The Last-Seat Hero Has Returned

24. So it was you? (5)

Sun Sword.

A swordsmanship created by Reynald Helios, the leader of the ‘Great Five Heroes’ who sealed the Demon God 500 years ago.

The Sun Sword consists of a total of 9 ‘forms’, with the difficulty and power exponentially increasing with each higher number.

‘According to Yuren, even Reynald Helios, who created the swordsmanship, could only theorize the 9th form and never fully mastered it.’

Anyway.

Though it’s called swordsmanship, the Sun Sword only takes the form of typical ‘swordsmanship’ up to the 4th form.

Upward slash, downward slash, horizontal slash, thrust.

These four forms, honed to the extreme, make up the first four forms.

And from the 5th form onwards, it can no longer be called swordsmanship… it transforms into something closer to magic or miracles.

‘Normally, I can only use up to the 4th form with my magic.’

Originally, techniques beyond the 5th form were impossible for me to execute with my magic.

‘But.’

Now that I’ve taken the stigmata booster.

Though it’s only for a mere five minutes, I can reach a realm beyond my grasp.

“Ugh… My, my eyes!”

“What, what is this light!”

The demons squinted at the blinding white light emanating from the sword.

Without giving their eyes a chance to adjust to the intense light,

Slash! Slash! Slash!

With a chilling sound, the heads of three demons separated from their bodies.

“What is this…!”

It wasn’t Dale who moved his body to behead them.

The white light emanating from the sword.

The bodies of the demons touched by that light split as if they were cut by a blade.

“It’s, it’s the light! Avoid the light!”

One demon urgently shouted and threw himself away from the white light emanating from the sword.

Slash!

As the tip of the sword moved slightly, the demon’s upper and lower body split in two.

A slash that ignored distance.

The bodies of the demons touched by the light from the sword fell one by one, spraying blood.

“You fools! Don’t dodge clumsily, charge at him all at once and kill him! He’s alone!”

Calyx roared fiercely at his subordinates.

“Y-yes, sir!”

“Surround him!”

“Haaa!”

At his roar, the demons drew their weapons and charged at Dale.

Slash! Slash!

Even as they charged, two demons touched the light and their bodies split in two, but the other demons who weren’t directly touched by the light managed to approach Dale.

“Die, you b*stard!”

The demon closed the distance and thrust a spear imbued with dark energy.

It seemed impossible to block the spear aimed at a vital point, especially right after swinging his sword.

“Hmph.”

Dale’s lips curled up, revealing his white teeth.

He twisted his body slightly, stepping aside and catching the thrusting spear between his armpits.

A movement so close to acrobatics that even a slight mistake would have pierced his heart.

Even a hero with considerable combat experience would have hesitated in such a life-threatening maneuver.

“You crazy…!”

But Dale had no such hesitation.

Yes.

As if he had multiple lives.

“Ugh!”

Crunch!

He grabbed the spear wedged in his armpit and twisted the demon’s neck with his bare hands.

“Eek!”

A demon charging with a weapon in hand let out a terrified groan as he saw his comrade’s neck twisted right in front of him.

“What’s the big deal?”

Dale licked his lips as if savoring the taste, throwing the demon’s corpse with its twisted neck to the ground.

“It’s only been a minute.”

Dale charged at the surrounding demons like a beast.

“Ugh, ugh!”

“aaah!”

“S-save… ugh!”

He swung his sword, emitting a white light at the demons attacking from a distance, and subdued the ones approaching with martial arts.

He maneuvered to avoid being surrounded, using walls and pillars, and caused the charging demons to collide with each other.

A scene more fittingly described as a ‘massacre’ than a ‘battle.’

The thirty demons were reduced to half in less than three minutes.

“P-priest!”

The demons, helplessly defeated, turned their gaze to Calix.

“These useless fools…!”

Calix ground his teeth and shouted at his subordinates.

‘What the hell is that guy?’

How does that look like a ‘candidate’?

No, fine.

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that a candidate can be as strong as, or even stronger than, an active hero.

In fact, there were rumors that ‘Yuren Helios,’ who had been ranked first in the comprehensive candidate evaluation for three years, was much stronger than most professors.

‘But.’

The way he skillfully handled the joint attack of thirty demons without a hint of retreat, and his ruthless hand movements.

‘This isn’t a candidate, but some…’

It’s the kind of scene you’d only see from a hero who has rolled around the battlefield for decades and retired.

“Damn it!”

Calix bit his lip nervously.

He hadn’t participated in the battle directly yet, but just by watching the scene of his fight… no, massacre, he could tell.

‘I can’t win.’

No matter how much he had risen to the position of ‘priest’ among the demons, he couldn’t win against a monster who had cut down fifteen demons in less than three minutes.

‘But even if I run away like this, he won’t stay still.’

Imagining the enraged archbishop sent chills down his spine.

He pulled out a wand embedded with a fist-sized magic stone from his bosom and aimed it at Dale.

‘If I’m going to die either way!’

A black aura emanated from the stigma on his left chest, and dozens of magical thorns floated around him.

“Haah!”

Swish!

The magical thorns shot out with terrifying momentum.

A demon who couldn’t dodge in time was pierced by the thorns and screamed, but Calix didn’t slow down his attack.

“You’re trying hard, kid.”

Dale clicked his tongue in disdain as he watched the magical thorns pouring in from all directions.

He threw himself towards the fiercely shooting magical thorns and stomped his foot hard.

Berald Martial Arts.

Earth Shaker.

Rumble!

The entire hideout shook as if an earthquake had struck.

Rotten wooden planks and heaps of dirt that shot up from the broken floor became a shield, blocking the pouring thorns of the demon.

“Ugh!”

At the moment when he frowned at the thickly rising dust.

Slash!

A white light pierced through the dust and grazed Calix’s arm, which was holding the wand.

Flesh tore open and blood gushed out.

A dizzying pain spread from his arm throughout his body.

“Ugh!”

Clenching his teeth, Calix wrapped his hand around his half-severed arm.

He let out a painful groan for a moment.

Calix gripped the wand with his other hand and glared sharply at Dale.

‘There’s no answer in a battle of strength.’

Whether he shot dozens or hundreds of the demon’s thorns, it didn’t seem like he could subdue that monster.

‘In that case.’

Hiss.

Calix took a deep breath and wrapped his hand around the fist-sized magic stone attached to the head of the wand.

Wooong!

The power that flowed from the magic stone resonated with the demon and spread out.

Crack, crackle!

The magic stone at the end of the wand began to crack and then crumbled into powder.

“Come, power of illusion!”

The magic used by sacrificing the magic stone was the magic of his master, Archbishop Ashtaroth.

It was a terrifying magic that trapped the target in an illusionary world called ‘Illusion’ and shattered their mind.

“Ugh…!”

Blood flowed from Calix’s eyes and nose as he used magic beyond his level.

For a mere priest, not even a bishop, to use the magic of an ‘Archbishop’ was a perilous act that risked his life, but now was not the time to be picky.

“Die trapped in the illusion!”

As the wand crumbled, the black light that leaked out wrapped around Dale’s body.

Dale, who had been rampaging like a wolf among sheep, suddenly stopped.

“Heh heh… Yes. No matter how much you struggle, there’s no way you can resist his magic.”

No matter how strong one’s power is, it’s useless if the mind collapses.

Looking at Dale, who stood still, Calix raised the corners of his mouth in a sneer.

“Kill him quickly before he wakes up…!”

As he shouted at his foolish subordinates.

Thunk.

The cold sensation of metal piercing through his abdomen.

“Ugh.”

A broken groan escaped along with the excruciating pain that made it hard to breathe.

Turning his head, he saw Dale, who had been standing still under the ‘Illusion’, now right in front of him.

“How… how?”

How on earth did he break free from the ‘Illusion’?

Calix’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Seems like it doesn’t work on me.”

Dale smirked as he looked at the astonished Calix.

“Ugh… Ugh, cough!”

Calix clutched his pierced abdomen and slowly sank to the ground.

Wooong.

The black aura that had enveloped Dale’s body returned to Calix as if finding its rightful owner.

The remaining magic returned to him as the ‘Illusion’ broke midway.

In that brief moment when the mental magic was broken and returned to the caster, Calix’s mind and Dale’s mind connected.

A phenomenon commonly referred to as ‘mental resonance’ among mental mages.

“…Ah.”

The shifting vision.

Calix’s body, connected to Dale’s mind, convulsed as if in a seizure.

“What… is this?”

The whole world is burning.

The entire world is burning.

Blazing, crackling.

No matter where, no matter which place, no matter what place you look at.

‘Fire.’

A colossal… a fire so immense it seemed to engulf the world.

The crimson flames, like the tongue of a demon, greedily consumed the illusion of ‘dreamscape’ he had risked his life to create, roaring fiercely.

‘What… on earth is this…?’

He had experienced ‘mental resonance’ phenomena before, but never had he witnessed such a sight.

‘What is that?’

As Calix surveyed the world engulfed in flames, a presence caught his eye.

Amidst the fiercely burning flames.

A black figure crouched within.

‘What… is that.’

Could it be that his voice was heard?

The black figure, crouched, slowly lifted its head.

And then.

Green eyes within the blazing flames turned towards him.

“…Ah.”

Calix staggered backward, a sword embedded in his stomach.

“Ah, uh. Ahh.”

As if forgetting the sword lodged in his stomach, Calix crawled on the ground, fleeing from Dale.

“Ahhh!!”

Calix crawled towards the entrance of the hideout, as if trying to get as far away from Dale as possible.

The aftermath of his escape? The fear of Archbishop Ashtaroth?

Such thoughts no longer remained in his mind.

“Run, run… quickly…!”

All that remained in his mind was the intense fear of that nameless candidate.

“What the hell, why is he suddenly like this, this b*stard?”

It was Dale who was rather taken aback by Calix’s sudden behavior.

Dale approached the blood-soaked, fleeing Calix and pressed his foot firmly on his neck.

“Ugh.”

A broken breath escaped from between Calix’s lips.

“Well, anyway, because of the prohibition, even if I ask, I won’t be able to get anything…”

Tsk, he clicked his tongue and pressed down harder on Calix’s neck with his foot.

“Just die.”

Crack!

Calix’s neck twisted grotesquely.

“Sa, Sage?”

“No way….”

The demons were shocked as they looked at Calix, who had died without even putting up a proper fight.

They glanced at each other nervously and began to back away.

“Let’s see… About one minute left?”

Dale checked the time on his Hero Watch and grinned at the retreating demons.

“Plenty of time.”

Once again, a blinding white flash illuminated the dark hideout.