Chapter 145
Chapter Title: The Calamity's Flame
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145.
“A god?”
Elena tilted her head.
“Are you talking about Erebos?”
“Do not defile his name with that filthy mouth of yours.”
“My mouth is clean. I brush my teeth every morning, noon, and night.”
Elena flashed a grin, showing off her pearly whites.
“Ah, but you people lack culture, so you probably wouldn’t understand such a concept, would you? And among all demons, you’re a necromancer who scavenges corpses, so you must smell particularly foul.”
Elena’s face scrunched up as if she had smelled something truly awful.
At her reaction, the necromancer, Biner, began to tremble uncontrollably.
“You… you wretched girl…!”
There was something in Elena’s tone that deliberately grated on Biner’s nerves.
To be precise, it was Elena’s attitude.
Having lived as a demon, Biner was accustomed to all manner of curses and insults.
No matter how venomous the words, they were never enough to make her lose her composure.
But Elena’s gaze and demeanor…
That condescending look, as if she were truly dealing with an insect, was more than enough to make her blood boil.
In truth, Elena regarded Biner as nothing more and nothing less than a bug she could crush at any moment.
“How dare a mere human insult me, Biner, the chosen of the great Necrolord!”
*Kwagagagagak-!*
As Biner unleashed her dark magic, a black magic circle materialized.
And from within it, a torrent of bone blades erupted.
“I’ll rip you to shreds!”
*Kagagagagagak-!*
The black magic descended upon Elena, devastating the surrounding area.
Watching this, Hadin narrowed his eyes.
‘A considerably high-ranking demon. A 3rd rank. No, at this level, perhaps a 4th rank?’
The demon hierarchy was divided into seven ranks.
A 4th-rank demon was a high-level being capable of easily annihilating the vanguard knight order of a respectable nation.
They were, quite literally, objects of terror.
Not something to be treated as a mere ‘bug,’ as Elena had called her.
“Ahahaha! To think you’d run your mouth just because you have one! Serves you right!”
Biner pointed a finger at the pile of bones, a look of immense satisfaction on her face.
Each of those bones was a weapon, sharp and hard enough to tear through human flesh with a single graze.
Having been buried under such a storm of bone blades, there was no way she could have survived.
“You’re next.”
Biner’s venomous killing intent turned toward Hadin.
“How should I kill you?”
Looking at the sneering Biner, Hadin spoke.
“Unfortunately for you, you cannot kill me.”
“Hero candidates these days just don’t know their place.”
Biner shook her head.
“Do you have any idea how many hero candidates I’ve killed? The likes of you are no match for me. You’ve heard of me, haven’t you? Biner. I’m quite famous among your kind.”
“Biner the Bone-Eater?”
Biner the Bone-Eater.
A notorious demon who had been active for a century, murdering countless hero candidates.
“That’s right. I am none other than Biner the Bone-Eater.”
Biner licked her lips.
Every hero candidate she had met was the same.
‘At first, they all act high and mighty, as if they’re already heroes. Many were arrogant brats who ran their mouths just like that girl.’
But that never lasted long.
The moment they heard her name.
They would either freeze in terror or flee for their lives.
The instant those confident faces contorted in fear was the moment Biner felt the most ecstasy.
Hadin would be no different.
Biner held onto that expectation.
But the moment her eyes met Hadin’s, she faltered.
Hadin wasn’t looking at Biner.
He wasn’t even sparing her a glance, instead stroking the head of the terrified Merin.
“Don’t worry.”
“But… the angel… En…”
“Ha? You seem to have plenty of time on your hands.”
Biner’s expression was one of sheer disbelief.
“This is hardly the time to be worrying about some fake.”
“Shouldn’t you be the one not worrying about me?”
“What?”
“If she was the kind of woman to be taken down by something like this, she wouldn’t have been worthy of being my target.”
*Clink- Clatter-*
The pile of bones began to tremble.
Seeing this, Biner’s complexion changed in an instant.
‘What? She’s alive?’
Biner’s magic wasn’t just sharp.
Each of those bone blades was heavier than a grown man.
And she had taken the full force of it head-on.
There was no way she could be alive.
No, even if she were alive, there was no way she could escape.
And yet…
*Kwwaaaaaaang-!*
The pile of bones exploded upward into the sky.
But it did not scatter.
Elena, her entire body enveloped in pink mana, smiled sweetly.
Biner’s eyes widened at the sight.
Biner, too, had heard the rumors.
‘There is a monstrous woman in Lumerne who wields pink mana.’
“Elena… Jer-on.”
“Ding-dong, correct.”
With a cheerful smile, Elena unleashed her mana.
Biner’s face filled with horror.
The pile of bones, now suspended in mid-air by Elena’s mana, began to tremble and emit black smoke.
It was none other than Biner’s own dark magic.
Simultaneously, Elena’s mana seeped into the bone blades.
A necromancer’s magic was broadly divided into two types.
Necromancy, which controlled corpses.
And corpse magic, which utilized them.
Either way, it was impossible for the terrestrial races to seize control of a necromancer’s magic.
And yet…
‘She stole control of my magic?!’
It would have been understandable if she had simply dispelled it.
But to steal control of the magic itself?
“Here, I don’t need this, so you can have it back.”
Elena smiled brightly and pointed a finger at Biner.
In an instant, the bone blades turned toward Biner.
“W-Wai… Aaaaargh!”
*Kwagagagagagak-!*
Buried under the storm of bone blades, Biner’s desperate scream echoed.
“A human would die from that! As expected of a cockroach, your life force is on another level.”
Elena turned away with a prim look, muttering as she approached.
She then walked over to Merin and stroked her head.
“Were you worried about me? Aww, how sweet of you.”
After saying that, Elena shot a glare at Hadin.
“You, on the other hand, don’t seem to have worried about me one bit.”
“Is there any reason to waste my energy worrying about you?”
“My, listen to you.”
Elena, who had been pouting, suddenly froze.
*Crack-*
Fissures began to spread across Hadin’s body.
And it wasn’t just Hadin.
The same was happening to Elena’s body.
Both of them wore expressions of shock.
*Shatter-!*
Like breaking glass.
Fragments of their bodies shattered and scattered.
With that, Elena and Hadin shed the guise of the fake world and returned to their true forms.
“What in the world…?”
Hadin looked on, stunned.
Elena glanced at Merin.
Merin, too, was dissolving into particles of light.
‘A phenomenon similar to when we cleared the World of Heroes.’
But this was clearly different.
“Kikikikikik.”
A laugh echoed.
Elena glanced over at Biner.
“You lowly creatures… how dare you act so insolent until now?”
“Weren’t you the one who was being insolent and failing to grasp the situation?”
“You wretched girl, I’ll kill you!”
Biner’s eyes became bloodshot as she glared at the smirking Elena, who refused to back down an inch.
But soon, a twisted smile formed on her lips.
“Your insolence ends now!”
Biner’s face was awash with glee.
“The god… the Great Calamity’s Flame awakens!”
*Fwoosh-!*
Suddenly, black flames ignited on Biner’s body.
“Aah! I can hear his voice…!”
Biner’s body trembled violently, her eyes rolling back into her head.
“Ahahahaha! The voice! I can hear the voice! Kyahahahahahaha!”
As Biner burst into mad laughter, Elena waved her hand.
*Slice-!*
Particles of light descended from the sky like a guillotine, severing Biner’s head.
“Hahahahahahahaha!”
But Biner did not stop her crazed laughter.
“It seems… that god is indeed Erebos, isn’t it?”
Elena narrowed her eyes.
“It would seem so.”
Hadin’s expression tensed as he summoned his aura.
*Squirm- Squirm-*
Biner’s body twisted and began to swell grotesquely.
“So this is her true form.”
Elena clicked her tongue.
“Though she doesn’t seem to be in her right mind.”
“Elena. We must clear this dungeon.”
“Yes. This seems to be more than just a matter of clearing the world of a Great Hero.”
Elena gathered her mana.
“It’s clearly deeply connected to the Great Calamity.”
***
Leo and Lunanoticed the anomaly the moment they began talking about Erebos.
“Leo… you!”
Lunia’s eyes widened as she looked at Leo, who had returned to his original form.
Leo, in turn, narrowed his brow as he looked at Lunia, who had also reverted to her true self.
‘What is this?’
He looked up at the sky.
A sky full of starlight.
There were cracks in it.
As if the world had been cleared.
But this was different from a clear.
Through the cracks, an ominous black light flickered, not a radiant one.
And that darkness was a shade Leo knew all too well.
‘The flames of Erebos.’
The inextinguishable flames of calamity.
It was far too similar to the color of the flames that had once burned this world to the ground.
‘A fragment of Erebos… is in this world.’
Everything Pivua had said now made sense.
Darkness has fallen.
‘She wasn’t talking about something like Tartaros.’
Leo’s fists clenched.
‘She was talking about Erebos.’
A fateful connection that had persisted since his past life.
He could clearly feel the presence of that terrifying being here.
The party hall was in an uproar, all eyes on Leo and Lunia.
“Who in the world are you?!”
“What have you done to the princess?!”
Several elves raised their voices.
Seeing this, Sid shouted.
“What scheme has brought you to infiltrate this auspicious day?!”
A human was in a place where humans were absolutely forbidden.
Not only that, but to the residents of this world, it would appear as though Leo and Lunahad disguised themselves as Akint and Princess Seijar.
The sudden turn of events caused killing intent to rise among the elves.
Normally, this would mean a failure to clear the world.
But that didn't matter now.
‘The world is breaking.’
A fragment of Kyle’s page flashed through Leo’s mind.
Like his own page, broken and left in pieces.
The proof that Luna had ever existed in this world was disappearing.
What would happen if his friends’ pages were broken and disappeared like his own?
In this current world where the Hero Record was the only thing that proved a hero’s existence.
What would happen if all the pages vanished?
‘Everything we achieved.’
Leo closed his eyes.
‘Our story will be forgotten.’
It didn’t matter for him.
He was already a forgotten man.
But his friends?
The Great Heroes who had sought to save the world, each with their own ideals?
Leo turned his gaze to Luna, who was staring with wide eyes.
Luna’s eyes trembled at the fact that he was not Akint.
That image overlapped with her final moments.
Luna, smiling brightly as always.
But her eyes were trembling with anxiety.
This elf had always been haughty, yet she was also the type to be easily discouraged more than anyone—a strange elf indeed.
‘Hey…!’
‘Kyle…’
‘Don’t.’
‘If one of us has to live… you know it should be you, the one carrying the weight of Ar-on and Dweno, right?’
‘I told you not to! You damn fool!’
He had screamed, coughing up blood.
But that elf, who was so terrible at listening, had ignored his words until the very end, just as she always did.
‘This is for the best. If you were me, you’d have done the same!’
‘No…! You’re wrong!’
‘Sorry for leaving you with my burden, too.’
His friend, who had unhesitatingly saved him, saying that if both were to die, the one carrying more should be the one to live.
His damn friend, who had apologized with a face that looked like it was about to cry at the very end.
If all the pages disappeared.
She would be forgotten, just like him.
Leo approached Lunia.
Lunatook a step back, her face wary.
“Who are you? Where is Sir Akint?”
“Luna.”
This world had already begun to crumble.
There was no time for clearing it or anything of the sort.
The Progenitor’s page.
There was only one way to protect Luna’s story.
‘Eliminate the source that is destroying the world.’
Five thousand years ago, they couldn’t defeat it even by joining forces.
But…
‘This time, I will defeat it.’
Leo touched the bracelet on his wrist.
*Fwaah-!*
With that, Folium materialized in Leo’s hand.
The noble staff, said to choose the great Elvenking, was radiating light in his grasp.
The elves who saw it gasped.
Lunia’s eyes widened as well.
“It’s time to save the world again.”
“What?”
“I need your help.”
Leo offered Folium to Lunia.
*Flash-!*
A light far brighter than when Leo held it erupted from the staff.
As if it had met its true master.
Leo looked at the astonished Lunaand said,
“Help me.”
*Grip-*
Lunia’s hand, holding Folium, tightened.
A strange boy.
A human she should rightfully be wary of.
But why?
Why did his voice, calling her so familiarly, feel so nostalgic it brought tears to her eyes?
Why did his bright smile seem so sad?
She didn’t know.
His words made no sense.
But… Lunia’s instincts were telling her.
To that plea for help…
“Okay.”
She had to say yes.