Chapter 393. Birth (8)
Everyone present held their breath.
A Divine Blood larger than a coliseum.
…Because of the one who calls himself Poison Eater.
Alon looked up, stunned.
At the same time, he heard the ragged breathing of the combatants in his ears.
It wasn't just one.
Most of those present, just by witnessing the existence before them, were breathing heavily as if they had fought a hard battle for hours.
It was something very strange.
Even so, Alon understood why the “combatants” acted this way.
While listening to Evan's stifled groan behind him, Alon thought:
‘Suffocating.’
Truly strange.
No battle had occurred.
The situation hadn't changed, and the singular creatures that were attacking them before seemed to have lost all will to fight, lowering their bodies to the maximum before the gigantic spider in a sign of reverence.
Or perhaps they looked as if they were bowing dominated by fear, as if they didn't want to be chosen.
Nothing in the world had changed. That Divine Blood had simply appeared in front of them.
And yet…
Just that made it difficult to breathe.
As if someone were restricting their breathing on purpose, an unpleasant sensation of lack of air was spreading little by little. Remembering it, Alon regulated his breathing while organizing his thoughts.
‘This is the situation he wanted.’
In a certain sense, it was what he sought.
To resolve what was happening in this Colony, killing Karan was not enough. One had to eliminate the root cause: the Divine Blood.
That is why, just when Alon recovered the normal rhythm of his breathing and prepared to move—
[I see, so you are The Star Eater.]
Suddenly, a murky voice was heard.
A voice so dense that just hearing it tickled the inside of the head.
Alon immediately called Penia.
“Penia, Evan.”
“Yes.”
“Take everyone inside the coliseum, and get ready.”
“A...greed.”
Penia nodded with difficulty and, together with Evan, guided the combatants towards the inside of the coliseum.
But The Poison Eater did not react.
As if he felt absolutely nothing about their movements.
Instead, he repeated the same question as before.
[Are you The Star Eater?]
A natural doubt followed.
Should he nod and listen to what he wanted to say?
But only for an instant; Alon replied:
“…Why do you call me that?”
The Poison Eater stared at him and replied:
[I see. Not even you are aware of what you are.]
“What?”
[It is understood. But it is curious. Why does a simple being of this world appear in their mouths?]
“…Will you explain it to me if I ask you?”
At the question, The Poison Eater spoke calmly:
[I refuse. I do not like doing useless things.]
“Useless?”
[You are going to die. In that case, explaining something to you would be useless, don't you think?]
With total coldness.
As if saying something obvious.
“…Using humans to collect faith… has been a grotesque method.”
[Is that what you think? Undoubtedly, human. But do not be mistaken. It was simply the most efficient.]
“And well, did you get results?”
[As you see, not too satisfactory. I discovered that it is very difficult to collect faith in this way if Creation is not reached.]
“You haven't achieved anything, then.”
[Does it worry you, lesser existence? There is no need. Your presence here makes my actions not so useless.]
“…What?”
The Poison Eater moved his dozens of gloomy eyes everywhere.
And then—
Chiiiiik—!
White threads began to shoot out all around.
So thin that even Alon could barely perceive them.
They spread throughout the Colony in an instant.
[Well, I will tell you one thing.]
And, as if he had become generous, he looked at Alon and said:
[‘The Eternal Decayed One’. He intends to kill you.]
Alon could not understand it.
He knew nothing of The Eternal Decayed One; he had never encountered him.
And yet he could recognize that name…
Only thanks to the information that The Wanderer had given him.
The Eternal Decayed One.
One of the four great leaders among the Divine Bloods.
Alon could not digest what he heard so quickly.
But—
[Therefore, stop resisting.]
The Poison Eater spoke again. Alon looked up.
“Why?”
[If that being has marked you, you will inevitably die. Even if you survive, your path will be an endless path of thorns.]
“…So you want me to give you my life voluntarily?”
[Exactly.]
Too calm.
Too sure.
But of course—
“I refuse.”
Alon denied him without hesitation.
[My.]
The Poison Eater did not show the slightest displeasure.
He simply accepted the refusal, indifferent.
And then—
[In that case, there is no choice.]
The Poison Eater's voice rumbled.
[I will have to kill you.]
The sky entered Alon's field of vision.
And he saw:
In that brief instant, a gigantic spiderweb formed high above the Colony.
And then—
Tututuduk!
From the sky—no, from among thousands of threads—poison began to fall.
[Well, let's see. In my home, how long you can survive.]
Alon watched the sky in silence.
A ceiling that did not exist moments ago was now spewing poison towards the ground.
CHIIIIIIIIK!!!
The poison fell nearby and melted the earth with a suffocating smell.
Alon frowned behind his expressionless face.
A single drop was enough to completely dissolve a normal human.
And not only that.
The creatures that previously bowed before The Poison Eater suddenly began to run towards the coliseum.
It was not a good situation.
Even so—
“Seolrang.”
“Yes.”
“Take care of the coliseum.”
“…Understood, Master.”
Even in that situation, defeat did not appear in his mind.
Pazizizik—!!!
Seolrang, who was calmly behind Alon, turned into a golden lightning bolt and annihilated the singular creatures throwing themselves toward the coliseum.
Where that flash passed, only corpses remained.
Nothing else.
Alon exhaled deeply and looked at the sky again.
The poison, which previously fell in drops, was falling in greater quantity. Even Alon's magic shield was useless: it melted instantly.
Perhaps Seolrang could avoid it, but Alon was not agile enough to dodge poison falling endlessly from above.
Alon continued observing the sky.
The poison he didn't manage to dodge fell towards him.
Even if he threw himself right now, it was too close to avoid.
And there was no time to deploy magic in time.
Yes.
The old Alon would have died.
“Hu—”
A small sigh escaped Alon's lips.
At the same time, six Hand Seals appeared behind him.
And just when the poison was about to reach him, a small sphere appeared and disappeared in his hand.
And then—
Tzzzzejejejeck—!
The world… froze.
The falling poison.
The singular creatures running towards Alon.
Everything froze at the same time.
[!]
Even The Poison Eater showed surprise in dozens of his eyes.
But the absolute freezing did not end there.
The ice climbed up the descending poison and began to spread through all the spiderwebs of the Colony.
[…What—]
Just as he expressed his doubt, he saw something. A star that was beginning to rise in the sky full of spiderwebs.
The Poison Eater, who up to that moment had acted with absolute calm, expelled threads from his whole body to wrap the ice.
And in a blink—
The ice was covered and then began to melt under the poison.
The Poison Eater melted all the ice while releasing more and more threads, piercing the earth with his multiple eyes.
He knew that the higher Divine Bloods had already shown interest in Alon.
And because of the strange energy emanating from his body, he planned to treat him with care.
But his greatest motivation had been curiosity.
Why was a simple inferior being hated by a higher Divine Blood?
Besides…
If a higher Divine Blood was watching him, perhaps he could obtain something by studying him instead of killing him immediately.
But in that instant, The Poison Eater understood.
The inferior being giving off that strange energy was not someone to be taken lightly.
Realizing this, he decided to kill him immediately. His power was not good for saving—
But it was perfect for killing.
Without the option of capturing him, he no longer had a reason to hold back.
So, while analyzing the situation with his eyes, he noticed something strange.
Alon, who was on the ground a moment ago… had disappeared.
He stopped his searching for a moment.
Fwaaaaaa—!
The single star in the sky suddenly turned into a galaxy.
The Poison Eater raised several eyes towards the sky out of pure reflex, but immediately lowered them—
[!]
Precisely, towards the terrifying energy emanating right below him.
There he found Alon.
With an overwhelming amount of mana concentrated in a ring.
“As I thought… summoning it with mana alone takes too long.”
The Star Eaters looked serenely at the sky.
And then—
“!”
The Poison Eater saw it.
[Ally, descend.]
With a small murmur, the guardian manifested in this world—
The appearance of The Receive, Basiliora.
