The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned
"W-What?!"
"They... came back to life?"
A wave of shock swept across the battlefield.
The heroes, who had been fighting the ancient warriors, stared wide-eyed in disbelief as wounds on their enemies regenerated as if time itself had reversed.
What they saw before them was far beyond something like "fast healing."
It was immortality.
A miracle that defied the natural order, an act against the heavens.
Despair spread thick on the faces of the heroes who witnessed it firsthand.
"This is insane..."
"H-How are we supposed to fight monsters like that...?"
Even if those beings lacked intelligence, each of them had once been powerful enough to leave their mark in history.
And now, even in death, they possessed the ability to resurrect endlessly.
One could only imagine what the heroes facing them felt.
Once it began to spread, the despair quickly consumed them like poison.
‘This is bad.’
I bit my lip at the sight of even the professors and my own party members retreating in disarray, their faces shaken.
Just as morale hit rock bottom—
"Ahahahaha! Why do you all look so grim?!"
A booming voice rang out.
Berald charged forward without hesitation, ignoring the retreating heroes behind him.
"Raaah!"
Boom!
He stomped forward with brute strength and clenched his fist.
"Berald’s martial arts—!"
A translucent aura of mana began to swirl around his fist.
It was the most basic spell, something even a first-year cadet could use.
But the mana bullet that now enveloped his fist was nothing like a normal one.
Cracklerumble!
The mana film stretched out like a sheet of paper and wrapped around his fist like a thin cloth.
One layer, ten layers, a hundred, a thousand.
The mana bullets layered endlessly.
Condensed to the brink of collapse, the power surged with a thunderous roar.
"Genesis."
BOOOOOM!
As his fist struck, the thousands of compressed mana layers exploded all at once, unleashing destruction in every direction.
The resurrected ancient heroes were swept away like driftwood in a tidal wave, torn to pieces.
"Holy..."
"H-He did that with just a mana bullet?"
"Bianca... isn't Berald your assigned cadet?"
"I-I've never seen him do something like that!"
The professors stared in shock, jaws agape, at the overwhelming force Berald had just displayed.
Berald raised his trembling fist high and looked back at them with a wide grin.
"Ha ha! See? If they come back to life, we just kill them again, right?"
"..."
An argument so absurd it wouldn't even pass for a ten-year-old's logic.
And yet—
"Heh."
"There's no guarantee they’ll revive endlessly, right?"
"Even if they do, we just need to hold them off until the cadets can retreat."
Amazingly, Berald's ridiculous outburst had succeeded in lifting the sinking morale.
‘That bastard Berald...’
I looked at him, standing tall with a grin on his face and his fist raised high.
Though he smiled, his legs were shaking so violently they looked ready to collapse at any moment.
‘No wonder I didn’t recognize that technique.’
It must’ve been a technique beyond his limits.
Just using it once had left him barely able to stand—a technique with severe aftereffects.
Yet he had thrown that punch without a moment’s hesitation.
‘That’s just like Berald.’
Yeah.
You’ve always been that way.
In your past life, and even now.
Unchanging.
"Heh."
My mind cleared a little.
I turned toward the resurrecting ancient heroes once again.
‘They can’t be reviving infinitely.’
If the Leader of Eternity had truly possessed the ability to grant endless immortality, there’s no way I would’ve been the only survivor of the Demon God’s rampage in my past life.
‘There’s something sustaining this resurrection.’
Just as I narrowed my eyes and scanned the surroundings—
"A tree,"
Came a voice beside me.
Camellia had approached and was looking up at a massive tree towering into the sky.
"A tree?"
"I've felt something off for a while... but when your party member wiped out those heroes just now, I became sure."
"Sure of what?"
"That tree—it’s withered compared to earlier."
"......"
Following her gaze, I looked up at the towering tree, hundreds of meters tall.
At first glance, it was hard to notice, but just as she said, some of the green leaves at the tips of its branches had dried and shriveled.
‘So that tree is the source of their regeneration.’
Now that we’d found the cause, there was only one thing left to do.
‘...There’s a lot of them.’
The path to the tree was packed with the resurrected heroes, gathered like a wall.
The Leader must’ve ordered them to guard it specifically.
If I wanted to reach the tree, I’d have to break through over a hundred ancient warriors first.
‘Well, that’s not too hard.’
Sparks ignited around me as I took a step toward the tree.
"Are you planning to burn the tree?"
"That’s the idea."
"Heh. A Demon God burning a tree that size... It’s like watching a myth unfold before my eyes."
Camellia let out a small chuckle and spread her arms.
"I will escort you to the tree."
"No, I can handle this on my own—"
"You’ll need to conserve your strength if you’re going to burn that massive thing, won’t you?"
"That’s..."
Unable to argue with her logic, I gave a small nod.
"Then I shall take the lead."
A radiant seven-colored aura burst forth from Camellia’s body.
Floating slightly off the ground, she shot toward the tree, straight at the ancient warriors guarding it.
"Manifest!"
A storm of prismatic light roared through the battlefield, sweeping aside the charging heroes.
But—
"Ugh..."
"Stop... protect... the tree..."
"For... eternity...!"
Even with their limbs torn off, even with heads ripped away or massive holes gaping in their chests, the ancient heroes kept advancing.
"Ghh..."
No matter how powerful Camellia was—strong enough to be called a demigod—these resurrected warriors were once among the greatest in the continent’s history.
Dozens of them threw themselves forward without any regard for their own lives.
Even for an empress like her, it would be impossible to hold out forever.
Just as I was about to step forward and ignite the embers—
"How dare you!"
BOOOOOOM!
A burst of seven-colored light exploded from Camellia’s body.
Extending her arm toward the onrushing heroes, she shouted,
“Do you dare to block His path?!”
KWA-BA-BA-BA-BOOM!
With a thunderous cry, the multicolored light swept through the crowd of ancient heroes, flinging them back.
The earth within a several-hundred-meter radius was crushed, and even the towering trees were cleaved in a straight line.
“...Whoa.”
The sight was so overwhelming that even the word "overwhelming" felt lacking.
I couldn’t help but gasp in awe.
“What... are you... doing...?”
Huff, huff.
Camellia, panting heavily, pointed at the tree.
“Go... now...!”
“......”
For a moment, I hesitated, unsure if it was right to leave Camellia behind in such a state—she looked like she could collapse any second.
“Hurry!”
At her bellow, I pushed off the ground with force.
Ssshhk!
My body shot forward like an arrow and reached the towering tree.
Taking a deep breath, I called upon the power of the primordial flame.
‘I have to burn it all in one go.’
A half-hearted attack wouldn’t be enough to incinerate this tree.
FWOOOOOSH!
Flames surged and wrapped around my body.
Slowly, I reached out and grasped the sword formed of embers.
Withstanding the searing heat that made every cell feel like it was burning, I drove the ember-forged blade into the heart of the towering tree.
“HAAAAAAAH!!”
FWOOOOOSH!
The embers devoured the colossal tree, flaring up violently.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE-CRACK!
The tree desperately tried to regenerate, but it couldn’t withstand the ferocious blaze that seemed ready to consume the world.
In the end, it began to fall.
The earth trembled.
Ash, born from the burning tree, scattered like snowflakes.
And then—
“Huh...?”
“It’s not... regenerating!”
“Their wounds aren’t healing anymore!”
“And... aren’t they kind of slower too?”
“Wait? Yeah, they are!”
Cries of astonishment rose from the heroes still fighting the ancient ones.
‘Did it work?’
I exhaled raggedly, staring at the collapsing tree.
Huff, huff... grrhk!
FWOOOOOSH!
Even after devouring the tree, the flames raged on, as if still unsatisfied.
“Stay... still... you damn things!”
Had I drawn too much power to burn the tree?
The flames thrashed like a starving beast, wild and uncontrollable.
Huff... huff!
Several minutes passed.
At last, I managed to rein in the fire.
I turned to look at my comrades still battling the ancient heroes.
‘Looks like it’s almost over.’
With the tree gone, the ancient heroes had weakened, and the tide of battle was overwhelmingly in favor of the heroes.
“...So, he won’t show up after all?”
As I narrowed my eyes, thinking of the Leader of Order of Eternity who hadn’t shown even a trace until the tree was completely gone—
Beep-beep.
An incoming call alarm rang on my Hero Watch.
‘Who could it be?’
An unknown number.
Wondering if it might be from the Cult Leader, I hurriedly answered.
“...Who is this?”
[Uh—yes, I’m David Kim, intelligence officer in charge of the Republic sector for the Hoover Guild.]
“Oh.”
So it was a call from the Hoover Guild?
‘I thought Mr. Han Daesu finally couldn’t hold back and made the call himself.’
Judging by how the Cult Leader still hadn’t appeared, even now that the tide had completely turned, I figured he never intended to join the battle in the first place—just watching from afar.
I had expected that once his plans failed, he’d contact me with some clichéd loser lines like, “It’s not over yet” or “This is only the beginning.”
‘Totally missed the mark.’
Ahem.
Clearing my throat to shake off the rising embarrassment, I focused on the call.
[Remember when you asked us to look into the donor list of the Sprout Orphanage?]
“Yes, I do. But I’m really not in a position to talk righ—”
[We’ve found the name of the top donor.]
What?
Already?
[Let’s see... Ah, here it is. The top donor to the Sprout Orphanage is... “Maurice Jin.”]
“...What?”
Wait a second.
Why is that name coming up now?
[Do you recognize the name?]
“......”
Click.
I hung up without replying.
Memories from earlier flashed through my mind.
—Aaaagh!
Maurice, collapsing in a pool of blood.
—Show me the wound!
—Is our son going to be okay?
Iris and Khalid Han rushing toward him in a panic.
—Mr. Khalid, please take Mr. Maurice to the main building auditorium. Chancellor Lionel is opening the warp gate soon to evacuate the cadets—he should be able to send Maurice through it.
—...Thank you. I’ll be back soon.
And Khalid Han...
Still...
Hadn’t returned.

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