The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 299

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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 299. The End of the World (4)
“Damn it, damn it, damn it!”
I kicked the ground roughly, my curses spilling out in frustration.
Why hadn’t I noticed sooner?
Why hadn’t I realized this earlier?
-How could the Eternal Order possibly know what was happening inside the Academy so precisely?
The Hero Academy was an extraordinarily closed-off place.
Except during specific periods, outsiders were strictly forbidden from entering, and even Candidates couldn’t leave the Academy without submitting an exit request.
And yet.
The Eternal Order understood perfectly who had just left the Academy and who had returned, as if they had surveillance devices planted throughout the grounds.
‘They were inside the Academy all along.’
That was it.
If that were true, then the Eternal Order’s incomprehensibly vast information network made sense.
‘Which means the Masters’ circumstances and information leaking outside continuously….’
A memory flashed through my mind—when Camelia had asked me to have Kalid Han investigate whether the Eternal Cult Leader had connections to him.
-Tsk, tsk. Are you worried there’s a traitor among the Masters?
-I’ve investigated quite thoroughly myself… but my conclusion is there’s no traitor among the Masters.
-I suspect the traitor is likely among the close associates connected to the Masters.
‘The traitor is among the Masters’ close associates.’
And Morris Jin was Kalid Han’s ‘son’—the closest of all close associates.
Even if Kalid Han hadn’t spoken directly about it, someone that close wouldn’t have had difficulty obtaining information about the Masters.
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped involuntarily.
I had no intention of blaming Kalid Han.
Honestly, who could have possibly anticipated that one’s own biological father would disguise himself as one’s adopted son?
‘That insane bastard.’
No matter how hard he tried to hide his identity, he actually considered becoming his own son’s adopted son.
‘I should have realized it when he sent that message!’
Camelia had come to the Academy because she received a message from Kalid Han saying he had important information about the Eternal Cult Leader.
However, when I asked Kalid about it, he said he had never sent such a message.
In other words.
In this situation, the culprit narrowed down to ‘someone close enough to use Kalid Han’s Hero Watch without his knowledge’.
‘No matter how I think about it, it has to be Morris.’
Crunch.
I bit my lip and quickened my pace toward the School Main Building.
The place Morris was heading was the School Main Hall Auditorium, where the Candidates were taking shelter.
There could only be one reason he went there without participating in the battle.
‘The warp gate.’
That’s right.
His objective had to be the ‘key’ to the warp gate that Raonel possessed.
Crash!
I kicked the Grand Hall’s firmly shut doors open and stormed inside.
Hundreds of Candidate Program members huddled in the corner of the hall with terror-stricken faces, and
“Cough… hack, cough!”
“Oh, you came?”
Morris Jin stood behind Raonel, who lay collapsed and coughing up blood.
Morris clutched the blood-soaked ‘key’ in his hand, bursting into a sinister chuckle.
“You’re later than I expected?”
“You bastard…!”
“I never planned to resort to such tedious methods, but since that Mephistopheles died, manipulating the warp gate became far too difficult.”
Morris shrugged and continued.
“So I decided to borrow what you so diligently created.”
“…Borrow?”
“That’s right.”
Whirrrrrrr!
As the key emitted a brilliant light, warp gates materialized in the empty space.
Originally, these warp gates would have connected to the Three Nations’ Capitals, allowing rapid summoning of each nation’s primary forces.
Crack, crack! Rumble rumble!
What emerged from within the warp gates were colossal tree roots.
Flowers bloomed from the roots that instantly engulfed the entire Grand Hall.
Chrysanthemums with petals as white as snow.
Rustle, rustle.
Masked figures walked through the warp gates, parting the falling petals.
‘The Eternal Order.’
So that’s why they hadn’t been seen since earlier—they’d been aiming for this from the start.
“Cough, cough! Mo, Morris!”
Kalid Han staggered to his feet.
His legs trembled as though he might collapse at any moment, his body so battered that it was difficult to find a spot unmarred by blood.
One step.
He lurched forward, his voice a wail.
“Why… why… what on earth, why!!!”
A scream that seemed to tear at the very soul.
Unable to comprehend—or rather, unwilling to comprehend—this incomprehensible situation, crimson tears streamed down Kalid Han’s weathered cheeks.
“Hmm… that’s quite a difficult question, isn’t it? At least tell me what you’re trying to ask.”
“Why, why are you…!”
“The Eternal Cult Leader?”
He let out a soft chuckle and continued.
“Well, I pretended to be your son from the very beginning to deceive you, after all.”
“That’s… what….”
“There’s a saying about how the darkest place is beneath the lamp, isn’t there? I thought you, who searched for the Eternal Cult Leader more desperately than anyone, would never suspect your own son.”
And his suspicion proved exactly right.
No, it couldn’t have been otherwise.
Who in this world could have predicted that their biological father, whom they’d parted from in childhood, would become their adoptive son?
“Times like these, ‘Blessing of Rebirth’ really comes in handy. I can change my physical age however I want, making deception so easy.”
“You… bastard….”
Grind, grind.
Kalid Han gnashed his teeth savagely, glaring at Morris—no, his own father.
“Then… Dain’s death in that accident during the request….”
“Ah, don’t worry about Dain. He’s right over there.”
Morris shrugged and gestured with his chin toward one of the masked Eternal Apostles.
“…Ha. Ha-ha, ha-ha-ha-ha!”
Kalid burst into laughter as if he’d lost his mind.
Everything.
It was all a lie.
His most loyal subordinate, his closest friend.
The son he’d raised with love like his own.
“Ah, ugh.”
I remember.
The day I stood alone before my friend’s tomb, tilting a cup of wine.
The day I accepted my friend’s son as my adopted child.
The day my son, who always avoided me with a frightened face, called me father for the first time.
The day after the entrance ceremony when I first shared wine with my son.
“Ugh, aaaaaaaaaaaa-!”
I remember, I remember, I remember.
Every.
Single.
“Morriiiiiiis!!!”
I charge forward, sword in hand.
A dizzying wave of pain surged through my battered body.
The sudden movement tore open my wounds, blood pouring forth.
I ignore it.
I pay it no mind.
There was something far more important now.
“Hraaaaaaaaa!”
Hundreds, thousands of sword fragments scatter.
The sight of thousands of nail-sized sword fragments raining down resembled cherry blossoms scattering in the spring wind.
The technique that earned me the name ‘Falling Blossom Blade’ descended upon Morris with savage intent.
“Tch, why the tantrum even after I told you everything?”
Crack, crack, crack!
At Morris’s casual gesture, tree roots erupted from the ground and struck Kalid with tremendous force.
“Cough!”
Kalid Han sprawled on the ground, spitting blood.
Morris looked down at the fallen Kalid Han with disdain, clicking his tongue.
“I suppose defective products are inevitable.”
He shook his head slowly and flicked his hand.
Rumble!
Tangled tree roots, sharpened into spear-like points, shot toward the fallen Kalid Han.
And then.
Whoooosh!
Ashen flames wrapped around the tree roots, burning fiercely.
The tree roots, which had been so hard that thousands of sword strikes couldn’t leave a scratch, crumbled into ash and scattered in the blink of an eye.
“Oh.”
An exclamation escaped Morris’s lips.
He grinned wickedly, his eyes fixed on the blade that had blocked Kalid Han’s path.
“Yes, the successful product truly is different.”
“….”
I gnashed my teeth, watching Morris smile smugly.
The conversation I’d had with Kalid Han flashed through my mind.
-I lived with Father for a while. Though it was only a few months.
-And then….
-I was abandoned again.
-What?
-Tsk. Father said I wasn’t the ‘seed’ he was looking for.
That’s right.
Kalid Han had clearly said he was abandoned again because he wasn’t the seed the Eternal Cult Leader sought.
And I was.
-You are the seed I’ve waited so desperately, so very desperately, for over the past 500 years to sprout.
“Ha.”
So that’s how it was.
That’s what happened.
“….”
The defective product and the successful product.
The benefactor of the Orphanage.
The surname ‘Han’.
The scattered puzzle pieces began to fall into place.
“Morris… or should I call you Father?”
“Huh? You’re only just realizing now?”
Morris chuckled, his shoulders shaking with laughter.
“How many are there?”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“The children you bore and abandoned at the Orphanage. How many are there, exactly?”
“Well… there are so many I never bothered to count them all.”
“….”
“Ah, don’t look at me with such contempt. I never forced anyone into bearing children or anything like that. I’m actually quite popular, you know?”
Morris shrugged and gazed at me.
“Why….”
“Why did you do such a thing?”
Morris continued, letting out a faint chuckle.
“My ‘Blessing of Regeneration’ couldn’t fully absorb the Primordial Flame on its own.”
“….”
“You know it too, right? Blessings are most likely to be inherited through bloodlines.”
In other words.
“I scattered seeds. Hoping that one day, from among the seeds I planted, a being with a ‘Blessing’ capable of harboring the Primordial Flame would be born.”
Five hundred years.
A full five hundred years.
He had continued waiting all this time.
Desperately, earnestly.
For the day he would reach the ‘End of the World’.
“…So you went to such lengths just to die.”
I stared at Morris, biting my lip hard.
Though I didn’t want to admit it.
I could understand what he felt.
Because I too had once lived chasing only death, just as he had.
I understood the suffering that endless life brings better than anyone-
“Huh? I never said I wanted to die.”
“…What?”
What was he talking about?
“When the power of the Primordial Flame and the Tree of Creation collide, this world will meet its end. Without leaving a trace, it will become nothing but ash.”
And.
“A door will open.”
“…A door?”
“Yes, the door that was created when we first set foot in this damned world.”
Morris continued, his face twisted into a savage expression.
“We will return.”
To where we came from.
To our homeland.

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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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