Book 1 Chapter 244

244

‘What is it, this guy?’

Leo narrowed his eyes.

‘Chen Xian? Is he related to Chen Xia?’

A similar name.

Black hair and black eyes.

Even a similar appearance and aura.

The man in front of him resembled Chen Xia to anyone who looked.

“What’s your relationship with Chen Xia?”

At Leo’s question, Chen Xian burst out laughing.

“She’s my twin.”

‘A twin?’

Leo scrutinized Chen Xian’s appearance from head to toe and nodded.

‘Indeed.’

“Why did you attack me?”

“I thought you were Shan’s shadow.”

Chen Xian extended his sword and smiled.

“Because moving in the dark resembles a shadow so much.”

‘He didn’t attack to prevent Chen Xia and me from meeting?’

Leo placed his hand on his sword.

‘Didn’t this guy say he’d become a Great Hero in the first place?’

This era is an era of heroes, and many long to become heroes.

But he had never seen anyone with the goal of standing shoulder to shoulder with the five Great Heroes who saved the world in the past.

3000 years ago.

The founders of the Hero Academy who re-sealed the fragments of Erebus when they were resurrected.

Even they, revered as the greatest heroes after the Great Heroes, could barely seal one fragment.

Their Hero Records, revered as the greatest heroes since the Great Heroes, have not all been fully conquered even now, 3000 years later.

To claim to be a Great Hero in such a situation.

It was nothing short of an absurd statement.

“You attacked me because I was a shadow? If you’re Chen Xia’s twin, you must be of Shan’s imperial family, so why attack Shan’s shadow?”

“You even know Xia’s identity? I thought you were just a school friend, but you know quite a lot, don’t you?”

Xian, with a curious expression, laughed.

“It’s simple. Shadows are beings that shouldn’t exist.”

Leo’s eyes twitched.

“Don’t you think so too?”

Xian smiled gently.

“They hide and operate in the dark, doing all sorts of dirty work. And then they console themselves by saying it’s for the world.”

He spoke in a soft, gentle tone.

His appearance resembled Chen Xia.

But what he harbored was completely different.

“Why are such beings necessary?”

Xian shook his head as if he couldn’t understand.

“Shadows are worthless beings. That’s why they are beings that must disappear.”

“You too lived as a shadow, didn’t you?”

“Yes. That’s why I can assert even more strongly that shadows are unnecessary beings. So, I plan to erase them from this world.”

Watching Xian, who wore a gentle smile, Leo nodded as if he understood.

Numerous experiences told him.

The guy in front of him was…

“A traitor.”

“That hurts my feelings. To hear such words from someone called the best hero candidate.”

Xian, with a bitter smile, raised his sword.

“It doesn’t matter what you say. I will become a Great Hero.”

“The gods won’t acknowledge you, will they?”

“I just need to achieve a feat that even the gods cannot help but acknowledge. If not, I just need to make everyone in this world acknowledge me.”

‘He’s insane.’

*Swoosh-!*

Leo drew his sword.

The human in front of him was a dangerous individual.

‘It would be best to deal with him here.’

“But there’s one thing I don’t understand.”

Xian’s eyes narrowed.

“Leo Flobe, known as the best hero candidate. How can you act like a shadow? Are you also a shadow, after all?”

“Well, it’s something similar to that.”

“The world has been deceived.”

Xian shook his head.

“To mistake someone like this for the best hero candidate.”

*Whirl-!*

He spun the sword in his palm.

*Clack-!*

Xian, gripping the sword, burst out laughing.

“You are a disgrace to heroes, Leo Flobe.”

He believed himself to be a person worthy of being a hero, and denied Leo’s existence on the grounds that he was a shadow.

Xian truly thought that.

That he himself was justice.

“Aren’t you a shadow too?”

“That’s an offensive remark. I abandoned the path of a shadow long ago.”

“He’s insane.”

Exchanging words with this kind of person was literally a waste of time.

A thick murderous intent flowed from Leo’s body.

Traitors are to be executed.

It was one of Leo’s unchanging values, then and now.

Seeing such a Leo, Xian smiled.

“Shall we see the skill of an all-class user?”

***

Chen Xia, who was fleeing from Leo, felt something strange.

‘What is it?’

She felt a sense of unfamiliarity in the darkness that was usually so familiar.

‘It’s not because Young Master Leo is chasing me.’

Chen Xia, familiar with the dark, could feel that fact.

‘It’s different.’

As she thought that and passed through the corridor.

The pungent smell of blood permeated the air.

Chen Xia’s face stiffened.

The entire corridor was filled with corpses.

All of them were shadows.

Chen Xia approached one of the corpses nearby.

And reached out to remove its mask.

Chen Xia gritted her teeth.

It was a shadow candidate she had trained with since childhood.

The others were the same.

‘These are the children who were deployed to trap Young Master Leo in the dark.’

And they were dead.

Furthermore, there were traces of swords swung to definitively sever their breath.

Literally, the way of the shadows.

‘Who…!’

It wasn’t Leo.

As a fellow knight academy student, she had trained extensively with Leo over the past year.

It wasn’t Leo’s swordsmanship.

Chen Xia’s face stiffened as she examined the swordsmanship.

As a shadow, she had seen so many gruesome corpses since childhood, trained to track down and eliminate traitors, that she was taught to glean much information from corpses.

The opponent’s weapon, skill, gender, height, and even habits.

And now, the sword marks on the corpses of the shadow candidates were too familiar.

‘The swordsmanship has changed, but… there’s no mistake.’

Chen Xia’s hands trembled slightly.

‘He was alive.’

The twin she had considered her doppelganger.

Xian, who had betrayed Shan and defected.

Chen Xia rose to her feet.

He had returned to the Imperial Palace, hiding himself in the darkness.

‘Why, exactly?’

There was no reason to return.

No, it would have been detrimental for the fact of his survival to be known in the first place.

If that happened, Shan would surely mobilize all its forces to exterminate Xian.

Yet, Xian had brazenly entered the heart of the Shan Imperial Palace.

It was then that Chen Xia gritted her teeth.

“Princess?”

A bewildered voice was heard.

Chen Xia turned her head.

“Jane, and.”

“I am Fritz Edgorn, a first-year student of Lumern. Senior Chen Xia.”

“I’ve dropped out of Lumern. I’m no longer a hero candidate. So, your senior…”

“No, Princess Chen Xia.”

Fritz puffed out his chest.

“You are still a hero candidate and a student of Lumern.”

“Don’t you dare talk back to the Princess, you insolent boy!”

Jane tried to punch Fritz in the ribs.

But Fritz skillfully dodged the attack.

“You’ve made a good friend, Jane.”

“He’s not a friend!”

Jane, who had bristled, urgently asked.

“By the way, what in the world is going on?”

Jane’s face hardened as she saw the fallen shadow candidates. Their faces were rigid.

“Th-these kids…!”

The shadow candidates who had trained together since childhood had become cold corpses.

“Chen Xian has returned.”

“What?”

Jane’s face turned pale.

Chen Xian.

At one time, he was considered a strong contender for Shan’s next emperor by Jane and countless other Shan shadow candidates.

His gentle personality was comparable to Chen Xia’s, and his talent was even said to surpass his twin sister, Chen Xia.

The only problem was his goal of becoming a hero.

But most shadow candidates thought it was just a childhood dream.

Because one could not defy the fate of being born into Shan’s imperial family.

Then one day.

Xian massacred all the shadow candidates who followed him, as well as the shadows who served as instructors, and escaped Shan.

And Chen Xia had dealt with such Xian.

Chen Xian, whom everyone thought was dead, was alive and had returned to the Imperial Palace.

“Jane. You must inform my father of this fact.”

“And the Princess?”

“I’m going to deal with him.”

“It’s dangerous! He wouldn’t have come alone! Surely…!”

“Yes, he probably sought refuge with Tartarus.”

If someone who was a strong contender for Shan’s next emperor had betrayed Shan and gone to Tartarus, given Tartarus’s characteristics, they would surely have accepted him.

“That’s why I must eliminate him even more.”

*Grip-!*

Chen Xia’s hand tightened.

“This happened because I failed to kill him. I must finish it with my own hands.”

Seeing Chen Xia, Jane bowed her head deeply.

Then she knelt.

“I will obey your command.”

Jane, showing respect, disappeared into the darkness.

Chen Xia spoke to Fritz.

“You should also take shelter. You have nothing to do with this.”

At her words, Fritz politely said.

“As your junior, I have a duty to help you.”

“I told you earlier. I dropped out.”

“No. You are still a student of Lumern and a hero candidate.”

At his words, Chen Xia offered a bitter smile and examined Fritz closely.

‘This person is also a shadow candidate.’

If so, he would know.

That shadows cannot become heroes.

Yet, why did he treat her as a hero candidate?

“Why do you call me a hero candidate?”

“Because Senior Leo said so. If Senior Leo says it’s so, then it is so.”

At Fritz’s words, Chen Xia’s eyes wavered.

‘Young Master Leo still thinks of me as a hero candidate.’

She had fled from Leo, fearing her resolve would waver.

But just hearing those words made her heart pound.

It couldn't be helped, hearing she was a hero candidate from the person she considered most heroic.

“It seems I’ll have to tell Young Master Leo myself.”

Chen Xia, having resolved herself, took a deep breath.

“But for now, eliminating him is the priority.”

*Thump-thump-*

Chen Xia moved forward.

Fritz naturally followed behind her.

Chen Xia no longer tried to dissuade Fritz.

And the moment they turned the corner.

*Woosh-!*

The smell of death wafted out.

*Clatter-clack-*

Skeletons holding swords revealed their sticky murderous intent.

‘As expected, he borrowed Tartarus’s power.’

Chen Xia let out a small sigh.

The Imperial Palace was clearly filled with Tartarus’s monsters, brought in by Chen Xian.

Monsters that normally couldn’t invade had occupied the Imperial Palace by Xian’s hand.

‘Even so, he’ll be subdued in an instant.’

Chen Xia narrowed her eyes.

‘What exactly is he aiming for?’

He wouldn’t have returned if he wasn’t aiming for something.

But whatever it was, she would eliminate him before that.

Just as she resolved herself and was about to take a step forward.

*Thud-thump-*

Fritz stepped forward.

“Senior, please conserve your strength.”

Loosening his finger joints, Fritz smiled.

“I will take care of these lowly creatures.”

Magic swirled around Fritz’s body.

‘A combat mage.’

It was then that Chen Xia watched him.

Fritz raised his hand and *crunch-!* bit his palm.

*Splash-!*

Blood flowed from his hand.

*Swish-!*

Suddenly, blood spurted from his palm and began to coagulate due to magic.

‘It’s a mana attribute related to blood.’

It was a mana attribute that would be shunned because of its combat style, which was unlike a hero candidate.

But for a shadow, it was an unparalleled attribute.

For Fritz, blood itself was a powerful weapon.

“I will sweep you away, lowly undead.”

*Crackle-!*

Red blades flashed in the darkness.

Chen Xia followed behind, looking beyond the darkness.

‘Chen Xian.’

This time, she would kill her twin.

Chen Xia resolved.