I Became the Patron of Villains

44. Seolang (6)

“Ice Crystal.”

As he confirmed the massive ice wall forming in front of him, Alon let out a deep sigh behind his expressionless face.

‘What on earth is going on?’

He was extremely confused by the situation.

And for good reason, from Alon’s perspective, he had just gone to the tower in the city center to listen to a story, when suddenly the entire commune shook as if it would collapse, and he rushed out to see this scene.

Even more beyond Alon’s understanding was this:

‘Those two, they seem to have used Abyssal Bodies.’

Alon recalled the thick, dark magic flowing from the bodies of Malyam and Kalman, who had just tried to kill Seolang.

‘How?’

As far as he knew, Abyssal Bodies did not appear at this point in time. In the original timeline, they started spreading in the world after two of the Five Great Sins appeared.

The effect of the item is that, even if the subject absorbing the Abyssal Body is weak, they would still possess a ‘divine status’.

The principle behind it was not even revealed in Psychedelia, so there were many speculations that the Abyssal Body was a setting to balance the game difficulty.

First of all, the enemies using the Abyssal Body became overwhelmingly stronger than before.

Therefore, Alon wondered why Malyam and Kalman were holding the Abyssal Body, but soon erased that thought.

More importantly, it was not that, but breaking through this current situation.

Alon calmly assessed the situation.

‘The remaining number of magic uses is zero.’

He had already used three spells to create the land of extreme cold, and one spell to shoot and kill Malyam, who had just tried to harm Seolang.

And now, he had used one spell to protect himself against any possible attacks, so Alon could no longer use magic.

Normally, that is.

Gulp-

Alon unhesitatingly opened a bottle from his waist and drank it.

It was the highest-grade mana potion given to him by Fenia, the vice-tower master of the Blue Tower.

‘With this, I can use magic once more. If I drag it out, I can use it twice, but the shield will disappear in 20 seconds.’

After drinking the potion, he immediately turned his gaze to Seolang, who was lying down.

He had been secretly preparing magic for a long time to avoid detection, so he had roughly heard the circumstances.

“……”

Seolang’s eyes, which he glanced down at, were filled with emptiness, frustration, and deep anger.

Seeing her exuding a gloomy aura all over her body, Alon immediately took out a potion from his waist.

It was the highest-grade potion that had come to him half a year ago when many gifts were arriving for Alon.

“Drink it.”

Alon lowered his body and pushed the potion into Seolang’s mouth, whispering.

“The ones who betrayed you are only those guys, so don’t worry.”

“Is that, really?”

“Yes.”

He answered clearly, but in fact, Alon did not know how many of the Golden Mane Tribe were on Ralga’s side.

Also, no matter how thoughtlessly Seolang was living, it would be easy to see that there was no credibility in what he was saying if she thought about it for a moment.

Nevertheless, the reason he deliberately lied was because he desperately needed her help right now.

‘There is only one chance, Seolang must block their attacks until I prepare the magic.’

Alon’s magic took a long time to use. And he knew well how foolish it was to expect the enemies to wait for that time.

Therefore, Alon lied to make Seolang, who was in despair, move immediately.

“Can you hold off the enemy until the spell is complete?”

At Alon’s question, after feeding Seolang the highest-grade potion, Seolang staggered a bit but stood up resolutely and nodded.

“Yes.”

Even though it was the highest-grade potion, the poison had not yet been properly diluted, but there was no other way.

Alon decided to trust Seolang and prepare the magic.

As long as he prepared the magic, dealing with Kalman was not a difficult task.

Although he had absorbed the Abyssal Entity and become stronger, ironically, Alon could become even stronger because Kalman had absorbed the Abyssal Entity.

Because he had imposed a restriction.

A restriction that granted the power to twist the world when facing a god.

“Hoo-“

The moment Alon let out a light sigh and formed a seal.

The cold ice wall that had been scattering frost until just a moment ago disappeared as if it had never been there.

“Ice and Snow.”

He then recited the phrase.

As frost raged wildly around him, assassins and the Golden Mane Tribe charged in as if they had been waiting.

Their numbers were in the dozens.

However.

“Form.”

Despite staggering, Seolang began to fend off all the charging enemies, and watching this, Alon uttered the next phrase.

And he closed his eyes, recalling the words spoken by that unidentifiable figure earlier.

‘Those who have lost the great legacy of the past may not know, but the essence of magic is that a ‘Magus’ is one who implements the laws designated in this world.’

‘The arrangement of magic, the phrases, and even the names. All exist to implement the laws. Only when everything is properly arranged according to the order-‘

‘-can it be called magic.’

“Famous of the Snowy Mountains-“

Following Alon’s words, a round sphere formed between his middle and ring fingers and froze.

It was not just freezing.

Each ‘point’ of the arrangement created to implement the magic blossomed into individual flower buds, as if blooming snowflakes, centered on hexagonal plates.

‘It seems you only know a few phrases, but you must also use sentences. Phrases can twist the laws, but sentences are the keys that can open the specific doors to the laws designated in this world.’

‘Well, in fact, even the wizards of this era have not completely lost the names. They have just been excessively abbreviated and unified, losing the original words.’

‘In this era, it seems they call this something like ‘Ice Spear’… such a ridiculous name.’

“The Blind Man’s Inevitability.”

The blossomed bud blooms.

Before he knew it, the sphere at Alon’s fingertips was no longer a round sphere but a massive crystal of an eye.

Crack-!

In the center of that crystal, a spear of beautiful form, visible to anyone, was created before him.

And then.

‘But that magic was originally not called something like ‘Ice Spear’-‘

“Ice Crystal Halberd (氷晶畫戟).”

‘Ice Crystal Halberd- that’s its true name, forgotten by those foolish wizards.’

After muttering quietly, Alon opened his eyes and could see.

Kalman, wearing dark-colored gauntlets, looking at him with a distressed expression, and Seolang desperately blocking him.

Seeing that, Alon firmly grasped the seal he had been holding and completed the manifestation of the magic.

In the hot cavity, a snowfield arrived.

Liyan watched the magic Alon had unfolded.

Her mind, which always ran simulations several times to analyze any magic that appeared and recalled various knowledge in her head, was now at a standstill.

She just stared blankly.

Everything in the path of the spear Alon had shot was frozen.

Whether it was the ground, the air-

…or Kalman, whose heart was pierced by that spear.

Everything was frozen.

The abnormal, yet beautiful sight captivated the eyes of Liyan and the other wizards.

“Unbelievable…”

“Is that… a wizard…?”

The mercenaries, who had been filled with despair just moments ago, all muttered in awe as they looked at Alon.

Their eyes were filled with endless respect and reverence.

It was natural.

The desperate situation had dramatically changed because of the being standing right there.

Thus, even Seolang, who had narrowly escaped the range of the magic, was looking at Alon.

Suddenly, it moved.

“Ah-!”

The first to notice that Ralga, who had been struck by Seolang and thought to be down for good, was moving, was, amusingly enough, a mercenary who had been watching the scene.

“Die-!”

Ralga, with his right arm shattered, raised the poisoned dagger that had earlier put Seolang in danger and charged.

A member of the Golden Mane Tribe, and one whose powers granted by Seolang had not yet been revoked, he appeared near Seolang at lightning speed, at the moment she was most off guard.

“!”

Seolang, who had thought everything was over, tried to retreat, but it was already too late.

Her body was already covered in wounds from fending off the swordsmen and charging thieves.

Still feeling the effects of the poison, she could only watch as Ralga’s dagger aimed for her heart.

Ralga’s face filled with ecstasy,

‘If I kill this one, I can seize the essence and escape! I can start over again!’

With that thought, he put even more strength into the dagger.

“!?”

But Ralga’s dagger did not pierce Seolang’s heart.

‘Eunsa…!?’

The reason was that Alon, who had seen Ralga charging just like the mercenary, instinctively reached out and pulled Seolang’s body back.

However-

As a result, Alon’s body naturally slid forward, and he was struck by Ralga’s horizontally swung dagger.

“Gah-!”

He coughed up blood.

Black, dead blood that anyone could see.

And just after Ralga’s final move failed and his head was crushed by Seolang’s foot, filled with rage,

“Count!”

Evan’s voice was heard.

In conclusion, nothing happened to Alon.

…Of course, a knife was stuck in his side, but for that, really, nothing happened.

The reason was that Ralga’s dagger had indeed struck Alon’s torso, but it had just barely grazed him, only tearing his clothes.

In other words, he was not injured.

So why did Alon, who wasn’t even hit by the dagger, cough up blood? It was purely due to magical exhaustion.

Even though he had secured enough mana to cast the spell more than once, the moment he used it, the mana depletion was so severe that it caused internal damage to his body.

‘…The power is certainly beyond expectations… But it seems I need something to supplement the lacking mana.’

Alon looked at the receding ruins, touching his uncomfortable stomach despite having drunk the highest-grade potion.

Although he hadn’t seen the eastern stone slab, an attack had occurred, so they decided to leave the ruins today.

Thanks to that, Alon, who had been watching the receding ruins for a while, turned his head to Seolang, who was staring at him intently.

If things had gone as originally expected, Alon should have been comforting her by now.

Knowing that she would become one of the five great evils in the future, he couldn’t let Seolang harbor any ill intentions.

However, contrary to Alon’s thoughts, Seolang’s eyes did not show any negative emotions like anger or hatred, which made him curious.

“Master.”

“Yes?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

Seolang asked a question.

“When Kalman attacked earlier, why didn’t you dodge?”

“…”

‘When Kalman attacked?’

Alon thought for a moment and then remembered.

His gauntlet that had come right up to his nose when he used the Ice Crystal Spear.

‘…It wasn’t that I didn’t dodge, I couldn’t dodge.’

He thought briefly but felt it wouldn’t be good to say that, so he answered instead.

“Because I trusted you.”

“…Trusted me?”

“Yes, you said it was possible.”

‘Actually, it was more like, please do it!! …That kind of feeling.’

With a response full of embellishment, Seolang, whose eyes now had a slight sheen, asked again.

“Then, why did you save me when Ralga tried to kill me?”

“…Why?”

Alon couldn’t find a suitable reason.

‘……Isn’t it strange to just stand by when someone you’ve supported for a long time, not even an enemy, is about to die right in front of you? ……Honestly, I never expected the dagger to reach me.’

Alon, after pondering the question just like before, spoke his mind this time.

“……Do I need a reason?”

“No reason?”

“You don’t need a reason to save family.”

To him, Seolang had already become like a daughter he had fed and raised for over five years, so the answer came naturally.

‘Ah.’

But he soon realized he had made a mistake.

From what he had observed over the past few days, Seolang seemed to hold a very special meaning to the concept of family.

So Alon subtly raised his gaze.

“But, Eunsa is…… not family. Family is, blood relatives.”

He nodded in agreement to Seolang’s muttering.

“Still, I want to become family with Eunsa.”

“……”

At Seolang’s continued words, Alon felt a warm sensation in his heart once again.

It was as if someone who had never been recognized as a father was finally being acknowledged as one after many years.

Of course, he hadn’t experienced it firsthand.

So, just as Alon was about to nod in satisfaction rather than affirmation.

“But-”

Seolang swiftly moved and climbed on top of Alon.

With her hips placed on Alon’s thighs and her hands on his shoulders, her eyes were incredibly bright.

To the bewildered Alon, who was caught off guard by the sudden action.

“In this state, we can’t become family. I’m from the Golden Mane tribe and Eunsa is human. So-”

Seolang spoke with a smile.

“Let’s get married!”

“……???”

……Alon’s mind went blank.

On the other hand, Seolang’s tail was wagging more vigorously than ever.