Chapter 379

“O great God of Shadows, may I ask why you have sought me?”

There was no longer any sign of her trying to size Leo up.

The moment she met Leo in person, Kirin’s attitude had completely changed.

Kneeling, Kirin looked up at Leo with her hands clasped together.

A reverent posture, as if offering a prayer to a god.

Leaning back in his chair with his chin propped on his hand, Leo clicked his tongue.

“I’m not a god, you know.”

“No, to us, you are like a god. You, who saved all shadows, are our absolute light.”

Based on his outward appearance, Leo was still just a sixteen-year-old boy.

Of course, his accomplishments were astounding.

Not only did he become the successor to the president of Lumene’s student council in his first year, but he also proved he possessed the power befitting a president in his second year.

The Hero Records he had conquered were also extraordinary.

Leo had officially conquered the worlds of Luna and Dweno.

Unofficially, he had also participated in Azonia’s entrance exam during his first-year summer break and conquered Arron’s world.

Even those who had become heroes by achieving deeds recognized by the gods might search their entire lives and never be given the chance to conquer a great hero’s world, yet Leo had already conquered the worlds of three such great heroes.

And that wasn’t all.

He had even been acknowledged by Seiren, the Comet Magician, one of the Heroes of Genesis.

The public no longer saw Leo as a mere hero-in-training.

They had no doubt that he would soon have his name recorded in the Hero Record and become a hero.

All of this was the ‘publicly’ known information.

If one looked deeper, there was another Hero Record unknown to the world.

The master of the Shadow Codex and the true ruler of the Shan Empire.

‘Even that alone is incredible, but…’

Kirin smiled as she looked up at Leo.

As a Shadow Lord, she had spent a long time in the darkness, slaughtering traitors and demons.

Due to the nature of shadows, her existence was unknown to the world.

But Kirin possessed experience and power that could overwhelm even the heroes whose names were in the Hero Record.

Just from seeing Leo’s skill in the arena through the video, she had marveled that he was worthy of being the master of Shan.

But facing him in person like this, she could feel Leo’s true nature, something the video couldn’t convey.

The most distinct thing she felt was the darkness coiled beyond Leo’s red eyes.

A darkness so deep that even she, a Shadow Lord, could not fathom its end.

And a mere sixteen-year-old boy held it within him.

An incomprehensible, unknown being who possessed both the brilliant light of a hero and the unfathomable abyss of a shadow.

‘If a being like this isn’t a god, what should I call him?’

Leo sighed as he saw something in Kirin’s eyes as she looked up at him.

‘She’s unhinged in a different way from Anias.’

Anias, the daughter of the northern Shadow Lord, had also followed Leo from the moment they first met.

That was the result of Anias’s conviction.

To become the servant of a noble hero who would unhesitatingly step into filth for the sake of the world.

That was the ideal and conviction Anias had long held as a shadow, and because Leo was the one who fit that ideal, she must have decided to follow him.

Anias believed Leo to be the great hero who would drive evil from the world.

But Kirin was looking at Leo purely as a shadow.

Leo could grasp what kind of conviction she held as a shadow.

‘Thoroughly annihilate everything that threatens the world from within the darkness.’

She would not follow a hero like other shadows.

She was someone who lived by her own convictions.

And with the creation of the Shadow Codex, that conviction had been acknowledged.

The shadows had risen to the same rank as heroes.

Kirin clearly regarded Leo, who had made that possible and was the ultimate shadow, as a god.

‘I can tell by looking at her eyes.’

Leo knew beings who had such eyes.

An emotion that couldn’t be found in the current era.

An emotion that could only be seen in the distant past.

In the Era of Calamity and the Age of Gods.

‘The elven purists had similar eyes.’

What dwelled in Kirin’s eyes was a fanaticism bordering on madness, going beyond mere faith.

‘A conversation doesn’t seem possible. Well, but it doesn’t seem like she’ll cause me any harm.’

Knowing that conversation was impossible with this type of person, Leo decided to leave it be.

“We came to explore the Underground Labyrinth.”

“Granting you permission to enter is not difficult, but what you are looking for is likely not here. There is no Hero Dungeon in this place.”

“I know. What I’m after is the treasure left behind by the Dragon of Genesis, Rodia.”

“The Dragon of Genesis?”

Chen Xia, who had been observing the conversation beside Leo, widened her eyes.

“The treasure of the Dragon of Genesis, Rodia… I felt a powerful dark energy from beyond the seal at the end of this labyrinth, so I thought it was something dangerous and had it specially managed. I never imagined that the seal was to protect a treasure left by the Dragon of Genesis, Rodia.”

“You felt a dark energy?”

“Yes.”

At Kirin’s answer, Leo was lost in thought.

‘Laurel told me that Rodia left something related to Lysinas in this treasury. But she’s saying a dark energy can be felt from that place?’

Lysinas, the Dragon of Wisdom.

The leader of the great heroes and the great dragon who guided the world to salvation.

All the great heroes were special, but Lysinas was even more so.

If asked to name the most noble being in this world, Leo would choose Lysinas without hesitation.

It wasn’t because she tried to save the world.

‘The Era of Calamity was an age where everything fell.’

It was an era where everyone endlessly fell into corruption.

An era where they lost their nobility and became endlessly vile.

Conscience and humanity were objects of ridicule.

Even in such an era, there were those who shone.

Luna, Arron, and Dweno were like that.

Because they hadn’t lost their light, they must have joined the subjugation force without any hesitation.

But even they didn’t dare to think of saving the world.

No, the world at that time was so foul that even they turned their backs on it.

Lysinas shouldered all of it and tried to save the world.

She didn’t hesitate to save even those who were already tainted and corrupted.

She would say with a smile that they would regain their original selves if they saw light and hope.

If Kyle was the Hero of Beginnings who ended the Era of Calamity and opened a new age…

Then Lysinas was the beginning of the salvation that guided the world to light.

Wiser and more noble than anyone.

Lysinas, who was benevolent to the very end.

But even she had one part of herself that she disliked.

A complex of Lysinas’s that only Leo knew.

‘Darkness.’

Lysinas was a black dragon.

And black dragons were a dragon clan that fed on darkness.

During the Era of Calamity, the first of the dragon clans to fall were the black dragons.

Many dragons, after endless corruption, turned their backs on the world.

One couldn’t blame them.

What they did during the Age of Gods was the same as what Kyle had done, and what the shadows did now.

They were the race most familiar with darkness, aside from the demons.

They were black dragons who had grown their power by devouring the demons and traitors of Tartarus.

That was why Lysinas truly hated the darkness she held within.

The long journey of defeating Tartarus and subjugating Erebos.

In that journey, Lysinas left behind tremendous achievements as a magician and a summoner.

The people of the current era remember Lysinas as the strongest summoner in history.

Indeed, the basic concepts of necromancy, beast and spirit summoning, and spirit arts used in the current era were all created by Lysinas.

Lysinas was somewhat underestimated in her magic-related achievements.

Perhaps if Luna hadn’t existed, the one revered as the greatest magician in the history of magic would have been none other than Lysinas.

She reinterpreted the curses of the Tartarus demons to develop Dragon Language Magic.

At the same time, she also created the framework for the existing Dragon Language Magic.

‘Lysinas’s greatest achievement would be making it possible for all dragons to use the Original Magic of each dragon clan.’

Originally, a fire dragon’s Original Magic could only be used by fire dragons, but in the current era, a fire dragon can use a water dragon’s Original Magic.

‘The fact that the dragon clan is called the strongest race is largely due to that influence.’

They were already a powerful race, but the dragon clan’s status now was even greater than it was during the Age of Gods.

But the only magic Lysinas did not leave behind was the Original Magic of the ‘black dragon.’

It was a magic that even Leo, her comrade, did not know.

Lysinas believed that if she had embraced her identity as a black dragon, she would not have been able to save this world.

‘And that was true.’

If Lysinas had unhesitatingly cut down those she deemed worthless, this world could not have been saved.

She was able to save the world because she could embrace its vile aspects.

And the one who took on Lysinas’s role in her stead was Kyle.

‘Because I was the most suitable person for the job.’

Even if they were stained with vileness, those who crossed the line could not be brought along.

It was Kyle who executed them.

‘She used to worry about pointless things.’

Leo smiled bitterly as he recalled the past.

And he thought seriously.

‘If it’s a dark power related to Lysinas… it might be the black dragon’s Original Magic that she never told me about.’

A magic she hadn’t even told him about.

But it was possible that Original Magic was passed on to Rodia, who had conquered Lysinas’s world.

Due to the nature of a Hero Record, it was entirely possible to inherit a power of Lysinas’s that even Leo didn’t know about.

Just as Leo reached that conclusion.

Ssk-

A beastman male emerged from the darkness.

Leo, Chen Xia, and Kirin, who had already sensed his presence, looked at the man calmly.

“Master.”

“What is it?”

“A report has come in that signs of a Hero Dungeon rampage have been detected in the Forest of Monsters.”

At those words, Leo’s eyes twitched.

***

Thud- Thud-

On a dark night in Guardslone.

Kyle, who had arrived in front of his house drenched in blood, found Lysinas sitting on a chair in the desolate garden.

Lysinas spotted Kyle and stood up.

“Welcome back, Kyle.”

“What are you doing out here? It’s late.”

“I heard from Dweno. That you…”

Lysinas clenched her teeth.

“Went to execute the traitors. I was worried, so I was waiting.”

“You worry too much. Compared to the monsters of Tartarus, dealing with traitors like them is nothing. So you don’t have to worry.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.”

Lysinas reached out to grab Kyle, who was about to pass her and enter the house.

Kyle avoided Lysinas’s touch.

Lysinas’s hand cut through the empty air.

Seeing the flustered Lysinas, Kyle shook his head.

“I’m too dirty for your hand to touch.”

He didn’t want Lysinas to touch his body.

To be precise, he didn’t like the idea of the traitors’ blood getting on Lysinas.

On this foolish woman who was already embracing everything in this world.

Kyle could never tolerate the blood of trash, not even worthy of pity, staining her.

At those words, Lysinas’s brow furrowed.

Then she sighed and forcibly took Kyle’s hand.

“You’re not dirty at all. It’s you, isn’t it?”

Holding his scarred and blood-stained hand, Lysinas gave a benevolent smile.

“For me, for our friends, for the world. This is the hand of you who steps into the darkness. It’s not dirty at all.”

At her soft yet firm voice, Kyle gave a bitter smile.

“Rather, I’m worried. If you keep doing things like this… I’m afraid your power of purity will be tainted.”

“If I was going to be tainted by this much, I would have been tainted long ago.”

Kyle let out a chuckle.

He unconsciously reached out his hand to pat the head of his comrade, who wore a worried expression.

At that, Lysinas flinched.

“Ah, is the head off-limits?”

“No! It’s fine.”

“Luna threw a fit once when I patted her head with a bloody hand.”

“That’s because she’s fussy!”

“No, you’d feel bad too, wouldn’t you?”

Kyle opened the door.

“Then I’ll wait. After you wash up…”

“It’s too late. What are you waiting for after I wash up?”

“I mean. It’s not that I’m waiting for anything in particular. I mean, since it’s so late, I’ll impose on you at your place. That’s what I meant.”

“You’ll just be uncomfortable if you’re with me, won’t you? Besides, you can get to your house instantly with Teleportation Magic. You don’t have to worry so much about me. So just get some rest today. You must be tired, right?”

That afternoon, Lysinas had subjugated the demons that invaded Guardslone.

Kyle, showing consideration for his friend, went inside and closed the door.

Watching the cruelly shut door, Lysinas clutched her head.

“Idiot! Why did you get all nervous and flinch for no reason…!”

Kyle often patted Luna’s head, but he had never once patted Lysinas’s.

The reason was simple.

Before being Kyle’s friend and comrade, Lysinas was his leader.

The straight-laced Kyle, even while making rude comments like calling her a lizard whenever they bickered, respected Lysinas as a leader through his actions.

From Lysinas’s perspective, it was a completely useless and annoying form of respect.

That’s why she was sometimes envious of Kyle and Luna, who seemed as close as siblings.

But for the first time, he was about to pat her head, and she had blown the chance by getting needlessly nervous.

Lysinas, berating herself, opened the door a crack and ground her teeth.

As a noble dragon, she did not like to use vulgar language.

But at times like this, there was one word that would escape her lips unconsciously.

“Fucking idiot.”