The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 206

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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 206. The Traitors (7)
And so the bait operation began.
While Luka fed false reports to the masked aberrations, Yurina and I arrived at the predetermined location to lure them in, waiting for their arrival.
“…nya.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“I didn’t buy it! Those underwear from earlier!”
Yurina cried out, her face flushed crimson.
“Hey, hey… calm down. I didn’t even see them anyway.”
I offered an awkward smile while patting Yurina’s shoulder—her eyes glistening as though tears might spill at any moment.
It was true that I hadn’t seen the “risqué underwear” she’d supposedly purchased.
Before Ren could even pull them from the shopping bag, Yurina had lunged like lightning and snatched it away.
“The staff member really recommended I buy them…! So, so I bought them! It was a hard sell!”
“Alright, alright.”
I stroked the back of the sobbing Yurina’s shoulders while surveying our surroundings.
We were near an abandoned building on the outskirts of the Slums.
No one lived in this area, so even if the fight grew intense, there was no need to worry about collateral damage.
“Phew.”
“Feeling better now?”
“Y-yeah. Sorry… I shouldn’t be like this before something important.”
Yurina slapped her own cheek sharply before joining me in surveying the area.
She tapped the ground with her toes, carefully examining our surroundings.
To an outsider, it might have looked like idle wandering, but it was actually an important preparation—assessing the terrain and the firmness of the ground before combat.
“This place is good. Not too open, but not cramped either.”
It was an excellent location for fighting multiple opponents, allowing us to keep our backs against a wall.
“Dale. By the way, those Demon Humans wearing masks… what could their goal be?”
“No idea.”
Honestly, I couldn’t even begin to guess their intentions.
“In your past life, did anything like this happen?”
“It’s possible. But even so, as I was back then, I wouldn’t have known about a suspicious group of Demon Humans appearing in Valhalla City, much less been conducting an undercover investigation.”
In my past life, I had no connection whatsoever with Raonel, let alone Elisha.
“Ah….”
Yurina let out a quiet sigh, as if finally recalling what kind of Candidate I had been in my past life.
“It’s hard to believe… that Dale was a bottom-ranked Candidate.”
“I’m still bottom-ranked now.”
“Haha. That’s right.”
Yurina laughed lightly and continued.
“So you must have worked incredibly hard to become as strong as you are now.”
“I didn’t do it alone. Didn’t I tell you before?”
Because you existed.
I existed because of you.
“….”
Yurina gazed at me in silence for a moment before a faint smile graced her lips.
“I feel the same way. I… I could only become who I am now because you were there, Dale.”
Yurina’s voice grew softer as she gently traced the sword at her waist.
“Dale, can I fight alone this time?”
“Huh? Why all of a sudden?”
“I want to show you. How much stronger I’ve become because of you.”
“….”
With the masked group’s full strength still unknown, letting Yurina fight alone would hardly be the wisest choice.
“Fine. Go ahead and fight on your own this time.”
“Really?”
“But if it gets dangerous, I’m stepping in immediately.”
“Hehe. Don’t worry. I’ve gotten really strong.”
Yurina clenched her fist with determination, then her voice dropped to an almost timid whisper.
“Um, and… if I do well this time… will you… praise me again?”
“Of course.”
I let out a soft chuckle at her bashful question.
‘But should I tell her about that?’
The possibility that these masked aberrations might not be Demon Humans, but rather Heroes.
“Hmm….”
I deliberated for a moment, then abandoned the thought.
‘Mentioning it now would only hinder her in combat.’
To Heroes, the existence called “Demon Human” was less a fellow human and more a beast, a monster.
An enemy that could not be compromised with, nor should be.
Thus, there would be no hesitation in drawing a blade against them.
‘But if they’re fellow Heroes, that changes everything.’
A fight against a monster wearing human skin versus a fight against another human.
For someone like Yurina, with limited real combat experience, there was no need to deliberate which would be easier.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
I turned my gaze to Yurina, evading the question.
Tap, tap.
Faint footsteps echoing from a distance.
The steps were so quiet that one would barely hear them without concentration—as if trained to conceal their presence—but they could not escape my and Yurina’s senses.
“They’re coming.”
“…Three of them.”
Yurina’s eyes sharpened, all traces of her earlier bashfulness vanishing.
Soon, masked aberrations emerged from beyond the alley.
Three figures wearing the masks of a wolf, a fox, and a rabbit.
“Stop.”
Wolf Mask, who had been leading the group, raised his hand.
Upon spotting Yurina and me, Wolf Mask narrowed his eyes and turned his head to survey the surroundings.
“…Tsk.”
Had he realized they’d fallen into a trap just from that cursory glance around?
Wolf Mask clicked his tongue and, without hesitation, spun around.
“Retreat.”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Whoooosh!
Raging ashen flames consumed the surroundings, cutting off their escape route.
“….”
Wolf Mask came to an abrupt halt, staring at the roaring inferno.
He turned to face me, his eyes narrowed.
“…Who are you?”
“That’s what I’d like to know.”
Their gazes crossed through the empty air.
Wolf Mask exhaled deeply, his voice as parched as a desert. “Conversation seems… unnecessary.”
He drew a massive greatsword from his back.
Following Wolf Mask’s lead, Fox Mask and Rabbit Mask each unsheathed their weapons.
“I appreciate your efficiency.”
I stepped back and glanced toward Yurina.
Yurina drew her blade from her waist, leveling it at the masked figures.
“Valhalla City is a city of heroes.”
A ferocious silver aura blazed around her.
“This is no place for Demon Humans like you to tread—hah!”
Boom!
A brilliant silver flash erupted.
Yurina charged straight at Wolf Mask, bringing her blade down in a vicious arc.
Clang!
Wolf Mask raised his greatsword, intercepting her strike.
Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!
In an instant, dozens of blade strikes collided, auras clashing against auras.
The earth buckled, and debris from the abandoned building scattered like snowflakes.
“Ugh…!”
Wolf Mask grimaced and stumbled backward.
“Hah!”
As Yurina moved to strike at Wolf Mask, who was trying to create distance—
Crackle-crackle-crackle!
A torrent of blue lightning descended upon her.
Crackle crackle pop!
A blue lightning bolt strikes her down.
“Tch…!”
Turning my head, I caught sight of Fox Mask aiming her staff directly at me.
I pivoted the blade I’d been swinging at Wolf Mask, redirecting it toward the cascading azure lightning pouring down upon me.
Sunblade.
Fifth Form, Black Spot.
A silvery aura spiraling in a perfect circle.
The lightning Fox Mask unleashed was sucked into the swirling silver aura and vanished.
‘One is a swordsman, the other a mage-type.’
I surveyed Wolf Mask and Fox Mask through narrowed eyes.
‘Then the last one must be….’
When I turned my gaze toward Rabbit Mask.
“Hiyaah!”
Rabbit Mask let out a bizarre shriek and hurled a bundle of needles drawn from within their garments.
Dozens of needles—their tips glistening, likely coated with poison—were launched directly at me.
‘The last one is an assassin-type.’
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
I swept my blade lightly, severing all dozens of needles in one fluid motion.
‘But… something feels off.’
An eerie discomfort crawled down my spine.
Like staring at puzzle pieces that didn’t fit, a sickening unease washed over me.
Whoosh!
Before I could discern the source of that unease, Wolf Mask’s blade came sweeping toward me.
“Ha!”
Clang!
With a sharp cry, I parried the greatsword, my gaze sharpening as I surveyed my surroundings.
Three enemies.
A warrior, a mage, and an assassin respectively.
‘Then the priority target is….’
Tap!
I kicked off the ground toward Rabbit Mask, swinging my blade.
“Tch…!”
Rabbit Mask, who had been hurling projectiles from a distance, drew a short dagger from their waist.
And then.
Whoosh!
I suddenly changed direction mid-charge, rushing instead toward Fox Mask.
“…What?”
Fox Mask’s eyes widened, staff still in hand mid-incantation.
They tried to halt their casting and hastily create distance, but my blade pierced through Fox Mask’s abdomen faster than they could react.
Squelch!
“Cough, gack…!”
Fox Mask collapsed, spewing blood.
“Ah, ah… Ah, it hurts….”
Blood streamed from the wound where the blade had pierced through her abdomen, and Fox Mask let out agonized moans.
Yurina gazed down at Fox Mask with cold indifference.
“So Demon Humans do feel pain, it seems?”
A being who had turned their back on humanity and accepted the power of the Demon God.
They deserved neither sympathy nor mercy.
They were ‘enemies’ that threatened humanity—no longer human themselves.
“Please… save me.”
“Hmph. You slaughtered the people of the Slums so mercilessly, and now you come begging for your life?”
Yurina looked down at Fox Mask with contempt in her eyes.
She hadn’t spoken directly with many Demon Humans before, but they were exactly as she had learned throughout her life.
Whether the Archbishop of Madness or the Archbishop of Desire.
They were all villains who casually took human lives without hesitation… no, ‘demons’.
Enemies that had to be eliminated for the sake of humanity’s future.
That was what a Demon Human truly….
Thud.
Fox Mask fell to the ground.
The mask slipped away, revealing the face of a bleeding woman.
Yurina’s expression hardened rigidly as her eyes met the blue irises of the woman, whose distorted face streamed with tears.
“…What?”
One of the defining characteristics of Demon Humans.
Eyes as crimson as blood were nowhere to be seen.
“…Wait.”
The source of the dissonance she had felt moments ago.
A puzzle piece that didn’t fit.
‘Why didn’t they use any demonic power at all?’
That’s right.
If they were Demon Humans, they would have to use demonic power—the warped mana born from the Demon God’s stigma.
Yet throughout the entire battle, they hadn’t used any demonic power whatsoever.
“Not a Demon Human… but what?”
Yurina’s expression drained of color.
That’s right. They weren’t Demon Humans.
The masked figures’ true identity was not Demon Humans, but heroes like her.
Heroes, not Demon Humans.
The same as her, no different from her.
‘Human’.
“No, no… surely… they said they were Demon Humans…?”
Yurina stumbled backward, her voice trembling as she muttered to herself.
The moment she realized Fox Mask’s true identity wasn’t a Demon Human, her mind flashed white with shock.
The hand gripping the sword trembled violently.
Entrails spilled forth from the abdomen pierced by the blade.
A gaping wound. Breath fading into silence.
Blood staining the sword. Blood. Blood.
“…Ah.”
Yurina Helios.
This was the moment she experienced her first kill.

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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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