Chapter 392
Screeeeeeeech—! Thud—!
The walls of Guardslone opened.
Through the gate, twelve heroes marched out.
“Did they say they’re going to the Elven Forest?”
“Are they really betting their lives on the words of a fool?”
“They should’ve stayed here and protected this place.”
“Look, there’s even the Surviving Hero.”
“They might all end up dead.”
The people murmured as they watched.
Hearing the mockery aimed at Leo and Lysinas, Rodia’s gaze turned icy.
Leo reached out and pressed Rodia’s head down firmly.
“Don’t mind them.”
“How can you not be angry when they’re being so blatant?”
“I’m used to it. Besides.”
Leo let out a smirk.
“What should I call it? After getting used to being revered as a great man who saved the world, coming back to the past and hearing this kind of reaction is actually refreshing.”
“If you put it that way, Kyle, there’s nothing I can do.”
“What were you planning to do?”
“I was going to punish them thoroughly.”
Leo clicked his tongue at Rodia’s answer.
As they spoke, Lysinas approached.
“Rodia, are you really going to be okay?”
“Of course! Lady Lysinas!”
Rodia puffed out her chest like she was trying to prove it.
“To be able to accompany you and Kyle on your journey! It’s an infinite honor for me!”
“Rodia, you said you can use healing magic, right?”
“Yes.”
As Arlene asked, Rodia turned toward her.
Watching them, Lysinas spoke.
“How on earth did you end up meeting a kid like that?”
“It just sort of happened.”
“The more I see her, the less she feels like a kid from these days.”
“You know you sound incredibly old when you say that, right?”
At that, Lysinas glared at Leo.
She tried to kick him, and Leo chuckled as he easily dodged, like he’d expected it.
“This is unpleasant.”
“What is?”
“You act as if you can see right through me.”
Lysinas grumbled, frowning.
Leo burst out laughing.
“I don’t like that understanding laugh either.”
Still glaring, Lysinas sighed and looked down at her trembling hands.
“It’s like you’re trying to ease my anxiety, even just a little.”
The expedition’s goal had suddenly changed—from joining Luna in the Elven Forest to subjugating the Gluttony King.
As the expedition’s leader, Lysinas couldn’t help feeling anxious about that decision.
“Kyle, aren’t you anxious?”
“I am.”
Leo showed her his own trembling hands, mirroring hers.
“But it’s okay. We can do it.”
He reached out and took Lysinas’s hand.
“Even in a desperate situation, we’ll meet a comrade who will somehow open a path for us.”
At Leo’s words, the trembling in Lysinas’s hand gradually subsided.
“We’ll also meet a comrade who will charge forward without hesitation when faced with great fear.”
Lysinas’s black eyes took in Leo’s face.
“We’ll definitely meet a comrade who will craft trustworthy Artifacts for us until the very last moment.”
Before she knew it, the trembling was gone.
“I knew my eyes weren’t wrong.”
“Of course. Whose choice was it?”
Just as Lysinas burst into laughter—
“Oho? What’s this? This lovey-dovey atmosphere?”
Allox, the beastman, strode over with gleaming eyes.
“There’s a strange current here, isn’t there? Are you two… you know… that kind of relationship?”
“No.”
Lysinas answered curtly and pulled her hand away.
“Hoo hoo! Don’t deny it! Lysinas! That’s nothing to be ashamed of—keuk?!”
“Yes, yes. Mr. Beastman. If you can tell the mood is good, don’t interrupt.”
Rodia appeared out of nowhere and drove her small fist into Allox’s side.
Dragging the collapsed man away, she flashed a bright smile at Leo and Lysinas.
“You two have a good time.”
“Why does Rodia keep telling us to have a good time whenever she sees us together?”
Leo clicked his tongue while Lysinas tilted her head, genuinely clueless.
“How should I know?”
—
Half a day after leaving Guardslone, the expedition passed beyond its safe zone.
This region was crawling with monsters and demonic creatures.
If they were unlucky, they could even run into a high-ranking Demon.
They advanced with tense eyes, scanning the surroundings.
The sun set. Night fell.
After setting up camp and lighting a fire, they ate.
When they finished a simple meal of preserved rations, they assigned watch shifts and went to sleep.
The first watch was Leo and Arlene.
“It’s been a while since I’ve left Guardslone.”
“It has. So don’t let your guard down.”
“I won’t.”
The nights of the Era of Calamity were dangerous.
The entire world was hurtling toward ruin.
The night sky—where there was no moonlight, no starlight—was frightening just to look at.
Crackle— crackle—
The campfire burned.
“Kyle, I heard you made a contract with the White King. Is that true?”
Arlene asked, eyes full of curiosity.
Leo answered by summoning Albus.
In her white one-piece dress, Albus looked completely out of place here.
“We’re outside Guardslone.”
Albus said, scanning the surroundings with an expressionless face.
Arlene greeted her immediately.
“It is an honor to meet you, White King.”
“You are Arpia’s Oathbound. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Albus offered Arlene a slight smile.
As if responding to Albus’s summoning, a Summoned Beast and a Spirit also appeared from where Lysinas was sleeping.
“A summoning circle opened, so I thought something happened.”
Katariu floated over, her body hovering as she spoke.
“Hey, human. I know making a contract with a Summoned Beast King is something to be proud of, but could you refrain from showing it off?”
Katariu’s tone was caustic—she’d watched Kyle’s rudeness toward Lysinas for days now.
Luminous, Lysinas’s other Oathbound, let it slide, but the cynical Katariu did not.
“White King, you didn’t make a contract with this fellow just to be a spectacle, did you?”
“If you continue to be rude to me, you will regret it, Flame Emperor.”
“Calm down. That chicken leg is always like that. She talks like that, but she’ll take care of you when it counts.”
Leo reached out and stroked Albus’s head.
Albus had instinctively tried to shake him off—then froze.
The way he patted her felt strangely familiar, and strangely pleasant.
Her eyes, sharper than usual, softened.
Before she knew it, she was quietly enjoying it.
“Katariu, you’re being too harsh.”
Luminous scolded her.
Katariu scoffed.
“That elf, Luna—didn’t they say she’s the Oathbound of the Fairy King’s successor? If she’s an elf, she’ll have some manners. I have higher hopes for her than for Kyle.”
“That well-mannered elf will probably suggest frying you in oil and making you half-and-half—spicy and original.”
“Do you think elves are some uncultured race like you?”
‘At least the elves I know aren’t exactly sane.’
As Leo recalled the elves he’d been close to, in both his past and present lives—
Swoosh—!
Lysinas, who had been asleep, sat up.
“Sorry, Lysinas. Did we wake you with our chatter?”
Arlene apologized.
Lysinas didn’t answer. She only stared into the darkness beyond the reach of the firelight.
Shing—!
Leo rose and drew his sword.
Arlene sensed something was wrong and tried to stand as well.
“…You all stay here. I’ll go alone. Katariu, Luminous. You too.”
Leaving those words behind, Lysinas vanished into the darkness.
The most startled were Katariu and Luminous.
As the two of them gaped, Leo spoke.
“I’ll go after her.”
“It’s impossible to follow Lysinas in the darkness.”
As a Black Dragon, Lysinas was more at home in the dark than anyone.
In the deep night of the Era of Calamity—where even moonlight and starlight had vanished—chasing her was, as Luminous said, impossible.
“Usually, that’s true.”
Leo stepped into the darkness.
“But I can.”
—
In the Era of Calamity, using magic to light your way through the night was extremely dangerous.
But for Leo, darkness wasn’t an obstacle at all.
In the pitch-black world, he sharpened his senses.
‘Super Sense.’
He activated Super Sense with his Aura.
A technique of the Hero Arron.
Despite the darkness, everything became clear.
Leo moved quickly, quietly, following the traces of Mana Lysinas had left behind.
A moment later—
‘How fast did she go?!’
Leo shouted inwardly as he chased.
Even Leo was struggling to keep up with the current Lysinas.
‘What’s with her all of a sudden?’
Five thousand years ago and now, the expedition’s route was the same.
But five thousand years ago, there had been no battle in this area.
‘Even if there was an enemy, I didn’t sense anything at all.’
It was completely unexpected.
With a bewildered expression, Leo pushed his speed even further.
His vision, sharpened by Super Sense, cut through the darkness.
He was already far from the campsite.
That was when Leo spotted bodies scattered across the ground.
They weren’t monsters.
They weren’t demonic creatures.
And they weren’t Demons of Tartarus.
‘Humans who use Black Magic.’
Traitors who had turned their backs on the world.
They had been carved into gruesome corpses, like something sharp had torn them apart.
The Mana lingering around them was unfamiliar—
and yet, Leo knew exactly whose it was.
‘Lysinas.’
For a moment, Leo froze in bewilderment.
Lysinas, the King of Wisdom.
The wise, benevolent leader of the Erebos Subjugation Team.
The noble great hero who had brought hope to the world.
She was originally a Black Dragon.
A dragon clan that, up until the Age of Gods, had hunted down traitors in the dark.
But Lysinas was too kind to carry out a Black Dragon’s duties.
She never showed mercy to traitors, yet she still mourned having to take their lives.
‘If this weren’t an era like this, they might’ve had another path.’
Leo knew that too.
That was why he had taken Lysinas’s place.
So her hands wouldn’t be stained with traitors’ blood.
Because he felt no pity for traitors.
Because he believed he was the one suited to judge them.
‘And because I was afraid Lysinas might be tainted by the darkness.’
Leo raised his head.
Kuuuuuooooooooh!
A roar filled with agony shook the night.
A Black Dragon surged up into the sky.
Its body was shredded, and it radiated an ominous crimson-black energy.
The horribly wounded dragon let out a hate-filled roar and drew in a deep breath.
A massive wave of Mana rolled outward.
A Breath.
The instant Leo recognized it—
Fwoosh—!
A blade of darkness, sharp as a sword, shot up into the sky.
Slice—!
The darkness severed the Black Dragon’s head.
Fwoooosh—! Craaaaash—! Splat—!
The nameless Black Dragon’s body fell in ruin.
Leo swallowed hard.
That magic just now—
‘Lysinas’s magic power.’
But it was magic Leo didn’t know.
Leo hurried to where the dragon had fallen.
And he saw her.
A woman standing in a sea of blood, drenched head to toe in the blood of her own kind.
Lysinas.
Even Leo—who had fought beside her for ages to save the world—had never seen her like this.
She wore a cold, expressionless face unlike her usual self.
Then she noticed Leo and looked slightly surprised.
“Kyle?”
“What have you done, Lysinas?”
Leo asked, swallowing hard.
Lysinas replied calmly.
“I did what had to be done.”
“Right. I know it had to be done. But you don’t need to do things like this. Punishing traitors in the dark isn’t your job…”
“It is my job, Kyle. I’m a Black Dragon.”
She said it like it should’ve been obvious.
“You’re the one who gives people hope in the light. That’s what you’re supposed to do, isn’t it?”
Lysinas said, eyes wide.
“Kyle, that’s what you’re supposed to do.”
“What?”
Lysinas looked at him with faith and conviction.
“Because you’re going to save the world.”