Chapter 431

Chapter 431

After getting a call from Melina, Leo quietly slipped away from the training areas and made his way up to the peak of the mountain.

“A Hero Dungeon manifested, accompanied by a surge of dark fire?”

“That’s right. I believe we need to depart for Delan immediately.”

“Understood. But who is this standing beside you?”

Leo gestured toward the young woman accompanying Melina.

She possessed vibrant golden hair and matching amber eyes.

Though she appeared human, Leo easily detected her draconic nature.

The reason Leo remained completely unbothered by the sudden appearance of an unfamiliar dragon was quite straightforward.

Since Melina had brought this dragon along, she clearly trusted her not to question the nature of Leo and Melina’s connection.

‘She doesn’t seem to recognize who I truly am, though.’

The draconic youth stood quietly, a flicker of mild curiosity on her face as she did her best to mask her feelings.

Melina offered a gentle smile in response to Leo’s inquiry.

“This youth is named Enkinias. I call her En for short. She may be young, but she possesses immense intellect and wisdom. She holds the position of archivist in Dragonia.”

Hearing that she was the keeper of Dragonia’s archive, Leo fixed his attention on En once more.

Ever since Lisinas was revered as the Sovereign of Wisdom, the dragons of this age—proudly tracing their lineage back to him—had dedicated themselves to the pursuit of knowledge.

Because of this, the great vault of Dragonia served as an unparalleled reservoir of knowledge, preserving countless ancient texts gathered by dragons across generations.

Furthermore, the sacred Hero Records pertaining to the dragon race were also safeguarded within that very vault.

Consequently, serving as the archivist of Dragonia was a prestigious title reserved solely for exceptional figures within dragon society.

‘If I recall correctly, that role was usually given to those in line to become the next Dragon Lord.’

“En, this is Lord Leo Flobe. Extend your utmost courtesies to him.”

“It is an honor to make your acquaintance, Lord Leo Flobe. My name is Enkinias.”

Melina gave a slight shake of her head as she observed En daintily lifting the edges of her skirt to offer a standard bow.

“En. Greet him using the traditional custom of the dragon race.”

“Ah, of course.”

With a bit of stiffness, En tapped the right side of her chest three times in salute.

“Still so unrefined. I told you that you needed to rehearse this.”

“Forgive me, my Lord.”

‘I’m not sure you’re the one who should be lecturing her about etiquette.’

“So, what is the reason for introducing this youth to me?”

“En commands a rather unique capability.”

“A unique capability?”

“Indeed. Show him, En.”

Following Melina’s command, En stepped forward to face Leo directly, locking eyes with him.

Her amber gaze captured Leo’s reflection with absolute clarity.

In that instant, a radiant glow burst forth from En’s entire form.

As the blinding illumination dissipated, another Leo was standing right there.

“Oh?”

“My inherent mana characteristic is Duplication. This specific application is my signature magic, Mirror.”

Typically, altering one’s form through standard illusions leaves a lingering sense of unnaturalness.

Yet, En’s replication was so flawless that it carried no trace of deception whatsoever.

It truly felt as though he were staring directly into a reflective glass.

“Are you meant to act as my double while I am absent?”

“Yes.”

‘If Melina went through the trouble of arranging this, she must be entirely reliable.’

To Leo, Melina might technically be a distant junior from a later generation, but she was still a Dragon Lord who commanded the world.

He could place full confidence in her arrangements.

“Very well, I will leave things in your hands, young lady.”

Leaving En behind to maintain his double identity, Leo accompanied Melina as they utilized teleportation magic to journey toward Delan.

Even though dark fire had erupted and a Hero Dungeon had manifested, the capital city of Delan appeared completely unaltered from its usual state.

As they made their way toward the coordinates of the anomaly, Melina spoke up.

“Given that the Calamity Flame broke out, do you think it originates from the Hero Record of Genesis?”

“The odds are heavily in favor of that.”

The shattered remnants of Erebus, confined by the original Heroes of Genesis, were perpetually searching for a path back to the material world, exploiting the Hero Records as a gateway.

“If we successfully suppress the Calamity Flame this time as well, will we be able to cleanse it and claim it as sacred power?”

“Perhaps.”

Up to this point, Leo had repeatedly encountered these remnants of Erebus within the domains of the Heroes.

‘It happened within Luna’s domain, and again within Seirun’s domain.’

Reflecting on those events, Leo’s gaze sharpened.

‘One piece of Erebus was bound within a Hero Record, while another lay dormant within the Realm of Fairies.’

Thus far, two distinct remnants of Erebus had been located.

“I believe I have a solid hypothesis regarding the location of the third remnant of Erebus.”

Melina’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Where would that be?”

“The third piece of Erebus is almost certainly in the possession of the Necromancer King.”

Melina’s expression turned grim.

“The Necromancer King?”

“Yes. Judging by how he conjured the Calamity Flame during our previous encounter, I am quite certain of it.”

Erebus stands as the definitive manifestation of Primeval Evil.

To demonic entities, it represents the absolute power of a deity.

Just as ordinary mortals residing in the lower domains are incapable of manufacturing sacred power from nothing, demons themselves lack the capacity to generate the Calamity Flame through their own strength alone.

And yet, the Necromancer King had successfully wielded the Calamity Flame during his assault on Lumern.

“Is that not highly perilous?”

“He lacks the immediate means to fully awaken that shard of Erebus.”

“For what reason?”

“If the remnant of Erebus had truly been restored to its full potential, he would not remain this passive. Furthermore, he is far too calculating to recklessly display a dormant Erebus.”

“Then what is his situation?”

“He has likely claimed the fragment but remains ignorant of the methods required to rouse it or harness its true capabilities. The blaze he conjured previously was merely the fragment reacting instinctively to my presence. He will not initiate an immediate assault using the shard as his vanguard. Still, we cannot afford to be entirely complacent either.”

Leo let out a long, heavy breath.

‘I must accelerate the recovery of the strength I possessed in my former life.’

With that final thought, he came to a halt.

They had arrived right outside the perimeter of the research facility.

“It sounds incredibly chaotic inside.”

“Naturally. A Hero Dungeon has just manifested, after all.”

Acknowledging this, Melina made a sweeping motion with her hand.

The surrounding fabric of reality began to warp.

As Melina stepped forward, a massive, solid barrier seemed to ripple like water.

‘She completely bypassed the physical dimensions.’

It was a masterclass in sorcery entirely fitting for a Dragon Lord.

Bypassing every physical barrier in their path, Leo and Melina swiftly reached the exact coordinates where the Hero Dungeon had opened.

“Are we absolutely certain no civilians or personnel were pulled into the Hero Dungeon?!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Send word to the royal court immediately and request urgent reinforcements from the Hero Academy…”

“There is no requirement for such measures.”

“Wh-what?!”

The officer-in-charge, who had been frantically issuing directives, froze in surprise and snapped his head around.

Melina stood there, wearing a calm smile.

“We represent Dragonia.”

“A—a dragon?”

“Indeed. We shall handle the inspection of this Hero Dungeon.”

With those words, Melina shifted her gaze toward Leo.

Leo stepped toward the center of the dimensional distortion.

The moment he extended his hand toward the fractured space, a prompt appeared before him.

The text, which had now become entirely familiar to him, materialized in mid-air.

“What?”

Leo’s expression instantly twisted into a look of shock upon reading the words.

This was a chapter of history he had never anticipated facing.

Swoosh—!

His entire surroundings shifted violently.

Roar—!

Jet-black fire raged violently across the vision before him.

Leo immediately understood why the dark flames had leaked out the moment the dungeon manifested.

Hero Dungeons inherently bleed into reality.

As a result, the catastrophic conditions locked within the memory would occasionally manifest externally during the initial formation process.

Those external dark flames were merely the overflow of this absolute inferno.

Leo drew a sharp breath.

The overwhelming stench of a collapsing, incinerated world assaulted his senses.

A vision of absolute ruin burned itself into his eyes.

Every single detail of this landscape was intimately familiar to Leo.

There was simply no way he could ever wipe it from his memory.

To the rest of the world, this specific battlefield represented the ultimate, tragic triumph of legendary figures immortalized in tales.

But to Leo, who had actually stood upon this soil, the reality was nothing short of an absolute horror story.

It was precisely here that Leo, living as Kyle, had been forced to watch one of his dearest companions—someone more valuable to him than life itself—perish.

“Aaaaaaaah!”

Suddenly, a ferocious battle cry cut through the roaring flames and struck Leo’s ears.

Flash—!

A brilliant torrent of golden energy surged directly into the heavens.

It was the unmistakable, definitive strike of the legendary champion, Arion.

‘Arion during this final hour… displayed a courage that surpassed everyone.’

In his ultimate moments, Arion fully embodied the true essence of a champion.

He had maintained absolute composure up until the very second he marched onto the battlefield.

He willingly threw his life away solely because he could not bear the thought of his companions falling in battle.

Even as his life force ebbed away, he spent his remaining breath offering solace to his grieving friends.

He held an unshakeable, pure conviction that his comrades would successfully safeguard the future of the world.

To alleviate the immense grief of his friends, Arion had smiled through the pain.

Because of that smile, Leo had never truly known what kind of expression Arion wore when he stood entirely isolated, facing the absolute might of Erebus to shield his companions during that critical hour.

All Leo possessed was the memory of Arion’s retreating figure as he sprinted forward without a single trace of hesitation to meet the ancient evil alone.

The champion who endured the ultimate battle completely isolated in his final moments.

The true face of Arion during those concluding seconds—a sight Leo had never been privy to—was now unfolding right before his eyes.

“Ar…ion.”

Unconsciously, Leo called out the name of his dying brother-in-arms.

Arion, desperately gripping the fractured remains of ‘Brave’, slowly shifted his gaze back toward Leo’s direction.

Roar—!

The catastrophic dark fire could be seen rising up, poised to completely consume Arion’s form.

Without a second thought, Leo lunged forward, sprinting wildly toward Arion.

Roar—!

“Lisinas! We need your protection, now!”

Dweno bellowed out in absolute desperation.

Swoosh—!

Blazing torrents of pure white fire erupted upward.

BOOM—!

Lisinas ground his teeth together from the sheer pressure.

Luna, despite hovering on the absolute brink of death herself, kept her eyes firmly shut as she poured every ounce of her focus into sustaining her incantation.

She possessed absolute certainty.

She knew without a doubt that her companions would shield her with their lives.

Driven by that unwavering faith, she executed her designated duty without allowing her spirit to falter for even a moment.

Flash—!

A brilliant streak of pure white illumination cut across the darkened sky.

Kyle, channeling the absolute power of Innocent directly into his blade, unleashed a massive wave of aura.

The cataclysmic slash struck Erebus squarely across the neck.

Swoosh!

“Ugh?!”

“Kyle!”

Dweno, completely engulfed in the raging flames, hurled his entire body forward in a desperate charge against Erebus.

Crash—!

The entire landscape shuddered violently as Erebus staggered back several paces from the impact.

Rumble—!

The very foundations of the earth quaked as if torn apart by a massive tectonic shift.

From the sheer violence of the collision, molten lava began to burst forth from deep beneath the fractured ground.

It was a clash of truly mythic proportions, capable of tearing the sky and the earth asunder.

“We are running out of time! We must hold the line and prevent him from advancing any further until Luna can bring her sorcery to completion!”

Just as Lisinas shouted those urgent instructions.

“Allow me to handle it.”

“What did you say?”

Arion, having just carved his way through a wall of dark fire, spoke up as he took his position at the very vanguard of the line.

“Hey! You absolute lunatic! Facing that thing completely on your own is suicide…!”

“We have spent our entire lives achieving the impossible.”

Arion flashed a calm smile in response to Kyle’s desperate protest.

“You were always the one telling me that my heart possessed unparalleled valor, weren’t you?”

“Arion.”

Dweno attempted to interject with deep panic in his voice, but Arion refused to halt his advance.

“The moment has arrived for me to unleash that very valor. Focus your efforts on shielding Luna from any incoming assaults from Erebus, and I will…”

Arion locked both hands firmly around the hilt of Braver, dropping his center of gravity into a low stance.

“I will hold him back.”

Boom—!

Transforming into a brilliant streak of golden light, Arion propelled himself directly at Erebus.

Slash—!

The descending golden trajectory cleanly severed one of Erebus’s massive arms.

Flash—!

The radiant gold streak systematically tore into Erebus’s form.

Arion’s eyes were wide with intense focus as he drew ragged breaths.

‘Keep moving. Faster! Shift with greater power!’

Crash—!

As he dismantled the towering dark behemoth at velocities completely imperceptible to the naked eye, Arion resembled nothing less than a deity of absolute warfare.

‘I am the one who bears the title of Brave!’

The masses had always revered Arion as the true embodiment of courage.

Yet, Arion himself had always found that moniker to be an incredibly heavy burden to carry.

Because of that weight, he had spent his entire life actively deflecting and denying the title.

But in this ultimate hour, in a desperate bid to conjure every scrap of fortitude within his soul, he repeated that very title like a mantra to comfort his own trembling heart.

‘The one who holds the greatest reservoir of courage in this entire world!’

Coughing up dark crimson from his lips, his eyes, and his nose, Arion launched himself violently into the air.

BOOM—!

Accompanied by a concussive shockwave that seemed to rattle the entire world, the colossal form of the primeval evil was sent hurtling backward through the sky.

Crash—!

Arion forcefully readjusted his grip on his blade, aiming directly downward at Erebus as the monster crashed into the earth.

“Aaaaaaaah!”

Swoosh—!

A monumental golden slash cleaved Erebus cleanly into two distinct halves.

The residual golden energy from the strike extended so far upward it looked as though it were splitting the heavens themselves.

Snap—!

Suddenly, Brave, the legendary blade forged of true Courage, shattered completely.

The fractured remnants of Brave glinted as they rained down in all directions.

“Haa… Haa…”

Arion drew erratic, agonizing breaths.

His physical form was completely devastated from forcibly extracting an amount of power that went vastly beyond what his mortal vessel could sustain.

His muscle fibers were torn and contorted, and his skeletal structure was fractured in countless places.

His respiratory tract was completely shredded, making the simple act of drawing air an excruciating ordeal.

Arion understood the reality of his situation perfectly.

‘This is where my journey ends.’

He clenched his jaw tight.

This was a fate he had already mentally prepared himself to accept.

‘I will not succumb to fear. Lisinas… Kyle! Luna! Dweno! They possess the strength to deliver this world from ruin! Because of that certainty… I am not afraid!’

Suddenly, a voice carrying an immense, suffocating weight reverberated through the air.

Roar—!

The jet-black flames surged back to life with renewed fury.

The mocking, derisive tone of Erebus washed directly over Arion’s consciousness.

Swoosh—!

The dark inferno flared up, expanding rapidly to fully swallow Arion’s broken body.

In that fraction of a second, his entire life flashed vividly across his mind.

Arion’s features twisted in profound anguish.

‘You aren’t obligated to sacrifice yourself to save this world the way he does, you know?’

Kyle’s past words suddenly echoed with startling clarity inside his mind.

‘Discover the thing that you truly desire to pursue for yourself.’

Following that rare, gentle memory of Kyle’s voice, an overwhelming, primal terror gripped Arion’s entire being.

The raw panic he had spent the entire battle forcibly burying deep within his soul finally broke free, rearing its ugly head.

‘I don’t want my life to end here.’

He still hadn’t managed to find that one thing he truly wished to do for his own sake.

To think he had to perish like this?

‘I don’t want to die!’

What kind of legendary champion was he, trembling so pathetically on the threshold of his demise?

All of his carefully constructed resolve shattered into dust.

Right at the exact instant Arion’s face crumpled, on the verge of breaking into tears from the pure terror of his impending death—

“Ar…ion?”

A voice that felt entirely unfamiliar, yet carried a strangely deep resonance, reached his ears.

Arion slowly turned his head.

‘The path ahead of you is going to be incredibly grueling from this point onward.’

From the absolute deepest recesses of his memories, a specific scene surfaced.

The face of a young boy who had offered him genuine encouragement came into focus.

‘There will inevitably be individuals you lack the power to shield, and you will find yourself driven to despair by an endless onslaught of hardships.’

The boy had looked somewhat apologetic.

With a profoundly sorrowful expression, that young boy had stood there offering him strength.

‘Even so… you will ultimately prevail. Because your heart possesses a valor greater than anyone else.’

The boy who had bestowed unconditional, absolute faith upon him—despite the two of them having never cross paths before in reality—was now manifested right before his eyes.

‘Because you are the one who delivered this world from destruction.’

“Arionnnnnnn!!”

Leo roared the name at the top of his lungs, his voice fracturing as he desperately thrust his hand forward.

He had been completely blind to this truth.

This was a vulnerability completely hidden from Leo, and undoubtedly hidden from the rest of their companions as well.

The very second he caught sight of Arion’s expression, looking as though he were about to weep from sheer vulnerability, the realization struck him like a physical blow.

Arion—whom they had all believed met his end with absolute, fearless stoicism because he wanted to keep them safe—had actually feared the end of his life more intensely than anyone else on that battlefield.

He had merely put on a flawless facade of composure for their sakes as he walked toward his execution.

He maintained the perfect image of a fearless champion until his final breath, solely to impart strength to his friends.

The moment that reality crystallized in his mind, Leo’s instincts took over, and he raced toward Arion with everything he had.

Arion, in turn, strained to extend his own hand out toward Leo.

And the precise millisecond their fingers locked together—

Flash—!

Accompanied by a blinding flash of pure white energy, the entire flow of time came to an absolute standstill.

BOOM—!

“Ugh!”

“Ah!”

“Lord Leo?!”

Melina, who had been actively preparing to plunge into the dimensional rift right after Leo, widened her eyes in absolute shock.

The Hero Dungeon snapped shut in an instant, and Leo materialized back into reality just as abruptly as he had left.

And he was firmly grasping someone else’s hand.

“You are…”

Melina’s face instantly drained of all color, contorting into pure disbelief as she stared at the young beast-kin male, whose entire body was covered in severe burns, still clutching the shattered remnants of a broken sword.

“Lord Arion?”