Chapter 207
Kioooooooooooo!
An ear-splitting roar reverberated through Seiren.
The heroes frantically divided their forces to counter Zerdiac, who had suddenly materialized in the heart of Seiren.
Meanwhile, another magic circle materialized in the air.
Benit, Albi, Ellen, and Chade emerged from beyond the circle.
The four who had retreated from the battle with Sillatna quickly joined the newly formed defensive line.
“Lumene sorcery students, follow me.”
Albi issued the command with a stoic expression, and the sorcery students who had been holding back Sillatna’s forces hastened to gather around him.
“Jillian.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Continue defending the wall.”
Chade instructed the leader of the Lewellin sorcerers who had gathered around him.
“My lord…”
“I’ll go confront him.”
Chade’s gaze was steely as he looked up at the sky.
Meanwhile, most of Zerdiac’s form had already breached into the present world.
“Master, we will follow you too…”
“If the Lewellin’s power falters now, the already precarious front will collapse further.”
Chade’s tone was icy as he responded to Jillian’s concerns.
“You should lead the rest of the heroes and defend the front. Or are my orders less than satisfactory?”
“No.”
The head of a hero lineage was not merely defined by birthright.
It was only fitting that the leader be the most formidable within the family.
Chade was the most powerful sorcerer in the Lordren Empire, perhaps even of the westernmost continent.
He was personally selected by the Swordmaster Kalian to defeat the legion commander.
Lewellin’s vassals had no choice but to heed his commands.
They trusted in the absolute power of their leader.
Ellen also swiftly gathered the Seiren students.
Soon, everyone assigned to stop Zerdiac had been assembled.
Meanwhile, first and second-year students who had evacuated the spectators deep into the school’s grounds hurriedly emerged.
Upon seeing Zerdiac attempting to breach their modern world through a crack in the sky, their faces paled.
Some lost their resolve and sank to the ground.
The commander of the Tartaros Legion was a figure of unspeakable terror.
Even some of the hero candidates, still young teenagers in their mid-to-late teens, were overcome with fear in the face of such a catastrophic threat.
“W-we have to run!”
“What can we, just first and second-year students, do against such a monster?” a terrified second-year Lumene student shouted.
The hero candidates began to murmur in agreement.
Fear was spreading.
No matter how much courage one tried to muster, it crumbled in the face of such overwhelming dread.
“Well, if we retreat to the heroes…”
A second-year Seiren student spoke urgently, but Lunia interrupted. “Wait! What about the civilians still inside the school?”
Even though they were evacuated to the safest, most central part of the school, there was no guarantee of their safety if that monster descended.
“We have to protect them somehow!”
“Don’t joke around, Lunia El Lunda! What can you do? You’re just a first-year! Even I, a second-year student, have no idea how to handle that monster!” the second-year student from Seiren shouted, his face contorting with frustration.
“The civilians have already been evacuated to the safest place possible! Our task now is to quickly join the heroes!”
Roooooooooooooooooar!
Right at that moment.
Zerdiac, emerging from the crack in the sky, roared in fury.
Zerdiac’s piercing roar assaulted the ears of the first and second-year students.
Among them, those with weaker constitutions briefly lost consciousness and collapsed.
“We have to stop him!” Lunia shouted urgently.
Seeing Lunia’s resolve, one of the Seiren students panicked and said, “We can’t stop him on our own! We need to call for help from our seniors!”
“That’s right!”
“Let’s hurry to where the seniors are!”
The first and second-year students of Seiren shouted in agreement.
The underclassmen of Lumene, influenced by Seiren’s students, also began to insist on heading toward where the heroes were fighting.
“If we try to fight like this, we’ll end up dead!” a second-year Seiren student shouted at Lunia.
Seeing the second-year student’s distress, Lunia took a deep breath.
She reached out, grabbed the second-year student’s collar, pulled him close, and slammed their foreheads together.
Thunk!
“Huh?”
The second-year student’s eyes rolled, and he fainted from the surprise attack.
Lunia pushed the unconscious student aside and glared at the remaining students.
The first and second-year students flinched under Lunia’s intense gaze.
“Those who are going, go.”
Lunia’s voice was calm but laced with anger.
“I will stay here and protect the civilians.”
If the first and second-year students left now, all of the lives of those in Seiren would be in grave danger.
The students began to murmur among themselves in response to Lunia’s declaration.
Celia and Chloe moved to Lunia’s side.
“I will fight.”
“Can’t back down now.”
Abad and Chelsea joined in.
“Father is fighting, so we can’t back down.”
“That’s right!”
Duran and Eliza echoed their sentiments.
“I was going to stay too.”
“It may not seem smart, but I’ll stay and fight as well.”
Walden silently folded his arms and stepped forward.
Chen Xia smiled and joined in, followed by Eiran and Luca.
With that, the Lumene students and the first-year students of Seiren gathered around Lunia.
“Hey, Lille! You too?” a second-year Lumene student asked Lille, who was also joining in.
Reflecting on her decision, Lille replied, “Isn’t it obvious? The first-year students are leading the way, doing what we should have done from the start.”
“But still… isn’t this too reckless?”
“It is reckless.”
One of Seiren’s second-year representatives frowned at Lille’s words.
“Why take such risks? You have so much ahead of you–you were even chosen as a hero candidate–yet you’re willing to throw your life away here?”
Lille smiled brightly at those words.
“It’s because we were chosen.”
“…!”
“Isn’t protecting civilians the only true duty of a hero candidate?”
The second-year class representative of Seiren scowled at Lille’s words.
“You’re insane. You’re truly insane.”
The first and second-year students were split between those who wanted to defend Seiren and those who wished to join the heroes.
Boooooooooom-!
At that moment, Zerdiac, having emerged from the crack, crashed to the ground.
The earth trembled beneath his impact.
The first and second-year students watched in dread.
‘How long can we hold out? Ten minutes? No… we might not last even five.’
Lunia gritted her teeth.
Suddenly, a dark portal appeared around Zerdiac, and a horde of monstrous beings began to spill out.
The faces of the first and second-year students went pale.
“His legion…!”
“That monster! Is that the legion commander?”
Shock spread through the crowd.
Zerdiac’s legion surged toward Seiren.
Their eyes were devoid of reason.
Only the primal instinct for destruction remained.
The first and second-year students clenched their teeth and fought to repel the legion’s advance.
“Stop them!”
“Make sure they don’t set foot inside the school!”
The first-year students moved in unison at the urgent command from the second-years.
“Raaaaaaaaah!”
At that moment, a giant venomous demon roared and charged at Celia.
Celia, gritting her teeth, summoned an Aura of flames.
Flutter!
Swiiiiiiiiiish-!
Celia’s sword cleaved through the demon.
The demon’s flesh tore, and blood gushed forth.
Thwunk! Gushhhhhh–
Celia swiftly dodged the spray of blood.
However, she couldn’t escape the venom.
“Ugh?”
Celia clamped a hand over her mouth.
Choke-!
“Ugh!”
Every member of Zerdiac’s legion was composed of deadly poison.
The more demons they defeated, the more the poison accumulated in the air around them.
The demon Celia had slain raised its arm as she staggered, vomiting blood.
“Celia!”
Chloe quickly summoned her sorcery.
Whishhhh-crinkle-crackle-!
Bitter cold swept over the demons.
As the frozen demons ceased moving, Chelsea rushed in and pulled Celia to the rear.
“I can keep fighting more…!”
“You’re saying that while spitting blood!” Chelsea shouted urgently.
The rear was filled with healers and injured students.
The tragedy unfolded just minutes after the legion’s assault began.
The attack was too overwhelming for the inexperienced first and second-year students to handle.
Just then.
Flutter!
Intense flames erupted from the front.
Fwoooooosh-!
“Senior Rhys!”
Lille called out urgently for Rhys’ support.
It wasn’t just Rhys.
The student council members who came to the rear to support halted the legion’s advance.
The appearance of their seniors, however, did little to uplift the spirits of the first and second-year students.
Their opponent was the Tartaros Legion.
The situation, though slightly improved, barely changed the dire circumstances.
“Can we… defeat that?”
A desperate voice escaped from the hero stationed at the defensive line.
They managed to hold off Sillatna’s Legion.
Yet the unknown Legion wreaking havoc in the rear cast a shadow of despair even over the seasoned heroes.
If it were only Sillatna, the fight might be different.
But facing two Legion Commanders was overwhelming.
Then.
The fighting at the front abruptly ceased, as if by the hands of a miracle.
Sedgen looked ahead, his expression hardening.
The battlefield between the Witch Queen and the Swordmaster.
The terrain was unrecognizable from its previous state, due to the intensity of their clash.
And leaving that battlefield behind…
Was the Witch Queen, advancing upon them.
Sillatna, with the lower body of a grotesque monster and the puny upper body of a human, licked the blood from her forehead.
“The principal… has been taken down!”
“Is this really the end…!”
Despair clouded the heroes’ faces.
Harrid addressed them with a stern gaze.
“If you have time to despair, use that time to prepare to fight.”
“Professor Harrid…!”
Len looked at Harrid with eyes full of doubt.
“You are Lumene professors.”
Harrid spoke in his characteristic cold tone.
“You cannot despair when even the students are fighting against the Legion.”
The Lumene professors gritted their teeth at his words.
Then.
Flash!
A massive slash struck Sillatna with unrelenting force.
In response, a terrifying murderous aura radiated from Sillatna.
Crash-crash-crash-crash-!
A crimson flash, conjured by Sillatna’s dark sorcery, surged towards the source of the slash.
“Principal…!”
The faces of the Lumene professors twisted in horror.
* * *
Reaper Scans
[Translator – Aine]
[Proofreader – Ash]
Join our discord for updates on releases! https://dsc.gg/reapercomics
* * *
“Kal… ian… Choke… choke—!”
In the midst of the fierce battle.
Lieven urgently called out to Kalian.
As a dragon and the leader of the heroes, he had expended all his strength for the sake of the hero he had chosen.
Sillatna’s words were true.
They were but an old hero and an old dragon.
Even at their peak, subduing Sillatna would have been difficult.
Now, in their decline, it was nearly impossible.
Another Commander might have been manageable.
But facing a monstrous Commander who had existed since before the Age of Disaster was insurmountable.
Tremble-tremble-
Lieven watched Kalian, using his sword as a crutch to support his body.
Lieven gritted his teeth.
His body had long reached its limit.
Yet the Swordmaster continued to fight.
‘It doesn’t matter if I die.’
Kalian raised his sword.
He had lived long enough.
He didn’t regret sacrificing his life for the sake of future generations.
Kalian vomited blood.
‘I must strike at least once more.’
He needed to leave the chance for future generations to defeat Sillatna.
‘Move…’
Schwing-!
Pouring all his remaining strength into his sword, Kalian attempted to release his Aura.
Slip-
But he quickly lost his balance and fell.
Thump!
He barely managed to stand without collapsing.
To anyone watching, he was clearly at his limit.
Rustle-
“Stop.”
At that moment, a voice came from behind.
With great effort, Kalian and Lieven turned around.
“That’s enough.”
A young man with gray hair and eyes stood before them.
“You’ve done well enough. Now you can rest in peace.”
When Kalian looked into those gray eyes, a familiar boy seemed to come to mind.
“You… who are you?”
The young man answered Kalian’s question.
“The Hero of the Beginning.”
