The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 265

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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 265. Metamorphosis (3)
The heart of Abyss Layer 1, reached by following Elisha’s guidance.
Directly beneath the location where the Hero Academy’s Main Building stood.
“This is….”
A charred corpse lay in the center of Abyss Layer 1.
“…A body?”
I squinted my eyes and approached the corpse sprawled across the ground.
Turning my head, I surveyed the area around the body.
‘There’s no sign of anyone else having been here.’
In other words.
This corpse’s owner must have illegally infiltrated the Abyss for some reason, reached this central point, and then immolated themselves.
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped unbidden.
“It seems… someone was controlling them.”
“That’s quite likely.”
For someone to come here of their own volition and commit self-immolation defied all logic.
‘They were either brainwashed or hypnotized. One or the other.’
The real question was who sent someone here and why, forcing them to take their own life.
‘The passage to Abyss Layer 2 hasn’t even been activated.’
To descend further from Abyss Layer 1, one couldn’t use a physical passage.
Only by activating the magic circle of the Great Sage Julius Bastian inscribed in the Abyss’s heart could a gate to the lower levels be opened.
Or rather, precisely speaking.
‘That was true until Mephistopheles appeared.’
Mephistopheles could create rifts leading to Abyss Layer 2 and beyond without activating the Great Sage’s magic circle.
‘For now… there’s no trace of a gate or rift being created.’
So Mephistopheles wasn’t behind this.
“Tsk.”
I clicked my tongue and flipped over the prone corpse.
The entire face was so badly burned that its features were unrecognizable.
I squinted and turned back to Elisha.
“Do you have any idea who this is?”
“I can’t tell from this alone.”
True enough.
Even with the blessing of insight, extracting information from a corpse whose face and teeth had been completely incinerated would be nearly impossible.
“Dale. Step back for a moment.”
“Ah, yes. Understood.”
I nodded and moved away from Elisha.
“Huu.”
Elisha drew a deep breath and closed her eyes.
A soft rustling sound.
Gossamer threads spun from her fingertips coiled around the charred corpse.
“Hmm.”
When the webbing touched the left side of the corpse’s chest, Elisha’s expression twisted slightly.
“…That’s strange.”
“Huh? Strange how?”
“There’s no Saint’s Mark.”
“…No Saint’s Mark?”
So now.
An ordinary person without a Saint’s Mark breached the Abyss by crossing all the barriers spread around the Abyss entrance, then set themselves ablaze and took their own life?
‘Nonsense.’
There was no way that could be possible.
“It seems they erased the residual aura of the Saint’s Mark from the corpse to destroy evidence.”
“That’s likely the case.”
Elisha nodded quietly.
“Ugh. Then tracking them further would be impossible?”
“No.”
Elisha shook her head and let a subtle smile play at her lips.
“Normally, if they had destroyed the corpse this thoroughly and scattered the aura of the Saint’s Mark, even with ‘Insight’s Blessing,’ finding clues would have been difficult.”
But.
“They overlooked one thing.”
“Overlooked something…?”
As I tilted my head and looked at her, she tapped her chest lightly while wearing a deep smile.
“They never could have anticipated that I would undergo ‘Molting.'”
“Ah.”
The sole variable that emerged from this meticulously concealed incident.
That was—
‘Elisha’s growth.’
Yes.
Elisha’s growth was undoubtedly the one variable they could never have predicted.
“So you can find a clue?”
“Of course.”
Elisha nodded with confidence and spread both arms wide.
Whirrrrr!
An even greater number of gossamer threads ensnared the corpse.
As if restoring flesh burned by flame, the webbing intertwined to form the shape of a human body.
“This is…”
“I reconstructed the corpse using the skeleton as a base. It won’t be perfect, but we should be able to discern the general appearance.”
“…You could do something like this?”
“Didn’t I tell you? There’s something they overlooked.”
Elisha shrugged and laughed with satisfaction.
“Heh.”
I let out a hollow laugh, gazing down at the corpse reconstructed from spider silk.
I had once read in history books that the Republic had restored the appearance of extinct species from thousands or tens of thousands of years ago using only skeletal remains preserved as fossils.
‘But to think she could accomplish this through pure mana control alone.’
Now that I thought about it, the goal of this closed-door training was said to be reaching the ‘Master’ level.
‘This seems to surpass even that threshold.’
Of course, merely excelling at mana control wouldn’t be enough to earn the title of Master.
But at Elisha’s current level, she could certainly hold her own against other Masters—save for Camelia.
“Hmm? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
Watching her growth over the past month, which was almost unrecognizable, I let a faint smile play at my lips.
“I just thought you’ve worked very hard.”
“…Ahem.”
Elisha’s cheeks flushed slightly as she averted her gaze.
“I… I can’t just rely on my husband forever, can I?”
“…”
At those bashful words, a spark kindled once more from the depths of my heart.
‘But this isn’t the time for that.’
I turned my head toward the corpse.
I approached the corpse, tangled and reconstructed from spider silk.
Slowly, I examined the corpse’s face.
“…What?”
My expression hardened as I scrutinized it.
“Do you recognize who it is?”
“Uh… yes.”
If my memory serves me correctly.
This face is…
“…Amon.”
“Amon?”
Elisha’s expression twisted.
“Amon… you mean the Archbishop of Destruction?”
“…Yes.”
The face that emerged above the reconstructed corpse was unmistakably that of the Archbishop of Destruction, Amon.
“Wait, hold on. Are you saying the Archbishop of Destruction came here and took his own life?”
“No, that can’t be it.”
Recalling memories from my past life, I shook my head firmly.
“This is a fragment of Amon… or rather, a ‘spark.'”
“…A spark?”
“You know how when a fire burns brightly and you bring dry kindling close, it catches fire? It’s similar to that.”
Here, the dry kindling refers to Demon Humans like Amon, who bear the blessing of a Demon God in their chests.
“I’m not sure I follow the analogy. Do you mean something like a puppet?”
“More like an avatar, really.”
Dry kindling… In other words, before receiving Amon’s power, the Demon Human’s soul and consciousness burn away the moment the flames take hold, and Amon’s consciousness fills that void.
In essence.
Sacrifice one Demon Human’s life to the flames, and you create a remotely controllable avatar of Amon.
“A Demon Human transformed into Amon’s avatar undergoes physical changes as well, becoming similar to him.”
“Ah, so that’s why it bore the Archbishop of Destruction’s face.”
Elisha nodded in understanding.
“Then… the Archbishop of Destruction is plotting something right now?”
“…Possibly.”
Originally, the Archbishop of Destruction and the Apostles of Ruin wouldn’t have made their move in earnest for another decade or so.
‘So it’s not just the Three Nations Alliance forming ahead of schedule.’
Or perhaps the formation of the Three Nations Alliance itself accelerated Amon’s movements.
‘Either way.’
What’s certain now is that not only the Heroes, but the Demon Human forces are also beginning to move several times faster than they did in my previous life.
A sigh escaped me.
The shifting future weighed heavily on my mind.
“…Hm?”
Elisha tilted her head as she examined the corpse.
“What is it? Did you find something else?”
“No… well. Dale, can you come closer for a moment?”
“Huh? What’s—mmph!”
Elisha pulled me close and pressed her lips against mine.
As she drew in my saliva with her tongue, her ominous eye gleamed with an even more sinister light.
“…Just as I thought.”
Elisha’s expression hardened as she examined the corpse with her glowing eye.
“What do you mean ‘just as I thought’?”
“…It’s similar.”
“Similar?”
“The residual power within Amon’s avatar and the aura of the ‘flame’ dwelling inside you are remarkably alike.”
“Ah, well, that’s because both are fundamentally rooted in the Demon God’s power, isn’t it?”
The ‘Primordial Flame’ dwelling within me was created by the Demon God.
Since Amon serves that same Demon God, it made sense that their auras would feel similar.
“No… something’s different.”
Elisha shook her head quietly.
“If this similarity were merely due to the same Demon God’s power, I should feel the same thing from other Apostles of Ruin…”
Elisha bit her lip, her expression troubled.
“It’s almost as if it were the Demon God itself… but that can’t be right.”
“…What are you talking about?”
The Demon God itself?
“Sigh, no. Let’s drop this topic for now.”
“…But.”
“Hasty speculation only poisons the mind, doesn’t it?”
“….”
She was right. When people construct half-baked hypotheses without thinking, they become trapped within them, unable to entertain other possibilities.
“Understood.”
“Then let’s take this corpse back to the Hero Academy.”
“Yes.”
After leaving the Abyss with Elisha, I headed directly toward her Professor’s Office.
Or rather, I attempted to head there—that would be the more accurate way to phrase it.
“From here on, I’ll continue the investigation alone. Dale, you should head back.”
Somewhere along the way, my title had reverted to “Dale”—just my name, nothing more.
“Investigate alone? Surely I should assist in the investigation as well.”
“Two of us investigating won’t yield any better results. Besides, aside from this corpse, there aren’t many clues to work with.”
“That’s….”
She wasn’t wrong.
“Leave reporting this matter to the Headmaster and preparing countermeasures to me.”
“…But.”
“Hehe. Don’t you have other matters to attend to, Dale?”
“Huh? Other matters?”
Lately, aside from personal training, I’d been living like a vagrant with nothing to do. What could possibly demand my attention?
“Hmm. I seem to have lost track of time in all the commotion.”
“Lost track of time? Oh.”
Checking my Hero Watch, I realized the new semester would begin tomorrow.
‘How many days was I even in the Abyss?’
Caught in the clutches of a lust-starved spider and consumed(?) in a frenzy, I’d completely lost track of the passing days.
“Ugh. Fine. I’ll head back to the Dormitory.”
“No. Isn’t there somewhere else you should go first?”
“Huh?”
“Hehe. By now, I imagine they’re all gathered there.”
Elisha glanced toward the Party House and smiled knowingly.
* * *
Following Elisha’s guidance, I arrived at the Party House.
“Oh, Dale!”
“Brother! We’ve been looking for you this whole time—where on earth have you been?!”
“Ugh… d-did you… go meet the E-Empress again…?”
The moment I arrived, my party members came rushing out.
And then.
“I heard from Lanez about everything that happened while you were gone.”
The Saint approached with a gentle smile.
“Ah, Iris. Good to see—”
Crunch!
“Gack!”
Iris seized my groin in a vicious grip, her radiant smile never wavering.
“So you’ve been swinging that thing around like you own the place, you bastard?”

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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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