Book 1 Chapter 379

379.

"Great God of Shadows, may I ask why you sought me out?"

There was no longer any appearance of trying to gauge Leo.

From the moment she met Leo in person, Kirin's attitude had completely changed.

Kirin, kneeling, looked up at Leo with her hands clasped together.

A reverent attitude, as if offering a prayer to a god.

In response, Leo, leaning back in his chair with his chin in his hand, clicked his tongue.

"I'm not a god or anything like that."

"No, to us, you are like a god. You, who saved all shadows, are an absolute light."

If one only looked at his outward appearance, Leo was merely a sixteen-year-old boy.

Of course, his actions were astonishing.

Not only did he become the student council president of Lumern in his first year, but he also proved that he possessed power befitting a student council president in his second year.

The Hero Records he had conquered were also extraordinary.

Leo had officially conquered the worlds of Luna and Dweno.

Unofficially, during the summer vacation of his first year, he attended Azonia's entrance exam and even conquered Arion's world.

Even those who achieved deeds recognized by gods and became heroes are not given the opportunity to conquer the world of a Great Hero even if they search their entire lives, yet Leo had already conquered the worlds of three Great Heroes.

It didn't end there.

He was even recognized by Seirun, the Comet Mage, one of the Heroes of Genesis.

People in the world no longer viewed Leo as merely a hero candidate.

They had no doubt that Leo would soon make a name for himself in the Hero Records and become a hero.

All of this was 'publicly' known information.

If one looked deeper, there was another Hero Record unknown to the world.

The master of the Book of Shadows and the master of the Shan Empire.

'Even that alone is amazing, but…'

Kirin smiled as she looked up at Leo.

As a Shadow Lord, she had long massacred traitors and demon beasts in the darkness.

Due to the nature of shadows, her existence was unknown to the world.

However, Kirin was someone with enough experience and power to overwhelm even the heroes who had made a name for themselves in the Hero Records.

She had admired Leo's skill in the arena, which she had seen in videos, thinking it was enough for him to become the master of Shan.

But now, facing him directly, she felt Leo's true nature, which could not be known through videos alone.

What was most clearly felt was the darkness coiled beyond Leo's red eyes.

A darkness whose end even she, a Shadow Lord, could not fathom.

And a mere sixteen-year-old boy harbored it.

An incomprehensible, unknown being possessing both the brilliant light of a hero and the unfathomable darkness of a shadow that delves into the abyss.

'If not a god, what should I call such a person?'

Leo saw something in Kirin's eyes as she looked up at him and sighed.

'She's out of her mind, but in a different way than Anias.'

Anias, daughter of the Northern Shadow Lord, also followed Leo from the moment she first saw him.

That was the result of Anias's conviction.

To become a servant who serves a noble hero who unhesitatingly steps into filth for the sake of the world.

That was the ideal and conviction Anias had held as a shadow for a long time, and because Leo was the one who fit it, she must have decided to follow him.

Anias believed that Leo was truly the great hero who would drive out evil from the world.

But Kirin looked at Leo purely as a shadow.

Leo could grasp what conviction she held as a shadow.

'Thoroughly annihilate everything that threatens the world within the darkness.'

She would not follow a hero like other shadows.

One who lives by their own conviction.

And with the creation of the Book of Shadows, such convictions became recognized.

Shadows had risen to the same rank as heroes.

It was clear that Kirin considered Leo, the ultimate shadow, to be a god, while also making that possible.

'You can tell by their eyes.'

Leo knew beings with such eyes.

An emotion not found in modern times.

The distant past.

An emotion that could only be seen before the Age of Calamity and in the Age of Gods.

'The Elf Pureblood Society had similar eyes.'

What dwelt in Kirin's eyes was fanaticism bordering on madness, beyond mere faith.

'It doesn't seem like a conversation will be possible. Well, but it doesn't seem like it will be particularly harmful to me.'

Knowing that conversations don't work with such types, Leo decided to leave her be.

"We've come to explore the underground labyrinth."

"Granting entry permission isn't difficult, but what you're looking for probably isn't here. There are no Hero Dungeons in this place."

"I know. What I'm trying to obtain is the treasure left by Rodia, the Dragon of Genesis."

"The Dragon of Genesis?"

Chen Xia, who had been observing the conversation beside Leo, widened her eyes.

"The Dragon of Genesis. Rodia's treasure… I felt a powerful dark energy beyond the seal at the end of this labyrinth, so I thought it was dangerous and was managing it specially, but I never imagined that the seal was to protect the treasure left by Rodia, the Dragon of Genesis."

"You feel dark energy?"

"Yes."

At Kirin's answer, Leo fell into thought.

'I heard from Larelle that Rodia left something related to Lisinas in this treasure vault. And dark energy is felt there?'

Lisinas, the Dragon of Wisdom.

The leader of the Great Heroes and a magnificent dragon who guided the world to salvation.

All Great Heroes are special, but Lisinas is even more so.

If Leo were asked to name the noblest person in this world, he would choose Lisinas without hesitation.

It wasn't because she tried to save the world.

'Because the Age of Calamity was an era where everything fell.'

It was an era where everyone endlessly succumbed to corruption.

An era that lost its nobility and became endlessly ugly.

Conscience and humanity were objects of ridicule.

Even in such an era, there were those who shone.

Luna, Arion, and Dweno were such people.

Because they hadn't lost their light, they must have joined the subjugation force without any hesitation.

But even they couldn't bring themselves to think about saving the world.

No, even they turned away from the world back then, so dirty was it.

Lisinas bore all of that and tried to save the world.

She did not hesitate to save even those who were already defiled and corrupted.

She smiled and said that if they saw light and hope, they would regain their original selves.

If Kyle was the Hero of Beginning who ended the Age of Calamity and opened a new era.

Lisinas was the beginning of salvation that guided the world to light.

Wiser and nobler than anyone else.

Although Lisinas was benevolent to the very end.

There was one part of herself that she disliked.

Lisinas's complex, known only to Leo.

'Darkness.'

Lisinas is a black dragon.

And black dragons are a race of dragons that feed on darkness.

The dragon race was the first to fall during the Age of Calamity.

Many dragons turned their backs on the world after endless corruption.

You can't blame them.

Because what they did in the Age of Gods was what Kyle did, and now it's what the shadows do.

The race most familiar with darkness, excluding demonkind.

A black dragon that devoured the demons of Tartarus and apostates, growing stronger.

That's why Lisinas truly hated the darkness she harbored.

A long journey to defeat Tartarus and subjugate Erebus.

Within that, Lisinas left behind magnificent achievements as both a mage and a summoner.

People of this era remember Lisinas as the strongest summoner in history.

Certainly, the fundamental concepts of necromancy, phantom beast summoning, and spirit magic used in the current era were all created by Lisinas.

Lisinas was somewhat underestimated in her achievements related to magic.

If Luna hadn't existed, it would have been none other than Lisinas who was revered as the greatest mage in the history of magic.

She reinterpreted the curses of the Tartarus demons and developed Dragon Language magic.

At the same time, she also created the framework for existing Dragon Language magic.

'Lisinas's greatest achievement, if one were to name it, was making it possible for all dragons to use the unique magic of each dragon race.'

Originally, the unique magic of fire dragons could only be used by fire dragons, but in the current era, fire dragons use the unique magic of water dragons.

'The fact that the dragon race is called the strongest race is largely due to that influence.'

They were already a powerful race, but now the status of the dragon race is even greater than it was in the Age of Gods.

However, the only magic Lisinas did not leave behind was the unique magic of the 'Black Dragon'.

It was magic that even Leo, her comrade, did not know.

Lisinas believed that if she had embraced her identity as a black dragon, she would not have been able to save this world.

'That was also true.'

If Lisinas had unhesitatingly cut off those she considered worthless, this world could not have been saved.

She was able to save the world because she could embrace the ugly aspects of it.

And it was Kyle who took on Lisinas's role.

'Because I was the most suitable person.'

Even if they were tainted ugly, one could not carry along those who crossed the line.

It was Kyle who punished them.

'I used to worry unnecessarily.'

Leo recalled past events and gave a bitter laugh.

And then he thought seriously.

'If it's dark energy related to Lisinas… it might be the black dragon's unique magic that she didn't tell me about.'

Magic that she hadn't even told him.

However, that unique magic might have been passed on to Rodia, who conquered Lisinas's world.

Given the nature of the Hero Records, Leo could easily inherit even Lisinas's powers that he wasn't aware of.

It was at that moment Leo reached such a conclusion.

Swoosh-

A beast-man appeared from the darkness.

Leo, Chen Xia, and Kirin, who had sensed his presence, calmly looked at the man.

"Master."

"What is it?"

"A report has come in that signs of a Hero Dungeon's rampage have been detected in the Forest of Monsters."

At those words, Leo's eyes twitched.

***

Stomp- Stomp-

The dark night of Gadthron.

Kyle, who had arrived in front of the house covered in blood, found Lisinas sitting on a chair in the desolate garden.

Lisinas spotted Kyle and stood up.

"Welcome back, Kyle."

"What are you doing out here? It's late at night."

"I heard from Dweno. That you…"

Lisinas clenched her teeth.

"That you went to eliminate the apostates. I was worried, so I waited."

"You worry too much. Dealing with those traitors is nothing compared to the monsters of Tartarus. So you don't have to worry."

"That's not what I'm worried about."

Lisinas reached out to grab Kyle, who was trying to pass her and enter the house.

Kyle evaded Lisinas's touch.

Lisinas's hand cut through the air.

Kyle shook his head, looking at the flustered Lisinas.

"I'm too dirty for your hand to touch."

To be precise, he didn't like the blood of traitors getting on Lisinas.

To the foolish one who already embraced everything in this world.

Kyle could never tolerate the blood of trash, for whom even pity was a waste, getting on her.

At those words, Lisinas furrowed her brow.

Then she sighed and forcibly took Kyle's hand.

"It's not dirty at all. It's you, after all."

Holding his scarred and bloodied hand, Lisinas smiled benevolently.

"For me, for our friends, for the world. It's your hand that steps into the darkness. It's never dirty."

Kyle gave a bitter laugh at her soft yet firm voice.

"Rather, I'm worried. If you keep doing things like this… that your pure power might be stained."

"If it were going to get dirty from this much, it would have gotten dirty a long time ago."

Kyle let out a small chuckle.

He unconsciously reached out to pat the head of his worried-looking comrade.

At that, Lisinas flinched.

"Ah, not the head, then?"

"No! It's fine."

"Before, when I patted Luna's head with blood-stained hands, she made a fuss."

"That's just her being finicky!"

"No, you wouldn't like it either."

Kyle opened the door.

"Then I'll wait. After you wash…"

"It's too late. What are you waiting for after washing?"

"Well, I wasn't specifically waiting for anything. It's just, it's too late, so I'll impose on your house for a bit. That's what I meant."

"You'll just feel uncomfortable with me, won't you? Besides, with spatial magic, you'll arrive home instantly. You don't have to worry too much about me. So, just rest well today. Aren't you tired?"

Earlier today, Lisinas had subjugated the demon beasts who invaded Gadthron.

Kyle, showing consideration for his friend, went inside the house and closed the door.

Lisinas clutched her head, looking at the mercilessly closed door.

"Idiot! Why did I flinch nervously for no reason…!"

Kyle often patted Luna's head, but he had never once patted Lisinas's head.

The reason was simple.

Lisinas was a leader before she was Kyle's friend and comrade.

The straight-laced Kyle, even when making rude remarks like calling her a lizard during their squabbles, undeniably respected Lisinas as a leader in his actions.

From Lisinas's perspective, it was nothing but utterly useless and annoying respect.

That's why there were times she envied Kyle and Luna, who seemed close like siblings.

But when he tried to pat her head for the first time, she got nervous for no reason and blew that chance.

Lisinas, who had been blaming herself, opened the door and gritted her teeth.

As a noble dragon, she did not like vulgar words.

But at times like this, there was one word that she involuntarily uttered.

"You freaking idiot."