The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 197

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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 197. The Witch’s Resolve (4)
“Ah, ugh!”
Lanez gasped as the savage power of the Blessing ravaged her body.
The howling blizzard lashed across her skin, leaving violet necrosis in its wake.
A terrible, searing pain—as though carved by razor-sharp blades—tore through her flesh.
“…I cannot comprehend this.”
Wolf Mask narrowed his eyes as he watched Lanez writhe in agony.
“Why would you reject the easier path?”
With merely a magic stone, controlling the Blessing’s power would be effortless—she must surely understand this.
After all, she had experienced that power firsthand.
And yet.
Why would she abandon the convenient method for such a foolish choice?
“Do you doubt that person’s power? If so, there are other ways….”
“No.”
Lanez continued softly, her eyes narrowed against the swirling tempest.
“I don’t know who you’re referring to… but I understand that magic stone holds the power to control the Blessing’s force.”
“Then why did you destroy it? If you didn’t wish to follow me, couldn’t you have simply fought me using that stone’s power?”
Lanez knew better than anyone that she could not defeat him now—not without the ability to control the Blessing’s power.
“…You’re right.”
She understood perfectly well that using the magic stone’s power would have been the wiser choice to avoid being dragged away by force.
But.
“If that were the case, I would never have left the Academy in the first place.”
The magic stone’s power was formidable.
Yet it could never compare to Dale’s ‘flame.’
When Dale’s flame stood beside me, controlling the Blessing became far easier than when I relied solely on the magic stone’s power.
“In the end… I must overcome this through my own strength alone.”
Whether it’s Dale or the magic stone.
I cannot continue relying on others to wield the Blessing.
With my own hands, with my own power.
If I cannot control the Blessing myself, I will never truly belong among my companions.
“Foolish.”
“I know. But….”
Lanez took a precarious step forward, a faint smile gracing her lips.
Whiiiiiing!
The savage blizzard tore through her body once more.
It hurts.
It’s cold.
Unbearably, agonizingly so.
And yet.
“I will not give up.”
Within the howling blizzard.
Unwavering violet eyes fixed upon Wolf Mask.
“…Tsk.”
Wolf Mask clicked his tongue at the sight of Lanez.
“It seems the intelligence regarding Raneez Malam’s personality requires revision.”
Fragile, timid, low self-esteem, heavily dependent on others—such had been the existing profile.
Yet nowhere in her figure standing resolute amidst the savage blizzard did the old information hold true.
“But before that, first… I must bring you to him!”
Boom!
Wolf Mask lunged forward, driving off the ground.
A colossal greatsword cleaved through the raging blizzard and swung toward her.
“Haaah!”
Lanez cried out, extending her hand.
The howling blizzard coalesced, forming a wall.
Precarious and fractured as though it might shatter at any moment.
Clang!
Crash-crack-crack!
The wall shattered upon impact with Wolf Mask’s greatsword.
Ice shards erupted from the collapsing wall, engulfing both Wolf Mask and Lanez simultaneously.
“Ugh.”
“Ngh…!”
Groans burst from both their lips at once.
Lanez bore the brunt of the ice shards, caught more heavily in the blade’s trajectory.
“Listen… to my words!”
Just before hundreds of fragmented ice shards could lacerate her body.
The shards froze solid directly before her skin.
Lanez swept her outstretched hand downward sharply toward Wolf Mask and screamed.
“Freeze!”
The ice shards remained motionless.
Lanez did not relent, continuing to cry out.
“Freeze! Freeze! Freeze, please!!!”
Like a wail. Like a shriek.
She tore her very soul and wove it into her voice, chanting the incantation.
“Do you truly believe you can control divine blessing through mere desperation?”
Wolf Mask shook his head disdainfully at her display.
Crackle-crackle-crackle-crack!
“…!”
As if the very air had frozen, the hundreds of fragmented ice shards spread wide.
The raging blizzard tangled within the ice shards, blooming like petals.
The sight was as if….
“Snow… flowers?”
Enormous ice flowers bloomed in the empty air.
“Hah, hah, hah!”
Lanez gasped for breath, her eyes fixed on the colossal ice flowers suspended before her.
Instinctively, I understood how to manipulate them.
“Bloom.”
Whiiiiiing!
The petals unfurled violently, unleashing a savage blizzard.
Shards of ice cascaded toward Wolf Mask.
Each fragment carried an overwhelming, bone-chilling cold.
“Ugh…!”
Clang clang clang clang!
Wolf Mask spun his massive greatsword like a windmill, deflecting the torrent of ice shards.
But only for a moment.
Ice shards pierced through his blade, embedding themselves into his body one after another.
“This… won’t be easy.”
Tsk.
Wolf Mask clicked his tongue softly.
The instant he judged victory impossible, he spun without hesitation and fled.
“Wait, stop…!”
Lanez tried to fire ice shards at his retreating form.
Crack!
“Ah!”
The ice flower shattered.
The shards spiraled out of control, scattering wildly in all directions.
Crash crash crash crash!
The earth where the shards struck froze white.
Then.
“Lanez!”
A voice far too familiar reached my ears.
“Ah…!”
My eyes widened.
Not even a full day had passed since we parted, yet hearing his voice made my heart thunder against my ribs.
“…Dale.”
“Damn it! Stay right there!”
Dale approached with an expression twisted in fury.
Ice shards that had been raging in all directions now targeted him, pouring down relentlessly.
“Disappear.”
Whoooosh!
Savage flames erupted, melting the ice shards in an instant.
Crunch, crunch.
Dale approached Lanez, melting the swirling ice shards in his path.
Lanez bit her trembling lips and cried out.
“No, don’t come!”
“I’m taking you with me.”
Dale shook his head with resolute determination and continued forward.
“No, that’s not what I meant! If you come now, Dale… everything… becomes meaningless!”
“…What?”
Dale stared at Lanez, confusion written across his face.
Lanez clenched her fists and pressed a hand to her chest.
“I can’t… accept your help!”
If I accepted Dale’s help, I could easily control the runaway blessing ravaging through me.
But if that happened.
It would mean I could never control the blessing without him.
To remain by his side.
To keep my precious companions from being hurt.
“I must…! I, by my own strength alone…! I have to succeed…!”
I reach out toward the howling blizzard.
“Ah, ugh!”
My outstretched hand turned blue with necrosis, and excruciating pain shot through my arm.
It hurts, it hurts, it hurts.
Even with Dale right before my eyes, the agony consumed my every thought.
“Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!”
“Lanez!”
Dale couldn’t hold back and rushed toward her.
Crack!
A massive ice spear materialized before his feet.
“I can… do this… I, alone…!”
Lanez gritted her teeth and raised her necrotic blue hand again.
I can do this.
No—I must do this.
‘All this time… I’ve only ever run away.’
Yes.
My entire life has been nothing but a series of escapes.
Running from the Mother who killed my Father.
Running from people who mocked me as a witch.
Even from the person I cherish most.
I ran.
With my eyes closed, my ears shut, my heart suppressed.
I believed that was the only way.
But.
“I don’t… want to run away…!”
How could I throw away this warmth I’ve finally obtained?
This happiness I’ve yearned for my entire life?
I didn’t want to destroy it with my own hands.
“I…!”
Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash!
The raging blizzard swirled.
The blessing of extreme cold, thrashing about madly, froze the entire surrounding earth.
Ancient trees that had endured for decades, stone as hard as steel, scattered leaves—
All of it shattered as it froze solid.
In the wake of the blessing of extreme cold’s passage, a pristine white Snowy Wasteland was born.
‘…Ah.’
I’d heard it from Dale.
How he wandered the Continent, which had become a Snowy Wasteland because of my power, searching for the primordial flame.
‘So this is where he was… in a place so cold and terrifying…’
And for an immeasurable span of time at that.
“….”
What kind of being I was in my past life.
Why I became the Witch of Night and slaughtered tens of millions of people.
I don’t know.
And I don’t want to know.
‘But.’
Kneeling on one knee atop the pristine white Snowy Wasteland, I placed my hand upon it.
A breath exhaled.
My breath freezes the moment it leaves my lips.
A world so bitterly cold, so suffocatingly white.
“Dale.”
Raneez Malam smiled faintly as I grasped the snow of the Snowy Wasteland with my gangrenous blue hand.
Slowly rising to my feet, I pressed the handful of snow against my left chest.
“From now on… I won’t make you cold anymore.”
Just as Dale had shown me warmth.
Now it was my turn to give him that warmth.
Whoooooosh!
The raging blizzard was sucked into Raneez Malam’s stigma.
The pristine white Snowy Wasteland melted away in an instant, returning to verdant earth.
“…Raneez Malam.”
“Hehe. I did… it.”
Raneez Malam smiled radiantly.
Stumble.
Her body lost its balance and collapsed.
“Lanez!”
Dale pushed off the ground and rushed forward, catching her falling form in his arms.
Even without using Cinder Ash, a warm heat spread between them.
“Dale… I did it…. All by myself….”
“…Yes.”
“Hehe. I did well, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, you did great.”
Dale offered a faint smile as he gently stroked Lanez’s back.
“So you’re not dropping out after all?”
“Oh….”
Only then did Lanez realize she had been in the midst of an unauthorized withdrawal and escape.
Her face flushed crimson as she hung her head in shame.
“…I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
Dale gently tilted her chin up and pressed his lips against hers.
“Mm, huh?!”
At the sudden kiss, Lanez’s eyes widened in shock.
“D-D-Dale?! W-W-What, a k-kiss…!”
Watching the flustered Lanez, Dale stifled a quiet laugh.
Where the blizzard had raged and passed.
A warmth impossible for winter enveloped them both.

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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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