Book 1 Chapter 484
“Uaaaaaaah!”
One of the mage heroes let out a scream that was close to a wail, casting a spell.
*Sla-sh!*
However, before the magic was completed, he was split in half from head to toe by Tamus’s sword and died.
Jerome’s face hardened.
‘What in the world went wrong?’
Light Seeker. Jerome.
He believed himself to be a chosen human.
Jerome was not born into a good family.
He came from an ordinary commoner farmer family.
But his talent was exceptional from childhood.
He formed a contract with an elemental spirit before he even learned to read.
And it was with a light elemental spirit, the most difficult to contract with.
Everyone around him praised him as a chosen human.
As he grew up, he naturally entered Lumern.
Lumern Academy, where the best talents gathered.
Even in Lumern, where countless people aspiring to be heroes gathered, Jerome’s uniqueness stood out.
He came from numerous noble families and aristocratic backgrounds.
Even in Lumern, where the descendants of famous heroes resided, Jerome was the best.
He became the class representative and later rose to the position of student council president.
‘Jerome is special.’
Because he was told he was special even in a place where special people gathered, Jerome lived with an even stronger conviction that he was special.
After graduation, he naturally joined the Justice Guild.
He quickly obtained the title of hero and also became the guild master at a young age.
He was naturally evaluated as the hero who would succeed the Sword Saint.
Later, he researched the Hero Record and discovered the concept of Karma.
He found out how to receive the blessings of the gods.
Jerome always believed himself to be a shining person.
He came to believe that his thoughts were always right and just.
He came to believe that he was the one who would drive out the darkness from this world.
‘I will lead this world full of darkness to the light.’
If heroes are the agents of the gods.
He believed he could become the king of heroes who would lead those agents.
But then…….
*Kaa-boooom!*
“Kuhk?!”
Jerome, who had summoned the highest-grade light elemental spirit to block the pitch-black aura that covered his vision, was sent flying back.
‘Is this truly human power?’
Jerome looked on with eyes filled with astonishment.
“Guild Master! Help……”
Another executive desperately called out to Jerome.
*Crackle-!*
But his head was caught in Tamus’s hand and burst futilely.
It was too pathetic a death to be considered the end of someone who had attained the position of hero.
And with him, all the heroes of the Justice Guild, except for Jerome, were annihilated.
Tamus and Jerome faced each other.
“So, you gained immense power through a contract with the Necromancer King.”
“Doesn’t seem like it at all?”
Jerome turned his head at the voice from behind.
There stood Leo, wearing the greatsword Nox, forged by Dwenon, on his shoulder.
“It’s probably the power he had in life!”
“Foolish talk. Do you think it’s possible for a human to possess such power?”
At those words, Leo looked at Jerome as if he were absurd.
“Aren’t you from Lumern?”
“Yes?”
“Then, throughout your school days, there’s something you must have heard incessantly, right?”
“What are you talking about?”
“‘Exceed your limits,’ that’s your school motto, isn’t it?”
“Nonsense. Are you going to lecture me by spouting such dream-like stories?”
Jerome cut him off flatly.
“Even I cannot reach such a realm.”
“That’s because your level is only that high.”
“What?”
“You somehow became a hero. How did you overcome your trials?”
“Trials? Hmph. I overcame them all easily.”
“……”
At those words, Leo looked at Jerome and let out a slight chuckle.
“Indeed. You’ve never experienced a trial.”
“What do you know about me? I’ve overcome countless trials and achieved great feats.”
“To others, it may be a trial and a great feat, but not to you.”
Trials are relative.
Just as the trials of the first-year students are not a major problem for Leo now.
Leo could tell that Jerome had lived his entire life in a greenhouse.
‘He must have avoided any dangerous situations.’
“And yet you dare to call yourself a hero.”
“What?”
“You are not a hero.”
Just as Jerome was about to retort to Leo’s words.
“You motherfucker!”
Tamus’s enraged voice, having spotted Leo, echoed, and at the same time, a massive, pitch-black sword strike descended upon Leo.
“Gasp!”
Seeing that, Jerome gasped and quickly summoned an elemental spirit.
Then he deployed Spirit Armor and fled.
‘A foolish guy who doesn’t know how vast the world is, courting death by being reckless.’
This was when Jerome sneered at Leo, who remained motionless.
*Flash-!*
Leo deployed his aura.
A gray aura coalesced onto the greatsword.
Leo, gripping the sword with both hands, deflected the descending pitch-black aura upwards.
*CRUNCH-!*
The collision of the massive auras momentarily distorted the surrounding space.
A tingling sensation spread through his fingertips.
Leo smirked at the immense pressure.
“Indeed, your skill is undeniable.”
*Swoosh-*
Leo let the pitch-black aura slide away.
He had deflected power that surpassed imagination with skill.
*Whoosh-*
At that moment, the pitch-black aura, having lost its target, headed for the ground.
“Huh? Kukeuh?”
Jerome, who was fleeing in a panic, turned his head at the immense power he felt from behind.
And he glared with wide eyes at the pitch-black aura flying towards him.
He hurriedly raised his spiritual power and created a shield of light elementals.
*Thwack-!*
“Kuhk?”
However, the pitch-black aura seemed to mock his power, ruthlessly piercing the shield of light and severing Jerome’s arm.
*Fwah-*
“Kuaaaahak!”
It was just a graze.
But Jerome’s right arm was severed with such ease.
As Jerome, clutching his shoulder, screamed and fell to the ground.
[Hero qualification has been revoked.]
Jerome, forgetting even to scream at the message that appeared before his eyes, glared with wide eyes.
***
“What did you do to me?”
*Groooan-*
Tamus, covered in pitch-black aura, asked in a murderous voice.
Seeing Tamus like that, Leo said,
“It’s nothing much.”
Leo, who said this nonchalantly, with Nox on his shoulder.
“I happened to have a conversation with the god a while ago. He told me. The Hero Record is a gift from the gods to Kyle.”
“A gift to Kyle?”
“Yes. But I was already dead when the Hero Record was created. So it became a gift to the world.”
Leo smirked.
“The original owner is me. Although the gods wrote the Hero Record to their own tastes, the record authority was originally mine. So, it’s only natural that I have the right to delete it, isn’t it?”
Tamus’s body trembled at Leo’s words.
“You… are you truly Kyle, the Hero of Origin?”
“Did I ever deny it?”
“Then why don’t you acknowledge me!”
Tamus roared.
“In my lifetime, I slew countless Tartarus demons! I defeated legion commanders! I also reigned over heroes! I am the greatest hero! Then why! Why! Why don’t you acknowledge me! Why are you revoking my hero title! I am a chosen human!”
“If you’re so great on your own, why are you obsessed with being my successor? Why are you obsessed with the title of hero in the first place?”
“Because heroes are chosen humans! And you are the strongest among the chosen humans! You are unique!”
“My, oh my. That guy too, he really likes the idea of a chosen people.”
Leo clicked his tongue.
“If you desire my successor position so much, I’ll tell you how.”
“What is it?”
Leo pointed downwards with his finger.
“Save.”
“What?”
“Save the world, like me.”
“……”
“Ah, didn’t Lumern already save the world once? And you said you turned away from the world’s crisis then, didn’t you?”
Leo smirked.
“Be honest. You used Rhodia’s excuse, but weren’t you scared?”
“Wh-what?”
“Because you knew you wouldn’t be able to save the world anyway. You probably thought it was a pointless death.”
Tamus’s body trembled.
“That must have hit a nerve.”
“……I don’t need it. Your successor position, or anything else.”
*Groooan-*
Pitch-black aura flowed from Tamus’s body.
“I don’t care about the hero title either. I will kill you and make you a vengeful spirit.”
*Whoosh-*
Tamus raised his greatsword.
Seeing that, Kirian said,
-If we’re talking purely about power, he’s comparable to a Dragon Lord!
“Indeed.”
-Can you win?
To Kirian’s question, Leo smirked and extended his hand.
Then, Cometes was summoned.
“Apocalypse.”
As Leo chanted, a powerful star magic whirled.
Then Leo raised his hand holding the greatsword.
Leo took a breath.
He activated his aura with Arion’s breathing.
Then, golden aura erupted from Nox.
Seeing that, Tamus’s body trembled for a moment.
‘Aronia and Seirun?’
It was as if he were seeing his former comrades, the great warrior Aronia and the comet mage Seirun.
‘No, in this case, it’s Arion and Luna’s power!’
No matter who said it, the one before him was the Hero of Origin.
Tamus, who had conquered the world of Great Heroes multiple times, knew.
Kyle’s potential.
“Hmph! No matter how great you are, you can’t have regained all your past-life power yet! If so, I have the advantage in power!”
Tamus’s cry made Leo burst into laughter.
“Laruel.”
As Leo called out, Laruel, the great spirit of light, appeared.
Tamus’s complexion changed drastically.
Laruel glared at Tamus with eyes full of disgust.
“Laruel… why are you still alive……”
[Don’t talk to me, trash.]
Tamus’s pupils shook upon seeing Laruel, Rhodia’s covenantor.
At that moment.
Leo crossed Nox and Cometes.
The weapons forged by Dwenon resonated with each other.
“Enchant.”
Leo enchanted Nox with Apocalypse.
*Groooan-*
The power surged due to the fusion of magic and aura.
Furthermore, the fused power was not just any power, but the power of the progenitor of the nebula and the power of the hero.
And it wasn’t over yet.
Leo fused Laruel into Nox with Spirit Armor.
“What…!”
Tamus’s face was filled with shock at the absurd ability to fuse the strongest magic and the great spirit.
Power that surpassed imagination swirled.
Leo raised Nox.
“Let me correct something. I’m not exactly the strongest or anything.”
Leo smirked.
“I’m just temporarily holding onto their power.”
A fusion of aura, magic, and spiritual power.
And the power of three Great Heroes united.
Tamus’s body trembled at that overwhelming power.
‘Come to think of it, the ability of the Hero Record is similar to mine.’
Leo, who had lived in that era as an All-Class.
Ricinaes had made one request of Leo.
‘Kyle, since you learn and master everything so well, why don’t you teach the abilities of your deceased comrades to others?’
What the dead leave behind are not just their corpses and belongings.
The skills they honed in life also remain.
Kyle passed on the techniques that those who fought alongside him in battle could not leave to posterity.
For martial arts, by observation.
For magic, by recording it in a bible.
For elemental spirits and mythical beasts, he made temporary contracts with the surviving spirits and beasts and passed on the contract to those who were qualified.
The record system that Fiboa had explained earlier was a simple record.
‘Fiboa didn’t know about the clear rewards either.’
Several gods combined their powers to implement a new system.
That was the clear reward.
Leo let out a chuckle and his red eyes gleamed.
“Then shall we end this?”
“Your story will no longer be passed down to posterity, Tamus.”
-I can’t die like this!
Tamus desperately tried to escape the battlefield.
Seeing that, Leo reversed his grip on Nox and took a throwing stance.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Leo said coldly and threw Nox.
*Whoosh-*
*Flash!*
“Kuaaaaaaaaaaaak!”
Nox, embedded in Tamus’s back, exploded with an immense flash of light.