[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-became-the-patron-of-villains":3,"chapter-became-the-patron-of-villains-became-the-patron-of-villains-chapter-393":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Became the Patron of Villains",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},759683,1006,"Chapter 393: Budding (8)","became-the-patron-of-villains-chapter-393",393,"\u003Cp>Everyone there held their breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Divine blood, larger than the colosseum itself—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>because of the one who called itself the venom-swallowing one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alon blankly lifted his gaze upward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, he heard the fighters’ harsh, ragged breathing in his ears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn’t just one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most of the people here, just from laying eyes on the being in front of them, were panting like they’d been locked in a savage fight for hours.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was deeply strange.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet Alon understood why the fighters were reacting like that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Kkh—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing Evan’s strangled groan behind him, Alon thought,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>'It’s suffocating.'\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was truly bizarre.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The battle hadn’t even started.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nothing had changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the anomalous entities that had been attacking them looked like they’d lost the will to fight, bowing as low as they could to the giant spider in reverence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>if anything, it also looked like they were bowing in fear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like they didn’t want to be chosen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nothing in this world had changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All that had happened was that Divine blood had appeared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just that alone was suffocating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A nasty sensation, like someone was deliberately restricting his breathing, his breath growing tighter and tighter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Remembering that, Alon forced himself to regulate his breathing and organize his thoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>'This is what I wanted.'\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a way, this was the situation he wanted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To solve what had happened in Colony, he didn’t need to kill Karaan—he needed to deal with Divine blood, the root cause.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So just as Alon brought his breathing back to normal and started to move—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[So you are the Star Eater.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A deep voice suddenly rang out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A voice so deep it made his brain itch just from hearing it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alon immediately called out,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Penia, Evan.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Get everyone inside the colosseum. And get ready.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"O-okay.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Penia nodded with effort, then led the fighters into the colosseum with Evan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the venom-swallowing one didn’t make any particular move.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As if it felt nothing at all about their movement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead, it repeated the same question as before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Are you the ‘Star Eater?’]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\".......\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A natural hesitation followed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Should he just affirm it and hear what it had to say?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But only for a moment. Alon answered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"......Why do you call me that?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The venom-swallowing one stared down at Alon, then replied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[So you do not even recognize yourself.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What did you say?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[It is understandable. And yet, it is curious. How does a mere low creature of this world end up spoken of by them?]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"......If I demand an explanation, will you give one?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that question, the venom-swallowing one spoke leisurely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[I refuse. I do not particularly enjoy doing pointless things.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Pointless?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[You will die. If so, explaining would be a useless act, would it not?]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Calmly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As if it were saying the most obvious thing in the world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"......For something that used humans to gather faith, you’re awfully arrogant.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[So that is how you think. As expected of a human. But do not misunderstand. I did so only because it seemed most efficient.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So did it work? Did you get what you wanted?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[As you can see, it is not particularly satisfying. I realized that unless one reaches creation, it is difficult to gather faith in this manner.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’ve accomplished nothing.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Is that the worry of a low creature? You need not. With you here, my actions have become not a useless act, but a not-entirely-bad act.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What—?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then the venom-swallowing one rolled its dozens of abyss-like eyes here and there—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chiiiiik—!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>and began spewing white threads in every direction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Threads so thin Alon could barely make them out with his eyes\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>spread across the entirety of Colony in an instant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Fine— I will tell you.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As if its mood had grown generous, the venom-swallowing one looked down at Alon and said,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[‘The Rotten One of Eternity’ is trying to kill you.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\".......\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alon couldn’t understand those words at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He knew nothing about the Rotten One of Eternity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d never even encountered such a being.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet the reason Alon recognized that name\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>was because of the information the Wanderer had given him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Rotten One of Eternity—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the one who led one of the four greatest factions among Divine blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alon couldn’t possibly digest that story at once, but—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[So stop resisting.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At those words, he lifted his gaze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Why?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[If the Rotten One of Eternity is targeting you, then you will inevitably die. Even if you survive, the road will be an endless field of thorns.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"......So you’re telling me to hand my life over to you, nice and easy?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Yes.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A reply far too calm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet filled with certainty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But of course—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alon refused on the spot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Is that so—]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The venom-swallowing one didn’t show even a hint of regret at his firm answer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It simply accepted Alon’s refusal without fuss.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Then there is no helping it.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its muttering echoed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[I will have to kill you.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sky entered Alon’s vision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then he saw it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that brief instant, a massive web that had formed across Colony’s sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tuk— tuduk— tuk—!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>venom dropping from the sky—no, from between countless strands of webbing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Then let us watch.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In my home—how long you can survive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>####\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alon silently stared at the sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A ceiling that hadn’t existed a moment ago had formed, scattering venom across the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chiiiiiiik—!!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A pungent stench rose as a glob of venom landed nearby and melted the earth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alon frowned behind his blank expression.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It looked lethal enough that if even a single drop touched an ordinary human, their body would melt away and vanish on the spot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And that wasn’t all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The anomalous entities that had been frozen in reverence, bowing their heads to the venom-swallowing one, suddenly began rushing toward the colosseum.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The situation was bad.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Seollang.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yeah.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Protect the colosseum.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"......Okay, Master.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even so, defeat didn’t form in his mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bzzzt—!!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind Alon, Seollang—standing calm—turned into golden lightning in an instant and began wiping out the anomalous entities charging the colosseum.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All that remained wherever that flash passed was the corpses of anomalous entities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nothing else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the midst of that, Alon let out a deep sigh and looked back up at the sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first, only one or two drops of venom had fallen—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>but as time passed, it was pouring down more and more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The venom melted even Alon’s barrier instantly, as if it meant nothing—and it was lethal even to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seollang might be able to manage, but Alon wasn’t nimble enough to dodge venom falling endlessly from above.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\".......\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alon kept staring at the sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Venom he couldn’t avoid in time began falling toward him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was too close—so close he couldn’t dodge even if he threw himself aside right now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And there wasn’t nearly enough time to cast magic to block it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yeah.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If it had been the Alon from before, that would’ve been the end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hoo—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A small sigh slipped out of Alon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, as if they’d been waiting, six ice puppets formed behind him—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>and the moment the falling venom reached right in front of Alon’s eyes—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the small sphere in Alon’s hand flickered in and out of existence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kkrrrrk—!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The world froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The venom that had been falling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The anomalous entities that had been sprinting toward Alon past the colosseum—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>all froze at once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[!]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For an instant, ‘the venom-swallowing one’ showed surprise with its dozens of eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the frozen wasteland that had locked everything around it in ice\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>climbed upward along the venom that had been falling to the ground, then began freezing the webbing stretched across all of Colony.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[What—]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the moment the venom-swallowing one voiced its confusion, it could see it—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>a star beginning to rise in the web-filled sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From all over the venom-swallowing one’s body, threads began spewing out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They wrapped around the all-freezing ice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And in the blink of an eye, Alon’s ice, wrapped in those threads, began melting away under the venom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The venom-swallowing one melted all of the ice away completely, all while spewing thread without stopping, scanning the ground with dozens of eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the moment high-ranking Divine blood had taken interest, and because of the unknown aura faintly leaking from Alon’s body, it had already judged it needed to be careful, in its own way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even so, the reason the venom-swallowing one had deliberately left an opening was curiosity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wanted to know why a ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) low creature was hated so fiercely by high-ranking Divine blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And on top of that—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>if high-ranking Divine blood was interested in him, then besides joining a faction, surely there was something it could gain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With that in mind, it meant to keep him alive and study him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in this moment, the venom-swallowing one realized it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The suspicious low creature radiating that strange aura wasn’t someone it could take lightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The instant it recognized that, it decided to kill Alon for sure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its power wasn’t suited for keeping something alive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But killing was far, far too easy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once it erased the option of sparing him, there was no longer any reason to hide its strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So as it rolled its eyes in thought, the venom-swallowing one suddenly noticed something odd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alon, who had been on the ground just a moment ago—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>no matter how it searched, was nowhere to be found.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The instant it froze—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fwoooosh—!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The single star in the sky spread out in an instant, becoming a Milky Way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The venom-swallowing one reflexively sent a few eyes upward—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>then immediately snapped them down to the ground,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[!]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>more precisely, to the spine-chilling mana it felt directly beneath itself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And there, it found Alon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Holding an amount of mana so vast it made your skin crawl—packed into a ring—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Just like I thought. Summoning it with mana takes too long.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘The Star Eater’ stared up at the sky with an endlessly calm expression.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the venom-swallowing one saw it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[My sworn ally, manifest.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With that small mutter, the guardian deity that manifested in this world—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■-!!!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the descent of Basiliora, the recipient.\u003C\u002Fp>",1709,"2026-06-02T12:43:45.413Z",1,"novelbin.me","6fd0244cb958f7bbbb46677bb6c9d6a541c20faf27e134a8494849b26e51c392","became-the-patron-of-villains-chapter-394","became-the-patron-of-villains-chapter-392",479,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fbecame-the-patron-of-villains-cover.jpg"]