Ch.118Chapter 118. The Hero Returns

“What the hell is going on…?”

In the eastern sector of the garrison area.

As the battle there entered a lull, Garam climbed a nearby hill to assess the situation, looking down at what had been their encampment.

The Red Knight of War had led troops forward to support the White Knight of Plague right after the dragon appeared.

Her sudden action had quickly brought the fierce fighting to a standstill, and the endless regenerating corpses that had been overwhelming them disappeared into the flames.

In that situation, all he could do was create barriers and resist the waves of heat approaching from afar.

“What is that?”

But following that, something unimaginable was unfolding in the area swept by the breath.

Ominous power seeping into the ash-covered ground solidified into human forms.

The sight of all of them screaming with madness.

-KYAAAAAAAH!!!

He covered his mouth as he watched, not just because the screams were chilling.

The situation where they were trampled and crushed by the force spreading outward, repeatedly splattering blood and flesh chunks on the ground.

From those crushed remains, people regrew, only to be crushed and regenerated again—the ground was visibly soaked with blood even from a distance.

Because this phenomenon originated from something in human form, it felt deeply imprinted on his mind as a fellow human.

“…If hell actually exists, it must feel like this.”

Jaseong, watching the ground turning red, shouldered his spade with a hollow laugh.

“Ah, mister. Are you going there? Over there?”

“I have to. I don’t have anywhere to retreat to anyway.”

Though he’s someone who would boldly kill even the powerful for betraying human morality, he’s not so insensible as to ignore the responsibility that comes with it.

If he returned to human territory without leaving his bones here, he would lose his qualification as a Hero and be treated as an uncontrollable danger—imprisoned or hunted for the rest of his life.

The people of the Order who believed in him would surely suffer considerable damage as well.

“So you, kid, should return to the Empire now while you can. The path might be rough, but with a Hero’s power, getting back should be possible.”

“D-don’t say such nonsense! Going in there would be suicide… Huh?”

As he tried to dissuade Jaseong, someone passed by.

When Jaseong realized the man had grabbed his hand, he stared blankly at him.

“What’s up, friend? Why suddenly—”

“Two thousand times.”

Hero Taeyang Lim.

The undefeated, strongest Hero who had never lost a one-on-one battle against any formidable opponent.

And as this consistently taciturn man stopped him and spoke for the first time:

“Before that, I charged in about that many times, but I could barely see any way to defeat it.”

“What?”

“It cannot be beaten.”

His words carried that much weight.

If what came from his mouth was truly “impossible”…

“That thing… it’s not something we can defeat.”

From humanity’s perspective, it meant there was absolutely no way to confront it.

****

Yes, that was the future everyone who faced what was happening envisioned.

The scene before them—multiplying in number, regenerating despite crushing each other—was enough to terrify even soldiers who had constantly faced death.

‘Why on earth…’

But Marcus alone considered it a concept that could be understood by human common sense.

Among those here, he was the only veteran who had experienced the era of war when humans fought against humans.

Even the lives of others, always considered precious in his homeland, crumbled away meaninglessly once they stepped onto the battlefield.

Marcus recalled, watching the scene before him, that the only way to forget fear and pain in such places was to surrender to madness.

‘Why are you there, Tachia?’

And the one who gave meaning to this was none other than the Hero who had led him.

She was the existence called the hope of the old era, who had fought alone against the dragon while his knights evacuated humans from dangerous areas.

‘Why on earth, you… a Hero like you, why…’

He understood intellectually.

That even someone with the noblest beliefs could produce such a result from suppressing their true feelings through endurance.

The fact that lingering regrets in life took such an ugly form was all the more prominent for someone who had shouldered excessive responsibility.

As a Hero who had developed strength by traversing the most battlefields, she inevitably inherited humanity’s madness and hatred more intensely…

‘The worst calamity targeting humanity was directly created by humanity itself.’

That danger, and that evil, would be incomparable to any disaster they had faced before.

But they’re still increasing in number, and the troops around her show no signs of leaving her side.

Since they’re still building strength, this might be the only chance to stop them.

“We must stop that… now.”

“It’s impossible.”

Despite the natural insubordination that followed, Marcus couldn’t reprimand him.

He merely averted his eyes from the truth and looked at his subordinate with empty eyes.

“It’s impossible, sir. How could we possibly…”

“We must try even if it’s impossible. Didn’t we pledge our lives for humanity?”

Even in death, they must never yield.

At the very least, they must protect messengers to alert others of their existence and delay the advance toward humanity, even slightly.

“If we stop that, then what?”

But even such courage can only be summoned by finding meaning in their sacrifice.

The soldiers here had already been broken many times, and in the end, they were shattered beyond repair.

“What awaits us next?”

“…What?”

“General. I…”

The smile on the faces of those confronting him stemmed from insanity meant to forget such despair.

“The Demon Lord’s army turned my hometown into a wasteland, so I fled to the Empire. The soldiers who fled were annihilated by Beastmen, and when I barely escaped, I lost my family and property to traitors. And even after following you here, we’ve been helplessly overwhelmed.”

“What are you saying…”

“There’s no end to it. No matter how hard we fight!”

No one denied his words.

Some turned away, others clenched their fists helplessly.

“Commander. Does hope truly exist in this world?”

To such despair, or what might be called realization, Marcus could no longer offer any denial.

“Will humanity truly be saved if we sacrifice ourselves?”

Even the Hero who fought for the greater good didn’t realize she harbored hatred toward humanity until her end.

Though her end might have been noble, humanity as a species might have been ugly and filthy at its core, too much to maintain that nobility after death.

“Rather.”

So this must be the natural flow.

Perhaps the true end that humanity should face has appeared before them first at this moment.

“Rather, if we become one with them…”

“W-wait! Stop!!!”

A soldier jumped down the hill, swept up in such impulse.

Soon, the mass of corpses below recognized him who had voluntarily entered among them, and they crushed and broke his body, mixing him into their ranks.

And the will he left behind soon awakens.

-KYAAAAAAAH!

He becomes one with the army that drank his blood, joining their chorus against the sins committed by humans.

When he felt the screams growing louder than before, the commander finally fell to his knees and muttered hopelessly:

“…Jean Cleo. Did you know?”

The feelings he had for his old comrade, whom he had only considered abominable…

He felt his emotions changing to pity accompanied by grief as he began to understand the truth of his comrade.

“Did you know that our idol would end up like this?”

Though he hoped not, it wouldn’t change anything.

That training successors to face the dragon was essentially no different from raising someone like the one before him.

****

-Clang.

And all this situation was revealed when the crystal ball fell to the ground earlier.

Yet Irie couldn’t bring herself to pick it up, covering her mouth and trembling uncontrollably.

“This… can’t be happening.”

In the not-too-distant future awaited war, and more war…

The entire continent would be occupied by an undying army, an endless hell where people killed each other.

A being capable of realizing such a possibility was now before them.

A calamity that would soon grow to be incomparably worse than the dragon or Demon Lord had anomalously appeared at the end of the fate she was pursuing.

“How could such a future…”

To think Tachia Pailoi was the Red Knight of War.

At least when she saw Tashian’s past, there was no trace of this.

After extracting souls for weapon forging from the corpse, she had placed it in a coffin and sent it down the river.

‘And the place where that coffin drifted happened to be the domain of the Lord of Corpses…?’

No, that’s not enough.

There must have been some medium for her to recognize her identity before meeting him.

There must be a connection between the Lord of Corpses and her, and above all, she had to be precisely in the position where Tashian could reveal his power.

As someone who could gauge such possibilities, the prophet could only view this moment as all the more desperate.

‘P-possibility, even now, the possibility to stop it…’

Despite such despair, trying to maintain composure, Irie reached for the crystal ball with trembling hands.

But her shaking hands pushed it away, causing it to fall off the cliff.

As the Haven family artifact that allowed her to use her power fully slipped from her hands.

Yet she felt momentarily relieved, perhaps because her subconscious wanted to deny the future ahead.

‘Possibility? There’s no such thing.’

Even Tashian alone could cause enough damage to collapse human civilization, making recovery difficult, if not complete extinction.

She had sacrificed much to stop someone who could cause such disaster single-handedly, even ignoring her companion’s helplessness who hoped she would grow into a savior, and risking the danger of suppressing his identity.

‘But even if Hyoseong returns, could he…’

Could her companion overcome this situation even if he returned?

This harbinger of doom, growing into a calamity incomparable to the weakened Tashian?

“…It’s impossible.”

There’s no way that’s possible.

It’s impossible for someone who has just gained the potential to become a Hero to defeat an enemy that no existing Hero could overcome.

“It’s impossible, if Hyoseong gets dragged into such a meaningless death…”

Yes, at least from her perspective, not even the slightest possibility existed.

So perhaps it would be better to leave this place immediately and plan for the future…

To secure a reprieve until her chosen companion could develop enough strength to handle such a calamity.

-KYAAAAAAAH!!!!!

Her breath stopped at the scream that erupted just as she tried to hold onto such hope.

Seeing the crowd swelling with even greater momentum than before, Irie finally sank to her knees in shock.

‘In the first place… does any of this even matter?’

Hadn’t her ancestor already prophesied? That the end of the world would soon come.

Although the form it would take was unknown, if her ancestor’s prophecy concerned the distant future, what was before her eyes might not even be the beginning.

Something even greater than the calamity she deemed impossible to face awaited ahead.

She faces greater calamities at every moment, being tested, and continues to force these trials upon the person she has given her heart to.

She must send the person she cares for into mortal danger for something with barely a speck of possibility… or perhaps none at all.

“I can’t do it, such a thing…”

Her precariously maintained composure crumbled.

Finally, sobs escaped her lips.

“This is… impossible.”

Only then did she realize. Despite receiving all her clan’s power and having a demigod’s status.

At her core, she was no different from the soldiers below who felt no hope—a being that could only disappear, pushed by the harshness of this world.

“…Please.”

Yet unable to simply watch this reality unfold.

For the first time in her life, she turned away from reality and futilely recited prayers to the heavens.

“Please. Someone, tell me the answer. I…”

She’s afraid of her prophecies being broken any further.

She fears feeling powerless and having to force even greater despair upon her companion.

She just wants to stop thinking and run away.

At the moment when her mission as a savior was crumbling under such impulses.

“…Don’t cry.”

At the gentle voice from behind, Irie turned her blurry gaze backward.

There stood a man looking down at the scene from behind her.

“…Hyo.”

A familiar face.

And a smile she had longed to see again.

“Hyoseong?”

After showing that smile, he leaped downward.

The gentle smile he had directed at her transformed from an afterimage into light, at such speed.

****

-CRASH!!

The light that fell struck the center of the multiplying army.

Even the flesh chunks and blood streams spreading in all directions began to scatter as they were blown away by the powerful airflow emitted by the colliding figure.

-THUD, BOOM!!!!

And channeling that power, he charged forward.

The soldiers who recognized his existence all focused their attention and tried to swing their weapons, but by then, weapons manifested before them were already aimed at their bodies.

-SLASH, BOOM!!

Swords, spears, and axes manifested in mid-air embedded into their bodies, cutting through flesh and causing magical explosions from within, repeatedly.

Repeating this two, three times… and more, he successfully cleared a path, holding in his hand a spear created from pure mana.

-BOOM!!!

When the thrown spear hit and caused a violent explosion, the Red Knight felt a tremor in her sword hand.

She, who had grown stronger by accepting dragon’s blood.

Felt power from her opponent that had caused her some damage, however slight.

“…Who are you?”

Yes, not someone to be taken lightly.

But that assessment wasn’t based solely on the spear’s power.

The weapons—swords and axes—manifested along his path were as numerous as the fallen corpses, neutralizing their bodies.

Temporary material creation using pure mana alone.

A technique that only those who have reached the pinnacle of spirit manipulation can use.

“What are you? How can you use my technique…”

But that’s impossible for human nature.

Spirits are drawn according to the status of living beings, and to reach the level of creation requires a status equivalent to the lord of all things.

It’s only possible for dragons, or those recognized by such dragons.

“…Well. Even I’m not sure who I am right now.”

Amid such questions, he readjusted the spear manifested in his hand and quietly prepared to face her.

Despite the soldiers he had crushed earlier reforming as if nothing had happened, receiving orders and gradually building an encirclement.

“I don’t know if a mere porter like me deserves to stand here.”

Nevertheless, his unwavering gaze remained fixed on the enemy before him.

The madness born from humanity’s original sin. Even in this scene created from its fragments, he maintained his composure while preparing for those rushing toward him.

“But, she was crying.”

Remembering the tears of the person who had guided him here and loved him.

Considering that alone reason enough to act, he prepared to confront the harbinger of doom before him.

“So for now, just in this place, I’ll tell you this.”

He declares it.

Feeling that everything he has gone through was for this moment, boldly and proudly.

“…I am a Hero.”

Hero Hyoseong Woo.

He enters the war that stakes humanity’s survival.