This World Needs a Hero - Chapter 206
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Chapter 206
Sudden-
A man was making his way through the ruins of the city.
His eyes, which once swept over the desolate landscape, were now fixed on Zero, who was sitting motionless.
His expression was obscured by the deep robe he wore.
Only his lips, exposed, seemed to twist in a strange mix of crying and smiling.
He stopped in front of Zero.
“It’s been a while… not really. Mage.”
Zero’s eyes, as he turned around, trembled violently with shock.
He finally realized why the Dominus system hadn’t activated.
“You!”
The immense power of the main mana stone was swirling before his eyes.
More precisely, within the body of the doppelganger.
Zero immediately understood what had happened.
“Good ingredients have finally come.”
Several months ago, during the battle with the sect, the doppelganger had replicated Zero.
…And Zero was the designer of the Dominus system and the chief researcher of the main mana stone.
It would have been easy for the doppelganger, who replicated his knowledge and magical abilities, to interfere with the Dominus system and divert the energy of the mana stone.
The horrific results were unfolding before Zero’s eyes now.
“Why.”
Zero laid Elaine’s body on the ground and muttered blankly.
Hatred?
Sadness?
There was something profound echoing within his pupils that couldn’t simply be described with those words.
“Why? You are asking such an obvious question.”
The doppelganger facing him replied calmly.
His gaze fixed on Zero slowly shifted away.
Towards the center of the city, still burning…
To the top of the giant stake embedded there.
“……”
They could both sense it.
The dreadful aura emanating from that otherworldly presence.
The Demon King, looking down at the ruins he had created, was calling the doppelganger.
For some reason, he seemed greatly interested.
After staring at the Demon King for a while, the doppelganger spoke again.
“…It’s calling for me. There will soon be a fight of a lifetime, so I need to prepare.”
“It’s also an opportunity to sweep away this unpleasant city for free.”
“……”
The doppelganger seemed quite satisfied with Zero’s shocked expression.
“Yes, mage. I know what you were thinking. I can’t help but know.”
He said with a faint smile.
Swoosh-
As he threw off his robe, his face, mirrored in Zero’s and the mirror, looked exactly the same.
“Did you think I still had compassion and love for humans?”
Confronted with the emotions swirling in his eyes, Zero doubted his own eyes.
…Because they were exactly the same as his own.
Self-blame, agony, resentment.
The doppelganger slowly raised his head.
“Yes, perhaps it might have like that, until Platooz eliminated everyone associated with my Game.”
In shock, Zero looked at him.
Thus, they stood facing each other with identical faces and expressions, like a reflection in a mirror.
“So…”
The doppelganger chuckled dryly.
“You don’t need to resent that either. If he hadn’t done it, I would have done it someday.”
I don’t want to let humans live anymore.
The doppelganger was saying that.
The moment the humans showed him the darkness.
Since they are beings who are born with evil.
He said that anyone would have wiped out humans someday.
He was declaring that the only ending left for you guys is destruction.
Zero was speechless at the doppelganger’s evil, which denied humanity itself.
“So, my first Game.”
“……”
“Think about who you’re going to cheer for sitting there, the result will be the same.”
The doppelganger walks towards the stake.
Reflexively, Zero raised his hand towards the vulnerable back.
Wuuung-
Tremendous magical power gathered.
It was an attack spell that Zero had improved after being shocked since their last meeting.
If he struck directly, even the doppelganger would receive a significant blow.
Although the doppelganger must have felt it too, he didn’t turn back.
It was an attitude of confidence that Zero would never attack.
“……”
And the prediction was correct.
As Zero, he couldn’t make the mistake of hurting his doppelganger who had to fight the Demon King.
If one of them had to win, it would be better for the doppelganger to win.
At least then, he could try conversing with him again.
If the doppelganger’s resentment towards humans flared up… there was no reason for the Demon King to spare humans.
He was something that appeared to exterminate the beings living and breathing in this world.
‘…I can’t attack.’
With powerless arms, Zero stood bewildered against the backdrop of the fading magic circle.
He was overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness that he had never felt before in his life.
His empty eyes gazed down at the ground.
‘…This is the end of humanity.’
The doppelganger’s words were true.
Whether the Demon King wins or he does, a long period of darkness awaits humanity. Already, the city, which was the center of the continent and the most powerful stronghold, has fallen.
The rest will likely face the same fate.
‘Is this really the end?’
Zero lifted his head.
Elaine’s corpse.
The city turned into ruins.
The doppelganger’s back.
The giant and ominous stake casting its shadow over them.
The Demon King at the top…
Zero’s eyes, which had been constantly moving, gradually closed.
The moment of silence spread throughout the ruins.
“No.”
Zero opened his eyes again.
Within them, flames began to ignite once more.
“Not yet.”
The only hope to save humanity standing on the brink was him.
Clack-
Zero’s silhouette disappeared among the debris of the ruins.
The probability was low, but he had to try.
.
.
.
The battle between the Demon King and the doppelganger lasted for days.
Kwa-ah-ah-ahng!
The sky burned red, and the ground was swallowed by flames.
Sometimes, brilliant light, sometimes pitch-black darkness covered everything.
The air boiled, making it difficult to breathe, and the ground melted into a mush.
Zero protected himself from the aftermath and continued to observe their fight.
He stored every clue and lead in his mind and calculated fiercely.
Thus, he witnessed the transformation of the city, where tens of thousands lived, into a wasteland.
“…How gruesome.”
The doppelganger and the Demon King fought throughout the city.
Even the buildings on the outskirts, which had resisted the impact of the falling stake, were mostly swept away.
The survivors hiding within were also in dire straits.
Everything that testified to human prosperity collapsed into dust.
As the monsters of other species gradually disappeared from the city, the seven great demons who had appeared with the Demon King did the same.
Zero realized they were heading west.
Perhaps they were intending to conquer the remaining cities.
Horrific slaughter was imminent.
Although he wanted to rush after them to save the humans immediately…
‘…I can’t.’
Zero exerted all his self-restraint.
He had a more important mission.
Kwa-ah-ah-ahng!
Hidden among the ruins, Zero watched without a break as the top of the stake erupted with constant flashes of light.
The two who had wreaked havoc across the city seemed to be nearing the end.
“It will end soon.”
Zero, who had not taken his eyes off their fight for even a moment, could read the trend of the battle sharply.
Until the middle, it was undoubtedly evenly matched.
No, the doppelganger even seemed slightly superior.
However, as time passed, the doppelganger began to lose ground little by little, and today, the tide had completely turned in favor of the Demon King.
It was because the stolen mana from the main mana stone had been exhausted.
Although the doppelganger himself possessed a near-infinite amount of mana… it wasn’t truly infinite.
On the other hand, the Demon King was constantly supplied with energy from the stake.
A twisted expression of terror and despair appeared on the doppelganger’s face.
Even the polymorph seemed to be struggling at its limits.
Its form was grotesquely contorted and trembling.
…Of course, the Demon King was far from unscathed as well.
The overwhelming appearance he had when he first appeared was now pale, and he seemed to be in a bad state just like the doppelganger.
Watching them, Zero realized that they would never again fall into such a crisis.
In other words… now was the turning point for the survival of humanity.
Wuuung-
Zero spread his wings with all his might, using flight magic to soar into the sky.
He knew they were aware of his presence.
Until now, they had judged that he could not interfere with this fight.
‘Just as a person in a fist fight does not pay attention to insects flying around.’
No, he would have felt even more insignificant than bugs.
Even now that they were infinitely weakened, Zero didn’t have the confidence to interfere in that battle.
…But there was another way.
‘Quickly!’
Zero accelerated.
They will have reached the climax of the fight and will not have the strength to stop this charge.
…No, there shouldn’t be.
Kwa-ga-ga-gang!
The roar grew louder as he moved forward.
The concentration of demonic energy was too thick, making even breathing painful.
Beep-
Tinnitus pierced his ears, and various hallucinations appeared and disappeared in one corner of his vision.
His teeth dug into his tongue.
The sharp pain helped clear his dizzy mind.
…So he finally managed to reach the stake.
The moment he passed through its entrance and reached the center, a structure resembling a heart appeared in Zero’s sight.
It sucked up all the mana in this area, transformed it into demonic energy, and spewed it out again.
It was his target.
Thud, thud…
The pounding sound echoed loudly.
Zero stood before it.
‘…Alright.’
For the past few days, he had been constantly observing and analyzing the energy and magic of this otherworld.
He watched as the Demon King, who could be considered its owner, manipulated it and studied how this structure transformed mana into demonic energy.
All of this effort was for this moment.
Platooz had succeeded in handling the energy of this otherworld imperfectly.
There was no way Zero, who was several times more talented than him, would fail.
Zero’s eyes shone brightly blue.
‘Regardless, this power is sucking up mana and using it as its source. That’s its weakness.’
The focus should be on the mana being drawn towards this structure.
Zero’s consciousness immediately delved into the whirlpool of demonic energy and mana and interfered.
If he were an ordinary mage, he would have been overwhelmed by this massive flow and his body would have exploded.
However, Zero was gifted with an unreasonable talent for mana, to the extent that he was praised as the incarnation of a dragon among contemporary mages.
Even the Demon King hadn’t anticipated this unexpected complication.
Wuuung-
He constantly infused explosions into the nature of mana.
Beep beep beep-
After dozens of repetitions, the structure resembling a heart suddenly blazed up, emitting a deafening roar akin to the sound of a boiling kettle but hundreds of times amplified, turning bright red.
Only then did Zero finally cease his interference.
At the same time, blood gushed from every hole in his face.
But he couldn’t stop now.
He had to continue with the next plan.
Plop-
Without hesitation, Zero bit his index finger and drew a space teleportation magic circle with the blood flowing from the torn section.
‘The blood of a mage is inherently the most powerful catalyst.’
The air was so hot that it felt like it would cook flesh, and the deafening roar tore through eardrums, while dust and debris rained down from the ceiling.
But the genius’s concentration did not waver.
‘The probability of success is around 30%.’
Teleporting in a demonic energy-filled environment.
Without the analysis of the past few days, he wouldn’t have dared to attempt it at all.
Even after adjusting the magic circle drawn from a simple spell to include runes, the probability of success was lower than the probability of his body shattering.
But Zero’s eyes remained steady.
Beep beep beep beep beep-
His pupils were fixed on the ‘core,’ which was now on the verge of exploding.
Mana surged violently.
Zero infused mana into the magic circle and repeated in his mind.
‘Elaine.’
Explosion.
Then endless silence ensued.
Zero’s figure was nowhere to be found.
* * *
Thud-
The hero could hear footsteps echoing in the ruins.
Thud-
The presence of the Demon King could be felt in the sky, within that rupture.
Perhaps he didn’t have the strength to withstand the massive explosion of the core in his near-death state, or perhaps he had fled.
A mere human had managed to escape even after losing the Demon King’s castle, his first stake.
————!!
Suddenly!
The humiliation and rage of the Demon King transformed into an indescribable roar, reverberating across the ground.
However, Zero seemed completely indifferent.
His footsteps did not falter as he continued forward.
Thud-
Soon, only ‘him,’ charred black with only half of his body remaining, welcomed Zero.
Despite the scattered debris wriggling around, there seemed to be no strength left to recover.
Only then did Zero come to a halt and gaze up at the sky.
“Ah….”
The hero also shifted his gaze upward.
The sky looked frozen in ash gray.
Everything that Zero had loved seemed to have gone up in flames, and the remaining ashes fluttered endlessly like snowflakes.
It felt like winter had arrived.
The hero suddenly recalled a comment he had seen before.
It was from a pre-briefing speech he had given at a press conference, after returning to the dressing room.
‘This is the beginning of the end, become the firewood for the winter that humanity will face.’
Rustle-
With Zero lifting ‘him’ up and walking away, the scene did not replay any further.
▼
Understanding of Zero Requiem deepens.
Understanding level: 10/100 -> 20/100
* However, he is a subject that cannot be replicated.
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Understanding of ??? deepens.
Understanding level: 50/100
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[TL/N: BIG REVEAL NEXT CHAP !!!]
[PR/N: BRO WTF????!!!!!! So unexpected like what???]
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