Book 1 Chapter 1030
1030.
Due to Tartarus's attack on Rhodia, Lumern came to meet Seirun.
Before going into seclusion for magic research.
Seirun had only tipped off Lumern.
'Seirun wouldn't tell such a thing to other friends.'
Lumern smiled wryly, recalling his close friends.
Lumern, who had come to Seirun's fortress, thinking of his friend who was engrossed in magic, isolated from the outside world.
However, Lumern soon detected an anomaly in his senses.
Seirun suddenly used magic and then canceled it.
If you look at the flow of magic, it wasn't canceled by himself, but was canceled.
The moment he realized that, Lumern sharpened his senses to the maximum.
And he felt Seirun's presence disappear.
If he hadn't known from the start, it would have been different.
Lumern would never miss an intruder he had once detected.
However, the unknown intruder was beyond imagination.
He felt like he would lose track of the intruder's presence if his concentration wavered even a little.
Because of that, he didn't have time to alert the fortress's residents to the emergency.
'What on earth is this happening after Tartarus?'
Lumern, who had fought alongside Seirun, knew Seirun's strength best.
Even if he was a mage, being kidnapped like this was a disaster-level event.
Lumern bit his lip and sharpened his senses further.
'Did Tartarus have any demons left with this kind of power?'
The enemy's identity was still unknown.
However, by kidnapping Seirun, Lumern judged that the opponent was likely a demon.
'Or… Tamus?'
He recalled the hero who had left the party.
He didn't want to think so, but
*Squeeze-!*
Lumern's hand tightened on the sword hilt.
'I will save them.'
Will flickered in Lumern's eyes.
At that very moment.
He felt the fleeing opponent stop.
Lumern's face hardened, and his muscles tensed.
There was only one reason the fleeing enemy stopped.
*Shing-!*
Lumern drew his sword.
In the blink of an eye, Lumern's vision caught sight of someone.
'Human?'
Lumern's eyes twitched.
It was someone with pure white hair and red eyes.
Not a demon of Tartarus, nor the hero Tamus, with whom they had become hostile.
Despite the appearance of someone completely unexpected, Lumern did not hesitate and raised his sword.
*Woong-!*
A gray aura formed at Lumern's sword tip.
*Swish-!*
Lumern's sword swung with a sharp sound.
Leo also swung his sword in response.
-!
The swords, imbued with gray and pure white auras, crossed.
For a moment, silence fell over the surrounding area.
There was no shockwave or noise following the collision of immense power.
It was as if time had stopped.
The silence was broken only after Leo and Lumern were sent flying by the clash of power against power.
*Roar-!*
A massive explosion sound belatedly spread in all directions.
And a shockwave no less powerful swept through the surrounding area.
*Kwakwakwakwakwakwak-!*
As if a huge explosion had occurred, the grass fell in opposite directions, centered around Leo and Lumern.
Trees and piles of stones were uprooted, unable to withstand the force.
A storm raged from a single clash.
Lumern's face hardened.
'What is this guy?'
He had never expected his blow to be neutralized.
'Even Demian or Azonia would have had a hard time enduring that.'
Lumern's caution intensified.
Meanwhile.
Leo looked down at his left hand, which was spreading a tingling sensation.
Although it was only one clash, he learned a lot.
'Is this beyond what I thought?'
He knew he was strong.
But after clashing directly, his strength far exceeded expectations.
*Swipe-!*
Lumern pointed his sword at Leo.
He threw the sword in his left hand to his right hand.
*Clack-!*
Leo, who had changed hands, shook his left hand.
Seeing Leo like that, Lumern said,
"Why did you kidnap Seirun?"
"Kidnap? I didn't."
"What do you want?"
"What I want."
After a moment of thought, Leo lowered his stance and smiled.
"A test?"
As soon as he said that, Leo disappeared.
Moving at a speed too fast to be seen, Leo reappeared directly above Lumern.
*Swish-! Kaaang-!*
Leo's sword, which had been aimed at Lumern's shoulder, was deflected.
Leo's eyes twitched.
The attack just now was not simply a fast attack.
It was an attack that had even removed killing intent.
Yet, Lumern had reacted without difficulty.
'Super senses?'
The thought occurred to him, but he shook his head.
'Did he react to the faint killing intent?'
Even if killing intent is removed, an attack is still an attack and doesn't disappear completely.
Even so, the only one who had reacted to a sword that had removed killing intent was Arion.
It wasn't super senses, but Lumern's innate detection ability, close to it.
*Thud-!*
As Leo landed on the ground, Lumern counterattacked.
*Kagagagagag-!*
Leo let out a hollow laugh as he saw Lumern's swords scattering from all directions.
'This bastard.'
The swords were disorienting.
They looked like illusions.
Leo's super senses easily allowed him to discern the real sword among them.
But…
*Kagagagagag-!*
Leo quickly parried all the swords.
There were no deceptions among the dozens of swords that appeared.
They were all real.
'Magic.'
He had imbued the swords with magic.
The problem was that it had deceived even Leo's super senses.
It was an anomalous attack that he might have fallen for if not for Leo's acquired sense of crisis.
Even though his attack was blocked, Lumern remained unfazed.
Lumern had already realized that Leo was a skilled individual.
Magic swirled around Lumern's body.
*Whirring-! Kwah-!*
Lumern opened an spatial rift and took out a sword.
Storms and flames raged from the tips of Lumern's dual swords.
Seeing that, Leo paused.
'This guy. He wields attributes freely.'
What was imbued in the swords was not aura.
It was enchanted with fire and wind magic.
And the sword imbued with fire enchantment had wind aura.
The sword imbued with magic enchantment blazed with fire aura.
The aura and magic fused to increase destructive power.
And those two swords, with increased destructive power, combined again to maximize their might.
Perfect harmony of aura and magic.
*Fwoosh-*
Phoenix flames imbued Leo's sword.
"Aura imbued with the power of the Phoenix?"
Lumern's eyes twitched, having instantly discerned the nature of Leo's aura.
Lumern knew everything about Kyle.
That's why Leo was using his power from his reincarnation.
*Kwang-!*
Flames clashed with flames.
What was pushed back with it was Leo.
Leo looked down at his burned right hand and clicked his tongue.
'Terrifying.'
He could tell from that attack.
Lumern's talent as a sword mage was beyond Verchia.
Of course, Lumern was not stronger than Verchia.
In terms of pure strength, their powers were equal.
However, unlike Verchia, who used swords as his primary weapon and magic as a secondary means, Lumern could freely change classes.
It was literally an ideal dual class.
It was an ability close to Kyle, the hero of the beginning.
'No. If you consider the realm of wielding aura and magic, is it more versatile than mine?'
*Woong-!*
While Leo was shaking his head in disbelief.
Water sprayed from Lumern's sword.
And darkness was imbued in the other sword.
'He uses aura attributes freely too?'
Leo wore an expression of disbelief.
Leo also wielded attributes freely.
However, that was because Leo's mana attribute was pure, capable of becoming anything.
Magic, even if it had a specialized attribute, could be freely wielded in various attributes depending on effort.
However, aura, unless one was born with a special ability, usually had a fixed attribute.
Even if one could wield multiple attributes, it was limited to two or three at most.
Moreover, one could learn compatible attributes, not conflicting ones.
Yet, Lumern freely wielded conflicting attributes.
And the result of 'effort' made that possible.
'The problem is that that's not something you can do just by trying.'
An ability gained through effort, unlike Leo's innate talent.
And what made that effort possible was, in the end, talent.
Leo quickly moved out of Lumern's attack range.
And prepared for further attacks from Lumern.
However, Lumern did not continue his attacks.
He was staring at Leo with shocked eyes.
"Could it be…?"
"Yes?"
"Kyle… Sir?"
"……"
"Impossible. Are you truly Sir Kyle?"
"I'm not."
"Don't lie! Your movements up until now were clearly those of Sir Kyle trying to pretend not to be Sir Kyle!"
'What is this 'pretending not to be me' thing?'
"It's literally Sir Kyle pretending to be Sir Kyle!"
'This guy? Does he use telepathy?'
Leo looked at Lumern, who seemed to be reading his mind and answering, with an absurd expression.
The hostility had long since disappeared from Lumern.
His eyes were filled with infinite admiration.
Leo sighed and sheathed his sword.
'My identity has already been revealed.'
However, on the other hand, he felt a question.
"How did you know?"
"I know everything about Sir Kyle."
"What?"
"Since I was young, I've only thought of Sir Kyle and only researched Sir Kyle! I know everything about Sir Kyle!"
"That sounds creepy."
"It's an honor!"
"You insulted me."
Despite Leo's words, Lumern could not contain his joy.
"If you look like that, you must have reincarnated! Oh, the day has come! To actually meet Sir Kyle!"
'This guy. He doesn't seem like the guy I saw before?'
Lumern wasn't just worshipping Leo at this point.
'His eyes are definitely crazy.'
Lumern's clear eyes emanated an indescribable madness.
He was like a different person from the Lumern he had seen before.
"You recognized me by my movements?"
"Yes!"
"I hid it perfectly."
"That's why I was even more certain you were Sir Kyle!"
His perfect acting had been completely ineffective.
He felt as if he were being seen through from head to toe.
While admiring Lumern's insight, Leo also felt a biological revulsion.
'Where have I seen this feeling before?'
Leo had definitely felt a similar feeling before.
Thinking hard, Leo soon recalled someone.
'Rian.'
Rian, the administrator of the Hero Record, a devout Kyle worshipper, and once a god.
'Compared to that guy, he seems relatively normal.'
Having already experienced Rian, Leo found Lumern's fanatical behavior not particularly surprising.
It was just absurd that he was more severely crazy than he knew.
"Kuhuh."
"Why?"
"You're too dazzling."
'No. Is he as crazy as Rian?'
"Sir Kyle."
"Why?"
"Were you testing me a moment ago?"
"……Yes. Did it bother you?"
"No. Rather, it's an honor."
Lumern waved his hand.
And with a subtly expectant voice, he asked,
"What do you think? Am I qualified as Sir Kyle's successor?"
"Well, watching you fight."
"Yes!"
"You seem closer to Arion than me."
"……"
Lumern paused.
"Should I call it genius-level sense?"
Of course, it was fundamentally different from Arion.
But it gave a similar feeling to Arion.
"Actually, Azonia seems more like my type than you."
Leo said with amusement, thinking of Azonia.
'It's ironic when I think about it like this.'
That his successor resembled Arion, and Arion's successor resembled him.
At that moment.
"Azonia!"
*Grind-grind-*
A sound of gnashing teeth, repeating Azonia's name, was heard from the front.
"……"
Seeing that, Leo looked up at the sky.
Inwardly, Leo felt joy that Lumern was the most sane among the heroes of the Great Creation.
After all, all the heroes of the Great Creation were abnormal.
Compared to other heroes of the Great Creation, Lumern in his world was literally a perfect hero.
But today, that thought vanished completely.
'Why is there no normal person among the junior disciples?'
Leo could only lament at Lumern's expression, his eyes blinded by jealousy, as if he could devour his friend.
'Well, in the end, it's a matter of birds of a feather flocking together.'
"Sir Kyle! I will regain your tarnished honor by researching you more!"
Seeing his passionate junior, Leo said sincerely,
"Stop it, it's creepy."