Chapter 46 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Hero Dungeon
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"There's no one here. It's just the two of us."
"Let's piece this together. Normally, we should have received a quest notification as part of the rescue team with our other members. But..."
Chloe looked at the World of Heroes notification visible only to her.
[Objective: -]
The objective was blank.
It was the same for Leo.
"So it's an abnormal situation."
"Right."
Hearing Chloe's analysis, Leo unhesitatingly brought his index finger to his right temple.
The World of Heroes, constructed from the Hero Record, allowed contact with the outside world at any time.
"Contacting the outside? That'll get us demerits."
"This isn't the time to worry about that."
As he focused his mind, a blue light emanated from his index finger.
"This is Leo Flove. I can't see the other team members. What should I do?"
Despite his question, there was no answer.
"...No one's answering."
"What? That can't be."
A startled Chloe also tried to contact the outside, but she failed.
"No way... This isn't a Hero Dungeon...!"
Leo asked the flustered Chloe,
"Chloe. Did you notice anything strange when we entered?"
"Strange?"
"Like if the entry message was off."
"No, it was exactly as we learned."
Chloe shook her head and put a hand to her forehead.
"Hah! What in the world is going on?"
"We can't just stay here."
Chloe, who had been anxiously tapping her foot, flinched.
"Don't tell me you're suggesting we try to clear this World of Heroes now?"
"That's right."
"That's impossible. This World of Heroes is difficult to clear even with a full team of ten! We won't be able to meet the clear conditions!"
"You know as well as I do that just standing around is more dangerous, right?"
The reason Tartaros caused the Chedmurder Incident 30 years ago was to eliminate future threats.
This entire forest is now a trap set by Tartaros.
There was no telling when or where danger might strike.
"Then we have even more reason not to try! The exam will be called off soon anyway."
"If they could have stopped it, they would have already. It's a situation where deactivating the World of Heroes would be perfectly normal, yet here we are. It's clear they can't control it from the outside."
"No way..."
"Yes. The only way to think about it is that this world has become a Hero Dungeon."
A Hero Dungeon.
A rampage of a Hero Record page.
"I've never heard of a case where an existing page from the Hero Record turned into a Hero Dungeon, rather than a lost one."
"But besides a Hero Dungeon, there's no other explanation for this, is there?"
Chloe's expression hardened.
"You know there's only one way to deactivate a Hero Dungeon, right?"
That method was to clear it.
The hypothesis Leo had deduced was highly plausible.
And yet, Chloe hesitated.
Even if she was a top student, Chloe was still just a fifteen-year-old girl.
She lacked the experience to make a cool-headed judgment and act on it.
"You and I are the best of the first-years, aren't we? If we plan our strategy well, we can definitely clear this."
Watching Leo speak with a smile, Chloe clenched her fists.
*I thought I'd caught up to him.*
She thought she had caught up to Leo through these midterms.
But when she came to her senses, Leo was once again far ahead of her.
*On top of that, he said he already has a plan. I was panicking and couldn't think of anything...*
Chloe bit her lip hard.
*What is this gap between us...?*
"What's the plan?"
"It's true we're short on manpower right now, and we can't meet the clear conditions."
The clear conditions for the Chedmurder Incident were twofold.
[Rescue the first-years in crisis] and [Ensure the safety of the first-years]
That was why Chloe had said it was impossible to clear.
While they might somehow manage to fulfill the [Rescue the first-years in crisis] condition, [Ensure the safety of the first-years] was something the two of them could not handle alone.
"So, the first thing we need to do is reinforce our party's strength."
"Reinforce our strength? If this is a Hero Dungeon, no one can enter from the outside. How do you plan on doing that?"
"We aren't the only ones from Lumerne in this forest, are we?"
Hearing Leo's words, Chloe realized something.
"You mean team up with the seniors from thirty years ago?"
"Exactly. If we escape the forest, we can fulfill the safety condition."
"That's true. But this forest is full of demons lying in ambush. It's too much for the two of us. Can we really fight our way through and join up with the seniors?"
Chloe had a point.
For Leo's plan to succeed, they had to break through Tartaros's encirclement.
"Fighting is definitely a big risk. Especially against demons. So we'll avoid combat as much as possible."
"Is that possible?"
"It is. Just trust me. So."
Leo grinned, turned his back to Chloe, and knelt.
"Huh?"
"Get on."
"What?! W-what are you suddenly saying!"
"You're a mage, so you lack mobility, right? It'll be much faster if I carry you. Besides, a mage needs to conserve as much stamina as possible in a situation like this."
Magic was a trump card that could turn the tide of battle in an instant.
"B-but still, a piggyback ride? My body would be touching... touching your back!"
"I don't know what you're talking about, but we don't have time to waste. Hurry up."
"..."
Her face bright red, a hesitant Chloe had no choice but to get on Leo's back.
"Don't grab my shoulders, wrap your arms around my neck. You'll fall off otherwise."
Chloe wrapped her arms around Leo's neck.
"Alright, here we go."
*Fwoosh-!*
Stomping down with an Aura Step, Leo leaped forward at an incredible speed.
Holding on tightly to Leo from behind, Chloe thought.
*This just means I'm relying on Leo again.*
Her spirits sank at the thought of being no help at all to Leo, whom she considered her rival.
*Whoosh-!*
Meanwhile, Leo focused his mind.
Normally, even with his mobility, breaking through Tartaros's encirclement with almost no fighting would be difficult.
But Leo had a way to make it possible.
Aura began to burn within Leo's body.
Veins bulged on his temples and across his body.
The fine hairs on his body stood on end, and his senses sharpened to several times their normal acuity.
*Thump-! Thump-!*
The sound of his heartbeat thundered in his ears, several times louder than usual.
*'Supersense.'*
A technique of the Great Hero Ar-on, which involved minutely controlling aura to push all of the body's sensory organs to their absolute limit.
Of course, compared to the original, it was so crude as to be incomparable.
*His Supersense didn't just sharpen his senses; it was on the level of predicting the future.*
But for getting through the current situation, the technique was more than enough.
*Thwump-!*
Stepping onto a branch, Leo began to race through the forest at tremendous speed.
***
A giant of a man, nearly three meters tall, stood stock-still in the middle of the forest.
He was Chubarn, a demon dispatched from Tartaros to eliminate the budding heroes.
He was staring at several screens floating in mid-air.
The surveillance network of Tartaros, spread throughout the forest, showed the Lumerne first-years.
While searching for targets, one screen caught his eye.
"Has the rescue team arrived already?"
Chubarn soon lost interest in the pair.
He had been told to eliminate anyone who interfered, but he had not been ordered to seek them out.
The objective was singular.
*Eliminate the hero candidates who will become future threats.*
Just as he was about to move to carry out his orders, Leo, having encountered some monsters, was just entering combat.
Leo and Chloe were mere interferers.
Normally, his target would not have changed.
But Chubarn's gaze became fixed on Leo and Chloe.
To be precise, it was fixed on Leo, who was channeling aura and magic, and summoning a spirit.
A clear hostility and hatred burned in Chubarn's eyes.
Glaring at Leo, Chubarn spat out a name as if chewing on it.
"Kyle!"
***
"Orc pack ahead."
"Got it."
Even while avoiding combat as much as possible, there were times when fighting was unavoidable.
This was one of those times.
Chloe chanted and completed a spell in an instant.
Three icicles flew in a straight trajectory in the direction Leo had indicated.
*Thwack-thwack-thwack-!*
"Kuaaaargh!"
The orcs, pierced by the icicles, let out screams.
Five orcs were killed.
But five orcs still remained.
*Guwaaak!*
The orcs swung their crude weapons in a rage.
The rearmost orc pulled a horn from its hip.
Chloe knew well what that meant.
*I have to stop it! If I don't, more orcs will swarm us!*
She hurriedly began to chant.
But Leo was a tempo faster.
He released his right hand, which had been supporting Chloe's thigh, and drew his sword.
*Shing-!*
Then, holding the sword in a reverse grip, he threw it.
*Swoooosh! Thunk-!*
"Gwek?"
The horn, along with the orc's neck, was pierced through.
Approaching the instantly killed orc, Leo grabbed the hilt of his sword and said,
"Sorry, might get some blood on you."
*Pshuk!*
He roughly pulled out the sword and swung it behind him.
*Swish! Slice! Crunch!*
Leo's sword traced a ghastly arc.
Where the sword had passed, the orcs stood as if frozen.
Leo leaped away, leaving the orcs behind.
*Pshuuuk-!*
Then, the orcs collapsed, bleeding profusely.
*He's fast.*
Two hours had already passed since they entered the World of Heroes.
In that time, they had fought a total of seven battles.
*Normally, we should have fought more than twenty times by now.*
Of course, Leo wasn't taking the shortest route.
But what was important to Leo and Chloe right now wasn't time, but joining up with the first-years from thirty years ago unscathed.
In that sense, Leo was definitely conserving their strength.
Not once in those seven battles had they fought demons, nor had Chloe ever gotten off Leo's back.
While it was true they hadn't encountered any strong monsters, Leo had maximized their combat efficiency with the most optimized movements.
All Chloe had done was cast magic as Leo directed.
It was to the point where she wondered if this was even possible.
Chloe glanced at Leo's back.
He showed no signs of fatigue.
*To think there's such a huge gap between us in a real fight.*
Just as Chloe pursed her lips,
"Found them."
"Huh?"
Chloe turned her head in the direction Leo was looking.
There, a group of students was facing off against unidentified assailants.
"That's...!"
The unidentified assailants wore black hoods.
"Demons?"
Sensing the gloomy energy emanating from them, Chloe's face stiffened.
"Chloe."
"Yeah."
"I need your support."
Leo released his hands that were supporting Chloe's thighs.
Chloe quickly cast Fly, a flight spell.
Seeing this, Leo immediately activated his aura and descended.
The lead demon facing the Lumerne students shouted.
"Prepare yourselves, you hateful hero candidates."
*Fwoosh-!*
A silver flash glinted above the demon's head.
*Pshuk!*
The demon, split from the crown of its head, bled as it turned to sand and disappeared.
"It's been a while. Hunting demons."
The demons were taken aback by Leo's sudden intrusion.
"Who the hell are you!"
"Me?"
Leo smiled coldly.
"I'm the one who's going to kill you."
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