Book 1 Chapter 582

582.

"Are you all out of your minds?"

Eiran, in the form of Azonia, and Ar, in the form of Seira, were kneeling before Seirun, the wizard of the comet.

Lunia, possessed by Seirun, continued speaking with an incredulous expression.

"You're second-year students, for goodness sake. And you, the second-place and top-place students of Seirun and Azonia, forget the situation and act as usual?"

Ar and Eiran drooped their ears at the harsh rebuke.

"Now, now. Calm down. Anyway, thanks to you two, we were able to figure each other out so quickly, weren't we?"

Chen Xia, in the form of a first-year student at Seirun Academy, smiled faintly and calmed Lunia down.

Inside a classroom in Rumerin, thirty-two students were gathered.

All of them were conquerors of the Hero's World.

Lunia pressed her temples firmly.

Seeing Lunia, Kal said.

"Lunia and Eiran possessed Seirun-nim and Azonia-nim, right? Then who possessed Damian-nim?"

"Driana. She's currently with Rodia-nim in the Tower of Heroes."

"Did no one possess Rodia-nim?"

At that question, Lunia recalled Rodia, who had uppercut her in the solar plexus.

The image of the Dragon of Genesis shattered.

Of course, Lunia had experienced enough great heroes.

She was prepared for the Heroes of Genesis to be different from what she imagined, so surprisingly, there was no mental shock.

"I guess so."

"That's troublesome."

In this era, the words of the Heroes of Genesis were law.

The reason no major incident occurred during the earlier commotion was because Lunia and Eiran, in the forms of Seirun and Azonia, had smoothed things over.

"If all the conquerors were Heroes of Genesis, then just resolving the situation itself would be easy."

Kal clicked his tongue regretfully.

To conquer the Hero's World means to overcome the trials that the hero experienced.

As for the conquest process, in fact, it doesn't matter how you conquer it, as long as you can overcome the trials.

If, in that process, you discover a conquest route that even the hero himself hadn't thought of, and achieve a better result, you can achieve an over-accomplishment.

But such over-accomplishments are not easy.

The Hero's World, realized through Hero Records, is the best result achieved by the world's protagonist struggling in that situation.

As such, even if one is familiar with the conquest methods, it is difficult to satisfy the conditions required for over-accomplishment.

On the contrary, if one attempts an over-accomplishment and the situation becomes distorted, the conquest will fail.

That's why the best conquest method in conquering the Hero's World is to follow actual history as closely as possible.

It's also why one must act like the possessed character in an immersion-type world.

However, if one gains a position to control the situation independently, the difficulty of the conquest is greatly reduced.

"First, let's share what we've found."

Lunia nodded at Kal's words.

"First, the scope of this world is limited to inside Rumerin Academy. We can't go beyond Rumeria Lake."

Eiran, who was the first to possess Azonia, spoke about the information he gathered by wandering inside the Hero's World last night.

Starting with that, the students shared the information each had discovered.

"Not recorded in history, huh."

Ar crossed his arms and fell into thought.

"Currently, we don't even know the conquest objective."

As Ar raised his head, a message appeared before his eyes.

[Conquest Objective: -]

The conquest objective field, which could be called the most basic guide for conquering the Hero's World, was blank.

It was common in hero dungeons, but doing so without any historical information at all made their prospects grim.

Just then, an Azonia student raised his hand.

"The difficulty of the Hero's World doesn't change according to the hero's rank, does it? I don't think Lord Rumerin's world would be that difficult, do you?"

Everyone looked at the student at his words.

"The current era is a few years after the end of the Calamity's Reappearance, isn't it? I don't think there will be trials that are impossible to handle."

It was when everyone nodded at the plausible words.

"No."

Kal sighed deeply.

"This conquest is going to be extremely dangerous."

Seeing Kal refute his opinion, the Azonia student who had spoken expressed a slightly displeased look, then scoffed and said, looking down at Kal,

"It would be for you, wouldn't it? You're a weakling who wouldn't be surprised to get expelled from Rumerin any time, aren't you? I don't know what kind of fool chose you as a representative, but from the looks of it, you won't be much help, so please don't get in the way."

It was when Kal scratched his cheek at the Azonia student's provocative words.

Swoosh- Crackle-!

"If you're looking for a fight, I'll accept it."

Duran, in the form of an elf, had already pointed his sword at the Azonia student's neck.

It wasn't just Duran.

Chelsea, in the form of a beastman, was also pointing her staff at the opponent's back, exuding a sharp aura.

It was when the Azonia student froze, seeing the two who had approached silently.

"Kal is Rumerin's representative, chosen by our council, okay? Could you please not treat him like an idiot?"

Celia, with her arms crossed, opened her eyes sharply.

A smile formed on Kal's lips as he saw her.

'I guess my school life wasn't for nothing.'

"Only the kids from our school can ignore Kal, you know?"

But at Chelsea's subsequent words, Kal's face crumpled miserably.

"Why do you think it won't be easy?"

Abad asked with a puzzled face.

"We usually know that the Heroes of Genesis ended the Calamity's Reappearance and restored peace. But think about it. That's not it, is it?"

"…Indeed."

Abad stroked his chin.

The truth that had been unknown to the world until now.

The Heroes of Genesis had not completely subjugated the fragments of Erebus.

Erebus was sealed in the World of Genesis.

"Of course, we won't have to fight the endlessly resurrecting Erebus. But the fact that all the Heroes of Genesis have gathered definitely means it's related to him at the very least."

At those words, the students' mood grew heavy.

"Crucially, the conquest of the Hero's World itself isn't the problem."

Kal said with a serious face.

"What do you mean by that?"

Duran furrowed his brow.

"Do you remember the Calamity's Flames appearing when Lord Seirun reappeared?"

It was Lunia who answered instead.

"That was because Erebus tried to escape to the outside world through the Hero's World."

At those words, everyone in the room's face hardened.

"Whether or not we conquer this world also determines whether Erebus breaks the seal and escapes."

It was when everyone looked shocked at Lunia's words.

Knock-knock-

A knocking sound was heard.

Driana, in the form of Damian, opened the door and entered.

"Lunia, Eiran. Lord Rodia is looking for the Heroes of Genesis."

At those words, Lunia and Eiran rose from their seats with puzzled expressions.

"And the student council president of Rumerin should come too, I think?"

"Me, why?"

Kal made a puzzled expression.

Looking at Kal, Driana said with a serious face.

"It seems Lord Rumerin has gone missing. They say they want to ask if you know anything related to that."

***

The center of Rumerin.

The very top of the Tower of Heroes.

Kal glanced around the principal's office.

As Rumerin had a history of thousands of years, the campus scenery was very different from Kal's era.

However, this principal's office had not changed much.

The only difference was that only a portrait of Rumerin was hung where portraits of past principals usually hung.

'By the way, Lord Rumerin has gone missing?'

Kal made a serious expression.

This was Rumerin's world.

And the scope of the world was up to Rumerin Academy.

That meant Rumerin was somewhere in Rumerin Academy.

But missing?

Kal scratched his head.

'This is a headache.'

Kal, with his arms crossed, recalled the stories about the World of Genesis he had heard from Leo.

'He said the masters of the World of Genesis aren't fakes implemented inside the Hero Records, but all living, real people, right? Then the Rumerin-nim in this world is also highly likely to be the real person.'

If they could just meet such a Rumerin, achieving the conquest objective wouldn't be too difficult.

In the existing Hero's World, the world distorts the moment you say this world is fake, but this world was special.

The problem was what came after.

'If Lord Rumerin's world became a hero dungeon, it means Erebus is rampaging, doesn't it? Like Lord Seirun's world.'

Back then, Seirun's world was said to have been completely reduced to ashes, on the verge of becoming an exit for Erebus to go outside.

'Leo said he closed it with his own power. Perhaps we might have to do that.'

It was inevitably troublesome given that Rumerin was missing, and they didn't know when they might face such a situation.

'But the world itself looks perfectly fine.'

The conquest objective was still unknown, but looking at it now, Rumerin Academy seemed very peaceful.

'Lord Seirun's world was said to have black flames burning.'

If so, there might be time left before it becomes a passage.

'I need to find Lord Rumerin before then.'

"Where on earth did you go?"

Kal sighed and looked at Rumerin's portrait.

After staring at the portrait for a moment, Kal discovered a phrase.

'That motto was around even back then.'

Overcome your limits.

It was the motto Rumerin left for posterity.

'I might not resemble him in anything else, but I can confidently say I resemble him in that aspect.'

Kal gave a bitter smile.

Because if he hadn't constantly overcome his limits, he wouldn't be here now.

'I struggled uglily, truly like a fool.'

Thinking that far, someone's words suddenly came to Kal's mind.

'Kal Thomas, you are the first student in Rumerin Academy's history who doesn't resemble Rumerin in the slightest.'

"…"

It was a scathing evaluation that cut deep into his chest.

He pretended to be composed back then.

But the god's words were like a sentence to Kal.

A sentence that he, who didn't resemble the gods' idea of a perfect Rumerin in the slightest, could never become a hero.

Recalling those words, Kal felt something strange.

'He said Lord Rumerin isn't someone who struggles foolishly and uglily, right?'

It was strange.

The Rumerin Kal knew was a human who saved the world by overcoming countless limits.

But a person who overcomes limits is a human who struggles foolishly and uglily.

Like himself.

But if that wasn't the case…

'Does that mean he gave up on overcoming limits?'

It was preposterous.

Literally, a thought akin to an insult.

But Kal could swear.

Whatever else, he hadn't given up and had continuously overcome his limits.

'Giving up on struggling and failing to overcome limits… that would be denying myself, who has staked everything on Rumerin for the past two years.'

Thinking that far, his conversation with Leo came to Kal's mind.

'What do I think of Rumerin-nim? I haven't met him, but he's a proud junior.'

'I thought as much.'

'Well, the problem was that he respected me too much, I think.'

'Looking at your record, it seems impossible not to respect you.'

'Right. The problem is that he tried to be like me.'

"Lord Rumerin… wanted to be like the Hero of Beginnings. But he couldn't."

Kal muttered softly.

"He gave up on being like Leo. That means he gave up on subjugating Erebus."

He couldn't be like Leo.

That might have been Rumerin's limit.

Kal clenched his fist.

"So he found another method."

Since he couldn't do it himself, he entrusted it to posterity.

Hoping that someone who wouldn't give up and would overcome their limits, unlike himself, would appear.

Kal clenched his fist.

'Lord Rumerin went to find the god now.'

***

Grooooooooan-!

Kael stood before a burning pillar of fire.

"…Just a mass of power possessed such strength?"

The firepower grew stronger and stronger.

Kael clenched and unclenched his fist.

'This is on a completely different level compared to the guy I met in Seirun's world before.'

Kael's gaze turned towards the center of the black flames.

[Lord Leo. Will the children inside the Hero's World be okay?]

With this much firepower, the inside of the Hero's World would surely be a mess.

Kael answered Melina's worried voice.

"They'll be fine."

Kael curled the corners of his mouth.

"Because there's one guy who won't give up and will struggle to the very end."