Book 1 Chapter 476
476.
Wheeeeeeeeooooo-!
A dry wind sweeps across the plains.
Blood and flesh were crushed and scattered everywhere, and broken armor lay strewn about.
In the middle of the horrific battlefield, an elven woman in a brown robe knelt on the ground, muttering.
“I can’t forgive you, I can’t forgive you, I can’t forgive you.”
Step- step-
People in pure white armor and robes approached the elven woman.
“You’ve made quite a spectacle.”
The wizard at the front said, stroking his beard.
“Are you the Iron-Blooded Mage Tiara?”
At the old wizard’s benevolent question, the elven woman, Tiara, didn't even glance at him.
“I’ll take your silence as an affirmation. But good heavens. What a strange turn of events.”
The old wizard chuckled, as if finding it wondrous.
“The Iron-Blooded Mage was a hero 1000 years ago. Yet, to suddenly appear in the present age.”
Even at his sly words, Tiara, holding her head, did not stop muttering.
“Oh, I'm not saying you’re not the Iron-Blooded Mage yourself.”
At the old wizard’s words, the knight standing beside him nodded in agreement.
“This era is one where the Hero Arion, Luna, the progenitor of the Nebula, and Seyrun, the Comet Mage, are all reincarnated.”
At that moment.
Tiara, who had been blankly repeating the same words, suddenly stopped moving.
“What… did you say?”
With a dazed expression, Tiara stared at the knight.
“It’s a lie. It’s impossible. They… they wouldn’t do that… They couldn’t be like me… They couldn’t be… as ugly as I am…”
Watching Tiara begin to rant again like a broken doll, the elementalist woman in pure white priestly robes scoffed.
“Of course, you’re different from them. Their reappearance on this land is the will of the great gods.”
A look of disgust flickered across the elementalist woman’s face.
“You are clearly different from those resurrected by the evil black magic of Tartaros.”
But even at those words, Tiara only muttered, ‘It can’t be.’
Looking at such a Tiara, the wizard in a pure white robe spoke.
“I will let you rest in peace now, specter of the past.”
Whoosh-!
A massive flame erupted from the wizard’s hand.
“Considering the great deeds you accomplished in the past, I will let you close your eyes in peace. However… there is nothing I can do about your name falling to the ground.”
The old wizard said solemnly.
“Heroes are chosen beings to lead the world. A hero who played into the hands of the wicked Necromancer King cannot be tolerated.”
From the beginning, among the elves, the Iron-Blooded Mage Tiara was treated as a heretical hero.
“Using this as an opportunity, I will erase your name from the pages of history.”
Kwagagagagang-!
Flames surged with a powerful explosion.
Leaving the massive pillar of fire behind, the old wizard pulled up his white robe and muttered.
“Everything in the name of justice.”
“It ended more anticlimactically than I expected.”
The elementalist woman, the hero Keleini, known by the epithet White Inferno, scoffed.
“Even if she was once a hero, she’s now a pitiful soul fallen into the hands of the Necromancer King. There’s no way she could be a match for us, the true heroes.”
“Lord Nerugian is right.”
At the words of the hero, Nerugian, the Flash Spike, Nogern, the Staff of Purification, nodded.
These three were all heroes listed in the Hero Record and members of the Justice Guild.
“Hmph, with the achievement of defeating the Iron-Blooded Mage, I’ll surely be promoted to Queen Class, won’t I?”
“Isn’t it Nogern-nim who achieved the feat?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know. We dealt with it together, didn’t we?”
“I have no intention of monopolizing the achievement. However, even if she was a hero of the past, I wonder if one can be promoted for defeating a mere undead.”
“I think this is enough to elevate the guild’s prestige, don’t you? Hohohoho!”
Nerugian clicked his tongue watching Keleini burst out laughing.
Watching his two distracted companions and shaking his head, Nogern paused, looked ahead, and muttered.
“Leo Plov.”
“What?!”
“Did you say Leo Plov?”
Keleini and Nerugian looked ahead in shock.
Leo Plov was there, looking down at the three heroes.
“Ha, seems like this arrogant brat came here to die, didn’t he?”
“I will not forget the resentment of our guild members.”
“That’s odd. I haven’t killed any members of the Justice Guild.”
At Leo’s words, Nogern spoke.
“I don’t think you’re unaware that we are aiding the Kingdom of Petiman, Leo Plov.”
The old wizard hero stepped forward and said.
“Leo Plov, Light Seeker, the guild master of Justice, expressed great regret about your hostile actions.”
“No need to express regret.”
Leo let out a little laugh.
“But even before that, he also said he greatly wishes to welcome you into the Justice Guild. He said that if you join the guild, he would guarantee you the status of Queen Class. And he also said he would overlook the killing of guild members.”
“Nogern, is that true?! Unacceptable! Queen Class for an outsider like him?!”
“That’s right! The position of Queen is undeserved for someone who has done nothing for the guild!”
Keleini and Nerugian exclaimed in shock and protested.
Queen Class.
That was the position of an executive.
The Justice Guild called their guild master ‘King’ and bestowed the title of ‘Queen’ upon the executives who controlled the guild.
Heroes received titles: Knights for warriors, Rooks for mages, Bishops for elementalists.
Ordinary guild members were given the title of Pawn.
The Queen Class was also a candidate for the next King.
As such, it was a position one could only attain after joining the guild and proving their worth.
To grant that position to a brat hostile to the guild!
“This is not solely the guild master’s will. It is also the will of all executives. And Leo Plov is fully qualified for it.”
At Nogern’s words, Leo spoke.
“Is that ‘Queen’ position really so valuable?”
“It is valuable. According to rank, you will receive territory in the country our guild will establish in the future.”
“A country?”
“Yes. Our Justice Guild plans to create a new and ideal nation ruled by heroes.”
“Hero nations founded by heroes have existed for a long time, what’s new about that?”
“It’s different. We plan to create a nation where the hero is the law itself.”
“…”
“A hero is like a divine proxy. Only special beings can become heroes. So, wouldn’t it be natural for them to have the right to rule the world?”
Nogern said in a benevolent voice.
“We have the right and duty to guide the utterly ignorant common people into the light.”
“Do you feel no guilt whatsoever for deliberately starting a war that didn't need to happen, forcibly accumulating karma to become a hero?”
“None. Their sacrifice will be the stepping stone to creating a just world.”
Leo closed his eyes and sighed.
“You’re different from the heroes I imagine.”
“What kind of hero do you imagine?”
“Someone who can put everything on the line and fight for others.”
“That’s the kind of talk a snot-nosed kid would make. It’s a delusion uttered only when one is too ignorant of the world.”
“Delusion or not, at the very least, you are not heroes.”
Leo said coldly.
“You’re just fools who feel they’re great and special.”
“Your personal opinion is not needed. We are heroes because the Hero Record and the gods prove it.”
“Then those gods must be fools.”
Leo knew the true nature of the gods.
There are gods who pursue uprightness and order, and gods who pursue chaos.
Hedonists who purely seek entertainment.
If such gods were watching the lower realm.
‘Watching such beings become heroes and make a spectacle of themselves would be entertainment enough for those gods.’
At Leo’s words, Nogern replied coldly.
“Do not blaspheme. And if you do not accept our guild’s offer, the only path awaiting you is ruin. You could be hunted down and killed by us right here.”
At Nogern’s words, Leo crossed his arms.
“Why don’t you worry about what’s behind you before you try to challenge me?”
“What…?”
Kwagagagagagagak-!
The towering pillar of fire vanished, and a dark crimson magic circle surged into the air.
The heroes of the Justice Guild wore expressions of shock at the terrifying magical power.
“I-impossible!”
“There’s no way a specter of the past could possess such immense magical power!”
Keleini and Nerugian looked shocked.
Leo narrowed his brows as he looked at the magic.
‘Is that star magic?’
It was a distorted magic that even made Leo feel a sense of dread.
The magic left by the Iron-Blooded Mage remained as hero magic and was passed down to Lumern.
However, due to the intricate difficulty of its spell formulas, which corresponded to its powerful effects, it was one of the avoided magics.
‘The only user I can think of is Elena.’
He recalled Elena Zeron, a fourth-year student in Lumern’s Department of Magic, who had a wicked disposition.
‘I see why she was ostracized as a heretic among the elves.’
Tiara’s magic was filled with hatred.
‘With that much hatred, she must have been an ideal undead material for that Necromancer King.’
It was when Leo was frowning.
“Lord Nerugian! Keleini! Form up!”
Nogern tightened his grip on his staff.
“We must eradicate that specter!”
At his words, Nerugian unleashed his aura and Keleini summoned an elemental.
“We will show that specter, who defiles the name of a hero, what the true power of a hero is!”
***
The hero’s battle, like a calamity, ended.
In the middle of the devastated battlefield.
“Damn it… How dare… How dare… a filthy undead…!”
Nogern, whose lower body was gone, was struggling to leave the battlefield.
Tiara approached to finish off Nogern.
Stomp-
Leo walked in front of Nogern.
“Le, Leo Plov. Pl-please help me…!”
At those words, Leo looked down at Nogern with cold eyes.
“W-we are heroes whose names are in the Hero Record… Wouldn’t it be right to join forces to fight against the wicked undead of Tartaros?”
Leo, who had been looking down at Nogern, walked past him towards Tiara.
“Gah! This snot-nosed brat! Save…! Save me! I am not meant to die so futilely in a place like this… *cough*!”
Nogern, who had been begging for his life in anger, spat blood and collapsed.
The fall of the three heroes of the Justice Guild was literally instantaneous.
The disparity in power between the Iron-Blooded Mage and the three heroes was too great.
‘Well, it’s the limit of manufactured heroes.’
Unlike them, who were created by accumulating karma, the mage before him was a true hero.
Even though she was resurrected as an undead by the Necromancer King’s trickery and burned with endless hatred for the world, the fact that the efforts and achievements accumulated by the hero before him were real remained unchanged.
Leo looked at Tiara’s face.
Her eyes were unfocused.
All that could be felt was hatred for the world.
All undead resurrected by necromancy harbored hatred for all living things.
Having dealt with countless undead himself, Leo knew this fact well.
‘But this one is fundamentally different.’
A mage can understand a person by looking at their magic.
The Iron-Blooded Mage’s magic was distorted with hatred in itself.
As far as Leo knew, all elves in this world respected Luna.
They cherished the star magic she left behind.
Because magic is the heart of a mage.
Disrespecting the great legacy left by Luna is considered an act of blasphemy against Luna.
‘This one wouldn’t have been any different.’
Gooooh-!
“Eisen un Blut.”
A spell flowed from Tiara’s lips.
A cruel magic that tears opponents apart with iron and blood.
No reason remained in Tiara.
Only hatred remained, wanting to tear everything apart.
‘I can’t leave this be.’
An undead filled with hatred is a calamity that causes slaughter just by its existence.
It clearly wouldn’t stop killing everything in its sight until it ceased to exist.
‘I will defeat it.’
The moment Leo unleashed his magic.
Whoosh-!
Suddenly, pitch-black mana erupted from Leo’s hand.
“What?”
Leo’s face hardened as he saw the mana beyond his control.
‘Runaway?’
For a moment, that thought crossed his mind.
But the mana did not go out of control.
Leo hastily dodged Tiara’s magic and landed on the ground.
And then he looked down at the pitch-black mana still flowing from his right hand.
‘Lisina’s mana?’
The moment Leo was confused, seeing Lisina’s mana suddenly manifest.
The pitch-black mana emitted a bright light.
Whoosh-!
“Ugh?”
Leo closed his eyes.
“Please… may you find peace in your next life.”
In the middle of the battlefield.
Lisina knelt and prayed.
Pure white spiritual energy flowed around her.
It was Lisina, the spirit sorceress, honoring the souls of the thousands of Death Knights she had defeated, who were controlled by the Necromancer King.
Whoosh-!
The light disappeared.
And the pitch-black mana had, in an instant, become pure white spiritual energy.
Leo asked with a dazed expression.
“Save… him?”
Woong-!
As if answering Leo’s question.
Lisina’s spiritual energy resonated.