The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 118

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 118. Interlude – Madness
“….”
Within the Barrier made of blood-red mucus.
In the silence that descended like a curtain.
“…ha.”
A faint, hollow laugh escaped between the lips of Seto, the Archbishop of Madness.
“Really? You actually pulled the trigger five times?”
“There was nothing that said I couldn’t pull it multiple times alone, was there?”
“….”
Seto’s expression hardened rigidly.
‘How?’
Unable to comprehend, Seto stared intently at the Candidate before him.
Eyes as calm as if nothing had happened.
The question ‘How?’ filled his mind completely.
‘How… can there be no disturbance at all?’
What Seto could not fathom was not that he had pulled the trigger five times in succession against his own head.
He had seen many humans sacrifice their lives to protect those dear to them.
Parents who threw themselves in front of their children, lovers who embraced death to shield their beloved.
Even foolish humans who gave their lives for strangers they had never met in life.
‘But.’
Even such humans displayed some emotion when ‘death’ loomed before them.
Whether it was fear or relief.
‘At the very least, they should show some joy.’
Sometimes there were such humans.
Those who actually welcomed death.
When death drew near, they would smile broadly and open their arms to greet it.
‘But you’re not even that.’
Seto gazed at Dale with trembling eyes.
Throughout the five trigger pulls.
His pupils showed no emotional change whatsoever.
As if he possessed multiple lives.
Indifferently. Emotionlessly.
He pulled the trigger.
“…ha, haha!”
Seto clutched his stomach and burst into wild laughter.
He stared at Dale with a broad grin, unable to contain his delight.
Behind the mask, the glimpse of his ‘true face’ was.
“You… you’re insane, aren’t you?”
Truly, the word ‘madness’ suited him perfectly.
Perhaps.
Even more so than him, who was called the Mad Archbishop.
“Eehee, ihihi! Ahahaha!!! Yes, yes, yes! That’s it!”
Seto threw his arms wide open and bounced up and down like a child.
“I came on a whim, but I never expected to find someone even more insane than me here!”
A chill ran down my spine.
My body trembled with surging exhilaration.
“Yeah, good. I’m satisfied.”
Seto nodded and flicked his hand.
“I’ll be heading back now.”
Gurgle.
The blood-red viscous substance that had enveloped the surroundings melted away, seeping into the ground.
“Hah! Haa, haa!”
“Cough, cough!”
“Haa, haa… D-Dale!”
As the barrier vanished, Yuren, Camilla, and Iris gasped for breath, freed from the crushing weight of Seto’s presence.
Yuren and Iris rushed to Dale’s side the moment the barrier disappeared.
“Tch….”
Elisha, too, was released from the blood-red mist and watched Seto’s movements with wary eyes.
“Well then. See you again later, Dale Han!”
When Seto turned and took a step toward the Entrance.
“Hey.”
A hand grabbed his shoulder.
“Huh?”
“You’ve been running your mouth this whole time, and now you’re just going to slip away?”
“Uh… what?”
I grabbed Seto’s shoulder and pulled him back, my expression bewildered.
“It’s your turn now.”
….
Seto’s mouth fell open as he stared at the revolver I held out.
“Ah, wait… didn’t you understand? I said I’d let all of you live?”
“Letting you live is one thing.”
I aimed the gun at Seto’s head.
“But you still have to take a shot before you go. I’ve still got one bullet left, haven’t I?”
….
“Well, if you don’t want to do it, I’ll pull the trigger for you.”
I pulled the trigger while keeping the gun trained on Seto’s head.
Bang!
The gunshot rang out, and Seto’s head snapped backward.
Kaboom!!!
The mana condensed within the bullet detonated in a violent explosion.
“Heh.”
A faint chuckle escaped Seto’s lips.
When I lifted my head back up, a thin stream of blood trickled down my forehead.
“Tsk.”
I’d suspected as much, but as expected, the magical energy infused in the bullet wasn’t potent enough to split Seto’s skull.
“Ha, haha! Ahahahahahahaha!!!”
Seto burst into raucous laughter without even wiping the blood streaming from his forehead.
“Yes, yes, yes!!! This is it! I’ve been looking for a mad hero like you!”
Unlike the other heroes who trembled in fear whenever they stood before him, this one was different.
Twisted. Warped.
Beyond redemption.
Broken.
“Haa. What do I do? I think I’m falling for you?”
Seto exhaled in exhilaration and licked his lips.
I narrowed my eyes and shook my head.
“I’m not interested in men.”
“Really? Should I cut it off?”
“No.”
What the hell would I cut off, you bastard.
“Hahaha! Just kidding!”
Seto’s shoulders shook with giggles as he leaned in close to me.
“Look forward to it, Dale.”
He twisted his lips into a savage grin and stuck out his tongue.
“I’ll make sure to kill you with these hands of mine.”
“Yeah?”
Snort.
A hollow laugh escaped me without thinking.
“Try killing me, then.”
If you can.
“Hahaha! Yeah, that’s it. That’s exactly the reaction I wanted!”
Seto turned away with a satisfied laugh.
“Well then, I’ll be going! See you again, Dale!”
He waved his hand enthusiastically as he walked away, like saying goodbye to a close friend.
“….”
“….”
A heavy silence descended once Seto departed.
But only for a moment.
“Sigh.”
Elisha let out a deep sigh and shook her head in disbelief.
“…Dale.”
“Huh?”
“We’ll have a private talk later.”
“….”
Wait, why?
What did I do wrong?
“D-Dale, you…!”
Yuren’s eyes snapped wide open as he seized me by the collar.
“Why, why did you do something so reckless?!”
Yuren’s voice trembled on the verge of tears, his grip tightening with desperate intensity.
“Five shots… five shots?! What were you thinking if that thing had actually fired?!”
“….”
“If you… if you died, what would I do….”
Tears finally spilled down Yuren’s cheeks.
I gazed at him and let out a bitter laugh.
‘I suppose it’s time to reveal it.’
Only Iris and Professor Elisha knew about my ‘Blessing of Resurrection’ right now.
Yuren had no idea that I would be resurrected even if I died.
“There’s no way I’d die.”
“…What?”
“Even if the bullet fired and my head exploded, I would have survived.”
“…?”
Yuren’s brow furrowed in confusion at my words.
I turned my head and surveyed my surroundings.
Everyone was watching me, except for Albert who remained unconscious.
“I possess the Blessing of Resurrection.”
“Blessing of… Resurrection? What is that?”
“Well, it’ll be faster to show you directly than to explain it in words.”
With that, I conjured a mana bullet beside my head.
I fired the mana bullet I’d created toward my temple.
Splat.
My vision flashed black as I felt my head burst apart.
“…Huh?”
Yuren’s eyes widened in shock as he watched my head explode before him.
“What are you doing, Dale!”
Camilla, who had been watching silently, cried out in horror.
And then.
Whirrrrrrr!
The stigma carved into my left chest blazed with light as my head, which had burst apart in gray ash, rapidly regenerated as if time itself were rewinding.
“What, what is this?”
“What in the….”
Yuren and Camilla stared at me with expressions of shock, their mouths falling open.
Even Iris and Elisha, who had known about my Blessing of Resurrection, gazed in a daze as if possessed by a ghost, watching my head regenerate perfectly before their very eyes.
“See? This is the Blessing of Resurrection.”
I tapped my fully restored head with the tip of my index finger.
Camilla stared at me with trembling eyes and asked.
“So you’re saying… you come back to life even if you die?”
“That’s right.”
“Over and over again?”
I nodded instead of answering.
“Huh… what on earth is this….”
Camilla shook her head as if unable to comprehend.
“…Oh.”
Yuren let out an exclamation as if remembering something.
“Right… so that’s why you didn’t die back then….”
He was probably recalling the day I stormed the Helios Family alone.
“Anyway. I pulled the trigger trusting in my blessing, so don’t worry about it.”
“…Don’t worry about it?!”
Iris approached me with an indignant expression.
“You feel all the pain even though you don’t die—what do you mean don’t worry about it?”
Iris glared and struck my back.
Yuren turned to look at Iris and frowned.
“Did you know, Iris? That Dale possesses the Blessing of Resurrection?”
“Ah… yes. I knew.”
“….”
At her answer, Yuren bit his lip firmly.
“Why didn’t you tell me beforehand?”
“Sorry. I didn’t have the chance to tell you.”
I hadn’t intended to hide it from Yuren.
But.
‘Well, I’d only mention it if there was a reason to die.’
Lately, except when cultivating my mana, there had been no occasion to die, so the opportunity never arose.
“Still, you could have at least mentioned it!”
Yuren cried out with wide eyes, upset that Iris had known something he alone didn’t.
“Now, now, that’s enough of your lover’s quarrel.”
Elisha sighed and separated Yuren from the conversation.
“Dale. Let’s talk for a moment.”
Elisha pulled me away to the back of the Rock Pile where we had been before.
“Phew. Where do I even begin….”
Elisha placed a cigarette in her mouth and bowed her head toward me.
“I’m sorry.”
“Pardon?”
“A professor who cannot even protect a single disciple… you’re unfit for the role.”
Elisha bit her lip, her expression tinged with self-reproach.
I stifled a chuckle and shook my head.
“No one could have anticipated that the Mad Archbishop would appear here, after all.”
I conjured a small flame and lit the cigarette between Elisha’s lips.
“….”
Elisha drew a long drag from the cigarette in silence.
After a moment of contemplation, she turned her gaze toward me and spoke.
“There’s something I want to ask you.”
“Go ahead.”
“Why did you pull the trigger?”
“Pardon? Well, I was invoking the blessing of Resurrection—”
“No.”
Elisha shook her head.
“What I’m asking is why you deliberately pulled the trigger on the Mad Archbishop when he said he would stop and leave.”
“That was…”
“Did you know? That the Mad Archbishop would actually welcome such a reckless action from you.”
“….”
“Were you trying to draw his attention solely onto yourself?”
A long exhale.
Elisha released a plume of smoke, her eyes narrowing with profound intensity as she studied me.
“Dale… could it be…”
Her violet eyes gleamed with piercing sharpness.
“Did you come from the future?”

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