The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 207

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

Chapter 207. Traitors (8)
For the past five hundred years—no, even before that—the conflict between Heroes and Demons had persisted.
The long and bloody history had carved a single, unified conviction into the minds of all Heroes.
Demons were not human; they were monsters wearing human masks.
The power born from such a ‘conviction’ was formidable.
Much like how the sight of shrimp or crabs with their grotesque forms stirred appetite rather than disgust.
It stripped away all hesitation when fighting Demons and taking their lives.
But what if.
The target was not a Demon?
What if human blood stained your hands?
“Ah… ugh.”
Yurina trembled violently as she stared at the blood coating her blade.
The face of the woman revealed behind Fox Mask’s form.
She gazed down with vacant eyes at that face, where faint breath had ceased.
‘I killed a person.’
With my own hands, with my own sword.
I took a human life.
Of course, I knew they deserved to die for what they had done.
They had used the people of the Slums as pawns, and they had cruelly murdered those who refused to obey.
But still.
“Hah… hah…”
Blood, blood, blood.
The blood pouring from the split abdomen.
The blood beading on the blade’s edge and trickling down.
It was no different from my own.
“Hyaaah!!!”
Rabbit Mask rushed toward the frozen Yurina.
Yurina stared blankly at the sharp dagger being swung toward her.
“Yurina!”
Clang!
I stepped forward to shield the dazed Yurina and swung my blade against the charging Rabbit Mask.
Ash Fire Sword.
First Form, Ash Severance.
Whoooosh!
Roaring ash flames shattered Rabbit Mask’s dagger and consumed their body.
“Krraaaagh!”
Rabbit Mask thrashed, engulfed in the ash flames.
Soon, the charred corpse of Rabbit Mask collapsed to the ground with a dull thud.
“…Dale.”
Yurina looked at me with a pale, ashen face as she gazed down at the fallen body of Rabbit Mask.
“….”
Watching her tremble, memories from my past life naturally surfaced.
The days when I worked as a mercenary after graduating from the Academy.
The memory of killing a man who had drawn his blade on his comrades to embezzle their wages.
Though much time had passed, the memory of my first murder remained vivid.
‘Back then, I was vomiting and losing my mind.’
Now, whether facing a hero or a Demon Human, I felt no hesitation in taking someone’s life, but back then, I had reacted exactly as Yurina was now.
Perhaps I had reacted even worse.
At least Yurina wasn’t retching up her insides.
“I… I th-thought… they were… D-Demon Humans….”
Yurina stammered, her face drained of all color.
I turned to look at her and slowly closed my eyes.
It wouldn’t be difficult to offer her words of comfort right now.
She acted without knowing—there was nothing to be done about it.
Considering what these creatures had done, killing them was no different from slaying Demon Humans.
You’re not evil.
You haven’t done anything wrong.
So.
Forget the blood on your blade.
‘But.’
What meaning could such hollow comfort possibly hold?
“Yurina.”
“D-Dale….”
“What are you doing? There’s still one left.”
“B-but….”
“Did you forget what you said about fighting alone? Or should I take over the fight from here?”
“N-no! I… I… I can fight.”
Yurina bit her lip and tried to grip her sword, but.
Clatter.
The blade slipped from her hand and rolled across the ground.
“I… I’m s-sorry… Dale.”
Yurina hurriedly picked up the sword.
I watched her quietly.
“Tsk.”
I clicked my tongue in disdain.
“Forget it. I’ll fight.”
“D-Dale…!”
Yurina grabbed my arm.
“I… I c-can fight. Really.”
“Even though the opponent isn’t a Demon Human, but a human?”
“….”
“Can you kill someone like yourself with your own hands?”
“That, well….”
Yurina’s expression stiffened visibly.
“Those, those people are… bad people, aren’t they? Right? So….”
“Ah, so if they’re bad, you can just kill them?”
“That’s, that’s not what I meant!”
“Yurina.”
I continued in a subdued voice.
“Stop trying to make excuses.”
I pointed to the blood staining her blade.
“The blood on your sword isn’t from a beast or a Demon Human.”
It was the blood of a human just like her.
“Knowing that… can you still swing your sword?”
“….”
Yurina stared down at the blade in her grip.
Blood flowing along the edge of the steel.
Suppressing the nausea that threatened to overtake her at any moment, she ground her teeth together.
“…I can.”
Yurina advanced toward Wolf Mask, sword still in hand.
While she had been speaking, Wolf Mask had been swinging his greatsword at the ashen flames surrounding them, trying to carve out an escape route, but.
“Tsk.”
Wolf Mask clicked his tongue as he watched the ashen flames maintain their form perfectly even against his full-powered strikes.
“…There’s no other way.”
I had wanted to avoid using the power that ‘he’ had given me, but the current situation left no alternatives.
‘First, that woman.’
Wolf Mask, who had been eyeing Dale standing motionless for a moment, shifted his gaze toward Yurina.
Despite her seemingly young age, her swordsmanship was considerably superior, but.
‘Combat isn’t won by swordsmanship alone.’
Recalling the sight of her trembling with a pallid expression after killing Fox Mask, Wolf Mask slowly raised his greatsword.
And then.
Collision.
Clang! Clank! Clanging!
Fragments of aura created by the clashing blades overturned the surrounding earth.
“Ugh…!”
Yurina winced at the heavy impact transmitted through her hands.
‘Tremendous strength.’
Even she, possessing a monstrous amount of mana, could barely withstand it.
‘Where did such a hero even come from….’
This was no ordinary Ranker-class opponent.
A top-ranked hunter, strong enough to be counted among the top twenty at minimum.
With such skill, one could receive the finest treatment anywhere on the Continent, so why in the world was this person operating in the Slums of Valhalla City wearing such a bizarre mask?
“Just who are you…?”
“Is there anything more foolish than asking the identity of one who wears a mask?”
Whoosh!
Wolf Mask lowered his body and swept his leg across the ground like a scythe.
“Hah…!”
Yurina jumped urgently to evade the attack.
Toward her.
Whoooosh!
A greatsword wrapped in blazing aura was swung with a terrifying sound of air being torn apart.
The blade swept upward from below.
It was a sharp strike that couldn’t be avoided while suspended in mid-air, but.
Tap!
Yurina concentrated mana into her feet, stepped on the swinging greatsword, and launched herself upward once more.
“Kgh…!”
In an instant, Yurina positioned herself behind Wolf Mask’s back.
It was the perfect opportunity to sever Wolf Mask’s lifeline, but.
“Hah….”
Yurina’s blade, aimed at Wolf Mask’s back, froze motionless in the air.
“As expected, you’re clumsy.”
A faint chuckle escaped from Wolf Mask’s lips.
Turning his body, he swung his sword toward Yurina’s neck.
Clang!
“Aagh!”
Yurina barely blocked the greatsword and cried out as she was pushed backward.
“Finish this quickly. After you, I still need to deal with that gray-haired one.”
Wolf Mask’s dry voice echoed in her ears.
‘Deal with… Dale?’
It was such an absurd statement that laughter nearly escaped her, but.
Naturally, such an imagination took shape.
‘What if… Dale wasn’t as strong as he is now?’
If she were the one who had to protect Dale.
If she spared an enemy out of fear of bloodying her blade, and because of that Dale ended up getting hurt…
“…Hah.”
Yurina’s expression twisted ferociously.
Dale, lying fallen and bleeding.
Imagining that sight, an unstoppable fury erupted from the depths of her chest.
Whoooooosh!
A silver radiance burst explosively from Yurina’s left chest.
An overwhelming surge of magical power lifted her body into the air with a whoosh.
“What…!”
Shock flashed across Wolf Mask’s eyes.
She hadn’t employed any special technique—she was hovering in midair through pure magical release alone.
It was as if a person had simply flailed their arms and floated into the sky.
“Exhale.”
Suspended in the air, Yurina released a final breath.
Silvery blade auras born from her sword danced freely through the void like fish released into water.
Dozens—no, hundreds of blade auras traced an enormous circle.
A silver sphere composed entirely of blade auras.
Its form resembled….
“…the moon?”
Wolf Mask instinctively retreated step by step, overwhelmed by the immense magical power radiating from the silver sphere.
Toward him.
“Moonlight.”
Yurina brought her sword down.

Crash—crash—crash—crash—crash—crash—crash!!!
Hundreds of silvery blade auras that had formed the sphere cascaded down like a waterfall upon Wolf Mask.
“Ugh… cough!”
Wolf Mask, who had been deflecting the torrent of silver blade auras with his greatsword, could not withstand the waterfall and collapsed.
“….”
The silvery luminescence that had erupted from her entire body gradually subsided as Yurina landed gracefully.
Yurina approached the fallen Wolf Mask.
Her hand, gripping the sword, trembled faintly.
“…Dale.”
Without thinking, Yurina turned toward Dale.
Dale stepped back one pace, arms crossed, as if to say: you decide.
“….”
Yurina’s gaze fixed on the fallen Wolf Mask.
He was breathing heavily, but not yet dead.
‘I have to kill him with my own hands.’
This was different from when I killed Fox Mask.
Even knowing he wasn’t a Demon Human, I had to kill him myself.
‘I don’t need to feel guilt.’
He is a villain of the most heinous sort.
Beyond being a villain, he is an ‘enemy’ who raised his sword to kill her.
Why should I feel guilt for severing the breath of an enemy who aimed for my life?
So there’s no reason to hesitate….
-Stop making excuses.
Suddenly, Dale’s voice echoed through my mind.
-The blood on your blade belongs neither to beasts nor to Demons.
That’s right.
No matter what justification I offered, I was taking the life of a human—someone like myself—with my own will.
By my choice.
By my blade.
-And knowing that… can you still swing your sword?
Yurina drew a sharp breath.
At the Academy, I had been taught never to draw my blade except when fighting the Demon God’s servants.
That was the iron law I must uphold as a hero, the conviction I was taught to cherish.
But the world beyond the Academy’s walls operated by different rules.
There were times when I had to swing my blade for reasons other than battling the Demon God’s servants.
The ‘enemy’ was not always a servant of the Demon God—sometimes it was another hero.
And likely, it would be again.
This situation would repeat itself over and over.
If I hesitated to stain my blade with blood each time, I would eventually lose what mattered most.
“Dale.”
I reversed my grip on the blade.
The trembling in my clenched fist ceased.
“This is my answer.”
Thwack.
My blade pierced through Wolf Mask’s heart.

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