Book 1 Chapter 49
【49】48
“…….
Chloe clutched the black grimoire tightly.
“I wanted to win somehow. But I couldn't think of any way to win. So… so… I borrowed someone else's power, not my own.”
The unique magic Chloe was originally preparing was an ice-element field magic.
However, she thought that she couldn't defeat Leo in the test with that magic, so she prepared an unextinguishable flame.
That wasn't a magic formula Chloe had created.
‘I merely manifested it based on the magic formula written in this grimoire.’
Even Chloe didn't know the principle of the magic's activation.
She merely glossed over it, calling it her own specialness because it was her unique magic.
That was also why she reacted more sharply than necessary when someone asked about the magic.
She unveiled it on the day of the test, and the unextinguishable flame defeated Leo as expected.
For that moment, she was very happy. She thought she had finally caught up. But…
‘There's no way this can be called catching up!’
Chloe, who had been gritting her teeth, let out a hollow laugh.
‘What's the point of complaining to this person?’
The genius girl who is still talked about 30 years later.
‘She's a different kind of person from me. She must be special, like Leo.’
There was no way such a person would understand if she revealed her true feelings.
She'd be lucky if they didn't mock her.
Alia, who had been silently watching Chloe, smiled.
“Chloe, you really are like me.”
“Pardon?”
“Honestly, I was incredibly jealous of my brother too.”
Alia smiled sweetly.
“I often thought it was annoying how someone who looked so dumb could do everything perfectly. This is a secret, but the basic system of my unique magic was actually created by my brother. While I'm excellent at using existing magic, I'm terrible at creating new things. In fact, I failed the Rumerin entrance exam twice.”
Alia hugged her knees to her chest.
Chloe wore a blank expression.
It was an unbelievable fact for someone who was still talked about as an unfortunate magic genius.
“At one point, I really hated my brother. But then a thought suddenly occurred to me: if someone is worth hating enough to be jealous of, aren't they perhaps worthy of admiration?”
At those words, Chloe looked down at the black grimoire.
‘An object of… admiration?’
***
Leo, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them wide.
And he sprang to his feet.
“Lord Leo. What's wrong?”
At Bellic's question, Leo looked towards one side of the forest.
“Everyone, prepare for battle!”
Something was caught by Leo's supersenses.
At that moment, the opponent also became aware of their presence.
“Leo, what is it?”
“It's him.”
Chloe gasped.
“Could it be…?”
“Yes.”
Leo drew his sword.
Thump-! Thump-!
The sound of the ground shaking was heard.
A moment later, a monstrous giant emerged from the bushes.
A height that must have been 3 meters.
Jet-black skin.
It looked just like the figure from the photograph.
“Chubaren…!”
Chloe gritted her teeth.
Chubaren rolled his dark red eyes and looked at Leo.
His mouth gaped open.
“Found him. The sprout of a hero with the same qualities as the detestable Great Hero!”
At those words, Leo's eyes twitched.
Demons are creatures that prioritize the commands of their superiors.
And the order Chubaren received in the Chedmurdus incident was to eliminate the hero's sprouts.
So Chubaren hadn't paid much attention to the strategists.
‘But now, this guy is clearly showing hostility towards me.’
Even though Alia, who could be considered the biggest target, was right in front of him, his reaction was strange.
‘Moreover, he clearly just said 'sprout of the Great Hero'…’
“Kwooooooo!”
Chubaren roared and charged at Leo.
Flash-! Crash-!
The vicious-looking axe in Chubaren's hand slammed into the ground.
But Leo had already moved out of Chubaren's attack range long ago.
Fwoosh-!
A flame aura formed on Leo's sword.
Kagagak-!
Leo's sword slashed Chubaren's neck.
But it didn't inflict a wound.
Leo's eyes twitched.
Grin-!
Chubaren, seeing Leo's face, grinned hideously.
“Foolish man!”
Chubaren reached out to grab Leo.
But Leo let out a snicker.
“That's your delusion, you idiot.”
“What…”
Kwagagak-!
The powerful blizzard Chloe shot covered Chubaren.
Chubaren's movements slowed down due to the cold icy wind.
Taking advantage of the opening, Leo, who had evaded Chubaren's hand, spun his body.
Whirl-! Kwaaaak!
The flame aura burned even more fiercely.
Kwak-! Puwak!
“He cut him!”
“Alright!”
The party cheered.
The sword, its power amplified by rotational force, had severed Chubaren's neck.
But Leo's face wasn't bright.
‘I couldn't cut through the bone.’
Demons are different from ordinary living beings.
A monstrous race created by Erebus.
This much cannot be a fatal wound.
Leo immediately kicked Chubaren's head, using the recoil to create distance.
‘At least the attacks are working, for now.’
Leo, who had been watching Chubaren while taking a deep breath, opened his eyes wide.
The blood gushing like a fountain from Chubaren's wound suddenly stopped.
That wasn't all.
The spilled blood suddenly began to be drawn back into the wound.
Tududuk- Tududuk-
“Hmph- A rather decent attack.”
Chubaren swayed his neck left and right, grinning.
Seeing that, Tehad was horrified.
“That's absurd! What kind of regeneration ability…!”
“That's not a healing ability.”
“Huh? Then what is it?”
“It's a curse.”
Curses were one of the special abilities demons possessed.
The curses used by lower-ranking demons merely weakened the opponent's strength, but higher-ranking curses could even twist the laws of reality.
“[Nullify]. It's an annoying curse that makes attacks as if they never happened.”
Leo rested his sword on his shoulder.
“Oh? You know a lot.”
“Isn't that too grand a curse for a Level 3 demon to use?”
“Hmph- You speak very arrogantly. But you are right. This curse is a blessing from the Demon Queen Shilathuna.”
At the name 'Demon Queen', the first-years trembled in fear.
Demon Queen Shilathuna.
She was a legion commander of Tartaros who survived from the Age of Calamity, and a trusted subordinate of Erebus.
“It's an unlucky name I haven't heard in a long time.”
Leo said, annoyed.
“If attacks are nullified… how are we supposed to win?”
Alia asked, terrified.
“The Nullify curse isn't omnipotent either. And he's not the one who cast the curse. If it's used multiple times, the curse will disappear.”
“Hmph- Do you think you lot can survive until the curse disappears?”
With those words, Chubaren's subordinates pushed through the bushes and appeared.
“Abandon any thoughts of getting out of here alive. You, the remnant of the Great Hero, will die here.”
“Remnant of the Great Hero?”
Leo let out a snicker.
“Are you calling me that because I'm an All-Class like Kyle?”
“Shut up! Don't utter that detestable name!”
Seeing Chubaren's violent reaction, Leo understood how Alia's party had escaped Chubaren.
‘There was a surveillance net set up by demons all over the forest. I and Chloe didn't pay attention, thinking we weren't targets anyway.’
Leo sighed.
‘This guy found out I was All-Class through that surveillance net. That's why he kept pursuing me.’
Leo, who had been avoiding demons using his supersenses, had inadvertently been playing tag with Chubaren.
Great demons like Shilathuna, who survived from the Age of Calamity, are still formidable.
Then the demons would remember Kyle.
After all, Kyle, who defeated the creator of Tartaros, would be the greatest enemy to the demons.
‘Humans have forgotten about me, but demons remember me. How ironic.’
Leo, having assessed the situation, gripped his sword and spoke.
“Prepare.”
“Do you truly think mere brats like you can defeat me?”
“Of course.”
“Hmph- What great confidence. But are your companions the same as you?”
Chubaren pointed behind him with a finger.
Turning around, the party was trembling in fear.
“You alone possess recklessness. Your companions are at their limits, both mentally and physically.”
He wasn't wrong.
Through continuous battles, everyone in the party was exhausted.
“Kukuk.”
But at Chubaren's words, Leo burst out laughing.
“Why are you laughing? Have you gone mad?”
“No. It's just that you seem to know far too little about Rumerin.”
“What?”
“Rumerin is a school where kids who dream of being heroes enroll.”
The hero candidates' gazes fell upon Leo's back.
Step- Step-
Leo took a step.
The trembling of the hero candidates began to subside.
Will slowly returned to their eyes, and aura, magic, and spiritual power surged around them.
In actual history, they died.
But they certainly weren't massacred by Chubaren without a fight.
‘There was no mention anywhere that Chubaren had the [Nullify] curse. That means Chubaren exhausted all his [Nullify] curses in the first battle.’
It was proof that even if they died, not one of them gave up.
Just like the Great Heroes who lost their lives to Erebus long ago.
“That's why I always remember these words.”
The lesson that all Rumerin students hold in their hearts.
The most basic condition to become a hero.
“To go beyond your limits.”
Taat-!
As Leo pushed off the ground and charged, Tehad and Bellac raised their spear and sword, charging together.
“Foolish mortals! If that's your wish, I'll kill you lot first!”
Chubaren roared and swung his axe.
“I'll handle that guy, you all take care of the soldiers.”
“Will you be able to?”
“I will, so don't worry about me!”
Leo charged towards Chubaren.
Clang-!
Chubaren's axe slammed into the ground.
Fragments of earth turned into black spikes and rained down on Leo.
‘It would have been a little better if I could summon Fiona.’
Perhaps in an ordinary hero's world.
In a Hero Dungeon, which becomes completely cut off from the outside due to its rampaging nature, summoners of phantom beasts couldn't summon their beasts.
If elemental magic was a kind of pact borrowing power from all spirits, phantom arts were a 1:1 contract between a summoner and a phantom beast.
Therefore, phantom beast summoners had to summon their phantom beasts in advance and enter the Hero Dungeon together when entering.
‘It's hard to inflict damage on Chubaren with elemental magic. In that case.’
Hwaak-!
Leo's figure multiplied into several.
“No!”
Chubaren was horrified.
Illusion magic, Mirage.
The black spikes futilely pierced through Leo's illusions.
Amidst that, Leo's additional attack followed.
When he made his right hand into the shape of a gun, particles of light gathered at its tip.
Kiiing-!
“Arc Ray!”
Pajijijik! Flash-!
A small bead of light became a bullet and flew.
The most basic offensive magic among star magic.
Seeing that, the magic swordsman Danyi was horrified.
“That person! Was he a magic swordsman? And Mirage and Arc Ray? Both are star magic!”
Kwak-!
“Kuk?”
Chubaren, hit directly by [Arc Ray], opened his eyes wide.
Star magic was magic created by Luna to subjugate demons.
Therefore, it was fundamentally an arch-nemesis-like magic to demons.
“You mean a human uses this detestable magic!”
“Sorry, but I'm not the only one who uses star magic, you know?”
“Arc Ray.”
Alia also unleashed a spell.
This time, not one but several beads of light poured down on Chubaren.
Pububububuk!
“You!”
As the beads of light embedded in his body, Chubaren roared.
Goooooooo-!
The [Nullify] curse activated, and all the wounds on Chubaren's body disappeared.
“Tsk.”
As Leo clicked his tongue, Chloe shouted.
“Leo! Just hold on a little longer!”
“Don't worry. That's my role.”
At Leo's reply, Chloe closed her eyes and began to chant a spell.
Modern mages were largely divided into three types.
Battle-type mages who positioned themselves on the front line.
All-rounder mages who could position themselves on any line.
Traditional-type mages who positioned themselves on the back line.
Among them, the type whose disadvantages were most clearly apparent was the traditional-type mage, like Chloe.
‘Traditional mages are defenseless while chanting spells.’
As the spell was long, she needed protection from her companions.
But its advantages were also clear.
That was an absolute destructive power that refused comparison with other mages.
In the current party, Alia is an all-rounder mage.
While she could use powerful magic consecutively, she lacked an absolute single powerful strike.
‘Among us, I'm the only one who can deal a critical blow to Chubaren. I can't just rely on Leo. I too… I too must do something.’
Chubaren's curse flashed through Chloe's mind.
‘If it's that magic!’
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