Chapter 692
Chapter 692
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 692
Chapter Title: The Hero of the Beginning
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Whoooosh-! Craaaash!
The giant blade swung by the Titan Knights slammed into the ground.
Leo and Ar leaped high to dodge the attack.
While in mid-air, Ar urgently asked.
“Black Rabbit! What was that demon talking about just now?! The Hero of the Beginning?”
“It's nothing. Worry about it later.”
Leo reached out and grabbed the scruff of Ar's neck.
“Whaaa?!”
Leo, pulling Ar along as if throwing him, swung his sword forward.
Kiiing-! Scccrrk-!
With a sharp sound, Leo's sword cut through the titan knight's blade.
The sharp flames of the phoenix blazed.
But the attack wasn't over.
Fwoosh-!
Two more titan knights, who had appeared out of nowhere, were swinging their swords at Leo from both sides.
A precision unbelievable for their massive size.
The terrifying thing about the Titan Knights.
It was their perfect coordination.
They train to fight beings stronger than themselves.
A very rare trait for demons, who possess great power from birth.
Leo's red eyes turned to the demon who had taken a step back.
There, Nareda was observing Leo's movements.
It was Nareda's black magic that had deceived Leo's extrasensory perception moments ago.
Nareda was indeed pathetically weak for a demon who was the legion commander's closest aide.
The reason such a demon had secured the position of the commander's confidant was due to the Titan King's disposition.
Cautious Nareda was the type of commander who saw the bigger picture in battle and eliminated variables one by one.
And she used support magic to help the knights fight more perfectly.
Since she became the captain of the Titan Knights, they had become a terrifying bringer of disaster.
Clang-!
Leo thrust his fists out to both sides.
The blades of the titan knights aiming for Leo from the left and right were blocked by his fists.
Space distorted slightly.
The titan knights' swords, imbued with immense power, pressed down on Leo.
In that moment.
Woooong-!
A golden aura erupted from Leo's hands.
Kaaang-!
The titan knights' swords were destroyed.
In that moment.
Above Leo's head, an exceptionally large titan knight brought a massive battle-axe crashing down on him.
It was a demon from Leo's memories.
5,000 years ago.
The vice-captain of the Titan Knights, subjugated during the Age of Calamity.
‘Karokson.’
The coordination between the demons from 5,000 years ago and the current generation was unbelievably precise.
What was more surprising was that these massive titan demons were executing such a coordinated attack.
All of this was possible because of Nareda's command.
‘I can't see an opening.’
She was reading his movements completely.
‘Well, if she survived for 5,000 years, she'd naturally have my movements figured out.’
Just as Leo had lived his life contemplating how to kill demons.
Nareda, too, must have spent the last 5,000 years contemplating how to kill a being like the Hero of the Beginning, Kyle, should one reappear.
To that end, she would have thoroughly studied me.
Nareda was that kind of demon.
Demons who cry for destruction don't think about the future.
But Nareda was a demon who contemplated the future in order to crush it.
‘That's why she's so annoying.’
The corners of Nareda's mouth curled up in ecstasy.
Leo raised his empty hand toward the titan knight's battle-axe crashing down on him.
‘But what can you do?’
Crrack-!
Leo's palm and the battle-axe collided.
With the impact, Leo's body was slammed toward the ground.
Thud-! Krr-crack-crack-crack-crack!
Leo's feet touched the ground.
Leo's legs weren't driven into the earth.
Instead, the ground around him fractured and rose up.
The shockwave spread outward.
‘I haven't been slacking off for the past 17 years since I was born, either.’
Leo looked at the battle-axe's blade in his hand, which seemed capable of mercilessly splitting a castle wall, and tightened his grip.
Fwoosh-!
The golden aura instantly turned into golden flames.
Crr-crack-crack-crack-!
The battle-axe, subjected to even greater force, began to crack like glass.
Seeing this, Nareda's eyes widened.
“Impossible…”
Crack-!
Shards of the battle-axe scattered in all directions.
Among them, one particularly large fragment fell toward Leo.
Thud-!
Leo caught the massive, building-sized axe blade in his hand and looked at Karokson.
And without hesitation, he threw the blade at the knight's neck.
Thwack-!
“Gurgle?!”
The high-ranking demon's head was sent flying in vain.
Thud-! Gush-gush-gush! Splat-!
As he fell to his knees, blood poured out like a waterfall.
Karokson's head fell into the pool of blood.
Karokson's eyes were fixed on Leo.
Though his head was severed, the tenacious life force of a titan demon did not permit death so easily.
“Die!”
With Karokson's shout, his kneeling body moved.
He raised his arm and brought it down on Leo.
Leo's shadow flickered for a moment, then instantly grew larger.
Stab-stab-stab-stab-!
The enlarged shadow pierced Karokson's body like an awl, restraining him.
Karokson's body froze solid.
Leo aimed the tip of his sword at Karokson.
Vwooom-!
A complex magic circle formed on the flat of the blade.
Posteritas had merely taken the form of a sword; it could become anything.
It could become a blade that could cut anything, a powerful medium for summoning, or even a divine-grade magic staff.
A special weapon made by Dweno for the Hero of the Beginning, Kyle.
The stellar magic swirling from the sword burst forth as a flash of light.
Flash! Krr-crack-crack-crack-crack-!
The high-ranking demon's upper body vanished without a trace.
As Leo withdrew his sword, the shadow returned to its original form.
“Impossible, impossible! Impossible! This is impossible!”
Nareda shouted as if spitting the words out.
“What are you! What the hell are you!”
She pointed at Leo with bloodshot eyes.
“Didn't I just introduce myself?”
Leo planted his sword in the ground and leaned on it like a staff.
“The Hero of the Beginning.”
The battle fell into a brief lull.
The advance of the Titan King's legion was halted by a single hero.
“You're the Hero of the Beginning, Kyle?”
Most demons wouldn't dare call Leo "the hero who survives" to his face.
"The hero who survives" was a derogatory nickname used by demons during the Age of Calamity to belittle the Hero of the Beginning.
They used it freely when he wasn't around, but they instinctively hesitated to use the slur in the presence of the very embodiment of fear who had killed even a god.
Nareda was no exception.
“Don't be ridiculous! If that's true, then how…!”
Nareda had fought and survived against the Great Heroes multiple times.
Among demons, that in itself was a feat worthy of praise.
That was why she knew so much about the Great Heroes.
A moment ago.
The way he blocked Karokson's attack with golden aura was not that of the Hero of the Beginning.
As far as Nareda knew, the only one with the aura control to so smoothly block such an attack was the Brave Hero, Ar-on.
After that, the overwhelming power that destroyed the battle-axe was the power of the Divine Blacksmith, Dweno.
What stopped Karokson's movements was the Dragon Word magic of the King of Wisdom, Lisinas, and what ended his life was the stellar magic of Luna.
Unlike the Age of Calamity, the current era has the Hero Record.
‘He must have inherited the powers of the Great Heroes through that detestable record!’
Leo's ability was none other than All-Class.
The user of the pure power known as the natural enemy of the gods.
In fact, 5,000 years in the past, the god was subjugated by the Hero of the Beginning, who had inherited the essence of the Great Heroes' powers.
It was perfectly natural for Leo to use the powers and techniques of the Great Heroes.
‘But…! How can he wield those powers so perfectly!’
In the exchange just now, Nareda had seen Ar-on, Dweno, Lisinas, and Luna.
It was as if they had descended into this era themselves.
“It was 17 years ago that I was reborn in this world.”
Leo said in an indifferent voice, his sword resting on his shoulder.
“You didn't expect me to remain stagnant for 5,000 years, did you?”
Failing to completely annihilate Erebos was one of Leo's biggest regrets after being reborn.
If he had been able to perfectly wield his comrades' powers.
Perhaps he wouldn't have left fragments of Erebos for future generations.
After being reborn and before entering Lumerne.
Without awakening his mana, Leo had polished and re-polished the techniques his comrades had left him in his mind.
And even after awakening his mana, he never stopped training.
As a result.
He became able to perfectly mimic his comrades' techniques.
Of course, it was still just mimicry.
Applying them and linking their powers was still a distant step.
‘I'm still a long way off.’
Still, as a warrior, a vanguard, a mage, a summoner.
Compared to his comrades, he was still far behind.
But…
‘I can reach them someday.’
Because unlike 5,000 years ago, he had time.
“Impossible…! It's only been 17 years! What could you possibly do in 17 years…”
“It's a short time for you, but for us, it's a very long time.”
“You've worked hard for 5,000 years. All for nothing.”
At Leo's mockery, Nareda's shoulders trembled with rage.
But soon, she laughed back at Leo.
“Haha! You're the one who's wasted their efforts!”
Nareda pointed at Leo.
“No matter how perfectly you wield the Great Heroes' powers, you are ultimately alone! Do you think it's possible to subjugate a god by yourself!”
5,000 years ago.
He had inflicted a fatal wound on Erebos by sacrificing Ar-on, Dweno, Luna, and Lisinas one by one.
Leo had merely delivered the final blow to Erebos.
“True. It's difficult alone.”
“Haha!”
“That's why I'm raising them.”
“What?”
Thwack-!
For a moment, Nareda felt her vision flip upside down.
‘Since when?’
Nareda's head, flying through the air, turned to look back.
There, the white-haired, blue-eyed cat beastkin who had sent her head flying stood with claws raised.
Thwack-!
Ar's hand tore through her heart.
‘He broke through my black magic barrier and got close?!’
Nareda had survived for 5,000 years thanks to her many petty tricks.
Among them, her black magic barrier, which detected anyone approaching her, was said to be impenetrable by any demon.
‘That barrier was broken by a pet cat who still smells of milk?’
Even if all her attention had been on Leo.
She had thought Ar was someone who couldn't pose a significant threat on this battlefield alone.
He was only able to be active because Leo had perfectly focused the enemies' attention.
Stunned, Nareda recalled how Ar had surpassed Leo's senses earlier.
‘In the realm of extrasensory perception… he surpassed the Hero of the Beginning?!’
In Nareda's vision, she saw Ar clenching his fist.
“Punch!”
The moment Ar's fiercely swung fist connected with her face.
Nareda's vision went black.
***
The moment he defeated Nareda.
Ar collapsed.
His ears twitched uncontrollably, and his body trembled as if convulsing.
Seeing this, Leo immediately scooped Ar into his arms and retreated from the battlefield.
Many of the Titan Knights still remained.
But the moment Nareda was defeated, it was no exaggeration to say the Titan Knights' strength had been halved.
‘Of course, this is only a tiny fraction of the legion's total power.’
Leo had charged into the legion with Ar solely to buy more time to perfect the defensive preparations.
‘Thanks to that Titan King coward not stepping forward, the results were significant.’
“Uwaaaaaa! My head is spinning!”
Ar pressed his twitching ears down with both hands and buried his face in Leo's chest.
“Release your beastification.”
At Leo's words, Ar, who had been flinching, released his beastification.
It seemed he couldn't properly process the overwhelming amount of information his extrasensory perception was feeding him.
“Half-baked growth, huh.”
Leo muttered with a smirk.
Still, what was amazing was amazing.
Tap-!
Leo landed on the castle wall.
Having calmed down a bit in the meantime, Ar lifted his face from Leo's chest and glanced up at him.
“Black Rabbit, no. Leo Flove.”
“Why the sudden name drop?”
“Are you really Kyle, the Hero of the Beginning?”
“No point in hiding it now, I suppose.”
As Leo smirked, Ar's eyes widened.
“That's right. I'm the reincarnation of Kyle, the Hero of the Beginning.”
“Woooah!”
Hearing it directly from Leo's lips, Ar clenched his fists and kicked his legs.
His ears twitched in excitement, and his tail, which had been writhing like a snake, wrapped tightly around Leo's forearm.
“Everything makes sense now!”
Overwhelming strength that didn't seem to belong to someone his age.
On top of that, his experience and knowledge.
Ar grew excited as he recalled the things Leo had taught him.
“Amazing! To think you were a Great Hero!”
Unable to contain his excitement, Ar grabbed Leo's collar with both hands and pressed himself close.
The tail wrapped around his arm squeezed even tighter.
“U-um! Black Rab… no! What should I call you! Lord Rabbit? Lord Leo? Lord Kyle?”
“Call me whatever you're comfortable with. But before that.”
“Huh?”
Leo set Ar down.
Ar immediately leaned his stomach against the rampart and stuck his head out over the edge.
“Bleeegh!”
His senses, which had been calmed, were thrown into disarray again by his excitement, making him feel sick.
While waiting for Ar to calm down, Leo gazed at Gias in the distance.
‘This is just the end of the preliminary skirmish.’
We dealt an unexpected blow, but the legion's forces are still overwhelming.
We're like a candle in the wind.
‘He shows no signs of moving yet. He must have anticipated Nareda's death.’
She was a trusted subordinate, but from the legion commander's perspective, she was just a good pawn.
It probably isn't time for him to move yet.
But when he does move.
Leo clenched and unclenched his fist.
‘Can I take him down alone?’