Book 1 Chapter 762

762.

Lil looked at Elena with sparkling eyes.

"As expected, Senior Elena is the best in school!"

"Hmph. What 'best'? There's a current student council president."

"Shouldn't Hyung-nim be an exception?"

"That's true."

"Then Senior Elena *is* the best, right?!"

Lil, smiling brightly, ran to hug Elena.

It was a display of affection she sometimes showed when she couldn't control her excitement, a habit she had, like a puppy.

"Don't come closer."

"Huh?"

"We haven't completely defeated the enemy yet. We need to stay alert."

"Ah! I was thoughtless!"

Just then, Lil hastily started scanning her surroundings.

"What are you doing?"

*Tap-!*

"Eek?!"

When Leo, who had approached from the side, lightly tapped her shoulder, Elena shrieked and collapsed.

"Acting tough in front of your junior or what?"

Leo clicked his tongue, looking at Elena trembling on the floor.

Elena, with blazing eyes, looked up at Leo.

Leo grabbed Elena's wrist and helped her stand up.

"It hurts! I said it hurts!"

"You overused your magic while moving excessively, overloading your magic circuit. It's similar to getting a cramp in your muscle, so stretching it like this will release it."

"Ow ow ow!"

Elena, whose innate magic circuits were exceptionally strong, had never experienced such an overload before.

Leo, holding both of Elena's wrists, moved her arms this way and that, as if she were a doll.

Each time, Elena's screams echoed.

Eventually, Elena, unable to bear it any longer, swung her foot to kick Leo.

However, far from hitting Leo, only pain assailed her due to her overexerted body.

Soon, Elena, half-dead from the immense pain, went limp.

"Lil."

"Yes, Hyung-nim."

"Carry this one on your back for a bit."

Leo handed Elena over to Lil as if she were a piece of baggage.

"Senior. Why didn't you just say it hurt if it hurt?"

"Shut up."

"Even so, Hyung-nim stretched you out thinking of you, so don't hate him too much."

"Someday, I'm going to punch that old man right in the face!"

Elena reacted fiercely to Lil's every word.

Elena was snarling fiercely, but Lil didn't particularly mind.

Rather, he had a question about Elena's words.

"Why is Hyung-nim an 'old man'?"

"His actions are like an old man's."

"Hmm… Hyung-nim certainly has a dandy charisma."

"Dandy charisma, my ass. He's just an annoying old man."

"Huh? Isn't Hyung-nim cool?"

"……"

Lil, with wide eyes, wore an incomprehensible expression.

Elena, who had been pouting while being carried by Lil, bit Lil's nape.

"Agh! Senior! Why are you biting me?!"

"Hmph!"

Elena snorted irritably.

'They get along well.'

Listening to their conversation, Leo approached the Second Saintess.

After being directly hit by the "Finality" spell Elena unleashed, ice tentacles were no longer generated.

The Second Saintess was also silent.

But Leo noticed that this was the calm before the storm.

This was because an unusual aura was emanating from the body of Ameriol, the demon of Styx.

Seeing this, Leo concentrated magic at his fingertips.

The magic swirling at his fingertips soon took shape and transformed into a single magic spell.

At that magic, Ameriol's eyes, which had been silent, suddenly flashed open.

*Kwagagagang-!*

Simultaneously, hundreds of ice tentacles burst through the floor and appeared.

*Jjeojeojeojeojeong-!*

Leo instantly created hundreds of magic shields to block the attack.

Leo, who had lightly blocked the ice tentacles, curled up the corners of his mouth.

Ameriol, her eyes open, looked at Leo and spoke.

"For a slave race, your petty tricks are not bad at all."

"Or aren't *you* just launching pathetic attacks for a Legion Commander?"

At Leo's words, the Saintess said with an expressionless face.

"I will forgive your insolence of putting me on the same level as those grotesque monsters of Tartarus only once, so remember that."

"Then what should I call you?"

"Saintess."

"Ah, now that you mention it, that demon fellow kept saying 'Saintess, Saintess,' so it must have been you."

Leo nodded as if he understood.

And then he made a bored expression.

"You're not even sacred, so why call you by an undeserved title like 'Saintess'? 'Legion Commander' would be perfect and easy…"

*Boom-!*

Before Leo could finish his sentence, a gigantic blade of ice plunged down from the sky onto the spot where Leo had been.

"Foolish slave. If you hadn't been insolent, you might have at least left a corpse."

It was then that Ameriol spoke in a chilling voice.

*Kadeudeudeuk-!*

"……?"

Cracks began to form on the gigantic ice blade.

*Paching-!*

The shattered ice blade scattered in all directions.

Along with that, Leo emerged from the deep pit.

Leo, who had lightly lifted his body using magic, landed on the ground.

"Doesn't seem like just an ordinary block of ice, does it?"

As Leo wore an amused expression, Ameriol displayed a look of disbelief.

"What on earth did you do? That is a holy sword that the Second Saint painstakingly carved from the ice of the great goddess. There should be nothing harder in this world. How did you destroy it?"

"Hmm. Looks like there's a guy like the Giant King on your side too."

Leo let out a small laugh.

"But what to do?"

Leo pointed his sword at Ameriol.

"Mine is a sword forged by the greatest blacksmith, though?"

"That crude-looking sword?"

Leo gave an eerie smile, looking at Ameriol who narrowed her eyes.

"You'll know if you get cut by it yourself."

*Whoosh-!*

Leo vanished.

Appearing instantly before Ameriol, Leo swung his sword to strike her neck.

"You're fast for a slave."

*Kagagak-!*

Leo's attack was blocked by a barrier generated in front of Ameriol.

"Did you think a slave like you could even inflict a single scratch on the Saintess's body?"

*Thwack-!*

"Yeah."

Leo's sword cut through Ameriol's neck, barrier and all.

Leo said with chilling eyes.

"You seem to think a Legion Commander is something special."

"You wretch! This body is the Saintess of Styx, not some monster of Tartarus!"

"I know."

Leo looked at Ameriol's head, which had soared into the sky, answered nonchalantly, and then kicked Ameriol's body.

*Thwack-!*

"I said it to annoy you."

At the spot where Leo's scoffing kick landed, Ameriol's body shattered into pieces.

Subsequently, as Leo swung his sword, a gray aura burst forth and pulverized Ameriol's head floating in mid-air.

*Sabak- sabak- sabak-*

Ice fragments rained down everywhere.

The ice fragments soon gathered into one, returning to their original form.

"You wretch…!"

Leo curled up the corners of his mouth, looking at Ameriol, who was expressing her rage.

"Even in your original state, it would be impossible to handle me, so wouldn't it be even harder when your power is divided into three?"

Currently, Ameriol's power was divided into three.

One was here, and the other two were being dealt with by Chloe and Luca, and Lunia and Wereden, respectively.

At Leo's words, an immense chill emanated from Ameriol's body.

"I, the Second Saintess! Ameriol, will make you regret incurring my wrath even in death!"

*Gooooooh-!*

Along with a horrifyingly cold voice, Ameriol's body gradually began to grow colossal.

*Kkaggakkkagagak-*

The surrounding temperature began to drop sharply.

Moisture in the air was sucked towards Ameriol.

Consequently, Ameriol's colossal growth accelerated even further.

Soon, Ameriol, who had grown unbelievably colossal, shouted.

"Worship me! You foolish slaves! Your master! The Saintess of Styx has returned!"

***

Lunia and Wereden wore bewildered expressions when the Saintess they were fighting suddenly vanished.

A moment later, Chen Xia and Chloe, who had been fighting not far away, also joined them.

"Lunia. Weren't you fighting a strange woman?"

"Yeah. But she suddenly disappeared. What about you two?"

"The same happened to us."

It was when Lunia fell into thought at Chen Xia's answer.

"Senior Lunia!"

Rhea flew over from a distance using magic.

"Elena Zerreon of Lumern and Lil Luce are fighting against a Legion Commander-class demon!"

At those words, the faces of the four people grew serious.

"We must join them quickly…!"

As Lunia spoke urgently.

"No need to join them."

"Ehhhhh?"

Lysinas, who had appeared behind Rhea, said, pulling Rhea's soft cheeks.

"Leo Flobe has joined that side, you see."

"Lady Lysinas."

Lunia hastily bowed her head.

As the other students also tried to show respect, Lysinas shook her head.

"No need for stiff formalities."

Lysinas, who was pinching Rhea's cheeks playfully, was impressed.

'Nice to touch, isn't it?'

While Rhea was making a tearful face, unable to do anything.

*Kugugugugugung-!*

Not far away, the Saintess's form began to appear.

The hero candidates, led by Lunia, gaped.

"Th-that… isn't it getting too big?"

"Isn't it getting as big as the Giant King?"

Lysinas said, looking at the astonished hero candidates.

"The Giant King is bigger than that."

Even if it was smaller than the Giant King, that overwhelming size naturally daunted them.

"Oh, we must go and help!"

Chloe said urgently.

Despite her words, Lysinas maintained a bored expression.

"Leave it."

"Huh?"

"Demons who rely solely on their abilities always show their lack of experience."

Lysinas scoffed.

"Just watch closely. That's just a target that got bigger."

***

Leo looked up at Ameriol with an incredulous expression.

An incomparable amount of dark magic, far greater than before, could be felt.

Moreover, a dreadful chill began to rage around them.

Just standing there was enough to freeze one's body.

Overwhelming power.

A power befitting a Legion Commander.

'No, was it Saintess?'

Actually, it didn't matter.

Whether Legion Commander or Saintess, to Leo, they were merely demons to be subjugated.

Among the Legion Commanders of Tartarus, there were many gigantic monsters.

The most notable were the Giant King and the Monster Queen.

'Well, compared to them, this one is aesthetically more pleasing, though.'

Grotesque monster forms and beautiful forms.

Aesthetically, the latter was cleaner.

And…

"This one is also simpler to deal with."

The more battle-experienced a demon was, the more dangerous it was.

This was because they could perfectly understand and apply their abilities.

Therefore, the malevolence of seasoned demons was frightening.

Because they utilized their abilities to the maximum and refined them to be lethal.

And Leo instantly saw through that the demon named Ameriol before him lacked battle experience.

During the Age of Calamity.

When the Legion Commanders were subjugated by the Great Heroes, Erebus created new Legion Commander-class demons.

All the demons born this way were subjugated by the Great Heroes.

The reason was simple.

To the Great Heroes who had accumulated experience through the Age of Calamity, the newly born demons were no different from strong but foolish brutes.

All of them, intoxicated by their own power, charged in recklessly and were easily subjugated.

Ameriol's behavior was similar to that of the nascent Legion Commanders of that time.

By increasing one's size like this, one can become stronger.

But that also meant there were many openings to attack.

Moreover, this cold wave.

"A fragment of Erebus… No, is it Nyx's blessing?"

"For a mere human, you're quite perceptive!"

Nyx's blessing.

It felt similar to Erebus's blessing.

Leo recalled Jörmungandr, the Legion Commander who had once received Erebus's blessing.

At that time, Jörmungandr had momentarily gained the power of immortality, just like Erebus.

"Slave race! Feel the fear of the Goddess's power and kneel…"

"I can see why you guys lost to those Tartarus bastards."

Leo, who had ascended to Ameriol's head, interrupted her.

Gray magic shimmered in Leo's hand, which held the sword.

Compared to Jörmungandr, Ameriol was laughably weak.

No, there's no need to even go as far as Jörmungandr.

The Giant King, the Monster Queen, and so on.

Weaker than any Legion Commander.

That was because Ameriol was not a demon born for combat.

Nevertheless, as a top-tier demon of Legion Commander class, she was naturally strong.

Furthermore, having received the grace of an evil god, she momentarily became an immortal being.

A monster that terrestrial races would normally be unable to handle.

But Ameriol didn't know.

That Nyx was devoured by Erebus.

After they vanished into the annals of history due to their defeat.

What Erebus and Tartarus, who had crushed them, had done.

And what became of the ultimate absolute evil that had devoured the six evil gods, at the hands of a single human.

As a Saintess who had merely awaited the voice of her god again underground, there was no way for her to know.

Ameriol saw the light erupting from the hand of the human who appeared before her, and wore an incomprehensible expression.

'What is that? That magic?'

It was like the crystallization of the malevolence a human harbored towards an evil god.

Magic to destroy a god, created by the Hero of Beginning who ceaselessly pondered how to permanently erase the existence of evil gods from this world.

Magic created by the Progenitor of the Nebula, a fusion of "Finality" and "Innocent."

A power of judgment that losers dared not resist.

Leo unleashed that magic.

"Zero."