Book 1 Chapter 1025
“Grind!”
A gruesome sound of grinding teeth echoed from Rhodia’s mouth.
Her orange eyes, always shining with an otherworldly light.
But at that moment, Rhodia’s eyes appeared so ferocious they looked red.
Crack-
As Rhodia opened her mouth, particles of light began to gather within.
Dragon Breath.
Though its power was halved when not in her true form, for a dragon like Rhodia, it wasn’t difficult to unleash a breath of the same power as her true form while polymorphed.
Goooooo-! Flash-!
A pure white flash cleaved through the sky in a straight line.
The dragon’s breath, filled with destructive power, was aimed at a giant serpent.
The giant serpent, watching the breath aimed at itself, opened its maw wide.
Kwagagagagagag-!
Rhodia’s white breath was sucked into the serpent’s mouth.
Considering the breath’s immense power, it should have exploded internally, leaving no trace.
But the giant serpent, instead, opened its mouth wide once more towards Rhodia.
Kogogogogogo-!
The pure white breath mixed with dark magic.
Kwagagagagag-!
It was fired back at Rhodia.
Seeing this, Rhodia gritted her teeth.
Normally, it would be simple to dodge.
But…
‘I can’t dodge.’
Behind Rhodia was the fortress.
And within it were many people protecting it.
If she dodged, they would be swept away.
Pitch-black mana erupted from Rhodia’s orange eyes.
Soon, the pitch-black mana coalesced at Rhodia’s fingertips.
At the tip of her fist, Rhodia’s inherited Rhyzinath’s magic swirled.
Activating dragon language magic, Rhodia swung her fist directly at the breath.
Kwahng-!
The overwhelming magic and physical abilities of the dragon race combined to create immense power.
“Eek!”
However, even for the strongest dragon alive, blocking her own enhanced breath was a difficult task.
In the end, she barely managed to deflect the breath’s trajectory.
Kugagagagag-!
The surrounding area, swept away by the breath, was devastated.
Rhodia gritted her teeth as she looked down at her damaged right arm.
‘This confirms the identity of that damned serpent.’
Rhodia glared at the monstrous serpent, which seemed to mock her with a flick of its tongue.
‘The King of Gluttony… Jörmungandr!’
*A legion commander who disappeared after being subjugated by the King of Wisdom and the Hero of Origin 5000 years ago.
Following the legion commander she personally subjugated three years ago, a monster that disappeared 5000 years ago has now revived.
The situation was incomprehensible, and she wished she could deny reality.
‘I have to stop it.’
But she couldn’t stand idly by.
Resolving the immediate danger was more important than assessing the situation.
Rhodia gritted her teeth.
With her current power, Rhodia could handle Jiam King and his legion.
But with Jörmungandr’s appearance, the situation changed.
Jörmungandr was not simply the strongest legion commander.
The King of Gluttony was a demon born from Erebus to hunt dragons, the strongest race on land.
He was a natural predator to dragons.
‘How did Rhyzinath-nim and Kyle-nim defeat that monster?’
Facing Jörmungandr directly, she could only let out a hollow laugh.
The two great heroes defeated Jörmungandr before their powers were fully realized.
They were weaker than Rhodia is now.
Even with the sacrifice of countless heroes at the time, it was still beyond comprehension.
‘Well, of course, they are called Great Heroes for a reason.’
Heroes are those who turn the impossible into the possible.
And Great Heroes stand at the pinnacle of those heroes.
Determination flickered in Rhodia’s eyes.
‘Is this happening in other places protected by others? If so, support will be difficult…’
Rhodia clenched and unclenched her fist.
Then.
Goooooo-!
Dark mana surged from Jörmungandr’s body.
Soon, the surrounding area was covered by a powerful curse.
‘…The Curse of Severance.’
Rhodia, having identified the curse, clenched her fist.
‘It’s intended to cut off external support. That means… there are no such attacks on other gates.’
If so, they would quickly notice the anomaly and come to her aid.
‘If I can just hold on until then…’
Rhodia gritted her teeth and looked towards the fortress.
Rhodia can hold on.
She was already at the peak of her prime as a hero.
She was confident she could hold them off even if Jörmungandr and Jiam King attacked together.
The problem was that Jiam King wasn’t targeting Rhodia.
What Jiam King and his legion were clearly aiming for was the fortress that prevented Erebus from leaving the northern lands.
‘I have to hold out.’
The fortress currently lacked the strength to withstand Jiam King’s legion.
Having already won the war against Tartarus and with only the subjugation of Erebus fragments remaining, maintaining the necessary war strength was difficult.
No one could have predicted the return of a subjugated legion commander.
‘Anelli, hold on.’
Just as Rhodia gritted her teeth.
Kwagagagagag-!
-Gworeoreoreor!
“……?!”
From afar, a blaze erupted from the ground, and simultaneously, Jiam King, Jikris, appeared.
Rhodia’s eyes widened.
‘What on earth is happening?’
***
‘Jörmungandr?’
Leo, who was confronting Jikris, twitched his eyes at a faint aura felt from afar.
He couldn’t forget it if he tried.
Across both his past and present lives, his battles with Jörmungandr were some of the most desperate Leo had ever fought.
Except for the final battle where he barely won after losing all his companions on his final journey, the fight with the King of Gluttony remained a nightmare-like memory for Leo.
‘Wasn’t this worm already defeated?’
As far as Leo knew, there was no such record in history.
‘Is this a change caused by one of Erebus’s fragments coming to this timeline?’
As his thoughts reached that point, Leo figured out how the defeated legion commanders had reappeared.
‘Legion Records.’
A product created by Hel Kaiser, who corrupted the Hero Records with Erebus’s power.
Just as the world nurtured heroes with Hero Records, Hel Kaiser was nurturing new demons with Legion Records.
‘If they rampage and erode the world by overloading the Legion Records… it wouldn’t be impossible to summon previously defeated legion commanders.’
Just as Leo had summoned a Great Hero to the present.
“Tch.”
-Gworeoreoreor!
Kwagagagag!
At that moment, Jikris attacked Leo.
The lava Leo had spewed surged like waves.
At first, it writhed in pain when hit directly by Leo’s magic, but now, there was no sign of it.
‘Has it developed resistance to flames?’
Leo judged so and threw himself to dodge Jikris’s attack.
Whoosh-!
Mana and spiritual energy swirled in Leo’s hands.
Tzereere-!
This time, a chilling cold swirled.
Spirit magic, a fusion of spirit arts and magic.
Leo clenched his fist.
Tzerezerere-!
Instantly, the land that was like a hell of lava froze over.
Jikris, who had been swimming in the lava, was also trapped within due to rapid cooling.
Crack!
But soon, cracks began to appear in the ice.
-Koreoreoreor!
Quaching! Kwagagagag!
Jikris, who broke through the ice, let out a roar.
Dark mana erupted from underground and enveloped Leo.
At that, Leo raised one hand.
Pajijijijij-!
Pure white lightning surged.
It was the lightning of a Pegasus.
The lightning instantly burned away the dark mana and scorched Jikris as well.
Pabababa-!
-Kieeeeeeex! Kekekekekekex!
Jikris, writhing in pain, soon burst into laughter.
“Ho? You have a rather peculiar outer shell?”
Jikris’s outer shell had a level of defense that surprised even Leo.
‘I thought it was building resistance to elements… is it resistance to anomalies?’
It was building resistance to mana and spiritual energy.
Seeing it unaffected even by the lightning of a Pegasus, a natural enemy to demons, Leo was convinced.
‘By the way… this guy. Doesn’t it seem to lack intellect?’
Legion commanders are not just powerful monsters.
They are beings with cunning and malice equal to their strength.
But Jiam King now felt no intellect.
Just a large, strong monster.
‘It feels like a machine that only follows orders.’
Perhaps it was a side effect from the world of legions.
Leo judged so and glanced – at Seirun, who was preparing for battle in the distance.
Then, he pointed with his chin towards where Jörmungandr’s aura was felt.
At that, Seirun canceled the magic she was preparing and flew towards where Leo indicated.
“Ah, Seirun, don’t you need to help that person?”
“They’ll be fine. It’s more important to help Rhodia now!”
Reassuring Anelli, who looked flustered, Seirun looked towards Leo.
‘Even my magic couldn’t penetrate Jikris’s defense.’
Even with Seirun’s maximum firepower, she failed to pierce Jikris’s outer shell.
But…
‘It won’t be much of a threat to Leo-nim.’
No matter what, Leo was the Hero of Origin.
The sole All-Class.
***
As Seirun left, Leo looked at Jikris.
“Seeing as it has resistance to spirit magic… it seems capable of responding to dual-class attacks too?”
-Kekekekeke
In response to Leo’s question, Jikris let out a disgusting sneer.
Its appearance lacked intellect.
It was simply confidence in its own strength.
Seeing such a Jikris, Leo curled the corners of his mouth.
@“The newly emerged legion commanders from 3000 years ago were just as clueless as they are now.”
Swoosh-
Leo drew his sword.
Hwaruru-!
Red flames, Schrödinger’s fire, engulfed Leo’s sword.
In an instant, Jikris, which had been sneering, changed its demeanor.
-……?
It lacked intellect, but it instinctively sensed it.
That something was wrong.
“Fiora.”
Leo called out the name of his contracted partner.
The flame aura that burned crimson turned pure white.
A sword burning with aura and spiritual energy.
In addition, Leo superimposed star magic onto it.
‘Ifrit.’
Hwaruru-!
Seeing the sword engulfed in flames of spiritual energy, aura, and mana, Jikris let out a scream.
-Kieeeex!
Terrified, Jikris dug into the ground and escaped.
Seeing that, Leo curled the corners of his mouth.
“It seems it couldn’t develop resistance to three anomalies, did it?”
With a cold smile, Leo’s red eyes flashed.
Snap-!
Leo’s sword dug into the ground.
Kwagagagagag!
Soon, pure white flames soared into the sky.
Another fire ignited by Leo to burn away all unrighteousness.
‘The Fire of Annihilation.’
Trapped in the pillar of flames, Jikris vanished into ashes without even a scream.
Rhodia, who had been confronting Jörmungandr, widened her eyes and turned her head.
In her sight, she saw a pillar of white flames.
At that moment.
Jörmungandr, which had been roaring, also saw the flames, growled ferociously, and tore through space to escape.
‘I missed!’
Rhodia, who had rushed to stop Jörmungandr, gritted her teeth at being a step too late.
Rhodia looked at the space Jörmungandr had torn and fled through, then turned her head.
A white flame she had never seen before.
But Rhodia instantly realized what the power at the root of those flames was.
“All-Class.”