Book 1 Chapter 690
690.
Boo-!
Thump-! Thump-! Thump-!
Boo-!
The unpleasant sound of a horn trumpet echoed in the distance.
Giants at the vanguard of the legion moved in unison.
“W-what! What is that!”
Ar yelled in shock.
‘Giant Knights.’
Demons are born with powers far surpassing the terrestrial races.
As such, demons do not learn anything from the inhabitants of the earth.
To them, the inhabitants of the earth are merely something to be destroyed.
Those who wish to live and those who wish for destruction are fundamentally incapable of understanding each other.
Furthermore, demons have a predetermined hierarchy from birth.
The higher-ranking the demon, the stronger their tendency to regard terrestrial races as inferior.
‘That's why those guys are anomalous.’
The Giant Knights are an anomalous group formed by demons imitating and mimicking terrestrial races.
The hierarchy of the Giant Knights is not determined by strength.
It is determined by military achievements.
As a result, they became the strongest unit among the Giant King's legions.
‘Are these the Giant Knights of the past? Or… have they persisted from the Age of Calamity until now?’
5000 years have passed since the end of the Age of Calamity.
Just as the Giant King barely showed himself during that period.
Being inherently secretive demons, there are not many records of the Giant King in the history of the Age of Heroes after the Genesis.
However, in the era before the Genesis.
That is, many records from the 2000-year period called the Early Heroic Age have been lost.
This happened because the Hero Records were damaged during the process of the Genesis Heroes sealing the fragments of Erebus.
There were several major wars during the Early Heroic Age.
Especially after the end of the Age of Calamity.
There was also a total war waged by Tartaros to achieve his long-cherished wish of world destruction.
‘It's not impossible that Belchia annihilated the Giant Knights during the Great War.’
The Giant Knights have a different nature from the armed groups under other legion commanders.
The Undead Legion, led by Archduke Artkhan of the Funeral, belonging to the Necromancer King's legion, is still infamous.
It is literally the face of the Necromancer King's legion itself.
But the Giant Knights are different.
Like the cautious and secretive Giant King.
They also thoroughly conceal their existence.
That's why people of this era don't know about the Giant Knights.
The way they have to fight also differs depending on whether these are the Giant Knights from the Age of Calamity or Giant Knights who have concealed their existence and persisted for 5000 years since then.
Leo, who was watching the Giant Knights, spotted a demon on the shoulder of the leading giant knight.
‘Commander of the Knights, Nareda.’
A demon known as the Giant King's left arm.
She was a demon with a disposition opposite to Giganto, the legion's charge commander, another confidant of the Giant King.
Giganto is a demon who charges, overconfident in his strength.
Conversely, Nareda's power is incomparably weaker than Giganto's.
However, she was the most Giant King-like demon.
‘Cautious and secretive.’
A commanding demon who observes opponents and devises countless strategies.
In Tartaros, the strongest legion is the Necromancer King's legion.
That is a fact that has not changed in thousands of years of history.
But during the Age of Calamity.
The legion that destroyed the most nations was the Giant King's legion.
‘The most bothersome demon to deal with.’
Tsk- Leo clicked his tongue.
Whoosh-!
“Brother Leo!”
Chelsea flew onto the city wall with a gust of wind.
“Chelsea, get ready. From now on…”
“Brother Leo! From now on, we're going to destroy the legion's records!”
“What?”
Leo looked bewildered at Chelsea's words.
Ar's eyes widened.
“What does that mean?”
“Exactly what it sounds like.”
Chelsea, with a determined expression, bit her lip and stared directly into Leo's eyes.
“……”
Leo, who had been looking into Chelsea's eyes, closed his own.
“So my job is to buy time while you carry out the strategy?”
“…Yes.”
Chelsea, answering with difficulty, bowed her head.
“Sorry… Brother Leo. We…”
“Don't be sorry.”
Leo said firmly.
“You're right, Chelsea. I was wrong.”
He simply lacked courage.
Comrades from the past.
Or the future.
If you consider the weight, they cannot be placed on the same scale.
‘If it had been Lysinath, such an outcome wouldn't have happened.’
Instead, she would have corrected himself for making the wrong choice.
Like Chelsea now.
“Ar. You stay here with me.”
“Okay.”
Ar nodded with a bewildered expression.
Just as Chelsea was about to move, looking at Leo like that.
“Chelsea.”
“Yes?”
“Please.”
“Got it! You too, Brother Leo, please!”
Chelsea, nodding with a determined face, left the city wall.
Leo clutched his cloak and looked up at the sky.
“It's heavy. Being a leader.”
“Of course, it's heavy.”
Ar, arms crossed, hummed and nodded.
“So lean on me when it's tough! We're comrades, aren't we!”
“What I'm carrying is quite heavy, though?”
“I'm the successor to Arion. I can at least support you!”
Ar puffed out his chest and said proudly.
Ar took a step forward.
“And. It's not just me, is it? You have many comrades! Black Rabbit. You don't have to bear it alone!”
Long ago.
Leo nodded, looking at Ar, who resembled the back of someone who had given him courage in the past.
“You're right.”
Thump-
Leo, standing beside Ar, drew his sword.
Whoosh-!
Posteritas.
The sword, bearing the name "Future," revealed itself to the world.
“I don't have to bear it alone.”
***
“Everyone move! To the shelter!”
Enniha shouted hastily.
The infiltration was entrusted to Arhi's party.
People within the Hero's World cannot go to the center of the dungeon.
Upon hearing that, Enniha decided to stop the Giant King's legion with Kania.
Before that, it was necessary to send the non-combat personnel of Ivaldi to a safe place.
Under Enniha's guidance, the remaining residents of Ivaldi, excluding combatants, hastily began to move to the shelter.
“Kania! Gather the warrior candidates!”
“Y-yes, ma'am!”
At Enniha's words, Kania, who had been helping evacuate the residents, hastily disappeared into the crowd.
A moment later.
Kania, followed by Dit and the warrior candidates, came running.
Enniha clenched her fist, looking at the candidates.
The instructor for the warrior candidates was none other than Enniha.
To Enniha, they were also her disciples.
She knew such a moment would come.
But she had wished for it to come as late as possible.
‘This must mean that we are no longer granted time.’
Enniha calmed her trembling voice and spoke.
“Children.”
“Yes, Lady Enniha.”
“…Are you ready to die?”
Is there anything more miserable than an adult asking children such a question?
Kania and Dit, who had been silent at Enniha's question, raised their weapon-wielding hands high.
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
Simultaneously with their shouts, the warrior candidates behind them also let out a roar.
Waaaaaaaaah-!
Enniha took a deep breath at the echoing shouts, then turned around.
“Let's go!”
“Yes!”
Enniha and the warrior candidates, and finally, all of Ivaldi's warriors gathered on the city wall.
Watching them, Nareda, who was on the shoulder of a giant demon, chuckled.
“It seems it will be surprisingly interesting. To kill again those we annihilated 5000 years ago.”
“It will be a pleasant hunt.”
“Right?”
Nareda patted the shoulder of the demon she was riding and looked at the city wall.
“Those are Leo Plov and Ar Tune, said to be the successors of the surviving hero and the brave one.”
Nareda already knew the enemies' information inside out.
Nareda, who had first observed Ar with interest, then turned her gaze to Leo.
The moment her eyes met Leo's, Nareda's face stiffened slightly.
“No, wait a minute.”
A human with white hair and red eyes.
Having watched him since the moment he stood out as a hero candidate, she had long since grasped his appearance.
However, this was the first time she saw him in person.
Therefore, she could feel an atmosphere distinctly different from the image she had seen through magic.
And she felt a doubt.
Even if the enemy they had to defeat was Dweno, one of the Great Heroes.
This battle was one they had already won.
Of course, capturing him was the goal, but she wondered if it was necessary to bring the legion's core forces.
But she put those doubts aside.
The will of the legion's master must be obeyed absolutely.
Because doubt is not tolerated.
“…Could it be?”
But now, she encountered the answer to that doubt.
Whoooosh-!
Leo, who had been standing on the city wall, looking at the Giant King's legion, now looked at the wall itself.
Despite the Giant King's forces, which offered no hope, no one showed any sign of fear.
“Hmm hmm! Good! Then shall this body step forward noowww?!”
Leo pulled Ar's tail as he cleared his throat and started to move forward.
“Wait.”
“Why?”
“Your howling isn't just about transforming beastmen into beast forms.”
“Then?”
“It plays the role of giving courage to allies when their morale is flagging.”
“So shouldn't I step forward now?”
“Do you think our morale is flagging from your perspective?”
At those words, Ar looked at their own side.
“Oh, it's not.”
“Your howling is a trump card to be used when the tide of battle turns.”
“A t-trump card?”
Leo chuckled, seeing Ar's intrigued expression, and said.
“What's needed now isn't courage.”
“Then? Should we just fight?”
“No, that's not it. There's one thing we need to imprint on the enemy.”
“What's that?”
Leaving Ar with a puzzled expression behind him, Leo, standing on the city wall, replied briefly.
“Fear.”
“Huh?”
Ar wore a bewildered expression.
Anyone could see that the current situation was clearly disadvantageous to their side.
How could they instill fear in the enemies in such a situation?
‘Even for the Black Rabbit, isn't that impossible?’
Whoooosh-
A lifeless wind blew, fluttering Leo's hair.
Leo, standing on the city wall with dull eyes, gazed at the Giant King's forces.
Even for Leo, it was impossible to instill fear in the entire Giant King's legion.
However.
‘Among these, there must be some who survived from the Age of Calamity.’
If so, it was possible to instill fear through them.
Just as Erebus was an object of hatred and a symbol of absolute fear to the inhabitants of the earth.
For the demons who have existed since the Age of Calamity, there is also a being of fear.
One who had slain an unimaginable number of demons, and whose path was always marked by mountains of demon corpses.
Gooooooh-!
As Leo spread his palm, a gray magic circle appeared in the air.
The face of one of the demon Giant Knights who saw it turned pale with fear.
“Th-that’s…”
“What's wrong?”
A demon who had recently become a member of the Giant Knights wore a bewildered expression, seeing one who had lived through ancient times filled with fear.
“To be tainted by fear by just a single magic circle. One who has borne the name 'Giant Knight' for thousands of years is showing such a disgrace.”
In the distant past.
One of the Giant Knights who had not seen that magic scoffed.
Neither the demons of the ancient past nor the demons of the present era knew.
They only knew him as a blasphemous being who had slain a god.
That is why they could only hate him.
To the demons who survived the Age of Calamity, he was both a hateful being and a terrifying presence whose name was difficult to even utter.
“The Hero of Beginnings… Kyle!”
Crackle-!
All the demons and monsters beneath the magic circle were crushed.
Bright red chunks of flesh and blood flowed.
The legion's advance stopped for an instant.
Their allies also lost their wits at the sight before them.
Whoooosh-
The wind blew.
Everyone on the battlefield looked at the one with white hair.
“Hoh?”
The Giant King, standing at the rear of the legion, let out an exclamation of admiration and curved his lips upwards.
Looking at the Giant King, Leo said.
“Your tedious life also ends here, Gias.”