Book 1 Chapter 587
587.
Crackle, sizzle-!
Durán's body surged with lightning aura.
Eiran urgently cried out, seeing Durán.
“Wait! Lord Durán! If you attack now, others might get hurt!”
“Ugh!”
Durán hastily withdrew his sword.
Whoosh-!
Black flames surged forward.
Seeing this, Eiran blocked the black flames with a shield imbued with aura.
Just as mages have specialties, knights can also be divided by combat style.
Celia and Durán, for example, were types specialized in offense.
They suppress enemies from the front with their formidable aura abilities and protect their allies.
And Eiran was a knight specialized in defense.
In the current situation, where there was an overwhelming difference in power between enemies and allies, Eiran's defensive abilities shone even brighter.
Whoosh-!
“Ugh!”
“Miss Eiran! Are you alright?”
Chen Xia quickly conjured water aura to push back the black flames around Eiran.
Eiran, who had been momentarily pushed back by the intensified black flames, quickly nodded her head.
“I’m fine! I have no problems!”
Eiran answered bravely, but her body was covered in burns, both large and small, everywhere.
Currently, she was one of the biggest pillars of defense, blocking the black flames.
If she hadn't been there, this party would have been wiped out long ago.
“Eiran! You're overdoing it! Stop now and rest!”
At that moment, Dryana, who was blocking the black flames with a shield larger than herself, shouted.
“No! I can do more…”
“This isn't a situation that can be resolved by pushing yourself! If you collapse, it's truly over! Now is the time to recover your body!”
Dryana, who was also a pillar of defense alongside Eiran, yelled.
Eiran clenched her lips.
“But if I step back, Miss Dryana will be overdoing it by herself!”
“Don’t worry. Am I not the successor to Lord Dweno, who became the shield of the great heroes?”
Dryana smiled confidently.
“My body is stronger than yours! So don't worry and rest.”
“Eiran! To the rear, quickly!”
“Waaah! Eiran! You worked so hard! Rest even for a moment!”
The Seirun students, with tears in their eyes, helped the staggering Eiran move back.
“…Are you really alright?”
Chen Xia asked Dryana.
Dryana chuckled at Chen Xia's question.
“Not at all.”
Dryana, who had served as the party's shield alongside Eiran, had taken as much damage as Eiran.
The reason she could stand firm was that dwarves were physically stronger than elves.
“I'll help you too, at least.”
As a type balanced in both defense and offense, Chen Xia also showed strengths in defense.
Seeing Chen Xia, Dryana firmly shook her head.
“Both Eiran and you! You are my precious nude models! It would be troublesome if you got scars!”
“Hearing you say that, it seems you still have some leeway.”
Dryana smiled and gripped her shield even more firmly.
“Anyway, this is a big problem.”
Flash! Kwa-ga-ga-gang! Whoosh-! Ku-gu-gung! Kwa-ang!
Not far away, a tremendous explosion and earth-shattering shockwaves surged in.
It was the sound of Lumern holding back Erebus on the front lines.
“If Lord Lumern hadn't appeared along the way… we would have been dead long ago.”
What the hero academy students were currently blocking was the flame emitted by Erebus.
“This battle is incomparable to any we've experienced so far.”
They hadn't even stepped onto the main stage yet.
Yet, even now, it was too much for them.
“The biggest issue is that our coordination isn't perfect.”
Chen Xia showed her anxiety.
Currently, students from the four hero academies were cooperating based on their combat experience against Erebus during the previous summer vacation.
As such, their teamwork wasn't completely off.
But it wasn't enough to overcome the current situation.
Dryana narrowed her eyes.
“We need Kyle.”
“Yes.”
The current command was handled by Chloe, whose leadership ability was outstanding among the second-year students.
But Chloe's strength was reading the flow of a large battlefield and devising strategies.
Kyle couldn't possibly match her in that aspect.
On the other hand, in battles to defeat a single powerful enemy, Kyle was superior with his observational skills and instantaneous quick thinking.
“I wonder where he went at a time like this.”
It was when Dryana expressed her frustration at Kyle's absence.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
A scream was heard.
Everyone looked around.
“It's above us.”
At Chen Xia's murmur, everyone looked up.
Just before plummeting to the ground.
Kyle barely managed to deploy Fly magic and landed.
“J-just barely landed! That Eliza! Using acceleration, she threw me here…”
“Where have you been messing around until now?!”
Chelsea ran up to Kyle, grabbed him by the collar, and shook him vigorously.
“Hmph. Did you miss me?”
When Kyle spoke in his uniquely slick tone, Chelsea gnashed her teeth.
“Can I hit him?!”
“Get out of the way, Chelsea Rwalyn.”
“Why?!”
“Because I'm going to hit him.”
At Durán's murderous voice, Chelsea released Kyle's collar.
“Wait! Big Sis Chelsea! Don't abandon me! I won't say anything cheeky!”
Seeing Durán who looked like he was genuinely about to strike, Kyle, with a pale face, pleaded for help from Chelsea.
“Why were you late, anyway?”
Even Abad, who maintained his composure in every situation, calmed Durán down and pressed Kyle with his question.
Kyle showed the staff in his hand and said,
“I was late because I had to find the key item to deal with that.”
Everyone's eyes widened at Kyle's confident appearance.
Whoosh-!
Just then, black flames surged like a tsunami.
Screams erupted from the front line, which was blocking the attack.
Seeing this, Chen Xia rushed towards Kyle.
“Kyle! For now, please take command!”
“Huh? Is it okay if I do that…”
“It has to be you, Kyle, so hurry!”
Chen Xia took Kyle and ran to where Chloe was.
“Celia! Watch your left… Ah! Kyle!”
Chloe, who was directing allies from within a magic circle that overlooked the entire battlefield, brightened as she saw Kyle.
“Come here!”
Chloe quickly stepped aside from the magic circle.
As Kyle stepped onto the magic circle, several screens began to appear before his eyes.
“If you speak here, your voice will reach everyone!”
At her words, Kyle nodded, somewhat dazed.
Chloe rejoined the front lines.
“I don't know if I should be doing this,” Kyle muttered in a tense voice, to which Chen Xia replied,
“I think you'll do better than anyone.”
At her words, Kyle glanced at one of the screens.
There, the back of a man battling the main body of the Calamity Flame was visible.
‘Lord Lumern.’
***
Goooooooh-!
Lumern looked at the Calamity Flame burning before his eyes and raised his sword.
Erebus was not in the form of a giant.
He was similar in size to Lumern.
The primordial evil, wreathed in black flames, spread its arms.
The Aura of Twilight, spewed from Lumern's sword, severed Erebus's neck.
Whoosh-!
Erebus's head instantly shot into the sky.
Lumern spread his hand.
Flash-!
Kwa-ga-ga-ga-gang-!
Spears of light flew from all directions, piercing Erebus's body and tearing it mercilessly.
Swordsmanship and magic to thoroughly annihilate the opponent.
Despite being a magic swordsman, he was not biased towards one or the other.
He was truly pushing Erebus back with overwhelming swordsmanship and magic, finding no weaknesses.
But…
Whoosh-!
The resurrected black flames engulfed Lumern.
Lumern quickly leaped, evading Erebus's attack.
-To keep imitating the hero who survives. How boring. Twilight Knight.
Whoosh-!
Erebus's collapsed body regained its original form.
-You have already reached your limit. Yet why do you not give up?
Erebus scoffed.
-Did you not give up on defeating me long ago?
“Yes, I gave up on defeating you. Because it's something I cannot do.”
Lumern gripped his sword tightly.
“But I have never once thought there was no future.”
Facing the endlessly burning Calamity Flame, Lumern said powerfully.
“Those children are the future.”
After chasing Erebus, who escaped Liane's library, and coming here, Lumern witnessed the hero academy students.
And he saw.
A possibility he thought he didn't have.
‘Kyle wasn't the only one in the future.’
He realized that his choice, where he risked everything on the future, was not wrong.
-You too have rotten eyes. Twilight Knight.
Erebus shook his head from side to side.
-Those wastes who struggle with just a small spark. Do you believe they can accomplish what even you could not?
“Inexperience will be solved by experience.”
Lumern curled the corners of his mouth.
“Those children will stand before you in the near future. And they will defeat you alongside the Hero of Beginnings. Though you scoffed at the Hero of Beginnings being alone.”
Lumern pointed his sword.
“Now, he is not alone.”
-So you mean to stop me right here, even at the cost of your death, for the sake of those wastes.
Erebus raised his hand.
-Indeed, you have endured long. You were more tenacious than any hero I have known.
Whoosh-
A hero who doesn't give up is terrifying.
The terror of that never-surrendering will, through the Great Heroes.
Through Kyle, the Hero of Beginnings, he had felt it to his bones.
And Erebus had seen Kyle's shadow when he first saw Lumern.
Though he failed to break him, his unyielding determination to find a way gave Erebus a strange fear.
Because he couldn't know when the limit-bound Lumern would transcend his limits.
But…
-Are you satisfied? Twilight Knight.
At this very moment.
Kyle's shadow, which had resided within Lumern, disappeared.
Erebus's body soared high into the sky.
He curled the corners of his mouth, looking at Lumern, who intended to self-destruct with him.
Lumern, who entrusted everything to his successors and colleagues, was no longer a subject of fear for Erebus.
One who has done all they can and has no regrets in death is no longer a threat.
-Just a dying flame.
And this was Lumern's limit.
Goooooh-!
The moment Erebus was about to unleash flames toward Lumern.
Whoosh-!
Someone broke through the black flames burning everywhere and reached this battlefield.
“Lord Arion’s successor?”
Lumern looked with astonishment at Ar, who had stepped into a battlefield he was not yet able to reach.
“Uryaaaaaaaah!”
Ar let out a fierce battle cry and kicked Erebus.
Kwang-!
White flames surged from Ar's foot, armed with Arion’s Aura.
Kwa-ga-ga-gang-!
Erebus flew and was slammed into the ground.
Ar, who not only concentrated all his strength in his toes but also imbued them with Lunia's flames, crashed to the ground.
Whoosh-!
Eliza caught Ar mid-air.
“Lord Lumern! We've come to help!”
Celia rushed to Lumern's side.
“How…”
Lumern asked with a blank expression.
They were still immature hero candidates.
While a brilliant future was expected, they were woefully inadequate to intervene in this battle right now.
He thought they were still one step short of being able to come here.
Though it might be just one step.
One step from the limit is an incredibly long distance.
Potential does not bloom easily.
‘What exactly changed to allow these children to come here?’
Erebus, who had been hit and sent flying by Ar, stood up.
‘I thought they were just wastes.’
Indeed, the potential of the hero candidates he encountered this time was enough to surprise Erebus.
But Erebus knew.
That potential is not power.
In the world, only a tiny fraction of people awaken all their potential.
‘There are countless pathetic wastes who possess undeserved things.’
That's why he didn't pay attention to the hero candidates.
Because it was clear they couldn't even stand against the flames he emitted.
But now they had exceeded Erebus's expectations.
‘Their movements suddenly changed.’
Erebus's eyes narrowed.
‘Did someone with insight comparable to a fool appear?’
Erebus's eyes quickly scanned the battlefield.
And he found a particularly pathetic human boy among the hero candidates.
A utterly insignificant human.
A trivial human, far below even those Erebus called wastes.
But…
‘He draws out the potential of others.’
Erebus clearly saw what Kyle's ability was.
The Erebus of the past would have scoffed.
He would have dismissed it, thinking that a mere mortal's potential had limits anyway.
But now he knew.
How terrifying that ability was.
‘I must eliminate him now.’
Erebus’s killing intent was directed at Kyle.
***
Thud-!
Kyle clenched his teeth, looking at Dweno’s melted and vanished gear.
‘…You worked hard.’
With this, another piece of gear vanished.
The divine artifacts were reaching the end of their lifespan, unable to withstand Kyle’s power and Erebus’s flames.
Kyle, who habitually reached into his cloak, paused.
‘…Right, this cloak is fake.’
The cloak made by Lisinas and Luna had subspace functionality in addition to powerful defensive capabilities.
Kyle had stored his gear in that subspace long ago.
But no matter how real it seemed, it was ultimately fake.
All the magic imbued in the cloak, except for its defensive capabilities, was dormant.
Naturally, the subspace function had also disappeared.
Only the creator could restore this level of magical artifact to its perfect state.
‘Do I have to use divine power?’
Kyle felt the divine power dwelling in his body and fell into thought.
Until now, he had blocked the Calamity Flame with only the abilities he had after reincarnation.
But the flames showed no sign of dying down, no matter how much he cut and cut.
Instead, they burned even more fiercely.
The reason was simple.
‘That flame is not the main body.’
It was clear that it would continue to burn unless he infiltrated the world of heroes and stopped the crack.
‘Moreover… it's not the power of just one fragment.’
He had learned something while fighting the Calamity Flame.
Erebus's flames now were not the power of just one fragment.
The more the flames burned, the stronger their destructive power became.
And the Calamity Flame was no exception.
‘Thousands of years have passed since the fragments of Erebus, defeated by the Heroes of Genesis, were revived.’
And throughout those thousands of years, the Calamity Flame continued to burn within the world of heroes.
In the world of heroes, there was also kindling called divine power.
Then…
‘It wouldn't be strange if he acquired more than one fragment's worth of power.’
Kyle clenched his fist, his hand still inside his cloak.
‘No choice. Now is the time to use divine power.’
The moment Kyle, having reached a conclusion, was about to unleash his divine power.
Clack-!
“…!”
Something was caught in his hand.
Kyle unknowingly pulled out what he had grasped from within his cloak.
A plain-looking longsword.
But its blade was sharper than any renowned sword.
And this sword was all too familiar to Kyle.
The only sword that Dweno, the divine blacksmith, recognized as a masterpiece and named.
The sword that had been with him until his very last moment.
“Posteritas.”