In response to the brown-haired girl's question, Leo gave a brief answer and pushed off from the ground.
He then charged at the nearest demon.
The demon hastily extended his palm toward Leo.
Whoosh! Squish-squish-squish!
A black summoning circle formed in front of Leo, and from it, crimson leeches the size of human heads poured out.
"Ah! It's dangerous!"
The girl shouted in alarm.
'Gorgoros leeches.'
These were magical beasts that attach to the body and suck blood, making them particularly troublesome for knights who engage in close combat.
If you were to recklessly slash them, their acidic blood would spurt out.
'Ordinarily, they'd be difficult to handle, but that's only if it were ordinary.'
Whoosh!
Flame Aura erupted fiercely from Leo's sword.
Zerdinger's flames instantly turned the Gorgoros leeches into ashes.
The girl who had warned of the danger was amazed.
"Wow, that's incredible!"
'Using Gorgoros leeches suggests that this demon isn't of a particularly high rank.'
With demons, you can gauge their rank by the techniques they use.
The current magical beasts are ones commonly used by low-ranking demon soldiers.
'There's no major threat. It's better to attack quickly now.'
After quickly analyzing the situation in his mind, Leo closed the distance without hesitation.
Swoosh!
The head of the demon mage flew through the air.
"Crushing two of them in an instant!"
The brown-haired girl clenched her fist.
Whoosh!
At that moment, Chloe, who had been in the sky, completed her spell.
"Ice Bullet."
A large number of ice bullets rained down on the demons.
Crack!
The demons, who had hastily dodged the ice bullets, found their formation disrupted.
"Great! I'm going too!"
This time, one of the boys, who had been standing by, gripped his spear and charged.
"Haah!"
Crack!
"Ugh!"
A demon with a pierced chest turned to ashes and disappeared.
'Good skills.'
Leo, who was impressed by this, turned his gaze to the brown-haired girl.
She was reciting a spell with her hands clasped together.
Zing!
When she separated her hands, several small orbs of light were created.
"Akurei!"
Kiki-ki-ki-ki-ki!
As the spell was completed, the orbs of light shot out in all directions, raining down on the demons.
Leo, who recognized the nature of the spell, was impressed.
'Star magic.'
Even though they were first-year students, Leo and the girl were completely different due to his memories from his previous life.
'What an incredible magical sense.'
While Leo was marveling, one of the demons hit directly by the orbs of light was torn apart without a trace.
The remaining number of demons was six.
The demons, who had lost their comrades, began to re-form their formation.
'Demon soldiers may be weak in power, but their coordination is excellent.'
Although he had initially disrupted their formation with a surprise attack, it would be difficult to deal with them now that they had re-formed.
Leo took out four daggers from his pocket, prepared as backup weapons, and held them in his right hand.
He then charged at the demons.
"Foolish human."
The demons sneered at Leo, who was attacking recklessly without preparation.
Whoosh!
But their expressions changed when a magic circle appeared in his right hand.
"Are you a Mage Swordsman?"
While the demons were on guard, Leo threw the daggers he was holding.
The demons who dodged the daggers prepared for a magical attack.
But when no spell seemed to be coming, they quickly switched to an offensive stance.
"Was it just a feint?"
"A cheap trick."
Four demons moved to surround Leo.
But their agile movements suddenly stopped as if they had been caught by something.
"Huh?"
The demons turned around in a panic.
The daggers Leo had thrown were embedded precisely in their shadows.
The Shadow Hold spell, which grabs shadows.
Dark magic is less effective against demons.
Indeed, the moment the demons realized it, the spell was immediately dispelled.
But that brief moment was more than enough time for Leo.
Whoosh! Thud! Crack! Squish!
"Ugh?!"
"Ugh!"
Leo's sword, tracing a path of flames, slaughtered the demons.
Whoosh!
At that moment, a black blade shot up from the ground, enveloping Leo.
It was a dark magic spell cast by the demons in the rear.
Leo instantly recited a rune language.
The dark magic lost its power and dissipated.
"Dispel dark magic?"
The brown-haired girl was surprised.
Crack!
A cold wind of ice enveloped the defenseless demons.
Crack!
Leo approached the frozen demons and pushed them.
Crash!
The bodies of the demons, shattered like glass, turned to ashes and disappeared.
"Great job, Chloe."
"......"
"Why? Do you have something to say?"
"Why did you use dark magic on the demons?"
"Oh, that?"
Leo laughed as if it were nothing.
"Demons are almost unprepared for dark magic. So even a simple spell can catch them off guard."
"Dispel the dark magic without dodging? That was dangerous."
"It is, but for a dark magic of that level, it's safer to dispel it if you can. Even though the magical systems are different, dark magic is ultimately composed of incantations. With simple dark magic, you can dispel it quickly. It's a skill you can do too."
'But being able to do that quickly in a real battle is a different story!'
To Leo, who had fought demons to the point of exhaustion in his previous life, these were natural actions. But for a 15-year-old girl, it was an overwhelming amount of experience that she could never acquire.
'How many moves ahead did he plan and act?'
Just as Chloe's eyes wavered,
"Thank you for helping us!"
The brown-haired girl smiled cheerfully and greeted them.
"Are you the rescue team?"
"Yeah."
"I was worried about the sudden appearance of demons, but now that the rescue team is here, I feel relieved!"
Chloe's face stiffened as she saw the girl's bright smile.
Chloe urgently said,
"Sorry, but I want to talk to my friend for a moment."
"Huh? Oh, okay."
The girl, taken aback by Chloe's words, returned to her teammates.
"Why?"
"That girl is Alia Zeron!"
"Alia Zeron? You don't mean...?"
"Yeah, that's right."
The world of heroes is a past event.
But depending on how the players act, it can create a different outcome from actual history.
Thirty years ago, during the monster extermination, several first-year parties were deployed.
The midterm exam task for first-year students is to rescue those parties.
"You know the party Alia Zeron is part of, right?"
Chloe swallowed hard.
"The party that couldn't be saved in the Chedmurders incident."
***
"Of all the parties, we had to meet Alia's."
Chloe stomped her feet.
There was an absolute reason why Alia's party couldn't avoid total annihilation.
"Dark Warrior Chubarn. He never changes his target."
Chubarn.
Thirty years ago, before being exterminated by Albi, he was a demon who single-handedly wiped out four out of the seven parties assigned to the mission.
Alia's party was the first one he targeted.
'Actually, he targeted Alia Zeron specifically.'
Chloe glanced at Alia, who was talking with her friends.
Alia Zeron.
A direct descendant of the Zeron family, one of the three great hero families in Lumera, and the class representative at the time.
She was also the younger sister of Albi, the Mage of the Magic Eye.
Her outstanding talent was so remarkable that she was occasionally mentioned even thirty years later among the professors.
But that outstanding talent ultimately cost her her life.
The reason Chubarn caused the Chedmurders incident in Tartarus was to eliminate the sprouts of future heroes.
So Alia Zeron was the first target.
This was why Alia's party couldn't avoid total annihilation.
No matter what the situation, once the world of heroes began, Chubarn would always start by wiping out Alia's party.
"Do you remember what Professor Halind said when he announced the exam task?"
Leo recalled Halind's words at Chloe's words.
'With your current skills, you can't defeat a Knight-class demon. If you encounter Chubarn, you must flee. If you can't escape, give up the exam. If you disobey this order and engage in battle, you will be expelled immediately.'
"Right now, we can't possibly defeat him."
"You're saying we should leave them?"
"I feel bad too! But Leo, we need to think rationally. This is the world of heroes, and in reality, those people are already... dead."
Chloe hesitated before continuing.
"They're already dead. We're not in a position to help the dead."
"That's true. But Chloe."
"Leo! Snap out of it! Yeah, you're amazing! You're great! I admit it!"
Leo's eyes widened at her sudden outburst.
Chloe glared at Leo with all her might.
"But now is not the time for reckless actions! Listen to me! You can act like a hero later...!"
Chloe stopped speaking, frustrated.
Leo's finger was already touching her lips.
"You shouldn't say such things lightly, Chloe."
"What? What do you mean?"
"You shouldn't talk about acting like a hero."
"Why not?"
"Because you're a hero candidate."
Chloe drew a breath.
"You came to Lumern to dream of becoming a hero, right? So this isn't acting like a hero."
Leo smiled gently.
"It's part of the process of becoming a hero."
Leo was right.
A hero is someone who turns the impossible into the possible.
But at some point, he had forgotten that goal.
'In a hurry to keep up... I didn't have time to think about such things.'
Dark emotions burned in his chest.
"And the history has already diverged."
"What?"
"It means there's a way to save those who were supposed to be unsavable."
"There's a way to save them?"
"Think about it, Chloe. The sun is already setting. Isn't that strange?"
"The sun is setting? Ah!"
Chloe's eyes widened as she realized something.
"Right. By now, Alia's party should have already fallen to Chubarn."
The gears of history had already shifted.
"We've been in the world of heroes for three hours. If Chubarn had attacked other parties, they would have all been wiped out by now."
If you fail to meet the conditions in the Hero Dungeon, you are isolated in the world of heroes.
It was a critical decision point.
One option was to take Alia's party, who had escaped Chubarn's target, and escape the forest to meet the [Safety Assurance] condition.
The other option was to follow the original strategy and search for other parties.