cautious in its own way.

Even so, the reason the Poison Swallower had deliberately left an opening was curiosity.

It wondered why a mere creature was so hated by high-ranking divine-blood.

On top of that.

If a high-ranking divine-blood had taken interest in him, it judged that there might be something to gain other than joining a faction, and thus intended to keep him alive and study him.

However, at this very moment, the Poison Swallower realized.

That the suspicious creature emitting an ominous aura before its eyes was not an opponent to be taken lightly.

The instant it recognized that, it decided to kill Alon for certain.

Its power was ill-suited to preserving something alive, but conversely, it was far too easy when it came to killing.

Having erased the option of keeping him alive, there was no longer any reason to hide its power.

Thus, as the Poison Swallower rolled its eyeballs while lost in thought, it suddenly realized something strange.

The Alon who had been on the ground just moments ago.

No matter how it searched, he was nowhere to be found.

At the moment it froze in hesitation.

Hwaaaaak—!

The single star that had existed in the sky instantly spread out and became a Milky Way.

At that, the Poison Swallower, which had unconsciously sent several eyes toward the sky, soon turned them back to the ground,

[!]

More precisely, sensing the spine-chilling mana felt directly beneath itself, it lowered all the eyes attached to its body to the ground, and there, it could find Alon.

With a ring containing mana so vast it was enough to make one shudder,

“Just as I thought, summoning with mana takes too long.”

The ’Star Eater’ gazed at the sky with an endlessly calm expression.

And then.

”!”

The Poison Swallower saw it.

[Sworn ally(盟友), manifest yourself.]

Along with that small murmur, the guardian god that manifested in this world—Basiliora, The Receiver.

-!!!!