The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned - Chapter 61
The Last-Seat Hero Has Returned 61
61. Midterm Evaluation (6)
Ssssss!
The sound of flesh burning.
Gray ash flowing from every pore of the body turned into smoke and rose up.
“Haa.”
Letting out a low breath, he grasped his sword.
Ash mixed with his exhaled breath.
Instead of blood, his body felt hot, as if heated oil was coursing through it.
Ignition.
The primordial fire burned his body according to his will, slowly filling the magic that had been depleted.
“Gr-r-r-r.”
The crocodile beast, approaching Yuren, glared at me with wary eyes.
I let out a breath mixed with ash and raised the corners of my mouth in a grin.
“What are you doing? I told you it’s not over yet.”
I provocatively tilted the tip of my sword towards the beast.
“Gr-r-r-r!”
Did the provocation work?
The crocodile beast that had been glaring at me lowered its body and placed its four feet on the ground.
Kugugugugung!
The crocodile beast, now like a giant lizard, charged on all fours.
As the beast, weighing several tons, sprinted with full force, a heavy roar echoed and a cloud of dust scattered.
“Kraaa!”
The crocodile beast, now close, let out a fierce roar and spun its body.
Its tail, covered in scales so tough that even a magic-infused sword would bounce off, whipped around like a lash.
Paaang!
The tail whipped at supersonic speed.
The tail, concentrating the weight of several tons into a single point, held a formidable power capable of toppling a building.
Even a hero confident in their strength wouldn’t dare to face it head-on.
“Quite the strength for a youngster.”
Instead, I took a step forward.
I stepped forward as if throwing myself towards the approaching tail that was tearing through the air.
I took a rough step and raised my sword high.
Fwooosh!
Flames wrapped around the blade.
I brought the raised sword down from above.
Sun Sword, Second Form, Moon Slash (斬月).
The flame-wrapped sword clashed with the beast’s tail, which carried the weight of several tons.
Kwaaang!
A resounding explosion.
My sword, which couldn’t even pierce a thin eyelid before, cut through the scales and deeply embedded into the beast’s tail.
“Kraaa!”
The crocodile beast let out a pained scream, violently shaking its half-severed tail.
Had the flames on my blade transferred?
The flames danced greedily, wrapping around the split flesh.
“Krrrrk! Krrk!”
The beast tried to extinguish the flames by rubbing its tail on the ground, but the flames now burning its tail were no ordinary fire.
In the distant past, the primordial fire that was said to have burned the Tree of Creation.
The fire, imbued with the power of myth, blazed on, burning the flesh of the beast, regardless of whether it rubbed its tail on the dirt floor or buried it deep in the ground.
“Graaah!”
In the end, the crocodile beast cut off its own tail with its sharp claws.
The beast’s tail, which was a powerful weapon in itself, rolled pathetically on the ground.
“Grurrrk… Grurk.”
After cutting off its burning tail.
The crocodile beast turned its head towards me, panting heavily.
The beast took hesitant steps backward.
In its four pairs of eyes, there was a mix of doubt, disbelief, and deep fear about the current situation.
Well.
No matter how ferocious the beast, it couldn’t help but feel fear after experiencing a human who resurrects even after being killed and flames that never extinguish unless it cuts off its own body.
“Grurrrrrr!”
The beast, which had been glancing at Yuren with conflicted eyes, soon turned and started to flee.
“What? After all that fuss, it’s running away?”
I let out a hollow laugh as I watched the beast retreat.
Even though its tail was cut off, it should still have more than enough strength to fight, yet it was running away like this.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Taking a deep breath mixed with ash, I kicked off towards the fleeing beast.
Of course, I wasn’t in perfect condition either.
Both arms that held the sword were already tattered like rags, and the sword that had cut off the beast’s tail lay shattered on the ground.
To anyone else, it would seem like wounds too severe to continue.
“Heh.”
I smirked and kicked off.
Racing through the gray ash, I climbed onto the beast’s back and wrapped my legs tightly around its neck.
“Graaah!”
The beast struggled to shake me off its neck.
Its sharp scales and claws slashed at my body.
But.
“Bloom.”
The more wounds I received, the thicker the ashen smoke rose.
I didn’t mind if my body was crushed.
I didn’t care if my whole body was shattered.
Even if it was broken, collapsed, or crushed.
Persistently grabbing and holding onto the enemy’s throat.
That was the fighting style that allowed me, a mere lowly hero with nothing to boast about in my previous life, to be called the ‘Immortal Ghost’ and be counted among the last five heroes.
“Hup!”
I clenched my fist and struck it down towards the monster’s eye.
My fist pierced deeply into the eye through the eyelid.
“Graaah!”
The monster writhed in pain.
I twisted my lips into a grin and channeled my magic into my fist.
“Berald’s Martial Arts.”
Mountain Crusher.
Crack!
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With a chilling burst, blood spurted out.
Flames flared up, wrapping around the crushed eyeball.
“Graaah! Grrrk! Kaaak!”
The monster struggled desperately to extinguish the flames, but this time, the fire was on its head, not its tail.
“Try cutting off your head now.”
I chuckled, shaking my shoulders, and kicked off the monster’s back, jumping away.
“Grrrk… Grrrk….”
The monster, which had been rampaging for a while, soon let out a dying groan and collapsed.
“Whew.”
Confirming that the monster’s life was completely extinguished, I let out a deep sigh and sat down on the spot.
Sss. Sss. Ssssss.
Had the duration of ‘Ignition’ ended?
With the sound of air escaping, the ashen smoke that had been rising around my body disappeared.
I looked down at the corpse of the monster, its head half-burned, and let out a hollow laugh.
“…Is this the power of the primordial fire?”
Even in the battle with Ashtaroth, I felt it, but it was such an absurdly overwhelming power that a hollow laugh escaped my lips.
‘But the price is just as great.’
A body as heavy as waterlogged cotton.
Barely holding onto consciousness that seemed like it would snap at any moment, I staggered to my feet.
“Ugh. I’m really going to die.”
Honestly, it was difficult to even stand on my two feet.
“But I still have to report to the school.”
Right now, I didn’t even have enough magic power left to turn on the Hero Watch.
“Sigh. Report or whatever, I need to rest first.”
Swallowing my saliva, I staggered towards the rock where Yuren was lying.
“Growl.”
“Growl, roar!”
“Roar, bark!”
The sound of the beasts’ cries echoed again.
A pack of wolf beasts appeared leisurely through the dense bushes.
“This is insane….”
I muttered a low curse as I looked around at the pack of wolf beasts surrounding me.
There were at least ten of them at a glance.
The number of eyes varied between three and five, but aside from the number of eyes, their overall appearance was similar.
“…Damn it.”
Once again, these were beasts without the mark of test subjects.
‘They are the same species as the first wolf beast I caught.’
There are variants like the unicorn.
Most beasts retain the habits of their original species before being mutated by the demon’s power.
In other words.
A beast mutated from a wolf retains the wolf’s habit of ‘moving in packs.’
‘Did they follow the scent of their kin?’
After the eight-eyed beast, now there was a pack of more than ten wolf beasts.
“…Is this really the midterm exam site, damn it.”
Where the hell do these beasts keep coming from without a break?
Even those beasts weren’t the ones prepared for the test, but ones that had flowed in from outside.
“Ugh.”
Swallowing his saliva, he drew a sword from Yuren’s waist to replace the one that had broken during the earlier skirmish.
The sword, which he usually swung without a second thought, felt as heavy as lifting a metal chunk weighing dozens of kilograms.
“Haa… Damn it.”
No matter how tired and exhausted he was, he couldn’t show weakness in front of the beasts.
“Come on, you b*stards.”
He flicked his sword towards the pack of wolf beasts surrounding him.
“Growl!”
“Roar!”
Dozens of wolf beasts charged all at once.
And then.
A clear sound like the plucking of a stringed instrument.
Dozens of silver threads shot from all directions, wrapping around the bodies of the charging wolf beasts.
The wolf beasts, bound by the thin silver threads like insects caught in a spider’s web, struggled.
Snap.
Crack!
With the sound of fingers snapping, the bodies of the wolf beasts bound by the silver threads were torn to shreds.
“Sorry I’m late.”
Click, click.
A woman with black hair, dressed in a black suit, approached with the sound of her shoes clicking.
A beauty with a scar running across her left eye, so beautiful that it drew admiration despite the scar.
It was Professor Elisha Baldwin.
“Late, huh… Isn’t this timing a bit too convenient?”
I asked in a low, sunken voice as I turned to look at Professor Elisha.
Professor Elisha shrugged and replied with a nonchalant expression.
“You must have noticed I was hiding and watching.”
“It was a guess, not a certainty.”
A beast from outside had appeared in the test site, so it was unlikely that the professors would just sit idly by.
“Hmm… But why didn’t you ask for help?”
“It was just a guess.”
I had a hunch that the professors were on the move, but I didn’t know exactly where or what they were doing.
“Especially, I never thought they would be hiding far away, watching the candidate fight.”
“I apologize for that in advance.”
Professor Elisha continued with a calm expression.
“At first, I thought I would intervene at the right time… I never expected Candidate Dale to kill the beast alone.”
A beast of the Palan level, which even an average professor would struggle to handle.
“A candidate who possesses a blessing that revives even if killed, handles an unknown power, and is proficient in swordsmanship, martial arts, and magic at the same time…”
Professor Elisha scrutinized me with sharp eyes.
“What exactly are you?”
“You can check the candidate list, can’t you?”
“The candidate list.”
Professor Elisha approached with a sneer.
She came close enough for our noses to touch and gently wrapped her arm around my neck.
“It seems additional investigation is necessary.”
“…Didn’t you do that before?”
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“That’s why it’s called ‘additional’ investigation.”
Her sticky breath tickled my lips.
Professor Elisha slowly tilted her head.
I pushed her away and shook my head.
“If an investigation is necessary, please use another method.”
“Hmm. Is there something you don’t like? I am quite confident in my appearance.”
“No, well… it’s not that kind of problem.”
How could I explain this?
If the fact that we kissed once more reached our saint’s ears, I would be in big trouble.
“So, when you say it’s not that kind of problem, does that mean my appearance is beautiful in Candidate Dale’s eyes?”
“Ah, yes. Well, you are pretty.”
“Hoho, I see… that’s what you mean.”
Professor Elisha nodded in satisfaction.
“How about giving fluids another way if you dislike kissing?”
“What method are you talking about?”
“For instance… like this.”
Professor Elisha cast a sidelong glance at my lower half, a meaningful smile playing on her lips.
“Down below, perhaps?”
“Excuse me?”
What on earth is this person saying?