Chapter 170
Editor : Amethyst00
KKAANG–! KKAANG–!
On that day too, Dweno was, as always, forging weapons.
Inside a secluded cave.
Relying on a magic lamp, Dweno silently continued his work.
Lysinas and Luna had fallen into a deep sleep after a long battle.
Even with the noisy hammering, the two under their blankets showed no sign of waking.
This place was the very heart of Erebos’s domain.
Their nerves had to have been sharpened to the edge.
Even without such circumstances, it would’ve been hard to sleep, but the two women simply leaned on each other’s shoulders, heads together, fast asleep.
That was how deep their fatigue must have been.
‘In a way, it really is a hopeless situation.’
SHWAAA—
Drip drip, rain fell outside the cave as Kyle frowned.
Just looking at the rain filled him with irritation.
It was the cursed black rain that ate away at life force.
He glared at it with loathing—when suddenly,
“It’s because of me.”
“…?”
Kyle looked puzzled at Dweno’s abrupt words.
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean Aaron.”
The hammering hand stilled.
“If my sword hadn’t broken, Aaron wouldn’t have lost his life.”
Dweno’s voice trembled slightly.
Dweno was the blacksmith, Aaron the warrior.
Among the party, no one trusted another’s work more deeply: Aaron had wielded Dweno’s weapons more than anyone.
But it wasn’t only that—the two were more than comrades.
The leader, Lysinas, though eldest, had lived too long deep in dragon territory, lacking worldly experience even compared to Kyle's.
Luna was a young lady who had done nothing but study magic.
Kyle, as a mercenary, had much worldly experience, but it wasn’t broad.
By contrast, Dweno had seen much of the world.
A bard who praised beauty who had traveled the all the world from youth.
Though often called a perverted eccentric, in the party he was the only one who could be called an elder.
The youngest, Aaron, had relied heavily on him.
Dweno’s hand trembled.
“If my weapon had been just a little sturdier… if it had endured Erebos’s strike…!”
DRIP– DRIP– SSSHHH—
Hot tears fell from Dweno’s eyes.
The drops fell onto his broad hand, hissing into vapor.
His weapons were born in raging fire.
And so Dweno was a master of flame.
But he never liked his fire.
The nature of fire is destruction.
For Dweno, who loved the beauty of the world, it was a disagreeable trait.
“What in world is beauty, anyway! If only I’d been more capable! Focused more on forging weapons! Then Aaron wouldn’t have… wouldn’t have ended up like that…!”
At Aaron’s death, Dweno had not wept.
He was the steadiest of them all, mentally.
Even in despair, he never lost composure, always the pillar of the party.
But now, at last, the dam of his emotion had broken.
Watching Dweno shake, Kyle ground his teeth.
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
He clenched his fist tight.
“Because of the weapons you made, Aaron and I both survived countless times.”
Kyle met his eyes.
“If you stop believing in yourself and drown in guilt, then at the very last, what does that make Aaron, who believed in you… what does that make me?”
“…”
“Get a hold of yourself. All that’s left for us now is to keep moving forward, whatever lies ahead.”
“…I know. But Kyle.”
KKAANG– KKAANG–
Dweno resumed hammering.
But his expression was still heavy.
“Weapons are born from flame.”
“…”
“And Erebos’s power comes from an eternal, unquenchable flame.”
KKAANG– KKAANG–
The ringing blows filled the cave.
“Can weapons forged from my fire… really withstand the power of Erebos?”
His voice was thick with unease.
A fire is always consumed by a greater fire.
The fear that Kyle might die because his weapons couldn’t endure…
Even a dwarf with iron will could be shaken before the immortal flame.
“I won’t die.”
“…?”
“And like I said, I’ll believe in you until the very end.”
Kyle’s gaze held unwavering trust.
“No matter what, you make weapons better than your so-called art.”
Kyle grinned.
“You said your art is immortal, didn’t you? Then a weapon crafted even better than your art must be immortal too.”
“…Funny. When did a foul-mouthed brat like you grow up so much?”
“…Now that’s more like you.”
Kyle let out a short laugh.
“Yes… my art is immortal.”
Dweno’s reddish-brown eyes gleamed as he looked down at his work.
KLANG–! FWOOOSH—!
At the hammer’s strike, golden flame flickered.
“In that case… my weapons can be immortal too.”
CLANG—! GRAB—!
Kigoros smashed the display case and seized Dweno’s sword.
VOOOOOOM—!
“Ooooohhh!”
The mana wrapping around him surged even stronger.
WUUUNG—! WUUUNG—!
The sword Dweno had forged throbbed as if resonating with him.
‘What? Why is a sword made by Dweno reacting to him?’
Dweno’s weapons were, in a sense, the antithesis of Tartaros.
Forged for the sole purpose of striking down Erebos and Tartaros.
The will and essence of a master smith were in them.
They should bring ruin to demons—yet he was drawing strength from it.
“With this, I, Kigoros the Curse King, am reborn!”
His presence sharpened.
The clear sign he was regaining a legion commander’s power gradually.
‘Whatever it is, the fact remains that Dweno’s sword is granting him strength. I cannot allow him to hold it!’
If he restored his full power here, Leo would have no way to stop him.
Leo gathered his mana.
FLASH—!
Kigoros’s eyes all turned on him.
In that instant—
CRACK—!
Leo heard something split inside his skull.
THUD—!
His face twisted in pain.
“To be alive even after receiving a curse of that level? You. Are you truly a first-year brat?”
Kigoros’s face showed disbelief.
‘A curse he said.’
In an instant, hundreds of curses had been driven into Leo’s body.
From low-grade to high-grade.
He unraveled them with breaking spells as quickly as possible, but those he didn’t know, or those crushed under sheer force, he couldn’t dispel.
‘There’s a limit to relying only on breaking formulas.’
The difference in class between Leo and Kigoros was too great.
Skill alone could no longer keep up.
‘If he fully revives here—in the heart of Lumene?’
That was what Tartaros had aimed for.
‘What do I do?’
Leo grit his teeth.
WUUUNG—
His left arm shone.
It was the Polyum he’d gained as a reward for clearing Luna’s world.
But this Polyum was supposed to be nothing but a hollow shell from the Hero's World.
Yet now, it was glowing.
Leo’s eyes widened.
A fresh green light.
Not aura, not mana, not spirit energy.
Not even magic power.
‘Divine power?’
And not just any divine power, but one he had felt before.
‘Pivua?’
The light shifted, becoming gray.
It was a strength he knew.
‘My power?’
To be precise—Kyle’s power.
And then it took form.
FWOOOSH—!
Golden flame erupted.
“Urgh?”
At that same moment, the sword in Kigoros’s hand also flickered with golden fire.
‘Dweno’s flame?’
FWWOOOOOSH—!
“GAAAHHH!”
The fire leapt onto Kigoros himself.
Writhing in agony, he flung the sword away.
CLANG! SKITTER—!
It slid across the floor, landing before Leo.
“You damn Sword Saint! What did you do to the blade?!”
Kigoros roared.
‘No… it wasn’t the principal.’
Leo looked at his hand.
‘The sword responded to Dweno’s will.’
Every weapon Dweno forged carried his will and his flame.
That flame had awakened.
‘It responded to my power.’
Leo had inherited the essence of Dweno’s strength.
Dweno, beloved of flame, had a natural resistance to it.
At the very end, he had entrusted that essence to Kyle.
It should’ve perished with him.
‘Knowledge remains, but power doesn’t. And yet…’
Now, that flame had revived in Leo’s hand.
‘Pivua must’ve done something to the Polyum.’
The god he’d met in Luna’s world.
It had to be his doing.
Leo lowered his head.
GRAB—!
FWOOOSH—!
The golden flame blazed fiercely.
But it did not harm him.
Dweno had hated his flame.
Because destruction was its nature.
And yet—
‘Fire does not exist only to destroy!’
Even as he despised it, Dweno had sought to use that fire for the world’s good.
As Leo gripped the sword, he almost heard the dwarf’s gruff old voice in his ear.
‘Flat on your back already? My weapons must be weeping.’
‘…Thanks, Dweno.’
Dweno, divine blacksmith.
A eccentric dwarf who more interested in making art than weapons.
He wanted to spread beauty to the world, to be remembered as a great artist to later generations, but his dream was never fulfilled in the end.
Not art—but only as the one who forged the strongest weapons was he remembered.
‘It couldn’t be helped.’
STEP—
Dweno’s flame burned away the curses.
‘Because of you, I could fight until the very last moment.’
That flame had been extinguished by Erebos.
‘Your weapon… it didn’t break, even against that damned black flame.’
But the arms he forged—
‘I could entrust my life to them until the end.’
The will he left behind did not break until the very last.
Kigoros’s many eyes fixed on Leo.
The power Pivua left in the Polyum hadn’t granted him something new.
It had simply awakened the flame Kyle once bore, long lost.
A miracle bridging past and present lives.
But even that alone wouldn’t change everything.
“Leo Plov! Hand me the Sword Saint’s blade!”
“This sword?”
Leo smirked as he raised it.
“If you want it, I’ll give it to you.”
WHOOSH—! CRACKKK—!
“…!”
Kigoros’s eyes went wide.
From base to tip, the sword shone with golden brilliance, transformed into a dazzling weapon.
Patterns of beauty danced across the blade.
“That is… what in the world?!”
“Let me correct you on one thing.”
Leo grinned.
“This isn’t the Sword Saint’s sword.”
CLENCH—!
He tightened his grip.
SHHHHH—!
Golden wings wrapped the blade.
For the first time in millennia, the magic sword awakened, radiating overwhelming power.
Dweno’s golden sword.
It was not made for the Great Hero.
It was Dweno’s masterpiece, crafted for the other heroes who supported the subjugation force.
Leo spoke its name.
“Demon Slayer.”
CRASHHH—!
As if answering its call, the Demon Slayer blazed with even fiercer light.
FLASH—! BOOOOM—!
Leo hurled it.
The golden-winged blade pierced straight through Kigoros.
Without even a scream, he smashed through the Grand Archive’s wall and vanished.
Leo scratched his cheek as he looked at the gaping hole.
“…That’s going to cause a scene.”
He had aimed for the entrance where there were no books, but if the professors saw, they’d foam at the mouth for sure.
“Well, the headmaster will cover for me.”
With a wry smile, Leo checked his condition.
“Master!”
Alty ran up, polymorphed into human form.
Fiora perched on her head.
“That was amazing! Outside you’re a pretty boy, but inside you’re rugged and bold! I really did pick the right master to serve! Slurp—”
Wiping drool from her lips, she looked ridiculous enough to make Leo mutter inwardly:
‘Why is there always at least one pervert around me, in my past life and this one?’
Clicking his tongue, Leo conjured a summoning circle.
“Go back for now.”
“Huh? But Lumene is still in danger—”
“I handled that mess. The real crisis is gone. Besides… there’s someone I need to meet. That’s an order. No backtalk.”
Alty hesitated, clutching her chest with a gasp at that last command, then stepped into the circle.
Left alone, Leo departed the Grand Archive.
“So she fled.”
Landing on the first floor of the Hero Tower, Kalian spoke flatly.
The fragment of Sillatna that had blocked him fled after only a brief clash.
It had revealed itself for no other reason than to delay him.
‘What are they after?’
Narrowing his eyes, Kalian looked up.
FLASH—!
Even as he sensed the golden light, a sword fell and drove itself into the ground at his feet.
THUNK—!
His eyes went wide.
‘Clesis?’
The sword he had wielded since youth.
From the first moment it had been in his hand, it was a worn, shabby sword.
But it had never broken, and it held immense mana.
Now it gleamed like new before him.
Even for Kalian, its lifelong master, it was the first time seeing it like this.
Stunned, he reached out.
CRACK—!
The enchantment faded, returning it to its old form.
Tracing the lingering mana, his eyes twitched.
‘Leo Plov?’
He could tell that the last person to wield this sword was Leo.
‘What in the world is happening?’
As he frowned in thought—
WHOOSH—! BOOM—!
Something crashed down before him.
The Sword Saint swept away the dust with his aura.
And his eyes twitched again.
“Kigoros?”
“Sword Saint…!”
Kigoros’s eyes bulged.
“How are you alive?!”
“Ghh!”
He staggered back.
Even aged, the Sword Saint was still the Sword Saint.
He couldn’t hope to match him now.
‘I was so close…’
“No matter how you survived—”
VOOOOM—!
The Sword Saint’s aura surged.
“You will not leave alive.”
Dispassionately, the Sword Saint raised his sword from below upward.
SLASH—!
In that instant, the air itself seemed to split.
Between Kalian and Kigoros, only a few steps.
Straight between them, the air was cleaved.
Kigoros’s eyes widened.
He felt his vision skew.
The would-be reborn legion commander thought:
‘It’s over.’
So futile.
His chance at revival gone.
SPLASH—!
Blood spattered.
His vision tilted skyward.
He saw the heavens split—clouds themselves cleaved apart.
‘You’ve become even more a monster, Sword Saint.’
“I thought the timing was perfect.”
STEP, STEP—
Leaving the uproar of Lumene behind, Sillatna muttered.
She had believed it flawless.
‘Should I plan as meticulously as Hell Kaiser, predicting every detail?’
But that wasn’t her way.
Sillatna preferred smashing everything before her over scheming.
“With that, the Curse King is truly finished. And all I invested in Lumene as well.”
For this operation, she had used up all the chess pieces inside Lumene.
She could no longer exert influence in Lumene.
“What a shame.”
She licked her lips, then smirked.
‘Still, it wasn’t without gains. The Sword Saint is definitely weakening.’
The end of the most dangerous hero was drawing near.
That alone was a harvest worth having.
‘For now, I should return and report to the true body—’
“You're going somewhere?”
“…!”
At the voice behind her, Sillatna narrowed her eyes and turned.
“Well, well. A milk-scented brat has come.”
Mocking words on her lips, as Leo smiled faintly.
“It’s been a while, Sillatna.”