Chapter 048
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“……”
Chloe clutched the black grimoire tightly.
“I wanted to win, no matter what. But I couldn’t think of any way to do it. So… so… I borrowed someone else’s power, not my own.”
The unique magic Chloe had originally prepared was a freezing-type field magic.
But she believed that magic wouldn't be enough to beat Leo in the exam, so she prepared the undying flame instead.
It wasn't a magic formula Chloe had created.
‘I just manifested it based on the magic formula written in this grimoire.’
Even Chloe herself didn't understand the principle behind the magic's activation.
She had merely brushed it off as something special because it was her unique magic.
That was why she had reacted more sharply than necessary whenever someone asked about the magic.
She presented the undying flame on the day of the exam, and as expected, it defeated Leo.
In that moment, she had been overjoyed. She thought she had finally caught up. But…
‘There’s no way I can call this catching up!’
Chloe, who had been gritting her teeth, let out a hollow laugh.
‘What’s the point of complaining to someone like her?’
A genius girl still spoken of even after thirty years.
‘She’s different from me. Special, just like Leo.’
There was no way someone like this could understand if she shared her inner thoughts.
She’d be lucky if she wasn’t laughed at.
Alia, who had been watching Chloe in silence, smiled.
“See, Chloe? You really are like me.”
“What?”
“To be honest, I was incredibly jealous of my older brother too.”
Alia grinned.
“I always thought it was so unfair how he could do anything and everything so easily, even though he looks like an idiot. This is a secret, but the basic system for my unique magic was actually created by my brother. I’m great at using existing magic, but I’m terrible at creating anything new. In fact, I failed the Lumerne entrance exam twice.”
Alia hugged her knees to her chest.
Chloe wore a dazed expression.
It was an unbelievable fact for someone still spoken of as the tragic genius of magic.
“There was a time I really hated my brother. But then a thought suddenly occurred to me. If he’s someone worth being jealous enough to hate, isn’t he also worthy of being an object of admiration?”
At those words, Chloe looked down at the black grimoire.
‘An object… of admiration?’
***
Leo, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly snapped them open.
He shot up from his seat.
“Sir Leo. What is it?”
At Bellac’s question, Leo glanced toward one side of the forest.
“Everyone, prepare for battle!”
Something had been caught by Leo’s extrasensory perception.
At that moment, the opponent also became aware of them.
“Leo, what’s wrong?”
“It’s him.”
Chloe gasped.
“Don’t tell me…?”
“Yeah.”
Leo drew his sword.
*Thump—! Thump—!*
The sound of the earth trembling could be heard.
A moment later, a monstrous giant emerged from the bushes.
He looked to be about three meters tall.
His skin was pitch-black.
He looked just as he had in the picture.
“Chubarn…!”
Chloe gritted her teeth.
Chubarn rolled his crimson eyes and stared at Leo.
His mouth gaped open.
“Found you. A budding hero with the same qualities as that detestable Great Hero!”
At those words, Leo’s eyes twitched.
Demons were creatures that prioritized the orders of their superiors.
And the order Chubarn had received in the Chedmurder incident was to eliminate the budding heroes.
That was why Chubarn hadn’t paid much attention to the dungeon conquerors.
‘But this guy right now is clearly showing hostility toward me.’
Even with Alia, who could be considered his main target, right in front of him, his reaction was strange.
‘And he definitely just said a budding Great Hero…’
“Kwoooaaaargh!”
Chubarn let out a roar and charged toward Leo.
*Flash—! Craaash—!*
The vicious-looking axe in Chubarn’s hand slammed into the ground.
But Leo was already well out of Chubarn’s attack range.
*Fwoosh—!*
A fiery aura formed on Leo’s sword.
*Screeech—!*
Leo’s sword slashed at Chubarn’s neck.
But it failed to inflict a wound.
Leo’s eyes twitched.
*Smiiirk—!*
Seeing Leo's face, Chubarn smiled grotesquely.
“Foolish whelp!”
Chubarn reached out, trying to grab Leo.
But Leo just smirked.
“That’s where you’re wrong, you moron.”
“What…”
*Whoooosh—!*
A powerful blizzard shot by Chloe engulfed Chubarn.
Chubarn’s movements slowed in the frigid, icy wind.
Using that opening, Leo dodged Chubarn's hand and spun his body.
*Whirl—! FWOOOOOSH!*
The fiery aura blazed even more fiercely.
*Slash—! Splurt!*
“He cut him!”
“Alright!”
The party members cheered.
The sword, its power amplified by the rotational force, had sliced open Chubarn’s neck.
But Leo’s expression was not bright.
‘I couldn’t cut the bone.’
Demons were different from ordinary living beings.
They were a monstrous race created by Erebos.
A wound like this couldn't be fatal.
Leo immediately kicked Chubarn in the head, using the recoil to create distance.
‘Still, at least my attacks are getting through.’
Taking a deep breath, Leo stared at Chubarn, and his eyes widened.
The blood that had been gushing from Chubarn’s wound like a fountain suddenly stopped.
That wasn't all.
The spilled blood began to be sucked back into the wound.
*Creek— Creak—*
“Heh— A decent attack, I’ll give you that.”
Chubarn tilted his neck from side to side and grinned.
Seeing this, Teyad was horrified.
“No way! What kind of healing ability is that…!”
“That’s not a healing ability.”
“Pardon? Then what is it?”
“It’s a curse.”
Curses were one of the special abilities possessed by demons.
Curses used by low-ranking demons merely weakened an opponent, but high-ranking curses could even distort the laws of reality.
“[Negation]. An annoying curse that makes an attack as if it never happened.”
Leo rested his sword on his shoulder.
“Hoh? You know your stuff.”
“Isn’t that a bit too much of a curse for a Level 3 demon to be using?”
“Heh— You have a very insolent way of speaking. But you are correct. This curse is a blessing from the Demon Queen, Lady Silatuna.”
At the name of the Demon Queen, the first-years trembled in fear.
Demon Queen Silatuna.
She was one of Tartaros’s legion commanders who had survived since the Age of Calamity, and a trusted subordinate of Erebos.
“Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a while, and one I’d rather not.”
Leo said, annoyed.
“If attacks are negated… then how are we supposed to win?”
Alia asked, her voice filled with terror.
“The Negation curse isn’t all-powerful. Besides, he isn’t the one who cast it. If he uses it multiple times, the curse will disappear.”
“Heh— Do you really think you lot will survive long enough for the curse to disappear?”
As he spoke, Chubarn’s subordinates began to emerge from the rustling bushes.
“Give up any thought of getting out of here alive. You, the remnant of the Great Hero, will die here.”
“Remnant of the Great Hero?”
Leo let out a smirk.
“Are you calling me that because I’m an all-class, just like Kyle?”
“Silence! Do not speak that detestable name!”
Watching Chubarn’s violent reaction, Leo understood how Alia’s party had managed to escape him.
‘There was a surveillance network set up by the demons throughout the forest. I didn’t pay it any mind since Chloe and I weren’t their targets anyway.’
Leo sighed.
‘This guy must have learned that I’m an all-class through that surveillance network. That’s why he was chasing me this whole time.’
Leo, who had been avoiding the demons using his extrasensory perception, had unintentionally been playing a game of tag with Chubarn.
The great demons who had survived since the Age of Calamity, like Silatuna, were still alive and well.
If so, the demons would surely remember Kyle.
After all, Kyle, who had defeated the creator of Tartaros, would be the greatest enemy of all to the demons.
‘People have forgotten about me, but the demons remember. How ironic.’
Having grasped the situation, Leo tightened his grip on his sword and said.
“Get ready.”
“Do you whelps truly believe you can defeat me?”
“Of course.”
“Heh— Such remarkable confidence. But are your comrades the same as you?”
Chubarn pointed behind Leo with his finger.
Turning around, he saw the party members trembling in fear.
“You are the only one with such bravado. Your comrades are at their limits, both mentally and physically.”
He wasn’t wrong.
The continuous battles had left everyone in the party exhausted.
“Heh heh.”
But at Chubarn’s words, Leo burst out laughing.
“Why do you laugh? Have you gone mad?”
“No. It’s just that you seem to know so little about Lumerne.”
“What?”
“Lumerne is a school for those who dream of becoming heroes.”
The gazes of the hero cadets fell upon Leo’s back.
*Step— Step—*
Leo took a step forward.
The trembling of the hero cadets began to subside.
Determination slowly returned to their eyes, and a storm of aura, mana, and spiritual power began to swirl.
In the actual history, they died.
But they were by no means slaughtered by Chubarn without a fight.
‘There was never any mention of Chubarn having the [Negation] curse. Which means, Chubarn must have used up all of its uses in the first fight.’
It was proof that though they died, not a single one of them had given up.
Just like the Great Heroes who lost their lives to Erebos long ago.
“That’s why they always remember these words.”
A lesson held dear in the hearts of all Lumerne students.
The most fundamental condition for becoming a hero.
“To go beyond your limits.”
*Fwip—!*
As Leo kicked off the ground, Teyad and Bellac raised their spear and sword and charged with him.
“Fools! If that is your wish, I shall kill you first!”
Chubarn roared and swung his axe.
“I’ll handle this one. You guys take care of the minions.”
“Can you do it?”
“I can, so don’t worry about me!”
Leo charged toward Chubarn.
*BOOM—!*
Chubarn’s axe slammed into the ground.
Shards of earth turned into black spikes and rained down on Leo.
‘It would have been a little better if I could summon Piora.’
In a normal World of Heroes, it might have been different.
But in a Hero Dungeon that had gone berserk and was completely cut off from the outside world, a beast summoner couldn't summon their beast.
If spirit arts were a pact to borrow power from all spirits, beast taming was a one-on-one contract between the summoner and the beast.
That was why beast tamers had to summon their beasts beforehand and enter a Hero Dungeon together.
‘It’ll be hard to damage Chubarn with spirit arts. In that case.’
*Fwoosh—!*
Leo’s form multiplied into several images.
“What!”
Chubarn was stunned.
The illusion magic, Mirage.
The black spikes futilely pierced through Leo’s illusions.
Amidst this, Leo followed up with another attack.
He made a gun shape with his right hand, and particles of light gathered at its tip.
*Kiiiiing—!*
“Arc Ray!”
*Crackle! Flash—!*
A small orb of light flew like a bullet.
The most basic offensive spell in star magic.
Seeing it, the magic swordsman Dani was aghast.
“That guy! He was a magic swordsman? And Mirage and Arc Ray? Aren’t those both star magic?!”
*Thwack—!*
“Ghk?”
Chubarn, struck directly by [Arc Ray], shot his eyes wide open.
Star magic was a type of magic created by Luna to subjugate demons.
As such, it was fundamentally a natural enemy to demons.
“A human dares to use this detestable magic!”
“Sorry to break it to you, but I’m not the only star magic user here.”
“Arc Ray.”
Alia also unleashed her spell.
This time, not one, but multiple orbs of light rained down on Chubarn.
*Pow-pow-pow-pow-pow!*
“You!”
As the orbs of light embedded themselves in his body, Chubarn let out a roar.
*Wooooooom—!*
The [Negation] curse activated, and all the wounds on Chubarn’s body vanished.
“Tsk.”
As Leo clicked his tongue, Chloe shouted.
“Leo! Just hold on for a little longer!”
“Don’t worry. That’s my job.”
At Leo’s reply, Chloe closed her eyes and began to chant.
Modern mages were broadly divided into three types.
Combat-type mages, who positioned themselves on the front lines.
All-rounder-type mages, who could position themselves on any line.
And traditional-type mages, who positioned themselves on the rear lines.
Among them, the type with the most glaring weakness was the traditional mage, like Chloe.
‘Traditional mages are defenseless while they chant.’
The longer the incantation, the more they needed protection from their comrades.
However, their advantages were just as distinct.
It was an absolute destructive power that refused comparison with other mages.
In the current party, Alia was an all-rounder mage.
She could use powerful magic in succession, but she lacked an absolute, decisive blow.
‘Among us, I’m the only one who can land a critical hit on Chubarn. I can’t just rely on Leo. I… I have to do something too.’
The thought of Chubarn’s curse flashed through Chloe’s mind.
‘With that magic!’