Book 1 Chapter 926

The campsite was in disarray due to Ar being knocked back by Azonia's punch.

Ar, buried in the wreckage of the tent, sat up abruptly.

As Ar pushed himself up, he flinched and trembled from the extreme pain in his left arm.

The arm he had crossed to block Azonia's punch was shattered at the point of impact.

*Swoosh-*

Elena descended from the sky and landed beside Ar.

"Are you alright?"

Despite Elena's question, Ar didn't answer. He simply wagged his tail, glaring at his broken arm.

Seeing Ar's reaction, Elena muttered to herself.

'Is he angry?'

But looking closer, she saw a glint of moisture in the corner of his eye.

'He knows that if he cries out in pain, his morale will break, so he's enduring it.'

Indeed, the attack just moments ago was unusual.

It wasn't just a simple punch; the destructive power contained within that single blow was immense.

'What kind of monster is this that appeared out of nowhere?'

Although young and still inexperienced, Ar was undeniably a hero whose name was recorded in the Hero Records.

He had even rapidly deployed his Aura Armor before being hit by the punch.

Even if he had let his guard down, inflicting such an injury with a single punch was not easy.

Watching Ar writhe in pain as he tried to lick his swelling arm, Elena sighed and activated her magic.

Elena cast a pain-dulling spell on herself and then unleashed a healing spell.

*Vwoom-!*

Light flowed from Ar's body.

Ar's tail stood up like an exclamation mark.

"It doesn't hurt!"

"It's a healing spell."

"Is there a healing spell this effective?"

"Yes, it's Elf magic."

"Whoa!"

Sacrifice.

It was a magic left behind by Menamel, the Saintess of the Elves.

This magic, considered the strongest healing spell, could even revive those on the brink of death.

However, it was a forbidden magic.

The reason was that the caster bore the price in their stead.

'I think I'm going to faint…'

Elena, sweating cold, covered the injured area with her right hand to conceal her swollen left arm.

The principle of Sacrifice was an exchange magic, where the caster bore the patient's wounds.

While casting the healing spell with her right hand, Elena maintained a composed demeanor.

If she showed her pain here, Ar would worry about her.

'I received the position of leader, even if it's temporary, from Leo.'

She had to act perfectly as a leader in his stead.

Recalling Leo's image of calmly encouraging the party without a hint of wavering in any situation, Elena smiled.

"Elena, you can use so many different kinds of magic!"

"My family is like that."

Her reputation as a magic genius was not unfounded.

Elena could easily learn most magic, regardless of its category, as long as it fell under the umbrella of magic.

Ar's tail, seemingly happy, stood up like an exclamation mark again.

Elena stared at his fluffy white tail for a moment, then reached out.

*Swish-!*

Ar's tail playfully dodged Elena's hand.

"I healed your wound, so let me touch it."

"No. My tail is sensitive."

"Leo-kun touches it just fine."

"A black rabbit is a black rabbit. A lady's tail is precious."

"You're so stingy."

Elena grumbled with a sullen face and said,

"You join the front lines. I'll prepare my magic."

"Yes!"

Ar replied energetically and dashed off.

As Ar disappeared, Elena unconsciously slumped down.

*Thud-*

"It really hurts…"

Alone, cold sweat dripped from Elena's forehead.

Even though she was healing the wound with a healing spell, the pain showed no signs of subsiding.

'Still, I fooled him well.'

Elena, who had deceived the sensually sensitive Ar, took a deep breath.

Then, while maintaining the healing spell, Elena initiated multiple incantations.

*Vwoom-!*

Immense magical energy stirred.

The target was the sudden, unexpected assailant.

Elena narrowed her eyes as she unleashed hundreds of spells.

'What exactly is its identity?'

***

At the front lines, Driana and Eiran were fending off the assailant.

Luna, having even summoned a phoenix, was unleashing magic.

The problem was that it was difficult for Luna to use her specialty, grand magic.

'Bad matchup!'

Luna bit her lip.

Most of the high-ranking demons of Tartarus were monsters with colossal bodies.

Tartarus, the ultimate target, was also a giant of flames.

Therefore, Luna had focused on learning magic to defeat such large beings.

Of course, that didn't mean her human-sized magic was weak.

However, their current enemy was a monster that far surpassed common sense.

'If it were Luna-nim, she would have perfectly fulfilled her role, whether the opponent was large or small.'

Luna unleashed her magic, feeling her own inadequacy.

*Whoosh-!*

Azonia, narrowly dodging the magic, approached Luna.

Eiran blocked Azonia's path.

*Clang-!*

"Kyaaak?!"

Azonia unhesitatingly swung his fist at Eiran.

Although Eiran blocked the punch with his shield, clad in Animus armor, he couldn't withstand the impact and was flung back, screaming.

"Eiran!"

Driana frantically reached out to Eiran.

If she made a mistake, she couldn't afford to be removed from the battlefield like Ar.

Driana alone couldn't stop Azonia.

As a frontline fighter, Driana was very strong, but she specialized in stopping giant monsters or massive armies.

Therefore, her ability to deal with enemies moving at such high speeds was somewhat lacking.

She managed to catch the flying Eiran, but momentarily became defenseless.

"Kkkuuk! Luna! Can you dodge?!"

"Of course!"

Luna had already prepared to evade as Azonia charged.

*Flap! Roar-*

Crimson flames shot out from Luna's back like wings.

She had transformed the phoenix into flames and enveloped her body.

Luna soared into the sky at high speed.

"……!"

"That's amazing? It's like Spirit Armored from Spirit Magic, isn't it?"

However, Azonia easily overtook Luna.

Azonia was genuinely impressed by Luna's beast-summoning technique.

The talent for transforming the highest-level spirit magic into beast-summoning and using it was astonishing even to Azonia.

'He's not just a conqueror of Luna-nim's world.'

Azonia glanced down.

'The little dwarf and the elf are the same.'

Finally, Azonia turned his gaze forward.

By then, Ar was flashing his blue eyes and swinging his legs.

'Even this cat-eared kid.'

Azonia felt a sense of specialness in those before him.

*Boom-!*

Ar's sharp kick collided with Azonia's kick.

*Rumble rumble rumble-*

The air trembled from the clash of auras.

In a battle of strength against strength, Ar was slowly pushed back.

Just as Ar was about to be sent flying.

"Kuhuhuhuhuhuhong-!"

"……!"

Ar let out a howl.

Along with it, Ar began to transform.

This was unexpected, as Azonia's eyes widened.

At that moment, the balance of power was briefly lost.

Ar, momentarily overwhelming him in strength, sent Azonia crashing to the ground.

*Kwagagagagag-!*

A crater formed as if a meteorite had fallen, and sand surged like waves.

'Transformation… this is that damned guy's ability.'

Azonia stood up, shaking the sand off his body.

'This confirms it. These children are the successors of the great heroes that Rodia and Seirun spoke of.'

Azonia, raising his head, looked at Ar.

'A successor of the hero chosen by the hero of the beginning.'

Azonia's gaze turned peculiar.

At that moment.

*Goooooo!*

Luna's completed magic engulfed the crater where Azonia was.

Simultaneously, a vast number of binding spells wrapped around Azonia.

Azonia's eyes twitched.

Starting with simple gravity magic, followed by binding spells and spatial compression spells, and so on.

An immense restraining force was unleashed, enough to momentarily bind Azonia, the Hero of Genesis.

What was even more surprising was that all these numerous spells were different, with no overlap.

'And yet, they are connected like chains.'

Extremely delicate and powerful magic.

Azonia glanced at Luna.

'This isn't the magic cast by Luna-nim's successor. Then was it the magic cast by that human mage earlier?'

Azonia realized who was the most threatening enemy here.

A skill that far surpassed most mage heroes, despite being incredibly young.

'While the power of the magic is superior to Luna-nim's successor, this one will be more troublesome to deal with.'

*Kwagagagagag-!*

At that moment, Luna's magic, reminiscent of the sun, struck Azonia.

*Kwahahahah-!*

Due to the immense heat, the surrounding sand melted and began to flow like lava.

The magic burrowed deep into the ground, like dropping a hot iron ball onto ice.

But that was brief.

The massive circular flame stopped burrowing into the ground.

Luna's face hardened.

*Gooooo-*

The flame magic slowly began to rise from the ground.

Eventually, Azonia, who had pushed the magic away with one hand, emerged from the ground.

Beneath her hood, her lips curved into a smile.

"This is fun?"

Ar felt his fur stand on end at Azonia's muttering.

'What is this? This oppressive feeling?'

It was on a different level than before.

Azonia smiled at Ar, who lowered his stance and started to sweat.

"With this, I guess I can get serious too."

Before Azonia could finish speaking, Ar flew towards Elena at maximum speed.

*Crack-!*

Azonia's punch was blocked right in front of Elena's nose.

Ar's hand, which had barely blocked the punch, trembled.

"Not bad, kid. You can even handle hyper senses."

*Flash-!*

Elena unleashed her magic with a cold expression.

Seeing that, Azonia smiled.

"Your magic is terrifying, unlike your pretty face?"

Smiling, Azonia twisted the fist Ar was holding.

"Wha-?!"

Ar, who had foreseen Azonia attacking Elena, unleashed golden aura.

At that moment, the killing intent directed at Elena shifted to Ar.

*Thwack-!*

"Kuhk?!"

Azonia's fist once again struck Ar's abdomen.

*Thud-*

Seeing Ar collapse to the ground, clutching his stomach, Azonia spoke in a chilling voice.

"Let me give you a warning. I hate cat-beasts and golden auras the most in the world. Remember that."

Ar, gritting his teeth, kicked off the ground.

"Oh? You're still energetic?"

Azonia displayed a chilling bloodlust and reached out into the air.

*Grasp-!*

Azonia snatched Ar by the neck and threw him towards Luna, who had flown over.

"Luna-chan! Be careful!"

Eiran urgently tried to rescue Luna, but Azonia approached and kicked Eiran away faster.

"Ngh!"

Driana swung her battle axe towards Azonia's head.

*Snatch-*

Azonia blocked Driana's attack with a single finger and smiled.

"I'm curious."

Then he glanced towards Elena, who was casting magic.

"Will you guys break if you keep getting trampled on?"

Azonia, with a cruel smile, unleashed his aura.