Book 1 Chapter 445

Leo was sitting on the hotel rooftop, looking up at the night sky. The stars filling the night sky seemed to shine even brighter than usual tonight. Leo, who had been watching the stars in silence, lowered his head. He saw Chelsea sitting alone in the hotel garden, lost in thought.

That's when it happened.

"Haaak! Haaak!"

Arion appeared next to him, breathing heavily.

"Did something chase you, Ar?"

"I, I was scared!"

Arion shivered at Leo's question.

"When are you going to stop trembling every time he gets that look in his eyes?"

"B-but…! A little while ago was scarier than ever before!"

"Well, did you tell Ar that you consider him your successor?"

"Yeah."

"Then it makes sense that he'd throw a fit."

Leo clicked his tongue, anticipating Ar's reaction. Seeing Leo like that, Arion, who had been making a sad face, spotted Chelsea engrossed in thought in the garden.

"Oh, it's Chelsea?"

Arion said, sitting on the roof with a pleased expression.

"Leo, it looks like Chelsea…"

"You mean she's noticed something?"

"So you knew all along."

"I felt something was off since this afternoon."

Leo said, suddenly recalling Chelsea looking at him suspiciously earlier.

"I was too casual with you, wasn't I?"

"Should I have been a little more careful?"

Arion scratched his cheek, and Leo replied with a bored expression.

"Even if you were careful, you're terrible at acting. You would have looked even stranger with your awkwardness."

Leo could treat Arion as a hero anytime. But if Leo did, Arion would surely make a mistake. 'He probably got overwhelmed, embarrassed, and started rambling.'

Arion scratched his head at Leo's words. Then, looking at Chelsea, he said,

"Did she figure out Kyle's identity?"

"She couldn't be completely sure. It's impossible by common sense."

The god Leo met in Luna's world. Even Fiva found Leo's reincarnation surprising. Even in the current situation where countless miracles are happening, reincarnation is a hard thing to imagine.

Arion said at Leo's words,

"I'd rather Chelsea realized you're Kyle."

"Why?"

"If she realizes you're Kyle, she'll be a source of strength for you."

"A source of strength, huh."

"Kyle right now, you're like Lisinas."

"Lisinas?"

"Yes. You're carrying the world on your shoulders."

Arion took his eyes off Chelsea and looked up at the night sky.

"But Lisinas back then didn't carry everything alone. You, Luna, Dweno. Many people drawn to Lisinas's light supported Lisinas."

"Why are you leaving yourself out?"

At Leo's words, Arion smiled bitterly and continued,

"You're trying to take all the responsibility yourself right now, aren't you? Mellina knows your secret, but right now, I think you need someone to support you more."

Arion smiled.

"Chelsea is a smart and kind child, so she will surely be a great strength to you."

"I suppose so."

Leo let out a snort of laughter.

"But not now."

"Why? Is Chelsea unreliable?"

"No, I trust her. I got told off by that old man in Dweno's world."

"Dweno?"

"Yes. He told me to believe in the future I chose."

"That's so Dweno."

Arion nodded.

"So, I decided to believe him. But she's still young. It's not too late to learn about me when we're on the same stage."

At that answer, Arion looked at Leo without a word.

"Why?"

"No, Lisinas told me something similar before."

"Lisinas?"

"Yes. The night of my first battle after joining the party."

"His expression was quite something back then."

Leo chuckled. In his first battle, Arion, still a boy, was terrified and hid behind Lisinas. Although he possessed great power, Arion was inexperienced at the time.

"Was Lisinas's expression strange that night?"

"You don't remember?"

Leo smirked.

"Lisinas had high expectations for you back then. I was already rebellious before I joined, so he didn't expect anything from me. And Luna, who he finally recruited, was a wild child."

Lisinas had great expectations for the boy who joined on the recommendation of the noble hero, the Guardian of the Azure Sky.

"But when you hid behind him, trembling with fear, his expression… he looked like he was about to cry."

It was an expression Leo saw for the first and last time.

"That's why Luna laughed so much."

Arion scratched his cheek, recalling Luna's peals of laughter.

"What did you talk about with Lisinas that night?"

"I apologized. For running away. But Lisinas told me this."

'It's okay. You're still young. It's not too late to be brave even after you're ready for the stage.'

Recalling Lisinas's gentle smile and encouraging words, Arion said,

"I gained great courage from those words."

"That's like him."

"Right?"

Arion burst into laughter.

"I never felt ready until the end."

"Hey, Arion, you keep…"

As Leo frowned and was about to speak, a voice echoed in their minds.

-Leo-nim. Arion-nim.

-Something strange is happening at the training camp.

"Strange? What's going on?"

Leo asked, furrowing his brow.

-A large number of monsters and beasts have started appearing.

***

*Fwoosh-!*

Rys raised his sword. The intense flames emanating from the sword wrapped around it. Rys then thrust the sword into the ground.

*Fwah-!*

A ring of fire centered on Rys expanded into a giant circle, sweeping in all directions.

*Kroooooar!*

*Kaaaaaaaang!*

The monsters' screams of pain echoed. Rys retracted his sword after burning all the surrounding monsters.

'The presence of monsters is still immense.'

Despite the widespread annihilation of monsters, the surge of monster appearances showed no sign of subsiding.

'What in the world is going on? Did a legion commander attack?'

The appearance of monsters was unusual. At first, low-level monsters and beasts appeared. But the ranks of the creatures appearing continued to rise. The atmosphere was ominous.

'At this rate, it wouldn't be strange for demons to appear.'

It was believable enough to say that Tartarus had moved on a large scale. However, no demons had shown themselves.

'Could it be that Hero Records went berserk in the surrounding area?'

Not long ago, there was a rampage in a large-scale hero dungeon. That's why such suspicions arose.

Rys shook his head after a moment of thought.

'No, this area is managed by the Dragon Lord.'

If Mellina were here, the hero dungeon would have been discovered long ago.

'Besides, Arion-nim is here.'

Rys gripped his sword.

'In any case, stopping these monsters is the priority right now.'

"Rys!"

Then, Torua's voice was heard.

"Look there!"

Torua urgently pointed to the sky. Seeing the wyvern-like beasts that appeared, his eyes twitched. Black-scaled, dragon-like beasts. It was Rys's first time seeing them in person. But he knew what they were.

'Fafnir.'

The most threatening beasts during the Age of Calamity. They were completely exterminated by the great heroes. However, recently, they had appeared in the present world several times, and research was underway. Now, Fafnir had appeared.

"It'll be a disaster if they attack the first-years! Torua!"

"Leave it to me!"

Torua summoned his magic staff, rode on it, and quickly flew into the sky.

*Vwoom!*

A magic circle appeared all over Torua's body. Runes were chanted ceaselessly from his mouth. Reaching the Fafnir unit, Torua unleashed his spell.

"Apocalypse."

*Flash-!*

***

"Apocalypse?!"

"Are they the alumni?"

"To use Apocalypse magic on this scale, they're amazing."

The Seirun students, who were blocking the monsters, looked on with awe at the magic that illuminated the surroundings as if it were broad daylight. Meanwhile, Juwen, who was hunting beasts by shooting magic bullets, stopped and muttered,

"That doesn't feel like an elf."

"It's not an elf."

Rea, who was casting magic next to Juwen, perked up her ears.

"It's star magic cast by a human."

"Hmph, then there's only one mage capable of such magic."

Juwen grinned.

"It's Torua-unnie!"

"That's amazing."

Rea said with pure admiration. Other Seirun students' eyes widened as they overheard the conversation.

"I'd like to hear about star magic sometime."

As Rea was admiring, a giant ogre roared and charged.

As Rea was about to use magic, *Fwah-!* with a golden flash, Ainah severed the ogre's head.

*Chop-!* The severed head shot up into the sky. The sword strike was terrifyingly fast and sharp. However, the ogre, with its tough vitality, charged towards the first-years, intending to kill at least one more person before its life faded.

"As expected of an ogre. Persistent."

As Rea was about to unleash her magic, *Flash-!* this time a silver flash flew in and bisected the headless ogre at the waist.

"Oh, amazing."

"So strong for being so small."

"As expected of the Seirun student representative!"

Other students admired Luke.

"Luke Elda! Who told you to go first?!"

"Hick?!"

Rea glared and shouted, *Waaak-!*

"Why do you get so worked up whenever you see Luke?"

"Because he dared to have Leo-senpai as his mentor! Before me!"

"Is that the only reason you're trying to get Luke?"

Juwen said with an exasperated expression.

*Rumble rumble rumble-!*

The ground shook violently. The first-years stumbled.

"This earthquake is quite severe compared to the last one?"

Juwen said with a surprised expression.

***

Leo squinted as he arrived in the territory of the Flov family through the warp gate opened by Mellina. Arion lightly swung his hand, repelling the monsters roaring and charging at them.

*Fwah-!*

Golden aura erupted from Arion's fingertips, tearing the monsters apart.

"Arion, do you smell any demons?"

Arion shook his head at Leo's question.

"No. I only smell beasts and monsters."

"What in the world is going on?"

'I thought the Lich King might have moved based on Mellina's story. But that's not it.'

It wasn't any other legion commander either. Demons wouldn't be able to escape Arion's sense of smell or perception.

*Kugugugugu-!*

That's when it happened. The ground began to shake violently.

'An earthquake?'

The earthquake was powerful.

*Crack-!*

The violently shaking ground. The ground itself was splitting.

'The Flov domain isn't an area where such an earthquake occurs.'

The geology of the Delad Kingdom is very stable. The earth spirits and the fire spirits flowing in the magma below are gentle. It was strange for an earthquake to occur like this.

*Kukukukuku-!*

The shaking of the earth stopped.

'Could this anomaly be related to the earthquake?'

Leo frowned.

"Huh?"

Arion's bewildered voice was heard.

"What?"

"I smell it."

"Smell?"

"It's a stench I've smelled before."

Arion looked down at the ground with a grim expression. A stench that stimulated his sensitive sense of smell. It was like burnt ashes.

"…The smell from Erebus's fragment in Fairy Land… it's the same."

"What?"

Leo's face hardened.

"But… it's not entirely the smell of ashes. Kyle."

Arion's face turned pale.

"It's burning."