Editor : Amethyst00



"She's a little late. Nothing's happened, right?"

When Freyna didn't arrive at the appointed time, Carl grew anxious.

"Should I have come with her?"

Even though public safety was decent, this was still the Age of Calamity.

A time when the norms of the world Carl and Freyna had lived in no longer applied.

Though worried, Carl forced himself to shake off the unease.

"She's smart, she'll be fine."

If anything serious had happened, there would have been an uproar in Godthrone.

Having previously conquered the world of Dweno, Carl knew just how seriously Godthrone took its security.

Even if things were still chaotic after the invasion, the system wasn't so lax as to allow major lapses.

"Since it's quiet, I guess there's no problem…"

Assuming she was just a little late, Carl looked up at the sky.

A gloomy, ashen sky came into view.

"Will I be able to get out of this world?"

Carl's hand trembled.

An unknown mission to keep someone alive.

"There are great heroes in Godthrone now."

Since this was Aaron's world, he could borrow their strength.

"But… will I be able to conquer this world that even challenged the great heroes? All by myself?"

He had endured countless trials so far, and overcome them.

The gods had bestowed the title of hero on him for that very reason.

Indeed, Carl had made tremendous contributions to those accomplishments.

To the point that it would have been impossible without him.

"But objectively, I was only ever support."

Carl did have great abilities, but there were limits to what he could do alone.

"First, I need to make contact with the great heroes."

As he tried to steady his shaking body and lowered his head—

"…?"

Carl paused when he noticed an elf girl crouching in front of him, staring up at him.

The elf girl didn't know who Carl was, but he recognized her right away.

"Lady Velkia?"

While Carl looked confused—

"Why are you shaking like that? Do you have a cold?"

"No, it's just…"

"Are you crying?"

"No, I'm not crying—"

"Then what are you doing, shaking and crying all of a sudden?"

"I'm not crying and shaking, I'm just waiting for my companion—"

"Is your companion a girl?"

"Yes…?"

"You've been dumped."

"No."

He couldn't keep up with the conversation.

Carl had experienced Velkia's randomness during the Dweno world incident.

Back then, Leo had been there to control her, but now Carl was alone.

So he had no way of steering Velkia's unpredictable conversation.

"Master! This guy got dumped by a girl and is crying on the street!"

Velkia suddenly jumped up and shouted.

Carl wasn't flustered—he just smiled bitterly.

He'd seen far weirder people in Lumene to be fazed by this.

"If she's Velkia's master… then she must be Lady Luna, or Lord Aaron, or Leo."

Carl actually thought this was a lucky break.

If he could make a connection here, it would be a step forward in conquering the hero dungeon.

In response to Velkia's cry, someone came running.

"Hmm? Crying because a girl dumped you?"

Luna appeared in front of Carl.

Seeing her, Carl tensed.

It had been a while since he last saw Luna.

Of course, she wouldn't remember him.

"Hmm?"

Luna stared at Carl, then glanced down.

"Velkia."

"Yes."

"Restrain him."

Snap—!

At Luna's words, Velkia quickly pulled out a rope from who-knows-where and tied up Carl.

"Uh?"

Tied up out of nowhere, Carl made a blank noise.

As he watched Carl, Luna reached to his waist and picked up a potion bottle.

"This is one of Dweno's potions. He doesn't just give these to anyone. Where did you get this?"

As a great magician, Luna quickly identified the potion.

Carl realized he had made a mistake.

"I made it."

He decided to be honest.

At that, Luna stared into his eyes.

After a moment, Luna tilted her head.

"You don't seem to be lying… but you're suspicious."

With sleepy eyes, Luna used telekinesis to lift Carl into the air.

"Let's take you to Dweno first. That pervert old man should know something."

"Lady Luna. I have companions waiting."

"Am I supposed to care? For all I know, you're a thief who raided Dweno's storage."

Luna smiled.

It looked like the kind smile Carl had seen in reality—but her eyes were cold.

That look made Carl flinch.

"If I try to resist or explain myself, it'll only make things worse."

"Velkia."

"Yes, Master."

"Stay here, and if anyone who looks like his companion shows up, capture them."

"Understood."

Velkia nodded.

"This is off to a rough start."

As Carl felt a sense of helplessness, Luna used a teleportation spell and took him to Dweno's workshop.

bl

'Shadow.'

Freyna gulped dryly as she looked at the girl dragging her away while tied up.

No one knew exactly when the Shadows began being called by that name.

But recently it had become known that the first Shadow was none other than the Hero of Beginning, Kyle.

'And the one who inherited Kyle's will, Bihar—the ancestor of Xian—was the origin of the current Shadows.'

Bihar.

The first Shadow King, and ancestor of Xian, the land of shadows.

'So this is… Lady Bihar.'

Freyna quickly realized the girl who had subdued her with ease was Bihar.

'What do I do now?'

In this era, Shadows did not exist.

So Bihar regarded Freyna, who was adept in darkness, as a traitor.

Shadows were beings who walked into the dark to hunt those who hunted heroes from the darkness.

To outsiders, they looked no different from the very ones they hunted.

'I can't escape from Lady Bihar.'

Even if she could break free, she'd be chased and caught in no time.

And if that happened, she might not just be tied up like this—she could be executed on the spot.

'Carl-sunbae must be worried.'

Blaming herself for carelessly using Shadow abilities, Freyna looked anxious.

Then—

Fwip—!

Bihar pulled a leather sack from her pocket and put it over Freyna's head.

Freyna didn't resist.

Moments later—

She realized she had been seated somewhere.

Eventually, Bihar removed the sack from her head.

"Ah…"

A terrified voice slipped from Freyna's mouth.

What she saw before her was a torture chamber.

All sorts of gruesome tools were in plain sight.

Her body trembled.

"Wait."

Leaving those cold words behind, Bihar exited the room.

Creak—thud!

The heavy sound of the door closing echoed in her ears.

"What do I do? Are they really going to torture me?"

Freyna's face went pale.

Even if she was a Shadow trainee, she was a direct lineage of House Hergin.

Though she walked the path of Shadows, she had been raised delicately from childhood.

She had yet to engage in any truly bloody work.

That's why this situation terrified her.

The Shadows' torture methods were infamous.

Just imagining herself as the victim made her body shake.

After a while—

Creak—thud!

The door opened and shut behind her.

Step, step—

Someone approached.

In the dim magical lighting, she soon saw who it was.

"The Hero of Beginning… Lord Kyle."

Standing before her was a man with gray hair.

Had this not been such a situation, Freyna would have been overjoyed.

Meeting one of the great heroes who saved the world.

The very first Shadow, the Hero of Beginning.

But now wasn't the time to be happy.

She was suspected of being a traitor, dragged to a torture chamber.

Staring down at her with expressionless eyes, Kyle made her tremble with fear.

After gazing at her for a while, he spoke.

"Bihar."

"Yes, Master."

"Take this girl to Lysinas."

"Huh?"

The calm and collected Bihar looked momentarily surprised.

"She's not a traitor."

"Ah."

"Though… she is suspicious."

Kyle had quickly realized that Freyna was preparing to live within the shadows.

"Lysinas will probably figure out who she is more easily than I can."

"Yes."

Bihar nodded and led Freyna out of the torture chamber.

Freyna stared blankly at Kyle's face until the end.

Once out of the room, Bihar continued to lead her.

"At least… I avoided the worst-case scenario."

Freyna let out a sigh of relief.

Then, she caught Bihar's gaze and flinched, looking away.

As Freyna fidgeted nervously, Bihar silently thought to herself—

"This girl… somehow reminds me of myself."

bl

Creak—clank.

"Get in."

Azonia entered the prison with an irritated look.

The beastkin guards who had imprisoned her scanned her from head to toe as she sat in one corner.

"I've been thinking this for a while… That chick's got a pretty face and a fine body."

"Oho? We should interrogate her later."

Ignoring their vulgar laughter, Azonia fell into thought.

"How did the fall of Raysar happen again?"

She recalled the hero record of the great heroes.

"Internal corruption… and then Erebos was summoned, I think."

The Era of Calamity was when Erebos tried to destroy the world.

But Erebos, who even defeated the gods, had to be sealed in the eastern edge of the world.

It was due to the gods' final curse before they were banished.

So Erebos couldn't roam freely.

That's why the demon lords burned the land black to create summoning circles for him.

"But the records say Erebos couldn't be summoned in Raysar at the time."

Raysar was barely managing to hold back Tartaros, so the land wasn't yet corrupted enough.

And yet, Erebos was summoned there.

"The records of Raysar's fall were oddly lacking in detail."

Azonia scratched her head.

"Still… Lord Aaron supposedly headed to Raysar before the other great heroes, right?"

She smirked, recalling the records.

"That coward actually ran off on his own. Maybe because it's his hometown?"

Looking curious, Azonia sat down on a pile of straw in the corner.

"Eek?!"

"Kyaa?!"

Startled by a human presence in the straw, Azonia screamed.

As a battle-hardened warrior with sharp instincts, she was shocked that she hadn't sensed anyone.

And the one hiding in the straw also screamed, scrambling to the corner of the cell.

When Azonia saw the beastkin youth's face, her jaw dropped.

It was someone she knew very well.

"Aa…ron?"

"Hmm? Do you know me?"

The frightened Aaron opened his eyes wide.

Then he smiled brightly and walked up to her.

Grabbing her hands tightly—

"Ah! Did Lysinas send you to rescue me?"