The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 170

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

Chapter 170. Blessing of Harsh Winter (3)
Whiiiiiing!
A blizzard of pure white snow sweeps across the landscape.
Trees, rocks, and earth touched by the blizzard freeze solid in an instant.
“D-Dale!”
“Dale!”
Iris and Yuren called out to me with urgent expressions.
“Ugh…!”
As I tried to approach Lanez, the swirling blizzard around her pushed me back.
‘This is insane.’
The Blessing of Harsh Winter—the power that had transformed half the Continent into the Snowy Wasteland in my previous life.
That strength was so formidable that even I, now harboring the Primordial Flame within my body, found it nearly unbearable.
Crackle!
Ice shards materialized in the air and shot toward me.
“Dale!”
Clang!
Yuren drew his sword from his waist and deflected the incoming ice shards with his blade.
“W-What’s happening all of a sudden?!”
“It’s too long to explain!”
I retreated backward, evading the indiscriminate barrage of ice shards.
I bit my lip hard, watching Lanez at the center of the blizzard.
“I’ll be abandoned. I’ll be abandoned. I’ll be abandoned. I’ll be abandoned. I’ll be abandoned.”
Lanez, hunched over, repeated the same words like a broken machine.
‘She’s completely lost her mind.’
At a glance, she was in no state to reason with.
“We need to subdue Lanez first.”
“…How?”
Yuren squinted, watching the blizzard swirling around Lanez.
With his realm having risen sharply of late, he could sense it all the more clearly.
Each snowflake dancing in the air carried formidable power.
“We’ll have to try something.”
I gritted my teeth and drew forth my mana.
“Bloom.”
Whoooosh!
Blazing cinders ignite.
Gray smoke flowed from my pores, coiling around my body.
“Dale! I’ll hold back the blizzard—use that moment to approach Lanez!”
Iris’s eyes shifted to a rainbow hue as a brilliant white radiance erupted outward.
“Seven Gods! Protect your child!”
The white radiance unfurled like a curtain, blocking the swirling blizzard.
‘What is this…?’
A barrier powerful enough to withstand the blessing of extreme cold.
‘So Yurina wasn’t the only one who experienced rapid growth.’
In Iris’s case, since she specialized in support, I hadn’t truly felt the extent of her progress until now.
But witnessing the barrier hold firm against the howling blizzard made it clear she had achieved accomplishments no less remarkable than Yurina’s.
“Ugh…! D-Dale! I can’t hold it much longer!”
Yet no matter what accomplishments she’d made, her opponent was the Witch of Night—who had frozen half the world in her previous life.
The barrier wouldn’t be able to endure for long.
“Just hold on a bit longer!”
I planted my feet firmly, wreathed in ash-flames.
“No, no, no…!”
Crack-crack-crack-crack!
Lanez screamed, tearing at her own hair.
Ice pillars erupted from the frozen ground.
“Hah!”
Second form of the Ash-Flame Sword.
Flame Blade.
I unleashed a burning sword aura, shattering the rising ice pillars.
Shattered ice fragments scattered. A dizzying chill engulfed my body.
Crunch.
I pressed forward one more step, enduring the bitter cold that assailed me.
Lanez, still curled up with her head in her hands, slowly lifted her gaze.
Her hollow eyes fixed on me.
“Ah… uh.”
Whoooosh!
The blizzard intensified further.
“Ugh… Dale! No more…!”
Crack-crack-crack! Ching!
Iris’s barrier, which had been precariously holding against the howling blizzard, shattered into fragments.
A tidal wave of snow surged forward.
Like a colossal beast made entirely of snow opening its maw wide, the blizzard spread and engulfed me.
“Dale! Watch out!”
Yuren shouted urgently and planted his feet.
He tried to swing his blade to block the tidal wave of snow,
Crack-crack-crack! Clang!
“Ugh!”
His blade was repelled by the blizzard’s force.
Though the collision lasted less than a second, purple frostbite had already formed on his hand gripping the sword.
His hand trembled violently, eroded by the bitter cold.
Yuren stared at his hand, now discolored purple, and clenched his teeth.
“As if this matters…!”
Yuren tore the pendant from around his neck and hurled it away.
A resonant hum filled the air.
Brilliant light erupted, and golden hair transformed to silver.
Yurina, restored to her true form, gripped the sword hilt with hands now stained violet.
“Haah!”
Explosive mana erupted from the stigma carved into her left chest, enveloping her entire body in a silvery aura.
The silver aura spread wide, like unfurling wings.
Dozens, hundreds of sword strikes swam through the air like schools of fish, then traced a perfect circle.
A full moon rising in the bright daylight—such was the sight before us.
“I will protect Dale…!”
The blizzard shattered with a deafening crack.
The full moon cleaved through the tidal wave of snow.
“Well done, Yurina!”
I threw myself through the gap in the divided blizzard.
Flames crackled and roared.
I seized Lanez’s shoulder with hands wreathed in ash-colored fire.
“Lanez!”
Did my voice reach her?
“…Dale?”
Light flickered back into Lanez’s hollow, vacant eyes.
“I… what am I…?”
Lanez trembled violently, her expression bewildered.
She stared at my body, bleeding from where ice shards had torn through my flesh, her eyes widening in horror.
“Did I… did I hurt Dale…?”
Lanez stumbled backward, her face drained of all color.
Just as the light began to fade from her eyes once more.
“Snap out of it!”
I grabbed her shoulders with both hands and shook her roughly.
The light that had been dying in Lanez’s eyes blazed back to life.
“Ah… ugh.”
She bit her lip, staring at the blizzard swirling around us.
“Come back… please…”
Lanez reached out her hand toward the blizzard.
“I’m begging you… please…”
Her voice trembled with desperate longing.
Tears streamed down Lanez’s cheeks, falling in heavy drops.
“I… I don’t want to hurt Dale…”
A piercing whistle cut through the air.
Had her command taken effect?
The savage blizzard that had been raging fiercely began to subside, and once again it flowed back into Lanez’s body.
“Ugh…!”
Lanez winced, letting out a pained whimper.
As Lanez’s body swayed, the blizzard flowing into her began to churn violently once more.
I grabbed Lanez’s shoulder and patted her back gently, as if soothing a crying child.
“It’s alright. I’ll never abandon you… don’t worry.”
“Ah.”
Ripples formed in Lanez’s eyes.
She clenched her teeth and shifted her gaze toward the churning blizzard.
“Come back.”
Not a trembling, fragile voice, but one as resolute as a queen commanding her subjects.
The savage blizzard that had been raging instantly calmed, then was completely absorbed into her body.
“Hah, hah, hah!”
Having absorbed all the blizzard, Lanez collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily.
“What on earth just….”
Lanez, who had been staring down at her body with trembling eyes, suddenly lifted her head as if a forgotten memory had surfaced.
“D-Dale! Are you alright… Kyaa!”
Lanez, who had rushed to get up, lost her balance and staggered.
I took Lanez’s hand and helped her to her feet, then spoke.
“I’m fine.”
“I… I don’t understand what’s happening….”
“I said I’m fine. Don’t worry about it now—just rest.”
“…Dale.”
Lanez’s eyes trembled slightly.
She sobbed with her head bowed low.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry. You… you saved me… but I….”
As I patted the back of the sobbing Lanez.
“…Dale. What on earth is going on here?”
“That blizzard just now… it came from Lanez’s body, didn’t it?”
Iris and Yurina approached me.
Unlike before, they were now eyeing Lanez with suspicion and wariness.
“I’m sorry. I’ll explain later. As for Lanez… there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Sigh. Understood.”
“If you say so, Dale… I’ll trust you.”
Iris and Yurina nodded their heads with uncertain expressions.
Lanez, who had been sobbing with her head bowed, bowed deeply toward Iris and Yurina.
“I-I’m sorry! I don’t fully understand what happened either… but I never intended to hurt either of you! I swear!”
“….”
Lanez shed tears as she lowered her head.
Iris, who had been glaring at her with fierce eyes, sighed and placed a hand on Lanez’s trembling shoulder.
“I understand. Please, raise your head.”
“Ugh… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry.”
Lanez wiped the tears streaming down her face and turned her gaze toward Yurina.
“Yuren, I’m sorry too… Huh?”
Lanez’s eyes widened as she looked at Yurina.
“Yuren is… a woman?”
“Ah.”
Yurina swallowed hard, realizing only then that she wasn’t currently in her Yuren form.
“Well… since Dale said it was okay to trust you, I’ll tell you.”
Yurina revealed her true identity to Lanez.
As Yurina’s story unfolded, Lanez’s eyes grew wider and wider.
“So all this time… you’ve been disguising yourself as a man using a transformation artifact?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“….”
After hearing Yurina’s story, Lanez gazed at her with sorrowful eyes.
“That must have been… so difficult, hasn’t it?”
She understood well the pain of living while concealing one’s true identity.
Yurina shook her head gently at Lanez, who spoke in a sad voice.
“No, it’s fine. Because I have Dale.”
Yurina turned to look at me and smiled brightly.
“Dale… you have?”
Did Lanez sense something from Yurina’s smile?
Lanez looked between Iris and Yurina’s faces, her voice faltering as she asked.
“Wait, wait. Don’t tell me… you’re both dating Dale?”
At Lanez’s following question, a chill ran down my spine.
‘This can’t happen!’
If it were discovered that I was simultaneously dating two women, I had no idea what catastrophe would unfold.
I moved urgently to silence Yurina, but—
“Yes, that’s right. I’m dating Dale too.”
Yurina glanced at Iris and declared confidently.
Lanez’s mouth fell open in shock.
“So Dale… has two girlfriends?”
Lanez murmured, her expression dazed.
I squeezed my eyes shut and clenched my fists.
‘I’m done for.’
Before, I was fortunate enough to regain control, but if the Blessing of the Harsh Winter spiraled out of control even once more here, there was nothing I could do.
In the worst case.
I might have to end Lanez’s life with my own hands.
“Ha, haha.”
Laughter escaped through Lanez’s lips.
I steeled my resolve and slowly opened my eyes.
The face that greeted me was Lanez’s.
“Ahahaha! So, so that’s it? I see? So Dale… you’re not dating just one person, are you?”
Her expression was overflowing with unbridled joy.
‘Huh?’
What is this?
Why is she happy about this?
“Hehe. What a relief….”
Lanez gazed at me with a radiant smile.
I faintly heard her murmur, ‘So I have a chance too.’
“….”
Now I finally understood why Lanez had suddenly spiraled into that rampage.
‘She didn’t lose control because I had a lover… she panicked thinking she might be abandoned because of it.’
Now that she knew I wasn’t with just one person, her mind had settled—reassured that she could be the ‘third’.
‘So when I piece together the situation…’
It meant that my infidelity had actually prevented the Witch of Night’s awakening.
“….”
What was this feeling?
I had prevented a catastrophe with my own hands—half the world frozen in ice.
I had saved tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions of lives.
‘So why do I feel like such garbage?’

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