Chapter 451
Chapter Title: Analyzing the Enemy
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451.
“What in the world is going on in there?”
Riennia shouted in frustration.
A wall of black flame shot up before them, completely obscuring the situation beyond.
Seeing this, Torua raised his staff.
Whoosh-!
A massive drill of light formed from Torua's magic.
Kwwaaaa-!
Torua launched the spell toward the wall.
Fwoosh-!
But the black flames devoured Torua's magic.
Torua's eyes twitched at the sight.
“Let me try.”
Lunia chanted an incantation.
Fwoooosh-!
White flames erupted all over her body.
Kwoooaaaah-!
The white flames enveloping Lunia grew even more intense.
“Miss Lunia?!”
Eiran called out to her urgently.
Fwoosh-!
Her fiery red hair turned pure white as Lunia gritted her teeth.
The flames of the Flame Emperor, which incinerated oneself to annihilate the impure.
The flames given to Lunia by Katariu, the last Phoenix King, were the noblest flames in the world.
Suffering burns from the flames, Lunia completed her spell.
“Flame Emperor!”
Fwoosh-!
As if a white sun had appeared.
A massive sphere of fire materialized above Lunia's outstretched palm.
Lunia hurled the sphere of fire toward the wall of black flames.
Pzzzzzt!
The black and white flames mixed.
But they soon repelled each other with tremendous force.
The flames raged violently, as if two opposing forces had clashed.
Fwoosh-!
But soon, the black flames swallowed Lunia's fire.
Kaboooooooom-!
An explosion incomparable to any before erupted.
“Ugh?!”
Everyone shielded their eyes and ducked their heads from the blinding flash and the aftershock of the explosion.
Kroooooom-!
The echo of the explosion reverberated.
But despite it all, the wall of black flames remained intact.
“Damn it!”
Her hair returning to its original red, Lunia clenched her fists and yelled harshly.
She squeezed so tightly that her nails dug into her palm, drawing blood.
A searing pain spread through her body from the burns.
But Lunia glared at the wall of fire, her expression filled with frustration.
*‘Some next student council president I am! Some successor to Lady Luna!’*
Lately, Lunia had been excited.
As a member of the Lundua family, which had contracted with phoenixes for generations, she had inherited the power of the long-lost Phoenix King.
On top of that, she had been hailed as the successor to Luna, the Progenitor of the Nebula who followed the Comet Sorcerer, and had even earned the recognition of the Dragon Lord, Melina.
That was why she thought she had gotten a little closer.
But she was wrong.
*‘So far.’*
The distance to Leo was still immense.
*‘No, I already knew that!’*
She knew there was a gap she couldn't close, no matter how strong she became.
That was why she had run with all her might, trying to follow in Leo's footsteps.
What enraged Lunia wasn't the distance between herself and Leo.
*‘I'm useless!’*
She knew what Leo's goal was.
The subjugation of Erebos.
A monumental goal she couldn't even imagine.
But having been praised so much by those around her, she had become full of confidence.
She was certain she would be a help to Leo in the battles to come.
In fact, Lunia had already experienced three battles with Erebos.
The first was in Luna's world.
The second was in Dweno's world.
The third was at Seirun.
And by obtaining the flames of purification during the second and third encounters, she thought she had gained the power to fight against Erebos.
*‘I was deluding myself…!’*
What she had faced was nothing more than a fragment of Erebos.
She was now painfully aware of that fact.
Seeing Lunia's clenched fists trembling, Eiran quickly took her hand.
“Miss Lunia, you must take care of yourself! You'll ruin your body…!”
“This is no time to worry about my body…!”
“Listen to Miss Eiran, Miss Lunia.”
Melina appeared before Lunia.
“If you push yourself too hard and break your body, you won't be of any help. No, you'll just become a burden.”
At Melina's words, Lunia hung her head low.
Watching her, Melina gave a bitter smile.
“I'm not asking for much from you right now. Just lend a little of your strength to help Sir Ar-on fight. The same goes for you graduates.”
“Are you saying we're not yet qualified to stand on this battlefield?”
Melina nodded at Torua's question.
“To put it bluntly, yes. I only recommended you to Sir Ar-on hoping for a little support.”
At Melina's words, everyone lowered their heads.
Seeing this, Melina said.
“Don't be discouraged. If anyone should apologize, it's me.”
“Huh?”
“You are all still young.”
Melina said firmly.
“Even if you've graduated. Even if you're the top students. You're still bound to be inexperienced. You're not heroes, you're hero candidates.”
Melina took a breath.
“Putting you on the battlefield when you're not yet ready, just to raise our chances of victory even slightly, is entirely my responsibility.”
Melina turned around.
“So it's not your fault. In fact, you did very well. From now on, leave it to me, the adult.”
Melina brought her hands together.
Silver mana began to surge from Melina's body.
Seeing this, the hero candidates flinched.
Her silver and black hair swayed.
Soon, the silver mana turned black.
Melina chanted a magic spell.
“Nihil.”
Fwoosh-!
In an instant, the wall of black flames vanished.
“Incredible.”
Torua's mouth fell open.
Lisinas's magic.
There were only two people in this world who could use this magic now.
Leo, the Hero of the Beginning, was the first, and Melina, who had inherited his magic, was the second.
The black flames disappeared.
The gaze of Erebos, who had been confronting Leo and Ar-on, turned to Melina.
-So you are not just a trivial creation. Have you inherited the power of that fool through the Record System?
Kugoong-!
Erebos's gaze swept over Melina and the hero candidates.
Then it moved to the other candidates far away at the castle, fending off the assault of his creations.
-Indeed, it seems that over 5,000 years, many have fallen for the sweet lies left by that fool and harbored useless hope.
“Sir Lisinas was no fool, Erebos.”
Melina said in an icy voice.
It was a frosty demeanor she had never shown before.
“Sir Lisinas is the great King of Wisdom who led the world to salvation.”
-They are nothing but pointlessly grandiose titles. The King of Wisdom and the Hero of the Beginning.
Erebos spoke in a detached voice.
-'The Fool' and 'The Surviving Hero' are enough for them.
Goooooooh-!
A terrifying flame flickered in Erebos's hand.
As if all his attacks until now had been mere child's play.
A mass of flames, containing a power of destruction beyond imagination, undulated.
-Brave Hero, if those insignificant creations are the hope you speak of, then I shall remind you just how pathetic that hope is.
Kwwaaaaaaak-!
Erebos slammed the fireball into the ground.
Kugugugugugugugu-
An earthquake occurred along with it.
The ground shook violently.
Crack- Cracrack-!
The ground split open.
Kuwaaaaak-!
Kroooooooo!
An endless stream of demonic beasts poured out from the cracked earth.
The grotesque beasts, with only the will to slaughter in their eyes, shrieked as they charged toward the castle.
Ulta's face was filled with horror as he watched the advance of the demonic beasts endlessly emerging from the fissures.
“What is this?”
“This is practically a legion!”
Riennia screamed, her face pale.
The current advance of the demonic beasts was on a similar scale to the Demon Queen's legion they had seen at Seirun last year.
“It seems he has created a legion's worth of troops.”
Melina said nonchalantly.
The hero candidates looked aghast at the sight that defied all common sense.
The scale of the monsters that had just appeared was comparable to Silatuna's legion.
Of course, Silatuna's legion had many high-ranking demons, so it wouldn't be superior in terms of quality.
But creating a legion-sized force, led by a legion commander, on the spot was a terrifying feat.
Moreover, the number of demonic beasts was still increasing.
After pondering the sight for a moment, Melina looked at Leo.
Leo met her gaze and nodded, and Melina spoke.
“Everyone, return to the castle and prepare to block the advance of the demonic beasts.”
“Yes!”
“Then what about Erebos...?!”
“Let's leave him to Sir Ar-on and Leo Flove.”
Melina replied to the hero candidates' question with a smile.
As the hero candidates nodded and turned to leave, Erebos sneered.
-Insignificant creations without qualification, pay the price!
Kwwaaaaaaak-!
Erebos swung his arm, and the air split apart.
With that, countless black hands shot out from the rift and lunged at the candidates.
Seeing this, Melina waved her hand.
Flash-!
A light generated from a silver magic circle sent the black hands summoned by Erebos flying.
However, she couldn't block all of Erebos's attacks.
The surviving black hands that had evaded the attack relentlessly targeted the candidates.
Ulta used the power of Pegasus to eliminate all the hands.
Torua blew them away with magic, and in Lunia and Eliza's case, Eiran deflected Erebos's attack with the Sword of Animus.
Erebos's eyes twitched at the sight.
“Don't underestimate them.”
Leo sneered at Erebos.
“They are the children I chose, the one who personally tore you into six pieces.”
Fwoosh-!
Leo put distance between himself and Erebos.
“You think your crude attacks will work?”
-Do you dare call my power crude?
“Yes. I've learned quite a lot about you from our brief fight.”
Leo's red eyes gleamed.
“First, you may have been resurrected, but you're not in a complete state. You're even disconnected from the first resurrected piece. You have no knowledge of its memories.”
This was huge.
5,000 years since Erebos was sealed.
And 3,000 years since the first piece was sealed.
During this time, the world had continuously cultivated power to oppose Erebos.
That didn't just mean the development of aura, magic, and summoning.
Erebos was ignorant of the latent power the world held.
“If you had memories from 3,000 years ago in the first place, you wouldn't have charged in so recklessly.”
Leo scoffed at Erebos.
“Second, your power is specialized in the authority to create demons and monsters.”
He was certain after seeing Erebos create a legion just now.
That authority alone was not much different from Erebos in his complete state.
That meant one thing.
“Your combat power is lower compared to the other pieces.”
Of course, it was only weak compared to the other pieces.
As a piece of the primordial evil, its combat power was still formidable.
*‘Without Ar-on, it would have been difficult to handle with my current power alone.’*
Therefore, this piece had to be subjugated here and now, no matter what it took.
The moment the piece before him gained control of Tartaros.
Powerful legion commanders would be created.
“Third, your power is not in a complete state.”
A flame grows stronger as it burns.
And the Erebos before him was a flame that had just begun to burn.
As such, its firepower was weak.
To Erebos, this world was like firewood.
The more it burned the world, the stronger Erebos's power would become.
*‘The piece resurrected 3,000 years ago burned for a long time.’*
And it was still burning.
Leo narrowed his eyes.
Watching Leo, Erebos laughed.
-Do not worry, it is more than enough to finish you off.
“Is that so?”
-Indeed. If the companion you summoned with the Record System had been anyone else, you might have subjugated me again. But as long as he is the Brave Hero, you will die.
“Nonsense.”
Leo replied coldly.
-You overestimate the Brave Hero. Isn't that right, Brave Hero?
“Don't be ridiculous! Kyle won't die. You… I will defeat you no matter what!”
-Fine, struggle all you want!
Goooooooh-!
Black flames erupted from Erebos's body.
Ar-on gritted his teeth as the flames rushed toward him and activated his hyper-senses.
At that moment.
Kabooooom-!
Erebos's black flames engulfed Ar-on.
Inside the black flames, Ar-on's face turned pale.
*‘…My hyper-senses…!’*