Book 1 Chapter 960
960.
The hero's howling echoed beneath the dark red sky.
Those who heard that cry gained courage.
This was truly the true worth of the hero, Arion.
Just as fear spreads,
courage, too, spreads rapidly.
Watching this, Azonia bit her lip.
‘Damn it. He’s so cool it makes me swear.’
Even though he was revered as a great warrior and called the reincarnation of a hero,
Azonia knew.
That she could not be like Arion.
She was so jealous it made her angry,
and so cool it made her angry.
No matter how cowardly she was, that fact remained unchanged.
Azonia recalled the moment her time had stopped.
The children of the orphanage and her teacher, Agon, whom she simply could not save.
She had raged that it was all Arion's fault for being a coward, but
Azonia also knew that Arion was a victim too.
“What are you staring at so much?”
Azonia pouted her lips at the voice from behind her.
“Because he’s really cool.”
“……”
“You said you fell for me earlier. Should I have just accepted it instead of playing hard to get?”
“Lord Arion is too good for you.”
“Oh, how mean.”
Saying that, Azonia turned around and abruptly hugged Damian.
Damian, who would usually have been annoyed, silently sighed and patted Azonia’s head.
“Damian. No. Ren.”
“……”
“What are you going to do?”
“Whatever you’re thinking.”
“……”
Damian replied calmly.
“Both you and I must have learned a lot from our juniors.”
Damian, who did not pursue possibilities, and Azonia, who was stuck in the past and could not move forward.
“We founded a school to teach, but it seems we’re learning a lot from the children instead.”
Azonia let go of Damian.
And grabbed the hem of Damian’s clothing.
“Keu-heung!”
“You damn beast!”
“Sniffle.”
Azonia blew her nose, ignored Damian swinging his fist at her, and stood up.
“As expected, a wonderful woman like me is too good for Lord Arion.”
“No. It’s the other way around. You damn beast.”
“As expected, I like you, Damian.”
“Don’t confess right before a fight. It’s bad luck.”
“Oh my? Is there anything left to make a worn-out confession bad luck?”
“That’s true, too.”
Azonia giggled.
Just then.
Leo approached the two.
“Get ready. We’re going outside.”
“Pardon?”
“Me, Arion, Dweno, Luna. And you two.”
Leo glanced at the summoning circle outside the outer wall and said,
“We’re going to interfere with Erebus’s summoning.”
“The summoning of Erebus itself cannot be stopped.”
“I know. But we can make sure the summoning isn’t properly completed.”
Leo glanced at Damian.
“Damian. You may have already prevented a perfect summoning, but it’s still not enough.”
Even an imperfect summoning means fighting Erebus with their current strength is suicide.
“Can Lord Lisinas and the Kyle of the past alone stop Tartarus’s legion?”
Azonia said.
“Even to me, that looks like an unprecedented scale.”
“I’ve never seen a scale like that either. That son of the Necromancer King. He seems to have brought everything he could.”
That’s why Hell Kaiser was the supreme commander of Tartarus.
He had read what the outcome would be if Leysar had not fallen.
The great heroes’ activities and their choice to maintain the status quo until now must have been to gradually lead the world to ruin.
‘But if Leysar hadn’t fallen, history would have changed greatly.’
A hopeful history from the world’s perspective.
A desperate situation from Tartarus’s perspective.
Hell Kaiser, who could not know the future, would not have been able to accurately predict what the outcome would be.
Nevertheless, Hell Kaiser cast the dice without hesitation.
“He’s a hollow-headed skeleton, but he sure is annoyingly good at strategizing.”
Azonia grumbled.
“So? Lord Lisinas and the Kyle of the past. Can those two lead the students and soldiers to stop that sheer quantity?”
“Not the two of them alone.”
“Then isn’t this a complete checkmate?”
Although in an incomplete state, if Erebus is summoned, the probability of defeat increases.
If they empty the city walls to interfere with the summoning, there's a high probability the walls will collapse.
Literally, a desperate situation no matter which they choose.
Leo grinned at Azonia’s words.
“It would have been if only Lisinas and I were here.”
Kyaaaaaaaaaaak-!
Countless flying demon beasts, Fafnirs, filled the sky.
One of the most threatening demon beasts of the Age of Calamity.
Just as the Fafnir swarm was about to cross the city wall and infiltrate Leysar.
Flash-!
A pillar of aura poured down from the sky.
A blue aura, reminiscent of the clear blue sky.
Azonia’s eyes widened.
The people of Leysar, who had been grieving in despair, also saw that light.
Thud-!
Someone appeared on the city wall.
The Leysar soldiers’ eyes widened as they saw the wolf beastman holding a jet-black sword.
“G-Guardian of the Blue Sky!”
“Lord Agon! Lord Agon has come!”
“Waaaahhhhh!”
The morale, which had soared because of Arion, now boiled as if to pierce the sky.
Agon’s presence was special to Leysar.
A long time ago.
The guardian who had protected the blue sky until the very last moment from countless Tartarus invasions.
Leysar’s true hero, more trustworthy than the great heroes of Gardsron.
Lisinas’s eyes widened.
“Lord Agon……”
“Back then, I refused to join you all……”
Agon gave a bitter smile.
“May I fight alongside you all even now?”
“Of course!”
Lisinas smiled brightly.
With this, the hand was complete.
The strongest possible hand in this situation.
But it wasn’t over.
“Ar!”
“Yes!”
Ar replied energetically to Arion’s call and took a deep breath.
Kwo-heo-heo-eong-!
Ar’s howling echoed.
Hearing that howling, the beastmen began to transform as if in resonance.
Azonia was also the same.
“This is…?”
“It’s Ar’s ability. By the way, you. Was your hair originally golden?”
During the transformation process, Azonia’s hair, which had been dyed a dull brown, returned to its original color.
Azonia sighed, looking at Leo who asked with a puzzled face.
“I had a reason for dyeing it.”
“You just didn’t like golden hair.”
“Shut up! You damn shorty!”
Azonia replied irritably to Damian’s words.
Then Arion, Dweno, and Luna approached.
“These are the special forces?”
Luna was surprised to see Azonia and Damian.
Dweno’s eyes widened when he saw Damian.
“You! Are you the artist Driana spoke of?!”
“…Yes.”
“After this fight, would you consider becoming a nude model…?”
“That’s enough, you damn pervert old man.”
Luna hit Dweno’s back of the head with her staff.
And then looked at Damian and said,
“You can just pretend you didn’t hear what this idiot said.”
Damian gave a bitter smile at that.
“It’s okay. I’m used to Lord Dweno’s behavior.”
“You’re used to this pervert old man?”
“I’ve actually been a nude model…”
“Shut up!”
Azonia, struck in the side by Damian’s punch, rolled on the floor.
“Kyle! Everything’s ready!”
Then Arion said energetically.
“Kyle? He’s over there. This is Leo, Kyle and my descendant.”
At that, Arion blinked.
Dweno said,
“You. You’ve become good at trickery, just like Lisinas.”
At that, Leo feigned ignorance and said,
“Arion and Azonia will take the front line. Use your mobility to clear a path.”
Poke-poke-
“Hey. Leo. What did Arion and Dweno mean?”
Luna poked Leo’s back and asked.
Completely ignoring that, Leo continued,
“Next front line is Dweno. Block enemies trying to attack the rear.”
“Leave it to me.”
Slap-slap-
“Hey. I asked what you meant.”
Now Luna started hitting Leo’s back with her palm.
Her face was slightly red with anger.
“Damian. You support Dweno in the middle.”
Thump-thump-
“Hey! You’re not my and Kyle’s descendant, are you?! You tricked me, didn’t you?! No! What’s your identity in the first place! Are you Kyle? Are you future Kyle?!”
Luna, roughly guessing Leo’s identity, now started hitting Leo’s head with her fists.
“The rear is this damn elf.”
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaak! You damn bastard! It is Kyle after all!”
Luna, eyes wide with fury, wildly swung her staff at Leo.
Leo, annoyingly dodging the staff, said,
“I’ll take the very rear.”
Having said that, Leo tucked Luna under his arm like luggage.
Luna thrashed wildly even in that situation.
“Why? Do you have a question?”
“No. I’m just amazed that you’re so calmly giving orders in that situation.”
Leo said calmly as Azonia muttered, watching Luna biting Leo’s forearm.
“This much is basic. Let’s move.”
At that, Arion and Azonia leaped from the city wall.
Dweno and Damian followed behind them.
Leo, who had climbed onto the city wall, called out to Luna, who was biting his forearm.
“Luna.”
“Why! You damn human!”
Luna shouted with venomous eyes.
Looking at such a Luna, Leo said,
“I missed you.”
“……”
Luna’s eyes widened.
Luna could not fathom how many emotions were contained in that one sentence.
Luna, who had been looking up at Leo without a word, suddenly swung her fist.
Thump-!
“You damn elf…”
“Missing you is one thing, and this is punishment for tricking and mocking me!”
Luna, who had punched Leo in the eye, snorted.
Luna was someone who wouldn’t be satisfied until she repaid something, no matter the situation.
***
Kyle, standing on the city wall, looked at the hero candidates.
“You said your name was Kal? Right now…”
“Yes! Lord Kyle! Chloe! Fire magic to the left!”
“…Have you fought with me before?”
“Uh… hmm… I don’t think so?”
Kyle looked at Kal, who was assisting him, with a curious expression.
Though Kyle was emotionless, he was surprised to see Kal, who understood his intentions like a ghost and gave orders.
It was like they were close friends.
Kyle, who was protecting the city wall, looked at the surging Tartarus legion with a hardened expression.
‘Still, this is too endless.’
They were barely holding on.
But he couldn’t guarantee how long they could last.
‘We’re too outnumbered.’
Kyle clenched his lips.
In this situation, an oath-bound partner came to mind intensely.
“If Elsi were here…”
The shadow spirit, Elsi.
The great spirit of darkness, who had been his oath-bound partner for a short time.
At this moment, more than ever, he missed her, who always had the saddest expression.
-Did you call me?
Just then, Kyle flinched at the voice from beside him.
The small spirit of darkness, who had somehow settled on Kyle’s shoulder, was innocently wiggling her feet.
“You… are you Elsi?”
-Yes! It’s me!
Kyle couldn’t help but be astonished at Elsi’s brightly smiling reply.