The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 132

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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 132. Legacy of Iron Fist (1)
Whoooosh!
Ashen flames roared to life with savage intensity.
Turbulent fire wrapped around my fist.
‘It’s a crude method, admittedly.’
I had deliberated on this, truth be told.
I could have simply located all the seal stones as I had in my previous life, then opened the Ruin Interior’s door.
‘A waste of time.’
I knew the location of the Ruin Entrance and possessed the strength to shatter the seals.
Unlike the midterm evaluation, where the conquest process itself was being assessed, there was no reason to rigidly follow the orthodox route, was there?
‘And if I were to locate all the seal stones effortlessly and solve the sealing riddles in one go, it would only deepen their suspicions.’
Already, Yuren harbored doubts simply from my discovering this hidden Ruin Entrance without any clues. Acting any more suspiciously would only invite further scrutiny.
No matter how much my Party members trusted me, I knew full well that the flimsy excuse of “I obtained information from Elisha” wouldn’t convince them.
‘Well, if I hadn’t wanted to invite suspicion, I shouldn’t have come here in the first place.’
This was my personal choice.
Should I hide the fact that I’m a returnee and move inefficiently?
Or should I move efficiently despite the risk of arousing suspicion?
I chose the latter.
‘Eventually, even if not now, I’ll reveal the truth someday.’
Perfectly concealing that I’m a returnee wouldn’t prepare me for the coming catastrophe anyway, so there was no reason to obsess over it.
Of course, a nagging doubt crept into my mind—if that were true, why not simply reveal my identity to my comrades as openly as I had to Elisha, rather than hiding it?
‘That’s….’
I swallowed a bitter laugh and shook my head.
To be honest, I wasn’t mentally prepared yet.
Not prepared to lay bare everything about myself to my previous life’s comrades.
‘If Sophia heard this, she’d click her tongue and call me foolish.’
I couldn’t help it.
I wasn’t as wise as she was.
Whoooosh!
As my thoughts continued, the flames wreathing my fist grew fiercer still.
“D-Dale…!”
“A-are you sure you’re okay, Dale?”
Iris and Yuren, sensing the tremendous power concentrated in my fist, stared at me with blanched faces.
“Everyone step back. And Iris, use your protective magic.”
“Yes. Oh, understood.”
Iris chanted an incantation with visible tension.
After confirming that my Party members had retreated behind a pristine white barrier.
“Here goes.”
Berald’s martial arts.
“Mountain Breaker.”
CRAAAAAAAAASH!!!
A terrifying impact shook the entire Gorge.
The solid stone walls of the Cave fractured and crumbled inward.
Beyond the collapsed wall, what appeared was.
‘It’s been a while.’
A massive iron door inscribed with intricate magical arrays.
I smirked and placed my hand upon the enchanted iron door.
Whoooosh!
Primordial flames erupted, consuming the magical arrays protecting the iron door.
After several minutes had passed, all the magical arrays inscribed upon the massive iron door had burned away in the primordial fire.
“Phew.”
Having expended a considerable amount of mana in one go, I exhaled wearily and sat upon the collapsed rubble.
“…Is it all finished?”
“Yeah. You can come out now.”
The Party members sheltered within Iris’s protective barrier slowly emerged and surveyed their surroundings.
“Whew… I never knew that ‘Mountain Breaking’ technique you taught me was literally a skill that shatters mountains.”
Berald gazed at the collapsed Cave wall and clicked his tongue in amazement.
“Now it’s your turn, Berald.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
I gestured toward the firmly sealed iron door and continued.
“Show me your ‘magic’ after all this time.”
“Ah.”
As if understanding my meaning immediately, Berald’s lips curled into a grin.
“Hehe! Leave it to me!”
Berald approached the sealed iron door and wedged his hand into the narrow gap.
“HRRAAAAAAAGH!”
Screech! Crunch crunch crunch!
The massive iron door warped and screeched with metallic groans.
“UNLOOOOOOCK!”
Boom!
The iron door shattered, and the hidden entrance to the Ruins opened.
Yuren and Camilla Bediche, witnessing this spectacle, pressed their foreheads as if their heads ached.
“…It feels like all the common sense I knew has been completely negated.”
“I agree.”
And so.
The full-scale exploration of the Ruins began.
* * *
There were broadly two types of golems discovered within the Ruin Interior.
One was created by human hands.
The other was created by the hands of the gods.
Unless the Ruins were intentionally constructed by humans, most Ruins naturally housed Guardians—golems created by the hand of the divine.
Golems forged by divine hands… To be more precise, scholars have long debated various hypotheses regarding how golems naturally manifest within Ruin Interiors.
Some claimed they formed from the accumulation of excess mana lingering within the Ruins.
Others argued that the Ruins themselves possessed consciousness and created these guardians to protect themselves.
Still others theorized that just as living creatures could be transformed into magical beasts or Demons by receiving the Demon God’s power, inanimate objects could similarly become golems upon receiving such divine influence.
Yet despite these countless theories.
No scholar had ever provided a definitive answer to how golems were actually created within the Ruin Interior.
Even I, a regressor, knew nothing of the principle behind their creation.
Still, there were a few things I understood about golems themselves.
They formed naturally within Ruin Interiors and, once destroyed, never regenerated.
They attacked only intruders and never ventured beyond the Ruins’ boundaries.
For golems created by divine hands, the term “Guardian” was used instead of the more mundane “protective golem.”
And finally.
Guardians had a far higher probability of dropping mana stones compared to magical beasts.
This was precisely why I had immediately thought of this Ruin when Iris mentioned that a sacrifice was needed to treat Berald’s Father.
Ruins that spawned Guardians were exceedingly rare.
Not all Ruins produced Guardians.
In fact, Ruins where Guardians naturally manifested represented only a tiny fraction of all known Ruins.
Regardless.
The reason I was explaining Guardians in such exhaustive detail was….
“…Dale.”
Because one had just appeared directly before us.
[Intruder detected. Intruder detected.]
A Guardian composed entirely of stone.
Standing roughly three meters tall, it wasn’t particularly large for a Guardian, yet the oppressive weight radiating from its entire form proved it was a fundamentally different entity from the protective golems I’d faced during the midterm evaluation.
[Intruder elimination protocol activated.]
Zing.
A sinister crimson light ignited within the Guardian’s eyes.
“Everyone, get back!”
Iris reacted first.
She hastily extended both arms and began chanting an incantation.
“Seven Gods above! Protect your child!”
A pristine white barrier materialized, blocking the Guardian’s path, but.
Whoooosh, crash!
“Kyaaaah!”
The protective barrier tore like tissue paper before the Guardian’s fist.
The shattered magic sent Iris crashing to the ground with a scream.
“Priestess! Grrgh…!”
Camilla Bediche bit her lip hard and charged toward the Guardian.
“Hyah!”
A claymore wreathed in pristine white aura cut through the air with a heavy sonic boom, swinging toward the Guardian.
[Attack detected.]
[Counterattack protocol activated.]
Clatter clatter clatter!
Stone scales erupted from the Guardian’s arm like a porcupine’s quills, then launched toward Camilla Bediche.
“Ugh…!”
Clang clang clang!
Camilla Bediche twisted her claymore desperately, defending against the cascade of stone fragments.
But the Guardian’s hand seized her waist.
“Hack!”
Camilla Bediche gasped, her breath torn away by the terrifying pressure.
“You bastard!”
Berald charged forward with fierce determination, rushing toward the trapped Camilla Bediche.
“Haaaah!”
Berald conjured a mana bullet in mid-air and hurled it.
Boom!
Smoke billowed from the Guardian’s arm where the mana bullet struck, and Camilla Bediche tumbled to the ground, freed from its grip.
[Target priority reassigned.]
The Guardian’s crimson eyes turned toward Berald.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Guardian charged forward with a thunderous roar, bearing down on Berald.
The Guardian’s arm swung savagely, striking Berald.
“Hack…!”
Boom!
Berald ricocheted like a pebble, crashing hard against the wall.
“Berald!”
Yuren clenched his teeth and stepped in front of the Guardian.
The sword he drew from his waist blazed with brilliant golden aura.
Sun Sword.
Sixth Form, White Light.
The golden aura condensed into a single point and shot toward the Guardian.
Crack crack crack!
The Guardian’s arm shattered under the White Light’s impact, rolling across the floor.
But.
[Damage assessment complete.]
[Combat continuation possible.]
The Guardian raised its remaining arm and aimed it at Yuren.
Whirrrrr!
Mana condensed in the Guardian’s arm as a projectile fired.
“Ahhh!”
Yuren was swept up by the barrage and tumbled roughly across the ground.
“….”
I turned to look at my Party members being pushed back helplessly, and my eyes narrowed.
‘It seems I was too hasty after all.’
Well, that made sense.
When I first conquered this Ruins, more than ten years had passed since then.
Even though Yuren, Berald, and Iris were all growing rapidly compared to my previous life, the gap of ten years was still far too great to bridge.
‘In a way, it’s only natural.’
You couldn’t ask a child who had just begun to walk to run, after all.
The Guardian within this Ruin Interior possessed power comparable to at least a Nine-Eyed Demon Beast, so it was inevitable that we were being pushed back like this.
[Combat situation analysis.]
[Target confirmed.]
The Guardian’s crimson eyes turned toward me.
Boom, boom, boom!
The Guardian charged forward with heavy, thundering footsteps.
[Target behavioral pattern analysis.]
[Insufficient information for analysis.]
[Activating annihilation cannon for assured elimination….]
“Shut it, you machine.”
I thrust my blade toward the charging Guardian.
Whoooosh!
The sword, wreathed in ash-white flames, cleaved the Guardian’s body in two.
“Ah….”
“D-did he just destroy that Guardian in one strike…?”
“Dale….”
My Party members stared at me with expressions of shock and awe as I dispatched the Guardian in an instant.
I turned to face them, lost in thought for a moment.
‘The truth is, this enemy is indeed beyond their current level….’
But I couldn’t keep comforting them with empty reassurances every time.
Sometimes, for the sake of my comrades’ growth, the whip was more necessary than the carrot.
“Sigh.”
I exhaled deeply and turned back to my Party members.
“Sorry. I think I overestimated you all.”
I clicked my tongue and turned away with a disappointed expression.
“Maybe we should call off the Ruins exploration and head back? This Ruins seems far too difficult for your current level.”
“….”
Yuren’s expression hardened at my scathing assessment.
“…No.”
Yuren pushed himself up unsteadily, using his sword as a crutch.
“We can do more, Dale.”
Watching the silver radiance burning in his eyes, I nodded with satisfaction.
And then.
* * *
“Iris! Blessing first!”
“Yes!”
“Berald, Camilla! Draw the Guardian’s attention!”
“Understood!”
“I can’t hold out much longer!”
The Party members moved in perfect unison at Yuren’s command.
“Hah.”
A terrifying surge of mana erupted from Yuren’s body.
“I can… do more…!”
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The Ruin Interior trembled as if an earthquake had struck.
Yuren’s blade, imbued with dizzying mana, was swung toward the Guardian.
Crash!
The Guardian was sent flying back with a deafening roar.
“I’ll join in!”
“Hyaaaah!”
“Kill it! Destroy that damned hunk of metal, Camilla!!!”
The Party members rushed toward the Guardian that had been knocked back, trampling it relentlessly.
“Hmm.”
Watching the scene unfold, I swallowed hard with my arms crossed.
“Was the effect… too good?”

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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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