Chapter 695
Chapter 695
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 695
Chapter Title: A New Objective
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695.
Dweno let out a bitter sigh and stepped slightly to the side, pressing a hand firmly against Driana’s back.
*Thud-!*
“Calm down, Driana.”
“How can you expect me to be calm right now?!”
Driana gritted her teeth, straining against him.
“A child like you can struggle all you want; it’s useless.”
“I know! I know, but! How can I just stand by and do nothing!”
Driana raised her voice.
“Do you even realize you’re not acting like yourself right now, Lord Dweno?!”
Driana screamed.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you. But this is who I am. How well do you think you know me to say such a thing?”
“Yes! I don’t know you! I’ve only ever known you through the stories passed down through the ages! The first time I ever met you in person was in the World of Heroes! It’s ridiculous to say I know you after just that! But still!”
Driana’s voice choked with tears.
“This isn’t right! The way you are now is completely strange! You’re wrong!”
“Calm down.”
“You’re the one who needs to calm down! Don’t you see?!”
Driana shouted.
“The very people of Ivaldi you’re supposed to be protecting are in danger!”
“What did you say?”
“You said you wanted to bring them into the future, even if just for a moment! You said you had to protect them! But right now, those people are on the front lines, risking their lives! They need you now!”
“That’s… because if you destroy the Record… we’ll be finished…”
“Yes! But it’s all for nothing if everyone dies!”
Driana couldn’t understand Dweno’s feelings.
But she knew that right now, Dweno was abandoning the people of Ivaldi.
*Crrrack- Crack-*
An unsettling sound came from Driana’s body.
“Stop. You’ll die if you keep that up.”
“Ughhhhh!”
*Press-!*
Dweno pinned down Driana, who was trying desperately to break free from his grasp.
‘What… what… what is it that I want to do?’
His thoughts were a tangled mess.
‘All I want… is to show the people of Ivaldi… to show Enniha… the future. Is that such a great wish?’
Was it such a terrible crime to want to give a future to his people, who had been deprived of it without ever tasting hope?
‘I’m stopping these children… because they’re trying to steal Ivaldi’s future.’
His mind was in turmoil.
‘Yes. It’s a selfish thought. But is it wrong to be selfish?’
*Fwoooosh-*
Golden flames ignited in Dweno’s eyes.
‘My choice will lead the people of Ivaldi to their deaths? I just… I just… want to show them the sun. I just wanted them to experience a little… of what you’ve all enjoyed.’
*Fwoosh-*
The golden flames suddenly began to turn black.
“I’m… not wrong. The peace you all enjoy… just a little… just a little…!”
*Grip-!*
“Keuk!”
Dweno’s hand tightened.
An immense force crushed Driana.
In that moment, Driana coughed up blood.
But she immediately clenched her jaw and used all her strength to push Dweno’s arm away.
*WHOOOOSH!*
The black flames burned even more fiercely.
At that moment.
*CRASH-!*
A Wind Wyvern slammed into Dweno.
“Lord Dweno’s condition is strange!”
“I can see that! But he’s not budging!”
Eliza summoned her spiritual power, drawing out the Wind Wyvern’s maximum strength.
“I…! I…!”
The black flames that had been spewing from his eyes now began to engulf his entire body.
“Aahk?!”
“Eliza!”
*SKREEE-!*
The black flames instantly leaped over and consumed the Wind Wyvern.
The instantly unsummoned Wind Wyvern vanished.
As the black flames rushed toward them, Karl instinctively pulled Eliza into his arms and threw himself to the side.
Eliza fainted from the shock of the forced unsummoning.
Just then.
‘What do I do…!’
As Karl’s face turned pale.
“Get… a grip…”
In Karl’s vision, he saw the unconscious Artian rise from behind Dweno.
“P-Professor Artian! We have to save Driana…!”
At that moment, Karl noticed that Artian’s open eyes were black.
“Get a grip! You perverted dwarf!”
*KRA-GA-GA-GANG-!*
Artian’s fist slammed into Dweno.
Dweno was sent flying and collapsed onto the ground.
Karl’s mouth hung open in a stupor.
That person wasn’t Artian.
Of course, it was common for Artian to lend her body to heroic spirits, but for a spirit to use such a title for the God of Blacksmiths.
And with that black demonic energy…
“…Lord… Lisinas?”
Karl dazedly spoke the name.
*Thud-!*
But Artian collapsed again, unconscious.
Seeing this, Karl snapped back to his senses.
“Driana! Are you okay?”
“I’m… fine…”
*Cough!*
Driana coughed up blood as she pushed herself up.
Karl hastily pulled a potion from his pouch.
Just then…
Dweno got back to his feet.
“You… you dare deny my choice!”
Dweno yelled at the unconscious Artian as if possessed.
“Kyle! Kyle understood me! So why won’t you understand me! Weren’t we comrades!”
The black flames burning on Dweno’s body raged even more violently.
Watching Dweno, Karl felt a chill run down his spine.
‘Lord Dweno is not in his right mind.’
He had lost his reason.
The Dweno that Leo had described—the one with the strongest mental fortitude among the Great Heroes, the pillar of their group—was gone.
‘Those black flames.’
Instead of his original golden flames, flames of calamity were burning from Dweno’s body.
‘Why?’
A thought flashed through Karl’s horrified mind.
‘The original owner of this world must have been Lord Dweno.’
Though it had become the Legion’s Record, the original owner of this Record was Dweno.
That record had been overwritten with Gias’s Record by the power of Erebos.
‘If that influence… has reached even Lord Dweno?’
That would explain why Dweno wasn’t himself.
It would also explain the black flames.
“Why can’t you understand me! Did I ask for such a great wish! Answer me! Lisinas!”
As the black flames burned ever more menacingly.
“Dweno.”
A voice came from behind.
Dweno turned his head toward the sound.
“Enniha.”
“…I came to get you.”
At Enniha’s words, the black flames subsided.
“No, there’s no need for that.”
Dweno shook his head with a gentle smile.
“Just trust me. I will bring the people of Ivaldi… and you… into the future.”
“…If we can’t defeat Gias, there is no future, is there?”
“Don’t worry about that! We have Kyle! Kyle is the one who will defeat even Erebos in the distant future! He can certainly defeat the likes of Gias!”
Dweno smiled brightly.
“So don’t worry about the Giant King’s legion. You said you wanted to paint the sun, right? I will show you a sky where the sun rises again…”
“Dweno.”
“Yes?”
“So we really are just a burden to you.”
Dweno’s face twisted.
“What do you take me for! Do you think I’d ever think that! Get a grip, Enniha!”
“Oh, really?”
Enniha smiled sweetly.
Then she pulled her arm back.
*SMACK-!*
Enniha’s fist, swung with all her might, struck Dweno square in the face.
Dweno’s head snapped to the side.
“Aaaaargh!”
Enniha clutched the hand that had struck Dweno’s face and rolled on the ground.
“You’re seriously damn hard!”
Her finger joints, bent at an odd angle, were clearly shattered to pieces.
“E-Enniha! Your hand!”
Knowing how much Enniha, a painter, cherished her hands, Dweno rushed toward her in a panic.
Enniha, still rolling on the ground, kicked him.
*CRACK-!*
Dweno was sent flying, and another unsettling sound came from Enniha’s shin.
“That really hurts!”
Enniha gritted her teeth and forced herself up.
Her shinbone was also shattered, causing her to limp unknowingly as she approached the stunned, fallen Dweno.
“You’re the one who needs to get a grip, you damn dwarf.”
“What did you say?”
“You’re treating us as nothing more and nothing less than baggage right now!”
“That’s not true. I…”
“You’ll take us to the future? Without even asking us, just deciding on your own? If that’s not treating us like baggage, what is?”
“What’s wrong with taking you to the future? You all deserve to experience the future.”
“Yes. I’m sure we do.”
Enniha said coldly.
“But if we have to put that future at risk for a fleeting moment, not a single person in Ivaldi would welcome it. Except for you.”
“…”
“Dweno. Our time ended long ago. And my time ended long, long before yours.”
Dweno bit his lip hard.
“Everyone in Ivaldi… knew what kind of end awaited them. So we gave up on the idea of going to the future long ago. We gave up, but… everyone thought you were different.”
Enniha smiled.
“When you were freed from the burden of us, we believed you could go to a future far beyond ours. And so, in the end…”
Enniha knelt to meet Dweno’s eyes.
“We believed you would bring peace back to this world. That’s why we never broke.”
“You all… were not a burden.”
“That’s right. We weren’t a burden. We were your comrades. You simply carried the hope we entrusted to you.”
They had given up on their lives, but not on hope itself.
They simply couldn’t find it.
As they watched the steadfast back that protected them.
They believed that one day, that back would become a shield for others who dreamed of hope.
That was the wish of the people of Ivaldi, and Dweno ultimately fulfilled that wish.
Looking back now, it might not seem like a grand wish.
But back then, it was the greatest wish the people of Ivaldi could ever dream of.
“Just as we are your comrades, you have other comrades too, don’t you?”
“…”
“You said we weren’t a burden, right? So are you planning on becoming a burden yourself?”
Dweno closed his eyes.
“Just as we believed in you.”
*Fwoosh-*
The burning black flames slowly began to transform into a brilliant gold.
“The comrades who believe in you are waiting.”
Dweno clenched his fists.
“The hopes we entrusted to you were eventually passed from you to him, weren’t they?”
“They were.”
“Then Leo must be carrying an unimaginable weight. So…”
Enniha said firmly.
“Don’t push your burdens onto him any longer.”
At those words, Dweno turned around.
*Thud- Thud- Thud-*
“Ugh…”
“Lord Dweno?”
“How…?”
The hero candidates began to regain consciousness one by one.
Leaving the hero candidates behind, Dweno entered his workshop and returned a moment later carrying a huge box.
*Thump-!*
Dweno placed the box in front of the hero candidates.
“A gift.”
After speaking calmly, Dweno slung Brave onto his back and walked over to Driana.
“I’m sorry for disappointing you.”
“N-No! I wasn’t disappointed at all.”
“Good.”
Dweno patted Driana’s head, took a deep breath, and spoke.
“I’ve made a fool of myself. I don’t know if I’m qualified to say this, but you all should head to the center of the Legion’s world.”
“You are more qualified than anyone to say that.”
Artian, who had come to her senses, said in a solemn voice.
Dweno looked at Artian and opened his mouth.
“Thank you.”
After offering his gratitude to someone who couldn't hear it, Dweno started walking.
*Thud- Thud-*
One step, then another.
As he walked forward, Dweno stopped when he reached Enniha’s side.
“Enniha. I have a favor to ask.”
“What is it?”
“When we defeat Gias, be my model.”
“That’s easy enough.”
“Look forward to it. You’ll fall into despair when you see the work of an artist far superior to you.”
“You damn dwarf!”
Enniha, who had flared up, soon let out a deep sigh.
“Fine. I’ll be your model or whatever, so just hurry up and take care of that damn Giant King.”
At her words, Dweno burst into laughter.
*FWOOSH-!*
The flames burning on Dweno’s body turned completely golden.
And in that instant, the world changed.
“Huh?”
Karl’s eyes widened.
[The objective has been changed.]
[Objective: Ensure Dweno's survival.]
[Objective (Hidden): Save Ivaldi.]
[Objective (Hidden): Subjugate the Giant King Gias.]