Chapter 446
Chapter Title: The Brave Hero's Return
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446.
“It’s burning?”
Leo’s expression hardened.
The earthquake had stopped.
But Ar-on’s single statement sent a chilling shock through Leo.
It’s burning.
He didn’t have to think hard to understand what that meant.
‘The resurrection of Erebos.’
5,000 years ago.
It meant that one of the six pieces of Erebos, split apart by the Hero of the Beginning, Kyle, had been revived.
‘Don’t tell me a fragment was dormant here?’
Leo glared down at the ground.
5,000 years ago.
Although he was the one who had shattered Erebos, even Leo didn’t know the whereabouts of the fragments.
‘The last thing I remember is seeing its dismantled pieces scatter across the sky.’
Engulfed in black flames, he had plummeted from the sky to the earth.
The last scene Kyle ever saw was.
The six scattering fragments, and through them, like the breaking dawn.
The brilliant sun appeared, driving away the gray sky.
After that sight, he lost consciousness and fell into a long slumber.
‘The fragments of Erebos identified so far are the first one, discovered by Silrod; the one that revived 3,000 years ago, which the Heroes of Genesis trapped in the World of Genesis; and the third, presumed to be in the possession of that bastard Hell Kaiser.’
None of them could possibly be here.
The fragment from Fairy Land is managed by Silrod, and the revived fragment is sealed within the Hero Record.
‘If the Necro King had appeared here, Ar-on would have detected him.’
That meant the Erebos that Ar-on sensed now was the fourth fragment.
“Why did it awaken so suddenly?”
Leo voiced his question, and Ar-on spoke.
“It’s been 5,000 years since Erebos was defeated, and one fragment revived 3,000 years ago, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then wouldn’t it be natural for the remaining fragments to revive at any time?”
Ar-on was right.
One fragment had already revived 3,000 years ago.
So it wouldn’t be strange if the other fragments were to revive at any moment.
“But this is too sudden.”
As Leo narrowed his eyes, Ar-on said.
“Or maybe it’s because I came out of the World of Heroes.”
“I see.”
Leo nodded grimly at Ar-on’s words.
After entering Ar-on’s rampaging Hero Record, Leo had brought him into the present world.
He had used divine power in the process.
‘If the divine power used to bring Ar-on here stimulated the dormant Erebos, causing it to awaken…’
Then it would make sense for Erebos to have awakened.
Just as he clicked his tongue.
“Lord Leo!”
“Melina.”
Melina’s voice came from the sky above.
Thud!
Seeing Melina land before him, Leo said.
“Contact the whole world immediately. Tell them a fragment of Erebos might revive.”
“What?”
Melina’s face turned pale.
“You don’t mean the cause of this catastrophe is related to a fragment of Erebos?”
“Yes.”
Leo clenched and unclenched his fist as he continued.
“It seems the fourth fragment has revived.”
“Yes, I’ll first send the summoned second-years to another region along with the first-years.”
It was none other than a fragment of Erebos.
A situation just like the Second Coming of Calamity.
As such, it was an ordeal far too great for hero cadets to handle.
Melina, the Dragon Lord, quickly took action.
As she stirred her mana to open a warp gate, Melina’s face stiffened.
The moment they saw her expression, Leo and Ar-on understood the situation.
“Spatial travel is impossible, isn’t it.”
“Yes.”
Melina replied to Ar-on’s words in a stiff voice.
The very presence of Erebos distorts and warps the laws of the world.
Magic is a skill that intervenes in the world’s laws to manifest phenomena.
Among them, magic related to space is particularly unstable.
The mere presence of Erebos destabilizes the surrounding space, making spatial travel magic unusable.
Even Luna couldn’t use it.
“First, gather all the first and second-years in one place.”
“Yes. And then?”
“We have to explain the situation.”
Leo drew his sword.
Seeing him, Melina gritted her teeth.
“The children will fall into despair.”
“They will. But it doesn’t matter. We also have hope. Have you forgotten?”
“What? Ah!”
Recalling something, Melina’s eyes widened.
“We have the Brave Hero with us now.”
***
The sudden appearance of magical beasts and monsters.
The second-years who had been in Delan were hastily summoned and heard Melina’s voice.
They immediately grasped the situation and began subjugating the beasts and monsters.
Fwoosh-! Crackle-!
The auras of flame and lightning wrapped around the swords roared into existence.
KRAAAAAASH-! CRACKLE!
“GRRROOOOOWL!”
Celia and Duran’s auras ravaged the body of a massive magical beast.
The beast shrieked in agony as it collapsed.
Shwaaak-!
Chen Xia soared towards it.
Her water aura fluttered through the air like a silk cloth.
Splurt-!
But the slender, beautiful water aura made a gruesome sound as it severed the beast’s head.
Blood gushed like a waterfall from the neck of the wall-sized beast.
After Chen Xia landed lightly on the ground, the colossal body toppled over.
RUMBLE!
The monsters crushed beneath it were turned into a bloody pulp.
Fwooooosh-!
Abad raised his staff.
“Tempest.”
As the spell was completed, a calamitous wind swept through, blowing away the magical beasts and monsters.
Crack-!
“Fimbulvetr.”
Chloe’s unique magic turned the surrounding monsters into ice sculptures.
Rumble-!
Just then, an earthquake struck.
“Woreden! Is this your doing?”
“No.”
At Eliza’s question, Woreden looked at the ground.
“The earth spirits are afraid.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means something is here.”
As Woreden narrowed his eyes.
Flash-!
A pillar of light shot up not far away.
Chelsea, who was dealing with flying monsters in the air, shouted.
“It’s the crest of Dragonia! I think the Lord is telling us to go there!”
At her cry, the Lumerne students headed toward the pillar of light.
The first-years were already arriving there.
The graduates who had also been subjugating monsters gathered as well.
Karl’s jaw dropped at the sight of the massive fortress created by alchemy.
“She made this on the spot? As expected of the Dragon Lord.”
Karl marveled.
Jamua, standing before the fortress gate, shouted.
“Everyone, get inside the fortress before the magical beasts and monsters swarm us!”
At Jamua’s thunderous shout, the first and second-years entered the fortress.
“But what’s going on?”
“Is this really part of the training?”
“If they prepared a fortress like this, it must be training, right?”
Among the first and second-years, some still mistook the situation for training.
Watching them, Torua crossed his arms and grumbled.
“This is why the hero academies’ training policies are a problem. No matter how much you say ‘train like it’s real,’ you still get kids who think it’s just training even when a catastrophe strikes and monsters are trying to kill them.”
“I agree with that, but thanks to it, all the first and second-years are handling this situation splendidly.”
Torua nodded at Ulta’s words.
Listening to their conversation, Lis muttered.
“The atmosphere is ominous.”
“Brother!”
Celia hurried over.
“This isn’t a training exercise, it’s a real situation, right?”
Lis nodded at Celia’s question.
“Yes.”
“What on earth is happening?!”
“I don’t know the details either. Not until the Lord explains…”
As Lis trailed off.
Fwoosh-!
Two golden-scaled dragons appeared in the sky above the fortress.
While everyone watched in surprise.
Flash-!
The two dragons, emitting a golden light, transformed and stood on the fortress wall.
They were a middle-aged man with blond hair and a blond girl.
Melina’s confidant, Akatis, and her successor, Enkinias.
“Is everyone here?”
At Akatis’s question, Rienia stepped forward.
“Yes. All the hero academy students have gathered. Could you please explain the situation?”
At Rienia’s words, Enkinias replied.
“The Lord will be here shortly to explain the situation.”
At those words, the first and second-years who had thought it was training began to murmur.
A moment later, Melina descended from the air and landed on the wall.
“Everyone.”
Standing between Akatis and Enkinias, Melina spoke in a slightly stiff voice, and everyone’s expression tensed.
“You are all hero cadets.”
Melina began her speech slowly.
“You all strive tirelessly every day to become heroes. To be able to face any ordeal, anywhere, anytime. You are the noble ones who can fight for the world.”
Everyone looked puzzled by her speech.
“And ordeals… calamities… they arrive without warning. 5,000 years ago, 3,000 years ago, and… now.”
RUUUUUMBLE-!
The ground began to shake violently.
An earthquake of incomparable intensity.
As all the students looked on in alarm.
KRA-BOOOOOOM! WHOOOOSH!
Suddenly, in the distance.
A colossal pillar of fire erupted from the earth, shooting toward the sky.
Like a tower threatening to pierce the heavens.
The pillar of fire continued to erupt.
The hero cadets stared at the surreal sight, their mouths agape.
“Black… flames?”
Someone muttered in bewilderment.
“The sky…!”
Someone else whispered in a voice filled with terror.
The starlight in the sky was vanishing.
The brilliant light disappeared, replaced by a jet-black darkness.
The hero cadets knew all too well what it was.
5,000 years ago, and 3,000 years ago.
It was far too similar to the phenomenon that had driven the world to the brink of ruin.
As everyone grasped the situation and stared in horror.
Melina delivered the grave proclamation.
“Everyone, the calamity has awakened.”
***
“Everyone, the calamity has awakened.”
Hearing Melina’s powerful voice, Leo, who was looking up at the sky from a high tower on the fortress wall, muttered.
“To think I’d have to see that damned sight again.”
He seethed at the symbol of calamity staining the sky.
“So this is what it felt like.”
Ar-on muttered bitterly.
Ar-on, born in an age of calamity, did not know.
The feeling of having peace stolen away.
The despair of facing a terrible disaster.
“It’s a little different. That sky will be gone by tonight.”
Leo looked at Ar-on.
“I wanted you to enjoy peace and feel at ease.”
“I’ve already enjoyed it enough. And I was very much at ease.”
Ar-on smiled.
“I died back then. But thanks to you, Kyle, I was able to see the world we saved. Could there be a greater blessing?”
Both Leo and Ar-on knew.
When this battle ends, Ar-on will disappear.
A desperate situation.
But both Leo and Ar-on were accustomed to despair.
The young sprouts, however, were not.
The despair they now faced was far too immense for them to handle.
“But do not worry, everyone.”
Melina’s powerful voice rang out.
Hearing her, Leo said.
“That’s why… we need a symbol.”
This was no longer a situation where they could hide anything.
“If the calamity has returned, then it’s time for the symbol of courage to return as well.”
Leo looked Ar-on straight in the eye.
“I’m counting on you, Ar-on. We need your courage.”
“Leave it to me.”
Smiling at Leo’s words, Ar-on leaped from the tower.
Thud-!
Landing next to Melina, Ar-on looked down at the hero cadets.
“Instructor Akan?”
Chen Xia looked puzzled.
As all eyes fixed on Ar-on, he raised his hand.
Flash-!
An aura erupted from Ar-on’s hand.
A massive pillar of aura shot toward the sky, as if to pierce the heavens just like Erebos’s black pillar of fire.
And the aura soon became a golden sword.
Ar-on swung the raised sword of aura toward the pillar of fire.
FWOOSH-! KRA-BOOOOOOOOM!
The pillar of fire was bisected, causing a massive explosion.
Watching the thrilling spectacle, someone muttered.
“He… split the sky?”
The night sky, which had been obscured by Erebos’s power, was now twinkling with starlight.
Torua dazedly recited an old legend that had been passed down for ages.
“When he swung his sword, the heavens would part... and in the face of that overwhelming sight, the people found immense courage.”
Everyone gazed at the back of the man who had created a scene straight out of legend and repeated his name.
“The Brave Hero… Ar-on.”
