Book 1 Chapter 664

664.

Flash! Hahahaha!

Blood splattered everywhere with a silver flash.

A red glint flickered in Leo's eyes.

"Noooooorm!"

Quagagagagag—!

Giganto roared and swung his arm.

Just swinging his arm created immense wind pressure that swept through the surroundings.

Tap!

"Ugh!"

Giganto glared at Leo, who had landed on the back of his hand, and widened his eyes.

Whizz!

"Kuaaaak!"

Leo, who had approached his face in an instant, cleanly gouged out Giganto's eyes.

Crash! Quagagagag—!

Giganto, rampaging and roaring.

5000 years ago.

Giganto was undoubtedly a formidable enemy.

However, the experience gained in the process of ending the era of calamity was enough to make the battle between Leo and Giganto a commonplace occurrence.

Crucially, Leo now held Dweno's artifact, which could be considered Giganto's fatal weakness.

Giganto's recovered eyes bloodshot.

Seeing Leo within his sight, Giganto let out a roar.

"Graaaaaaah!"

His sanity was numbed by the unprecedented pain.

The unfamiliar agony enraged Giganto.

"How dare a mere human toy with me! You are prey, I tell you!"

Leo looked at Giganto, who was charging, scattering terrifying dark magic, with a bored expression.

Giganto's attacks were clearly visible.

That was why Leo continued to accumulate injuries.

Giganto's weapon was not only his hard body, which resisted aura.

That tremendous regenerative power was also Giganto's powerful weapon.

'He was the best among Tartarus's demons in terms of hardness.'

Giganto's body was the masterpiece of Gias, the Giant King, who created all sorts of terrible artifacts in Tartarus.

As such, his defense surpassed even that of the legion commanders.

'For me now, killing him is easy, but it will take some time.'

Currently, Leo's pure physical strength did not match what it was before he founded Archi with Lisinas.

Even though he was born with the experience and knowledge of a great hero and regained his strength at an incredible speed, his body was not yet at its peak.

"The conclusion is that time is the answer."

A cruel smile appeared on Leo's lips.

"Well, toying with him before killing him wouldn't be bad either. As a way to blow off some steam."

5000 years ago, the great heroes changed the fate of the world.

To the demons of Tartarus, who were heading towards ruin, they were the most hateful beings.

But before that, they were also beings of fear.

At the center of that was Kyle.

Demons also experienced fear.

And to those demons, Kyle was literally a manifestation of terror.

He ravaged the demons in the most brutal and agonizing ways.

He never killed his enemies kindly.

It was Leo's own revenge on Tartarus, who had stolen the world.

'In the first place, my personality wasn't good either.'

Unlike the noble Lisinas, the brilliant Luna, the extremely kind Aron, and Dweno, who loved beauty.

"Then shall I make him wish he were dead?"

'Ugh, Lisinas! Kyle's bad habit is acting up again.'

He recalled Luna's voice, who had been horrified by his own ever-increasing cruelty.

'Let him blow off steam.'

He also remembered Lisinas's voice, who sighed softly and shook his head.

Lisinas understood.

His actions.

'Well, I can't help it now, can I, Luna?'

Leo drew his sword, looking at Giganto.

'This is the most effective way right now.'

*Clang!*

Leo, who had sliced Giganto with a strike, sighed inwardly.

Even now, he could finish Giganto with a single blow.

However, if he did, Leo would have to unleash a powerful burst of energy all at once.

This battle was not the end.

Considering the next battle, he had to use his strength efficiently.

'Well, if there's an artifact made by Dweno with destructive power… it's not impossible…'

*Thud*

Something caught in his fluttering cloak for a moment.

Leo instinctively reached into his cloak.

Swish-

A colossal greatsword appeared.

Leo's eyes widened upon seeing it.

'…This is.'

***

"That Leo fellow! He's different from usual!"

Kal, who was commanding his party members, spotted Leo fighting Giganto from afar and exclaimed in surprise.

As Kal said, Leo's demeanor was different from usual.

"Ugh. Captain, he's… really scary."

Iriana, who was chanting spells from the rear, hunched her neck.

Seeing that, Kal clicked his tongue.

"Well, Leo does have quite a temper. If the enemy is a demon, perhaps it's only natural to be that angry?"

"Magic preparation is complete."

"Ooh!"

Chelsea's specialty was high-speed chanting.

She unleashed magic while moving at incredible speed in close combat.

She wasn't a mage who subdued opponents with overwhelming power like Chloe and Abad.

However, that didn't mean Chelsea's magic was weak.

It just took longer to increase the power compared to Chloe and Abad.

Given enough time, the power of the magic Chelsea unleashed was comparable to Chloe or Abad.

And one of Chelsea's mana characteristics was to control the mana in the surrounding area.

Chelsea's voice flowed out.

As she spoke, the atmosphere responded.

Thunderclouds began to gather in the sky.

Flash! Crackle!

Eliza's wind wyvern, flying in the sky, roared towards the sky.

Lightning surged from the thunderclouds Chelsea summoned.

Eliza controlled the thunderclouds summoned by Chelsea's magic.

Duran raised his longsword to the sky.

Crackling!

Like lightning striking a lightning rod, lightning poured down on Duran.

A golden light flashed from Duran's body.

"Everything's ready! Everyone step back!"

Artian's shout caused Ar and Driana, who were guarding the front, and the three second-year knights to scatter.

Duran, gripping his sword with both hands, swung it straight.

Flash!

Quagagagagagag—!

Destructive lightning bolts swept through.

Then, Giganto's subordinates, who had been charging like a storm, were swept away by the lightning.

A wide-area attack far surpassing any great magic.

Crackling! Crackling! Clang!

Even as sparks flew all over his body, Duran plunged his sword into the ground.

*Crack!*

Then, the sword, having reached the end of its lifespan, broke.

Duran, staggering, knelt down.

'If it had been Lightning Storm, it wouldn't have broken.'

He didn't show it, but the existence of his shattered heirloom left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Seeing that, Kal muttered.

"…Did that actually succeed? What a grotesque fellow!"

A combined technique that fused magic, summoning, and swordsmanship.

This was a technique Kal had jokingly proposed to Eliza, Abad, and Duran when they were second-years.

A technique to defeat Leo.

The problem was that Duran could not withstand the overwhelming lightning.

And Duran had spent half a year building a body capable of enduring that lightning.

From Kal's perspective, it was awe-inspiring.

"You're really amazing."

In response to Kal's words, Duran looked at Leo, who was fighting Giganto in the distance.

Flash!

Blue lightning surged and bisected Giganto's body.

Seeing that, Duran threw away his broken sword and muttered.

"Still far from it."

"Ruthless. So ruthless. Huh? Chelsea, where are you going?"

Kal, shaking his head, widened his eyes as he saw Chelsea running towards Leo.

***

"Gwaaaaah…"

Giganto, his waist bisected, let out a pained groan.

His severed, wriggling body trembled.

Leo looked at the greatsword in his hand, enveloped in blue lightning.

'…Arion's greatsword.'

It was one of Dweno's artifacts, made for Arion.

An artifact with immense destructive power.

'Was something like this in my cloak?'

Leo showed a slightly bewildered expression.

It was something he didn't even know existed.

Moreover, he hadn't even intended to pull something like this out.

It had suddenly appeared from subspace, as if to fulfill Leo's thought that he couldn't defeat the enemy in a single blow.

'Just like Luna's ring last time.'

Leo looked at Luna's ring on his finger.

*Thump- Thump-*

Swish-

As Leo approached Giganto, he raised the greatsword.

At that moment.

Grasp!

Someone grabbed the hem of Leo's cloak.

Someone had stopped Leo like this before when he had become endlessly cruel.

'…Luna?'

Leo turned around without realizing it.

There stood Chelsea, holding the hem of his cloak and looking up at him with wide eyes.

"Oppa Leo, are you going to torture that demon more?"

"Why?"

"I'm worried. I don't want you to be angry, Oppa Leo."

A long time ago.

Seeing Chelsea say the exact same thing Luna had said, Leo chuckled, then reached out with his free hand and patted Chelsea's head.

"Ah, blood!"

As Chelsea scrunched up her face in disgust, Leo laughed and approached Giganto, then struck his neck.

*Buwak!*

"Gurgle!"

Giganto, letting out a pained death rattle, instantly died.

Giganto's body turned into black sand and scattered.

As the battle concluded, the party members approached.

Leo stood motionless where Giganto's body had been, looking down at his palm.

'Let him blow off steam.'

Lisinas understood why Kyle had become cruel.

That's why he let him be.

Luna did not let Kyle be.

She had genuinely worried about Kyle, saying that it would only hurt him more.

That's why she had stopped him.

'Yes, Lisinas. You were worried about me too.'

Excessive anger would eventually consume him.

Knowing that, Lisinas had also been truly relieved when he stopped killing enemies as cruelly as possible.

The reason he hadn't stopped him was because he understood his feelings so well.

The fact that subspace opened regardless of his will…

Perhaps it was the lingering spirit of Lisinas, who, even after 5000 years, was worried about his cruelty and lent him a hand.

"Chelsea."

"Yes."

Chelsea, wiping the blood matted in her hair with a handkerchief, ran to Leo.

"Thank you."

"Huh? For what?"

"For stopping me."

"Eh, it's nothing. Hehehe."

*Swish- Swish-*

"Ah! Really! Oppa Leo!"

Seeing Leo stroke her head again with his blood-stained hand, Chelsea shouted.

"Alright, if the cleanup is roughly done, let's start following Gigantes's tracks."

Artian, having returned to his normal self, said, and the entire party nodded.

The Archi party followed Gigantes's tracks deep into the Tartarus region.

***

"It seems to be an anomalous situation indeed."

Ar grumbled.

"There are so many monsters I've never seen before!"

"They were all monsters from the era of calamity, only mentioned in records."

Kal muttered with a serious expression in response to Ar's words.

The Archi party continued to move, fighting battles.

And the monsters that appeared were all monsters from the era of calamity that had been extinct in the current era.

"We've been fighting for a full day, so we should probably rest."

Artian said, looking at the map.

"We'll soon come across a ruined fortress. Let's rest there."

Although it had lost its function as a fortress, the terrain itself was easy to defend as it was located in the area where the fortress was built.

At Artian's words, the students headed towards the fortress with bright expressions.

While moving, Duran checked his watch.

"The sun will be rising soon."

A whole day had already passed, and they had stayed up all night.

It would soon be dawn.

"Even in a fortress, washing will be impossible, right?"

"Hmph. Talking like you have a good life."

"Ughhh."

Eliza snorted at Iliana's grumbling.

"But… isn't the sky a bit strange?"

Driana tilted her head, looking at the sky.

"Huh? What is it?"

At her words, the entire group looked up at the sky.

"It's the same."

Kal muttered, and Driana wore a bewildered expression.

"No, the color of the sky is slightly different from the usual dawn…"

"…The sky of the era of calamity."

"What?!"

Before Driana could finish her sentence, Leo murmured softly.

At his words, Kal and Chelsea looked at Leo in surprise.

It was then.

Leo and Artian moved simultaneously.

*Whoosh!*

Artian ran in front of Driana, who was leading the way, and swung his fist.

*Boom!*

An immense sound echoed.

*Thwack!*

"Gah!"

The opponent's fist struck Artian's abdomen.

Before Artian could counter, the assailant slapped Artian's back as he was in mid-air.

*Thwack! Clang!*

The assailant stomped on Artian's back as he was slammed to the ground.

Ar, his eyes sharp, immediately kicked at the assailant.

Grasp! Whoosh!

"Neeeeeagh!"

Ar was sent flying far away.

Driana, reacting belatedly, aimed her battle-axe at the enemy.

Grasp!

But the assailant caught Driana's battle-axe with his hand.

"Gah!"

Whoosh!

"What is this sudden act?"

Leo, holding his sword behind the assailant, asked in a chilling voice.

"Who are you guys?"

"That's what we, who were attacked, should be asking…"

"Oppa Leo!"

*Fwoom- Boom!*

A massive battle hammer that appeared in an instant struck Leo.

Leo, sent flying, regained his stance.

'My left shoulder is shattered.'

An immense attack.

But Leo put away his killing intent and raised his head.

The attack was familiar.

*Thump-*

"I will ask on her behalf. You."

The dwarf asked with a gentle smile.

"What is your identity?"

Leo lowered his guard and opened his mouth.

"Dweno."

At the question, Dweno tilted his head.

"Are you awake? Boy."