Book 1 Chapter 959
959.
“Ah, Ar! Let go of me!”
“I can’t let go!”
Areon was dragging Ar, who was clinging to his feet.
Despite having overwhelming physical abilities, Ar couldn't stop Areon, who was determined to drag him away.
From Ar’s perspective, clinging was all he could do.
Areon stopped walking and looked down at Ar with a troubled expression.
Ar looked up at Areon with a tearful face.
Areon wasn’t trying to escape now.
No, rather, he could fight back at any time.
He was trying to leave Reisar purely for the future.
He was abandoning the opportunity to meet his master and save his hometown to prevent those in the future from falling into danger.
Ar knew well how devastated Areon must be feeling.
That’s why he couldn’t let Areon go.
“Ar. It’s an already determined past. Nothing you do here will change the past.”
“……”
“Besides, I’m already dead. I can’t sacrifice you all because of me…”
“I know.”
“……”
“But you can’t just turn a blind eye, can you?”
As Areon said, it was an already determined past.
Nothing would change no matter what was done here.
Meaningless and worthless.
But for someone, it was.
A past they desperately wanted to change.
It must be a wound scarred with thousands, tens of thousands of regrets.
He called it worthless.
But for Areon, it had meaning.
Even if he was a dead person.
He deserved a chance to lay down his burden.
Because the future Areon worried about was the future he himself had forged.
“Ar…”
Just as Areon bit his lip tightly.
“Kuaaaahhh!”
A desperate scream was heard.
The two looked at each other’s faces and then ran towards where the scream came from.
***
“Damn it! Damn it!”
The one running through the alley with bloodshot eyes was Rebeiton, the lord of Reisar.
He was a deluded man who fantasized about rising as a great being in the New World.
He was a foolish traitor who had been promised eternal life and prosperity by Tartaros in exchange for handing over all of Reisar.
Currently, he had lost everything he had to the shadows that raided the lord’s castle.
“Incompetent fools! How could you not even properly stop those things!”
Rebeiton gritted his teeth, recalling the heroes of Reisar who had followed him.
His closest confidants, who had boasted of their strength, were instantly neutralized, making their usual arrogance seem absurd.
“Those things should have been eliminated long ago!”
Rebeiton barely managed to escape through a secret passage.
‘As long as I live! As long as I live!’
His ally was none other than Tartaros.
With the power of the Demon Race, he would be able to drive away the unidentified attackers and reclaim the lord’s castle.
“Worm-like bastards! When I return…!”
Shugak—! Kwak—!
As Rebeiton gritted his teeth and revealed his murderous intent, a silver flash suddenly enveloped him.
Chulpeok!
Rebeiton screamed at the searing pain in his arm.
“Aaaahhh!”
Clutching his severed arm, he hastily looked back, wondering if the attackers were chasing him.
But there was no one there.
Then a cold voice came from in front of him.
“Long time no see, Rebeiton.”
“Ah, Lord Agon…!”
Rebeiton forced a smile.
“Oh, long time no see! Lord Agon! It’s perfect timing! The city is in great danger right now…”
Kwak!
“Kuaaaahhh!”
Agon’s claws cruelly tore Rebeiton’s other arm.
“Why…! Why…!”
“Do you really not know why I’m doing this?”
Agon was smiling coldly.
He knew everything.
But he had endured, knowing that his rage would plunge Reisar into crisis.
“It wasn’t me…! It was the previous lord’s doing…”
Jeobuk—
“Hiiieek! S-Save me! Forgive me!”
Even as his last remaining arm was torn off, Rebeiton, who was blaming the previous lord, begged for his life as he saw Agon approaching.
Agon silently raised his hand.
At that moment.
“Master.”
Agon paused at the voice from behind him.
And looked at Areon with cold eyes.
“Long time no see.”
“……”
“I didn’t want to meet you.”
“I really wanted to meet you.”
Areon smiled bitterly.
“I’ve seen a lot… and learned a lot,” Areon said, looking at Agon’s face.
“I’m still a coward… but I’ve learned how to be brave.”
Areon looked at his master with unwavering eyes.
“I also saw the… blue sky you told me about, Master.”
What had happened?
Agon couldn’t say anything as he looked at his grown disciple.
He didn’t want to show this side of himself.
His weak self, a vengeful spirit who had even abandoned his duty.
He didn’t want to show it to his disciple, who was walking towards the future.
“Areon, I am…”
“You are my Master.”
Areon said firmly.
“No matter what you look like… you are the proud master who taught me courage and showed me that there is a blue sky.”
At that moment.
Tartaros’s summoning circle was seen forming in the sky outside the city walls.
A moment later.
A warp gate connected from Gadthron was also seen.
Areon sighed deeply at the sight.
“Kyle really is…”
He knew what that meant.
Perhaps his future friends had led his past friends to Reisar.
“Seriously. I thought he’d think the same way as me.”
Since things had come to this, they had no choice but to fight.
Areon took a deep breath.
“I always wanted to show you, Master.”
Areon opened his eyes clearly and looked at Agon.
“My changed self.”
[The conquest objective has been changed.]
[Conquest Objective (Hidden): Save Reisar.]
Ar’s eyes widened at the message that appeared before him.
He hardened his resolve.
With that alone, Areon returned to his Hero form.
Areon turned around.
Seeing Areon heading towards the city wall, Ar said in a fluster.
“Huh? Lord Areon! Lord Agon…”
“Master will come.”
Areon smiled lightly and ran towards the city wall.
Ar, after hurriedly bowing to Agon, followed him.
Agon, left alone, watched Areon’s retreating figure.
“…He’s all grown up.”
The disciple in his memories was no longer there.
There was only the disciple who had grown and begun to walk his own path.
He couldn’t understand all of Areon’s words, but he knew this much.
That his disciple had now far surpassed him.
‘Can I… stand on the battlefield?’
He had already been broken.
He felt that even if he stood on the battlefield, he might just hinder his disciple.
As Agon was conflicted.
Sabak— Sabak—
Footsteps were heard.
Agon’s eyes widened as he turned his head.
“El… Si?”
There was Elsi, holding a sword in her arms.
“Long time no see, Agon.”
Elsi smiled bitterly and greeted him.
Elsi and Agon’s connection began from the moment Elsi was born.
Schatten, the sword that swallowed darkness, once Agon’s symbol, was Elsi.
After Schatten broke on the battlefield, Elsi awakened from her slumber and settled in an orphanage.
Later, in the original history, Elsi saw human malice and became disillusioned with the world, like Agon.
But in the final moment.
She ultimately sacrificed herself for the world.
Tears flowed from Agon’s eyes, unaware that Elsi was the Great Spirit of Darkness.
“You were… alive?”
“I’m sorry, Agon. The Elsi you know and I are different beings.”
Elsi, who was saved by Leo in the world of heroes, did not experience what Agon went through.
However.
Still, Elsi remembered.
The countless stories Agon had told her.
The beauty of the starry night sky reclaimed.
The high blue sky filled with white clouds.
All of it was exactly as Agon had described in his stories.
No. Rather, it was even more beautiful than that.
“Agon. I cannot fully comprehend your heart. What you went through is a terrible thing I don’t even want to imagine.”
Elsi approached Agon.
“But… even so, I know that the essence of who you are hasn’t changed.”
Elsi went before him and handed him a sword.
“…Schatten.”
Agon ran his hand over the sword, which greatly resembled his own sword that had broken long ago.
It was a sword Dwenno had made at Elsi’s request a few days ago.
“Guardian of the Azure Sky, Agon. You are Reisar’s hero.”
“……”
“I know. No matter how many times you are broken. You will rise and fight for the people.”
There was unwavering faith in Elsi’s eyes.
“No matter how ugly the world is… you taught me and Areon that there are things worth protecting.”
That’s why Elsi and Agon couldn’t give up on the world until the very end and sacrificed themselves.
They never doubted that even in a dark world, there was light.
“Grrr…”
Rebeiton swallowed a groan and crawled on the ground, trying to escape.
As Elsi’s cold gaze turned to him.
Kwak—!
Agon stabbed Rebeiton’s heart with the sword.
“Gurgle—!”
Rebeiton met a futile death.
“You don’t need to stain your hands with the blood of this vile man.”
Agon reached out and stroked Elsi’s head.
“Yes. Even in a dirty world… there are things worth protecting.”
Will entered Agon’s eyes.
He turned his body.
And followed his disciple.
***
Leo muttered, seeing Tartaros’s immense army gathered before Reisar.
“There are more than I remember?”
“What?”
Lunia made a flustered expression.
“It’s the Lich King’s plan. He must have realized his plan went wrong and brought his full might.”
“Ah! Seriously, that damn bonehead!”
Lunia gritted her teeth.
The legion commanders of this era were overwhelmingly stronger than the legion commanders of later generations.
Even if the new generation of legion commanders inherited powers and abilities through the Legion’s records.
It still couldn’t compare to the strength of the legion commanders blessed by Erebus.
People shrunk back at the overwhelming army.
The hero candidates swallowed dry.
Lishinas made a serious expression.
They had brought their maximum strength, but it seemed insufficient.
Moreover, this was not Gadthron’s city wall.
The scale was similar, but Gadthron’s city wall was designed by Dwenno and protected by Luna and Lishinas’s magic.
Its durability was inherently different.
Furthermore, people were intimidated.
‘Something is needed to raise morale.’
Then Kyle spoke.
“Luna.”
“Yes?”
“Do that thing you usually do well.”
“What?”
“That thing where you deliver a big blow and then act cool to raise morale.”
“That’s not acting cool, it’s genuinely cool.”
Luna crossed her arms.
“But that idiot dragon turned me into a polka dot. I wonder if my usual dignity will come out.”
When Luna glared, Lishinas cast a healing spell on his palm and pressed Luna’s eyes.
“Ack! Ack! The idiot dragon is tormenting me!”
“I’m healing you.”
“You’re trying to pluck my eyes out!”
“Dwenno, try to stop them.”
“Don’t come near me. I refuse to be treated the same.”
The hero candidates felt a slight release of tension at the casual demeanor of the Great Heroes.
At that moment.
Flash—!
A golden light flashed in the sky.
The moment everyone looked up at the sky in surprise.
Kwagagagagang—!
Aura poured down like rain from the sky.
The Great Heroes stopped fighting and their eyes widened.
Thud—!
Then someone landed on the city wall.
Wheeoooooo—!
The wind blew, scattering white hair.
Everyone’s gaze fixed on the beastman.
The Hero, Areon, slowly rose.
And only turned his head to look back.
Only one corner of his mouth was upturned.
His eyes were filled with resolve.
Chuk—!
Areon raised one hand.
That hand with the index finger raised.
One year ago.
Hero candidates who remembered the time they subjugated the fragment of Erebus had that image etched in their minds.
Areon had disappeared exactly like that then.
Areon grinned and said in a low voice.
“I’m here.”
That one word, somehow mixed with dignity.
His appearance gave an inexplicable courage to those who saw it.
“Whoooaaaaaaahhhh!”
The hero candidates let out a fervent cheer.
Along with them, the soldiers guarding the walls of Reisar were also swept up in the atmosphere and cheered.
Lishinas gaped.
Dwenno made an incredulous expression.
“Did he eat something wrong since I last saw him? Kyle. Why is Areon imitating you?”
“When did I ever do that?”
Kyle retorted gruffly.
Luna clutched her stomach and burst out laughing.
“Wow! So cool! He’s doing exactly what I taught him!”
Lishinas, who couldn’t take it anymore, grabbed his head.
“Not Areon. He can’t become like these idiots too…!”
Lishinas couldn’t help but wail upon seeing the innocent Areon, despite his cowardice, being corrupted by his ill-mannered friends.
“Hey.”
“Ah! Ka… Leo!”
Areon looked at Leo with a bright expression.
“Don’t do that, Lishinas hates it.”
“Why? It’s cool!”
Seeing Leo innocently smile, Leo shook his head with an incredulous expression.
“Well, anyway.”
Leo’s eyes sparkled.
“It’s time to change the past. Are you ready?”
The golden light in Areon’s eyes flashed.
“Of course.”
Areon grinned and took a deep breath.
Kuhuhuhuhuhuhung—!
The Hero’s howling announced the prelude to war.