A commander of the demonic army that had existed since before the Age of Catastrophe.
And 5000 years ago.
She was one of the three commanders that the great heroes failed to eliminate.
‘She had a mind-degrading spell on me.’
The moment Leo sensed the magic, it was dispelled.
‘I suspected that a high-ranking demon was pulling the strings behind the scenes, given the connection to the divine artifact, but I never thought it would be this one.’
Crack! Crack!
[Student? Such a sensitive brat. I see you noticed my magic.]
Leo tensed his body.
During the Age of Catastrophe, seven out of the ten commanders who existed at the time were exterminated by Kyle and his comrades.
‘But they couldn’t eliminate the last three.’
The reason was simple.
The remaining three commanders were monsters of a different caliber compared to the others.
Beneath their terrifying power, they possessed cunning as well.
Kyle had never directly confronted Silatuna during his time.
Kyle was dedicated to battles with other commanders, the Command King and the Giant King.
Luna and Aron were responsible for Silatuna.
‘When I went to support, they had already retreated.’
In the end, they never met until the end of the Age of Catastrophe.
Now, he was facing that formidable enemy.
[Complain about your overly sensitive senses.]
Silatuna sneered and swung her hand at Leo.
Crack!
Her elongated arm shot out to pierce Leo.
Whoosh!
At that moment, a flame of aura burst forth.
Sizzle! Boom!
Silatuna’s eyes twitched as she watched her arm turn to ashes.
[I thought you had lost your fighting spirit.]
Commanders are armed with the curse of terror.
Those exposed to the curse are paralyzed by fear and lose their fighting spirit.
But such mental curses had no effect on Leo.
‘This is a flesh construct. If it were the main body, it wouldn’t have been able to hide at all!’
Without hesitation, Leo broke the shop window and fled outside.
Even as a construct, it was a far more dangerous existence than Chuvarren.
‘There’s nothing I can do now. I have to get out of here somehow…!’
[Didn’t your professors teach you to watch your back?]
“Gah!”
Leo quickly turned his body at the murderous intent and mocking laughter from behind.
Swish!
A flesh whip barely grazed Leo’s back.
Leo spun his body, feeling the sting from behind.
Sizzle!
Boom!
A flame of aura far more intense than before turned Silatuna’s arm to ashes.
Silatuna’s eyes twitched.
The flesh whip moved like a living snake, trying to pierce Leo.
Leo’s red eyes quickly followed the trajectory of the attack.
‘I’m slower in terms of speed.’
Leo’s body was still that of a teenager.
It was not yet a fully developed body.
‘I have to predict and move in advance!’
Leo’s body left afterimages.
But with each movement, he was gradually and surely getting farther from Silatuna.
Silatuna narrowed her eyes.
‘Just a student, after all.’
Leo’s movements, which seemed to be on the verge of being caught but narrowly avoided, were extremely annoying.
Silatuna, who realized that Leo’s skill was making up for the clear difference in power and speed, smiled.
[Looks like I have to kill this brat now.]
Boom!
Flesh spread out like a giant net, enveloping Leo.
[I’ll crush you like this.]
Seeing this, Leo urgently maximized his aura’s firepower.
Sizzle! Boom!
The intense flames burned the flesh.
The smell of burning flesh was nauseating.
[Phoenix’s flames?]
Silatuna was surprised.
Sizzle!
Smoke rose from Leo’s body after he unleashed his maximum firepower in one go.
His body was burned from the strain of producing such intense flames.
[Impressive, but how many times can you unleash that level of firepower?]
Silatuna smirked.
Leo glanced up.
Following his gaze, Silatuna also looked up, startled.
Crack! Boom!
Something broke, and shards of light rained down on Silatuna.
Crackle!
The shards of light crushed Silatuna’s body.
[You came.]
Silatuna smiled as she shook off the shards of light.
[The Mage of the Magic Eye.]
In the sky, Albi, with his golden Magic Eye on the left, was present.
“Just a piece of flesh.”
[Piece of flesh? That’s a disrespectful term for this noble body.]
“I don’t care about the flesh.”
Albi’s Magic Eye glowed.
A rectangular golden barrier of light was created.
Clang!
Cracks appeared on the barrier, which then turned into sharp shards.
Leo’s eyes widened.
‘Fairy magic.’
Magic that only fairies could use.
A human was using it.
‘This is the Hero Record… the power to cultivate heroes.’
While Leo was marveling,
Silatuna, seeing the shards of light aimed at her, smiled with a murderous intent and licked her lips.
[One day, I’ll gouge out that left eye.]
Snap!
As soon as she finished speaking, one of the shards of light pierced the construct’s face.
Struck by countless shards of light, Silatuna turned into a lump of flesh and disappeared.
The flames of aura burning on Leo’s body gradually subsided.
“Leo Flaubert?”
Albi, who had returned to his normal eye, adjusted his glasses.
“How did you end up being chased by this monstrosity?”
“While investigating Rutek, she suddenly appeared.”
“Rutek?”
Albi’s cold gaze turned to Leo.
“That place has already been investigated by Lumern, yet this monstrosity was found?”
“A mind-dissonance spell was cast.”
“Mind-dissonance… indeed.”
Albi, looking convinced, did not press further.
Leo, seeing this, was puzzled.
‘I heard he’s very persistent about matters related to Tartarus.’
Albi Jearon.
A Lumern professor who doesn’t teach.
He became a Lumern professor solely to enjoy the benefits.
The ability to freely cross borders and intervene in Tartarus-related incidents at any time.
These are the privileges of a Lumern professor.
He had spent his entire life chasing Tartarus, yet he showed a nonchalant reaction to matters related to Silatuna, his sworn enemy.
“Weren’t you supposed to prepare for the field trip?”
“Yes.”
“Then go on.”
“Huh?”
“Why are you surprised?”
“No… won’t there be any punishment for this incident?”
Seeing Albi, Leo had braced for punishment.
Leo was involved in the incident during the midterm exam, but delving into the matter was not allowed.
It was strictly a solo action.
Even if it were another professor, Leo would have been punished.
But Albi didn’t say much to Leo.
Instead, he told him to go.
Looking at Leo’s bewildered expression, Albi said indifferently,
“It’s funny for someone who doesn’t take his professor duties seriously to give out punishments. And….”
A warm aura enveloped Albi’s usually cold face.
“I am grateful to you, Leo Flaubert.”
“Huh?”
“Thank you for saving that child.”
Leo thought of Aliya.
“I’ll help you if there’s anything I can do in the future.”
With that, Albi headed towards Rutek’s general store.
If a student or professor who knew him saw this, they would have doubted their eyes.
But to Albi, Leo was almost a benefactor.
‘He must have had to hear the words “I couldn’t save my brother” countless times.’
He opened his world of heroes for the sake of the future, but each time, Albi had to recall his brother’s death.
Leo had resolved that grudge for Albi.
Looking at Albi’s back, Leo smiled and suddenly remembered something.
‘The Jearon family is one of the three major families of Lumern, right?’
The Council of Lumern, which manages the hero academy Lumern and the independent city of Lumereia, is composed of three major hero families.
The Jearon family is one of the most prestigious among them.
‘If I ask Professor Albi, can I access the restricted library? I should ask him next time.’
Thinking of the future, Leo looked at where Silatuna’s construct had disappeared.
‘This confirms it. The Chedmurders incident and this one, Silatuna was the one actually pulling the strings.’
Currently, Silatuna, one of the actual rulers of Tartarus, was the one who moved.
‘Did she move just to cut off the sprout of a hero candidate?’
The unease couldn’t be shaken off.
‘What is she after, exactly?’
***
Whistling wind blew in the deepest part of the northern continent.
This place, covered in snow and ice year-round, had been the sacred territory of the elves since before the Age of Catastrophe.
In this sacred territory stood an ancient elf castle.
Now known as the elf hero academy, Seiron.
Students were moving around the campus of Seiron.
Among them, an elf girl with red hair and red eyes was walking through the snow, her neck wrapped in a scarf.
“Wearing such light clothing in this weather. Are you showing off your powerful magic?”
“Indeed, you lack the virtue of humility, being from a family without a lineage. Besides, you’re not even a pure elf,