Chapter 151

151.

[Clear Reward: Polium]

Before their eyes unfolded the list of clear rewards.

Whoosh-!

Bang! Thud-!

Together with a bright light, four figures appeared in mid-air.

“Huh?”

Lunia’s voice of confusion rang out.

Unlike the typical Hero’s World, the Hero Dungeon, once cleared, randomly spits out its explorers nearby.

“Goodness, Miss Lunia was selected.”

Elena grinned as she watched Lunia flail in the air.

Unlike Leo, Elena, and Hardin, who landed safely on the ground, Lunia was falling straight down.

Panicking, she tried to cast a spell but there was no time.

Splash-!

Leo caught the falling Lunia with open arms.

Unintentionally, Lunia’s face turned red as she was carried princess-style by Leo.

“Th-Thank you.”

“No need to thank me.”

Leo placed Lunia down gently.

The light from the Hero Record had faded.

Rustle~

However, from the air, a page from Lady Luna’s book fluttered down and landed on Leo’s palm.

It was scorched in places and far from intact.

Thankfully, it wasn’t in the dreadful condition that Kyle’s page had been.

‘It seems that what’s lost doesn’t return.’

The light from Luna’s page disappeared.

As darkness descended, Hardin raised his hand and cast a Light spell.

Whoosh-!

The magic illuminated the surroundings.

Among this, Lunia asked.

“Did anyone get the clear reward?”

“I didn’t get anything.”

Hardin shook his head.

Elena spoke matter-of-factly.

“Clearing the Hero Dungeon doesn’t guarantee a reward. Especially in this world, our influence was minimal, right?”

Normally, conquering the Hero’s World would grant a reward, but with low contribution to the clearing effort, there were times when no reward would be given.

Lunia, Elena, and Hardin contributed little to this clearing effort.

Thus, it only made sense they wouldn’t receive a reward.

“But still, we defeated Erebus…”

With a look of regret, Lunia crossed her arms, to which Hardin nodded.

“The appearance of Erebus was an anomalous event unrelated to the conquest of that world. Thus, defeating him has no bearing on our contribution.”

Hardin continued seriously.

“Meeting and conversing with the Progenitor alone was an incredible experience. Let alone battling with her. And we even defeated Erebus, even if it was just a fragment. Moreover, we’ve uncovered the fact that Tartarus has invaded the Hero’s World. This achievement is unparalleled and irreplaceable.”

“Fair enough. True.”

Lunia nodded and glanced towards Leo, only to widen her eyes suddenly.

“Wait. Leo, the item you’re holding in your hand—Isn’t that Polium?”

Lunia exclaimed upon finally noticing the magical staff Leo was holding.

Elena and Hardin also looked shocked.

Leo examined the Polium in his hand and spoke.

“Yeah. But it’s kind of just an empty shell.”

True to Leo’s words, the Polium no longer emitted any light.

And no magic could be sensed from it.

It was merely an empty vessel without any substance.

“Let me see it for a moment?”

Lunia extended her hand with curiosity written all over her face.

As Leo handed her the Polium,

“Ah?”

The staff turned into a flurry of glowing particles and disappeared.

“The item obtained as a clear reward can only be used by the one who cleared it. Others cannot use it.”

Elena grinned teasingly as she spoke and turned to Hardin.

“It’s funny that the first person to receive Polium as a clear reward isn’t a student of Seirun but of Lumeran. If this gets out, the students of Seirun will be furious!”

“Ha!”

Elena’s comment made Lunia scowl.

Hardin, looking quite serious, stepped forward in front of Leo.

“Leo Flove.”

“Yes.”

“The fact that you, who deciphered the progenitor’s magic and obtained an item symbolizing her, are a student of Lumeran—I cannot accept it.”

“Hey, just a moment! Hardin Senior!”

Lunia tried to intervene, flustered by Hardin’s assertive tone, which stemmed from his pride as a student of Seirun.

Elena chuckled.

‘Elves truly are amusing creatures, aren’t they? Their lack of flexible thinking makes them flare up so easily when provoked…’

“So what?”

“Transfer over.”

“…”

Leo looked at Hardin with eyes that expressed his bewilderment.

“Excuse me? What’s this human up to?”

Elena frowned deeply.

Hardin turned to Elena as he continued.

“The Seirun uniform looks cooler than the Lumeran uniform.”

“What? No one changes schools for such a childish reason! Besides, what’s wrong with our school’s uniform?”

Elena’s eyes widened.

Ignoring the arguing seniors, Leo glanced around.

Lunia, who had approached Leo, looked tense as she spoke.

“Where are we?”

They were surrounded by pitch-black darkness.

Using the Light spell, Lunia scanned the surroundings.

She paused as she noticed something.

“This is…”

It was a statue.

“Her Ladyship Luna.”

It was the first statue they found.

Not the younger Luna they’d known until just moments ago, but the ‘Progenitor of the Star Cloud’ Luna that everyone knew.

The sight of this statue made Lunia gasp in admiration.

She explored the surroundings further and spotted another statue at a distance.

“It’s Lord Dwenno!”

The mouth was stubbornly tightly closed, and the eyes were glaring with an unmistakable air of authority.

From his hands, countless weapons had been born and served as guides for the Great Heroes.

“The statues of Great Heroes! Seniors, look over here! There are statues of Great Heroes!”

Hearing Lunia’s shout, Elena and Hardin stopped their bickering and moved closer.

Upon seeing the statues of Luna and Dwenno, their heads tilted in confusion.

At this point, Leo understood where they were.

‘This is the Heroes’ Plaza.’

It was a public square made by the residents of Guardstron before embarking on their final battle, to honor the great heroes.

Leo cast the Light spell.

Whoosh-!

A massive orb of light illuminated the entire surrounding area.

The landscape, hidden until now by the darkness, was finally revealed.

It was the city from the Era of Catastrophe.

A great city that had managed to withstand attacks from both Erebus and Tartarus.

“Is this a city?”

“What is this place?”

“Look! There are the statues of Lord Lissinas and Lady Aron!”

Lunia pointed out the remaining statues of Lissinas and Aron.

“And… huh?”

Lunia’s surprised exclamation caught everyone’s attention.

Elena and Hardin also reacted similarly.

Their eyes fell on another statue.

It was the statue of a person unfamiliar to them, yet, for some reason, it looked perfectly appropriate standing alongside the other Great Heroes.

‘Who is this person? Why is he here alongside the Great Heroes?’

As they pondered this, a name flashed across all three of their minds.

The Hero of Beginning – Kyle.

“Leo, Leo! Come over here!”

Lunia, sounding urgent, turned her head to look around.

However, Leo was standing in front of a stone monument in the center of the plaza.

Lunia quickly rushed to Leo’s side.

Her breath caught as she noticed the inscription on the monument.

-In honor of Lissinas, Kyle, Luna, Aron, and Dwenno.

Lunia’s eyes widened upon seeing the name “Kyle.”

“Impossible….”

She swallowed hard as she spoke.

“Kyle… He actually existed?”

Booooom-!

The entire city began to quake at her words.

“What is this?”

Lunia’s face turned flustered.

Leo looked up at the sky.

This was Guardstron.

A long-forgotten city buried deep under the earth by Tartarus’ attack.

‘Why is it collapsing now, after having held up so long?’

Leo could feel the barrier protecting Guardstron collapsing.

Upon realizing this, Leo looked at the page of Luna in his hand.

‘Is the reason the Hero Dungeon appeared here because it was protecting what remained of Kyle’s world?’

Perhaps the power of the Hero Dungeon had been sustaining the barrier in place of its usual function.

If Leo’s guess was correct, then the Hero Dungeon had been protecting the only remaining trace of Kyle’s world.

Chuckling humorlessly, Leo spoke.

“Look, there is a warp gate!”

Pointing at the warp gate they had entered through, Leo shouted.

Hearing this, all four of them rushed towards the gate urgently.

Boooom-!

Due to Leo’s Light magic, falling earth clods became visible.

Three of them barely made it onto the warp gate.

Leo activated the gate.

Shine-!

KABOOM-!

As a bright light shone, Leo watched the plaza crumble before his eyes.

It was his last vision of Guardstron.

*

When Leo’s group escaped from Guardstron, they immediately reported the events to both Lumeran and Seirun academies.

Academy officials arrived at the Karam region upon hearing the news.

The discovery of Lady Luna’s Hero Dungeon was already astonishing.

On top of that, stories involving Tartarus and the fifth Great Hero added layers of complexity to the situation.

This was no ordinary event—it felt like the world was turning upside down.

Ordinarily, Leo would have been called upon repeatedly to write reports on the incident.

However, he was currently enjoying rest in Lumeran’s infirmary—thanks to Elena’s arrangements.

‘Ah? Am I expected to prevent someone wounded from resting?’

Elena isn’t just a representative of the third year class.

She is also the daughter of the headmaster of Lumeran Academy and currently serves as the acting head.

With a word from Elena, anyone causing trouble to Leo quickly disappeared.

Thanks to this, Leo could relax comfortably in the infirmary.

However, his condition did not improve much even after over a week.

‘It’s no surprise since I endured the flames of Erebus, even if it was just a fragment.’

Leo looked down at his burn scars and clicked his tongue.

The burns from Erebus’ flames were potent enough to be considered a curse.

They resisted all kinds of healing magic.

Incredibly, these flames even suppressed natural healing.

Thus, recovery was far slower than expected.

Even after the field training period ended, Leo remained hospitalized.

Around the tenth day, when visitors were barred from the ward, Calian and Elena came to visit.

“How are you feeling, Leo? Better?”

Elena greeted him with her usual energetic voice, and Leo shrugged.

“Same as before.”

“Resilient as ever.”

Elena smirked as she sat next to him.

“Ho ho. A get-well gift for Mr. Leo.”

Calian placed an expensive basket of fruits on the corner of the sickbed.

Looking at it, Leo asked.

“Anyway, is it alright for me to stay in the infirmary? There must be tons of stuff to handle, right?”

Though he’s taking it easy, the current situation isn’t one where he could relax like this.

“Don’t worry about that. In fact, Elena took care of everything on your behalf. Even the report you were supposed to submit to the academia is done, so there’s no work left for you.”

With a laugh, Calian explained, making Leo look at Elena.

Seeing this, Elena smirked.

“Your big sister here’s quite capable.”

“Am I going to have to rework everything later because you did it casually and to save effort?”

In response, Elena pouted and attempted to hit Leo’s side with her fist.

While Leo calmly blocked her, Calian spoke up.

“Anyway, I came here today to check on your condition. Although fully recovered yet, it seems time for you to join the class soon.”

The story of Leo’s participation in Luna’s world had caused a stir across the entire school.

Of course, information about Erebus and Tartarus found within Luna’s world was omitted from the official announcements.

It was clear that revealing this would lead to massive chaos.

“Have things about Kyle also been omitted?”

“No, quite the opposite. The existence of Kyle as an actual figure is being aggressively promoted worldwide.”

Proof of Kyle’s existence as a real person was uncovered, so it made little sense to hide it.

“However, I do have a question related to him.”

Calian’s expression turned serious.

“Leo. Is there… any chance you’re related to the Hero of Beginning?”

As Leo’s gaze returned to Calian, the room grew quiet.