Chapter 049
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Fwip-!
Chloe opened the black grimoire with her right hand.
Rows of magical formulas were visible.
Holding a staff in her left hand, she focused her mind and began to chant.
A tremendous amount of magical power began to surge from the formula.
“Hup!”
Chubarn’s eyes widened.
He instinctively felt that Chloe’s magic was dangerous.
“Get out of my way! Remnant of the Great Hero!”
“Looks like you’re in a hurry!”
Leo scoffed.
Whoosh! Krrrack-!
Leo gritted his teeth and held his ground against the axe aimed at his waist.
Fwoosh-!
But he couldn’t hold on and was sent flying.
He would have normally dodged the attack, but he intentionally blocked it to buy time.
Leo glanced at his unnaturally bent left hand with a grim smile and gripped his sword with his other hand.
And once again, he stood in Chubarn’s way.
“You bastard!”
“Sorry, but this is the end.”
At the same moment as Leo’s declaration.
Fwoosh-!
The flames Chloe unleashed engulfed Chubarn.
‘Not ice, but flames?’
“Kraaaaaahk!”
Struck directly by the flames, Chubarn began to writhe in agony.
“Even a Negation curse is useless against flames that can’t be extinguished!”
It was just as Chloe said.
Chubarn’s body burned and returned to normal in an infinite loop.
Soon, the [Negation] curse ran out of power.
Fwoosh-! Thud-!
Chubarn collapsed.
Around that time, Alia's party had also defeated all of Chubarn’s underlings.
As long as they weren’t facing a demon of Chubarn’s caliber, Alia's party was in no danger of being defeated.
When Chubarn fell, an excited Chloe ran to Leo.
“Leo! We defeated Chubarn! We took down *the* Chubarn!”
Chloe hugged Leo tightly, overjoyed.
Then, she looked up, and seeing Leo’s face close enough for their breaths to mingle, she gasped.
“Chloe, sorry to bother you, but… my left wrist is broken…”
“Ah! S-sorry!”
Her face turning red, Chloe quickly backed away.
Leo clutched his broken wrist and looked toward Chubarn.
“Anyway, your unique magic is pretty incredible.”
“Oh, uh… my unique magic…”
Chloe’s voice trailed off.
Just as Leo gave her a puzzled look in response.
Fwoosh-!
The flames on Chubarn began to burn fiercely.
Leo’s eye twitched.
Woooooosh-!
The red flames burning Chubarn’s body began to turn black.
Crack-!
“Ah?”
Chloe looked down at her staff, flustered.
The orb on her staff was cracked.
“Chloe! Dispel the magic! Hurry!”
At Leo’s shout, Chloe quickly tried to dispel the magic.
Kwoaaaaaaah-!
Crack! Pop-!
“Kya?”
But the orb soon shattered, and the magic began to burn even more fiercely.
“Wh-why?! I can’t control the magic!”
That wasn’t all.
The black grimoire in her right hand began to draw on Chloe’s magical power without her consent.
Seeing this, Leo snatched the grimoire from Chloe and threw it away.
Stagger-!
Drained of her magic, Chloe swayed.
Leo quickly steadied Chloe and turned his head toward Chubarn.
“Kuaaaaaaaah!”
Engulfed in black flames, Chubarn roared.
“Didn’t we get him?”
“Chloe.”
“Yes?”
“Tell me the truth.”
Leo looked at Chloe with a blank expression.
“Your inextinguishable flame. Is it really your own unique magic?”
Chloe flinched.
Torn, Chloe saw the magic raging out of control and gritted her teeth.
“No.”
Chloe squeezed her eyes shut.
“It was actually a magic formula from that grimoire.”
‘So it was Erebos’s flame after all.’
Everything made sense now.
Why Chloe had been acting strange.
How she created the inextinguishable flame.
“Listen carefully, Chloe. That magic is black magic.”
“What?”
“It’s magic you shouldn’t be able to use. You knew, didn’t you? That you couldn’t activate it with your power alone.”
“Th-that grimoire, what is it?”
“That’s a Demonic Artifact.”
A powerful weapon in the hands of a demon, but an object that slowly drives a human to lose their sanity.
‘I used black magic? And I even presented it as my own unique magic?’
Chloe’s face turned pale.
“Ah! Ah!”
Clutching her arms, Chloe’s face was filled with despair.
Watching her, Leo stepped forward.
“Chloe. I’m counting on you to cover me.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing’s changed. There’s still only one thing we have to do.”
Leo tightened his grip on his sword with his uninjured right hand.
“Take down this damn demon and conquer the World of Heroes.”
Leo smiled.
“Your magic got rid of the Negation curse. Now, he’s just reacting to the black magic and rampaging. It’s time to finish him.”
Leo started walking toward Chubarn.
“You know the final, decisive blow is the mage’s job, right?”
Leaving those words behind, Leo walked toward Chubarn.
“W-we’ll help too!”
“That’s right! If we work together!”
Teyad and Dina came forward and said.
“You’re exhausted. You’ll only get in the way if you’re not careful.”
Leo was only able to hold off Chubarn because of his overwhelming combat experience.
A battle of wits, predicting the opponent’s attacks, defenses, and counterattacks, and preparing the next move.
Not just anyone could walk such a dangerous tightrope.
Seeing them grit their teeth, Leo smiled.
“Guard the rear.”
Chloe watched his retreating back as if mesmerized.
A hero was someone who didn’t give up when faced with their limits.
‘Get up, Chloe Müller!’
Scolding herself, Chloe’s eyes regained their composure.
‘There’s only that one spell.’
The unique magic she had originally conceived but gave up on creating.
‘I’ll complete it now!’
Completing an unfinished spell in a real battle was the height of recklessness.
But right now, she had to do it.
As Chloe went to raise her staff, she froze, seeing it was broken.
“Here you go, Miss Chloe.”
Alia smiled and offered her own staff.
“Please.”
Taking Alia’s staff, Chloe closed her eyes.
‘I just wanted to catch up to Leo, no matter what.’
But seeing that back, silently forging ahead, she realized how foolish she’d been.
‘He’s… too cool to be jealous of.’
Just like the heroes in fairy tales.
The way he boldly challenged his limits was so dazzling.
‘I have to surpass my limits too, Chloe Müller.’
So as not to bring shame to the one who believed in her.
She began to combine the magical formulas floating in her mind.
Runic words began to flow from Chloe’s lips.
Chloe was combining formulas into a spell on the spot.
Hearing her chant, Leo smiled.
‘It’s strange.’
He strode forward without hesitation.
‘Why is the runic chant of a pure mage so encouraging?’
He was reminded of the old days when he’d entrusted his back to Luna.
Leo calmly assessed Chubarn’s strength.
‘Thanks to the black magic Chloe cast, the most annoying [Negation] curse is gone. Plus, it dealt massive damage.’
Although it led to a rampage, Chubarn was not in perfect condition either.
Leo ignited his Aura.
‘I can buy time while she finishes the spell.’
“Kwoaaaaaaah!”
The axe blade, wreathed in black flames, descended on Leo.
In response, Leo swung his sword, imbued with red flames, upward.
Kagagagak-! Crash!
Leo’s sword deflected Chubarn’s axe blade.
Leo jumped onto the axe embedded in the ground, readied his sword, and charged at Chubarn.
Woooooooosh-!
The black flames tried to envelop Leo and turn him to ash.
Leo shrouded his entire body in his own flames to push back the black ones.
Fwoosh-!
The two flames intertwined.
However, the black flame began to slowly consume Leo’s, encroaching on his space.
Seeing this, Leo increased his firepower.
Fwoosh! Tsssssss-!
His own flames began to burn his flesh.
But Leo paid it no mind.
‘More. More! More!’
Leo’s red eyes flashed as he shouted internally.
‘Until I completely burn away this damned flame before me!’
Kwoaaaaaa-!
Leo’s flame completely pushed back the black flame.
“Uwoooooooh!”
Instinctively sensing danger, Chubarn gripped the axe handle with both hands and swung it toward the sky.
Fwoosh-!
Leo’s body was launched into the air.
Chubarn swung his axe at Leo.
Leo concentrated his maximized firepower at the tip of his sword.
Klang-!
The sword and axe crossed.
And…
Slice-!
Leo’s sword cut through the axe.
Whirl!
“Kuaah!”
Leo’s sword descended upon the defenseless Chubarn’s neck.
Thwack-!
Chubarn’s head flew through the air.
Landing on the ground, Leo looked at the motionless Chubarn.
Fwoooosh!
The black flames didn’t extinguish and instead burned even more fiercely.
‘It’s going to explode!’
Just as Leo’s eyes widened and he braced for the impact.
Chloe’s chanting stopped.
“Ice World.”
Krrrrrrrack-!
The entire area froze in an instant.
Tssssssss-!
The black flames that had been burning along with Chubarn’s body vanished without a trace.
Kwaduk-!
Cracks began to form on Chubarn’s body.
Shaaaaaa-!
And soon, it crumbled into dust and scattered.
[You have rescued the first-year students in peril.]
[You have subjugated Chubarn.]
Two notification windows appeared before his eyes.
After confirming them, Leo retracted his Aura.
“Leo!”
Chloe ran over urgently.
“Are you okay?”
“Thanks to you.”
Leo smiled and pointed at the black grimoire lying on the ground.
“Chloe, you have such an amazing spell. Why did you rely on this crappy grimoire?”
“I… just wanted to beat you, somehow.”
Seeing Chloe speak in a barely audible voice, Leo burst out laughing.
“Your real unique magic is way more incredible than some spell from a crappy grimoire like this.”
Leo looked at the frozen surroundings.
“A field spell, huh? That’s magic I could never replicate.”
Field magic, which turned the surrounding area into one’s own domain, was a type of magic that couldn’t be implemented with the Bible.
“I’ve always been most envious of mages who can use magic like this.”
Chloe watched Leo smacking his lips and said.
“I’m going to tell the school everything about what happened.”
“Huh?”
“About cheating during the practical magic exam presentation. And that what I presented was black magic.”
Chloe lowered her head.
“I might get expelled. But it’s something I have to do.”
Hearing that, Leo let out a small laugh.
“You won’t get expelled.”
“Huh?”
“Where else are they going to find a hero candidate like you? They wouldn’t expel you.”
Leo raised his right hand, patted Chloe’s head, and smiled.
“You’re going to be a hero. I guarantee it.”
Staring blankly at Leo’s smiling face, Chloe’s own face turned beet red.
“Uh, yeah. Th-thank you…”
She ducked her head low and answered, flustered.
“That was amazing!”
“You were like a real hero!”
Just then, Alia’s party gathered around and cheered.
Looking at their sparkling eyes, Leo said.
“Talk amongst yourselves for a bit. I’m going to go wrap things up.”
Leo approached the black grimoire.
It was faint, but it was still emitting an ominous aura.
‘First Sen Liu… and now Chloe. It seems Tartaros is up to something. I think I understand why Albi’s world went berserk and became a Hero Dungeon.’
Leo raised his sword and slammed it down on the black grimoire.
Gurgle! Gurgle!
Black blood oozed out.
The Demonic Artifact was a fragment of Erebos.
A small piece of that vast being.
When Leo put more force into his sword, it turned to sand and disappeared.
Sheathing his sword, Leo brought the fingers of his right hand to his temple.
“This is Leo Flove. Can you hear me?”
-Gasp! Student Leo? Is that you, Student Leo! Ah! You’re alive! Thank goodness! We’ll disengage the World of Heroes immediately.
He heard the flustered voice of someone from the outside.
The fact that communication was possible seemed to indicate that the World of Heroes had returned to normal.
“No, the conquest is almost complete.”
-What? What do you mean, conquest?
“It took a while, but please take the extenuating circumstances into account.”
Leo smiled as he looked at Alia’s party.
“Leo Flove of Class 5 and Chloe Müller of Class 1. We have subjugated Chubarn and rescued Alia’s party.”
“Over here!”
“There are survivors here!”
Just then, urgent voices were heard from a distance.
It was the rescue team dispatched from Lumerne.
“We’re saved!”
“For a moment there, I really thought it was over!”
As Leo ended the communication, Chloe and Alia approached.
Alia bowed her head to the two of them.
“Thank you for saving us. Sir Leo, Miss Chloe. On behalf of my party, I thank you.”
“Oh, no. We’re the ones who received a lot of help, really.”
Chloe waved her hands dismissively.
“Alia!”
Just then, a boy with glasses shouted urgently from among the rescue team.
“Big Brother Albi?”
Alia’s eyes widened as she approached Albi.
“Professor Albi is so young.”
“It’s 30 years in the past.”
[The safety of the imperiled first-year students has been secured.]
[Albi’s World: Prologue - The Chedmurders Incident has been conquered.]
At the message that appeared before her, Chloe collapsed to the ground.
“We really… the two of us really succeeded in conquering it.”
“Good work.”
Just as Leo chuckled.
“Sir Leo! Please take this! It’s a token of our gratitude!”
“This is all we can give you right now, but… it’s a pretty good magic ring.”
“Thank you for saving us!”
“We’ll be sure to repay you properly later!”
The members of Alia’s party gave their accessories as tokens of their gratitude.
As they were Lumerne students, the items were quite valuable.
“I’ll give you this. It’s a very valuable item in my family.”
Alia gave Chloe the staff she had lent her earlier.
“You don’t need to give me this.”
“No, please. You saved our lives.”
Alia smiled brightly.
At the same time, the world was enveloped in a brilliant light.
The collapse of the world.
It signified the conquest of the World of Heroes.
In the fading world, a single message appeared before Leo’s eyes.
[Conquest Reward: Memento]
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