Book 1 Chapter 225

225

A storm of aura swirled towards Leo.

Whosh-!

A sharp spear flew towards his neck.

And from behind, a sword was being swung at a precise angle.

'Not bad for a hastily put-together combination.'

He chuckled, looking at Aina and Habidden pressing him.

The movements of the two had noticeably sped up.

'Did Shasha summon a phantom beast and bestow a blessing upon them?'

Thump-! Thump-!

"……!"

"……!"

Leo reached out and accurately grabbed Aina and Habidden's wrists.

The eyes of the two, caught mid-air, widened.

"It's good to learn how to respond in situations like this beforehand."

Whosh-! Crash-!

"Guh?"

"Ghk?!"

Leo slammed the two to the ground with brutish force.

With the overwhelming strength, the two were helplessly driven into the ground.

Leo, having subdued the two, tilted his head.

Whosh-!

A powerful sniping magic swept past where Leo's head had been.

It was Ju-en's sniper attack, her form concealed.

Leo looked in the opposite direction from where the sniping magic flew.

'Did I reveal my position?'

Ju-en's face turned pale.

She thought she had perfectly suppressed her presence and erased the residual mana, but Leo had accurately grasped her location.

'He's a complete monster…'

Ju-en flinched for a moment and quickly ducked her head.

Kwa-ga-ga-gak-!

Ju-en, who had been sitting on the tree, realized that the top of it was gone.

She cautiously raised her head.

The top of the tree had been blown away.

'Sniper magic?!'

Ju-en gritted her teeth and tried to hide in another location.

"If your position is revealed, you shouldn't maintain stealth but quickly rejoin your comrades. There's nothing easier to deal with than a mage who's isolated."

"……!"

At the voice from behind, Ju-en gasped in shock and turned her head.

'When did he…!'

Crack-!

Sparks flew from Leo's hand.

Fzzzzzzzzzzt!

"Kyaaahhh!"

Ju-en screamed, electrocuted by lightning magic.

It was then.

Whosh-!

Luke lunged at Leo.

Thump-!

Leo grabbed the sharply swinging sword and immediately threw a punch.

Whoosh-!

"……!"

Luke hastily wrapped his arm in aura.

Wham-!

Luke, who blocked Leo's punch, felt his mind go blank for a moment.

Whosh-! Thud-!

Luke's body flew up and then fell to the ground, rolling several times.

'Clumsy. Both his swordsmanship and his ability to handle aura.'

He took his eyes off Luke and looked back towards Ju-en.

She had already disappeared again.

'Her ability is good.'

While Leo chuckled, Aina and Habidden, who had been lying on the floor, staggered to their feet.

Ju-en, who had rejoined the back of the party, spoke provocatively.

"You said you could easily subdue us without drawing your sword, but it doesn't seem like it?"

"It seems more bearable than I thought, Leo Senior."

Habidden also laughed, agreeing with the statement.

"How about you draw your sword?"

Shasha also retorted defiantly.

It was true that Leo's overwhelming power was intimidating.

But they also felt that it was bearable enough.

Luke, whose arm was broken in the process of blocking the attack just now, also groaned and got up.

Leo chuckled, looking at the five who were burning with fighting spirit.

"Oh really?"

Clang-!

The examinees tensed as they watched Leo draw his sword.

"Then, shall I get serious too?"

***

"Wh-what happened?"

"As soon as he drew his sword, in an instant…"

Aina, Shasha, Habidden, Ju-en, Luke.

Even when the five united their strength to fight against Leo, the audience's excitement had reached its peak.

A fierce battle between the strongest second-year and the representative candidates for the freshmen.

It was clearly going to be the main event of this entrance exam.

But the moment Leo drew his sword, the match was decided in an instant.

Most of the audience didn't even properly understand what had happened.

Ar, sitting in the audience, crossed her arms.

"It's over."

Ar's blue eyes held Leo, captured on screen.

'The Black Rabbit keeps getting stronger.'

His strength was on a different level than when she saw him at the Azonia entrance exam half a year ago.

Of course, Ar herself had also become incomparably stronger since then.

Only one thing.

It was the result of her frantic training with the sole goal of catching up to Leo.

The potential of Leo, whom she met again after half a year, remained unchanged from then.

No, he had even grown stronger.

Goosebumps erupted all over her body.

The unique battle-crazed disposition of beast-kin was fully displayed.

Her tail stiffened, and her ears perked up.

Ar trembled, intoxicated by the excitement.

"Ughhh-! Meeting the Black Rabbit is the greatest fortune of my life!"

Her eyes sparkled brightly.

A goal to chase.

A reason to become stronger.

For Ar, that was Leo.

"Good! As soon as the entrance exam is over, I'll fight him tooth and nail!"

Hearing Ar, who was jumping up and down as if she couldn't stand it, Eiran flinched her shoulder.

"F-fight him tooth and nail?"

"What weird imagination are you having again?"

"N-no! I didn't imagine anything?!"

Lunia shook her head in disbelief at her startled friend and looked at Leo.

'Leo, what exactly are you thinking?'

From the beginning, the difference in strength was obvious.

'Is he trying to break the spirit of promising juniors?'

Even if it's a senior-junior relationship, there's only a 1 or 2 year age difference.

For those facing Leo, it was an emotion close to despair.

Their spirit, literally, would be broken.

'This year's Rumerin first-years might just remain an unremarkable generation.'

***

Stagger-!

Aina painfully got to her feet.

Among them, the most skilled person was none other than her.

'He's a monster.'

But Aina's eyes were filled with despair.

Somehow, she had to be acknowledged by the man in front of her.

Only then would she gain the right to take revenge as the true successor to the Sword Saint.

But Leo wasn't looking at her at all.

If so, she had to make him look at her with her skill… but she didn't have the confidence for that.

Quite literally overwhelming.

Fwoosh-!

Magic swirled from Leo's hand.

"Ugh!"

Aina hastily deployed her aura armor.

Boom!

With an explosion, she was thrown back helplessly.

"Ugh… this is totally cheating."

Ju-en, who had fallen to the ground, painfully lifted her head.

"Swordsmanship, magic, summoning. All at a monstrous level…!"

Leo, as seen through their eyes, was a flawless perfect being.

There was no opening to exploit.

That fact was enough to bring despair.

"Is it over? Then shall I end it?"

Leo spoke coldly and raised his hand.

It was when Aina, Shasha, Habidden, and Ju-en wore expressions of resignation.

Rustle-

"Not… not yet."

Luke got to his feet.

Among the five, his physical condition was the worst.

Even with his inferior skill, Luke persistently lunged at Leo, trying to do his part somehow.

He fell and got up again and again, blocking Leo's path.

Thus, his condition was inevitably the most pathetic.

Every time he gasped for breath, a wheezing sound like air escaping was heard.

"I can fight."

Leo said, looking at Luke, who gripped his sword tightly.

"You reached your limit long ago. If you push yourself further, you could die from exhaustion."

Leo's words were true.

His aura had run out long ago, and the physical damage he sustained was considerable.

His stamina was also at its limit.

He had only gotten up using sheer willpower.

"You are all excellent."

Leo said blandly.

"If you receive a good evaluation in this fight, you might get in. Even if you're eliminated, with your skill level, you'd easily pass next year. You just had a little bad luck."

As Leo said, they were all skilled enough to pass.

Leo's gentle encouragement eased their minds.

Conversely, Aina gritted her teeth.

Such comfort was entirely unnecessary for her, whose goal was not merely admission.

She only felt despair.

And Luke was…

"You're not giving up."

Leo looked at Luke, who was still trying to confront him.

Compared to the other four, he was truly weak.

But he was the most persistent.

"Why aren't you giving up?"

"Because this might be my last chance."

He had felt overwhelming despair and profoundly experienced the insurmountable skill gap.

Luke knew better than anyone that his current actions were meaningless.

Even so, he didn't give up.

'I'm different from others. I won't be able to get into Rumerin. Then I won't be able to meet Leo-san again.'

For Luke, Leo was an object of admiration.

Even though there was only a few years difference in age, he was someone who had achieved great feats, like a hero from a story, over and over again.

'I want to know. How much further can I fight against Leo-san?'

Luke gripped his sword and smiled.

"Overcoming your limits… isn't that Rumerin's motto?"

Seeing that smile, Leo's eyes widened slightly.

A little… no, very surprised.

Because someone came to mind who would foolishly cling to the impossible and smile like that.

"Do you want to be a hero?"

"…Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I want to help many people."

"Why do you want to help?"

At Leo's question, Luke blushed.

Luke hesitated and then replied.

"Well… because it would be cool to be a hero like that."

Watching Luke smile awkwardly, those observing wore bewildered expressions.

Becoming a hero for such an absurd reason?

"Because it's cool?"

When Leo burst into laughter, Luke bowed his head, embarrassed.

Wanting to save many people is too grand an ideal.

And the reason for dreaming such a grand dream is because it's cool.

It was a preposterous reason.

But Leo didn't sneer.

Because Leo also knew a foolish person who fought against the world's destruction just because the world was in crisis.

'If the world is in crisis, shouldn't you naturally save it?'

He himself had participated in that great yet preposterous journey.

"Name?"

"It's Luke Elda."

"I'll remember it."

At Leo's words, Luke's eyes widened.

The others were the same.

Leo pointed his sword at Luke.

Goooooooh-!

An intensity incomparable to anything before surged.

Luke's face turned pale.

But he quickly composed himself and re-gripped his sword.

Leo, who chuckled at Luke, flashed his eyes.

Slam-!

Leo's sword strike came down on Luke.

Luke's sword broke, and he fainted immediately.

Leo chuckled, looking at his junior who fought back without breaking until the end.

Crack-

A crack had already begun to appear in the world.

"Exam over."

An uncaptured Hero Record can be closed by an external will.

Leo, sheathing his sword, spoke to the four people who were staring at him and Luke with blank expressions.

"See you at school, juniors."

Leo lightly waved his hand.

'Did he even predict the exam time?'

Aina gritted her teeth.

'He totally went easy on us!'

Yet, she couldn't even reach his feet.

Her gaze went to Luke, who was unconscious in front of Leo.

Anyone could tell.

That this boy had received Leo's recognition.

'Why?'

With that question, a bright light covered her vision.

"Hmph. He went easy."

Halrind snorted and muttered.

"Indeed. To have even predicted the exam time. Huhu! As expected, the future of the Summoning Department!"

"Yura Senior. You're talking nonsense. Leo student is the future of the Magic Department."

"Oh really? Are you rebelling?"

"I'm not rebelling, I'm just stating facts, am I not? It seems my explanation is difficult for Yura Senior. Understood. Then, to match Yura Senior's level…"

"You're not rebelling, you're picking a fight."

Yura grabbed Ren's collar, smiling viciously.

Halrind gestured with her chin and said coldly.

"Handle them."

Other professors subdued the two.

Halrind, who created the spectacular sight of even Rumerin professors sitting on their knees with chairs in hand in one corner, looked at the data of the five who had faced Leo.

"What do you intend to do? It is a fact that Leo went easy on the five."

"Yes. But it would also be funny to say they didn't do their best in the exam when they were so thoroughly crushed."

Halrind, with an indifferent face, opened the last page.

There was a picture of Luke.

"Sedjen might have liked it, saying it was excellent."

Persistence, not giving up, was one of the values Sedjen esteemed most highly.

Of course, it was not something Halrind rated highly.

"What should we do with this examinee?"

Ain asked.

While Aina, Shasha, Habidden, and Ju-en were automatic passes, Luke still had an ambiguous part remaining.

His ability to fight back against Leo to some extent was greatly influenced by the four people he was in a party with.

"In your opinion?"

"…He's immature. His swordsmanship is crude compared to other candidates, and his skill in handling aura is lacking."

Ain assessed coldly.

"However… his talent is undeniable."

At those words, Halrind propped her chin.

Halrind tapped the desk a few times and drew a triangle over Luke's picture.

It meant 'pending'.

Halrind stood up and left the examination hall.

Seeing her, Ain sighed in relief.

'At least we avoided the situation of all freshmen being eliminated.'

Only 53 people had passed the exam immediately.

Out of thousands of students, only 53 survived.

But thankfully, there were as many as 724 pending students.

'The cream of the crop will be sorted out in the faculty meeting.'

Sedjen would also be included then.

Ain sighed, looking at the examinees whose emotions were mixed.

'I hope they don't shrink back from the second-years.'

***

A crack was appearing in the hero's world.

The examinees and the second-years had all returned to their original world.

But Leo stood alone.

'What is this?'

Feeling that question, Leo looked around the silent forest.

There was no sign of monsters.

It was as if the forest was holding its breath.

Leo, who had been frowning, flinched and turned his head.

And he came face to face with a gigantic crimson eye floating in mid-air.

Leo felt his heart freeze.

The power emanating from the crimson eye was weak.

It could even be said to be powerless.

But it clearly possessed a 'will'.

The moment he identified the consciousness residing in the eye.

Whosh-!

A bright light enveloped Leo's vision.

Leo was suddenly standing in the middle of the examination hall.

Leo stood stiffly, frozen.

"Leo?"

Carl approached with a curious face.

"What's wrong? Why are you sweating so much?"

"No, it's nothing."

He wiped the sweat running down his chin.

That crimson eye just now.

'That was definitely… Erebus.'