Chapter 55
Leo felt cold sweat running down his back.
Queen of Monsters—Sillatna.
A demon legion commander who existed even before the Age of Calamity.
And five thousand years ago—
She was one of the three legion commanders the Great Heroes failed to destroy.
‘So it was cognitive suppression magic.’
The moment Leo recognized the magic, its effect faded.
‘I expected some high-ranking demon to be behind everything because of the Demonic Artifact, but I didn’t think it would be this one.’
Crack! Craaack!
[Student? You’re a sharp one. Not bad, noticing my magic.]
Leo tensed his body.
Back in the Age of Calamity, seven out of the ten legion commanders had been taken down by Kyle and his companions.
‘But the last three were never defeated.’
The reason was simple.
The last three were monsters on a different level from the others.
Their terrifying power was matched by their cunning.
As Kyle, he’d never fought Sillatna directly.
Kyle was always assigned to other legion commanders—the Lich King and the Giant King.
Luna and Arron were the ones who fought Sillatna.
‘When I came to help, she retreated.’
So he’d never faced her by the end of that era.
Now he was facing that formidable foe.
[Blame your overly sharp senses.]
Sillatna sneered and swept her hand at Leo.
Craaaaaash—!
An arm shot out, stretching toward Leo to impale him.
Whoosh—!
At that moment, Aura flames erupted.
Fwoosh! Boom—!
Watching her own hand turn to ash, Sillatna’s eye twitched.
[I thought you’d lost your fighting spirit.]
Legion commanders are armed with curses of fear.
Those hit by the curse lose all will to fight.
But such mental curses didn’t work on Leo.
‘This is just a puppet made from flesh. If it were her true body, she couldn’t hide it like this!’
Without hesitation, Leo broke through the shop window and escaped outside.
Even as just a puppet, this thing was far more dangerous than Chubarn.
‘There’s nothing I can do now. I need to escape from here…!’
[Didn’t your professors teach you to watch your back?]
“Ugh!”
With a mocking sneer and a murderous aura from behind, Leo twisted his body at once.
Slash—!
A whip of flesh grazed Leo’s back.
Feeling a sting behind him, Leo spun around.
Fwoosh!
Boom—!
Aura flames much stronger than before reduced Sillatna’s arm to ashes.
Sillatna’s eye twitched.
The whip of flesh moved like a living snake, trying to pierce Leo.
Leo’s red eyes traced the attack’s path.
‘I’m too slow.’
Leo’s body was still that of a boy.
It was not a fully developed body.
‘I have to predict and move first!’
Afterimages followed Leo’s movements.
Even so, he was gradually, steadily widening the distance from Sillatna.
Sillatna narrowed her eyes.
‘Just a brat, but—’
The way Leo slipped away, barely dodging, was annoying.
Sillatna clearly had the upper hand in strength and speed.
Realizing that the gap was being closed by Leo’s skill, Sillatna grinned.
[Looks like I need to kill you right now.]
Boom—!
Flesh shot out like a giant net, trying to cover Leo.
[I’ll crush you right here.]
Seeing that, Leo pushed Aura flames to their maximum.
Fwoooosh! BOOM!
The raging fire burned the flesh.
A foul, burnt smell filled the air.
[Phoenix flames?]
Sillatna was surprised.
Ssssss—!
Smoke rose from Leo’s body after releasing so much firepower at once.
His body was burned as the price for pushing his limits.
[Impressive, but how many times can you manage firepower like that?]
Sillatna sneered as Leo glanced upward.
Noticing Leo’s gaze, Sillatna also looked up at the sky.
Crack! Craaaaack!
The sound of something breaking was followed by shards of light raining down on Sillatna.
Crashhhhh—!
The shards of light crushed Sillatna’s body.
[So you’ve arrived.]
Sillatna brushed off the shards of light with a thick smile.
[Magician of the Evil Eye.]
In the sky stood Albi, his left golden Evil Eye fully unleashed.
“Just some leftover flesh, huh.”
[Leftover? How rude to call this noble body that.]
“I don’t care about leftovers.”
Albi’s Evil Eye shone.
A square, golden barrier of light formed.
Clink—!
A crack ran through the barrier and it shattered into sharp fragments.
Leo’s eyes widened.
‘Fairy magic.’
Magic that only fairies could use.
A human was using it.
‘This is Hero Record… The power that nurtures heroes.’
While Leo was amazed,
Sillatna stared at the shards of light falling toward her, licking her lips with a murderous grin.
[I’ll eat that left eye someday.]
Thunk—!
A shard of light embedded itself in the puppet’s face before she could finish her sentence.
Struck directly by countless shards of light, Sillatna vanished into a lump of flesh.
The Aura flames flickering around Leo faded.
“Leo Plov, is it?”
Returning to his original eye, Albi adjusted his glasses.
“How did you end up being chased by that thing?”
“I was investigating Lutech when it suddenly showed up.”
“Lutech?”
Albi’s icy gaze settled on Leo.
“That place was already fully investigated by Lumene, and you found that thing there?”
“There was cognitive dissonance magic on it.”
“Cognitive dissonance… I see.”
Looking convinced, Albi didn’t question further.
Leo looked puzzled.
‘They say Albi is relentless when it comes to Tartaros, but…?’
Albi Zeron.
A professor at Lumene, but not one who actually teaches classes.
He only became a professor at Lumene to enjoy the privileges that came with it.
Professors at Lumene have the right to cross borders freely and to intervene in any incident related to Tartaros at any time.
That’s the kind of authority a Lumene professor has.
He had spent his whole life chasing Tartaros, so it was strange to see him so nonchalant about Sillatna—who was tied to his sworn enemy.
“Weren’t you supposed to be getting ready for the school trip?”
“Yes.”
“Then get going.”
“Huh?”
“Why so surprised?”
“Well… am I not going to be punished for this?”
Leo expected punishment the moment he saw Albi.
Leo was involved in the midterm incident, and digging into things further wasn’t allowed.
It was acting on his own, pure and simple.
Any other professor would have punished him for it.
But Albi said nothing.
He even told Leo to go on.
Looking dumbfounded, Leo heard Albi speak in his usual uninterested tone.
“It’d be odd for someone who never even acted like a professor to hand out punishments. Besides…”
The coldness faded from Albi’s face, replaced by warmth.
“I’m grateful to you, Leo.”
“Huh?”
“Thank you for saving that girl.”
Leo immediately thought of Alia.
“If there’s anything I can ever do to help you, I will.”
Leaving those words, Albi turned toward the Lutech shop.
If any student or professor who knew him saw this, it would have been a shock.
But for Albi, Leo was practically a benefactor.
‘He’d have had to hear over and over again that he couldn’t save his sister.’
Even though he’d opened his own Hero World for the next generation, Albi would have had to relive his sister’s death every time.
Leo had resolved that lingering pain for him.
Watching Albi’s back as he left, Leo suddenly remembered something.
‘The Zeron family was one of Lumene’s three great houses, right?’
Lumene’s board of directors was made up of the three great hero families who managed Lumeria City and the hero academy Lumene—independent of any country.
The Zeron family was one of those houses, a house among houses.
‘If I ask Professor Albi, maybe I could get access to the forbidden library? I’ll have to ask him next time.’
With that thought, Leo looked at the spot where Sillatna’s puppet had disappeared.
‘Now it’s certain. Both the Chedmothers incident and this one—Sillatna’s the one who was really moving things behind the scenes.’
Sillatna, now essentially one of Tartaros’s rulers, had taken action.
‘Did she move just to cut off future hero candidates?’
He couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling.
‘What is she really after?’
—
Whoooooosh—!
Deep in the northern continent.
A biting wind swept the coldest place in the world.
Covered in snow and ice year-round, this place had been an elven sanctuary since before the Age of Calamity.
An ancient elven fortress stood here—a place now known as Seiren, the elven hero academy.
On Seiren’s campus, students were walking to and fro.
Among them, a red-haired, red-eyed elf girl was bundled in a scarf, trudging through the snow.
“To wear that in this weather… Are you just showing off your powerful magic?”
“As expected of someone from a family with no pedigree, you don’t know the virtue of humility. Well, you’re not even a pure elf, are you?”
“It’s disgraceful that an elf like you is even one of Seiren’s year representatives! What a shame.”
Hearing voices from afar, the elf girl made an annoyed face and walked over.
“What’s their problem? If you’re not cold, why not dress comfortably? You all gang up on someone over something like that? Don’t you feel any shame? Where’s your pride as a noble house?”
Startled, the group of elves picking on a thinly dressed boy near the frozen fountain fell silent.
“L-Lunia! That’s too harsh!”
“That’s right! And for someone from a great house to speak that way! You should be ashamed!”
“The teachers won’t let this go!”
“What are you talking about? You’re the ones bullying someone as a group. That’s even worse, and the teachers definitely won’t let it go.”
The girl smiled with a combative expression that was anything but elven.
“If you don’t like what I said, fight me.”
The three elves turned pale.
Lunia el Lunda.
Heir of the elven hero house Lunda, and a first-year at Seiren—she held the title of year representative with overwhelming skill.
Especially in first-year dueling evaluations, she had racked up a record of 29 straight victories.
Knowing this, the other first-years quickly scattered.
Lunia scoffed and approached the thinly dressed boy.
“Luca. I told you if you walked around like that, people would hassle you.”
“I know, but… someone stole all my clothes.”
“What? Those punks…”
It was clear who’d done it.
Sighing, Lunia untied her scarf and wrapped it around Luca’s neck.
“L-Lunia! Won’t you be cold?”
“I’m dressed plenty warm. And you—just because you feel less cold doesn’t mean you’re not cold at all, right?”
With a bright smile, Lunia led Luca toward the campus.
“Achoo!”
As soon as they entered, Lunia sneezed.
“Sorry, because of me…”
“Don’t worry! I’m fine!”
Rubbing her nose, Lunia waved a hand as if she was totally fine.
“You seem happy today?”
“Yeah! My dad—uh, I mean, Professor Ellen called for me!”
Lunia puffed out her chest.
“My contracted beast finally hatched!”
“Ah! Congratulations, Lunia!”
Luca beamed.
“Thanks! So, I’ll go ahead! If those guys bother you again, tell me!”
Lunia dashed off down the corridor.
Soon, she reached a certain teacher’s office.
“Dad! My contracted beast really hatched, right?”
“I told you to call me ‘professor’ at school.”
“There’s nobody around! Anyway, my contracted beast hatched, right?”
The Lunia family had always made contracts with phoenixes.
Now, Lunia was supposed to make a contract with the child of Pirina, the current head Ellen’s beast.
Ellen looked at the letter from his contract partner.
He let out a deep sigh.
“Pirina’s child has hatched.”
“Knew it!”
Clap—! Lunia pumped her fists in celebration.
“So, when can I meet it? Right now?”
‘How am I supposed to explain this…’
“Lunia. Sit down first.”
Lunia sat in front of Ellen.
Taking a deep breath, Ellen spoke.
“Lunia. About your contract beast.”
“Yes!”
“…It’s already been contracted to someone else.”
Crack—!
Lunia’s body went rigid.