The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 36

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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 36. Last Words (5)
“How…?”
Ashtaroth turned to look at the gray-haired Candidate, his eyes wide with disbelief.
As I mentioned before.
The ‘Veil of Phantoms’ that blanketed this entire area was a barrier that couldn’t be easily dispelled even if every professor from the Magic Department worked together.
It wasn’t because the Hero Academy’s professors were incompetent.
It was simply because the sacrifices Ashtaroth had poured into creating this barrier were absurdly excessive.
‘A barrier woven with the lives of two hundred Demons as offerings.’
How could anyone possibly pierce through a barrier that would trap them in endless illusions and fantasies simply by standing near it, consumed by phantoms?
“You said it yourself, didn’t you? That illusions don’t work on me.”
“…”
Ashtaroth recalled a lesson from a few weeks ago.
The illusion magic that had vanished pathetically, like a bundle of paper thrown into roaring flames.
It was true that he had held back considerably since it was a classroom exercise rather than actual combat, but even accounting for that, the illusion had dissipated far too easily.
That’s right.
As if…
‘As if divine power dwelt within him, like the Saintess’s ‘Seven Eyes.”
At the thought that flashed through his mind, Ashtaroth let out an involuntary bitter laugh.
‘That’s impossible.’
There was no way a mere Candidate—and worse, one who had remained dead last in his class for two full years since enrollment—could possess divine power.
“Certainly… while the cause remains unclear, it appears illusions have no effect on you whatsoever.”
If even the Veil of Phantoms, woven with the lives of two hundred Demons as sacrifices, could be pierced in an instant, then it was correct to conclude he possessed immunity to illusions themselves.
“That must be rather inconvenient for you, wouldn’t it?”
“Ho. You speak as though you know me quite well.”
“I know you well enough.”
I spoke the Demon’s name in a low, measured voice.
“Ashtaroth, Archbishop of Phantoms.”
“…!”
“W-wait, what did you just say, Dale?”
Iris gasped, her eyes widening in shock.
I had learned that Morpheus was a Demon when he unfurled the violet barrier and rendered Camilla and the children unconscious with illusion magic.
But I had never imagined he was actually one of the six Archbishops standing at the pinnacle of Demon society.
“Hmm? Ho. Ah, I see.”
Ashtaroth nodded as if he had finally understood, his thoughts catching up.
“So it was you? The loach that ruined my plans.”
“Well. All I did was deal with a few fools who were foolish enough to drive nails into a perfectly good cave wall.”
“Ha. You massacre my valued subordinates and yet speak with such shamelessness?”
“Valued subordinates.”
He was spouting nonsense.
“They weren’t valued subordinates—they were tools for pouring curses into the ley lines.”
“Interesting. So you were aware of that as well?”
Ashtaroth’s eyes gleamed with fascination.
“You’re no mere Candidate.”
“And you were no mere professor. Call it even.”
“Haha. I like that. This is what makes things entertaining—when variables like you emerge.”
The plan had never been flawless from the start.
Unleash Demons at the Festival, exploit the chaos, and seize the Seven Eyes.
Compared to the preparations I’d laid over years, this was recklessly audacious and foolhardy.
I’d anticipated things wouldn’t unfold as intended.
From the beginning, I’d steeled myself to bear this level of risk.
‘Though I never imagined that risk would be a Candidate rather than a professor.’
Regardless.
The veil of illusions had been pierced, and a variable had emerged.
For Ashtaroth, who wielded illusions and mental magic as his primary weapons, this variable was what one might call a natural predator.
“An opponent immune to illusions… This is troublesome indeed.”
Ashtaroth exhaled deeply and shook his head in dismay.
Combat against an opponent immune to illusions.
It was like telling a swordsman who’d trained his entire life to set down his blade and fight bare-handed.
“However.”
A dark smile spread across Ashtaroth’s lips.
The Demon God’s stigma carved into his left chest blazed with light, and a sinister violet aura unfurled like wings spreading wide.
“That doesn’t mean the outcome will change.”
Even if his primary weapon—illusions—were sealed away.
He remained the Archbishop who reigned over tens of thousands of Demon Humans.
Uuuuuuuung!
The expansive violet aura trembled savagely.
Waves of violet light surged toward Dale, engulfing him.
“Hold on tight.”
“Huh? Kyaaah!”
I seized Iris’s hand and pulled her into my embrace, my feet moving urgently across the ground.
‘Berald Combat Arts.’
Wind Step.
Mana spread throughout my body, making it light as a feather.
In that state, if I expelled mana forcefully through both soles of my feet.
Whoosh!
My body lifted slightly into the air as if treading on empty space, and I moved.
Craaack!
The ground where I’d stood moments before was swept away by the violet aura, the earth twisted as if clay had been pressed hard from both sides.
‘This much destructive force from mere mana release.’
I clicked my tongue as I gazed at the warped earth.
The attack Ashtaroth had just unleashed was neither magic nor anything of the sort—merely a raw discharge of mana.
Channeling physical force into mana and firing it outward in its purest form.
Even first-year Candidate Program students at the Magic Department could manage such elementary magic, but the staggering reserves of mana—no, demonic essence—that Ashtaroth possessed transformed that simple technique into something rivaling a siege weapon in destructive power.
“Stay here and don’t move.”
“W-wait just a moment, Dale! Surely you’re not thinking of fighting the Archbishop?”
“What if I don’t fight?”
“W-well, we could… we could call the professors…”
“Even if we did, they won’t be able to break through that illusory barrier.”
I could pierce through the veil of illusions easily enough since phantoms held no sway over me, but the other professors would find themselves helpless against it.
‘Escaping beyond the barrier with Iris is equally impossible.’
Ashtaroth would never allow me to flee, and I couldn’t abandon Camilla and the orphans lying unconscious here.
That left me with only one option.
I had to bring Ashtaroth down here and now.
“I’ll handle him. You create a protective barrier so Camilla and the children don’t get caught in the crossfire.”
“B-but…”
Iris seemed ready to protest, but her gaze drifted to Camilla and the children sprawled unconscious on the ground. She bit her lip hard, her eyes growing distant.
“…Please, Dale.”
“Leave it to me.”
I took a step toward Ashtaroth.
Standing with arms casually crossed, he watched my approach with a cruel smirk playing at his lips.
“Has your little hero act finally concluded?”
“It has.”
I pulled a glass vial filled with azure liquid from my pocket and drained it in one desperate gulp.
My heart hammered wildly as if it might shatter, and savage mana surged through every fiber of my being.
The empty vial shattered against the ground.
The sound of breaking glass echoed across the space.
“Now it truly begins.”
A deafening explosion tore through the air.
The world seemed to scream with the force of it.
My body launched forward as the surrounding landscape warped and stretched, reality itself bending under the acceleration.
“Tch—!”
Ashtaroth stumbled backward, caught off guard by my sudden burst of speed.
I pursued him relentlessly, my blade singing through the air with savage intent.
“Not so fast!”
A violet aura erupted like a spider’s web, forming a barrier before him.
A thunderous collision.
My blade, wreathed in brilliant white light, clashed against the violet barrier, and the earth itself trembled from the impact.
‘The sheer volume of mana he commands is on another level entirely.’
Unlike the incomplete stigma amplifier I’d used at the Demons’ hideout before, this one crafted from mana-infused seven-star herbs possessed power of an entirely different magnitude.
‘I wish I had more reserves to work with.’
Unfortunately, the only Stigma Amplifier I had on hand was the one Demon God I’d just consumed.
‘There’s no helping it.’
The Stigma Amplifier’s duration was five minutes.
I had to bring down Ashtaroth within that window, no matter what.
‘Solar Blade, Sixth Form.’
White Light.
Whoooosh!
Pure white radiance erupted from the blade, cleaving through the violet aura.
“Guh!”
The brilliant white light, fired through the violet aura, grazed across Ashtaroth’s cheek.
Flesh split open, blood trickling down.
“…ha.”
Ashtaroth touched his bleeding cheek and let out a low, quiet chuckle.
“Indeed, you had a hidden card up your sleeve.”
After drinking the blue liquid from the glass vial, I felt my magical power—which had been merely a handful—explode outward exponentially.
“This is turning out to be far more entertaining than I expected.”
Ashtaroth drew up his demonic energy, a dark smile playing across his lips.
Violet radiance burst forth from his Stigma, shooting toward me with savage intent.
“Hngh!”
Boom! Crack! Rumble!
Clashing blade and magic.
Pure white radiance and violet radiance tangled together, creating a massive shockwave.
“Ugh…!”
Iris hastily conjured a barrier, shielding Camilla and the children from the shockwave.
“Dale!”
The exchange unfolded too rapidly for the eye to follow.
In that distant, overwhelming battle—one that made even the thought of intervening impossible—Dale held his own against the Archbishop, their fierce clash undiminished.
‘Th-that’s incredible.’
I’d vaguely known Dale was strong, but I never imagined he could fight the Archbishop without losing ground.
‘If it’s Dale…’
Could he actually win against the Archbishop? The thought had just crossed my mind when—
Crack!
With a sickening rupture, a hole the size of a human head tore through Dale’s chest.
“…what?”
Blood poured from the gaping wound.
As if time itself had frozen.
Dale’s body collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, the image searing itself into my retinas.
“D-Dale… sir?”
I called out his name with a trembling voice, but a person with a head-sized hole through their chest couldn’t possibly answer.
“Ah… n-no….”
Iris’s legs gave out beneath her, and she collapsed to the ground.
“No, no, no, noooooo!!!”
The moment I saw Dale’s lifeless body crumpled before me, my vision flashed white.
A wail that seemed to tear the soul itself echoed through the curtained space.
“Ha… ha. Quite impressive, truly.”
Ashtaroth wiped the blood trickling from his lips as he caught his breath.
From the moment I first saw him, I suspected he wasn’t an ordinary Candidate, but I never imagined he possessed enough power to actually wound me.
‘A Candidate of a caliber that would make most professors look pathetic.’
At this point, I would have preferred facing a blood-starved beast or a descendant of the Great Sage instead.
“Phew. Still, I’ve managed to dispose of him.”
The plan I had prepared to obtain the ‘Seven Eyes’.
Though unexpected variables had pushed the execution far from my original design, the destination remained unchanged.
“Now then.”
I turned my gaze toward Iris, who remained collapsed and sobbing.
“Shall I savor the sweet taste of victory?”
Every time I gazed into Iris’s tear-filled eyes, an intense hunger to possess the ‘Seven Eyes’ burned through me.
Surrendering to that desire, I took a step forward.
“Hm?”
From nowhere.
Gray ash scattered across my cheek.

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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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