This World Needs a Hero - Chapter 129

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Chapter 129

There is no paradise where you can escape.

He was well aware of this age-old saying.

Even if there is no paradise, he didn’t know that hell would be waiting him.

The snow fox tribe member, Lev, reminisced about a few months ago.

“…I’m sorry! I have to fulfill my quota. I won’t go back to that hellish place again!”

He never thought that a fellow tribesman he met in a foreign land would betray him.

Two months had passed since they were brought and trapped in this hell.

Lev realized that something unusual was happening.

His tail, which was now only half remaining, trembled.

‘Hurry, we need to escape.’

In the narrow prison where they were confined, there was a small window.

Beyond it, the world was dyed in red.

A barrier made of unpleasant and sticky energy, the sensitive senses unique to the demi-human race rang an alarm.

In the past two months, there was enough time to learn that prisoners were being killed one by one.

At dawn, there were always sounds of dragging accompanied by screams or pleas.

The next day, the faces he encountered in the torture chamber would gradually disappear.

And a few days later, they would appear as half-decomposed corpses.

…Yes, in the form of zombies or skeletons.

When he discovered the fellow tribesman who had betrayed him among the corpse crowd.

Lev resolved to escape from this place no matter what.

‘We are demi-humans… We are complete outsiders here. No one will save us. We have to move on our own.’

Fearful, Lev stood up.

Ilya, a snow rabbit tribe member who shared the same room, clung to him.

Still in her youth, she was just past the age of adolescence, and even if she jumped, she only reached Lev’s waist.

“Le-Lev. I’m scared.”

“Shh, it’s okay. I’ll find a way for us to escape from here.”

In their homeland, they were sworn enemies, a fox and a rabbit, but here, they had become like a family, relying on each other.

Leaving the hell alone was not an option.

“Wait. There’s a way.”

Lev took out a bone hidden by the previous occupant of the cell, unfortunately turned into a moving corpse.

‘If I use this, it might work.’

Lev’s round eyes alternated between the bone and the rusty lock on the door.

It was sufficient for picking the lock.

Click-

He silently approached the door, inserted the bone pick into the lock, and gently turned it.

There had been no signs of patrolling guards for the past few minutes.

Now was the time.

‘Please, please. Stay calm. Don’t tremble. You can do it.’

When the snow fox tribe faced a food shortage, they raided the food storage of neighboring tribes to fill their stomachs.

Lev had participated in thefts with the adults several times.

Desperately recalling those faint memories, he struggled with the lock.

He didn’t know when the guards would appear, and his heart felt like it was about to burst.

…Just a few more minutes.

Clack-

The sound of the lock aligning and opening echoed.

Lev let out a silent cheer.

“Ilya, quickly!”

Thunk-

Ilya jumped up and fell to the ground.

“Sorry. My muscles haven’t healed yet.”

“It’s okay. If running is difficult, let me know. I’ll carry you.”

“Yeah!”

Lev held onto Ilya’s trembling hand, and together they stepped out of the room.

He didn’t know where the exit was.

But for now, they needed to get out of this building.

Outside was a forest.

There must be a place to hide somewhere.

“Let’s go!”

The rabbit and fox, relying on each other, started running forward.

The red glow from the barrier outside stained their patchy fur as if soaked in blood.

‘Just a little more!’

…Lev didn’t know.

That there were magical artifacts on the ceiling watching them.

It was right after passing through a corridor intersection.

“Hey, look at these guys. They managed to get out of their cell.”

A guard with a deeply pressed robe was waiting for them.

The face that had tortured them in the torture chamber, hitting, tearing, and causing pain.

Their bodies froze in learned fear.

But when the guard lifted Ilya’s ear, Lev instinctively rushed forward.

“Let go of Ilya!”

Thwack-

But with one kick, he was thrown further than the distance they had covered running.

The body, tormented by prolonged hunger and torture, had no strength left to fight.

“Ugh.”

Lev clutched his stomach listlessly on the ground.

Soon, Ilya also received a slap and fell, whimpering.

Thud-

The guard slowly walked towards them.

Tch, the sticky spit he spat dribbled down Lev’s cheek.

“Good. We can take them to the ritual place like this.”

…Ritual?

‘Someone, someone please help us…’

Help me.

Save me.

Send me back to my hometown.

Lev desperately struggled, but words didn’t come out.

Who would come to rescue them, bipeds, in this hellish place?

Lev swallowed his tears.

‘I want to go back.’

Not to the air filled with the stench of blood and pus in this hell, but to the refreshing breeze of the snowy plains, even just once.

At the moment when Lev’s hair was being lifted.

Suddenly, Ilya whispered softly.

“…Lev, White Night.”

…White Night?

How could a natural phenomenon seen only in the Great Snow Sea appear here?

Lev raised his head at Ilya’s sudden words.

“Huh?”

But it was true.

The once red sky was now dyed completely white.

As if time had passed swiftly, it felt like it was noon.

Am I hallucinating now?

Lev stared blankly at the sky.

At the end of his gaze.

The sun that had disappeared behind the mountains earlier was visible again.

“What, what is this!?”

Even the guard stared outside, frozen.

Wooooo-

The sphere that was as bright as the sun expanded with a tremendous sound and… exploded.

Kwaaaaaaaang-

All the glass windows of the building shattered at once, and a gust of wind swept through the corridor.

Lev felt the grip of the officer’s hand on his hair loosen.

“Ku, cough.”

Perhaps because the barrier was forcibly broken, blood flowed from his nose and mouth.

Lev realized that this was an opportunity that wouldn’t come twice.

A hot heat surged from deep within his body.

“Run!”

Lev grabbed Ilya’s hand and dashed through the brightly colored corridor.

…Someone began to break through the main gate of the factory at that moment.

* * *

Wooooo-

Even after the explosion, the mana that composed the flare slowly descended, cutting through the dark night sky like shooting stars.

Perhaps because of the powerful waves of magic, most of the security artifacts and enchantments in the factory were either disabled or weakened.

Thanks to that, the Hero could pass through the main gate without any hindrance.

However, just as he set foot inside the premises.

It seemed that the other side was ready to welcome the intruders.

Grrrrrrr-

When an incomprehensible noise echoed, the Hero stopped walking.

It was an entrance with buildings lined up.

There was something to do before the battle.

Wooooo-

As magic shot out and wrapped around the factory site, the Hero felt a strange tension.

It was much more than expected.

It felt like I had opened a shovel and looked into the entrance of an ant cave.

The swarming figures were gathered together in a disgusting manner and were approaching him at high speed.

In one minute, he will meet them.

“…….”

However, what was more worrying than the battle that was about to break out was the ominous demonic energy flowing from all over the site.

[It seems like the ritual has started.]

“…Ritual has started? Wasn’t the protection of the hostages our condition for the deal?”

[Yes, no one has been sacrificed yet, and no one has died. The promise is being faithfully kept.]

Larze’s voice came from a palm-sized cloth doll attached to the Hero’s waist.

Larze had made a doll that represented her, with an exaggerated head and a shrunken body, quite cute but…

[You know, rescue is your job. Raise the progress.]

The words she spat out were merciless.

“……”

The Hero turned his gaze back to the front.

Grrrrrrr-

The undead horde’s noise was getting closer.

…Now, the collision was in 40 seconds.

At that moment, he could identify the gathering place of the demonic energy.

There were three of them.

‘Is this where the ritual is taking place?’

The presence of necromancers and hostages was detected in the vicinity.

‘Indeed, there is more than one necromancer. Then, where is the commander…?’

The Hero anxiously expanded the range of his mana perception.

The man with the skull mask that he encountered during reconnaissance.

That ominous and creepy presence could not be felt anywhere on the factory premises.

However, it was unlikely that the person in charge had left during the ritual.

“…Is he hiding?”

It was a somewhat awkward situation.

If he used a camouflage spell to hide, it would be difficult to find through detection, and he had no choice but to go around and confirm with the insight of the Iris of Laplace one by one.

The doll began to murmur words that the Hero couldn’t understand.

[Hmm, a spell using trust structures, quite well-woven for something created by those pests.]

“What?”

[The three on the surface aren’t the main ones. Just conditions. Is the real ritual location underground? With sacrifice and summoning… You have to hurry, Mr. Doppelganger.]

“…Tell me in a way so I can understand.”

Swish-

The doll shook uncomfortably with a displeased expression.

[So, if you want to live, stop the ritual on the surface quickly and go to exterminate the summoner underground.]

‘The commander seems to be hiding underground.’

He needed to find the entrance.

…20 seconds until the clash.

The Hero took a deep breath and organised the information he had collected so far.

Three rituals were taking place on the surface.

It was assumed that the main consciousness serving as the core was progressing underground.

Perhaps the summoner was that officer.

So, as quickly as possible, he had to break through the undead horde, stop the three rituals on the surface, and then go underground.

‘…Got it.’

Since he had sensed it through reconnaissance, he already knew the overall layout of the factory premises.

The Hero marked a few points on the mental map.

…Now, 10 seconds.

In the distance, several unpleasant shadows began to move.

Thud thud thud thud-

In fact, even before that, loud footsteps had reached the Hero’s ears.

[They’re here.]

At the same time as Larze’s words ended, the field was filled with moving corpses.

The undead horde, stacked layer upon layer like a giant wave, rushed forward.

It was a uniform movement, resembling a single organism rather than individual creatures.

Swish-

A massive swarm of undead, with a mixture of not yet rotten, half-rotten, and completely rotten bodies in the right proportions.

…Grrrrrrr-

The clash was in 20 seconds.

In an instant, all the plans and thoughts in his head became empty.

The Hero, with a sinking feeling, looked at the approaching corpses with ash colored eyes.

‘How many are there?’

No.

He corrected his question.

‘How many have died here?’

Swish-

The Hero slowly raised the Black Hope, and…

Paaaat-

As the light of the halo swept away dozens at the forefront, the battle began.

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