Legendary Hero is an Academy Honors Student - Chapter 283

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

283

The next day.

The streets of Tarcam were filled with vitality.

Parties preparing to head out for exploration to Erdien Mountain.

Parties conducting investigations within Tarcam, and so on.

Students were approaching this mission practicum in their own ways.

Leo also searched for witnesses of the monster from that night with his party members at the Central Square of Tarcam.

“I found out about the hospital where the guards are hospitalized.”

Cal approached with a grin.

Driana let out an impressed exclamation.

“You. You’re more capable than I thought.”

“Information gathering is my specialty. It’s nothing special.”

“Amazing, Cal!”

“Heh, praise me some more.”

Cal wiggled both hands smugly.

‘Ugh? He’s better than I thought?’

‘How does he gather information so quickly like that?’

Runia looked at Cal with a flustered expression, and Ar pretended not to care while yawning, but seemed inwardly curious as she kept glancing at Cal.

When Leo recommended Cal as party leader yesterday, Runia and Ar were quite dissatisfied inwardly.

It wasn’t that they looked down on him, but it was true that Cal’s abilities were the most lacking among the party members.

Even with Leo’s explanation, the two proud girls couldn’t easily accept it.

“How about it? Cal has ability, right?”

When Leo asked with a slight smile, Runia crossed her arms.

“He is competent.”

Leo chuckled at those words.

“Take this opportunity to observe Cal closely. I’m sure there’s a lot you can learn from him.”

“Things to learn?”

“That’s right.”

Leo looked at Cal.

“Cal surviving until 2nd year as the weakest at Lumern isn’t simply due to luck.”

Competition among students at Lumern is fierce.

Unlimited competition.

If you can’t keep up, you naturally get weeded out.

But Cal had been the weakest since enrollment.

However, defying many people’s expectations that he would be the first to be eliminated, he still proudly remains as the weakest 2nd year.

This is absolutely not an achievement accomplished through mere effort and luck.

“Cal has advantages that you two don’t possess.”

“What would that be?”

“The ability to devise strategies to win against opponents stronger than himself.”

Unintentionally, Lumern’s environment made Cal develop such abilities.

Every moment was a challenge against limits for Cal.

So Cal naturally acquired abilities that honor students don’t possess.

Giant killing.

Cal had definitely acquired the abilities that heroes should possess.

After hearing Leo’s words, Ar crossed her arms.

“Hmm. Surpass your limits… is it.”

Ar, who spoke Lumern’s motto, looked at Cal.

Leo patted both of their shoulders and followed Cal.

Following Cal’s guidance, they soon arrived at the hospital.

Visits to the guards were prohibited.

However, with their authority as hero candidates, the party members could meet the guards without much difficulty.

“When you see times like this, being a hero candidate is pretty good.”

Cal muttered admiringly.

The status of being a student at a Hero Academy was a free pass for most situations.

Thus, the five people stood in front of the hospital.

The attending doctor glanced at the party and said.

“I’ve allowed the visit, but I’d appreciate it if you could finish your business relatively quickly. The patient’s stability is the top priority.”

“Yes, we’ll finish quickly.”

The group nodded and answered, then entered the hospital room.

There, a single dwarf was trembling in the corner of the room.

As if he had already caused a commotion, the furniture inside the room was in shambles.

Seeing this, the party members showed bewildered expressions.

The guard’s condition was more serious than they had expected.

“In that state, it seems like it would be difficult to have a proper conversation?”

When Cal spoke carefully, Runia pressed her lips together and approached the guard.

“Excuse me, I have something I’m curious about…”

“Don’t, don’t come! Don’t come near meeee!”

As Runia approached, the guard began thrashing about frantically with a terror-stricken face.

“Get me out! Don’t hold me here, get me out of this place! The monster! The monster will come again! The monster will come!”

“Please calm down! We’re students from Hero Academy! We just came to ask about that incident!”

“Kyaaahhh!”

The guard began rampaging frantically.

Driana, who had been watching that scene intently, muttered.

“It’s a curse.”

“A curse?”

“Right. That guard isn’t simply in a state of mental confusion, but is under a curse of fear.”

“Wait? This guard just saw that unidentified monster, right? Just from seeing it, he got hit with such a strong curse?”

Runia showed a bewildered expression.

Cal checked the patient chart he had received from the doctor with a serious expression.

“It’s not simply a strong curse. Even though he was prescribed curse-breaking potions and curse-breaking spells, it seems the curse couldn’t be lifted.”

Treatment methods for curses, one of the demons’ most powerful weapons, is one of the fields that has been researched for a long time.

Therefore, most magical doctors were well-versed in knowledge about curses.

No matter how powerful a curse, it could be lifted given enough time.

However, despite receiving proper treatment, the guard’s curse was not being lifted.

While everyone was confused, Leo spoke.

“Eiran, can you lift the curse?”

“I-I’ll try.”

Eiran stepped forward with a tense expression.

Fairy magic power had long been incompatible with curses.

Therefore, the people of the Ersarr Family, descendants of Berkia who was the last Fairy Knight, naturally possessed strong resistance to curses.

They were also born curse-breakers.

“Please hold this person so he can’t thrash about.”

At those words, Ar and Driana grabbed both arms of the guard.

“Kyaaahhh!”

Then the guard thrashed about even more.

However, he couldn’t overcome students from Ajonia and Demian with physical strength.

Light green magic power flowed from Eiran’s hands.

It was the power of fairies overflowing with life force.

The moment Eiran reached her hand toward the guard.

Crackle! Bang!

Intense crimson sparks flew as Eiran’s hand was repelled.

“Eiran!”

Runia rushed to Eiran in surprise.

“I-I’m fine.”

Eiran smiled as she looked down at her hand.

Blisters had already formed on her hand as if burned.

The party members’ faces turned serious as they watched Eiran heal her hand with healing magic.

The curse of fear isn’t a difficult curse to dispel.

Yet a user of fairy power couldn’t break the curse and instead suffered damage from the rebound.

‘Just how powerful is the curse that’s been cast?’

Leo, who had been observing the situation, stepped forward.

“L-Leo! Be careful! The curse’s power activated due to my power’s influence.”

Eiran said urgently.

Sparks flew at Leo’s hand as well.

Crackle-!

But Leo didn’t mind and raised his gray mana to push back the curse’s power.

Thud-!

“Kraaaaaaah!”

Leo’s mana flowed into the writhing guard.

Leo quickly analyzed the curse.

‘Dispelling it will be difficult.’

It was a curse made of complex spell formulas.

Of course, with Leo’s abilities, he could dispel it sufficiently.

But the moment he attempted to dispel it, there was an overlaid spell formula that would strengthen the curse even more.

It was a curse that would ultimately cause the curse to go berserk and kill the victim.

‘Only Risinass or Luna could dispel it completely.’

Leo clicked his tongue.

Of course, it wasn’t like there was no solution.

Crackle-!

Crimson sparks flew from Leo’s hand.

But Leo didn’t mind and used his mana to wrap around the curse formula.

Then he slowly extracted the curse formula.

Swoosh-!

He removed his hand from the guard’s head.

At Leo’s fingertips was a crimson-tinged black mana orb.

Inside it, curse formulas were densely inscribed.

He had extracted the curse from the body without dispelling it.

Everyone’s eyes widened.

Leo’s eyes narrowed as he examined the curse closely.

Crackle-! Pop!

He gripped the orb-shaped curse power tightly and destroyed it.

With that, the guard’s convulsions stopped.

“Wh-what is this?”

Ar and Driana carefully released the arms of the guard, who was looking around bewildered.

“Amazing! Leo! You extracted and destroyed the curse itself! That’s incredible mana control!”

Leo had chosen to destroy the curse itself rather than dispel it.

It looked simple at first glance, but it was a high-level technique that required understanding the curse’s characteristics and near-miraculous mana control.

Looking at the guard who had returned to normal, Leo said.

“Now you’ll answer our questions properly.”

“Yeah.”

Cal approached the guard with a serious expression.

“I’m sorry. We have something we’d like to ask.”

Leo looked down at his palm, breaking out in cold sweat.

In the process of destroying the curse, he had learned whose curse it was.

‘…I was hoping my guess would be wrong.’

Leo’s face hardened.

‘Giant King.’

***

After finishing their investigation, Leo headed straight to the foothills of Erdien Mountain that the guard had mentioned, along with his party members.

Leo was lost in thought until they arrived at the location.

‘What could be the reason he appeared?’

During the first-year entrance exam.

Leo had definitely seen Erebos from this place in Gerwin’s Heroes’ World.

‘But that wasn’t a complete Erebos. No. Rather than Erebos, it was closer to a lingering thought.’

5000 years ago.

On this land, he and Erebos had fought their final battle with the world’s fate at stake.

And in the end, Erebos was defeated.

He was divided into several pieces and sealed.

‘His essence was said to be a being comparable to a god, right? Then it wouldn’t be strange if lingering thoughts remained.’

Thoughts made of hatred and resentment from being defeated on the verge of world destruction.

‘But the Giant King wouldn’t have moved because of that. Lingering thoughts would be powerless remnants of will.’

It was neither Erebos’s will nor his power.

Just a lump of resentment toward the Hero of the Beginning, Kail.

From Tartaros’s perspective, it was a useless mass of consciousness that provided no help.

Of course, the symbolic meaning was significant.

‘If he moved… it’s a more serious matter.’

Leo fell into contemplation.

“But is it really possible for a monster as tall as this mountain to exist in this world?”

Runia glanced up at the towering Erdien Mountain while exploring the surroundings.

“The largest living beings in this world are Gigantes. Come to think of it, you guys fought Gigantes last year, right? How big was it?”

When Runia asked with a tilted head, Cal answered.

“The ones who fought were the top students of our grade. I just watched the battle.”

Cal shrugged his shoulders and shook his head as if disgusted.

“That Gigantes was huge even though they said it wasn’t fully grown yet… But even if it were fully grown, being as big as a mountain doesn’t make sense.”

Hearing Cal’s words, Arga bit his index finger and tilted his head.

“Hmm. What about if it were the Giant King?”

“That Legion Commander who hasn’t shown himself for 5000 years? Isn’t that too out of the blue? There’s even a theory that he might have been defeated during the Age of Calamity.”

Literally, to people of this era, he was a Legion Commander who existed only in legends.

“Besides, if something that size had teleported, mana fluctuations would inevitably remain. It’s strange that it disappeared in the blink of an eye. There’s a high probability he saw an illusion. Though since he was cursed, it does seem related to Demons…”

Leo paused upon hearing Driana’s words.

‘Disappeared without a trace from the world?’

Leo knew about such a phenomenon.

‘When entering a Hero Record.’

Leo’s face hardened.

‘What if there’s a Hero Record of one of the Great Heroes here?’

Tartaros was conquering the World of the Great Heroes and burning Hero Records.

If that were the reason, it wouldn’t be strange for the Giant King to move personally.

The moment Leo’s thoughts reached that point.

“Leo! How long are you going to just think like that? Help with the search!”

Runia protested to Leo in a sulky voice.

“There’s some strange smell here.”

“Oh? Really? Somehow it’s more like a dog than a cat.”

“Who are you calling a dog!”

Kerhuk-!

Cal was impressed by Ar’s words as she sniffed around while Arga was exploring the surroundings.

Ar, who had immediately punished Cal, walked toward where the smell was coming from.

“Huh? Uooooooh!”

At Ar’s cry, Cal, who had been flinching after getting kicked in the ribs by Ar, straightened up.

“What did you find!”

“Look at this! It’s a Hero Record!”

“What?!”

“Where! Where!”

The party members gathered around Ar in surprise.

“Wait!”

Leo shouted urgently.

“This is… Lord Dweno’s Hero Record! Such an intact Hero Record!”

“What? Let me see too! Me too! Me too!”

Driana jumped up and down in surprise.

“But what are these burn marks scattered around?”

The moment Eiran touched the Hero Record to show it to Driana.

[Hero Record Open. Dweno’s World. Chapter: ■■-■■■■ ■■■.]

A message appeared before their eyes.

“Wh-what?”

“Hero Dungeon?!”

The surrounding area was swept by bright light.

All the party members cried out in shock as they saw the message floating before their eyes.

Hwaaak-!

Their vision was obscured by the familiar light.

Along with that, Leo opened his eyes.

‘What? Why did the Hero Record suddenly open…’

The moment Leo was confused.

Crash!

“Kehek?!”

“Kuk?”

He lost his balance and collided with something, rolling on the ground.

“H-heavy!”

A clear voice came from beneath Leo.

Leo got up.

“Sorry. Are you hurt any…?”

“You! What do you think you’re doing appearing so suddenly!”

The girl shouted with an angry face.

Eyes glaring sharply upward.

Tightly pressed lips.

And ears twitching as if angry.

It was an elf girl he knew all too well.

A girl he would have grabbed by the head and called insolent countless times if she weren’t so cute.

‘Berkia.’

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————