Chapter 170
Clang—! Clang—!
That day as well, Dweno was forging weapons as always.
Deep inside a rarely visited cave.
Relying on a magical lamp, Dweno continued his work in silence.
Lysinas and Luna had fallen into a deep sleep from long battles.
Even the loud hammering couldn’t wake the two as they slept wrapped in blankets.
This place was right in the middle of Erebos’s territory.
Their nerves must have been on edge.
Even without such circumstances, it would have been difficult to sleep, yet the two women showed no sign of waking.
They simply leaned against each other, heads together, lost in deep sleep.
It spoke to just how exhausted they were.
‘In a sense, it really is a hopeless situation.’
Shhhhhhh—
Kyle frowned as he watched the steady rain falling outside the cave.
It was the kind of rain that irritated him just to look at.
He stared at the life-draining black rain with a look of disgust when—
– “It’s because of me.”
– “…?”
Kyle looked at Dweno with a puzzled expression at the sudden words.
– “What are you talking about?”
– “I’m talking about Arron.”
The hammering stopped.
– “If the sword hadn’t broken, Arron wouldn’t have lost his life.”
Dweno’s voice trembled faintly.
Dweno was a blacksmith, and Arron was a warrior.
Arron used more of Dweno’s weapons than anyone, so the trust between them was deeper than with anyone else in the party.
But Dweno and Arron were more than just close friends.
Lysinas was the party leader and the eldest, but having lived deep within the dragon’s domain for so long, she was less worldly than Kyle.
Luna was a young woman who had only ever focused on magic.
Kyle, as a mercenary, had plenty of worldly experience but not much variety.
But Dweno had lived a truly rich life.
An aesthete who explored the world in pursuit of beauty since his youth.
Kyle often called him a perverted eccentric, but he was the only true adult in the party.
The youngest, Arron, relied on Dweno a lot.
Dweno’s hands trembled.
– “If my weapon had been… sturdier… If it could have withstood Erebos’s attack…”
Drip—drip—hiss—
Hot tears fell from Dweno’s eyes.
They landed on his large hand and evaporated instantly.
His weapons were born in the midst of powerful flames.
So Dweno was a powerful flame user.
But Dweno didn’t like his own flames.
Destruction is the essence of fire.
For someone who loved beauty, it was a trait he could never fully accept.
– “What does beauty even mean! If only I had been better! If only I had focused more on making weapons! Arron wouldn’t have… wouldn’t have—”
Dweno didn’t cry when Arron died.
He was the one in the party with the steeliest mind.
Even in the most hopeless situations, he never lost his cool and was always the party’s pillar.
But now those emotions had finally burst forth.
Watching Dweno tremble, Kyle gritted his teeth.
– “Don’t talk nonsense.”
Kyle clenched his fist.
– “Arron and I survived countless times thanks to the weapons you made.”
Kyle stared straight at Dweno.
– “If you don’t trust yourself and just blame yourself, what does that make Arron—what does that make me, who trusted you to the very end?”
– “…”
– “We have to stay strong. All that’s left for us now is to move forward.”
– “…You’re right. But Kyle.”
Clang—clang—
Dweno resumed hammering.
But his face was still heavy.
– “Weapons are born from flame.”
– “…”
– “And Erebos’s power comes from an unquenchable fire.”
Clang—clang—
The sound of his hammer rang through the cave.
– “Can the weapons I’ve forged with my fire really withstand Erebos’s power?”
Dweno’s voice was full of anxiety.
A flame is always consumed by a stronger flame.
He feared Kyle would die because his weapon couldn’t hold.
Even the strongest-willed dwarf was shaken by the thought of facing an immortal flame.
– “I’m not going to die.”
– “…?”
– “And like I said, I’ll trust you to the very end.”
Kyle showed unshakeable trust.
– “No matter what anyone says, you make weapons better than art.”
Kyle smiled.
– “The beauty you’ve created is immortal, right? In the end, weapons you crafted even better than your art will also be immortal.”
– “When did you get so mature with that rotten personality of yours?”
– “…Now that sounds like you again.”
Kyle let out a hollow laugh.
“Yeah… my masterpieces are immortal.”
Dweno’s reddish-brown eyes gleamed as he looked at his weapon.
Bang! Fwoosh—!
A bright yellow flame flared at the strike of Dweno’s hammer.
– “In that case… maybe even the weapons I’ve made can become immortal.”
—
Clatter—grab!
Kigors smashed the display case and seized Dweno’s sword.
Whoooooosh—!
“Ooooh!”
The magic swirling around Kigors grew even stronger.
Vmmm—! Vmmm—!
The sword crafted by Dweno began to resonate with Kigors as if in response.
‘What? Why is Dweno’s sword reacting to him?’
Dweno’s weapons, in many ways, were designed to be the opposite of Tartarus.
Weapons crafted to defeat Erebos and Tartarus.
A tool imbued with the will and essence of a blacksmith of Dweno’s caliber.
A weapon that should bring doom to demons was actually empowering one just by being held.
“With this, I—Kigors, the King of Curses—am reborn!”
Kigors’s presence grew sharper.
He was regaining more and more of his Legion Commander’s power.
‘Whatever it is, Dweno’s sword is giving him power. I can’t let him keep it!’
If the Legion Commander regained his full power, Leo would have no way to stop him.
Leo summoned his Mana.
Flash—!
Kigors’s many eyes turned to Leo.
In that moment—!
Clang—!
Leo felt something snap inside his head.
Thud—!
Leo grimaced.
“You’re still alive after receiving a curse of this level? Are you really just a first-year brat?”
Kigors looked at him in disbelief.
‘A curse.’
In an instant, hundreds of curses pierced Leo’s body.
From minor to high-level curses.
He quickly unraveled what he could, but there were curses he couldn’t counter or that crushed him with overwhelming force.
‘There’s a limit to what I can do with just standard curse-breaking techniques.’
Right now, Leo and Kigors were on completely different levels.
Skill alone was no longer enough.
‘If the Legion Commander is reborn right here in the heart of Lumene?’
This was what Tartarus had been after all along.
‘What do I do?’
As Leo gritted his teeth—
Vmmm—
Leo’s left arm shone.
It was [Polium], a reward from clearing Luna’s world.
But this Polium was just an empty shell brought from the Hero’s World.
Yet now, it was glowing with power.
Leo’s eyes widened.
A fresh, light green light.
It was neither Aura, nor Mana, nor Spirit Power.
Nor was it Mana as he knew it.
‘Divine power?’
It was the power of a god Leo had encountered before.
‘Pibua?’
The light turned gray for a moment.
Leo recognized the power.
‘My power?’
To be exact, it was Kyle’s power.
That power soon took form—
Fwoosh—!
—and became a brilliant yellow flame.
“Urgh?”
At that moment, a yellow flame flared from Dweno’s sword in Kigors’s grasp.
‘Dweno’s flame?’
Fwoosh—!
“Aaaargh!”
Dweno’s flame leapt to Kigors.
Screaming in pain, Kigors hurled the sword away.
Clatter! Clang—!
The sword slid across the floor to Leo.
“Swordsman! What did you do to the sword?!”
Kigors roared in fury.
‘No, the principal didn’t do anything.’
Leo looked down at his hand.
‘The sword responded to Dweno’s will.’
All of Dweno’s weapons were imbued with his will and flame.
That flame had awakened.
‘It reacted to my power.’
Leo had inherited the essence of Dweno’s power.
Beloved by the flames, Dweno was incredibly resistant to fire.
At the very end, Dweno had given that essence to Kyle.
But that essence vanished long ago when Kyle died.
‘You retain the knowledge, but not the power. Yet…’
That very flame of Dweno had been revived in Leo’s hand.
‘Pibua must have done something to the Polium.’
The god he met in Luna’s world must have intervened somehow.
Leo bowed his head.
Grab—!
Fwoosh—!
The yellow flame blazed even stronger.
But the flames had no effect on Leo.
Dweno hated his own flames.
Destruction is the essence of fire.
But—
‘Flames aren’t only about destruction!’
Even though he disliked fire, Dweno wanted to use its power to help the world.
As Leo grasped the sword, he could almost hear the old dwarf’s nagging voice in his ear.
‘If you’re just going to lie there from that, the weapons I made for you will cry.’
‘Thank you, Dweno.’
Dweno, the godly blacksmith.
A weirdo dwarf who cared more for making beautiful art than weapons.
He wanted to spread beauty to the world and be remembered as a great artist to posterity, but never achieved that dream.
The only stories left about Dweno were of his unmatched weapons.
‘There was no other way.’
Step—
Dweno’s flame burned away the curse.
‘Because of you, I could fight to the very end.’
In the end, Dweno’s flame was extinguished by Erebos.
‘Your weapons… That damned sword never broke to even that flame.’
But the weapons he forged with that fire—
‘They could be trusted with your life to the end.’
The will he left behind never wavered until the very end.
Kigors’s gaze turned to Leo.
The power Pibua left in Polium didn’t grant Leo new strength.
It simply awakened the power of Dweno that Kyle once had, lost long ago.
A miracle linking past and present lives.
But even that couldn’t change everything.
“Leo Plov! Hand over the swordsman’s blade!”
“This sword?”
Leo smiled, lifting the sword.
“If you want it, you can have it.”
Whoosh—! Crashcrashcrash—!
“…!”
Kigors’s eyes went wide.
From the base to the tip, the sword glowed gold, transforming into a blade of dazzling beauty.
The blade was engraved with intricate patterns.
“That is… what on earth—!”
“Let me correct you on one thing.”
Leo smiled.
“This isn’t the Swordsman’s sword.”
Clang—!
Leo gripped the sword firmly.
Shiiiiing—!
Golden wings wrapped around the blade.
For the first time in millennia, the magic sword unleashed its power.
A golden sword forged by Dweno.
This wasn’t a weapon made for a great hero.
It was Dweno’s masterpiece, created to help the other heroes supporting the subjugation force.
Leo spoke its name.
“[Demon Slayer].”
Crashcrashcrash—!
As if in response, Demon Slayer glowed even more fiercely.
Flash! Crashcrashcrash—!
Leo hurled the sword.
Enveloped in golden wings, Demon Slayer pierced Kigors.
Kigors vanished through the wall of the Great Library, unable even to scream.
Leo scratched his cheek as he looked at the gaping hole in the wall.
“This is going to be trouble.”
He’d aimed at the empty entrance, but if the professors saw this, they’d definitely raise a fuss.
“The principal will cover for me, I’m sure.”
Leo smiled and checked his condition.
“Master!”
Ahti, now in human form via Polymorph, ran up to Leo.
Fiora was perched on Ahti’s head.
“You’re amazing! You look like a beautiful boy, but deep down you’re so tough! And your hands are so bold! I think I really picked the right master! Sluuurp—”
Leo muttered inwardly as he watched Ahti wipe drool from her mouth.
‘Why is there always a pervert around me, both in this life and the last?’
Clicking his tongue, Leo formed a summoning circle.
“Go back for now.”
“Huh? But Lumene is still in danger—”
“I’ve dealt with the worst of it, and… there’s someone I need to meet. That’s an order. No talking back.”
Ahti clutched her chest with a gasp at Leo’s last words and obediently returned through the summoning circle.
Left alone, Leo left the Great Library.
—
“She ran away.”
Landing on the first floor of the Hero’s Tower, Kalian spoke flatly.
The piece of Sillatna that had been blocking Kalian had fled after only a brief fight.
It had only shown itself for a moment to hold Kalian back.
‘What were they really after?’
Kalian narrowed his eyes and looked up.
Flash—!
The instant he sensed golden light, a sword flew down and stuck in the ground at his feet.
Clang—!
Kalian’s eyes went wide.
‘Clesis?’
His beloved sword since youth.
It had been old and worn from the start.
But it never broke and held tremendous Mana.
Now, it stood before him looking brand new.
It was a sight Kalian had never seen before, even as its lifelong master.
Stunned, Kalian reached out his hand.
Crashcrashcrash—!
The sword reverted to its original form as the magic faded.
Kalian’s eyes twitched as he sensed the Mana lingering on the blade.
‘Leo Plov?’
He could tell that Leo was the last person to wield the sword.
‘What in the world happened?’
Just then—
Whoosh—! Crash—!
Something crashed in front of Kalian.
The Sword Star swept away the dust with his Aura and his eyes flickered.
“Kigors?”
“Swordsman…!”
Kigors’s eyes widened.
“Why are you alive?”
“Ugh!”
At Kalian’s question, Kigors hurriedly tried to retreat.
No matter how old he was, the Sword Star was still the Sword Star!
He stood no chance against him as he was now.
‘I was so close…’
“I don’t know how you survived.”
Whoooooosh—!
The Sword Star’s Aura surged.
“But I have no intention of letting you live.”
With a blank expression, the Sword Star swung his sword up from below.
Whoosh—!
The air seemed to split.
Just a few steps lay between Kalian and Kigors.
A straight line split the space between them.
Kigors’s eyes went wide.
He felt his vision slip.
The Legion Commander who dreamed of resurrection had a single thought.
‘It’s over.’
So easily, just like that.
His chance at rebirth was gone.
Splurt—!
Blood sprayed.
His failing vision turned to the sky.
He saw the sky split as if the clouds had been cut.
‘You’ve become even more of a monster, Sword Star.’
—
“I thought the timing was perfect.”
Step—step—
Leaving the chaos of Lumene behind, Sillatna grumbled.
She had thought it was flawless timing.
‘Should I plan everything to perfection like Hell Kaiser?’
But that didn’t suit her nature.
Sillatna was a Legion Commander who preferred smashing whatever was in front of her to plotting and scheming.
“With this, the King of Curses is truly finished. And my influence over Lumene is finished, too.”
She had used every chess piece in Lumene for this operation.
She could no longer influence anything inside Lumene.
“What a shame.”
Sillatna licked her lips and smirked.
‘Still, it wasn’t for nothing. The Sword Star is definitely getting weaker.’
The end for the most dangerous hero wasn’t far off.
Just learning that was a huge gain.
‘I’d better report back to my main body with this info…’
“Where are you going?”
“…!”
At the voice from behind, Sillatna narrowed her eyes and turned.
“Hm? The little brat showed up.”
As Sillatna sneered, Leo gave a wry smile.
“Long time no see, Sillatna.”