I Became the Patron of Villains

102. Malacca Ruins (2)

Alon and Evan, along with Riyan’s party, started heading towards the ruins of Malacca.

“Marquis… It seems to be getting more humid the further we go in?”

“Indeed.”

Seeing Evan frowning as if he was very uncomfortable, Alon also nodded.

‘I knew this place was humid, but I didn’t expect it to be this bad. It’s terrible.’

Alon fiddled with his clothes, hiding his unpleasant feeling.

The damp texture felt on his fingers.

‘…I need to handle this as quickly as possible and escape.’

He hated the humidity, so a quick resolution was essential.

How long had he been walking?

“Let’s take a short break.”

They had reached the midpoint before he knew it.

While resting, Alon conversed with Riyan and learned why she and her party were heading to the ruins of Malaka.

“…Malaka is a magical ruin?”

Magical ruins.

The ruins found in Ronovelli come in various forms, such as treasure ruins, heirloom ruins, and knowledge ruins.

Among them, magical ruins were like treasures to wizards because they contained magical items used during the forgotten age of gods.

However.

‘…I don’t recall any description of such ruins in the game?’

When he played Psychedelia, just like during the Raksas era, he visited this place hundreds of times to obtain artifacts that could only be found in the jungle.

The memory of playing the mini-game was still vivid.

“It’s not confirmed yet, but there’s a chance.”

“Is there any evidence?”

“Recently discovered maps made by explorers show that the specific shapes of some magical ruins are very similar to those of Malaka’s ruins.”

It was new information to him.

“I knew about Malaka’s ruins, but it’s a bit surprising that they might be magical ruins.”

“Right? If it weren’t for Theon, I would have thought they were just ordinary ruins as reported to the camp. Theon discovered this fact.”

At her words, Alon looked at Theon, who was resting in the distance.

“?”

Their eyes met briefly, but Theon quickly turned his head away as if he hadn’t been looking at this place.

“…So, are the artifacts from the forgotten age of gods sleeping in Malaka’s ruins?”

At Alon’s continued question, Riyan tilted her head.

“Well, I think the possibility is slim. When explorers and wizards first discovered Malaka’s ruins, they said there was nothing there. At most, there might be some academic materials.”

As Alon nodded at Riyan’s explanation, she asked him a question this time.

“But why are you heading to the ruins, Marquis?”

Alon hesitated, wondering if he should tell her, but soon decided to speak.

“I was asked by someone I know.”

“Asked?”

“Yes, they wanted me to visit the ruins of Malaka.”

Rian’s expression turned slightly enigmatic at those words, but she seemed to realize that Alon had no intention of saying more and did not press further.

Grateful for her consideration, Alon continued.

“But, is it really okay to share such information so casually? I knew nothing about it.”

“Ah-”

Rian nodded, understanding Alon’s point.

“It’s fine. Even though there are similarities to magical ruins, the chances of Malaka’s ruins being truly significant are very low, and the likelihood of finding artifacts is practically nonexistent.”

Even if academic materials are discovered, they would be disclosed to the academy anyway, so there’s no point in hiding it. Rian finished her sentence.

“I see. So, you came here to verify if Malaka’s ruins are magical ruins?”

“Yes. The Red Tower excels in ‘interpretation,’ and the Green Tower in ‘detection,’ so we decided to collaborate.”

Alon learned from Rian how this magical expedition was formed.

“Then, once this exploration is over, you’ll leave immediately.”

“Hmm, unless we explore the new uncharted area in the north, I think so.”

“…The uncharted area in the north,”

Alon muttered unconsciously.

He knew what kind of labyrinth the uncharted area in the north was.

‘…In the future, it will surely be the territory of one of the Four Great Powers, the Hundred Ghosts.’

The Four Great Powers, the Hundred Ghosts.

They are in the latter half of Psychedelia.

At the time when the Five Great Sins are rampaging, they, along with the descending Five Great Sins, turn the already collapsing United Kingdom into a morning rush hour express train.

Whether it was the members of the power or the bosses of the power, each power had a difficulty level that made one curse.

Especially the boss of the Hundred Ghosts, the ‘King of Aberrations,’ even thinking about it now raises my blood pressure.

“It might be better not to explore the uncharted area in the north.”

“? Why is that?”

“I heard from someone I know that it’s a bit dangerous.”

Like foreign correspondents, these Four Great Powers do not rampage unless the Five Great Sins awaken and descend.

Alon advised out of goodwill.

“Let’s get going again!”

Leaving the bewildered Riyan behind, he stood up.

‘…I shouldn’t worry, right?’

And suddenly, thinking of Deus, he felt a slight unease but soon started walking.

It was a damp, unpleasant morning…

####

How much time had passed since then?

When the sky, which should have been lit by the sun, became too cloudy to gauge the time, the group arrived at the temple of Malacca.

“Let’s go straight in.”

Knowing that the ruins of Malacca were not a dangerous area, the wizards, without any hesitation, began to enter the interior, leaving the mercenaries and guides behind.

“Shall we go in too?”

“Yes.”

Alon, who had been looking at the structure of the ruins resembling an old pyramid, also started walking with Evan.

As Alon entered the ruins, which had absorbed moisture for a long time and were covered with moss between the stones, he suddenly recalled what Cretania Sian had said.

‘…You can find the reason here…’

To be honest, Alon still didn’t know why Sian had sent him here.

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t even guess a small reason.

‘What could it be?’

While he was deeply contemplating.

“Oh. It’s a bit cooler inside.”

At Evan’s remark, Alon finally took in the interior view of the ruins.

“……”

There was really, literally nothing here.

All that could be seen were rocks covered with moss.

There was a large stone slab in the middle of the ruins, big enough to easily accommodate about 100 people, but other than that, it was just a vast space.

A space that seemed quite empty to be called ruins.

‘…What can be found here?’

Recalling Sian’s words once again in this place, which was slightly cooler than the outside, Alon looked around the empty ruins.

And just as Alon’s gaze slowly turned upwards.

“?”

In that place, letters appeared.

They were drawn like a picture, but in Alon’s mind, they were clearly recognized as ‘letters’ and could be understood naturally.

Alon, who had a similar experience when he saw the stone tablet at the ruins where the previous dragon tribe was, felt a sense of wonder.

‘The Egg of the Shadow Dragon.’

Despite being worn down by the passage of time, the letters were clearly recognizable.

“-Fixation…?”

As he muttered and read what seemed to be a phrase written below.

Boom───!

With a huge sound, as if something was closing in the distance.

Rustle-!

He heard a thick, tearing sound.

####

‘As expected, even if the form is similar, the probability of it being a magical ruin seems almost nonexistent.’

Liyan, who had been staring at the empty ruins just a moment ago, turned her gaze to the sudden tearing sound.

“!?”

There, one of the green tower wizards who had entered with her just a moment ago was lying with his head blown off.

Crunch- Crunch-!

Buzzing-!

And, grotesquely large insects were devouring the wizard’s corpse.

“Ugh-!”

“What, what is that!?”

“This is insane-“

One of the wizards couldn’t hold back his disgust and vomited at the sight. Others screamed.

But soon, they all began to prepare magic towards the grotesque insects that were gradually revealing themselves in this huge ruin.

‘Why are there jungle mutants here?!’

Liyan couldn’t understand the situation at all, but she tried to prepare magic nonetheless.

However, she soon realized a horrifying fact.

‘Why is the magic…!?’

It was that the magic wasn’t manifesting.

As the insects slowly gathered, Liyan tried to use magic with an even more urgent expression, but the magic still didn’t manifest.

‘The magic, it’s dispersing……!?’

The moment he released the magic for the array, he realized in horror that the magic was escaping his control and scattering into the air.

“Haah-”

At the same time, he heard someone sigh.

The gazes of the wizards, including Riyan, turned towards the source.

From noble mtl dot com

“I almost lost ten years of my life.”

There stood Theon, towering among the insects.

“Theon……?”

Riyan called his name as if he couldn’t understand.

Then Theon smiled brightly in front of the green wizard’s corpse.

“You look like you don’t understand.”

Riyan’s face hardened at the expression that was clearly mocking.

“……Do you even know what you’re doing?”

“Oh, are you going to preach? Sorry, but spare me. I’ve heard it so much that my ears are about to fall off. And don’t worry, I know exactly what I’m doing. Rather, it seems like you’re the one who doesn’t know?”

“What?”

Theon chuckled at Riyan’s question.

“If you knew what I was going to do, you wouldn’t be able to keep that calm expression.”

Then he pulled out a dark black staff from his bosom and swung it lightly.

At the same time, an insect, which had been feasting on the wizard’s corpse just a moment ago, stabbed the corpse’s chest with its sharp proboscis and extracted the heart.

With a splatter of blood, the heart was pulled out.

Theon took the heart from the insect’s proboscis and threw it into the center of the arena.

The heart, still throbbing, began to stain the vast arena with blood.

Riyan tried to use magic again at the sight, but.

“Oh, you better not bother. Now that the ‘trial’ has begun, you can’t use magic inside this ruin.”

“Trial- you say?”

“Yes, a trial. A qualification test to take the magical relic in this place.”

Theon shrugged nonchalantly.

“First of all, let me say, I have no grudge against you. The reason I brought you here is simply because I needed the hearts of more than ten wizards.”

He added, as if it was an afterthought, that he had heard that only the hearts of wizards would do. Theon then spoke with a cheerful expression, as if he had never been silent.

“But honestly, I was really nervous at the end. It was fine for the Marquis of Palatio to follow since he’s a wizard, but having that monster Caliban’s sword follow was a bit too much pressure.”

“……”

“I was wondering how I could endure until the Marquis of Palatio left. But now that I can take the test on the first day, I’m incredibly grateful.”

Teon glanced at Alon with a blatant sneer.

“Well then, let’s say goodbye. I’ll make good use of your hearts.”

As he waved his dark-colored staff, the mutants spread their wings and began to take flight.

‘Is this the end?’

No matter how much magic power Siyan poured out to manifest magic, it dispersed so lightly that his face was filled with despair.

Crack-!

At the clear sound, Siyan’s gaze turned to one place.

And then.

“!”

In front of Alon’s outstretched hand, with his index and middle fingers together, he saw the ‘magic’ shining brightly.

The wizards, who had been in despair, stared at the light as if they were entranced.

“!?”

Teon’s expression, which had been smiling, changed from amusement to doubt, and from doubt to astonishment.

“Fixation.”

Alon, who had already realized the only solution to use magic in this space, muttered the phrase.