Chapter 50
Pararararak—!
Chloe opened the black grimoire with her right hand.
Rows of magical formulas were revealed.
With her left hand holding her staff, she focused her mind and began chanting.
Vast magical power began to surge from the formula.
“Guh!”
Chubarn’s eyes widened.
He instinctively sensed the danger of Chloe’s magic.
“Out of the way, remnant of the Great Hero!”
“In a hurry, are you?”
Leo sneered.
Thud! Crack—!
Leo gritted his teeth and withstood the axe that came flying for his waist.
Flash—!
But he was soon knocked away, unable to hold out any longer.
It was an attack he normally would have dodged, but he endured it on purpose to buy time.
Grinning fiercely at his grotesquely twisted left hand, Leo grabbed his sword with the other and once again blocked Chubarn.
“You bastard!”
“Sorry, but this is the end.”
As Leo declared,
Fwoosh—!
The flame Chloe unleashed engulfed Chubarn.
‘Not ice, but fire?’
“Kraaaagh!”
Chubarn writhed in pain as the flames struck him head-on.
“No matter how powerful the Negate curse is, it’s useless against the Inextinguishable Flame!”
Just as Chloe said.
Chubarn’s body was endlessly burned and then restored over and over.
At last, the [Negate] curse wore out.
Fwoosh—! Thud—!
Chubarn collapsed.
By that time, Alia’s party had also taken down all of Chubarn’s subordinates.
Against anything less than someone like Chubarn, Alia’s party had no trouble.
With Chubarn down, Chloe rushed over to Leo in excitement.
“Leo! We took down Chubarn! We actually took down Chubarn!”
Chloe hugged Leo tightly in her joy.
But when she looked up, their faces were almost touching, and Chloe gasped.
“Chloe, sorry, but my left wrist is broken…”
“Ah! S-sorry!”
Blushing, Chloe quickly stepped back.
Leo clutched his broken wrist and looked over at Chubarn.
“Anyway, your original magic really is incredible.”
“Uh, yeah… my original magic…”
Chloe trailed off.
As Leo looked puzzled by her reaction—
Fwoosh—!
The flames on Chubarn suddenly began to burn even more fiercely.
Leo’s eyes twitched.
Vooooom—!
The red flames burning Chubarn’s body gradually turned black.
Crack—!
“Huh?”
Chloe glanced down at her staff in confusion.
A crack had appeared in the orb of her staff.
“Chloe! Dispel the magic! Hurry!”
At Leo’s shout, Chloe quickly dispelled the magic.
Kuaaaaaa—!
Crack! Thud—!
“Kyah?”
But the orb shattered, and the magic burned even more violently.
“Wh-why?! I can’t control the spell!”
That wasn’t all.
The black grimoire in Chloe’s right hand began greedily absorbing her magic power on its own.
Seeing this, Leo tore the grimoire away from Chloe and threw it aside.
Stagger—!
Drained of magic, Chloe swayed unsteadily.
Leo quickly supported Chloe and turned his gaze back to Chubarn.
“Roooooar!”
Chubarn, engulfed in black flames, let out a roar.
“Didn’t we finish him off?”
“Chloe.”
“Huh?”
“Tell me the truth.”
Leo looked at Chloe with a blank expression.
“Your Inextinguishable Flame—was that really your original magic?”
Chloe flinched.
Struggling with her thoughts, Chloe saw the rampaging magic and clenched her teeth.
“No.”
Chloe shut her eyes tightly.
“It was a spell formula in that grimoire.”
‘So it really was Erebos’s Flame.’
Now everything made sense.
Why Chloe had acted so strangely.
How she managed to create the Inextinguishable Flame.
“Listen closely, Chloe. That magic is black magic.”
“What?”
“You were never supposed to be able to use that spell. You knew, didn’t you? That magic won’t activate with just your own power.”
“Wh-what is that grimoire?”
“That’s a Demonic Artifact.”
If a demon uses it, it becomes a powerful weapon, but if a human handles it, they slowly lose their sanity.
‘So I used black magic? And even called it my original magic?’
Chloe’s face went pale.
“Ah! Ah!”
As she hugged her arms, her face filled with despair.
Watching her, Leo stepped forward.
“Chloe. Watch our backs.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing’s changed. What we have to do is the same as always.”
Leo gripped his sword in his unharmed right hand.
“We take down that damned demon and clear the Heroic World.”
Leo smiled.
“Thanks to your spell, the Negate curse is gone. Now he’s just rampaging in response to the black magic. It’s time to finish him.”
Leo strode toward Chubarn.
“You know the final, decisive blow is always up to the mage, right?”
Leaving those words, Leo walked up to Chubarn.
“We’ll help too!”
“That’s right! If we work together—”
Thead and Dina stepped forward.
“You’re exhausted. If you force it, you’ll only get in the way.”
The only reason Leo could stand against Chubarn was his overwhelming combat experience.
Reading the opponent’s attacks, defense, and counters, and always preparing his next move.
That kind of dangerous fight isn’t something just anyone can do.
Seeing their gritted teeth, Leo laughed.
“Hold the rear.”
Watching Leo’s back, Chloe stared as if spellbound.
A hero is someone who doesn’t give up when faced with their limits.
‘Get up, Chloe Mueller!’
Chloe scolded herself, and her eyes regained their composure.
‘That magic…’
The original magic she had originally planned, but gave up on partway.
‘I’ll finish it now!’
To complete an unfinished spell in a real battle was recklessly dangerous.
But now, she had to do it.
Chloe started to raise her staff but hesitated, seeing it was broken.
“Here, Chloe.”
Alia smiled as she handed Chloe her own staff.
“I’m counting on you.”
Accepting Alia’s staff, Chloe closed her eyes.
‘I wanted to catch up to Leo, no matter what.’
But seeing that back, always silently moving ahead, she realized how foolish she’d been.
‘He’s just too amazing for me to feel jealous…’
Just like the heroes in fairy tales.
The way he faced his limits head-on was dazzling to behold.
‘I’m going to push past my limits too, Chloe Mueller.’
So she wouldn’t be ashamed of the trust that back had placed in her.
She began assembling the spell formulas swirling in her mind.
Runes began to flow from Chloe’s lips.
Chloe was combining the spell formulas on the spot.
Hearing her chanting, Leo smiled.
‘It really is incredible.’
He pressed forward without hesitation.
‘Why does a pure mage’s chanting give so much courage?’
He remembered the days long ago when he’d trusted his back to Luna.
Leo calmly assessed Chubarn’s remaining strength.
‘Thanks to the black magic Chloe fired, the most troublesome [Negate] curse is gone. On top of that, he’s taken massive damage.’
He’d gone berserk, but Chubarn was no longer whole.
Leo raised his Aura.
‘I can buy time until the spell is finished.’
“Roooooar!”
The axe, wreathed in black flames, came crashing down toward Leo.
In response, Leo swung his sword, ablaze with red flames, upward.
Clang! Boom!
Leo’s sword deflected Chubarn’s axe blade.
Landing on the axe embedded in the ground, Leo righted his sword and charged at Chubarn.
Vooooom—!
Black flames surged to incinerate Leo to ashes.
Leo wrapped himself in his own flames, pushing back against the black fire.
Fwoosh—!
The two flames intertwined.
But the black flames began to slowly devour Leo’s fire, encroaching on his territory.
Seeing this, Leo increased his power.
Fwoosh! Sizzle—!
His own flames burned his flesh.
But Leo didn’t care.
‘More. Push harder. More!’
Leo’s red eyes gleamed as he roared,
‘Until I burn away every last bit of this damn fire in front of me!’
Kuaaaah—!
Leo’s flames completely pushed back the black fire.
“Uwoooooh!”
Sensing danger instinctively, Chubarn gripped his axe with both hands and swung it toward the sky.
Whoosh—!
Leo was sent flying into the air.
Chubarn hurled his axe at Leo.
Leo focused all his amplified firepower at the tip of his sword.
Clang—!
Sword and axe collided.
And then—
Crack—!
Leo’s sword split the axe in two.
Swish!
“Graaagh!”
Leo’s sword fell on Chubarn’s now defenseless neck.
Thwack—!
Chubarn’s head flew through the air.
Landing on the ground, Leo looked at Chubarn, whose body was no longer moving.
Fwoosh!
The black flames still burned fiercely, refusing to go out.
‘It’s going to explode!’
Leo’s eyes widened as he braced himself for the shock.
At that moment, Chloe’s chanting stopped.
“Ice World.”
Cracklecracklecracklecrackle—!
The whole area instantly froze.
Ssssss—!
The black flames burning with Chubarn’s body vanished without a trace.
Crack—!
Cracks began to spread across Chubarn’s body.
Saaaaa—
Then, he crumbled to dust and scattered.
[You have rescued the endangered first-years.]
[You have defeated Chubarn.]
Two notifications popped up in front of him.
Seeing that, Leo put away his Aura.
“Leo!”
Chloe ran over, out of breath.
“Are you okay?”
“Thanks to you.”
Leo smiled, pointing at the black grimoire lying on the ground.
“Chloe, with magic this incredible, why’d you rely on that worthless grimoire?”
“I just… wanted to beat you somehow.”
Leo laughed at Chloe’s timid reply.
“Your real original magic is way more impressive than any spell in that grimoire.”
Leo looked around at the frozen area.
“Field magic… That’s something I could never do.”
Field magic, which turns an entire area into your domain, is impossible to implement with a bible.
“I’m most jealous of mages who can use spells like that.”
Chloe watched Leo smack his lips, then spoke.
“I’m going to tell everyone at school about what happened.”
“Huh?”
“That I cheated during the magic practical exam. That what I claimed was my original magic was actually black magic.”
Chloe hung her head.
“I might get expelled. But it’s something I have to do.”
Hearing that, Leo let out a small laugh.
“I doubt you’ll get expelled.”
“Huh?”
“Where are they going to find another hero candidate like you to kick out?”
Leo raised his right hand and patted Chloe’s head with a smile.
“You’ll become a hero. I promise.”
As Leo smiled gently, Chloe stared at his face in a daze, her own turning bright red.
“Y-yeah. Th-thank you…”
She bowed her head, flustered.
“Amazing!”
“You really looked like a hero!”
At that, Alia’s party crowded around, cheering.
Leo said as he watched their sparkling eyes,
“Go have a chat for a bit. I’ll finish up here.”
Leo approached the black grimoire.
It still emitted a faint but sinister aura.
‘Between Sen Ryu and now Chloe… Tartarus really is making moves. I can see now why Albi’s world went berserk and became a Hero Dungeon.’
Leo drew his sword and stabbed it deep into the black grimoire.
Squirm! Squirm!
Black blood oozed out.
A Demonic Artifact is a piece of Erebos.
A fragment of that immense being.
As Leo pressed down harder, it soon turned to dust and vanished.
Sheathing his sword, Leo placed his right finger to his temple.
“This is Leo Plov. Can you hear me?”
—Huh? Leo? Is that you, Leo?! Ah! You’re alive! Thank goodness! I’ll unlock the Heroic World right now.
He heard a flustered voice from the outside.
Since he could make contact, it seemed the Heroic World had returned to normal.
“No, the objective is almost complete.”
—What? What do you mean, ‘objective’?
“It took a while, but give us some leniency, won’t you?”
Leo smiled as he looked at Alia’s party.
“Leo Plov from Class 5 and Chloe Mueller from Class 1. We’ve defeated Chubarn and rescued Alia’s party.”
“Over here!”
“There are survivors here!”
At that moment, frantic voices echoed from a distance.
It was the rescue team dispatched from Lumene.
“We made it!”
“For a while, I really thought we weren’t going to make it!”
As Leo reestablished contact with the outside, Chloe and Alia approached.
Alia bowed her head to the two of them.
“Thank you for saving us, Leo, Chloe. As the party representative, I’m grateful.”
“N-no, we actually got a lot of help from you, too.”
Chloe waved her hands in embarrassment.
“Alia!”
Just then, a boy with glasses shouted urgently from among the rescue team.
“Albi? Big brother?”
Alia’s eyes widened as she ran to Albi.
“Professor Albi looks so young.”
“It was thirty years ago.”
[The safety of the endangered first-years has been guaranteed.]
[Albi’s World: Prologue – The Chedmothers Incident has been cleared.]
At the messages that popped up before her eyes, Chloe plopped down on the spot.
“We really… cleared it with just the two of us.”
“Well done.”
As Leo gave a faint smile—
“Leo! Please accept this! It’s a token of our thanks!”
“This is all we can give you right now, but it’s a pretty good magic ring.”
“Thank you for saving us!”
“We’ll be sure to repay you properly someday!”
Alia’s party members offered their accessories as thanks.
As Lumene students, they were all rather valuable items.
“I’ll give you this. It’s a valuable heirloom from my family.”
Alia handed Chloe the staff she had lent her earlier.
“I really don’t need something like this.”
“No, you saved our lives.”
Alia gave a bright smile.
At the same time, the world was enveloped in a radiant light.
The collapse of the world.
It meant the Heroic World had been cleared.
As the world disappeared, a message appeared before Leo’s eyes.
[Clear Reward: Keepsake]
