Chapter 47

【47】46

“Support, right?”

“Yep.”

With a brief reply to the brown-haired female student’s question, Leo kicked off from the ground.

He charged toward the nearest demon.

The demon hastily extended its palm toward Leo.

Woong! Pugagagagak-!

In front of Leo, a black summoning circle formed, and from it poured out starfish-sized, dark crimson leeches.

“Ack! It’s dangerous!”

The female student cried out in alarm.

‘Gorgoros leeches, huh.’

These were creatures that clung to the body and sucked bl**d, making them unfavorable for knights who engaged in close combat.

And if you slashed them apart carelessly, they would spew acidic bl**d.

‘Ordinarily, they are tricky to deal with, but… well, that’s for ordinary people.’

Hwarrrr-!

A fierce flame aura erupted from Leo’s sword.

Zerdinger’s flames instantly reduced the Gorgoros leeches to ash.

The female student who had sounded the warning was now in awe.

“Wow, incredible!”

‘Seems like the demon using Gorgoros leeches isn’t of a particularly high rank.’

With demons, their rank can be determined by the techniques they use.

The current summoning was typical of lower-ranked conscript demons.

‘There’s no serious danger here. Right now, quickly attacking would be the better choice.’

Leo swiftly analyzed the situation in his mind and closed the distance without hesitation.

Sswek-!

The head of a monster tamer soared through the air.

“Handling two enemies in the blink of an eye!”

The brown-haired female student clenched her fists tightly.

Woong-!

At that moment, Chloe in the sky completed her spell.

“Ice b*llet!”

A barrage of ice pellets rained down on the demons.

Papapapapad-!

Even as the demons desperately leaped to avoid the volley of ice pellets, their formation was disrupted.

“Good! I’m coming too!”

Next, a male student who had been standing by tightened his grip on his spear and charged forward.

“Haaap!”

Kwaet!

“Keuhk!”

The demon whose chest was pierced turned into ashes and vanished.

‘He’s skilled.’

As that scene unfolded, Leo turned his gaze toward the brown-haired female student, who was now holding her hands together and chanting a spell.

Zheeng-!

As she separated her hands, several small orbs of light formed.

“Ah Cr Ray!”

Kygegegeging!

The magic was completed as the light orbs shot off in all directions, hurling themselves toward the demons.

Upon recognizing the magic, Leo marveled internally.

‘Magic of the Stars.’

Even though this was the first year, the Leo carrying memories from his previous life and the female student differed greatly.

‘She has incredible magical aptitude.’

As Leo was marveling, one of the demons that were hit directly by the light orbs was completely shredded, leaving no trace behind.

The remaining number of demons stood at six.

The demon comrades, having lost allies, began reorganizing their ranks.

‘Demon conscripts may be weak in power, but they have good synergy.’

Though the initial ambush had broken their formation, now that they reformed their ranks, they became more difficult to handle.

Leo then pulled out four backup daggers he had prepared from his coat and gripped them in his right hand.

And he charged toward the demons.

“Stupid fool.”

The demons sneered at Leo for his reckless charge without preparation.

Woong-!

But the moment they noticed a magic circle floating in his right hand, their expressions changed drastically.

“Blade mage!”

While the demons were on guard, Leo threw the daggers he was holding.

The demons dodged the daggers and readied themselves for an expected magical attack.

When no magic flew their way, they quickly turned to offense.

“Was it a feint?”

“The enemy used a trick.”

Four leading demons surrounded Leo in a pincer movement.

But suddenly, their agile movements froze as if caught.

“Huh?”

The demons quickly turned around.

The daggers that Leo had thrown were embedded in their shadows.

The Shadow Hold magic, which captured shadows.

The power of dark magic would be halved against demons.

Indeed, as soon as the demons realized it, the magic dissolved almost immediately.

But that brief moment was more than enough time for Leo.

Hwarrrk-! Bang! Kwaetdeuk! Puheok!

“Kiack?!”

“Keuhk!”

Leo’s sword, tracing a path of fire, massacred the demons.

Swift-!

At that moment, a black blade surged from the ground, rushing toward Leo.

It was a dark magic cast by the demons from the rear.

Without hesitation, a stream of runic language flowed out from Leo’s mouth.

Upon that, the dark magic lost its power and dissipated.

“Diaspel of Dark Magic?”

The brown-haired female student was astonished.

Kwagagagak-!

The unsuspecting demons were engulfed by a chilling wind of ice.

Jjerjerjeck-!

Leon approached the frozen demons and nudged them with a “tut.”

Changgrang-!

Like shattered glass, the demon’s body turned to ashes and disappeared.

“Brilliant, Chloe.”

“…”

“Why? Is there something you want to say?”

“Why did you use dark magic on the demons?”

“Ah, that?”

Leo laughed as if it were a small matter.

“Demons rarely prepare for dark magic, so even simple spells can catch them off guard.”

“Isn’t it dangerous to dispel black magic instead of dodging? That could have been risky.”

“It can be risky, but if you can dispel a simple black magic spell, it’s safer to do so instead of dodging. Although magic systems vary, dark magic is still composed of spells. A simple black magic can be quickly dispelled. It’s a skill you can use, too.”

‘To be able to execute that efficiently in actual combat is another story though!’

For Leo, who fought against demons to exhaustion in his past life, these were as natural as breathing. But for a 15-year-old girl, it was an overwhelming amount of experience she could never acquire.

‘How many moves ahead did he anticipate and act upon?’

At that thought, Chloe noticed the brown-haired girl was smiling cheerfully.

“Thank you for your assistance!”

She happily thanked them.

“Are you part of the rescue team?”

“Yeah.”

“The sudden appearance of demons was worrying, but now that the rescue team is here, it’s reassuring!”

With a broad smile, the female student’s face caused Chloe to stiffen.

Chloe quickly said,

“Sorry, but I’d like to have a quick conversation with my teammate.”

“Eh? Oh, okay.”

Upon Chloe’s words, the girl hesitated for a moment before returning to her group.

“Why are you acting like that?”

“That female student is Alia Jeron!”

“Alia Jeron, you don’t mean…?”

“Yeah, it’s her.”

The world of heroes is a thing of the past.

But depending on the actions of the player, it is possible to produce an outcome different from the actual historical one.

Thirty years ago, during the incident, multiple first-year parties were deployed to exterminate monsters.

The midterm exam project for the first years was to rescue those parties.

“You probably know this, but the party that Alia Jeron belongs to…”

Chloe swallowed dryly.

“Is the one that cannot be saved from the Chedmurder’s Incident.”

*

“Just our luck meeting Alia’s party.”

Chloe stamped her foot anxiously.

There was an absolute reason why Alia’s party couldn’t escape total annihilation.

“Dark Warrior Chubarn. He never changes his objective.”

Chubarn.

He was the demon who, thirty years prior, wiped out four out of the seven assigned parties on his own, all the way until he was exterminated by Alby.

And the first party that Chubarn had targeted was Alia’s party.

“Well, to be exact, he targeted Alia Jeron.”

Chloe glanced at Alia, who was chatting with her friends.

Alia Jeron.

The direct descendant of the Zeruon family, one of the three great hero families of Lumeria, and the current class representative.

She was also the younger sister of the Magician with the Eye, Alby.

Thanks to her remarkable talent, she was still occasionally mentioned by professors, even thirty years later.

But that very talent cost her her life.

The reason behind the incident of Tartarus 30 years ago was to remove the sprouts of future heroes.

Hence, Alia Jeron was the first target.

This is why Alia’s party could never escape annihilation.

No matter what situation arose, once the world of heroes began, Chubarn’s first goal was to annihilate Alia’s party.

“Remember what the homeroom professor said when the exam task was announced?”

Upon Chloe’s words, Leo recalled Halind’s statement.

‘With the abilities you have now, you cannot defeat a Knight-class demon. If you ever encounter Chubarn, you must flee immediately. If fleeing is impossible, abandon the exam. If we’re lenient, we may overlook it. But if there is someone foolish enough to still engage in battle…’

Halind, at the end of his warning, truly infused his words with menace.

‘I’ll expel that person immediately, whoever they are.’

“With the abilities we have now, he is definitely an opponent we cannot defeat.”

“So you’re saying we should leave them?”

“I feel bad too! But Leo, we need to stay calm now. We are in the Hero’s World, and in reality, these people already… ”

Chloe hesitated before continuing.

“They’re already dead. We aren’t in a position where we can help the dead, right?”

“That’s true. But, Chloe.”

“Leo! Get a hold of yourself! Yeah, you’re amazing! You’re talented! I admit it!”

At Chloe’s sudden outburst, Leo’s eyes widened considerably.

Chloe glared fiercely at Leo, using all of her strength to say,

“Now isn’t the time to do something reckless! So please, listen to me! This hero act can wait… !”

As Chloe let out her frustrations, she stopped speaking.

Somehow, Leo’s finger was now pressing against her lips.

“That sort of talk isn’t something to be said lightly, Chloe.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“One must not speak of ‘pretending to be a hero’.”

“Why not?”

“Because you are a hero candidate.”

Chloe drew in a breath.

“You came to Lumeran dreaming of becoming a hero, right? So this isn’t pretending to be a hero.”

Leo smiled gently.

“It’s the process of becoming one.”

Leo was right.

A hero is someone who turns the impossible into the possible.

But at some point, he had forgotten that goal.

‘In the rush to keep up… I didn’t have time to recall these thoughts.’

A dark emotion began to rise within his chest.

“And the history has already diverged.”

“What?”

“There’s now a way to save those who were supposed to be unsavable.”

“A way to save them?”

“Think carefully, Chloe. The sun is already setting. Isn’t that odd?”

“Sun setting… Ah!”

Realizing something, Chloe’s eyes widened.

“Yes. By now, according to the original timeline, Alia’s party should have already fallen into Chubarn’s hands.”

The gears of history had already shifted out of place.

“We’ve already been in this hero’s world for three hours. If Chubarn had attacked another party, there would have been enough time for it to result in total annihilation.”

If the conditions for clearing the Hero Dungeon are not met, the characters become isolated in the Hero’s World.

A fork in the road lay ahead.

The option to escape the forest with Alia’s party, who had slipped Chubarn’s attention, and achieve the objective of [Ensured Safety].

Or, the choice to follow the original plotline and search for other parties.

As Chloe hesitated, she gritted her teeth.

“I’ll leave it to your judgment.”

“Alright.”

Leo looked at Alia’s party.

“Let’s escape with Alia’s party.”

——————==