Chapter 55

【55】54.

Leo felt cold sweat trickling down his back.

Demon Queen Silatuna.

A legion commander of the demons who had existed even before the Era of Catastrophe.

And five thousand years ago.

She was one of the three legion commanders that the Great Heroes had failed to eliminate.

‘You’ve been casting a mental degradation spell on me.’

The moment Leo recognized the magic, the spell was undone.

‘I suspected that the one pulling the strings through the Demon Tool was a high-ranking demon, but I never imagined it was you.’

Grinding his teeth, Leo braced himself.

[Student? You’re a rather sensitive little guy. I can see you noticed my magic.]

Leo tensed his body.

In reality, seven out of the ten legion commanders from the time of the Era of Catastrophe were exterminated by Kyle and his comrades.

‘But three could never be taken down.’

The reason was simple.

The remaining three commanders were monsters of a different caliber than the others.

Behind their frightening power lay cunning and deceit.

During Kyle’s time, there had been no direct confrontation with Silatuna.

Kyle was tasked with fighting the Demon King and the Giant King.

The ones responsible for Silatuna were Luna and Aron.

‘When I came to offer support, she had already retreated.’

Thus, by the late Era of Catastrophe, they never crossed paths.

Now, Leo was facing that old nemesis.

[Blame your overly sensitive perception.]

Silatuna mocked him, swinging her hand toward Leo.

KWAGAGAJAK-!

Her elongated arm flew toward Leo, aiming to pierce through him.

HWAACK-!

At that moment, a burst of aura flames erupted.

HARURUK! KWAAAAANG-!

Silatuna watched in shock as her hand turned to ash.

[You were supposed to have lost your fighting spirit.]

The legion commander wields the curse of terror. Those exposed to this curse are paralyzed by fear, forfeiting their will to fight.

But this curse had no effect on Leo.

‘This is just a flesh-made clone. If it were the real body, there’d have been no way to hide it!’

Without hesitation, Leo broke the shop’s window, dashing outside. Even as a clone, she posed a danger far greater than Chuvarn.

‘There’s nothing I can do right now. I have to escape…!’

[Didn’t your professors teach you to watch your back?]

“Guh!”

Mockery and intent to k*ll came from behind Leo, causing him to quickly pivot.

CHWACK-!

A whip made of flesh narrowly grazed Leo’s back.

Feeling a sharp sting, Leo spun around.

HARURURUK! KWOANG-!

Flames far more intense than before reduced Silatuna’s arm to ash.

Silatuna’s eyes twitched in frustration.

The whip of flesh moved like a living snake, aiming to pierce through Leo.

Leo’s crimson eyes swiftly followed the path of the attack.

‘She has the advantage in speed.’

Leo’s body was still that of a youth, still incomplete.

‘I need to outwit her!’

Leo’s body vanished, leaving afterimages behind.

With each move, Leo managed to distance himself slightly from Silatuna.

Silatuna narrowed her eyes.

‘Just a mere student.’

Being almost caught yet narrowly escaping was deeply irritating.

Power and speed clearly favored Silatuna, but it was clear now that Leo’s skill was what was compensating for that gap.

[It seems you’re a student I must eliminate now.]

KWAHHAAH-!

Flesh stretched out like a giant fishing net and descended upon Leo.

[I’ll crush you as you are.]

Seeing this, Leo urgently pushed his aura to maximum capacity.

HARURURURUK! KWAAAAAAH!

The fiery flames eradicated the flesh with a burning stench of roasted flesh.

[Burnt phoenix fire?]

Silatuna’s surprise was evident.

CHIKH-!

Smoke rose from Leo’s body after he’d released a tremendous burst of power, one that came at the cost of burning his flesh.

[Impressive, but how many times can you unleash that much firepower?]

Smirking, Silatuna laughed softly.

Leo glanced up.

Silatuna quickly followed his gaze, looking skyward.

PACHING! KWAGAGAGAGAJAK!

Something shattered, and beams of light rained down upon Silatuna.

PWABUWABUWABU-!

The light utterly crushed her body.

[You’re here.]

Shaking off the light shards stuck to her body, Silatuna gave a sinister grin.

[The Wizard of the Magical Eyes.]

In the sky, to the left, was Alby with the golden Magic Eye liberated.

“Fleeting piece of flesh, huh.”

[That’s impertinent language to refer to this noble body.]

“I don’t care for fleeting pieces.”

Alby’s Magic Eye glowed, and a square wall of golden light formed.

CHIMGLANG-!

The wall cracked and transformed into sharp light shards.

Leo’s eyes widened.

‘Fairy magic.’

A magic only fairies should be able to use was being employed by a human.

‘This is the power of the Hero Record… the strength to cultivate heroes.’

While Leo marveled at this, Silatuna smirked dangerously at the light shards raining toward her.

[I’ll eat your left eye some day.]

KWING-!

Before she could finish her sentence, one of the light shards struck her face.

Struck directly by countless light shards, Silatuna’s clone disintegrated into a lump of meat and disappeared.

The aura flames burning on Leo’s body dwindled.

“Leo Flove, is it?”

Alby adjusted his glasses, his usual eye now showing.

“What are you doing running from this monster?”

“While investigating Ruteck, she suddenly appeared.”

“Ruteck?”

Alby’s piercing gaze turned to Leo.

“You claim to have found that monster in a place already thoroughly searched by Lumeran?”

“It was masked by a Dissonance Magic.”

“Dissonance, indeed…”

Satisfied with this explanation, Alby asked no more questions.

Leo, on the other hand, frowned at the lack of inquiry.

‘I heard that Alby Zeruon was tenacious when it came to matters involving Tartarus.’

Alby Zeruon.

A professor of Lumeran who never actually taught.

He only took the position to benefit from the privileges of a professor. One who could freely cross borders and intervene in any Tartarus-related incidents at any time.

Given his lifelong pursuit of Tartarus, especially matters concerning Silatuna, his calm reaction seemed odd.

“Weren’t you supposed to be preparing for the field trip?”

“Yes.”

“If that’s the case, go ahead.”

“Yes?”

“Why are you surprised?”

“Um… will there be any punishment for this incident?”

Seeing Alby, Leo had expected some form of punishment.

Leo was one of the involved parties in the incident during the midterm exams, but delving deeper into the matter was forbidden.

Leo had acted alone, which would warrant punishment under any other professor.

But Alby had nothing particularly negative to say to Leo and instead, urged him to go on.

Leo, taken aback, was met with Alby’s seemingly bored voice.

“A professor who doesn’t do his job well shouldn’t be the one doling out punishments. And…”

A gentle warmth crept into Alby’s usually cold expression.

“I am grateful to you, Leo Flove.”

“What?”

“Thank you for saving her.”

Hearing this, Leo thought of Alia.

“In the future if there’s anything I can assist you with, I’ll help you.”

With these words, Alby headed toward the Ruteck sundries store.

Had anyone who knew Alby seen or heard what had just occurred, they might have questioned whether their eyes deceived them such was the enormity of the event.

But to Alby, Leo was practically a benefactor.

‘You must have heard that phrase about being unable to save his younger sister numerous times.’

By opening the Hero’s World for the younger generation, Alby must have been reminded of his dead sibling every time.

Leo had inadvertently unraveled that knot.

Watching Alby’s retreating back, Leo suddenly remembered a fact.

‘The Zeruon family… isn’t that one of the three great houses of Lumeran?’

The council of Lumeran, managing the great city of Rumelia and the Hero Academy, was comprised of three renowned hero families.

The Zeruon family was one of the pillars of this esteemed trio.

‘If I ask Professor Alby, might I be allowed access to the Forbidden Book Repository? I should ask him next time.’

Making a note for the future, Leo looked at the spot where Silatuna’s clone had disappeared.

‘It’s been confirmed. Considering the Chedmurder Incident and this one, Silatuna has been pulling strings behind the scenes.’

Currently, one of the actual rulers of Tartarus, Silatuna, has revealed herself.

‘Could she have moved merely to cut off the seeds of hero candidates?’

The unsettling feeling wouldn’t go away.

‘What exactly is she after?’

*

HWOYYYYY-!

Far in the northern continent.

In one of the coldest places in the world, the wind swept fiercely.

This place, blanketed in snow and ice year-round, had been the sacred ground of the elves since before the Era of Catastrophe.

It was here that the ancient city of the elves, boasting a long history, stood.

Now known as the Seirun Hero Academy for elves, it was bustling with students moving about its campus.

Among them was a red-haired, red-eyed elf girl, wrapped tightly in a scarf, walking through the snowy field.

“Parading yourself in this weather… You’re quite proud of your powerful magical talents, aren’t you?”

“Typical response from someone from a nameless family. You have no sense of modesty. Besides, you’re not even a pure-blooded elf.”

“Hearing that someone like you is one of the representatives of Seirun’s first-year class is truly lamentable.”

Hearing these taunts from afar, the elf girl rolled her eyes and walked toward the source.

“You jerks! If you’re not cold, you can dress comfortably. Do you have to gang up for something so trivial? Don’t you feel embarrassed? You’ve no pride from your noble houses?”

This response from the girl caused a group of elves gathered by a frozen fountain, surrounding a single boy, to flinch.

“Ru, Runya Miss Runeoda! Isn’t that going too far?”

“Absolutely! And you, a daughter of a noble house, issuing such insults! Isn’t that shameful?”

“The teachers won’t let this slide!”

“What nonsense. Your bullying of one person is far more serious and embarrassing. The teachers won’t let that slide either.”

The girl smiled belligerently, uncharacteristic of an elf.

“If you’re unhappy with my words, let’s duel!”

The faces of the three elves turned pale.

Lunia El Runeoda, inheritor of the elf hero family Runeoda and current first-year student, was none other than the class representative, known for her overwhelming prowess. She had achieved an impressive 29 consecutive wins in the first years’ dueling evaluations.

Aware of this fact, the other first years hastily scattered.

Snorting, Lunia approached the boy dressed thinly for the weather.

“Luca. I told you others will hassle you if you dress like that.”

“Well, yes, but someone swiped all my clothes.”

“What? Those brats really did it!”

It was undoubtedly the work of those few moments ago.

Sighing, Lunia unwrapped her scarf and draped it around Luca’s neck.

“Lu, Lunya Miss! Won’t that make you cold?”

“I’m dressed warmly enough. Besides, you feel the cold less, though not immune, right?”

Smiling, Lunia entered the campus with Luca.

“Ah-choo!”

Once inside, Lunia sneezed immediately.

“Sorry because of me.”

“Ugh! Don’t worry! Don’t worry about it!”

Lunia, rubbing her nose, dismissed her actions with a smile.

“You seem to be in a good mood today?”

“Yeah! Not Father, but Teacher Ellen requested my presence.”

Lunia beamed with excitement.

“My contract partner has finally hatched, it seems!”

“Ah! Congratulations, Lunya Miss!”

Luca cheered happily.

“Yeah. So now I’m going ahead! Luca, if anyone picks on you again, let me know!”

With that, Lunya ran down the corridor.

Eventually, Lunya entered a teacher’s study and asked eagerly.

“Father! Is it true? Has my contract partner been born? Is that right?”

“You’re supposed to address me as ‘Teacher’ at school.”

“No one’s around! So, is it true? Has my contract partner hatched?”

The Runeoda family had a long-standing tradition of contracting Phoenixes.

Ellen, the current head, was planning to have Lunya contract with the offspring of his own bonded Phoenix, Pirina.

Ellen glanced at the letter sent by Pirina and sighed deeply.

“The offspring of Pirina has indeed hatched.”

“Sure!”

Clapping her hands together, Lunya celebrated triumphantly.

“So! When can I meet it? Now?”

‘How should I explain this?’

“Lunya, sit down.”

Obediently, Lunya did as she was told.

Ellen took a deep breath before continuing.

“Lunya, your contract partner…”

“Yes!”

“…has already formed a contract.”

CHEE-JIK!

Lunya froze solid.