Editor : Amethyst00



"Are you guys out of your minds?"

Eiran, who had taken on the appearance of Azonia, and Aru, who had taken on the appearance of Seira, were kneeling before the Comet Mage, Seiren.

Lunia, possessed within Seiren, continued speaking with an exasperated look on her face.

"You’re in your second year, no less. The top and second-ranked of Seiren and Azonia acting like everything's normal, forgetting the situation?"

At her sharp rebuke, Aru and Eiran drooped their ears in shame.

“Now, now. Let’s calm down. Thanks to the two of them, we figured out what was going on pretty quickly, didn’t we?”

Chen Xia, appearing as a first-year at Seiren Academy, smiled as she tried to soothe Lunia.

Inside a classroom at Lumene, thirty-two students were gathered.

All of them were conquerors of the Hero’s World.

Lunia pressed her temples with her fingers.

Seeing that, Carl spoke.

“Lunia and Eiran have possessed Seiren and Azonia. Then who’s possessed Damien?”

“Drianna. She’s currently with Rodia at the Tower of Heroes.”

“No one possessed Rodia?”

Lunia recalled how Rodia had driven an uppercut into her solar plexus.

The image of the Dawn Dragon shattered.

Of course, Lunia had dealt with enough Great Heroes.

She was mentally prepared for the Dawn Heroes to be different from what she imagined, so she wasn't particularly shocked.

“Seems like it.”

“That’s troublesome.”

In this era, the words of the Dawn Heroes were practically law.

The only reason the earlier commotion didn’t escalate was because Lunia and Eiran, in the forms of Seiren and Azonia, had calmed the situation.

“If all of the conquerors were Dawn Heroes, it’d be much easier to handle this situation.” Carl clicked his tongue in regret.

Conquering the Hero’s World meant overcoming the trials that the hero had faced.

The method of conquering didn’t matter as long as the trials were cleared.

Sometimes, finding a strategy the hero themselves never thought of could even lead to a better outcome—a surpassing achievement.

But that was never easy.

The Hero’s World, manifested through the Hero Record, was already the best possible outcome the hero had achieved through great struggle.

So, even knowing the methods, fulfilling the conditions for surpassing achievements was extremely difficult.

If one pushed for them and warped the situation, they could easily fail the conquest altogether.

That’s why the most reliable strategy in conquering a Hero’s World was to follow actual history as closely as possible.

This was also why, in possession-type worlds, one had to act like the character they had possessed.

However, if one could acquire a status that allowed them to control the situation, the difficulty of conquest could drop significantly.

“Let’s first share what we’ve found out.”

Lunia nodded at Carl’s suggestion.

“For now, this world’s range is limited to within Lumene Academy. We can’t leave the Lumeria Lake area.”

Eiran, who had possessed Azonia, began to share the information he gathered the previous night while exploring inside the Hero’s World.

One by one, the students shared what they had discovered.

“Unrecorded in history…”

Aru crossed her arms and fell deep into thought.

“We don’t even know the conquest objective right now.”

As Aru raised her head, a message popped up in front of her eyes.

[Conquest Objective: -]

The field for the conquest objective, usually the basic guide in any Hero’s World, was blank.

While that wasn’t unusual in Hero Dungeons, not even having any historical data left them completely in the dark.

Then, one student from Azonia raised their hand.

“Isn’t the difficulty of a Hero’s World not always proportional to the hero’s rank? Maybe Lumene’s world isn’t that hard?”

Everyone looked at the student.

“This era is a few years after the return of the calamity, right? I don’t think we’ll face anything impossible.”

As everyone nodded at the reasonable assessment—

“No.”

Carl sighed deeply.

“This conquest is going to be incredibly dangerous.”

The Azonia student who had spoken earlier frowned at Carl’s contradiction and scoffed mockingly.

“Well, it would be for you. You're that weakling who could be expelled from Lumene any day now, right? No idea what kind of fool thought you’d make a good representative. From the looks of you, I doubt you’ll be any help—just don’t get in the way.”

As Carl scratched his cheek at the provocation—

Swish—crackle!

“If you’re looking for a fight, I’ll accept.”

Duran, in his elf form, was suddenly at the Azonia student’s neck with a sword.

He wasn’t alone.

Chelsea, in beastkin form, stood behind the student with her staff aimed at their back, radiating sharp energy.

As the student froze, shocked at how silently the two approached—

“Carl is Lumene’s representative, chosen by us after discussion. Don’t treat him like an idiot.”

Celia, arms crossed, shot a sharp glare.

Carl couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

‘Guess I didn’t waste my school life after all.’

“Only we from Lumene are allowed to talk down to Carl.”

But Chelsea’s follow-up line made Carl’s face crumple in despair.

“Why do you think it won’t be easy?” Abad asked curiously.

“Most of us think the Dawn Heroes ended the calamity and brought peace. But think about it—did they really?”

“…Indeed.” Abad stroked his chin.

The truth never revealed to the world until now:

The Dawn Heroes had not fully eradicated the fragments of Erebos.

The Dawn World still held Erebos sealed within.

“We probably won’t have to fight the ever-reviving Erebos. But the fact that all the Dawn Heroes are gathered means this is certainly related.”

The mood turned grim.

“But the real issue isn’t just conquering the Hero’s World.”

Carl spoke with a serious face.

“What do you mean?” Duran frowned.

“Remember how the Flame of Calamity appeared when Seiren returned?”

It was Lunia who answered.

“That’s because Erebos tried to escape into the outside world through the Hero’s World.”

Everyone in the room froze at her words.

“Whether or not we conquer this world determines whether or not Erebos breaks free from the seal.”

As everyone was struck by the gravity of the situation—

Knock knock—

There was a knock on the door.

Drianna, in the form of Damien, entered.

“Lunia, Eiran. Rodia is looking for the Dawn Heroes.”

Lunia and Eiran rose from their seats with puzzled expressions.

“And it seems the student council president of Lumene needs to come too.”

“Why me?”

Carl looked puzzled.

With a serious expression, Drianna responded.

“Apparently, Lumene has gone missing. They want to know if you know anything about it.”

bl

Center of Lumene.

At the very top of the Tower of Heroes.

Carl swept his eyes over the principal’s office.

With Lumene’s thousand-year history, the scenery had changed greatly since Carl’s time.

But the principal’s office remained almost the same.

The only difference was that, where portraits of past principals used to hang, only Lumene’s portrait was displayed now.

‘Lumene’s gone missing?’

Carl frowned deeply.

This was Lumene’s world.

And the world’s range was confined to Lumene Academy.

That meant Lumene had to be somewhere within.

So how could they be missing?

Carl scratched his head.

‘What a mess.’

He recalled what Leo had told him about the Dawn World.

‘The owner of the Dawn World isn’t a fake created by the Hero Record but a living person. So there’s a high chance the Lumene in this world is the real one.’

If that Lumene could be found, achieving the conquest objective wouldn’t be too difficult.

In other Hero’s Worlds, revealing the world’s falseness would warp reality, but this one was special.

The problem came afterward.

‘If Lumene’s world became a Hero Dungeon, it means Erebos is rampaging—like in Seiren’s world.’

Back then, Seiren’s world had turned to ash and nearly became a gateway for Erebos to escape.

‘Leo said he sealed it with his own power. Maybe we’ll have to do the same.’

But with Lumene missing and the timing of such a catastrophe unknown, things were precarious.

‘But the world itself looks fine.’

Even without knowing the conquest objective, Lumene Academy appeared peaceful.

‘Seiren’s world had black flames blazing everywhere.’

So perhaps there was still time.

‘We need to find Lumene before then.’

“Where could you have gone?”

Carl sighed as he looked up at Lumene’s portrait.

As he gazed, a particular phrase caught his eye.

‘That motto existed even back then.’

"Surpass your limits."

A lesson Lumene passed down to future generations.

‘Even if I don’t resemble him in any other way, I can say I lived by that part.’

Carl gave a bitter smile.

If he hadn’t kept surpassing limits, he wouldn’t be where he was now.

‘Flailing about in ugly, foolish struggle.’

Then, someone’s words came to his mind.

"In the history of Lumene Academy, you're probably the least like Lumene, Carl Thomas."

“…”

A brutal, cutting evaluation.

He had acted unfazed then.

But to Carl, those words were a sentence.

From the gods’ perspective, the nearly perfect Lumene and someone so unlike him could never become a hero.

As he recalled those words, something struck Carl.

‘They said Lumene doesn’t flail around or struggle foolishly, right?’

It didn’t add up.

The Lumene he knew had saved the world by surpassing countless limits.

And those who surpass limits are always those who flail, struggle, and look ugly doing it—like himself.

But if Lumene wasn’t like that—

‘Does that mean he gave up surpassing his limits?’

It was unthinkable.

Practically an insult.

But Carl could swear one thing for certain:

He had never given up. He kept overcoming every limit.

‘To give up struggling and fail to surpass limits… that would negate everything I’ve fought for these past two years at Lumene.’

Then he recalled a conversation with Leo.

“What do I think of Lumene? I’ve never met him, but I’m proud of him as a junior.”

“I figured you’d say that.”

“Well, maybe it was a problem that he admired me too much.”

“From your record, it’s hard not to admire you.”

“Right. The problem was that he tried to become like me.”

“Lumene… wanted to be like the Hero of the Beginning. But he couldn’t.”

Carl whispered.

“He gave up on becoming like Leo. Which means he gave up on defeating Erebos.”

Maybe that was Lumene’s limit.

Carl clenched his fist.

“So he sought another way.”

He couldn’t do it himself, so he entrusted it to the future.

Hoping someone unlike him would appear and surpass their limits.

Carl’s fist trembled.

‘Lumene went to find the gods.’

bl

Roooaaaar—!

Kyle stood before a blazing pillar of flame.

“…A mere lump of power holds this much strength?”

The fire only grew stronger.

Kyle flexed his fists.

‘This is on another level compared to the one I faced in Seiren’s world.’

His gaze locked onto the center of the black flames.

["Sir Leo, will the children inside the Hero’s World be alright?"]

With firepower this strong, the inside of the Hero’s World had to be a mess.

To Melina’s worried voice, Kyle answered—

“They’ll be fine.”

He smiled.

“There’s someone in there who won’t give up, no matter what.”