The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 97

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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 97. Overheating (2)
“Ah… ugh.”
My entire body burned as though engulfed in flames.
A sensation as if molten metal, heated to incandescence, coursed through my veins instead of blood.
The excruciating pain jolted my consciousness awake.
“H-hey, hyung! Are you coming to?”
“Dale! Are you alright?!”
An unfamiliar ceiling.
The pallid, drained faces of Berald and Yuren.
I forced my lips open, suppressing the searing agony that consumed my body.
“Where… am I?”
“The School Medical Center, sir! You collapsed, and we brought you here immediately!”
“…How long was I unconscious?”
“About two hours, sir.”
Two hours.
It wasn’t an especially long time.
“Kugh…!”
When I attempted to rise, a horrific pain erupted from my stigma, and I collapsed back down.
My entire body blazed as though I had plunged into bubbling lava.
“D-Dale! Are you okay?”
“….”
My condition was far too dire to offer Yuren even hollow reassurances.
“I’ll call a healer right now!”
“…No.”
I grasped Yuren’s hand as he reached for the call button, shaking my head.
Though I couldn’t fathom why my body had fallen into this state, I knew with certainty that no healer’s power could mend it.
“A little rest will set things right.”
“…Dale.”
Yuren’s eyes glistened as though tears might spill at any moment.
“Could you get me some water?”
“Y-yes!”
I gulped down the water Yuren brought me.
As the cool liquid entered my body, my mind finally began to clear.
“Phew.”
“Are you better?”
“Better than before.”
Though my entire body still burned as if submerged in an inferno, my condition had improved considerably since I first opened my eyes.
‘…What in the world happened?’
The last thing I remembered was my consciousness abruptly severing during a conversation with Yuren.
‘Could it be that my body has suffered strain from pushing myself too hard in training lately, just as Berald suggested?’
No.
That can’t be right.
It’s only been a few days at most.
In my past life, I’ve pushed my body far harder than this for over a month straight.
And if I’d truly collapsed from overwork, my body wouldn’t be burning like this, as if I’d fallen into a pit of fire.
‘Then why?’
I furrowed my brow and closed my eyes tightly.
Steadying my breath, I turned my awareness inward.
As my consciousness sank deeper, the world of my inner landscape unfolded before me.
Whoooosh!
Flames roared savagely, as if devouring the world itself.
As always, the primordial fire burned fiercely within my inner world.
‘Hmm?’
No.
‘As always’ — scratch that.
‘Something feels rougher than usual.’
The primordial fire was burning far more violently than what I’d witnessed before.
Yes.
As if it were ‘struggling to survive.’
‘What is this…’
I furrowed my brow and shifted my gaze.
There, something was surging forward fiercely, as if trying to devour the flames.
‘Ugh.’
The moment I tried to examine the entity consuming the flames more closely, a terrible headache struck, and my vision flickered and blurred.
‘Is that another power dwelling within me?’
I recalled Elisha’s words and furrowed my brow.
I still couldn’t identify what that ‘something’ was, but now I could dimly understand why my body was in this state.
‘The primordial fire is thrashing about, causing my qi and blood to overheat.’
This was something I’d never experienced before while using the primordial fire.
‘Something I’ve never experienced before is suddenly happening.’
There was only one possibility that came to mind immediately.
‘Ash fire… is it because of that?’
Words I’d heard from Elisha flashed through my mind.
‘She said the balance of power wasn’t right.’
Continuously using unstable power.
If that was the cause of this ‘overheating,’ it made a certain amount of sense.
‘So if I use ash fire for too long, my consciousness suddenly cuts out like this?’
And it’s not just my consciousness that’s severed — my entire qi and blood system overheats, leaving me unable to move my body properly for a while.
“Sigh.”
As I exhaled deeply at this unexpected weakness, Berald opened his mouth with a stern expression, his arms crossed.
“I’ve been wondering why you’ve been cooped up in the Training Ground day and night these past few days… Didn’t I tell you earlier that excessive training only damages the body, brother?”
“Mm.”
To be precise, it wasn’t excessive training itself that caused this—it was a flaw inherent to Cinder Flame itself.
Regardless, this condition had definitely resulted from overusing Cinder Flame.
“Dale, is there anywhere else that hurts?”
“I’m fine for now.”
My head still felt hot as though I had a fever, but compared to the searing pain that had consumed my entire body when I first regained consciousness, my condition had improved considerably.
“Let me check your forehead.”
Yuren brushed back his hair and pressed his forehead against mine.
We were close enough that our noses nearly touched.
His shallow breath escaped between his lips, tickling my cheek.
‘No, please don’t do this looking like that.’
If he keeps this up, I might actually lose my heart to this golden-haired pretty boy?
‘No, this can’t happen!’
Not the Golden Sun corruption ending, absolutely not…!
“Dale?”
Yuren frowned as he watched me thrash about, clutching at my hair.
“You’re still in pain, aren’t you? Your fever is quite high.”
Yuren grabbed my shoulders and forced me back onto the bed.
“Don’t think about doing anything today—just rest quietly.”
“Mm. Understood.”
Even if I wanted to do something, my body was in no condition to allow it.
“Hmm. Brother, your clothes are completely soaked with sweat.”
“Oh, they are.”
Now that he mentioned it, I’d noticed my body felt damp—the training clothes I was wearing were thoroughly drenched in sweat.
“Let’s change your clothes first! I’ll help you!”
“What? Hey, wait! Hold on! Stop, you bastard!”
I tried to push Berald away urgently, but my body had no strength left.
“Hehe. We’re all men anyway, so what’s the difference?”
Berald grabbed my clothes and started pulling them off without hesitation.
Everything, down to the bottom.
“Whoa!”
Yuren’s eyes widened in shock, his expression flustered.
“Yuren, could you grab the patient gown over there?”
“It’s… really big….”
“Brother?”
“Huh? W-what?”
“The patient gown, the patient gown.”
“R-right!”
Yuren rushed off and returned with the patient gown.
Berald pinned down the thrashing Dale with brute force and shot Yuren a meaningful glance.
“I’ll hold him down, so if you could help him into some clothes, Yuren.”
“Me? I’m supposed to…?”
“Ugh! S-stop! I can dress myself, please!”
“Hehehehe. Now, now, the patient should remain calm.”
“Gack!”
Why is this bastard so damn strong?!
“S-so… I’ll just help you into it?”
Yuren’s cheeks flushed crimson as he dressed me in the patient gown.
I bit my lip and squeezed my eyes shut.
‘Damn it all.’
I will never forget this humiliation, Berald…!
“Now then, clothes are all changed, so next…”
Berald glanced around the room, looking thoughtful.
I glared at him with sharp, narrowed eyes.
“What are you planning now?”
“Brother, aren’t you feeling a bit peckish?”
“Hmm… now that you mention it, I am rather hungry.”
With all the recent training, I’d neglected my meals, leaving me quite famished.
“Hehe! How could I stand by while my brother goes hungry? I shall personally prepare a meal for you!”
“Can’t you just bring me the standard patient food from the Medical Facility?”
“What?! Brother, haven’t you heard the rumors? The School Medical Center’s patient meals are barely fit for dogs! I could never serve such fare to my brother!”
“I ate it once before—it was passable enough…”
“Hehe, say no more! Just rest easy. This time, I shall prepare the legendary nourishing dish passed down through the Ryu family for generations!”
Berald grinned widely and thumped his chest with confident pride.
“Just wait a moment!”
Berald thundered out of the treatment room with heavy footsteps.
About thirty minutes passed.
As I lay in bed accepting fruit that Yuren had peeled for me, a peculiar, acrid smell wafted into my nostrils.
‘What on earth is that smell?’
As the stench assaulted my senses, I was wrinkling my nose when—
Bang!
“Ahahaha! Brother! Dinner is served!”
Berald burst through the door wearing a pink apron (a truly distressing sight) and carrying what looked like a washbasin-sized pot.
“…What is that?”
“The nourishing dish I mentioned!”
Berald grinned and set the pot on the shelf beside my bed.
“Behold!”
As he lifted the lid, what emerged was a bubbling crimson liquid that roiled like molten lava dredged from the depths of hell itself.
“Hold on.”
The color’s off, isn’t it?
“What the hell did you put in this?”
“Hehe. Brace yourself for what I’m about to tell you.”
Berald puffed out his chest with a self-satisfied expression.
“It’s the Yuren clan’s signature kimchi stew—made by dumping in loads of blue peppers, ginseng, ginger, jujubes, cinnamon, onions, garlic, and chili oil into the kimchi stew!”
“You absolute madman.”
What was he trying to feed someone whose entire qi was currently boiling over?
“Ahahaha! You fight fire with fire, as they say! There’s even a saying about fighting poison with poison, isn’t there?”
“You mean fighting heat with heat.”
Right.
Fine, I’d concede the kimchi stew itself.
But how was I supposed to eat all those ingredients—blue peppers, ginseng, ginger, and more—crammed so densely into a pot the size of a washbasin that it could barely contain them?
‘And there’s not a single piece of meat in this kimchi stew?’
Had Berald truly lost his identity as a citizen of the Republic?
According to some law in the Republic, failing to add even a shred of meat to kimchi stew was a capital crime worthy of execution.
“Come now! Just try a spoonful!”
“I’m not eating it!”
My entire qi circulation was already overheated, my body burning, and I had no desire to put such a horrific dish—one that would make even demons weep and flee—into my mouth.
“Hmm. If you dislike it that much, I suppose there’s no helping it.”
Berald nodded while crossing his arms.
I thought to myself that at least this bastard was human enough to listen to reason.
“Yuren!”
“Huh? What?”
“Hold him down so he can’t move!”
“Um… but he clearly doesn’t want to…”
Yuren hesitated, gauging my reaction.
“This is all for your brother’s swift recovery! Would you really want Dale to stay in the Medical Facility indefinitely?”
“That’s…”
“If you help, I’ll send you that photo from when you took supplementary lessons with him last year.”
“What? R-really? What photo?”
“Hehe. A photo I secretly took of you dozing off during class.”
A photo of me sleeping!
Yuren snorted excitedly and grabbed my body with rough enthusiasm.
“Sorry, Dale.”
“Wait, stop! No! Ahhh!”
“Just stay still, brother.”
Berald scooped up a massive spoonful of the boiling kimchi stew (meatless) and shoved it into my mouth.
“Kghhh! O-our base is… in the N-Northern Mountain Range…!”
“Hahahaha! Good medicine always tastes bitter, after all!”
Berald laughed heartily as he watched me thrash about.

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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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