Chapter 386
“Alright, then let’s head to the Elven Forest first and meet Luna. It’s the closest to Guardslone.”
Lysinas spoke.
“Okay. And after that, we go to Reysar to meet Agon?”
“Yes.”
Lysinas nodded, studying the map as Leo spoke.
“Lastly, we should go meet Dweno.”
They finalized the order and route to meet their companions.
“Well then. We’ve shared our stories, so shall we rest for today?”
Lysinas folded the map and stood up.
“Kyle, are you planning to drink more?”
“I should rest today too.”
Leo and Lysinas stood and headed up to the second floor.
They parted ways in the hallway, each moving toward their own room.
Before entering, Lysinas smiled at Leo.
“Please take care of me, Kyle.”
With that, she went inside.
“Lysinas.”
“Yes?”
Leo called out.
She poked her head back out, her expression puzzled.
“You’re not a fool.”
Her eyes widened at the sudden words.
At this point in time, Lysinas had been mocked as a fool.
A foolish dragon chasing absurd hopes and spouting unattainable ideals.
Back then, Kyle had judged her the same way.
And yet, Lysinas never stopped trying to recruit him.
She didn’t give up, dragging him—his heart consumed by darkness—out into the light.
The reason he took her hand.
It marked the beginning of the path to save the world, and at the same time, the beginning of his own salvation.
‘If it weren’t for her, I would have rotted away like that for the rest of my life.’
He would have been forced to watch the world’s destruction without hope.
Now he understood.
How much the Wise King, who sincerely tried to save the world, must have agonized during the days she was ridiculed as a fool.
“You’re wiser than anyone else.”
“Are you suddenly praising me because we’re in the same party?”
Lysinas smiled.
“Well, it’s a good attitude. Unlike yesterday, your eyes today are clearly looking toward hope.”
The wise dragon spoke as she looked into Leo’s eyes.
“That’s definitely a positive sign.”
With a smile, Lysinas withdrew into her room.
Leo watched her go, then let out a bitter smile as he entered his own room.
‘Take care of me, huh…’
He trudged to the bed, collapsed onto it, and stared out the window.
‘Those words alone aren’t enough.’
They were companions who had crossed countless lines of death together.
Leo looked down at his hand.
The great heroes were each other’s benefactors.
They had saved one another’s lives countless times—and been saved in return.
‘If even one of them had been missing… I never would have made it.’
He had met Arron.
He had met Luna and Dweno.
He thought he had grown accustomed to meeting companions who could no longer be with him.
‘Guess not.’
He felt an endless happiness at being able to grasp that hand again—the hand that had once pulled him out of the darkness.
At the same time, the knowledge that they could never all be together again weighed heavily on his heart.
Images of his companions surfaced one after another.
From the very beginning.
Maybe it was because he had returned to the starting point.
Today, he missed his departed companions more than ever.
Thinking of Luna, Arron, and Dweno, Leo slapped his cheek.
Then he took a deep breath.
‘Now’s not the time to drown in thoughts. Understanding the situation comes first.’
The current situation was completely unexpected.
‘I definitely entered Rodia’s Hero World.’
Rodia’s Hero World was an officially opened world, not a Hero Dungeon.
Moreover, it was a world Leo could leave at will.
And yet, he was currently inside Lysinas’ Hero World.
‘What the hell?’
Leo narrowed his eyes and tried to access the Hero Record within his mind.
No message appeared.
He knew this phenomenon all too well.
‘Hero Dungeon.’
A situation where the Hero Record had gone out of control within itself.
As he frowned—
Tok. Tok.
A knocking sound came from the window.
When he turned his head, Rodia was standing there.
Leo approached and opened the window.
Rodia cautiously spoke.
“You’re Kyle… from the future, right?”
“Yes.”
At his answer, Rodia sighed in relief and stepped inside.
“I was shocked. This world is clearly a possession-type world, but you entered in your original form. I thought you might be the same Kyle.”
Hearing that, Leo replied.
“I’ve heard that such errors sometimes occur in Hero Dungeons.”
The Hero Record originally has a fixed limit on the number of entrants.
However, in Hero Dungeons, that limit sometimes disappears.
‘Because Hero Dungeons themselves are created by runaway phenomena.’
“Hero Dungeon?”
Rodia looked embarrassed by the unfamiliar term.
Leo paused, then nodded.
“You wouldn’t know.”
The Heroes of Genesis sealed Erebos within the Hero Record and then split it apart, completely sealing the entrance to their own worlds.
As a result, they had never experienced the side effect known as a Hero Dungeon.
Over the thousands of years since, there had been challengers who reached the worlds of the Heroes of Genesis and met them—but there would never have been time to discuss the various problems plaguing the present era.
After hearing Leo’s brief explanation, Rodia looked troubled.
“I never imagined something like that was happening.”
“The heroes of later generations are handling it well enough. You don’t need to worry too much.”
“Yes.”
“Then, back to the main point. Why are you and I here? I’ve never even seen Lysinas’ Hero Record in the present era. So I have a question.”
Leo’s expression turned serious.
“Was it possible to open a Hero Record from within a Hero World while the Hero Record was intact?”
“No. That’s impossible.”
Rodia shook her head firmly.
“When it was revealed that people could overcome the trials of past heroes and receive rewards through the Hero Record—what you call the Hero World—the world’s greatest magicians and scholars tested every possibility. Powerful warriors and outstanding summoners were mobilized in the process.”
Leo remembered learning about this in history class at Lumene.
“Opening a Hero Record within a Hero World would be the beginning of another infinite possibility. Countless experiments were conducted, but not once did a Hero Record open inside a Hero World.”
At those words, Leo fell into thought.
“Then the differences between then and now are the condition of the Hero Record—and the presence of me, its owner.”
He formed a hypothesis.
‘Something impossible happened because of me.’
The Hero Record was unstable.
It was an artifact created with divine power, yet it contained the primordial evil that could be called God’s nemesis.
And the current Hero Record had been reconstructed by destroying the original and reassembling the scattered pages across the world.
“So it functions, but normal operation is impossible. On top of that, I—the owner of the Hero Record—was reincarnated in the present era.”
“You’re saying an impossible event occurred because of the singularity known as Kyle.”
“Yes.”
“This is giving me a headache.”
Rodia sighed.
Leo looked at her and said,
“No. This might actually be a good thing.”
“Yes?”
“Rodia. You said earlier that this record we’re in—Lysinas’ record—is the first Hero World, right?”
“Yes.”
“According to history, you failed to capture the first Hero World.”
“Yes. I challenged this page several times after that… but failed every time.”
“And then you entered your final chapter to stop Erebos’ fragments. Originally, you shouldn’t be able to enter a Hero World anymore.”
“That’s… wait.”
Rodia’s eyes widened.
Seeing her reaction, Leo smiled faintly.
“That’s right, Rodia. You’re currently inside a Hero World. Do you know what that means?”
“…If I can capture it… I’ll inherit Lysinas’ power. Which means…”
“That your power—stagnant for thousands of years—can finally advance.”
With each repeated loop, Erebos’ flames only grew stronger.
Meanwhile, the Heroes of Genesis remained frozen in place.
That stagnation was one of the reasons they had so little time left, despite enduring for three thousand years.
But if Rodia captured Lysinas’ world here and obtained the reward, she could finally take a step forward.
“Of course, capturing it won’t be easy.”
Leo and Rodia both looked at the message that appeared before them.
[Mission Objective: -]
Hero Dungeons do not display any mission objectives.
Like assembling a puzzle, the goal must be discovered.
The moment it’s recognized, a new message appears.
But neither of them needed to search.
Rodia had challenged this record multiple times before.
And Leo was the one who had once achieved its feat.
Rodia licked her lips.
“The Gluttony King… Jormungandr.”
[Mission Objective: Subjugate the Gluttony King.]
The objective updated.
Lysinas and Kyle.
The very first feat the two achieved together on this page.
Even now, after subjugating Erebos, Leo could still say—
The battle against the Gluttony King Jormungandr remained one of the most unforgettable among countless feats and trials.
One of the most desperate battles of all.
Rodia swallowed.
Leo stared at the mission objective.
Gluttony King Jormungandr.
Death King Hell Kaiser is the commander-in-chief of Tartarus.
He possesses a power fundamentally different from other legion commanders.
He was grouped alongside Monster Queen Sillatuna and Giant King Gias as one of the three major legion commanders—but that was only because they were the sole survivors after the Era of Calamity.
In pure strength, both Sillatuna and Gias were considered a step below Death King Hell Kaiser.
The ruler of Tartarus, who commands death itself.
A being more sinister than any other, leading endless legions.
But Jormungandr is dangerous in a different way.
“The true terror of legion commanders lies in the legions they command.”
The demonic forces under their control are vast.
“But Jormungandr is different.”
Leo recalled Jormungandr.
“That monster doesn’t command a legion.”
Despite bearing the title of legion commander, he has no legion.
No—he devoured his own.
“There were countless heteromorphic monsters in Tartarus. But among them, the most terrifying was him.”
The reason he is called the Gluttony King.
He devours everything.
Like a starving ghoul.
A monster that consumes all it sees.
A being that devours all and spreads darkness in its wake.
“A legion commander who doesn’t need a legion. No—he’s a monster that can be called a legion all by himself.”
Rodia spoke with a trembling voice.
The reason for her endless failures.
The Gluttony King Jormungandr was the ‘strongest’ demon.
Recalling her past defeats before that overwhelming power, Rodia asked quietly,
“Can we do it?”
“We have to.”
Leo said, staring at his palm.
“Because that’s the only way.”