The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 298

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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 298. The End of the World (3)
“What, what is this?”
“They’ve… come back to life?”
Shock rippled across the battlefield.
The heroes engaged with the ancient legends stared in wide-eyed horror as their opponents’ wounds regenerated as if time itself were rewinding.
What unfolded before their eyes transcended mere “rapid recovery.”
Immortality.
Deep despair washed over the heroes’ faces as they witnessed a miracle that defied the natural order—a reversal of fate made manifest.
“This is insane….”
“How are we supposed to fight monsters like that?”
Even devoid of intellect, each one of them had been a hero powerful enough to carve a defining chapter into history itself.
Heroes who, even in death, would rise again and again with immortal power—what despair must grip those who faced them?
Once despair began to spread, it consumed the heroes like poison, swift and merciless.
‘This isn’t good.’
I bit my lip as I watched the professors and my party members retreat with trembling expressions.
Just as the heroes’ momentum plummeted into the abyss—
“Hahahaha! Why do you all look so grim?!”
A boisterous voice rang out across the field.
Berald charged forward without hesitation, leaving the retreating heroes behind.
“Hyah!”
Boom!
I stomped the ground roughly and clenched my fist.
“Berald Martial Arts—!”
A translucent mana sphere formed, wrapping around my clenched fist.
The most fundamental of basic magic, something even a first-year candidate fresh from enrollment could use.
Yet the mana sphere enveloping my fist now was far different from an ordinary “mana sphere.”
Crackle, crackle, crackle!
The mana sphere, spread thin as paper, wrapped around my fist like gossamer cloth.
One layer, ten layers, a hundred layers, a thousand layers.
Mana spheres stacked endlessly upon one another.
The mana sphere, compressed to its absolute limit, roared like thunder.
“Creation’s Rupture.”
Boom!
As I swung my fist with raw force, thousands of compressed mana spheres detonated in unison, sweeping across the surroundings.
The resurrected ancient legends were caught in the torrent of mana and reduced to pulp.
“Heh.”
“Did he just unleash that much power with mana spheres alone?”
“Bianca… isn’t Berald your candidate?”
“I, I’ve never seen anything like that before!”
The professors’ faces contorted in shock at the overwhelming display of power I had just demonstrated.
Berald turned to face the professors and thrust his clenched fist high into the air.
“Ehehehe! See? If they come back to life, we just kill them again, right?”
“…”
A forceful argument devoid of even an ant’s worth of logic.
It was the kind of absurd statement a ten-year-old child might make.
“Sigh, well.”
“Besides, there’s no guarantee they can resurrect infinitely, is there?”
“If worst comes to worst, we just need to buy time until all the Candidates evacuate.”
Remarkably, Berald’s cry succeeded in lifting the morale that had been sinking to the floor.
‘This bastard Berald…’
I watched Berald, his fist still raised high, grinning widely.
His face was smiling, but his legs trembled so violently they looked ready to collapse at any moment.
‘I thought it was a technique I’d never seen before for good reason.’
The technique Berald had just used likely exceeded his limits.
A single use came with such severe aftereffects that he could barely stand properly.
Yet he swung his fist without hesitation.
‘If this is Berald being Berald, then this is it.’
Yes.
You’ve always been this way.
In my past life, and now.
Unchanging.
“Hm.”
My mind felt slightly clearer.
I turned my body to look back at the ancient heroes beginning to regenerate.
‘They can’t resurrect infinitely.’
If the Eternal Cult Leader had possessed the ability to grant infinite immortality, I wouldn’t have been the sole survivor of the Demon God’s rampage in my past life.
‘There’s something… maintaining this resurrection.’
As I scanned my surroundings with narrowed eyes.
“The tree, it is.”
Camelia, who had approached beside me, spoke while gazing up at the towering giant tree stretching toward the heavens.
“The tree?”
“I’ve felt something off since earlier… but when I saw your party member sweep away the ancient heroes, I became certain.”
“What is it?”
“That tree has ‘withered’ more than it was before.”
“…”
Following her words, I looked up at the hundreds-of-meters-tall giant tree.
It was difficult to discern at first glance, but as Camelia said, some of the blue leaves at the tips of the branches appeared to be shriveled and dried.
‘So that tree was the source of the regeneration ability.’
Now that I’d found the cause, there was only one thing left to do.
‘But the numbers are quite large.’
The path toward the ancient tree was densely packed with heroes of old, resurrected by the power of the Eternal Cult Leader.
It seemed the Eternal Cult Leader had issued a separate order to protect the tree.
To approach the ancient tree, I first had to break through roughly a hundred resurrected heroes.
‘Well, that shouldn’t be too difficult.’
I ignited cinders and took a step toward the ancient tree.
“Do you intend to burn the tree?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Hehe. A Demon God burning down a tree hundreds of meters tall… it’s as though we’re witnessing the return of legend itself.”
Camelia let out a soft chuckle, spreading both arms wide.
“I shall escort you to the tree.”
“No, I can manage alone….”
“Would it not be wise to conserve your strength for burning such a colossal tree?”
“That’s….”
Unable to refute such sound logic, I nodded quietly.
“Then I shall take the lead.”
A brilliant seven-colored aura erupted from Camelia’s body.
Hovering slightly above the ground, she flew at tremendous speed toward the heroes of old guarding the ancient tree.
“Manifest!”
A savage torrent of seven-colored light swept through and obliterated the charging heroes of old.
But.
“Ugh, ah.”
“Hold… the tree… don’t… let…”
“For… eternity…!”
Even with limbs severed, heads torn clean away, or massive holes punched through their chests, the resurrected heroes of old continued their relentless assault without pause.
“Tch….”
No matter how much power Camelia possessed—enough to be called a demigod—the resurrected heroes of old were likewise titans who had shaped the history of the Continent.
As dozens of these heroes surged forward with utter disregard for their own lives, even the Empress would struggle to hold the line.
Just as I was about to step in and ignite my cinders.
“How dare you!”
Kuuuuuuung!
A seven-colored torrent of light erupted explosively from Camelia’s body.
She stretched out her arm toward the surging heroes of old and cried out.
“Do you dare obstruct my path!”
Kwaaaaaaaaaang!
With a resounding declaration, dozens of heroes of old were swept up by the seven-colored light and hurled backward.
Hundreds of meters of earth crumbled, carving a straight path all the way to the ancient tree.
“…Hah.”
As I found myself involuntarily gasping at a display so overwhelming that the word itself seemed inadequate.
“What… are you…”
Huff, huff.
Camelia gasped for breath, pointing frantically at the tree.
“Go… hurry, go…!”
“….”
For a moment, I hesitated—leaving Camelia here, gasping as though her breath might fail at any second, felt wrong.
“Faster!”
Her sharp command spurred me forward, and I drove my feet hard against the ground.
“Whoosh.”
My body shot upward like an arrow, reaching the towering ancient tree that pierced the sky.
I drew a deep breath and summoned the power of primordial flame.
‘I must incinerate it in one strike.’
A half-hearted attack would never be enough to burn such a colossal tree.
Flames roared to life!
Inferno wrapped around my body.
Slowly, I extended my hand and grasped a sword forged from ash-fire.
Enduring the searing heat that felt as though each cell was burning away, I drove the ash-fire blade into the heart of the towering tree.
“Haaaaaaaa!”
Flames erupted!
The ash-fire consumed the colossal tree, hundreds of meters tall, devouring it in a savage inferno.
Rumble! Crack!
The tree desperately regenerated, struggling against the flames, but it could not withstand the ferocious fire that seemed to devour the world itself, and it began to collapse.
The earth trembled.
Ash from the burning wood scattered like snow.
And then.
“Huh…?”
“It’s… not regenerating!”
“Those things—their wounds aren’t healing anymore!”
“And somehow… doesn’t it seem slower?”
“Huh? Yeah, you’re right?!”
Exclamations erupted from the Heroes engaged in combat with the ancient Heroes.
‘Did it work.’
I gazed at the fallen tree and exhaled heavily.
“Hah, hah… ugh!”
Flames roared!
The fire that had consumed the tree thrashed wildly, as though unsatisfied.
“Settle… down, you… these things!”
Perhaps because I’d drawn too much power to incinerate the tree.
The raging flames, wild as a starving beast, were difficult to control.
“Huff, huff!”
Several minutes passed.
Once I finally regained control of the flames, I turned to look at my Party members fighting the ancient Heroes.
‘That side is wrapping up soon.’
As the ancient tree burned away, the old heroes’ power waned, and the Heroes’ side overwhelmed them so completely that the battle had become one-sided.
“…So he really won’t show himself until the very end?”
I was squinting at the thought of the Eternal Cult Leader, who hadn’t shown even a hint of his face until all the massive trees burned away.
-Ding.
My Hero Watch’s call alert chimed.
‘Who could it be?’
An unfamiliar contact number.
Wondering if it might be a call from the Eternal Cult Leader, I answered urgently.
“…Who is this?”
[Yes? Ah… I’m David Kim, an intelligence officer for the Hoover Guild’s Republic division.]
“Ah.”
So it was the Hoover Guild calling?
‘I thought it was Han Dae-su calling because he couldn’t hold back.’
Given that the Eternal Cult Leader hadn’t revealed himself even as the tide of battle completely turned, I concluded he must be watching from a distance with no intention of participating in this battle from the start.
I’d expected him to contact me after the plan failed, spouting the usual repertoire of losers—that it wasn’t over yet, that this was just the beginning.
‘I was completely off the mark.’
Ahem.
I cleared away the rising embarrassment with a cough and focused on the call.
[Why did you ask me to find the Sprout Orphanage’s donor list earlier?]
“Ah, yes. That’s true, but… I’m not really in a position to talk right now….”
[I found the donor’s name.]
Huh?
Already found it?
[Let me see… Ah, here it is. The name of the donor who contributed the most to the Sprout Orphanage is… ‘Morris Jin’.]
“…What?”
Wait.
Why is that name coming up here?
[Do you know that name?]
“….”
Click.
I ended the call without answering.
A memory from moments ago flashed through my mind.
-Aaaagh!
Morris, spewing blood as he collapsed.
-Please show me your wound!
-A-are our son okay?
Iris and Kalid Han rushing desperately toward him.
-Kalid, please take Morris to the Main Hall Auditorium. Raonel will be opening a warp gate soon to evacuate the Candidates, so we can send Morris through there.
-…Thanks. I’ll be back soon.
And Kalid Han.
Still.
Had not returned.

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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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