Chapter 384
Chapter Title: Stepping Up
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384.
“A chain reaction of rampaging Hero Dungeons, hidden in the Forest of Monsters. It seems that was enough to lure out the filthy shadow presumptuously guarding this place.”
Delian, who had infiltrated the underground casino, Shadow, curled his lips into a smile.
“Now, let’s go.”
Leading his subordinates, he entered the labyrinth’s entrance, a smirk playing on his lips.
“The legacy of the Dragon of Creation here… is mine.”
***
Dobella’s northern gate.
“Aaaaaaah!”
“Evacuate! Everyone, evacuate!”
All of Dobella was in a state of panic.
The sudden crisis erupting from the Forest of Monsters was nothing short of a catastrophe.
“Fight! You mercenaries! Weren’t you hired with our money? Stop those monsters!”
The knights of Elehem stationed in Dobella screamed, urging the mercenaries forward.
“We’re mercenaries! There’s no way we can stop something like that!”
“That’s right! You’re the knights! You always boasted about how we couldn’t even touch the dirt on your boots!”
“You take the lead and show us what you’ve got! Then we’ll follow!”
“Hmph! You insolent curs…!”
Friction erupted between the knights of Elehem defending Dobella’s walls and the mercenaries.
The knights held back, demanding the mercenaries fight on the front lines, while the mercenaries rebelled against them.
The conflict between the two groups was reaching its peak.
*Thud-! Thud-!*
A heavy sound echoed across the top of the wall.
“Hmph. To be paralyzed by fear and unwilling to stand on the battlefield, despite having such magnificent walls! What a spineless lot.”
All eyes turned to the giant tiger beastman.
“Feeling fear is a perfectly natural instinct for any living creature. To be without fear would be reckless.”
*Click- clack-*
Beside the tiger beastman, a platinum-blonde girl holding a staff walked along.
“Hmph- Indeed. In that case, what about them? Can they overcome their fear?”
Bormann grinned and stepped to the front.
“Students from Lumerne and Azonia…!”
“But what can just the two of them do?!”
The knights of Elehem wore expressions of disbelief.
The mercenaries, however, swallowed hard.
Chloe turned to look at them.
“You’ve all been through countless battlefields, so you know, don’t you? The odds of survival are at least a little higher if you stand and fight rather than run.”
They were frozen, unable to fight because of the immediate fear of death before them.
But even the mercenaries knew well that in the face of such a massive monster invasion, scattering instead of uniting would make survival difficult.
Looking at the despairing mercenaries, Chloe spoke.
“So, how about we fight? We’ll take the vanguard.”
At her words, the mercenaries began to murmur.
“They’ll take the vanguard?”
“She’s a student from a hero academy!”
“They can just use a warp gate to leave the battlefield whenever they want, can’t they?”
Voices filled with distrust.
Then, one mercenary among them muttered.
“No. We can trust them. Being able to use a warp gate at will means they could escape this city right now. Yet they came here.”
He looked at Chloe and asked.
“Why?”
To his question, Chloe smiled brightly.
“Because we dream of being heroes.”
The mercenaries stared blankly at Chloe.
*Step- step-*
With light steps, Chloe ascended to the top of the wall.
*Vwoom-!*
As she extended her hand, a staff was summoned from a subspace.
She could see the army of countless monsters swarming toward the wall.
“Need a hand?”
Bormann, who had come to her side, asked with his arms crossed.
“It’s fine. This is a mage’s job.”
Chloe began to chant an incantation.
Watching her, Bormann tightened his crossed arms.
‘What is this absurd fluctuation of mana?’
As she chanted, Chloe looked at the monster horde.
‘It’s natural for people to feel fear. Because I’m scared, too.’
Without pausing her incantation, Chloe tightened her grip on the staff.
‘But… I was taught that it’s a mage’s role to give courage to those who are afraid.’
Thinking of her friend who was so far ahead, Chloe smiled.
‘Let’s move forward.’
“Hoo.”
Finishing her chant, Chloe exhaled.
A powerful chill emanated from her body.
“Ice World.”
*C-c-c-c-c-c-c-crack-!*
In an instant, the area before the wall was covered in ice.
The monster horde that had been bringing terror was frozen solid.
“Incredible.”
Bormann muttered, his jaw agape.
Chloe turned back to the mercenaries and said.
“Let’s fight, together.”
“Uwooooooooh!”
“Let’s fight!”
Inspired by Chloe’s magic, the mercenaries’ fighting spirit ignited.
***
At the east gate, Karl watched Duran’s back as he charged a cyclops and muttered to himself.
‘He’s a detestable bastard, for sure, but Duran… that guy will definitely become a hero.’
It wasn’t just Duran.
Many of the friends he had been close to at the academy had already moved so far ahead that he couldn’t even see their backs properly.
‘Well, in a way, it’s only natural.’
From the moment he was accepted into Lumerne, he had never dreamed of being a hero.
‘Just surviving was the best I could hope for.’
It was the same now.
Karl was a mage.
Normally, he should be supporting Duran from behind.
But Karl knew.
Adding his mana wouldn’t be of much help to Duran.
‘I’d be lucky not to drag him down.’
Despite being a mage, his firepower couldn’t even match Duran’s aura.
‘This is why I can’t even dream of being a hero.’
Karl let out a faint smile.
‘My goal was just to stick around at Lumerne for as long as possible. If I got lucky and became a hero’s supporter, that would be the best-case scenario.’
It was a choice befitting the quick-witted Karl.
It wasn’t wrong.
No, in fact, that too was a way to serve the world.
‘But lately, I’ve found a much more ridiculous goal.’
“Hah!”
From the rear, Juen was attacking another cyclops with sniper magic.
More than one cyclops had appeared.
Besides the one Duran was slaughtering, another group of cyclopes was rampaging.
*Zzzzzzing! Flash! KABOOM-!*
A mana bullet, imbued with Juen’s immense mana, struck a cyclops.
With a massive explosion, the cyclops, its body pierced, staggered and spewed blood.
But it soon regained its balance and let out a roar.
“Guwooooooooh!”
Aina, charging toward the cyclops, became a golden flash.
*Flash! Spurt-!*
Aina’s sword pierced the cyclops’s flesh.
Uwooooooooh!
“Kugh!”
But she couldn’t bring it down.
The enraged cyclops’s eye turned to Aina, who had attacked it.
Its eye flashing, the cyclops swung its arm at her.
‘Too late!’
Just as Aina wrapped her body in Aura Armor to brace for the impact.
*Whoosh-!*
A powerful gust of wind blew.
*Slice-!*
“Uwoooooh!”
Haviden swung his spear, creating a wind slash that severed the cyclops’s arm.
Aina and Haviden’s eyes met in mid-air.
Haviden created a gust of wind.
Aina used the wind as a foothold, leaping rapidly and charging toward the cyclops’s neck.
Golden aura soared.
“Haaaaaaaahp!”
With a sharp cry, the golden aura sliced through the cyclops’s neck.
“Kieeeeeeeeergh!”
The cyclops clutched its neck and let out a scream of agony.
With its head gone, the cyclops began to rampage wildly.
Watching this, Juen shouted in disgust.
“It’s still rampaging even after its head was cut off!”
“Of course, you think it’s a high-grade magical beast for nothing? It’s a monster that boasts a disgustingly tenacious life force.”
Karl approached Juen, who was sniping.
“Well, you three seem like pretty formidable monsters yourselves.”
“Is this really the time for jokes?!”
“It’s a compliment. It pains my heart to see such frighteningly incredible underclassmen. You’ll get stronger in a flash and surpass your seniors.”
Karl grinned.
“But for now, at least, I can help you as your senior.”
*Thump-!*
Karl placed a metal box in front of Juen.
“What’s this?”
“These are special mana bullets made by your upperclassman here.”
Karl took a mana bullet from the box.
“Juen, you have a vast amount of mana, but your mana output is low in comparison, so for now, you lack that ‘overwhelming single strike.’ That’s why you’re struggling against a monster with such overwhelming life force. But finishing things off is originally a mage’s job.”
“I know! But even though I’m a traditional mage who operates from the rear, I’m not the type who overwhelms opponents with sheer firepower!”
“I know. So try using this.”
Karl held out the bullet.
“Even with a mana bullet, there’s a limit to how much it can increase magical power…”
“This is a special magic bullet I created. Its power increases in proportion to the user’s mana reserves. My mana is so meager that it doesn’t have much effect, but for you, Juen, it should make a huge difference in your magic’s power.”
Watching her mentor smile confidently, Juen took the mana bullet and loaded it into her staff, which was designed for sniper magic.
‘The compatibility is perfect.’
Karl had been making mana bullets for Juen before, so it felt familiar.
But the swirling mana and magical formula within the bullet were in a realm that was difficult for even Juen, the top first-year student in the magic department, to comprehend.
*Zzzzzing-!*
The mana bullet reacted to Juen’s mana.
Juen aimed at the cyclops.
Sensing the mana reaction from Juen, Aina and Haviden distanced themselves from the cyclops.
*Flash! KABOOOM-!*
With a roar like a cannon firing, a massive explosion erupted on the cyclops’s upper body.
*Splatter!*
Flesh and bone fragments of the cyclops rained down.
Its entire upper torso blown away, the cyclops collapsed.
*THUD-!*
At the power that far exceeded her expectations, Juen’s mouth hung open.
‘It’s impossible for me to catch up to the heroes. But still, I want to at least get to a place where I can see them.’
He couldn’t walk beside them.
He couldn’t even follow behind them.
So, from a place where he could at least see them, when the great heroes faced their trials.
He wanted to be of some help, even if just a little.
That was the new ‘goal’ Karl had set for himself.
“Hmph.”
After slaughtering the first cyclops and taking the head of the second, Duran snorted and curled his lips into a smirk.
“Not bad, Karl Thomas.”
***
The west gate.
Standing on the wall, Ar Tune wagged her tail as she watched a giant gigantes charge toward them.
Ar planted her feet firmly on the wall.
Simultaneously, she charged toward the gigantes.
“Haaaaaaaahp!”
With a powerful shout, a golden aura erupted from her body.
In her beast form, Ar’s eyes flashed as she kicked the gigantes in the head.
*KABOOOOOM-!*
The gigantes staggered and then fell to the ground.
*CRUUUUUSH-!*
A tremendous sound that shook the earth echoed out.
But that wasn’t the end.
Ar, now cloaked in a blue aura, used Aura Step to kick off the air and charge toward the ground.
*KABOOOOOOOM-!*
Kicking the gigantes in the abdomen, Ar let out a fierce growl.
Chelsea, who was watching from the top of the wall, had a look of disbelief on her face.
“I’d heard the stories, but she really is a monstrous cat.”
“Chelsea, you shouldn’t say such things.”
When Chen Xia chided her, Lewen, another Azonia student, spoke up.
“She is a monster cat. It’s not like she’s wrong.”
Chuckling at the response, Chen Xia looked toward the inside of the city and said.
“I’ll be back in a moment.”
“Huh? Where are you going?”
As Chelsea tilted her head, Chen Xia smiled faintly.
“Something has come up.”
With those words, Chen Xia vanished in an instant.
“Foolish hero candidates. To be so distracted by the monsters and beasts outside.”
“Hmph, they’re just brats. They’ll crumble, unable to properly handle the chaos that erupts from within.”
“But a sudden rampage like this. Does this mean our mission here is over?”
A group of figures in black hoods conversed.
*Crack-!*
Just then, one of their necks was snapped.
*Thump-*
In the sudden turn of events, the black-hooded figures reacted with shock, about to draw their swords.
*Crunch-!*
“Gaaah!”
A small, beautiful hand shot out from the darkness and twisted an arm.
“Hero Hunters. I’d like to hear more about that mission of yours.”
Chen Xia, revealing herself from the shadows, asked with a faint smile.
“A Shadow!”
“It’s just one of them!”
“She’s lost her mind!”
The moment the Hero Hunters drew their respective weapons.
*SPLAT-!*
Another Hero Hunter’s head exploded as he was slammed into a wall.
“Princess. I thought you had completely washed your hands of this kind of work.”
Kiruan, emerging from the darkness, tilted his head and asked.
To which Chen Xia replied calmly.
“I learned that there’s no need to distinguish between what a hero must do and what a shadow must do.”
Chen Xia released her water aura.
“If the path we pursue is one and the same, then we must do what we can. That’s what he taught me.”
“You seem to have become even more fearsome than before, Princess.”
“Why is that?”
“Because you no longer hesitate, Princess.”
The Shadow Lord, Kiruan, cracked his knuckles and said.
“I can smell beastmen. Some of you can use ‘Beast Form,’ can’t you? This is my final act of consideration.”
All expression vanished from Kiruan’s face.
“As traitors, you’d be wise not to pathetically imitate that great man. If you do something like that…”
A thick killing intent radiated from her body.
“I will kill you in the worst way I possibly can.”