Book 1 Chapter 484
484.
“Uwaaaahhhhh!”
One of the wizard heroes screamed almost a shriek, casting a spell.
Thwack-!
However, before the magic could be completed, Tamus’s sword split him in half from the head, killing him.
Jerome’s face hardened.
‘What exactly went wrong?’
Light Seeker. Jerome.
He considered himself a chosen human.
Jerome was not born into a good family.
He came from an ordinary commoner farmer family.
But from a young age, his talent was extraordinary.
He formed a contract with a spirit even before learning to read.
And that too, a contract with a spirit of light, which was known to be the trickiest to contract.
Everyone around him praised him as a chosen human.
As he grew up, he naturally entered Lumerne.
Lumerne Academy, where the best talents gathered.
Even among the countless people who dreamed of becoming heroes, Jerome’s uniqueness stood out.
Numerous noble and aristocratic descendants.
Even in Lumerne, where descendants of renowned 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 had heard that he was special even in places where special people gathered, Jerome lived with an even stronger conviction that he was special.
After graduating, he naturally joined the Justice Guild.
He quickly earned the title of hero and also became a guild master at a young age.
He was naturally evaluated as a hero who would succeed the Sword Saint.
He later researched the Hero Record and discovered the concept of Karma.
He had found a way to be chosen by the gods.
Jerome always thought of himself as a shining person.
He came to believe that his thoughts were the correct answer and justice.
He came to believe that he was the human who would drive out the darkness from this world.
‘I will lead this world, full of darkness, with light.’
If heroes were proxies of the gods.
He believed he could become the king of heroes who would lead those proxies.
But then…
Kwa-ga-ga-gang-!
“Kkueuk?!”
Jerome, who had summoned a high-ranking spirit of light to block the pitch-black aura covering his eyes, was flung back.
‘Is this truly human power?’
Jerome stared with astonished eyes.
“Guild Master! Help…!”
Another executive desperately shouted towards Jerome.
Crunch-!
However, his head was gripped by Tamus’s hand and exploded into nothingness.
It was a death too pathetic to be considered the end of someone who had risen to the position of hero.
And with his death, all heroes of the Justice Guild, except Jerome, were annihilated.
Tamus and Jerome confronted each other.
“Indeed, have you gained immense power through a contract with the Necromancer King?”
“Doesn’t seem like it at all, does it?”
Jerome turned his head at the voice from behind.
Leo stood there, with Knox, the greatsword made by Dweno, slung over his shoulder.
“It’s probably the power that guy possessed during his lifetime, isn’t it?”
“Nonsense. Do you think it’s possible for a human to have that much power?”
At that remark, Leo looked at Jerome as if dumbfounded.
“Aren’t you from Lumerne?”
“I am, but?”
“Then didn’t you hear something sickeningly often throughout your time at school?”
“What do you mean?”
“Overcome your limits, isn’t that our school motto?”
“Bullshit. Are you trying to preach to me with such a dreamy story?”
Jerome cut him off sharply.
“Even I cannot reach such a level.”
“That’s because your level is just that low.”
“What did you say?”
“It’s amazing you became a hero. How did you overcome your trials?”
“Trials? Hmph. I overcame them all easily.”
“…”
At that, Leo looked at Jerome and snickered.
“Indeed. You’ve never experienced a single trial.”
“What do you know about me? I have overcome countless trials and achieved great deeds.”
“It might have been trials and great deeds for others, but not for you.”
Trials are relative.
Just as the trials of first-year students are not a difficult problem for Leo now.
Leo could tell that Jerome had lived his entire life in a greenhouse.
‘He must have avoided anything dangerous unconditionally.’
“And yet, you blabber about being a hero.”
“What did you say?”
“You’re not a hero.”
The moment Jerome was about to flare up at Leo’s words.
“Youuuu scummm!”
As Tamus’s enraged voice, having discovered Leo, echoed, a massive pitch-black sword strike engulfed Leo.
“Huk!”
Jerome, seeing that, gasped and quickly summoned a spirit.
And he deployed Spirit Armored and fled.
‘An foolish man who doesn't know how vast the world is. He’s courting death by being reckless.’
It was when Jerome scoffed at Leo, who hadn’t moved an inch from his spot.
Flash-!
Leo deployed his aura.
A gray aura gathered on the greatsword.
Leo, gripping the sword with both hands, deflected the descending pitch-black aura upwards.
Boom-!
At the clash of the massive auras, the surrounding space was momentarily distorted.
A tingling sensation traveled up his fingertips.
Under the immense pressure, Leo curled the corners of his lips.
“Indeed, your skill alone is definite.”
Whoosh-!
Leo flowed away the pitch-black aura.
He had diverted an unimaginable force with skill.
Whoosh-!
At that moment, the pitch-black aura, having lost its direction, headed towards the ground.
“Hmm? Kuhuk?”
Jerome, who was urgently fleeing, turned his head at the immense force felt from behind.
And he stared wide-eyed at the pitch-black aura flying towards him.
He hastily drew upon his spiritual power to create a shield with a spirit of light.
Splat-!
“Kkuhuk?”
But the pitch-black aura, as if mocking Jerome’s power, brutally pierced the light shield and blew off Jerome’s arm.
Thwack-!
“Kuaaaahhh!”
It was merely a graze.
But Jerome’s right arm was blown off too easily.
It was when Jerome, clutching his shoulder and screaming, fell to the ground.
[Hero qualification has been revoked.]
Jerome, who had forgotten to scream at the message that appeared before his eyes, stared wide-eyed.
***
“What did you do to me?”
Gooooooh-!
Tamus, enveloped in a pitch-black aura from head to toe, asked with a murderous voice.
Looking at Tamus, Leo said.
“It’s nothing.”
Leo said nonchalantly, with Knox slung over his shoulder.
“I happened to have a conversation with the gods some time ago. They said that the Hero Record was a gift from the gods to Kyle.”
“A gift to Kyle?”
“Yes. But when the Hero Record was created, I was already dead. So it became a gift to the earthly realm.”
Leo curled the corners of his lips.
“The original owner is me. Although the gods wrote records in the Hero Record according to their tastes, the recording authority was originally mine, wasn’t it? So, it’s only natural to have deletion authority, right?”
Tamus’s body trembled at Leo’s words.
“You… are you truly Kyle, the Hero of the Beginning?”
“Have I ever denied it?”
“Then why don’t you acknowledge me!”
Tamus bellowed.
“I slaughtered countless demons of Tartarus during my lifetime! I defeated Legion Commanders! I also reigned supreme over heroes! I am the greatest hero! But why! Why! Why don’t you acknowledge me! Why do you revoke my hero title! I am a chosen human!”
“If you’re so great yourself, why are you so obsessed with my successor’s position? Why are you obsessed with the position of a hero in the first place?”
“Because a hero is a chosen human! You are the strongest among those chosen humans! You are a unique existence!”
“Good heavens. That guy, too, truly loves the chosen people ideology.”
Leo clicked his tongue and said.
“If you covet my successor’s position so much, I’ll tell you how.”
“What is it?”
Leo pointed downwards with his finger.
“Save.”
“What did you say?”
“Save the world, like me.”
“…”
“Ah, Lumerne already saved the world once before, didn’t they? And back then, you turned a blind eye to the world’s crisis, didn’t you?”
Leo curled the corners of his lips.
“Honestly, tell me. You essentially used Rodia as an excuse, but weren’t you scared?”
“What… did you say?”
“Because you knew you wouldn’t be able to save the world anyway. You must have thought it was a useless death.”
Tamus’s body trembled.
“Seems I hit a nerve.”
“…I don’t need it. Your successor position or anything else now.”
Gooooooh-!
A pitch-black aura flowed from Tamus’s body.
“I’m not interested in the hero title either. I’ll kill you and make you my spirit slave.”
Whoosh-!
Tamus raised his greatsword.
Seeing that, Kirian said.
-If we only look at pure power, he’s on par with a Dragon Lord?
“That’s right.”
-Can you win?
Leo curled the corners of his lips at Kirian’s question, then stretched out his hand.
Then Cometes was summoned.
“The End.”
As Leo chanted, powerful star magic raged.
Then Leo raised the hand holding the greatsword.
Leo regulated his breathing.
He activated his aura with Arion’s Breath.
Then a golden aura soared from Knox.
Tamus’s body trembled momentarily at the sight.
‘Azonia and Seirun?’
It was as if he was seeing Azonia, the great warrior, and Seirun, the comet mage, who had been his comrades before.
‘No, in this case, is it the power of Arion and Luna!’
No matter what anyone said, the person before him was the Hero of the Beginning.
Tamus, who had conquered the world of the Great Hero multiple times, knew.
Kyle’s true power.
“Hmph! No matter how great you are, you couldn’t have fully recovered your past life’s power yet! In that case, I have the superior power!”
Leo let out a snicker at Tamus’s shout.
“Larel.”
At Leo’s call, Larel, the Great Spirit of Light, appeared.
Tamus’s complexion changed dramatically.
Larel glared at Tamus with eyes full of disgust.
“Larel… why are you still alive…?”
[Don’t talk to me. Trash.]
Tamus’s pupils quivered at the sight of Larel, Rodia’s sworn partner.
At that moment.
Leo crossed Knox and Cometes.
The weapons created by Dweno resonated with each other.
“Enchant.”
Leo enchanted Knox with The End.
Gooooooh-!
The power surged rapidly due to the fusion of magic and aura.
Moreover, the fused power was none other than the power of the Progenitor of the Nebula and the Hero.
And that wasn’t the end.
Leo fused Larel into Knox using Spirit Armored.
“What…!”
Tamus’s face was filled with horror at the absurd ability to fuse the strongest magic and a great spirit.
An unimaginable force raged.
Leo raised Knox.
“I have something to correct. I’m not particularly the strongest or anything.”
Leo curled the corners of his lips.
“I just borrowed their powers for a moment.”
The fusion of aura, magic power, and spiritual power.
And it was the power of three great heroes gathered into one.
Tamus’s body trembled violently at that overwhelming power.
‘Come to think of it, the ability of the Hero Record resembles mine.’
Leo, who lived through that era as an All-Class.
To such a Leo, Risinas made a request.
‘Kyle, you learn and master everything well, so why not teach the abilities of your deceased comrades to others?’
The dead leave behind more than just corpses and personal effects.
The skills they honed during their lives also remain.
Among the skills that those who fought alongside him could not pass down to future generations, Kyle conveyed what he remembered.
For martial arts, by learning through observation.
For magic, by preserving it in a Bible.
For spirits and phantom beasts, by forming temporary contracts with surviving spirits and phantom beasts and transferring the contract to those who were qualified.
The Record system that Phibea had explained before was simply a record.
‘Phibea also didn’t know about the conquest rewards.’
Various gods combined their powers to implement a new system.
That was the conquest reward.
Leo snickered, then his red eyes flashed.
“Then, shall we finish this?
“Your story will no longer be passed down to future generations, Tamus.”
-I cannot die like this!
Tamus frantically tried to escape the battlefield.
Seeing that, Leo re-gripped Knox inversely and took a throwing stance.
“Where are you going to run?”
Leo said coldly and threw Knox.
Whoosh-!
Flash!
“Kuaaaaaaaaaahhh!”
Knox, embedded in Tamus’s back, exploded, emitting an immense flash of light.