Book 1 Chapter 445
445.
Leo was sitting on the hotel rooftop, looking up at the night sky.
The stars that filled the night sky seemed to shine even brighter tonight.
Leo, who had been silently watching the stars, lowered his head.
He saw Chelsea sitting alone in the hotel garden, deep in thought.
It was then.
“Pant! Pant!”
Arion appeared beside him, breathing heavily.
“Did Ard chase you or something?”
“I-I was scared!”
Arion shivered at Leo's question.
“How long are you going to tremble whenever his eyes glaze over?”
“B-But…! A little while ago, it was incomparably scarier than anything before!”
“Well, did you tell Ard that you consider him your successor?”
“Yeah.”
“Then it's understandable he'd make a fuss.”
Leo clicked his tongue, anticipating Ard's reaction.
Arion, who had been making a tearful face while looking at Leo, noticed Chelsea deep in thought in the garden.
“Oh, it's Chelsea?”
Arion, sitting on the roof, said with a delighted expression.
“Leo, it seems Chelsea…”
“You mean she seems to have noticed something?”
“You knew, after all.”
“Because her behavior was strange since earlier this afternoon.”
Leo recalled Chelsea suddenly watching him and said.
“I did treat you too casually.”
“Perhaps it would have been better to be a little more careful?”
As Arion scratched his cheek, Leo replied with an unenthusiastic expression.
“Even if you were careful, you're terrible at acting. She probably would've looked at you even stranger because of your awkwardness, right?”
Leo could treat Arion as a hero as much as he wanted.
But if Leo treated him that way, it was clear Arion would make a mistake.
‘He would have been overwhelmed, embarrassed, and then rambled incoherently.’
At Leo's words, Arion scratched his head.
And looking at Chelsea, he said.
“Do you think she figured out Kyle's identity?”
“She probably isn't completely certain. It's logically impossible, after all.”
The god he met in Luna's world.
Even Pivua found Leo's reincarnation wondrous.
Even in the current situation where countless miracles are happening, reincarnation is hard to imagine.
At Leo's words, Arion said.
“I'd rather Chelsea figure out that you are Kyle.”
“Why?”
“If she learns that you are Kyle. That child will become a source of strength for you.”
“A source of strength, huh?”
“The current Kyle, you're like Lysianas.”
“Lysianas?”
“Yeah. You're carrying the weight of the world.”
Arion took his eyes off Chelsea and looked up at the night sky.
“But even Lysianas back then didn't bear everything alone. You, Luna, Dweno. Many people drawn to Lysianas's light supported him.”
“Why are you leaving yourself out?”
At Leo's words, Arion gave a bitter smile and continued.
“Right now, you're trying to take responsibility for everything alone, aren't you? Melina knows your secret, but I think you need more people to support you for now.”
Arion smiled gently.
“Chelsea is a smart and kind child. She will definitely be a great strength to you.”
“You're probably right.”
Leo let out a snort of laughter.
“But not now.”
“Why? Don't you trust Chelsea?”
“No, I do trust her. I heard something from that old geezer in Dweno's world.”
“Dweno did?”
“Yeah. To trust the future I've chosen.”
“That's typical Dweno.”
Arion nodded.
“So I decided to trust it. But she's still young. Knowing about me isn't too late even when she stands on the same stage.”
At that answer, Arion looked at Leo without a word.
“Why?”
“No, Lysianas told me something similar before.”
“Lysianas did?”
“Yeah. On the night of our first battle after I joined the party.”
“His face was a sight to behold back then.”
Leo chuckled.
In the first battle, Arion, who was still a boy, was terrified and hid behind Lysianas.
Although he possessed immense power, Arion at the time was immature.
“Was Lysianas's expression strange back then?”
“Don't you remember?”
Leo gave a wry smile.
“Lysianas had high expectations for you then. I was already crooked before joining, so he didn't even expect anything from me. And Luna, whom we barely managed to recruit, was a tomboy.”
Lysianas's expectations for the boy who joined through the recommendation of the noble hero, the Guardian of the Blue Sky, were very high.
“But his expression when you, terrified, hid behind him. He was practically on the verge of tears.”
It was a look Leo had seen for the first and last time.
“So that's why Luna laughed so much.”
Arion scratched his cheek, recalling Luna's cackling laughter.
“What did you talk about with Lysianas that night?”
“I apologized. Said I was sorry for running away. But Lysianas told me this.”
‘It's okay. You're still young. Taking courage isn't too late even after you're ready to stand on the stage.’
Arion said, recalling Lysianas, who had smiled gently and encouraged him.
“Those words gave me great courage.”
“Typical of him.”
“Right?”
Arion burst into laughter.
“Though I was never fully ready.”
“Hey, Arion. You keep…”
It was when Leo was about to speak, frowning.
-Lord Leo. Lord Arion.
Melina's voice was heard in his head.
“What's wrong?”
-An unusual situation has occurred at the training camp.
“Unusual situation? What's going on?”
Leo asked, narrowing his brows.
-A large number of magical beasts and monsters have started appearing.
***
Whoosh-!
Rhys raised his sword.
Intense flames erupted from the sword, coiling around it.
Rhys, still holding the sword aloft, plunged it into the ground.
*Whoosh-!*
A ring of fire formed around Rhys, then expanded into a massive circle, sweeping in all directions.
Kwooooh!
Kwaaaah!
The pained screams of magical beasts echoed.
Rhys, who had burned away all the magical beasts in the surrounding area, retrieved his sword.
‘The presence of magical beasts is still immense.’
Despite sweeping away magical beasts in a wide area, the rate at which they appeared showed no signs of decreasing.
‘What exactly is going on? Did a Legion Commander invade?’
The appearance of the magical beasts was unusual.
At first, low-level monsters and magical beasts appeared.
But the rank of the appearing monsters kept increasing.
The atmosphere was ominous.
‘At this rate, it wouldn't be strange even if demons appeared.’
It was literally to the extent that one could believe Tartarus had mobilized on a large scale.
But that didn't mean demons had shown themselves.
‘Perhaps a Hero Record went berserk in the surrounding area?’
Just a short while ago.
There was a berserk outbreak of a large-scale hero dungeon.
That's why such a suspicion arose.
Rhys pondered for a moment, then shook his head.
‘No, this surrounding area is managed by the Dragon Lord.’
As long as Melina was present, a hero dungeon would have been detected long ago.
‘And Lord Arion is here too.’
Rhys gripped his sword tightly.
‘In any case, stopping these magical beasts is the priority now.’
“Rhys!”
Just then, Torua's voice was heard.
“Over there!”
Torua urgently pointed to the sky.
And seeing the wyvern-like magical beasts that appeared, his eyes twitched.
A dragon-like magical beast with black scales.
It was the first time Rhys had seen one in person.
But he knew what it was.
‘Fafnir.’
The most threatening magical beast during the Age of Calamity.
A magical beast that was completely subjugated and driven to extinction by the great heroes.
However, it was a magical beast that had been appearing in the current era repeatedly, thus becoming the subject of research.
Even such Fafnir appeared.
“It'll be a disaster if they attack the first-years! Torua!”
“Leave it to me!”
Torua summoned her magic staff, rode it, and quickly soared into the sky.
Woosh!
A magic circle formed all over Torua's body.
From her mouth, runic words were chanted without pause.
Soon, Torua, having reached the front of the Fafnir squadron, unleashed her spell.
“Requiem.”
Flash-!
***
“Requiem?!”
“Could it be the graduated seniors?”
“To use a Requiem spell of that magnitude. It's amazing.”
The Sayrune students, who were holding back the monsters, wore expressions of awe at the magic that illuminated the surrounding area as if it were broad daylight.
Meanwhile.
Juen, who had been hunting magical beasts by firing magic bullets, paused and muttered.
“Doesn't seem like an elf?”
“It's not an elf.”
Rea, who was casting magic next to Juen, perked up her ears.
“It's human-made star magic.”
“Hmph, then there's only one mage who can use a spell of that caliber.”
Juen grinned.
“It's Sister Torua!”
“That's amazing.”
Rea genuinely admired.
Other Sayrune students also widened their eyes as they heard the conversation.
“I'd love to hear about star magic from her next time.”
It was when Rea was admiring.
Guooh!
A giant ogre roared and charged.
The moment Rea saw it and was about to use magic.
*Whoosh-!*
With a flash of golden light, Aina simultaneously sliced off the ogre's neck.
*Thwack-!* The severed head flew up into the sky.
A terrifyingly fast and sharp sword strike.
But the ogre, with its tenacious life force, charged towards the first-years as if to kill at least one more person just before its last breath.
“Indeed, an ogre. They're persistent.”
The moment Rea was about to unleash her magic.
Flash-!
This time, a silver flash flew in and bisected the neckless ogre at the waist.
“Ohh, amazing.”
“He's tiny but strong.”
“Indeed, the student representative of Lumern!”
While other students admired Luke.
“Luke Elda! Who told you to jump the gun?!”
“Hick?!”
Rea glared with wide eyes and shrieked-!
“Why do you go crazy whenever you see Luke?”
“Because he dared to have Leo-sunbaenim as his mentor! Before me!”
“You're desperate to pick on Luke for just that reason?”
It was then that Juen made an exasperated expression.
Ku-gu-gu-gu-gu-gu-gu-gu-!
The ground shook violently.
The first-years stumbled.
“This earthquake is quite a bit worse than the last one?”
Juen made a surprised expression.
***
Leo, who arrived in the territory of the Plov family through the warp gate Melina opened, narrowed his eyes.
Arion lightly waved his hand at the magical beasts that were roaring and lunging at them.
*Whoosh-!*
Golden aura, spewing from Arion's fingertips, tore the magical beasts apart.
“Arion, do you smell demons by any chance?”
At Leo's question, Arion shook his head.
“No. I only smell magical beasts and monsters.”
“What exactly is going on?”
‘After hearing Melina's story, I wondered if the Necromancer King had made a move. But it seems that's not the case.’
And it wasn't another Legion Commander either.
There was no way demons could evade Arion's sense of smell or other senses.
Ku-gu-gu-gu-gu-gu-gung-!
It was then.
The ground began to shake violently.
‘An earthquake?’
The earthquake was powerful.
*Crack-!*
The violently shaking earth.
To the extent that the ground split open.
‘The Plov territory isn't an area where an earthquake of this magnitude occurs, is it?’
The Earth's crust in the Kingdom of Dellard is extremely stable.
The earth spirits and the fire spirits residing in the magma flowing beneath are also docile.
Such an earthquake was unusual.
Ku-ku-gu-gu-gu-gu-!
The shaking of the earth's crust stopped.
‘Could this unusual situation possibly be related to the earthquake?’
It was when Leo was frowning.
“Huh?”
Arion's bewildered voice was heard.
“Why?”
“I smell something.”
“A smell?”
“It's a stench I've smelled before.”
Arion looked down at the ground with a stiff face.
A foul odor stimulating his sensitive sense of smell.
It was like burnt ashes.
“…It's the same smell I detected in Fairy Land… the smell emitted by the fragments of Erebus.”
“What?”
Leo's face hardened.
“But… it's not entirely the smell of ashes, Kyle.”
Arion's face turned pale.
“It's burning.”