Editor : Amethyst00



What appeared before their eyes was a gigantic knight, three meters tall.

The wind elemental, armed with light silver-gray armor, wielded a battle axe and shield befitting its massive frame.

It had an extremely heavy and solid appearance.

However, both Leo and Lyl knew.

That the elemental before them would move with incredible speed despite its bulky form.

Hwaaak—

At the very same thought, the elemental dashed toward Lyl at tremendous speed.

Kwaak—!

The swung axe was blocked by Leo’s sword.

Hwoong—!

A powerful wind blew, scattering dirt and dust in all directions.

Blocking the attack, Leo felt as though his body might be blown away by the fierce wind pressure.

Kwack—!

Leo’s foot dug into the ground.

Forcing himself to endure the gust with aura, Leo curled his lips upward and tightened his grip on the sword.

Hwarureuk—!

Flames of aura burst out from Leo’s sword.

Kwaaaaaaa—!

The flame’s power surged instantly, driven by the raging wind.

As Leo controlled his aura, the flames engulfed the giant wind elemental.

Kugugugugung—!

The fire swelled up explosively in an instant.

Seeing that, Leo swung his sword.

The wind elemental flew like it had been yanked by a rope and crashed into the ground.

“That's impressive, Leo.”

Watching that scene, Lyl exclaimed in admiration and summoned an elemental.

Hwarureuk—

What she summoned was a fire elemental.

Although Lyl was known for her mastery over wind elementals, that didn’t mean she could only use wind only.

During the Age of Calamity, elementalists with multiple attributes were extremely rare.

But in the present era, where one could inherit the power of past heroes through Hero Records, they had become more common.

Even among first-years, Walden, considered the strongest elementalist, freely commanded all four attributes elementals.

Kugugugugugu—

The ground shifted and rose, trapping the wind elemental inside.

A small hole was made in the center of the earthen dome.

Lyl placed the summoned fire elemental into it.

Kiiing—

In that instant, Lyl stirred her spiritual power.

‘Trait bestowal.’

Elemental arts that grants an elemental a trait it doesn’t originally have.

Of course, she couldn’t give something completely incompatible, like granting a fire trait to a water elemental, but even within the same element, each elemental possessed a variety of derivative abilities.

[Trait bestowal] was a technique to temporarily grant such an ability.

‘The power she gave just now… explosion?’

At that thought—

The earthen prison was completely sealed.

And then—

Kwaaang—!

A massive explosion erupted, scattering clumps of earth everywhere.

Tudududuk—

Amidst the falling rain of soil, the powerful wind elemental had vanished without a trace.

‘I didn’t think she even used a high-ranked elemental.’

Leo marveled.

The fire and earth elementals Lyl had used were, at best, of mid-ranked.

Even if the combination of elementals caused a synergy effect, taking down a high-level wind elementals this easily was remarkable.

“That was amazing.”

“Fire needs air to burn, after all.”

Lyl spoke as if it were nothing special.

“Leo’s flames were already burning, so I just sealed off the space and made it explode.”

The wind elemental, suddenly deprived of the air needed to maintain its body, had been instantly reverse-summoned.

‘Quick judgment, combat sense, and control over elementals… Now I see why Elena treasures her so much.’

While Leo was admiring her, Lyl crossed her arms.

“Still, how despicable! Attacking us from hiding like that!”

With an expression tinged with anger, she looked around.

“Besides, our opponent still hasn’t withdrawn their killing intent.”

Lyl, speaking firmly, had maintained her spiritual power.

She was ready to summon a hero at any moment.

‘Elsie.’

[You called, Leo.]

‘An Elemental Lord is dominating this area.’

[I see.]

‘Do you know how powerful an Elemental Lord’s strength is within its own domain?’

[Hmm. Well, I’ve never created my own domain before.]

Elemental Lords all shared one common authority, [Domination].

The power to command and subjugate lower elementals.

Elsie, too, possessed that authority.

But she had never taken any elementals under her command.

She was still young, and since she was born during the Age of Calamity, she had never had the chance to build a following or a domain.

‘So you don’t know to what extent, huh. Then why is it hostile to us?’

Kugugugugung—!

Then, the ground began to shake.

This time, earth elementals started appearing.

“Ugh? An elementalist who can keep summoning such powerful elementals?”

Lyl was shocked.

“I think we’d better retreat for now.”

At that, Lyl nodded.

“There’s no helping it.”

Leo and Lyl, who made their decision swiftly, withdrew from the Zerodia Ruins.

A short while later—

After they set up camp far from the ruins, there were no signs of the elementals pursuing them.

“We were assigned to escort an honored guest, but to be interfered with like this… It’s a bit troubling.”

At Lyl’s words, Leo fell into thought.

‘Is that guest an Elemental Lord?’

If so, it wouldn’t be strange.

Considering Lumene’s influence, even inviting an Elemental Lord into the academy was plausible.

‘But then why attack us?’

He couldn’t tell.

Judging by the killing intent, it seemed serious.

‘But for an Elemental Lord, the attack was weak.’

It felt more like they were being tested.

‘I can’t figure out its intent.’

As Leo narrowed his eyes at the distant walls of Zerodia Ruin, he raised his sword.

Whiiik— Clang!

A sharp metallic sound rang out.

Leo squinted as he saw a man who had appeared suddenly, swinging a curved blade.

“Hoh.”

The man let out an impressed sound.

Kwaak—!

A massive war hammer came crashing toward the man’s torso.

Hwirik—!

He quickly leaped to dodge the attack.

Hwoong—!

Leo watched, wide-eyed, as the war hammer barely missed the tip of his nose.

Even if it didn’t connect, the distance and trajectory showed remarkable control.

Though she wasn’t even in the knight department, Lyl was skillfully controlling a weapon of such immense weight purely through physical strength. It was astonishing.

“Lyl-sunbae, you’re not an Elemental Knight, right?”

“No. I can’t use aura.”

“Still, the way you swing that hammer is anything but ordinary.”

“I come from a military family. I’ve trained in combat since I was young.”

At that, Leo finally understood why Elena and Hark referred to her as a ‘monster girl.’

If she combined that battle hammer with elemental arts, Lyl could even fight on the front lines.

‘An all-rounder.’

Frontline, rear, support—

She was an elementalist capable of filling any role in a party.

Thunk—!

Lyl struck the ground with the hammer’s head, glaring at the man who had attacked.

“Who are you? Are you the elementalist who attacked us?”

“Kuaah~ fierce, fierce. Kids these days are on another level.”

The man shook his head and sheathed his curved sword.

Then, taking off his hat, he grinned broadly.

“You’re asking who I am? You should know by looking at this face.”

Leo, staring blankly at the confident man, asked,

“Who are you?”

The man staggered and shouted,

“Hey! How do you not know my face! I’m a celebrity. They put me in the papers all the time!”

“I only read the world news section.”

“You! You’re the 2nd-year grade representative! You know my face, right?!”

At that, Lyl widened her eyes—then looked apologetic.

“I’m sorry. I also only read the world news section.”

“You two! You’re hero candidates! Shouldn’t hero candidates at least recognize the faces of their active seniors? Or what, you think being grade representative means you don’t need to? Is it youth? That youthful pride that you can surpass us veterans? Arrogant! At least know the goals you’re supposed to surpass!”

Beating his chest in frustration, the man shouted,

“My name is Jean Caron!”

“Gasp! The Knight of Undine?!”

Lyl exclaimed in shock.

Undine.

The name of the current Water Elemental Lord, the elemental of the Deep Sea.

Regarded as one of the most powerful of all existing Elemental Lord, her vast domain was the ocean itself.

Born 1000 years ago, yet never having made a contract with anyone.

However, there was one hero who had received her blessing, Jean Caron.

As the chosen knight of the noble Elemental Lord, the world called him the Knight of Undine.

He was also a Lumene graduate whose name appeared in the Hero Record.

“It’s an honor to meet you, sunbae! I’m Lyl Luce, 2nd-year at Lumene. It’s a privilege to meet a great hero whose name is recorded in the Hero Record.”

Recognizing someone who was, in a way, her senior, Lyl hurriedly bowed with perfect form.

“Mm! Yes, yes!”

Jean folded his arms in satisfaction, nodding.

“So, the unprecedented all-class 1st-year student council president. How is it? You must’ve at least heard of your senior’s fame, right?”

“Can I be honest?”

“Of course. Be honest and then show me the respect this kid did.”

“I’ve never heard of you before.”

As Leo scratched his cheek, Jean’s face froze solid.

“I, uh, don’t really know much about the current generation of heroes.”

“Well, surely Ain must’ve mentioned me, right? We were classmates! I was the only one from our class who got into the Hero Record!”

Jean and Ain had been in the same year.

“I’ve never heard it once.”

Leo had never once heard Professor Ain talk about any of his classmates.

At Leo’s words, Jean grimaced, then nodded.

“Well, yeah. He was the one everyone thought would become a hero first. Maybe he’s jealous because I beat him to it.”

As Jean chuckled smugly, Leo thought of Ain.

‘…More like Professor Ain just doesn’t care enough to remember you.’

He could tell the man before him was skilled—

—but his personality seemed unbearably frivolous.

‘Maybe Ain and the others just thought there was nothing to learn from him.’

Leo gave Jean a somewhat pitying look.

Puffing up proudly again, Jean crossed his arms.

“Anyway, what were you two doing over there?”

“We were given a mission.”

“1st and 2nd year on a mission, huh? Impressive. What kind?”

“I can’t disclose that.”

Lyl, still cautious, replied without lowering her guard.

Even though Jean had revealed his identity, that didn’t guarantee his trustworthiness.

From Lyl’s perspective, he was still a suspicious individual.

‘Tch. Wary little juniors.’

Jean muttered inwardly.

“Judging by the looks of it, it’s a mission related to Zerodia Ruins, right? Then I’d recommend giving it up.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because an Elemental Lord has taken residence in those ruins.”

At that, Lyl’s eyes widened in surprise.

Jean glanced sideways at Leo.

‘Oh? What’s this? He already noticed?’

A meaningful smile spread across Jean’s face.

‘That's makes sense. You don’t become a 1st-year student council president for nothing. A contractor of the Phoenix, too.’

Fixing Leo with a sharp gaze, Jean said,

“The elemental residing there is the Elemental of the Abyss.”

Lyl flinched.

The Elemental of the Abyss—

The Elemental Lord of Darkness in this era.

And, like Undine, one who had never taken a contractor.

“As you know, Undine’s ‘preferences’ are quite particular. That’s why she has no contractor. But the Elemental of the Abyss is… different.”

Jean clicked his tongue.

“That one hates humans.”