Book 1 Chapter 47
【47】46
“Is it a rescue?”
“That’s right.”
Leo, who briefly answered the brown-haired female student’s question, pushed off the ground.
And charged at the closest demon.
The demon quickly spread its palm towards Leo.
Woong!- Pugagagagak-!
A black summoning circle formed in front of Leo, and out of it poured dark red leeches the size of a human head.
“Ah! It’s dangerous!”
The female student cried out urgently.
‘Gorgoros leeches.’
They were magical beasts that clung to the body and sucked blood, making them a bad match for knights who attacked at close range.
And if you cut them carelessly, acidic blood would gush out.
‘Normally, they’d be difficult to deal with, normally, that is.’
Hwa-ruruk-!
A furiously burning flame aura erupted from Leo’s sword.
Zeldinger’s flames instantly turned the Gorgoros leeches into ashes.
The female student who had warned of the danger gasped in admiration.
“A-amazing!”
‘Seeing them use Gorgoros leeches, they don’t seem to be high-ranking demons.’
In the case of demons, their rank can be determined by the techniques they use.
The magical beasts currently being used are commonly used by low-ranking soldier-class demons.
‘There’s no great danger. It’s better to attack quickly now.’
Leo, who quickly analyzed the situation in his head, closed the distance without delay.
Seogeok-!
The head of the beast tamer flew into the air.
“To deal with two people in an instant!”
The brown-haired female student clenched her fists.
Woong-!
At that moment, Chloe, who was in the sky, also completed her magic.
“Ice Bullet.”
A large number of ice bullets poured down towards the demons.
Pabababababat-!
The demons urgently dodged the barrage of ice bullets by throwing themselves, but their formation was consequently disrupted.
“Good! I’m going too!”
This time, one of the male students who had been confronting them gripped his spear tighter and charged.
“Haap!”
Kwaduk!
“Keoheok!”
The demon, whose chest was pierced, turned to ash and vanished.
‘Good skills.’
Leo, who admired the sight, turned his gaze towards the brown-haired female student.
She was chanting a spell with both hands pressed together.
Jiiing-!
When she separated her hands, several small orbs of light were created from them.
“Arc Ray!”
Kigigigiging!
As the magic was completed, the orbs of light flew in all directions, tracing a chaotic path, and poured down towards the demons.
Leo, who understood the true nature of the magic, exclaimed in admiration.
‘Star Magic.’
Even as first-year students, Leo, who had memories of his past life, and the female student were completely different.
‘Incredible magical sense.’
While Leo was admiring, one demon directly hit by an orb of light was torn to shreds without a trace.
The remaining number of demons was six.
The demons who had lost their comrades began to form a formation again.
‘Demon soldiers are weak in power, but their coordination is good.’
Although their formation was initially broken by a surprise attack, if they reconstructed their formation like that again, they would be difficult to deal with.
Leo took out four daggers, prepared as backup weapons, from his pocket and gripped them in his right hand.
And charged towards the demons.
“Foolish one.”
The demons sneered at Leo, who attacked recklessly without preparation.
Woong-!
But the moment a magic circle appeared on his right hand, their expressions changed drastically.
“A magic swordsman!”
While the demons were on alert, Leo threw the daggers he was holding.
The demons who dodged the daggers prepared for a magic attack.
But when no sign of magic flying their way appeared, they immediately switched to offense.
“Was it a threat?”
“He uses shallow tricks.”
Four leading demons surrounded Leo as if to encircle him.
But their agile movements suddenly stopped as if caught by something.
“Huh?”
The demons urgently looked behind them.
The daggers Leo had thrown were precisely embedded in their shadows.
It was Shadow Hold, a magic that bound shadows.
Darkness-attribute magic has half its power against demons.
Indeed, the moment the demons recognized it, the magic was immediately dispelled.
But that short moment was enough time for Leo.
Hwa-ruruk-! Kwak! Kwadudeuk! Puhwak!
“Kyaak?!”
“Keoheok!”
Leo’s sword drew a fiery trajectory, slaughtering the demons.
Shuaak-!
Just then, a black blade shot up from the ground and struck Leo.
It was dark magic used by the demons in the rear.
Runic words instantly flowed from Leo’s mouth.
Then the dark magic lost its power and scattered.
“Dispelling dark magic?”
The brown-haired female student was startled.
Kwagagagagak-!
A chilling ice wind enveloped the defenseless demons.
Jjeojeojeojeok-!
Leo approached the frozen demons and gently pushed them.
Chaenggeurang-!
The demon’s body, shattered like breaking glass, turned to ash and disappeared.
“Excellent, Chloe.”
“……”
“Why? Do you have something to say?”
“Why did you use darkness-attribute magic on demons?”
“Ah, that?”
Leo smiled as if it was nothing.
“Demons hardly prepare for darkness-attribute magic. So even with simple magic, you can catch them off guard.”
“And dispelling dark magic instead of avoiding it? You could have been in danger if you made a mistake.”
“That’s true. But. For that level of dark magic, it’s safer to dispel it if you can, rather than avoid it. Even though dark magic has a different magical system, it’s ultimately made up of spells. If it’s simple dark magic, you can dispel it quickly. It’s a technique you can do too.”
‘Being able to do that quickly in a real battle is a different story!’
For Leo, who had fought demons to the point of being sick of it in his past life, these things were as natural as breathing, but from the perspective of a 15-year-old girl, it was an overwhelming amount of experience she could never acquire.
‘Just how many steps ahead did he anticipate and move?’
It was when Chloe’s eyes wavered.
“Thank you for helping us!”
The brown-haired girl smiled brightly and greeted them.
“You’re from the rescue team, right?”
“Yes.”
“We were worried because demons suddenly appeared, but we’re relieved that the rescue team has arrived!”
Chloe’s face stiffened as she confirmed the brightly smiling female student’s face.
Chloe said urgently.
“Excuse me. I’d like to have a private word with my colleague for a moment.”
“Yes? Oh, yes.”
At Chloe’s words, the girl looked flustered and returned to where her group members were.
“What’s wrong?”
“That female student, Alia Zerion!”
“Alia Zerion, you don’t mean?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
The World of Heroes was an event that happened in the past.
However, depending on how the player acts, it can create different outcomes from actual history.
During the incident 30 years ago, several first-year parties were deployed for monster subjugation.
The first-year midterm exam assignment was to rescue those parties.
“As you know, the party Alia Zerion belonged to…”
Chloe swallowed dryly.
“…is a party that absolutely cannot be saved in the Chedmurderus Incident.”
***
“Of all parties, we had to meet Alia’s party.”
Chloe stomped her foot.
There was an absolute reason why Alia’s party could not avoid annihilation.
“Dark Warrior Chubarun. He never changes his target.”
Chubarun.
He was a demon who, during the incident 30 years ago, single-handedly annihilated four out of the seven parties he was assigned to target, before being subjugated by Albi.
The first party that Chubarun targeted was Alia’s party.
‘More precisely, he targeted Alia Zerion.’
Chloe glanced at Alia, who was talking with her friends.
Alia Zerion.
She was a direct descendant of the Zerion family, one of Lumeria’s three great heroic noble families, and the class representative at the time.
She was also the younger sister of Albi, the mage with the demonic eye.
Thanks to her outstanding talent, she was still occasionally mentioned among professors even 30 years later.
But that outstanding talent cost her her life.
The reason for the Chedmurderus Incident in Tartarus was to eliminate the budding heroes of the future.
Therefore, Alia Zerion became the very first target.
This was why Alia’s party could not avoid annihilation.
Because no matter the situation, once the World of Heroes began, Chubarun would first annihilate Alia’s party.
“Do you remember what our homeroom professor said when he announced the exam assignment?”
At Chloe’s words, Leo recalled Halind’s words.
‘With your current abilities, you absolutely cannot defeat a Knight-class demon. If you encounter Chubarun, you must unconditionally flee. If escape is not feasible, give up the exam. In that case, we will grant special consideration. If there is any fool who defies this order and engages in combat….’
At the end, Halind genuinely threatened with killing intent.
‘Whoever it is, I will immediately expel them.’
“With our current abilities, he’s not an opponent we can possibly defeat.”
“Are you saying we should abandon them?”
“I feel uneasy too! But Leo! Now is the time to think calmly. This is the World of Heroes, and in reality, those people…”
Chloe hesitated, then spoke.
“Those people are dead. We’re not in a situation where we can help dead people right now.”
“That’s true. But Chloe.”
“Leo! Snap out of it! Yes! You’re amazing! You’re excellent! I admit it!”
Leo’s eyes widened at the sudden shout.
Chloe glared at Leo with all her might and said.
“But this is not the time to do something reckless! So listen to me! You can play hero later…!”
Chloe, who had been shouting in frustration, stopped talking.
Leo’s index finger was already touching Chloe’s lips.
“You shouldn’t say such things carelessly, Chloe.”
“What? What do you mean.”
“Playing hero, or words like that, you shouldn’t say them.”
“Why?”
“Because you are a hero candidate.”
Chloe gasped.
“You dreamed of becoming a hero and entered Lumerun, didn’t you? So this isn’t playing hero.”
Leo smiled warmly.
“It’s the process of becoming a hero.”
It was as Leo said.
A hero is someone who makes the impossible possible.
But at some point, she had forgotten that goal.
‘I was so busy trying to keep up… I didn’t have time to think about such things.’
A dark emotion flared in her chest.
“And history has already diverged.”
“What?”
“It means a way has opened to save those children who absolutely couldn’t be saved.”
“A way to save them has opened?”
“Think carefully, Chloe. The sun is already setting. Isn’t that strange?”
“The sun is setting? Ah!”
Chloe, realizing something, her eyes widened.
“Yes. Normally, Alia’s party would have already fallen to Chubarun by now.”
The gears of history had already diverged.
“We’ve already been in the World of Heroes for 3 hours. If Chubarun attacked another party, there would have been more than enough time for them to be completely annihilated.”
If the conditions for clearing the Hero Dungeon are not met, one becomes isolated in the World of Heroes.
It was a crossroads of choices.
The option of escaping the forest with Alia’s party, who were no longer Chubarun’s target, and fulfilling the [Safety Assurance] condition.
Or the option of following the original strategy route and searching for other parties.
Chloe, conflicted, gritted her teeth.
“I’ll leave it to your judgment.”
“Understood.”
Leo looked at Alia’s party.
“Let’s escape with Alia’s party.”