Raising Villains the Right Way
Chapter 471 : Astarote (2)
‘I hope nothing happened.’
Alon thought that as he walked toward the rift.
If it had been a gathering of humans, he would not have been this tense, but what was taking place inside that rift was a gathering of divine-bloods.
And although they currently shared the same objective, in the end, they were people whose goal was to destroy this world entirely, people with purposes completely different from Alon’s.
That was why he had left Seolrang behind with the others, just in case an unexpected situation arose.
‘Seolrang will handle it well.’
Alon recalled the Seolrang he had left behind.
He already knew what kind of situation Seolrang was in.
He also knew how dangerous it was.
Yet despite that, Alon trusted Seolrang.
In Alon’s opinion, from the beginning, she was—
“Ah.”
While thinking about Seolrang, Alon let out a small exclamation.
He had been so absentmindedly lost in thought that he had not realized he had already arrived in front of the rift.
‘Did all the other divine-bloods already go inside?’
After confirming there were no divine-bloods around him, Alon quickened his pace slightly more than usual. No matter what, he did not want to make some protagonist-like appearance at the very end.
“Phew—”
Letting out a light sigh, he soon pushed himself into the rift.
Woooooong—!
The moment he passed through the rift, a horrifying sound rang out.
For only a brief moment, a bizarre noise like fingernails scraping cracked glass echoed through his ears.
Soon after, the scenery inside the rift entered his vision.
“……!”
The inside took the form of a cavern.
A cavern dimly illuminated by a faint green light coming from somewhere.
However, the reason Alon was shocked was not because of that, but because the inside of the cavern was unimaginably enormous.
To the point that even if there were hundreds of divine-bloods gathered here, it still would not feel full.
Thus, he only briefly looked around in astonishment.
[You’ve come.]
Soon, a voice sounded from far away.
And there, he could see two divine-bloods.
Standing as though they represented the countless other divine-bloods.
At the sight of their gigantic bodies, Alon paused for a moment before walking toward them.
Wooooong—!
“!”
The ground beneath Alon suddenly rose upward and floated into the air.
[It’s uncomfortable having to keep looking down, so I’ll do this. It should be more convenient for you as well.]
At the words of the divine-blood whose face itself resembled a gigantic cross, Alon nodded.
[Now then, it seems everyone has gathered, so let us begin.]
It looked around before immediately introducing itself.
[I am Red Conviction, leader of the ‘Purebloods.’]
At the introduction of the cross—no, Red Conviction, the divine-blood that had been silently watching from the right opened its mouth. The sight of a gigantic black reversed eye floating where its head should have been was grotesque.
[I am Clinging Eye, leader of Closed Light.]
A brief introduction, but apparently that was enough, as Red Conviction nodded before looking at Alon.
Alon hesitated briefly.
‘How should I introduce myself?’
Should he introduce himself as Alon Palatio, king of the Palantio Kingdom?
Or as the Star Eater?
“I am—”
As Alon opened his mouth while conflicted—
[No, there is no need for you to say anything.]
“What?”
[There is no one here who does not know who you are. Isn’t that right? ‘Star Eater,’ leader of the Star Root.]
Red Conviction said that with a smile.
“?”
Alon felt puzzled internally.
Because mixed into those words was information that was very clearly incorrect.
So just as Alon was about to correct him—
“What are you—”
[How insolent.]
A voice sounded from behind him.
[How dare you speak casually to Lord Star Eater?]
[Is Lord Star Eater your friend?]
A somewhat… strange voice.
When Alon turned his gaze, there stood a divine-blood whose entire body was burning and another divine-blood with a black skull attached to it, both glaring at Red Conviction with blatant hostility.
[Are we seriously going to concern ourselves with such things in a situation like this?]
[At the very least, show proper respect. Star Eater is not someone on the same level as you.]
After warning him once more, the divine-blood engulfed in flames lightly bowed its head toward Alon.
‘Eh? Have we met somewhere before? Or maybe heard each other’s names at least?’
That thought naturally arose in his mind, but—
[Your subordinates are as loyal as I heard.]
Without giving him a moment to breathe, Red Conviction spoke again.
My subordinates?
Since when did that guy become my subordinate?
Alon barely managed to swallow the words that nearly escaped him and shifted his gaze.
There were still divine-bloods there.
And there were an overwhelming number of them, easily numbering in the dozens.
While Alon stood there blankly staring—
[Now then, what was it you were about to say?]
Unafraid despite the hostile divine-bloods, the other party questioned Alon.
Remembering what he had been about to say earlier, Alon thought.
In his heart, he wanted to know just what kind of situation this was.
Naturally so.
Alon could confidently say that he had never once met the divine-bloods behind him.
Not merely that he had never met them.
He had never spoken to them.
Never even heard rumors about them.
Nothing at all.
Which meant this situation could only be absurd.
But—
He was not so incapable of reading the atmosphere that he would openly say that in a setting like this.
“……No, it’s nothing.”
For now, he decided not to ruin the atmosphere.
[You must have already heard from Sculptor, but I will briefly summarize the situation regardless.]
At present, Red Conviction, leader of the ‘Purebloods,’ arguably the largest group among the divine-bloods, explained while looking toward the Star Eater.
Truthfully, when they first met, Red Conviction had found the Star Eater strange.
Because he was human.
Of course, it was information he already knew.
To begin with, among the divine-bloods, the fact that the Star Eater had somehow become human was widely known.
Still, even if he was currently in human form, Red Conviction had expected there to be something different about him, but he looked far too ordinary.
That question lingered only briefly.
Red Conviction shook his head.
Because the divine-bloods following the Star Eater were all extraordinary beings.
Among first-stage divine-bloods, they were beings possessing immense power.
Yet seeing them follow the Star Eater while showing such overwhelming loyalty—
‘……So that rumor is true?’
Red Conviction recalled the rumor spreading among the divine-bloods, one leaked by a divine-blood that had been captured by the Star Root before miraculously escaping, and looked at the Star Eater.
Even though the divine-bloods around him, each supposedly powerful among first-stage divine-bloods, were displaying infinite loyalty, he acted as though he did not care about them at all.
He even looked absentmindedly off somewhere, as if he had little interest in this meeting itself.
After observing that appearance, Red Conviction finished speaking.
[That concludes the explanation. Any questions?]
[No, none.]
The Star Eater answered curtly.
At that, Clinging Eye began speaking.
[Then it is time to discuss the operation.]
[There’s a strategy?]
[No. The strategy is simply to crush them with numbers.]
[Hmm. If I remember correctly, Descender has already reached the second stage. Will that really be enough?]
At Clinging Eye’s question, Red Conviction nodded.
[Ordinarily, it would not be enough. Ordinarily.]
[What do you mean?]
[Everyone here already knows this. Descender obtained a law allowing him to endlessly devour fragments. But as everyone knows, laws also come with restrictions.]
[...............So you discovered the restriction.]
[Correct.]
Red Conviction nodded.
[It’s simple. In exchange for being able to endlessly consume fragments, the time it takes him to digest them has increased tremendously. In other words—]
[If we simply deal with those Astarote bastards, it’s over?]
[Exactly.]
[Is that reliable information?]
[After verifying it several times already, it seems Descender cannot move at all.]
Clinging Eye let out a small exclamation.
[Then a direct assault is indeed a good method. After all, this is not the kind of battle where one can expect strategy to matter.]
Those words were reasonable.
To begin with, for divine-bloods, terrain-based tactical battles offered almost no advantages.
And if all they needed to do was eliminate Astarote, there was even less reason to require strategy.
But above all else, the reason Clinging Eye and Red Conviction proposed and agreed upon a simple frontal assault was because of the unfairness of strategy itself.
Strategies could always be devised.
However, if within that strategy one group had to take on dangerous roles while another group took on safe ones—
That alone could cause the threat of internal division.
Thus, even if they had to accept some losses, they narrowed things down to a direct charge.
Astarote absolutely had to be eliminated, but merely doing that would not end everything.
That was why Red Conviction and Clinging Eye agreed, yet naturally, the two continued probing each other.
No, strictly speaking, they each harbored different thoughts.
Of course, thanks to the oath they would soon make, even after eliminating Astarote, they would be unable to attack one another for some time.
However, that merely meant they could not directly attack each other. If one side were to ‘coincidentally’ lose its forces after being attacked by Astarote, that was an entirely different matter.
[Yes, that is precisely why I proposed it.]
[I agree as well.]
Red Conviction and Clinging Eye each concealed their own thoughts while agreeing to the strategy, and now their gazes turned toward the Star Eater.
Because he alone had yet to respond.
Silence descended.
The Star Eater, expressionless and lost in thought, finally looked toward Red Conviction and Clinging Eye.
Eyes so emotionless and dry that not even the slightest intention could be sensed from them.
[·
....]
[…………What is it?]
At Red Conviction’s question, the Star Eater merely stared at the two of them without answering before turning his head.
Then he looked toward the two divine-bloods standing behind him.
At that, perhaps the Star Eater had sent some sort of signal, because the two divine-bloods firmly nodded before looking at Red Conviction and Clinging Eye with somewhat smug expressions.
‘What?’
‘What did they just communicate?’
The two unconsciously tensed at the sight.
“I have no objections either.”
Then, hearing the Star Eater’s words, they came back to their senses.
And then—
[............Good. Then we depart immediately tomorrow.]
With those final words, the meeting-that-wasn’t-quite-a-meeting held inside the rift came to an end.
Leaving Red Conviction and Clinging Eye, who could not help but remain wary of the largest faction, Star Root, with an inexplicable sense of unease.
And then.
After the meeting ended, Alon casually walked out of the rift.
‘This is bad.’
He was feeling exhausted.
‘I didn’t understand a single thing they said……?’
And for good reason. He had been seriously pondering just what kind of structure the Star Cluster behind him had and how it had even been formed, so he had failed to properly listen to what was being discussed during the meeting.
‘And when I looked back just in case, they were only nodding……?’
Even when he belatedly turned around in realization, the two divine-bloods he had met for the first time today only nodded as though they trusted him completely, leaving Alon simultaneously flustered and fatigued.
The Darkness-Devouring Sword and Burned Vegetation, whom Alon stared at with eyes clearly saying, ‘Please tell me what happened in the meeting,’ were instead—
‘...............I have been acknowledged...............!!’
‘The first one to receive power shall be me...............!!’
—grinning to themselves while interpreting his intentions however they pleased.
And then.
“A-Are you alright, Lord Alon?”
“What is all that all of a sudden...............?”
With that enormous horde of divine-bloods trailing behind him.
Alon, who had seriously been pondering just what in the world had happened all the way until he reached the carriage, finally said—
“Evan.”
“Yes……?”
“I think I might be sleepwalking.........."
—and arrived at a rather shocking conclusion.
“What???”
[?]
For the first time in a while, Evan and Basiliora’s expressions distorted.
As though to say:
‘What the hell is this bastard talking about?’
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