Chapter 125

125.

“Isn’t this a bit random?”

“What can we do? Our school has a habit of pushing students around at random, after all.”

“Guess so.”

At Teid’s muttering, Kal shrugged his shoulders. Listening to that, Teid accepted it without further ado.

Until the end of the first semester, the first-year students would have been confused by sudden situations, but now everyone was nonchalant.

Everyone was already as accustomed to unexpected situations as they could be, so they calmly accepted this level of surprise.

In fact, the dominant reaction was that this was somewhat expected.

“Well.”

The students’ gazes turned to Riven.

“Begin.”

No sooner had Riven spoken than the entire first-year group sprang toward Lumeran.

Riven, watching their movements, stroked his chin.

‘Everyone is reacting well. This rapid action can only come from experience, right?’

This year’s first-year students had all experienced a crisis during the Interdepartmental Competition.

‘Celia, Sia, Duran, Abad, Chloe, Chelsea, Warden, Eliza. And Leo. The nine who defeated the Gigantes at that time. While the general public only focuses on them…’

The other students also fought monsters.

That experience was making this year’s class stand out.

‘Every so often, a generation like this comes along.’

A special generation.

Normally, it’s questionable whether even a single hero arises in one generation, but in such an exceptional class, several appear who display these characteristics.

‘The current fifth years were the same.’

The current fifth years were also a generation that garnered attention for their many outstanding talents.

But Riven didn’t feel the motivation to teach the first-year students.

‘Over the last few hundred years, has there been any remarkable achievement from Lumeran graduates? No. And the same holds true for other Hero Academies.’

Over the long years, many heroes have been born.

Becoming a hero means overcoming great trials. Because of this, most heroes were content with obtaining the status of a hero.

‘But that alone isn’t enough.’

The reason the gods gifted the Hero Record to the lower world…

It was to completely eradicate Erebus and Tartarus.

‘Nowadays, it seems the ultimate goal seems to be simply becoming a hero.’

Riven had lived a long time as a professor at Lumeran Academy.

Very few within Lumeran knew he was a dragon.

A hundred years ago, he received an order from the Dragon Lord to guide Lumeran students and became a teacher there.

The lifespan of a dragon is approximately 300 years.

Riven had lived a significant portion of his life as a professor at Lumeran.

After the Era of Catastrophe,

Following the will of the King of Wisdom, Lissinas, dragons came to uphold the tradition of selecting and supporting heroes.

Perhaps because of this, heroes recognized by dragons achieved greater greatness.

Riven, too, initially overflowed with enthusiasm.

He truly believed that there would soon be heroes born who would continue the legacy of the great heroes and overthrow Erebus and Tartarus.

But the world situation hadn’t changed significantly over the centuries.

The endless fight against Tartarus continued, but the situation remained stagnant.

‘There are fewer and fewer kids in this generation who look beyond the role of a hero.’

This was why Riven lacked motivation.

‘Then again, I’m getting old.’

As Riven gazed at the sky where the students had disappeared in an instant, he reflected that living in a world where nothing changes for so long was certainly enough to wear down even a dragon.

‘Should I retire?’

*

The Lumeria Lake, expansive enough to pass for a sea, has numerous islands. A massive island at its center is where the expansive Rumearn Academy is located.

‘Come to think of it, this wasn’t a lake before the Era of Catastrophe, right?’

The center of the world.

Now the location of Rumearn Academy, but once it was the land of dragons.

‘Wasn’t this the first place to be attacked when Erebus appeared?’

Even from his past life, Leo’s memory was hazy about these early days. Even during his time traveling around the world to defeat Erebus, he had never been near the area where the current Lumeria City stood.

As Leo was reminiscing about the past, he suddenly looked up.

“Prepare yourself, Leo Flove!”

Zzzzap-!

A strong spark appeared, followed by a golden lightning aura.

Crackling-!

Zzzap-!

“Aaaah! Get out of the way!”

“Move away from there!”

Caught off guard by the sudden attack, the students screamed and scattered in all directions. Those around used various means to defend themselves from the lightning swirling around them.

“Hmph. You dodged.”

Duran, standing on the water using Aura Step, gave Leo a cold smile.

Seeing that, Leo folded his arms.

“Why attack now when we’re not exactly competing with each other?”

“There was no order to compete, but there was no order not to.”

An intense fighting spirit flickered in Duran’s eyes.

“In that case, there’s no reason not to fight. I trained hard during the break to overthrow you, Leo Flove. Come at me.”

Zzzzap-!

Duran wrapped his body in a lightning aura.

Seeing that, Leo scratched his head.

“Man, I didn’t want to exert myself on the first day of school.”

“Hah. Arrogant guy. That confidence will soon vanish…”

“Hey! You’re over there, Leo Flove!”

An abrupt, brash voice cut between the two.

Whoosh-!

Eliza, riding her supreme familiar species, Delphinus, charged forward with glaring eyes.

“Prepare yourself!”

Delphinus kicked up water sprays.

“Huh?! Eliza Hergin too?!”

“Get out of the way! Get out of the way!”

“If you get caught in their crossfire, you won’t even have bones left! Back off!”

The students quickly put distance between themselves and Leo, not bothering to pay attention to the chaos Eliza was causing around them. However, they didn’t run away completely.

Duran and Eliza were both top-tier students in their class and shared the characteristic of being extremely aggressive. Both also shared the desire to beat Leo more than anyone else, which made them constantly look for opportunities to attack him.

Other students wanted the title of class representative as well, but Duran and Eliza stood out for their fierce competitiveness.

‘How could I miss such an interesting spectacle?’

‘What a great start to the school year~’

Isn’t fighting one of the most entertaining things to watch in the world?

The students watched the clash between the three with sparkling eyes.

As Leo watched the incoming wave, he sighed and summoned mana.

“Freezing.”

Creeeak-!

The giant wave aimed at Leo froze instantly.

But as though she had anticipated this, Eliza had prepared her next attack.

Delphinus, empowered by Eliza’s spiritual energy, opened its mouth and roared.

KRAAAAAAA-!

The powerful sonic attack shattered the ice instantly.

Leo, feeling a ringing in his ears, summoned an aura to resist the sound wave attack.

Duran, who was nearby and also caught in the wave, frowned.

Unlike the two who braved the attack head-on, some of the students who were indirectly affected and had weaker resistance fainted, foam spilling from their mouths.

The students who had stepped back to watch gulped nervously.

‘If we’re just watching and still get caught in this, there might be serious trouble.’

As everyone tensed, Duran’s sharp gaze turned toward Eliza.

Zap-!

Using an aura step at an incredible speed, Duran dashed toward Eliza and lifted his sword.

KRAKHHH-!

A lightning-fast sword strike descended, forcing Eliza to wince as she summoned her spiritual power.

“Luri! Move!”

Delphinus, strengthened by Eliza’s spiritual power, dove underwater.

Seeing this, Duran wore a menacing smile.

“Do you really think diving deep underwater will allow you to escape?”

KA-LONG-!

As the lightning-like sound from Duran’s sword echoed, the onlookers’ faces went pale.

“Hey! Hey! Scatter! It’s a wide-area attack!”

“AAAHHHH!”

“Who wants to get grilled by lightning on the first day of school?!”

As Duran swung his sword, a storm of lightning swept through the surrounding area.

The students who narrowly escaped the attack watched as Leo easily defended against Duran’s assault with an expression of disdain.

Even if they weren’t directly targeted by the attack, the fact that Leo remained so calm after being caught in an explosion of that magnitude astonished everyone.

“Indeed, attacks like this don’t even make him blink.”

As Duran sneered at such a composed Leo, a rumbling sound erupted from the depths of the water.

BOOOOOM-!

When creatures burst through the water’s surface, the students’ faces turned pale with shock.

“Aqua Gorgos!”

A dangerous snake-like monster, notoriously difficult to face in water.

Five Aqua Gorgos were rushing toward Duran as if they were angered.

This was one of Delphinus’s abilities, the control function.

Looking at the Aqua Gorgos, Duran scoffed and swung his sword.

Flash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!

A golden flash lit up as an incredibly fast sword strike tore through the Aqua Gorgos.

When their heads cleanly severed, the Aqua Gorgos disappeared.

At that moment,

WHOOSH-!

A violent waterspout enveloped Duran.

Gritting his teeth, Duran slashed his sword.

CRRACK-!

Although he successfully cut through the waterspout, the shockwave forced him back.

An intense killing intent flickered across Duran’s face.

“Hmph!”

Eliza, now risen to the surface, smirked as she glared at Duran.

“Are you trying to d*e? How dare you interfere with me.”

“You’re the one who shouldn’t be interfering with me.”

Eliza responded harshly to Duran’s cold voice.

As the two students glared at each other, a sinister smile formed on their lips.

“Both of you seem full of energy right from the start of the semester.”

As Leo sighed and spoke, both their gazes turned toward him.

“I’ve finally found an opportunity to settle things.”

“This time, I’m definitely taking the position of class representative.”

“So, are the two of you planning to gang up on me?”

“There’s no need to worry about such a despicable act. We won’t do that, Leo Flove.”

“There’s no reason for me to team up with someone like him, and besides, there would be no value in defeating you that way.”

“Then let’s decide who fights me first.”

“Obviously, it’s me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! It’s my turn first!”

Another spark of conflict erupted between them.

Seeing this, Leo said,

“Then, how about this: you two fight it out first, and I’ll battle the winner. Doesn’t that sound fair?”

Upon hearing Leo’s words, Duran smirked.

“It’s simple and effective. Let’s do it, Eliza Hergin.”

“Just what I wanted. Duran Moira.”

These two, known for their fiery tempers, glared at each other before their intense battle began.

The other students, dumbfounded, watched the dazzling fight between the top students of the year.

One of the students suddenly asked Leo,

“Where are you going? Didn’t you say you’d fight one of them?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t say I’d fight right now, did I?”

“What?”

“Then I’ll go ahead and leave.”

Waving casually, Leo disappeared in a flash.

Too focused on their fight to knock each other out, Duran and Eliza didn’t even notice Leo had left.

The surrounding students watched the pair with a mix of pity and understanding.

‘Guys, you’ve been played by Leo.’

‘Hmm. They’re gonna feel really let down when they realize Leo is gone.’

In the midst of these thoughts, one student muttered,

“What if they get pissed off that Leo left and take it out on everyone else? Could be big trouble, right?”

“…?”

As the students realized there was no law against it, they exchanged glances.

One by one, they quietly slinked away.

A little while later,

When Duran and Eliza realized they were the only ones left, they stopped the fight.

And as they realized that Leo was already gone, their faces contorted with overwhelming rage.

“Leo Flove! You b*stard!”

“You are so going to get it!”

Realizing they’d been had by Leo, their desperate anger filled the air around them.

Meanwhile, Leo was already far ahead, in a place beyond their reach.