Book 1 Chapter 796
796.
Rumble! Crash!
“It’s going to rain.”
Balhar muttered, clicking his tongue as he gazed at the lightning-streaked sky.
Mount Erdian, a towering peak located at the eastern edge of the world.
A hidden realm plagued by countless monsters.
5000 years ago.
It was the final destination of the great heroes and the place where Kyle, the Hero of Beginnings, saved the world through his final battle with Erebus.
But now, it is no exaggeration to say that no one remembers that fact.
“It’s still disheartening that the greatest history in this world has been forgotten…”
Kar muttered with a bitter expression right in front of Mount Erdian.
Kyle’s history had been meticulously erased by Tartarus.
Now, he was just a false great hero existing only in legends.
It was impossible for Tartarus’s demons to mention that fact.
“Forgotten pasts can always be restored. Don’t we live in this era?”
Balhar said calmly.
The great heroes who lived in the same era as Kyle and embarked on journeys with him had reincarnated.
However, even for great heroes, restoring Kyle’s forgotten story to its original state immediately was a difficult task.
For the four of them, Kyle was a close friend and a comrade who shared joys and sorrows.
And he was the last great hero who ultimately achieved what they had entrusted to him, saving the world.
But that was only based on the four of them.
Already, a staggering 5000 years had passed since that era.
Even considering the Age of Creation where records of Kyle remained, it was still 3000 years.
What turns past events into history, not mere stories, are records and evidence.
No matter how much they talked about Kyle, if they couldn’t find real evidence, anything about Kyle was just a story.
“It would be simple if we revealed that we were great heroes.”
As Kar pouted, Balhar sighed.
“Don’t you know well that even that isn’t easy?”
Balhar looked up at the sky.
No stars were visible in the night sky obscured by dark clouds.
“Our birth in this era is a miracle.”
It was surprising enough that reincarnation existed, but to be reborn into this world with memories was even more astonishing.
“Perhaps it’s the will of fate for us to fulfill the mission we couldn’t complete.”
“Not the will of the gods?”
“If those gods were that competent, we wouldn’t have had to go through all that hardship.”
Balhar, speaking acerbically, continued.
“But unfortunately, the current world lacks the power to completely destroy Tartarus.”
Compared to 5000 years ago.
The power of the current world is overwhelmingly mighty.
“As far as I remember, the current era is prospering more than the Age of Gods.”
The Age of Heroes.
Countless heroes were born through the power of an item called Hero Record.
Accumulated power is passed down to later generations, and the power thus inherited becomes even stronger.
Literally, a brilliant era.
“But even so, it’s not a level of power that can completely overwhelm Tartarus.”
Balhar clicked his tongue.
The great heroes were gradually regaining their former strength.
But even so, the three great calamities, known as the Demon Queen, the Giant King, and the Lich King, who had survived for 5000 years, were by no means easy opponents.
If they decided to avoid a fight and hide in the world’s darkness, even the great heroes would find it difficult to subdue them.
“Crucially, we still don’t have the means to subdue Erebus.”
The primordial evil sealed somewhere in this world.
Even if Tartarus were completely subdued in this era, as long as the black ember remained, disaster would eventually befall this world again.
“Unfortunately, the world cannot achieve complete harmony.”
“I don’t understand that. 5000 years ago, everyone in Gadslon was united in mind and spirit.”
“That’s because the world was on the brink of destruction due to Erebus, an uncontrollable common enemy.”
Balhar smiled bitterly.
“The era you were born and lived in was, ironically, the period when the world was most harmonious. But even then, there was strife.”
Kyle was the one who acted as a fixer in the shadows to resolve that strife.
“If it’s hard for people of the same race to understand each other, what about different races?”
Balhar lit his pipe, put it in his mouth, and puffed out smoke.
“At least we are beings who can temporarily lead the world to harmony as symbols. But that harmony won’t last long. So we must not reveal our identities until we have acquired the power to completely destroy Erebus.”
“Then it won’t be long!”
“…You. You’re strangely enthusiastic. Is something really wrong?”
“W-what?”
It was then that Balhar narrowed his eyes, seeing Kar’s flustered expression.
Whoosh-
Leah descended from the sky and landed lightly.
“Is there something at the summit of Mount Erdian?”
“No. There isn’t. Kar. Did you detect anything with your supersenses?”
“No.”
Kar shook his head at Leah’s question.
At that answer, Leah bit her nails.
“Erebus…”
She uttered the enemy’s name softly.
Her voice was filled with deep hatred. Seeing Leah like that, Balhar spoke.
“Leah. The existence of Erebus’s spiritual body… doesn’t that mean there’s a high probability that a fragment of Erebus has awakened?”
“…”
Leah, who had been silent at Balhar’s question, replied.
“There’s a probability, but… there’s also a high probability that it’s not.”
“Then why did Erebus’s spiritual body suddenly appear?”
“Erebus itself is a being equivalent to a god. There’s a non-zero chance that it left behind a spiritual body after being subdued by Kyle. That spiritual body might have suddenly awakened.”
“Hmm…”
Balhar bit his pipe.
“If a fragment of Erebus has revived… can we subdue it with our current power?”
“…”
Leah fell silent at Balhar’s question, then sighed.
“Overwhelming it should be possible. We haven’t fully regained our peak strength yet… but Erebus isn’t in a normal state either.”
“But subjugation is impossible?”
“Yes.”
“Sealing?”
“Possible.”
“In the Hero Record?”
“No. There’s Rune, isn’t there?”
“Rune?”
“She definitely lost her passion for magic. But that doesn’t change the fact that she’s Luna Rubinance.”
“Indeed… she’s the greatest genius since magic existed.”
Balhar nodded.
“She said she’s creating magic that can seal an Erebus fragment as a precaution. However…”
“However?”
“Even with the current Rune, it’s limited to only one fragment.”
“Hmm.”
Balhar nodded.
“So, we have a way to put out a fire in an emergency.”
“Yes.”
“Understood. I’ll also try to create a weapon that can defeat Erebus as quickly as possible.”
Balhar nodded.
Drip-drop- pitter-patter-
At that moment, raindrops began to fall.
Leah and Balhar opened a subspace and took out umbrellas.
“Kar, here.”
Leah handed an umbrella to Kar, who was staring blankly at the sky.
“Kar?”
But Kar only looked up at the pouring rain in the night sky with a hardened face.
“The smell of rain… is strange.”
“What?”
Leah looked puzzled at Kar’s sudden remark.
“The rain smells like burning.”
Kar’s face hardened.
“Just like 5000 years ago.”
At those words, Leah and Balhar’s faces hardened.
Shwoosh-!
The color of the rain gradually began to change.
It was night, but even if not at Kar’s level of vision, Leah and Balhar, with vision close to that of transcendent beings, could see the color change with their eyes.
“Black rain…”
To the people of this era, black rain might have been very unfamiliar.
But to the three people present, it was more familiar than anything else.
Then Kar’s eyes sharpened.
“…It’s coming.”
Boom-boom-boom-crash-!
“Gwoooooooh!”
A roar echoed from a spot on Mount Erdian.
Simultaneously, a massive arm shot up as if piercing the sky.
Balhar’s eyes widened at the sight.
“…The Giant King?”
“Graaaaaaagh!”
Boom-boom-boom-crash-!
The Giant King’s arm swung, destroying the surrounding area.
Leah, who had moved out of the attack range, floated lightly in the air, holding an umbrella.
And she narrowed her eyes.
“…Authority?”
The Giant King was not the usual Giant King.
His body was larger than usual, veins protruded, and he had lost his sanity.
Leah knew well what that was.
It was Berserker, the authority bestowed upon Giant King Gias by Erebus.
‘The legion commanders should have lost their authority after Erebus was subdued, so why is he using authority?’
Moreover, the Giant King using authority was different from what the great heroes knew.
‘His sanity is completely gone. Only the instinct to destroy remains.’
Leah, confirming Gias’s gleaming eyes, assessed the situation with cold eyes.
Giant King Gias.
He was the largest among the legion commanders and claimed to be the assault leader.
But his personality and cautiousness were among the best of all legion commanders.
If asked to name the most difficult legion commander to subdue, Leah would not have chosen the Lich King, Tartarus’s commander-in-chief, or Jörmungandr, one of the worst enemies, but rather the Giant King.
Even using Berserker, he wouldn’t lose his sanity to this extent.
Leah, who had been narrowing her eyes, suddenly realized something was on top of Gias’s head and her eyes twitched.
A demon enveloped in black flames was plunging something that looked like a sword into the Giant King’s head.
‘…Erebus’s spiritual body.’
It was clearly the spiritual body that had fought Balhar.
Thinking that far, Leah spread her hand that wasn’t holding the umbrella.
“Gwoooooooh!”
Gias roared and charged towards Leah.
“Titaum.”
Boom-boom-boom-crash-!
As Leah called her covenant partner, a giant rock hand shot up through the ground.
Clang-!
The rock giant that emerged from the ground blocked Gias.
Boom-boom-boom-crash-!
The terrain began to shift due to the struggle for power between the Giant King and the Great Spirit of Earth.
“Balhar.”
Leah, who had blocked the Giant King’s charge, softly called Balhar’s name.
Whoosh-!
With that, Balhar, raising a massive golden axe, flew towards Gias like a comet from the sky.
Flare-up-
Golden flames blazed around Balhar’s body.
“Haaah!”
Thwack-!
With Balhar’s roar, the battle axe directly blew off Gias’s head.
Splurt-!
Blood gushed out.
But that wasn’t the end.
Flash-!
A golden flash gleamed.
A feast of golden lines adorned the air.
Kar’s sword strike sliced Gias’s body into tiny pieces, leaving no form behind.
Splurt-!
Blood and flesh poured out like a wave.
No matter how much he was the Giant King, a charge fueled by power was nothing more than suicide in front of the three great heroes.
‘But, it’s too easy.’
Leah wore a bewildered expression.
Then.
“Leah! Balhar! This Gias! He’s strange!”
Kar shouted urgently.
“This Gias doesn’t seem to be the Gias of this era!”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s the Gias from 5000 years ago! The smell is different!”
Kar’s urgent voice.
Leah quickly turned her gaze to find the demon of black flames.
Something was visible in the hands of the demon of black flames.
‘Hero Record?’
The moment Leah’s eyes widened.
The flames receded.
Simultaneously, at the familiar face that was revealed, Leah’s face hardened.
Erebus’s spiritual body, in Kyle’s form, sneered and then gripped a Hero Record fragment.
At the same time, the Hero Record shone, and the Giant King appeared again.
Leah’s face twisted at the sight.
‘Bringing out past beings from the Hero Record?!’