Book 1 Chapter 207
The piercing roar echoed within Seirun.
To stop Zeldiaak, who had appeared in the middle of Seirun, the Hero Alliance was dividing their forces.
Meanwhile, a magic circle was generated in the air.
Beyond the magic circle, Bennet, Albi, Allan, and Cheyde appeared.
The four, who had left the battle with Shilatuuna, quickly rejoined the city walls.
“Students of the Lumen Magic Department, follow me.”
As Albi commanded with an expressionless face, the magic students, who had been holding back Shilatuuna’s legion with magic, hurriedly gathered around Albi.
“Gillian.”
“Yes, Head of House.”
“You will continue to defend the city walls.”
Cheyde commanded the Rwallyn mages gathering around him.
“Head of House…”
“I will go stop that monster.”
Cheyde looked up at the sky with cold eyes.
By then, most of Zeldiaak’s body had already crossed over into the present world.
“Head of House, we will follow…”
“If Rwallyn’s forces are withdrawn now, the already disadvantageous front line will collapse even further.”
Cheyde said calmly in response to Gillian’s words.
“You will be the pillar of the Hero Alliance and defend the front line. Or do you think I am an untrustworthy Head of House?”
“No, sir.”
The master of a renowned Heroic House does not simply rely on bloodline.
It is natural for them to be the strongest individual within the family.
Cheyde is the most powerful mage in Rodren, which can be called the powerhouse of the Western Continent.
He is a formidable individual, chosen by the Sword Saint Kalliarn himself to suppress the Legion Commander within the Alliance.
His retainers of Rwallyn had no choice but to obey his command.
They believed in the absolute skill of their Head of House.
Allan also quickly gathered the Seirun students.
Soon, everyone who was going to stop Zeldiaak had gathered.
Meanwhile.
The 1st and 2nd graders, who had evacuated the spectators deep into the school, urgently came out of the school.
And upon discovering Zeldiaak trying to cross into the present world through a rift in the sky, their faces turned pale.
Some lost their will to fight and slumped to the ground.
A Legion Commander of Tartaros, an existence of terror.
Even as hero candidates, they were still young boys and girls in their mid-to-late teens.
Confronted with the worst disaster on earth, they couldn't help but be terrified.
“W-We have to run away…!”
“What can we, 1st and 2nd graders, do against a monster like that!”
One of the terrified Lumen 2nd graders shouted.
At his words, the hero candidates began to murmur.
Fear is contagious.
No matter how much courage they mustered to endure, their courage was bound to crumble at words spoken aloud by someone else.
“T-Then, if we retreat to where the Hero Alliance is first…!”
As one of the Seirun 2nd graders spoke urgently, Lunia shouted.
“Wait a minute! What about the civilians in the school right now!”
They had been evacuated to the safest core of the school, but there was no telling what would happen if that monster descended to the ground.
“We have to defend this place somehow…!”
“Don’t joke around! Lunia El Rundia! What can you, a 1st grader, do? Even I, a 2nd grader, have no idea what to do against that monster!”
A Seirun 2nd grader shouted, contorting his face.
“The civilians have been evacuated to the safest place for now! Our job now is to quickly join the Hero Alliance!”
Kuoooh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!
It was then.
Zeldiaak, who had been crossing the rift, let out a furious roar.
Zeldiaak’s fear struck the ears of the 1st and 2nd graders.
Those with weaker resistance instantly lost consciousness and fainted.
“We must stop him!”
Lunia shouted urgently.
Looking at Lunia, a Seirun student said in a fluster.
“We can’t stop him with our strength! We need to ask our seniors for help!”
“That’s right!”
“Let’s quickly go to where the seniors are…!”
The Seirun 1st and 2nd graders shouted.
swayed by the Seirun 1st and 2nd graders, the Lumen 1st and 2nd graders also insisted on heading towards the Hero Alliance.
“If we fight like this, we’ll just die for nothing!” a Seirun 2nd grader shouted at Lunia.
Looking at the 2nd grader, Lunia took a deep breath.
Then, she reached out, grabbed the 2nd grader by the collar, pulled him in, and slammed her forehead into his.
Thwack-!
“Cough?”
Taken by surprise, the 2nd grader rolled his eyes back and fainted.
Lunia pushed the unconscious 2nd grader away and looked at the 1st and 2nd graders with blazing eyes.
Seeing Lunia, the 1st and 2nd graders flinched.
“Those who want to go, go.”
Lunia said calmly, but with a definite hint of anger in her voice.
“I will stay here and protect the civilians.”
If the 1st and 2nd graders left their positions now, the lives of those inside Seirun would certainly be threatened.
At Lunia's words, the 1st and 2nd graders began to murmur.
Celia and Chloe approached Lunia.
“I’ll fight him.”
“We cannot retreat like this.”
Abbad and Chelsea also joined.
“Father is also fighting, so we cannot retreat.”
“That’s right!”
Following them, Duran and Eliza snorted.
“I was planning to stay too.”
“It’s not ideal that the Seirun representative said all the cool things, but I will fight too.”
Waren approached silently, crossing his arms.
Chen Xia joined with a faint smile, and Eyran and Luka also joined.
That marked the beginning of the 1st graders from Lumen and Seirun gathering around Lunia.
“Hey, Lyl! You too?”
A Lumen 2nd grader urgently asked Lyl, who was joining.
Looking back at his peer, Lyl said.
“Isn’t it obvious? Aren’t the 1st graders taking the initiative on what we should have done first?”
“E-Even so… isn’t it too reckless?”
“It is reckless.”
At Lyl’s words, one of the Seirun 2nd grade representatives’ faces contorted.
“Why are you doing something so reckless? We were chosen. Are you saying you're going to throw away your lives in a place like this?”
At that, Lyl smiled brightly.
“Because we were chosen.”
“…!”
“Isn’t protecting people the obvious duty of a hero candidate?”
At Lyl’s words, the Seirun 2nd grade representative’s face distorted.
“Crazy. It’s crazy.”
The 1st and 2nd graders were split half and half between students who wanted to defend Seirun and students who wanted to go to the Hero Alliance.
Kugugugugung-!
It was then that Zeldiaak, having emerged from the rift, landed on the ground.
The earth shook.
Watching that, the 1st and 2nd graders gulped nervously.
‘How long can we last? Ten minutes? No… maybe not even five minutes.’
Lunia gritted her teeth.
Just then, black holes formed around Zeldiaak, and monstrous creatures poured out of them.
Seeing that, the 1st and 2nd graders’ faces hardened.
“Legion…!”
“That monster! He really is a Legion Commander, isn't he?”
Exclamations of horror erupted from all over.
Zeldiaak’s legion charged towards Seirun.
There was no reason in their eyes.
Only the furious charge of pure destructive instinct remained.
The 1st and 2nd graders gritted their teeth and fought against the legion's invasion.
“Stop them!”
“Don’t let them enter the school one step!”
Under the urgent command of the 2nd graders, the 1st graders moved in unison.
“Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh!”
It was then that a giant demon spewing poison roared and charged at Celia.
Watching the demon, Celia gritted her teeth and unleashed a flame aura.
Hwarrrrrrk-!
Bwaaaak!
Celia’s sword strike cut down the demon.
The demon’s flesh ripped open, and blood splattered.
Whoosh-!
Celia hurriedly dodged the blood.
But she couldn't avoid the poisonous gas that was spewed.
“Ugh?”
Celia covered her mouth.
Grrrrr-!
“Ugh!”
Each monster in Zeldiaak's legion was a deadly, venomous creature.
The more demons they defeated, the more poison damage accumulated.
Seeing Celia stagger, coughing up blood, the demon Celia had cut down raised its arm.
“Celia!”
Chloe urgently unleashed her magic.
Crackkkk-!
A bone-chilling cold enveloped the demon.
As the frozen demon's movement stopped, Chelsea swiftly flew over, grabbed Celia, and retreated to the rear.
“I can fight more…!”
“You’re saying that while spitting blood!”
Chelsea shouted urgently.
In the rear, healers were overwhelmed with casualties.
A tragedy that occurred just minutes after the legion's attack began.
The legion’s attack was too powerful for the inexperienced 1st and 2nd graders to fend off.
It was then.
Hwarrrrrrk-!
Fierce flames surged from the front.
“Senior Rhys!”
Lyl urgently shouted for Rhys's support.
It wasn't just Rhys.
The hero academy students who came to support the rear stopped the legion's attack.
The appearance of their seniors.
But the 1st and 2nd graders could not be optimistic about the situation.
Their opponent was none other than Tartaros’s legion.
They barely avoided being unilaterally overrun.
But that didn't mean the tide of the battle had dramatically shifted for the better.
“Can we… defeat that?”
A voice filled with despair escaped the lips of a hero defending the line.
They were somehow holding back Shilatuuna's legion.
But the unknown legion rampaging in the rear was enough to bring despair even to the heroes who had achieved great feats.
If it were just Shilatuuna alone, perhaps.
But their forces were far too insufficient to face two Legion Commanders.
It was then.
The sound of fighting on the front lines stopped as if by a lie.
Sedjen looked at the front, his face hardening.
The battlefield of the Monster Queen and the Sword Saint.
The transformed landscape, unrecognizable from the place it was moments ago, showed how fierce their battle had been.
And leaving that battlefield behind…
The Monster Queen was advancing.
Shilatuuna, with the lower body of a hideous monster and the upper body of a small human, licked the blood flowing on her forehead with her tongue.
“Has the Principal… fallen?!”
“Is this really the end…!”
Despair shadowed the faces of the heroes.
Watching them, Halynd said.
“If you have time to despair, prepare to fight.”
“Professor Halynd…!”
Ren looked at Halynd with trembling eyes.
“You are teachers of Lumen.”
Halynd said in his characteristic cold voice.
“Do not despair first when even the students are fighting against the legion.”
At those words, the Lumen professors gritted their teeth.
It was then.
Flash-!
A massive sword strike mercilessly cut down Shilatuuna.
A terrifying killing intent erupted from Shilatuuna’s body.
Quagagagagang-!
A crimson flash of black magic created by Shilatuuna poured out towards the direction the sword strike came from.
“Principal…!”
The Lumen professors’ faces distorted.
***
“Kal…lian… *cough*-! *cough*-!”
Amidst the scene of a terrible battle.
Reven urgently called Kalliarn.
As a dragon.
As the one leading the heroes.
He burned all his power for the hero he had chosen.
Shilatuuna was right.
An old hero and an old dragon.
Even in their prime, it would have been difficult to guarantee Shilatuuna’s subjugation.
But now, both were long past their prime and had declined.
Perhaps it would have been possible against another Legion Commander.
But against a monstrous Legion Commander who had lived since before the Age of Calamity, there was nothing they could do.
Tremble, tremble-
In Reven’s eyes, he saw Kalliarn’s back as he propped himself up using his sword as a staff.
Reven gritted his teeth.
His body had reached its limit long ago.
But even so, the Sword Saint moved.
‘I don’t care if I die.’
Kalliarn raised his sword.
His life was already lived enough. For future generations, this one life was not a waste at all.
Kalliarn coughed up blood.
‘I must strike him one more time.’
Somehow, they had to leave a possibility for future generations to defeat Shilatuuna.
‘Move…’
Shing-!
Squeezing out his life, the Sword Saint tried to unleash his aura for a sword strike.
Stagger-!
But he soon lost his balance and fell.
Thump-!
He barely managed to stand without falling.
But anyone could see he was at his limit.
Step-
“Stop.”
Then, a voice was heard from behind.
Kalliarn and Reven barely turned their bodies.
“That’s enough.”
It was a young man with gray hair and eyes.
“You’ve done enough. So now, you can rest assured.”
Kalliarn looked at those gray eyes and felt as if a boy came to mind.
“Who… are you?”
At Kalliarn’s question, the young man opened his mouth.
“The Hero of Beginnings.”