The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 263

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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 263. Shedding Skin (1)
Inside the chamber, only the soft glow of scented candles flickered to life.
A platinum-haired woman draped in a dress so gossamer-thin it could double as sleepwear reclined across the elongated sofa, her face radiant with satisfaction.
“Hehe. Did you enjoy the reward?”
“Ah… Yes. It was quite pleasant.”
Though truthfully, I wasn’t so much receiving a reward as I was giving one.
But what did it matter—giving or receiving?
‘What matters is my relationship with Camelia.’
Judging by how her lips curved slightly higher than her usual languid smile, this reward session(?) had clearly been a deeply satisfying experience for the Empress as well.
“By the way, I haven’t seen the spider around the faculty dormitory lately. Do you know where she’s gone?”
“You mean Elisha?”
“Hehe. I brought some fine wine from the Imperial Palace, and I thought we might share a light drink together.”
“….”
A light drink together, she says.
‘I wonder if she’s still bothered by how harshly I treated her when we first met.’
Still, it was pleasant to see her making an effort to mend things between us.
“Elisha has entered closed-door cultivation.”
“Closed-door cultivation?”
“Yes. To absorb the ‘Blessing of the Sovereign’ you gave her into her body.”
“Hmm. How long has she been in closed-door cultivation?”
“She entered right when winter break started… so about five weeks now.”
Five weeks.
Now that I think about it, time really has flown.
‘I miss her.’
I’d kept in touch with the other party members through Hero Watch from time to time, but I hadn’t contacted Elisha in over a month.
“Five weeks… hmm….”
Camelia’s eyes narrowed.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, it’s just that five weeks seems rather long for simply absorbing the essence of a spirit elixir.”
“But this isn’t just any spirit elixir—it’s the Blessing of the Sovereign, so that much time would be….”
“No, the Blessing of the Sovereign doesn’t require such an extended period for absorption. Even at the slowest, the elixir should have been fully absorbed within two to three weeks.”
“….”
Then that meant…
Elisha must be continuing her closed-door cultivation for some other reason.
“Do you know where she’s conducting her closed-door cultivation?”
“Ah, yes. I do know that.”
Elisha is currently in closed-door cultivation at Abyss Layer 1.
The same place used for the first semester’s final evaluation.
“Abyss Layer 1… it’s not terribly far, then.”
“It’s right beneath the Academy.”
If I drilled straight down through the ground right now, I would reach Abyss Layer 1.
Of course, to enter through the normal entrance, I’d have to take a detour through a tunnel quite far from the Academy.
“Hmm… Why don’t you go take a look yourself?”
“Without notifying her first?”
Interrupting someone’s closed-door training was considered taboo among Heroes.
“Normally you should notify her before going, but couldn’t this be an emergency situation?”
“What do you mean…”
“The Emperor’s Blessing is so potent that if the user fails to properly control its power, it could actually damage their body.”
“….”
I already knew well enough that the stronger an elixir’s effects, the greater its dangers.
‘But there’s no way Elisha couldn’t handle an elixir’s power.’
Just watching her manipulate dozens and hundreds of spider silk strands like extensions of her own body made it abundantly clear how overwhelmingly superior her mana control was.
“Just as the saying goes that even monkeys fall from trees… couldn’t a spider also get caught in the web she herself spun?”
“….”
No.
Now that she mentioned it, I couldn’t help but worry.
“Understood. I’ll go check on her myself.”
I stood up with an anxious expression and drew my sword from my waist.
“…Wait. What are you planning to do right now?”
“Isn’t drilling straight down through the ground the quickest shortcut to reach the Abyss?”
“…Put the sword down first and calm yourself.”
Camelia shook her head in disbelief.
“I said there’s a risk of damaging your body if you fail to control the Emperor’s Blessing, but that doesn’t mean it would cost you your life or cause permanent disability.”
“But…”
“It’s an elixir made for the imperial family to consume—would they have made it that dangerous?”
“Ah.”
Now that she mentioned it, that made sense.
“So calm yourself.”
“…Yes.”
I nodded and sheathed my sword again.
“Sigh. I thought you were quite composed by nature… but it seems once you get worked up, you’re not so different after all?”
“Ugh…”
As the heat in my head subsided, I felt embarrassed about nearly drilling straight down through the ground just moments ago.
“Hehe. It’s proof you cherish your lover dearly, so there’s no need to be embarrassed.”
Camelia picked up the wine bottle from the table with a shrug and placed it back on the shelf.
“Given the circumstances, let’s save the toast for later. Go check on her now.”
“Thank you.”
I quickly turned and left the room.
Click.
The door closed behind me.
Camelia leaned back against the sofa, gazing at the soft candlelight that gently illuminated the room.
“…I’m envious.”
Her quiet murmur echoed through the silent chamber.
* * *
Leaving Camelia’s room, I headed straight for the Abyss entrance.
Since Abyss Layer 1 was far larger than the entire Eternal Academy, I had to exit the Hero Academy and travel considerably further to reach the entrance leading down into the Abyss.
Given the distance, I would normally have taken a magic carriage, but—
“Hah.”
Stepping outside the Academy, I drew in a deep breath and lowered my body into a crouch.
Whoooosh!
Ash-gray flames wrapped around my legs, burning fiercely.
Concentrating the surging mana into both legs, I drove my feet forward.
Boom!
Berald’s martial technique.
Storm Step.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!!!
The world stretched into a blur as a deafening roar erupted, as if an earthquake had struck.
An explosive speed so violent that an ordinary person would have been crushed and torn apart by air friction alone.
Covering the 30-kilometer distance took less than a minute.
“Phew.”
Arriving at the Abyss entrance in the blink of an eye, I smoothed down my disheveled hair and headed toward the cave.
“…Hm?”
I noticed traces in the vegetation around the cave—as if something had recently trampled through.
‘Could it be Elisha?’
No.
The traces didn’t appear to have been made long ago.
“Surely not….”
A chill ran down my spine.
A sinister thought erupted like a volcano—what if someone else had infiltrated the Abyss and attacked Elisha while she was in secluded training?
“Damn it!”
Grit.
I ground my teeth and urgently drove my feet forward.
I became a gust of wind, racing through the long corridor.
“Elisha…!”
Abyss Layer 1 was so vast that an entire city could fit inside with room to spare.
Finding Elisha by wandering aimlessly would be nearly impossible.
‘Then—’
Whoooosh!
Ash-gray flames erupted violently, engulfing my body.
I spread both arms wide and clapped my hands together forcefully.
Berald’s Combat Art.
Palm Strike.
Crack!
A terrifying boom echoed through the Abyss.
“Elisha!!!”
I called out her name at the top of my lungs once more.
As I wandered through the Abyss, desperately calling Elisha’s name.
Whoosh.
A single transparent silver thread approached me.
‘A spider web.’
The moment I saw the web crawling across the ground like a serpent, my tension dissolved and a sigh of relief escaped my lips.
‘Nothing’s wrong.’
My anxiety and unease had grown worse because of what Camelia said earlier, but seeing her send this web suggested that nothing had happened to her.
Whoosh, whoosh.
“Huh?”
The web wrapped around my wrist and slowly pulled me forward.
“You want me to follow?”
The web trembled up and down as if nodding in agreement.
I followed the web’s guidance and moved my feet.
What I saw at the end of the web was—
‘…A cocoon?’
A pristine white cocoon formed by web gathered in a circular shape.
I looked around in bewilderment, but Professor Elisha was nowhere to be seen.
‘Could that be…?’
I carefully opened my mouth toward the white cocoon.
“Professor Elisha?”
[Didn’t I tell you to drop the “professor” outside of school?]
A voice flowed into my mind through the web.
“…What’s going on?”
[That’s what I’d like to ask you. What brings you here?]
“You weren’t answering, so I got worried and came to check.”
[Ho. Meeting after so long, and you’re already saying such heartfelt things.]
Elisha’s faint laughter echoed through my mind.
“Anyway… what is this exactly?”
[Well… I suppose you could call it a metamorphosis? No, that doesn’t sound right. Let’s call it a molt.]
“A molt?”
[Haven’t you had a similar experience before, Dale?]
“A similar experience…? Oh.”
A memory flashed through my mind in an instant.
“Could it be… the reconstruction of your body…?”
A rare phenomenon that manifests when a Hero who has reached a certain level of mastery breaks through the wall that was blocking them and steps into a new realm.
The body itself is remade anew to handle the overflowing magical power—a phenomenon where one truly gains the physique of a “superhuman” in the truest sense.
[That seems to be what’s happening.]
“Ha….”
I wondered why the essence absorption was taking so long, only to realize my entire body was being reconstructed from scratch.
‘Body reconstruction is a phenomenon that, among Masters, only Camelia has experienced.’
Once a Hero undergoes body reconstruction, their physical form ceases to experience “aging” until the day their lifespan ends.
Rather, in most cases, their appearance actually grows younger.
Even Pope Marian, ranked second among Heroes, and Raonel Ryu, ranked third, could not escape aging—so you can understand just how rare the body reconstruction Elisha is undergoing truly is.
“For now… I’ll step outside so I don’t get in the way. Sorry.”
[No, there’s no need for that.]
Ssssshhhhh.
Hundreds, thousands of silken threads flowed downward as the tangled cocoon slowly began to unravel.
And what emerged from within was—
“Elisha…?”
It was Elisha, bare as the day she was born, her skin luminous and pristine.
“It’s been a while, Dale the Candidate… no, wait.”
Elisha approached slowly and wrapped her arms around me, whispering against my ear.
“My husband.”
“….”
Forgive me for the indecorous situation.
I mean… what is… this….
“Hmm? Something hard is pressing against me.”
Ahem.

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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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