582.
“Are you guys even in your right minds?”
Eiran, who looked like Azonia, and Arga, who resembled Seira, were kneeling in front of Comet Wizard Seirun.
Lunia, who was possessed by Seirun, continued with an exasperated expression.
“Of all people, you two, who are supposed to be in the second year, and you’re even the vice-captain and captain of Azonia and Seirun. How could you forget the situation and act like nothing’s changed?”
Under the severe reprimand, Ar and Eiran lowered their ears in embarrassment.
“Come on, calm down. Thanks to you two, at least we were able to get to know each other quickly, right?”
Chen Sia, who appeared as a first-year student from Seirun Academy, smiled faintly and calmed Lunia down.
Inside a lecture hall in Lumeran, thirty-two students had gathered.
All of them were conquerors of the Hero’s World.
Lunia pressed her temples hard.
Upon seeing this, Kal spoke up.
“Lady Seirun and Lady Azonia are possessed by Lunia and Eiran, right? Then who’s possessed in Demian?”
“Driana. She’s currently at the Hero’s Tower with Rodia.”
“Is no one possessed in Rodia?”
At this question, Lunia recalled Rodia delivering a powerful uppercut to her own chest.
The image of the Dragon of the Cataclysm shattered into pieces.
Certainly, Lunia had faced enough Great Heroes to understand that the Heroes of the Cataclysm might not live up to her imagination, yet she was prepared for such a possibility, so mentally, she was unaffected.
“That’s what it seems.”
“Complicated.”
In this age, the words of the Heroes of the Cataclysm were as good as law. The reason there was no major incident during the earlier commotion was because Lunia and Eiran, who had taken on the appearances of Seirun and Azonia, managed to calm the situation.
“It would’ve been easier to resolve the situation if every conqueror was a Hero of the Cataclysm.”
Kal muttered, almost regretfully.
To conquer the Hero’s World means to overcome the trials that the hero in question faced. While the process of overcoming these trials is critical, how one conquers is less important. If one can find an unexpected route during the process, it might lead to better results, achieving overcompliance.
However, such overcompliance isn’t easy. The Hero’s World materialized by the Hero Record represents the best possible result achieved by the world’s protagonist in their situation. Even if one becomes familiar with the method to conquer, meeting the conditions necessary for overcompliance remains difficult. Worse still, attempting overcompliance might distort the situation and lead to failure in the conquest.
Thus, the best method in tackling the Hero’s World was to follow the historical timeline as closely as possible. The reason why one must act in accordance with the possessed character is due to these reasons.
But once one gains enough control over the situation, the difficulty in conquest lessens significantly.
“First, let’s share what we’ve found out.”
At Kal’s suggestion, Lunia nodded.
“First, the scope of this world extends to the confines of Lumeran Academy. We can’t go beyond Lumeria Lake.”
Eiran, who had infiltrated Azonia, was the first to speak, sharing the information she’d gathered while exploring the Hero’s World the previous night.
Following this, the students shared what they had found out individually.
“Not recorded in history yet.”
Ar crossed her arms and fell into thought.
“Right now, we don’t even know our conquest objective.”
When Ar raised her head, a message floated in front of her eyes.
[Conquest Objective: -]
The conquest objective, which could be called the basic guide for conquering the Hero’s World, was blank. While such situations were common in Hero Dungeons, this one felt especially bleak in the absence of historical information.
At this point, a student from Azonia raised his hand.
“The difficulty of the Hero’s World doesn’t change based on the Hero’s rank, does it? I think Lumeran’s world might not be extremely difficult, given the circumstances?”
With this, everyone turned to look at the student.
“The current era is after the Rebirth of the Catastrophe ended, isn’t it? I don’t think there will be trials impossible to handle.”
This reasonable assertion made everyone nod in agreement when—
“No.”
Kal let out a deep sigh.
“This conquest is going to be highly dangerous.”
Upon seeing Kal contradicting him, the Azonia student gave a slightly annoyed expression, then with a smirk, belittled Kal.
“Maybe it feels that way to you. You’ve always seemed like a weakling who could get expelled from Lumeran at any moment. And as to why some fool thought of choosing you as the representative, I have no idea, but judging by how you look, it seems you won’t be much help, so please don’t get in our way.”
Just as the student was speaking provocatively toward Kal, there was a sound.
Swoosh— Crackling!
“I’ll accept your provocation.”
Duran, who had the appearance of an elf, was suddenly pressing his sword against the Azonia student’s neck.
Duran wasn’t the only one. Chelsea, who looked like a beastman, was also standing behind the student, pointing her staff threateningly.
As Azonia’s student froze at the sudden arrival of the two, someone else spoke up.
“Kal is the representative of Lumeran Academy that we elected through a meeting. Please don’t treat him like an idiot.”
Celicia, arms crossed, eyes sharp with intensity.
Seeing this, a faint smile surfaced on Kal’s lips.
‘I haven’t wasted my school life, indeed.’
“Only students from our school can disrespect Kal, okay?”
But Chelsea’s following remark caused Kal’s face to crumble completely.
“Why do you think it’s not going to be easy?”
Abad asked with a puzzled look.
“Though we generally believe that the Heroes of the Cataclysm ended the Rebirth of the Catastrophe and restored peace, think about it. That’s not the case, is it?”
“Indeed.”
Abad stroked his chin.
Until now, there was an unknown truth about the world. The Heroes of the Cataclysm didn’t completely eliminate the Pieces of Erebus. Erebus is sealed in the world of the Cataclysm.
“Of course, we won’t have to face endlessly resurrecting Erebus. But the gathering of the Heroes of the Cataclysm definitely indicates something related to Erebus.”
As he said this, the atmosphere among the students grew heavy.
“Most importantly, the problem lies not in conquering the Hero’s World itself.”
Kal spoke with a serious expression.
“What do you mean?”
Duran furrowed his brows.
“Remember how the Flame of Catastrophe appeared when Lady Seirun returned?”
Lunia answered in place of Kal.
“That happened because Erebus tried to escape the outside world through the Hero’s World.”
With this, everyone present had a frozen look on their faces.
“Whether or not we conquer this world also determines whether Erebus breaks free from the seal.”
At Lunia’s words, the entire group had expressions of shock.
Knock, knock.
A knocking sound was heard.
The door opened, and Driana, who looked like Demian, stepped in.
“Lunia, Eiran, Rodia is calling for the Heroes of the Cataclysm.”
At this, Lunia and Eiran both looked puzzled as they stood up.
“And it seems the Student Council President of Lumeran should come as well?”
“Why me?”
Kal asked with a bewildered expression.
Looking at Kal, Driana answered seriously.
“It seems Lumeran himself has gone missing. I heard they want to ask if you know anything related to this.”
The central part of Lumeran.
Atop the Hero’s Tower, the highest point.
Kal swept his gaze across the principal’s office.
Given Lumeran’s rich history spanning thousands of years, the campus scenery was quite different from his era.
But this principal’s office hasn’t changed much.
The only notable difference was that in the place where portraits of all the past principals hung, only the portrait of Lumeran was displayed.
‘Anyway, Lumeran himself is missing?’
Kal’s serious expression deepened.
This is Lumeran’s world. And the scope of the world is confined within Lumeran Academy.
Then it means Lumeran is somewhere within the Lumeran Academy.
But then why the talk of disappearance?
Kal scratched his head.
“Troublesome.”
With his arms crossed, Kal recalled the stories Leo had told him about the Cataclysm world.
‘Leo said that the master of the post-Cataclysm world isn’t a fake entity realized within the Hero Record but actual living individuals. If that is true, it’s highly likely the Lumeran present in this world is the real person.’
Finding Lumeran wouldn’t pose a significant challenge to achieving the conquest objective.
In most Hero’s Worlds, recognizing that the world is fake would distort it, but this world was special.
The complication arises after that.
‘This world being a Hero Dungeon means Erebus is going berserk, right? Just like Lady Seirun’s world.’
It was said that Seirun’s world had become a pile of ashes just before Erebus could breach it and use it as an exit.
‘Leo stopped that escape route using his powers. Perhaps that’s what we need to do.’
In a situation where we don’t know when such an event will happen and with Lumeran missing, things are indeed complicated.
‘But this world itself appears quite normal.’
Though the conquest objective remains unknown, judging by the current appearance, Lumeran Academy seems incredibly peaceful.
‘Lady Seirun’s world was said to have been engulfed in the Black Flame.’
So perhaps there’s still time left before this world becomes a pathway.
‘Then we need to find Lumeran before it’s too late.’
“Where could you have possibly gone?”
Kal sighed and eyed Lumeran’s portrait.
Gazing at the portrait momentarily, Kal noticed a phrase.
‘So this motto has been around since then.’
“Surpass your limits.”
A teaching left by Lumeran for future generations.
“Despite not resembling him in every other way, I can say with confidence that I resemble him in this one aspect.”
Kal gave a wry smile.
If I hadn’t continuously surpassed my limits, I wouldn’t even be here now.
“Struggled and flailed around so embarrassingly like a real fool.”
Just as Kal thought this, a random memory of someone’s words surfaced in his mind.
“In the entire history of Lumeran Academy, there may never have been a student who resembles Lumeran as little as you, Kal Thomas.”
“…”
It was an incisive critique that cut deep.
At the time, Kal had pretended to take it lightly, but deep down, the words of the gods were like a verdict to him.
A verdict stating that someone who bears no resemblance to their godlike ideal of Lumeran would never be able to become a hero.
Just as Kal pondered over this, he felt a strange thought.
“Did you really say that Lumeran was someone who never floundered or struggled foolishly?
The thought seemed strange.
The Lumeran Kal knew was a man who had surpassed endless limits to save the world.
But someone who surpasses limits flounders and struggles like a fool.
Like Kal himself.
If not, then…
“Does it mean that he gave up trying?”
The thought was preposterous.
It was close to an insult.
Yet, Kal could swear to this with conviction, on one thing he never let go of: the continuous attempts to surpass limits.
“Abandoning the struggle itself, failing to push beyond his limits, would negate everything I’ve bet on for the past two years at Lumeran.”
As Kal thought this, a past conversation with Leo resurfaced.
“What do you think about Lumeran?” “Though I’ve never met him, I consider him a proud junior.”
“Indeed, that’s what you always thought.”
“Hmm, maybe my excessive admiration for him was a problem.”
“Based on your records, it looked hard not to admire him.”
“True. The issue is that you wanted to be like me.”
“Lumeran probably wished to be like the Hero of the Beginning. But it wasn’t possible.”
Kal muttered softly,
“He gave up on trying to be like Leo. Which meant he gave up on eliminating Erebus.”
Being unable to become like Leo might have been Lumeran’s limitation.
Kal clenched his fists.
“So, he found another way.”
Not being able to become someone else means entrusting the responsibility to future generations, hoping someone who doesn’t give up and keeps surpassing limits will emerge.
Kal clenched his fists again.
‘Lumeran has gone in search of god.’
BOOOOOOM!!
Kail stood in front of a column of fire burning fiercely.
“Is this the power of something that’s merely a mass of strength?”
The firepower grew stronger by the second.
Kail clenched and unclenched his fists.
‘This power is on a completely different level from the guy I met in Seirun’s world earlier.’
Kail’s eyes pierced through to the black flames at the center.
[Master Leo, are the children inside the Hero’s World safe?]
At this level of firepower, it was evident the Hero’s World would be in turmoil.
Concerned by Melania’s voice, Kail answered,
“They’ll be fine.”
Kail’s lips curved into a smile.
“There’s someone inside who won’t give up and will struggle until the end.”
![[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")
