Chapter 112

【112】111.

The entire Colosseum was thrown into chaos at the sudden turn of events.

“What’s going on!”

“Instructor Berga! This is bad! Lord Aron’s Hero’s World has opened!”

“What?”

Berga’s expression hardened.

He understood that the recent phenomenon was a precursor to the establishment of Hero’s World.

Even so, he couldn’t dare imagine that the true Hero’s World had actually opened.

What was needed to open Hero’s World was either the hero himself or a strongly connected object.

In this era, it was a reality that items related to Great Heroes were extremely rare, let alone the pages of Great Heroes themselves.

Thus, the pages that had never been opened until now were expected never to be opened in the future.

Yet now, one of them had opened.

“Is it a rampage?”

“It seems so!”

For whatever reason, the opening of Aron’s world was an encouraging event.

Even if it was a dungeon transformation caused by a rampage, if they could strategize, they could inherit Aron’s power.

The problem was the ones who had entered Aron’s world.

His daughter and the son of an old friend.

Still young enough to be called kids.

‘Can those kids strategize in Lord Aron’s world?’

Clenching his trembling hands, Berga gritted his teeth.

*

“If this is Lord Aron’s world, doesn’t that mean we’re in the Era of Catastrophe?”

“It seems so.”

When Leo turned his gaze from the sky and answered, Arga wore a serious expression.

“Why did Hero’s World suddenly activate?”

“Who knows? For now, let’s try communicating with the outside.”

At those words, Leo pressed his index and middle fingers to his temple.

As he focused, a faint blue light began to emanate.

“Re… no. It’s Kyle. Can you hear me?”

In a normal Hero’s World, they should be able to communicate with the outside.

However, despite Leo’s call, there was no response from outside.

Leo glanced at Ar.

Ar also appeared disappointed, seemingly having failed to communicate with the outside.

A Hero Dungeon caused by a rampage? But why now? There hadn’t been a single record of the prologue page opening in thousands of years.

Noticing Ar’s serious expression, Leo looked down at his hands.

The sudden rampage of Aron’s page.

He had a hunch about this situation.

‘When the Hero Academy class and when I touched my hero’s page in Berkiya, Hero’s World opened.’

As Leo recalled meeting Lissinas and Luna, a confused expression crossed his face.

‘But those were my pages. This one is obviously Aron’s page, isn’t it?’

[Strategy Objective: Find Aron in Leisar.]

At that moment, a message appeared in front of Leo and Ar.

“Strategy objective? So, this isn’t a Hero Dungeon?”

Arga said in a bright voice.

Hero Dungeons do not contain strategy objectives.

The fact that a strategy objective appeared meant, as Ar said, that it was not a Hero Dungeon caused by a rampage.

“If it’s formally opened, then why can’t we contact the outside?”

“Well, I don’t know.”

To that question, Ar couldn’t provide a simple answer either.

“Maybe it opened suddenly? To control Hero’s World, you need a key to open the world, and perhaps we haven’t found that key yet.”

“A key.”

Leo narrowed his eyes.

“Anyway, if the strategy objective is to find Lord Aron, it sounds simpler than expected.”

At Ar’s words, Leo sighed deeply.

“Is it really that easy to find Aron in Leisar?”

Leisar.

A refugee city that existed during the Era of Catastrophe.

The scale of the city was unimaginable, accommodating countless races.

“Since Lord Aron is famous, it might not be easy.”

“Aron became famous after participating in the Erebus Subjugation Corps and leaving Leisar.”

“That’s true, but still, it’s Lord Aron! According to the records, he was already quite famous even before joining the Subjugation Corps, right? Lissinas and Luna also came to Leisar after hearing about Lord Aron’s fame.”

‘Well, people of this era would think that way.’

Recorded history and actual history differ.

At this time, Aron was not famous at all.

But Leo was the only one who knew that fact.

‘In strategizing Hero’s World, I have no choice but to rely on old records.’

Scratching his head, Leo sighed.

‘From Ar’s perspective, even if I act like I know things about this era, it probably wouldn’t be very convincing. Experiencing it directly might be easier to accept.’

“Let’s scatter to gather information about Lord Aron!”

“This is Hero’s World. We shouldn’t scatter carelessly.”

“Ah! Right! Then let’s search together!”

Excited at the thought of meeting the admired Lord Aron, Ar eagerly began to inquire.

“Hello! Do you happen to know Lord Aron?”

“Aron? Who is that? Stop bothering me and go away!”

“Excuse me. We’re looking for someone called Lord Aron?”

“How would I know about some nobody I don’t even know?”

“Hey, Beastman! You’ve heard the name Aron, right?”

“Not at all.”

They spent the entire day asking people about Aron.

As the sun began to set, Ar shouted in frustration.

“Why is there no one who knows about Lord Aron!? Wasn’t he already famous even before joining the Erebus Subjugation Corps!?”

Reacting to Ar’s shout, Leo crossed his arms and said, “It seems like actual history and recorded history are different.”

“Ugh!”

Ar flinched at Leo’s response.

Meanwhile, Leo organized the information he collected during the inquiries in his mind.

‘The current year is 1462 according to the Altegla calendar.’

It had been twenty years since the Era of Catastrophe began.

‘That means we shouldn’t have to search for Aron from scratch.’

“First, let’s find a place to rest.”

“Is there anywhere in a city like this to rest?”

Ar said with a worried expression.

After wandering around the streets of Leisar for a day, he realized something.

The fact that his era and the Era of Catastrophe were fundamentally different.

People were basically unfriendly and rough, and fights broke out constantly.

It wasn’t just a matter of good or bad public order.

Everyone was gripped by a primal fear that the world might end.

It was literally a different world to live in.

“We need to find a decent place. Sleeping on the streets is dangerous.”

“Then let’s look for an inn.”

‘An inn is not going to work.’

Leo forced a smile.

In the past, even Kyle had struggled a lot when he came to Leisar due to finding a place to sleep.

‘There weren’t any proper inns.’

Since it was the largest refugee city on the surface, countless people flocked to Leisar.

Among them were some vicious people who naturally committed crimes as easily as breathing.

Of course, those criminals didn’t operate in the daytime.

The people maintaining the city worked hard to keep order with keen eyes.

But not at night.

As darkness fell, fear tainted the streets.

Crimes occurred in every alley, and m*rder was frequent in the worse areas of public order.

In the past, when Kyle and his group roamed this city, it took them a month to find a safe place.

‘We have to go there.’

Moreover, that place was not just safe.

“Let’s go over there.”

Ar pointed to an inn nearby.

Leo followed behind Ar.

Ding-ding—

As the door opened, the first floor was packed with guests.

In an instant, their gazes fell on Ar.

Feeling nervous, Ar noticed the owner sitting at the counter and sighed with relief.

Though his face was filled with scars, the owner was an Elf.

Seeing this, Ar felt slightly at ease.

Elves are proud but fundamentally a good race.

Thus, he thought they wouldn’t act inappropriately.

“Excuse me, do you have a room available for tonight?”

“No. There are no rooms left today. But if you want, you can have my room.”

The owner, grinning slyly, startled Ar.

He never expected the Elf to make such an obvious advance.

Seeing Ar’s face grow cold, Leo grabbed his hand and left the inn.

“It seems like finding a decent place won’t be easy.”

“Yeah.”

Ar’s expression darkened.

‘Our era and this era have completely different common sense.’

After that, Leo and Ar continued to search for a place to sleep.

But there was nowhere that looked safe.

‘Will we really be able to find a place to stay?’

Ar followed behind Leo with a troubled face.

Meanwhile, Leo pretended to be lost while guiding Ar to a place he knew.

‘We’ve almost arrived.’

Leo stopped walking.

Ar, deep in thought, paused upon seeing Leo and looked around, confused.

‘When did we come to a place like this?’

They had arrived at the middle of a desolate street where no signs of life could be felt.

Swish-!

Just then, the sound of slicing through the wind could be heard.

Sensing danger right next to him, Ar opened his eyes wide and swung his fist.

Thud-!

But Ar’s attack was easily blocked by the opponent.

Despite the block, Ar didn’t panic but instead sharpened his nails and filled them with aura.

Seeing this, Leo urgently shouted, “Wait, Ar! Don’t fight!”

But it was too late to stop the fight; the flames of conflict had already ignited.

Thud-!

Ar’s sharp, aura-filled nails dug into the opponent’s chest.

Yet, Ar’s attack did not work, blocked by the opponent’s aura armor.

Clenching his teeth, Ar urgently tried to shake off the opponent’s hand.

But the opponent was quicker, grabbing Ar by the nape of his neck first.

“Gah?”

“Who are you? Why did you invade this area?”

Clenching his teeth, Ar summoned his aura to counterattack.

Watching Ar, the cat Beastman narrowed his eyes and crushed Ar to the ground.

“Ugh?”

Feeling his consciousness fading, Ar managed to speak weakly just before losing consciousness.

“Black Rabbit, if it’s you…”

Leaving the unconscious Ar behind, he looked at Leo with a murderous glare.

“Why did you come into this area?”

“I came here because someone told me to.”

“Who? This is a restricted area.”

As he said, this was a cursed land, a forsaken place.

To calm the opponent, Leo took a deep breath and raised both hands.

“Cowardly Aron sent us here.”

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