580.
Whooosh! Fwip!
The fluttering cloak captivates the gazes of the hero candidates.
The appearance of Kyle, a youth with gray hair and eyes that evoke moonlight, made it seem as though time itself had paused in the surrounding area.
Kyle’s presence was that overwhelming.
Thud-
“Ahh.”
When Kyle took a step forward, it seemed as though time started to flow again, and the hero candidates gasped in awe.
‘What is this presence?’
Even after changing his form into Leo’s likeness through the unique magic, Mirror, En found himself unconsciously swallowing dryly at Kyle’s dominating presence.
As an heir to the Dragon Lord Melina, En had met countless heroes.
‘No, it’s rude to even compare someone like him to heroes… but…’
During the summer break, there had been a direct conversation with Aron.
There was also a recent encounter with Luna when she was in Lumeran.
Both Great Heroes had a commanding presence.
But Kyle was different.
He was untouchably overwhelming.
Like a sword drawn from its sheath.
‘The change in appearance alone cannot account for this. Lord Leo must have been holding back until now.’
En clenched his fists tightly.
Thud- Thud-
Then Kyle stopped in front of En.
“Don’t be nervous.”
“Ah…”
As Kyle spoke in a voice barely audible only to En, En finally snapped out of his trance.
“Lift your head and look straight at your opponent. You’re the next Dragon Lord, aren’t you?”
Kyle’s gray eyes emitted a strict gleam.
“You’re frozen by just this? What good is that going to do?”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
Startled, En straightened his back and stood upright.
Smirking at the sight of En, Kyle walked forward.
‘…Now I understand.’
Aron rallies people with an immense sense of courage.
The progenitor of the star cloud always spurs people forward with an ever-confident attitude.
‘Lord Kyle… He pulls people in.’
Kyle’s charisma pulls people firmly and decisively.
That blade-like aura isn’t aimed at us.
Rather, it’s directed towards the enemy.
It inspires great trust.
En came to realize this as the way Kyle instills trust in people and took a deep breath.
“Is this truly the Hero of Beginning?”
Hark asked, looking perplexed.
“It’s definitely Lord Kyle! Last year at Seirun, he and Lord Seirun came to save us!”
Lil said excitedly.
Right then,
“Hero candidates! If you’re ready, hurry up and lend us support!”
A wizard hero appeared on his staff, restraining Erebus’ flames.
“We’re being pushed back! Your help is desperately needed now!”
The wizard urgently shouted.
“Come now, does it matter if it’s Lord Kyle himself or not? The important thing now is to eliminate that thing.”
Then Elena stepped in to clarify the situation.
Upon hearing this, the hero candidates who had been entranced by Kyle’s appearance suddenly snapped out of it.
“Kyle? What kind of nonsense… Ugh?!?!”
The wizard hero, who had been wearing an expression of confusion, let out a cry of alarm upon spotting Kyle and fell off his staff.
Boom-!
“The Hero of Beginning… Kyle?”
Elena approached behind the wizard hero, who was gaping in surprise, and grinned.
“Now now, Hero of Beginning, sir. Please lend us a hand quickly.”
Elena grinned and pushed him from behind.
Seeing this, exclamations of admiration erupted from here and there.
“Of course, it’s Elena. I’m finding it hard to breathe just watching her.”
“Is it a matter of capability?”
As admiration spread around,
“You’ll be fine on your own, so stop pushing me, kid.”
Kyle’s words caused Elena to falter, then she quickly moved in front of Leo and narrowed her eyes.
“That expression and tone remind me of a particular insolent junior who lacks charm. Moreover, there happens to be a fake one acting like a junior right now.”
At this, Kyle burst out laughing.
With that laughter, Elena’s eyes narrowed even further.
“I was wondering why it felt strange. This senior who’s obviously older than me is treating me like a child.”
Leo had always been an unconventional figure.
His incomprehensible rate of growth and deep level of expertise that seemed beyond reach.
If all that truly was ‘Hero of Beginning Kyle,’ everything made sense.
Elena had faintly noticed something amiss by observing En’s appearance, and Kyle’s arrival confirmed his identity as Leo.
At that moment,
Gooo-!
“What, what is this?! Suddenly?! Kaahh!!?”
“Everyone, fall back!”
“Our vanguards are caught in the flames! Healers!”
Due to the sudden intensification of Erebus’ flames, heroes began to suffer critical wounds.
Kyle clicked his tongue upon seeing this.
“They’ve noticed our presence.”
“Troubling.”
Elena, too, sensed something unusual and quickly attempted to retreat.
Just then,
Tuck-
“Huh?”
Kyle grabbed Elena’s wrist and pulled her into his arms.
With wide eyes, Elena realized she had suddenly been pulled into Kyle’s embrace.
Kyle further pulled Elena closer and wrapped his cloak around her.
Fwip-!
The space suddenly opened, and a massive flame covered Kyle.
Hrrrrrr-!
Had Elena retreated as intended, she would have been hit directly by the attack.
‘I would’ve died.’
Feeling a chill run down her spine, Elena trembled but quickly regained her composure.
Kyle clasped Elena even more tightly to his chest, almost making it hard to breathe.
Fwaaa-!
After shaking off the flames, Kyle swung his hand.
Hrrrrrr-!
A crimson sword formed in Kyle’s hand and pushed back the Catastrophe Flame, a sword imbued with Phoenix and Fiora.
“Pass this message on. Leave the front to me.”
“Leo, alone?”
“Right. You kids would only get in the way now with your measly strength. This isn’t something for someone ignorant of Erebus to handle.”
“There are students among the hero candidates, including me, who possess hero-level strength. I don’t think you’d be held back by them, surely they could be of help, right?”
Elena protested, dissatisfied.
As Kyle released her from his embrace, he replied.
“What are you saying?”
“Huh?”
“Kids also include those over there.”
Kyle motioned toward the heroes fleeing from Erebus.
Elena’s mouth opened slightly.
Even so, calling even accomplished heroes “kids” was quite something.
“Support me from the back, understood? Elena.”
“Yes ma’am! Yes!”
Without realizing it Elena gave a standing-at-attention response, then clapped her hand over her mouth.
“Good girl.”
Treating her like a child who listens well, Kyle walked towards Erebus.
Watching his departing figure, Elena mumbled to herself.
“Now I understand why Lady Luna fell for him.”
Hrrrr-!
The surroundings were ablaze with black flames.
But Kyle paid no mind and approached Erebus.
These black flames, which cause fatal injuries upon touch, were Disaster Flames.
However, to Kyle, these fragments of flame posed no great threat.
Erebus’ arch-nemesis, the pure mana attribute.
Additionally, during the previous conquest of Dwenno’s world, Kyle even acquired the flames from Dwenno that had shielded the Great Heroes from Erebus’ flames.
Hrrr-!
Golden flames erupted from Kyle’s body.
‘Earlier attack.’
Kyle narrowed his eyes as he stared at Erebus’ flames.
Suddenly, space split in the sky and black flames poured down.
There had been no warning whatsoever.
Even the heroes of the present era would have been caught in that attack.
It wasn’t because the heroes of today were weak.
‘The heroes of today have no information about Erebus.’
Erebus is not a mere monster that exhales inexhaustible Disaster Flames.
It’s a godlike monster holding countless secrets of innumerable worlds and numerous powers.
This is Erebus.
During the Era of Catastrophe.
Erebus was indeed defeated by the Great Heroes.
But behind that victory were countless heroes who sacrificed their lives to perfect the method to defeat Erebus.
The strategy to conquer Erebus was built upon countless fallen heroes who became ashes.
No matter how powerful the hero, they’re powerless before mysterious powers.
‘That attack surely twisted the laws of space.’
It’s not magic.
It’s the realm of miracles caused by deities.
‘The power that interferes with space… is it the head?’
Kyle discerned the true nature of the fragment locked within the Hero of the Cataclysm.
It was clear that the fragment corresponding to the head among the six divided pieces of Erebus was sealed in the world of the Cataclysm.
‘The problem is that the fragment, which should be a mere force without will, used a power. Moreover…’
Hrrrr-!
The world-burning, foul smell assaulted Kyle’s olfactory senses.
A scent only those who fiercely battled Erebus could recognize.
‘The smell is even more intense than before.’
Kyle’s expression twisted.
Until now, Kyle had felled fragments and remnants of Erebus.
But this flame, which emits an even more atrocious smell, is the fiercest he’s faced.
‘Is it stronger than other flames? Why?’
The moment Kyle narrowed his eyes,
Goo-!
Disaster flames surged towards Kyle.
Even though it was merely a mass of power, the Disaster Flames were displaying hostility towards Leo.
It knows.
The being in front of it is the one who eradicated it.
Seeing that, Kyle curled the corner of his mouth.
“Same as always.”
Flash-!
A golden aura surged from the sword clutched in Kyle’s left hand.
A beastman hero widened his eyes in astonishment.
“Golden aura?! Could it be Lord Aron’s aura!”
Whoosh-!
Kyle’s sword swept away all of Erebus’s flames.
Hrrrr-!
In that instant, black flames surged in front of Kyle.
Upon seeing it, Kyle extended his right hand, summoning a magical staff.
Kyle had been intoning a spell since he swung his sword and now unleashed his magic.
“End.”
Flash-! Qooong!
The starlight of annihilation swept away Erebus’ flames.
Every onlooker who witnessed that awe-inspiring sight trembled in awe.
“Is that… all-class Hero of Beginning, Kyle…?”
“…Completely surpasses Leo, doesn’t he?”
Everyone stared at Kyle’s retreating figure in shock.
Crackle-! Pachink-!
Then a crack appeared on the sword Kyle was gripping, and the orb of the magical staff exploded.
This sword and staff were Driana’s finest masterpieces.
Under normal circumstances, Kyle could have used them without breaking them, but with no leisure time now, there was no choice but to roughhouse with them.
Hrrrr-!
As Kyle watched the Disaster Flames beginning to burn again, he reached into the subspace.
Grrr- Grrr-!
Suddenly, the artifacts hidden within the subspace resonated with their presence.
Kyle hesitated for a moment.
“I don’t want to strain the antiques.”
Uuung-!
His bitter smile didn’t stop the resonance.
Tuck!
Kyle pulled out a broken longsword from subspace.
At a glance, it looked like a sword that could break at any moment.
A longsword so questionable in function, that Merigold, the Student Council President of Demian, watching from the rear, ready to support Kyle, widened her eyes.
“Is that one of Lord Dwenno’s artifacts in Demian?”
At that moment,
Hrrrr-!
Golden flames enveloped the longsword.
Uuuuung-!
A pristine longsword emitted a brilliant light.
Like a piece of art, the longsword was exceedingly beautiful.
But it had no name.
Dwenno said,
Weapons are merely weapons.
But artifacts that hadn’t been named by anyone understood very well the heart of those who created them.
The creator who made this sword had already died thousands of years ago.
People only regarded the longsword as a relic of glorious history.
But the longsword, to fulfill its duty, was willing to burn its last to return to its past glory.
“That guy didn’t name any of his creations.”
Kyle adjusted his grip on the longsword.
“But he remembered every object he ever made.”
He would drink and truly mourn when a weapon broke.
Uung-! Uung-!
The unnamed longsword resonated even more powerfully.
“That guy may be gone, but don’t worry.”
Kyle lowered into a stance.
“I’ll remember your last moments.”
Kwaak-!
Kyle charged towards Erebus.
‘Hold on just a little longer.’
Thinking of those trapped within the Hero’s World, Kyle tightened his grip on his sword.
‘I’ll come to save you right away!’
“Kaaaaa! Student Council President! He’s so cool!”
“That commoner woman, ignore her! Come play with us! Right?!”
“…”
Kal suppressed a bitter laugh as he looked up at the sky.
He could feel the terrifying glare of Eliza, probably shouting “What are you doing, you idiot commoner?” from behind.
‘Will someone…’
Kal’s nose stung.
‘Save me.’
![[TS] The Protagonist is Conquered](https://i3.wp.com/novelhitam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743806812-5548-TS-The-Protagonist-is-Conquered.png?resize=85,105 "[TS] The Protagonist is Conquered")
