Book 1 Chapter 964

964.

"Guooooooh!"

The giant of black flames let out a roar.

The summoning had not failed.

But it wasn't a proper summoning either.

The result of that incomplete summoning was a monster with only the instinct for destruction remaining, devoid of reason.

The current Erebus could not be called an evil god.

Naturally, he couldn't use his divine authority either.

He was just a massive calamity, brutally incinerating everything in his path.

The problem was that even so, his opponent was Erebus.

A monster capable of burning down the world.

‘He was forcefully separated from his ego.’

Even if they managed to defeat him here, Erebus wouldn't be truly vanquished.

They would merely force him to retreat.

Moreover, even with an incomplete summoning, a part of his power was utterly despair-inducing.

Normally, even such an incomplete summoning would have reduced Reisar to ashes and annihilated it.

Kwaaaaaaaah-!

The surroundings were engulfed by waves of black flames.

The ground trembled and cracked, and magma surged forth.

The magma burned black, not red.

It felt as if this was what the moment the world succumbed to destruction would be like.

No.

In fact, it was very similar to the phenomena that occurred when the world truly faced destruction.

Leo, of all people, had witnessed that scene with his own eyes.

‘Well, it was more serious back then.’

Recalling the final battle, Leo hoisted Luna onto his shoulder.

"Arion, take Dweno! Azonia, take Damian! We're returning now!"

Leo's party's objective was to disrupt Erebus's summoning ritual.

That operation was a great success.

Now, they just needed to return to Reisar with rapid mobility.

As Arion dashed forward, Azonia followed behind him.

And the moment Leo pushed off the ground.

Goooooooo-!

A dark red mist began to swirl before them.

"Where are you going?"

With a chilling voice, the Lich King, Hel Kaiser, blocked Leo's path.

"Kyle!"

Arion urgently called out to Leo, but Leo gestured for him to go ahead.

"Oh? Kyle… the surviving hero. You look different from what I remember?"

Hel Kaiser's eyes gleamed.

Leo smirked coldly at Hel Kaiser.

"I've come from the future specifically to screw you over, you bone-headed bastard."

Hwaruruk-!

Leo ignited Zerdinger's flames.

Hel Kaiser's eyes twitched at the sight of the phoenix flames, which incinerated all impurity.

Luna also invoked her magic at Leo's aura, reminiscent of grand magic.

Kwaaaaaaaah-!

A vortex of flames swirled.

The swirling phoenix flames.

To the Lich King, who commanded death, the phoenix flames that incinerated impurity were one of his natural enemies.

"The future, you say."

Hel Kaiser curled the corner of his lips.

He drew out a staff made of massive black bones.

It was Hel Kaiser's divine artifact, crafted from Erebus's finger bone.

Thud-!

He struck the ground with the staff.

Kwaduk-! Kwadududuk-!

The dead broke through the ground and revealed themselves.

At that sight, Luna's face hardened instantly.

"Aren't they exactly as they were in life?"

The ones Hel Kaiser resurrected were faces Leo and Luna both knew.

They were their comrades who had died at Gardsron.

There were those with whom they had close ties, those they had only exchanged a few words with, and those they simply knew by sight.

And there were even some whose faces they didn't know at all.

But they all shared one thing in common: they were people who had stood on the same battlefield and never returned.

"You bone-headed bastard!"

Sparks flew from Luna's eyes.

Ignoring Luna, Hel Kaiser's gaze turned to Leo.

"As expected of the surviving hero. Indifferent to the dead."

Hel Kaiser burst out laughing.

Leo had stood firm over the countless deaths of his comrades.

Therefore, he wasn't particularly enraged by Hel Kaiser's mockery of the dead.

He merely exuded a cold fury.

The same was true for Luna.

Luna's life had not been smooth either for her to be swayed by such things.

No matter what anyone said, Luna was an elf who had experienced the Age of Calamity from the very beginning.

Hel Kaiser's target was just one person.

"But what about Arion?"

It was Arion, the most mentally immature among the great heroes.

The dead weren't just blocking Leo and Luna.

Before Arion, who was moving ahead, the dead had also been revived as specters.

"Lysinath isn't here right now."

Lysinath was special to the great heroes.

Whenever they wavered, Lysinath was always there to show them the way and hold them back.

Arion too had been able to find courage on countless battlefields because of Lysinath.

But currently, Lysinath was guarding the city walls.

"It was a mistake not to come here with Lysinath, surviving hero."

Hel Kaiser sneered.

"I'm curious how you came to the past… but it probably isn't very important."

A coldness resided in his dark red eyes.

This person claiming to be from the future.

And a completely changed face.

But the aura he exuded was clearly that of the surviving hero.

‘Reincarnation.’

The concept of reincarnation was a phenomenon that even the Lich King, who commanded death, didn't know if it truly existed.

But it wasn't impossible either.

And if Kyle, the surviving hero, had reincarnated.

‘It would mean we lost.’

Looking only at the current situation, it seemed impossible.

But the monsters before him might have achieved that impossibility.

The thought sent a shiver down his spine.

However, at the same time, he felt that it wasn't a complete defeat.

‘These are still the eyes of one who fights.’

Moreover, what he felt from Leo was the resentment of countless demons.

If Erebus were to perish, the demons too would cease to exist.

‘I don't know why he came to the past, but—’

He had no intention of letting him go easily.

Thinking so, the Lich King looked at Arion's back.

The only weakness in the current situation.

"What can you do with that weak beastman, surviving hero?"

At Hel Kaiser's words, Luna bit her lip tightly.

It was frustrating, but it wasn't wrong.

Arion was excessively weak and soft.

He would show immense courage when absolutely necessary, but he had a fatal flaw: once his momentum was broken, it took a long time for him to gather courage again.

‘What should I do?’

Luna glanced anxiously at Leo.

And her eyes widened.

"What's so funny?"

Hel Kaiser's face contorted.

"No. It is funny."

Leo chuckled.

"In this situation, the most dangerous thing for you isn't me."

Kuooooooh-!

Erebus roared.

His massive fist, wreathed in black flames, cast a shadow.

The moment the flames of calamity were about to engulf the party.

Kwagagagagak-!

A golden flash soared into the sky.

Everyone's eyes widened at the brilliantly shining golden aura.

"Huh…?"

Luna had a blank expression.

It wasn't just Luna.

Dweno, Azonia, and even Damian stared blankly at Arion.

Arion, with an expressionless face, slashed off Erebus's arm.

"Your most threatening enemy right now is Arion."

Simultaneously with those words, Arion's sword cleaved through the air.

The golden aura cut down the dead.

There was not a hint of hesitation in his sword strike.

"May you rest in peace…"

Arion said calmly, watching the dead scatter and disappear in golden light.

"Arion, you…"

Dweno called out to Arion blankly.

Arion, giving a wry smile to Dweno, glanced at Hel Kaiser.

The moment their eyes met, Hel Kaiser felt a shiver.

The cowardly beastman Hel Kaiser remembered was no longer there.

What resided in his eyes was not fear, but clear anger and killing intent.

"I've always hated it."

Arion growled in a low voice.

The demons and monsters surrounding them unconsciously recoiled from the killing intent Arion emanated.

"You mock the dead."

As if to dig into Arion's weak heart.

Each time, he revived the dead before Arion.

Because of that, Arion always had nightmares.

Facing those who had died before him was always a terrifying experience.

But one day.

The day before the final journey.

Arion no longer had nightmares.

It wasn't because Arion had become more courageous, nor because he had overcome his trauma.

He had simply become indifferent to people's deaths.

The Lich King knew no fear.

He was the Grand Commander of Tartarus and a Legion Commander who commanded death.

There was only one thing he could fear.

The complete annihilation of Erebus.

But there was no possibility of that.

Even if he were defeated now, he would be resurrected in the distant future.

Hel Kaiser was certain of that.

Yet, at this moment, he felt fear.

Overwhelmed by the one beastman he had ridiculed and mocked as a coward.

Hel Kaiser unconsciously took a step back.

And he involuntarily posed a question that he didn't expect an answer to.

"…What is that?"

Hel Kaiser's voice was rigid.

"That monster…"

He hadn't expected an answer.

But Leo kindly answered him.

"What do you mean, 'what'?"

A sneer appeared on Leo's face.

"He's the beast that will kill you."

Thwack-!

Simultaneously with those words, Arion, who had closed the distance with invisible speed, decapitated Hel Kaiser.

Arion was already in the spot where Hel Kaiser had been.

Luna's mouth hung open.

"Is that… Arion?"

He was different from the Arion Luna knew.

Just as she thought that.

"Kyle."

Arion looked Leo directly in the eyes.

"Go ahead."

"W-wait a minute. Go ahead, you say?"

Luna, flustered, tried to stop him, but Leo nodded.

"Alright. Don't overdo it."

"Wait. Kyle. What happened to Arion? Why did he suddenly change?"

"I'll explain later. You don't have to worry too much now."

"Why?"

"Because he's in his perfected state right now."

***

Hel Kaiser repaired his body.

For him, the physical body was merely a shell anyway.

He just needed to resurrect.

That was the most powerful authority Erebus had bestowed upon him.

As long as his essence wasn't destroyed, he could resurrect his body as many times as he wished.

And the only moment his essence could be targeted was the moment his body was resurrecting.

Resurrection could happen wherever the Lich King desired.

Unless one could see the future, in some sense, he was perfectly immortal.

‘What in the world happened?’

Hel Kaiser felt a chill run down his spine.

What he felt from Arion was the fear of death.

‘Impossible.’

He was immortal as long as his essence wasn't destroyed, yet death?

Just as Hel Kaiser was about to resurrect.

Thwack-!

"…!"

His body was pierced by Arion's sword before it could fully resurrect.

"He ran away again."

Arion muttered coldly.

‘How did he… know where I could resurrect?’

How did he know which corpse harbored his essence?

As Hel Kaiser felt bewildered.

Thwack-!

Simultaneously with Hel Kaiser's thought of resurrection, the corpse was destroyed.

For a moment, his essence was nearly destroyed.

‘Could it be that this guy…’

Hel Kaiser felt aghast.

‘…the future?’