This World Needs a Hero - Chapter 263

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Chapter 263

This was a kind of awe that humans had forgotten for far too long.

People stood in silence, staring at the Hero who had positioned himself between them and the undead.

He was enveloped in a brilliant light, as if the sun itself had descended to vanquish the darkness on earth.

Click—

The sound of metal followed.

Armor named “Benevolence” unfolded from the ring on the Hero’s ring finger.

[TL/N: Benevolence will be his armor’s name from now on.]

Through the helmet, his gray eyes briefly scanned those he had to protect before turning back to the undead… and thus, the “breakthrough” began.

Boom!

As the Hero charged forward and struck with his sword, a powerful wave of light engulfed the surroundings.

It was no ordinary slash.

Halo.

A crescent-shaped sword wave, burning like flames, was imbued with light.

The undead, unable to even reach out their decayed hands towards the Hero, were all incinerated and crumbled to dust.

Even the massive beast-like undead, and the “Twin Swordsman” exuding a terrifying aura, were no exception.

As the Hero’s steps moved towards the tower’s entrance, the younger of the Twin Swordsmen, who had been standing back, blocked his path without hesitation.

But because the Hero had been fighting with all his might from the beginning, the skirmish was brief.

Clang!

With a swift strike, he shattered the curved blade and cut its wielder in half—a merciful release for Ted’s old comrade.

After a few more sword waves from the Hero, the path to the tower’s entrance was wide open.

“…….”

Only then did the Hero pause to catch his breath.

It was at that moment that a trembling voice of a boy reached his ears.

“…Professor.”

It was Ban, who had hurriedly followed after the path was cleared.

“Ban.”

The Hero looked at his disciple, who was covered in blood and dust, making him look quite disheveled.

One could tell at a glance how grueling the battles had been for him over the past three hours.

Yet the boy’s brown eyes shone with determined will and courage.

The Hero wanted to commend him.

To ask if he was alright.

To apologize for being late.

He wanted to say all those things, but there was no time for that now.

The Hero patted Ban on the shoulder and turned back towards the entrance.

“Guard the outside.”

Ban hesitated for a moment, then nodded with a very proud expression.

Words from the Hero’s pre-lecture briefing once more bolstered the boy’s spirit.

“The extreme training is to cultivate comrades who will one day stand against evil alongside me.”

Now, the Hero was treating him not as a student, but as a fellow warrior.

This fact made Ban more than willing.

He gripped his sword hilt tightly.

“Yes! Leave it to me!”

Of course, the outside was still dangerous.

The undead would soon swarm again.

But there was no more worry.

Thanks to the Hero’s rampage, the enemy’s formation was in disarray.

The morale of the troops led by Ban was sky-high.

They would be able to hold out long enough for the Hero to deal with the undead inside.

Step—

With that, the master and disciple, who had briefly faced each other, ran towards their respective goals.

Ban headed towards the undead horde converging on the tower.

The Hero moved towards the entrance of the tower.

A shimmering holy light settled where they had departed.

* * *

The Hero swiftly traversed the tower’s interior.

There was no hesitation in his steps, but there was a sense of urgency.

At the entrance, there were no remaining people or undead.

Only shattered debris of the building and bodies strewn across the floor.

The Hero’s eyes quickly scanned the faces of the fallen.

None were familiar, but every death weighed heavily on him.

Moreover, there was one thing that had been bothering him for a while.

At some point, the Astera Vision had stopped working properly.

This meant that the tower’s internal defenses were completely neutralized, and even the Ark room had been attacked.

‘…It must be the work of the remaining Twin Swordsman.’

They were exceptionally strong among the undead in the legion.

Especially, the “older brother” was known to be much stronger than the “younger brother” who was dealt with outside.

The children, already exhausted from continuous battles, would find it a formidable opponent.

‘I must hurry.’

Crackle—

The Hero activated Nova as he dashed further inside.

The building was enormous and complex, and the Astera Vision was malfunctioning, but he had been here once before.

He remembered the way.

It wouldn’t take more than a few minutes to reach the children.

Maktania’s admonition echoed like a hallucination in his mind at that moment.

.

.

.

“Wait.”

Just before stepping into the portal.

Maktania grabbed his wrist.

“Are you going to fight Yol right now?”

“Yes.”

“Are you confident you can win?”

A brief silence.

“Yes.”

Yol was considered the most powerful among the legion commanders due to his ability, Absorption.

One-hit kill.

Any living being that so much as grazed Yol’s sword would either die instantly or sustain crippling injuries.

Given Yol’s immense combat prowess, this overwhelming ability seemed almost unfair.

‘It’s hard to tackle him with a small number of fighters because the loss of combatants is certain and swift.’

So, is it easier to take him down with a larger group?

Absolutely not.

‘He also has “Desecration.”’

Bringing a bunch of weaker fighters would only increase his legion.

He was an opponent with no clear strategy for victory.

As a result, before Ted, no human had ever achieved a “complete victory” against Yol.

…Yes, humans hadn’t.

“I have a way to deal with Yol.”

The Hero possessed boundless vitality provided by the essence of the doppelgänger.

A power derived from tens of thousands of cores.

As long as his spirit held up, he could endlessly regenerate, making him an almost perfect counter to Yol.

When he briefly explained this, Maktania’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

“I figured it would be something reckless like that.”

She continued immediately.

“Are you aware that this battle will take place not in some isolated area but in Rosenstark?”

The Hero remained silent.

“Imagine you get slashed, your flesh and bones split, but you instantly heal. Your head gets cut off but reattaches… What will people who thought of you as Ted Redymer think when they see that?”

He knew it.

Everyone would witness the fight against Yol.

Using the Stellar Rift to isolate him wouldn’t last indefinitely.

Against an opponent of Yol’s caliber, the barrier would be shattered within minutes.

“You don’t want the people who loved you to start seeing you as a monster again, right?”

Maktania stared at him, as if trying to read his mind, then suddenly gasped.

“Oh my.”

“…….”

“You’re ready.”

Maktania whispered.

“You’ve already made up your mind to abandon ‘Ted Redymer.’ Isn’t that right?”

Her mouth slightly opened.

A smile mixed with amazement and awe spread across her face.

Like someone who had found what they had been searching for, she couldn’t take her eyes off the Hero.

The Hero responded calmly.

“We don’t have time. Get to the point.”

Maktania quickly made a proposal.

“How about you become my champion?”

“Champion?”

“Yes, then you wouldn’t have to give up ‘Ted Redymer.’”

The Hero turned away from the portal and looked at Maktania.

“You mean to use divine power for recovery instead? Can your divine power really be that effective?”

“Yes, it may not be as limitless as your regeneration, but it will be enough to withstand Yol’s attacks.”

“…….”

“And if you use my divine power, people will be more likely to view you as a divine apostle rather than a monster, don’t you think?”

In truth, there was no reason for the Hero to refuse her offer.

Of course, he couldn’t fully trust Maktania.

However, it was a fact that she was hostile to “evil.”

She had even destroyed Theo’s avatar.

“…Are you planning to fight alongside me directly?”

“Are you expecting that much? You seem to forget, I came to this world intending the extinction of humanity.”

Maktania’s pitch-black eyes stared at the Hero.

“My proposal is a favor to you as an individual, not a gesture of mercy towards humanity as a whole.”

“…So picky.”

“So, what will you do?”

Was there any need for further deliberation?

The Hero decided.

He would become Maktania’s champion.

“Alright, but keep this in mind.”

Maktania reached out to him and urged.

Crackle—

The Hero felt a strange power infuse his body.

This power, delving deep within him, was warm and gentle, invoking unfamiliar emotions.

Maktania’s voice echoed as if from a distance.

“You are not a celestial being, so even as a champion, your divine power will be limited.”

“…I understand.”

“No matter what happens, you must not use it recklessly. Reserve it solely for the fight against Yol.”

Of course, he would.

The Hero nodded casually.

…What Maktania was concerned about.

What it meant to possess “divine power.”

He realized this after defeating the horde of undead and reaching the Ark room.

“Professor!”

The twin swordsman fighting the children was immediately isolated and dealt with using the Stellar Rift.

Thus, all threats to the children were removed.

But the expressions on the children’s faces, as they looked at the Hero, were not of joy but of pain and sorrow, twisted with despair and helplessness.

The Hero stood there, bewildered.

Someone approached him.

“You’ve arrived?”

It was Mother Ghost, covered in blood.

She had been commanding the Dark Division agents from the control tower but stepped forward to protect the children when the Ark room was at risk of being overrun.

It was thanks to her that the children managed to hold on against the overwhelming horde of undead in the end.

The Hero passed her and headed to where the children were gathered.

Luke met him.

“…Professor.”

Luke was holding tightly to Evergreen’s hand, which was slipping out of his grasp.

His desperate eyes traced the unconscious girl’s face.

“I’m sorry.”

Luke’s lips moved as if to say more, but no sound came out.

…The Ark room was the last bastion of the tower, located deep within, considered the safest place.

Therefore, all the injured were transferred there.

Fifteen of the students, half of the Extreme Class, lay on the floor.

No matter how much they had grown over the past year, they couldn’t come out of such a gruesome fight unscathed.

All were severely injured, on the verge of death.

It was a miracle they were still alive.

“I managed to sustain their lives with a ritual…”

Mother Ghost, who had approached, trailed off—a rare occurrence for her.

He didn’t need to hear the rest to understand.

The more severe the injury, the exponentially greater the power required to heal it.

Even the gaze of a god might not be enough to rekindle the faint flame of life barely held together by sorcery.

The Hero knelt without saying a word.

Aileen, the lowest-ranked member of the Extreme Class, opened her eyes just then.

The bandage around her abdomen was blood-soaked.

Her injuries were among the worst; it seemed miraculous that she was conscious.

Aileen’s eyes, after taking in her friends, stopped at the Hero.

“…Hehe, you came?”

Her eyes were half-closed, and her breathing grew shallower.

The Hero looked at the hand reaching towards him and grasped it tightly.

“I still managed to help, right? My friends are safe, and so is this place.”

“…Aileen.”

“Even though I’m about to die, without another chance, I didn’t just cause trouble like usual, right?”

“You were more than enough, incredibly helpful.”

“That’s a relief. I’m reassured.”

Aileen’s voice was now so weak it was barely audible.

But her expression was ironically bright.

The faces of the Extreme Class students were lowered in despair, as if their hearts were breaking.

It was at that moment that the Hero spoke unexpected words.

“Aileen, you have to keep helping your friends… and everyone else.”

Words that promised a future.

Words that no one else there could have uttered.

The Hero, having finished speaking, lifted his head.

Suddenly, he noticed someone’s shattered sword on the floor.

Countless fragments.

His face was reflected in many pieces, each distorted slightly differently.

But all the reflections shared a common gaze, directed in one direction.

The Hero closed his eyes.

‘Never. No matter what happens, you must not use it recklessly. Save it for the fight with Yol.’

…He had already prepared and resolved himself long ago.

Now it was time to return.

When the Hero reopened his eyes, there was nothing in his vision.

Only a brilliant light.

Maktania’s divine power flowed entirely into the children.

And the Hero departed.

Yol was waiting for him.

[TL/N: This is not how I expected it to go down….]

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