Chapter 414

‘N-No way, is this guy for real…?’

If he was truly a hero who had been there, he himself would be screwed.

But the middle-aged man soon strongly denied it.

‘No. It can’t be. There’s no way a hero like that would be in a rural corner like this!’

Yes, that must be it.

If so.

“N-No! It’s not true! That guy is talking nonsense right now!”

The middle-aged man, who had been sweating profusely, raised his voice instead.

He thought that in times like these, it was best to come on strong.

Anyway, there was no one in this place who knew the truth of that day.

The one who puts on a bold face and acts confidently wins.

It was then.

“Hmph, what’s with all this useless bickering?”

A rough voice was heard from behind.

A red-haired man with a commanding physique.

However, the place where the man’s left arm should have been was empty.

One-armed.

Nevertheless, the pressure the man exuded was enough to crush the surrounding air.

The people’s expressions turned intimidated.

Even the middle-aged man, who had been shamelessly impersonating a hero and scamming people, flinched.

The one-armed man approached the middle-aged man without hesitation.

The middle-aged man’s body cowered without him realizing it.

“There are things you should and shouldn’t do in this world. You’re old enough to know that much, aren’t you?”

“W-Who are you?”

“Me? I’m Slain.”

*Clang! Thwack!*

The one-armed man, who had identified himself as Slain, grabbed something from his waist and slammed it hard onto the table.

It was a menacing chain scythe.

At that moment.

“Huuuuh?!”

The middle-aged man let out a surprised cry and fell backwards.

The name Slain, red hair, a chain scythe.

And the overwhelming, intimidating aura.

All of it pointed to one fact.

“S-Slain?!”

“T-The Fangs of Slaughter?!”

“H-Hiiik?!”

The people let out frightened groans.

Slain, the Fangs of Slaughter.

He was also definitely one of the heroes who had saved the world.

Yet, the reason he was feared?

Because he was a man more infamous for his ruthless, merciless hand than for the fact that he was a hero.

The people, stealthily trying to back out.

“Freeze.”

But at that sound, they froze like statues.

“I’m talking right now, aren’t I? Listen.”

“…”

The people, holding their breath, hastily pricked up their ears.

Slain twisted the corner of his mouth into a smile and turned his gaze back to the middle-aged man.

“You.”

“H-Huuuh?!”

“Say it again. Are you really a hero who saved the world?”

*Thump!*

The middle-aged man, his face pale as a sheet, slammed his head on the floor.

“P-P-Please spare me! I-I-I have committed a mortal sin!”

The middle-aged man immediately confessed.

Indeed, in the face of fear, there was no room for scammers or anything else.

He was rubbing his hands together like a fly, with the sole intention of somehow surviving.

“Hmph.”

Slain let out a cold snort.

“I don’t care if you insult me.”

“What kind of bullshit is that?”

A woman’s voice, as if in disbelief, interjected from behind.

The people also had dumbfounded expressions.

In the first place, he had earned the terrible nickname “Fangs of Slaughter” because he would at least half-kill anyone who got on his bad side.

But what?

You don’t care if I insult you?

There was no bullshit like this bullshit.

However, Slain lightly ignored such reactions.

“But I will not tolerate you insulting us.”

His voice grew colder and colder.

“Do you know how many people died that day? People who died to save the world, to save everyone. In a gruesome battlefield that you can’t even imagine. You are now insulting those people.”

“N-N-No… I-I-I didn’t mean that in the slightest…”

“Shut up.”

The chain scythe was pulled from the table.

Slain, about to slam it into the back of the middle-aged man’s neck.

*Tap.*

Someone grabbed his arm.

It was the scarred man.

“Stop it.”

“Hmph, as expected, you’re just pointlessly lenient, Camian.”

Camian.

The identity of the scarred man was Camian.

Although an unsightly scar had formed on his face, his eyes had deepened.

One could tell that he had achieved great mental growth.

“None of those who died nobly that day would want this.”

“What do you know?”

“I know more than you, you idiot.”

Someone interjected.

Half-elf Lucia.

The woman’s voice that had interjected at Slain’s bullshit earlier was also hers.

“Everyone, I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

This time, someone apologized to the people.

A young woman with a kind-looking impression, no matter who looked.

It was Annette.

Just as Lucia was always by Slain’s side, it seemed to be a rule that Annette was always by Camian’s side.

“No, what are you sorry for?”

“Creating a fearful atmosphere and being noisy is a bit…”

“Anyway, that overly kind couple, really.”

Slain clicked his tongue and shook his head.

Then, as if he couldn’t help it, he spat out.

“Get lost.”

“Y-Yes…?”

“Get lost, you bastard.”

“T-T-Thank you! T-Thank you, heroes!”

The middle-aged man hastily fled without even looking back.

He was so panicked that he couldn’t even grab the money he had painstakingly collected.

Though, if he had grabbed the money, he would have been punched by Slain anyway.

Anyway, one thing was certain.

Although he had barely escaped with his life, he would never dare to dream of impersonating a hero again.

Meanwhile.

The people, with apologetic and sorry faces, bowed their heads deeply to the real heroes who had suddenly appeared.

“W-We’re sorry, heroes.”

“We were foolish and fell for the sweet talk of a wicked man…”

“No, no. It’s not your fault. It’s the fault of the man who scammed you.”

Camian said calmly.

The people were impressed by his attitude.

He was so different from the scammer from before, who had arrogantly boasted of being a hero.

His class itself was incomparable.

…This was a true hero.

As expected, the heroes who saved the world were different in some way.

The shop owner, also moved, came forward and said.

“Heroes, I won’t take any money, so please, feel free to…”

“No, we’ll gratefully accept your sentiment. But we can’t do that. We were not taught such things.”

Camian replied with a gentle expression.

Just as the shop owner and the people were once again marveling at him as a hero.

“However, there is something I would like to tell you. The end of that day’s final battle to save the world.”

The story of that day, told by a real hero, not a fake one.

The space where the Dark God was strangely couldn’t be captured even by Diana’s camera, so it was a fact known only to them.

The people’s eyes couldn’t hide their anticipation and excitement.

But they would soon find out.

That a hero’s tale is not a beautiful story, but a tragic and desperate one.

“The final battle…”

Camian’s story began.

* * *

*Slice!*

“Kuaaak, damn iiiit!”

Slain let out a scream, coughing up blood.

“S-Slaaaaaain!”

Lucia, her eyes wide, also screamed in a torn voice.

It couldn’t be helped.

The left arm.

Slain’s left arm had been severed by the Dark God’s onslaught.

Slain’s staggering figure, pouring out a tremendous amount of blood from the severed arm, looked extremely precarious.

“Get back and stop the bleeding now!”

Camian shouted.

“Hurry!”

At his repeated shouts, Lucia, who had finally come to her senses, urgently embraced Slain and retreated.

To perform first aid.

“L-Lay him down!”

Annette, in charge of healing, immediately prepared her healing arts.

As long as she tended to him immediately, his life would fortunately not be in danger.

However.

With two of the three who had been holding the line gone, the remaining one was inevitably in extreme danger.

Lucia tried to rejoin the fray immediately, but.

Before that, the crisis had already struck.

*Clang!*

Camian’s sword, miserably broken.

Because his hands and feet had become disoriented, and he had been forced to block with a weak part of his sword.

“Ugh?!”

A blade fell again towards the defenseless Camian.

A blade that sentenced death.

There wasn’t even a moment to dodge.

The blade touched his skin.

At that moment.

*Thwack!*

Someone kicked Camian hard.

Camian’s body flew.

He felt the pain of flesh being torn from his face.

Red blood trickled down.

He realized he had already been cut.

And that if it had been a little deeper, he would have lost his life.

Someone had saved his life.

That someone was…

“S-Senior!”

A senior taller and bigger than anyone.

A senior he wanted to follow no matter what.

A senior who had saved him countless times.

That senior was there again this time.

Max Celtrine.

“Leave it to me from now on.”

Max’s voice shook his heart more than ever before.

* * *

“Phew…”

Regina’s sigh, accompanied by a trickle of blood from her mouth.

“Umm.”

Hiresia, biting her lip with a pale face.

“Hah, hah…”

Elaine, panting with ragged breaths.

“Not in good shape.”

Riviera, with an expression as if she wanted to lie down and rest right away.

“This is annoying.”

Empress Oscar, clutching her chest as if her heart was uncomfortable.

A precarious sight.

No one would have imagined them in such a state.

But now, I was not in a state to worry about them.

*Stab!*

I drove my sword into the ground to support my collapsing body.

My whole body screamed.

I was covered in blood.

I had suffered wounds that were difficult to endure even with the Hero’s Body, an attribute of indomitability.

However, I gritted my teeth and stood up again.

I couldn’t collapse here.

Because I had to live.

For myself, for my loved ones.

“…There’s no such thing as unconquerable.”

My mouth muttered.

He was strong.

Terribly strong.

Befitting the name of a final boss.

But I didn’t feel despair.

Because I felt that it wasn’t an unbreakable wall.

The Dark God’s appearance told me that.

One eye, empty.

It was the fragment I had taken.

His heart must also be empty.

Because I had also taken that with my own hands.

And most importantly, the last fragment.

He had not obtained it.

Because the Saint had not yet fallen into his hands.

If so.

“…Incomplete.”

He is incomplete.

He feels like a wall of despair, but he is definitely incomplete.

That incompleteness means there is an opening to defeat him.

I will do everything to pierce that opening.

I will clash, and clash, and clash again.

I will be the center of it.

I’m not saying I’ll achieve it alone.

That was impossible.

The strength of everyone.

The strength of the bonds I have built until now.

I knew that was the true strength of a hero.

<hero’s>

-A hero is a being who can give strength to everyone just by existing.

-The hero’s strength is everyone’s strength, and everyone’s strength is the hero’s strength.

-The morale of all who are with you will increase explosively, falling into a state of fervent elation.

-All who are with you will be greatly invigorated and will exert strength beyond their abilities.

The current me can understand.

How to utilize this attribute I obtained at the end.

End this battle with everyone’s strength.

I will be the stepping stone for that.

“Everyone, pull yourselves together! We are the ones who will win! We can win if we’re together! With me! And with everyone! Believe in me! And believe in everyone!”

I let out a shout filled with strong will.

I could feel that it was being clearly conveyed to everyone.

Now was the time.

“We will be victorious!”

I gathered all my strength and charged at the Dark God.

I wasn’t alone.

Everyone.

Everyone’s will had truly become one.</hero’s>