Chapter 20 The Tragic Hero (Part One)

This was a story that no one knew, buried in the long river of history.

At that time, humans were just humans, with no distinction between Imperials and barbarians.

And the hero named Karogalis led the humans, driving the Bronze Species that enslaved the Black Iron Species back to where they belonged.

After that came the era when the Black Iron Species began to rise.

But Karogalis, after expelling all the Bronze Species and protecting the Black Iron Species, asked the people to kill him.

"How can this be! You are a hero!" the perplexed people said.

"I am still a hero now, but soon, I will not be."

Karogalis replied.

"No matter what you say, we can't possibly kill you!!!!" the people pleaded with Karogalis.

But at that time, Karogalis shook his head.

"I don't want to hurt you after I become a monster."

Karogalis said.

"How could that be! How could you be a monster!"

"The monster is right here. With only the Black Iron Species, it would have been impossible to repel the endless Bronze Species."

Karogalis touched his chest.

"But!!!! You are our hero ahhhhh!!!" the people cried.

Karogalis did not continue.

"Then imprison me. Build a prison that I can never escape from, a prison that I can't escape from even after a thousand, or ten thousand years."

Karogalis knelt down to the people.

The hero of the Black Iron Species, Karogalis, knelt.

The people finally held back the helplessness in their hearts and built the prison.

Karogalis put on his armor, took his two greatswords, and walked into the prison himself.

"Ah… the sky is so blue."

Karogalis took one last look at the azure sky.

Then, the surroundings plunged into darkness as the prison gates closed.

This was a prison that could last for thousands of years.

---

The jet-black swordsman's every step was heavy.

The closer he got, the more nervous the adventurers became.

Then, this jet-black swordsman stood still, raised his head, and slowly looked around.

"That guy… what's with him?"

Some adventurers were puzzled by the behavior of this strange newcomer.

It was as if he was lost in a daze.

"Focus on the black-armored knights in front of you first!" Nisha's voice suddenly rang out.

"Right!!! Let's put that guy aside for now!" The adventurers also felt that it was more important to deal with these black-armored knights first.

"dang!!!!!"

The black-armored knight's sword slammed fiercely onto Bray's sword, sparks flying everywhere.

Bray took several steps back, his face pale.

If it weren't for 「Final Echo」 being hard enough, Bray would probably have been cut in two, man and sword alike.

But even so, Bray still felt like the bones in his hand were about to break.

This was the result after deflecting the force——

"What on earth is wrong with you, you've been acting very strange since just now!" Blanche, who was fighting on the front line, gave Bray a soft shout.

Blanche had never seen Bray look scared.

Bray had never seen himself look so scared either!!

Even when facing Garuda back then, Bray had not been like this.

The more you know, the more you fear.

"You're a D-rank! If you're still absent-minded! You'll die!!!!" Blanche kicked Bray.

Then, where Bray had been standing, the black-armored knight's sword chopped down fiercely.

"Huu… sorry." Bray took a deep breath.

——“That's right, I'm just a D-rank salted fish. If I'm absent-minded, I'll die.”

The adventurers continued to fight in a chaotic mess with the black-armored knights.

Suddenly, the jet-black swordsman, who had been standing still, looked at the crowd, and a red light flickered for a moment from under his helmet.

"GUAAAAAAAAAA——"

The roar of a beast suddenly came from under the helmet.

The jet-black swordsman took a step forward, his body's movements incomparably smooth, completely unlike the stiff feeling of the black-armored knights.

The stone bricks, which had never had a crack, shattered into several pieces under the jet-black swordsman's tread.

The jet-black swordsman, who was nearly a hundred meters away from the crowd, for no reason at all, dragged his greatsword and swung it.

An invisible gust of wind swept towards the crowd.

Countless stone pillars broke in two, and the destruction continued until the very end.

The gust of wind rolled up the brick slabs, which were then pulverized.

Silence——

The entire arena suddenly became very quiet, with no sound.

Only the smell of blood was thicker, covering up all the previous stench.

Apart from those who had managed to duck down in time, no one else was alive.

Neatly cut in two by the sword wind, they fell to the ground with expressions of shock on their faces.

Not even the black-armored knights were spared; all were annihilated.

The blood, still warm, flowed along the cracks in the bricks.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" It was unknown who it was, but someone suddenly screamed.

"Schlick——"

And the screamer's voice came to an abrupt end.

At some unknown time, the jet-black swordsman had swung his sword again, cleaving the noisy person in two.

Nisha's face was devoid of blood, her eyes were shaking, looking in fear at the knightly longsword in her hand, which was broken into several pieces.

——“What is this…”

——“An S-rank magical beast… no… that's not right…”

Nisha's mind was in a state of chaos.

The strength of this jet-black swordsman in front of her was beyond her comprehension.

Those stone pillars, those stone bricks, even if Nisha used her full strength, she might not be able to damage them in the slightest.

Yet they were destroyed by this jet-black swordsman's one sword... more than half of them were destroyed.

Tightly gripping her uncontrollably trembling right hand, Nisha tried her best to calm herself down.

——“Son of Light, my Lord, grant me courage.”

「Holy Courage」!!!

Nisha stood up again, her face regaining its firmness.

Holding the still intact greatshield with both hands, Nisha looked straight at this terrifying jet-black swordsman.

However, the jet-black swordsman did not look at Nisha, but looked around in a daze.

After a long while, he finally turned his head to the ready-and-waiting Nisha.

"Haaaah!!!" Nisha let out a delicate cry and charged forward.

——“The creed of a knight is to protect everything ahhhhh!!!”

At this moment, Nisha was unwavering, launching a desperate offensive against the jet-black swordsman.

The more devout the user of 「Holy Courage」's faith, the greater the boost to their strength!!!

isAlthough Nisha herself would fall into a state of extreme weakness afterward!

But Nisha, whose own strength was already close to S-rank, with this strike boosted by 「Holy Courage」, could even defeat an S-rank adventurer!!!

"peng"——

Nisha's delicate body was like a kite with a broken string, flying backward in a straight line, shattering countless stone pillars.

The powerful, desperate attack seemed like a joke in front of the jet-black swordsman.

Nisha, who had finally managed to stop, spat out a mouthful of blood fiercely.

The shield? It had long since shattered into countless fine pieces.

And Nisha's suit of light armor had also shattered, not providing her with any protection at all.

The armor fell away, the undergarment was torn, revealing a large area of snow-white skin, and a tattoo was faintly visible on her chest.

Although her injuries were severe, but… Nisha was not dead.

Nisha tried hard to keep her consciousness from fading.

To have survived such a heavy blow was already a miracle.

——“My Lord… thank you... but Nisha might… not be able to escape this trial…”

When she was hit by the heavy blow, a golden magic circle had appeared in front of Nisha, blocking part of the impact.

On Nisha's chest was a tattoo given by the 「Son of Light」 to his noble and devout followers.

Once in a lifetime, in a moment of crisis, it could block damage for the holder.

A shield that even dozens of S-rank adventurers could not scratch in the slightest.

The jet-black swordsman seemed to have no intention of paying attention to Nisha, and walked step by step towards the terrified and paralyzed adventurers.

The remaining adventurers no longer had the will to resist.

"Ahhhhhh!!! Help!!" The few remaining adventurers fled in all directions, running and crawling.

Those who had the courage to face the jet-black swordsman were, after all, a minority.

And the only one who could have taken a blow from the jet-black swordsman was probably Nisha, who was now lying limply in the distance.

"Monster!!! Ahhhhh!!!"

"Don't come over!! Ahhhhh!!!!"

The jet-black swordsman's seemingly slow step instantly brought his heavily armored body in front of a fleeing person.

"No!!! I beg you!!! No!!! No——"

The head was cut off, and that fleeing person's pleas did not enter the jet-black swordsman's ears at all.

The jet-black swordsman remained silent like this, and took another step.

A slow step, as if it allowed the jet-black swordsman to ignore distance, and in a blink of an eye, he was at another location.

The greatsword in his left hand chopped down, then the greatsword in his right hand swung back towards the other side.

Blood bloomed like a rose, but no one dared to admire it.

Fear shot up the spines of everyone, impacting their brains.

The screams gradually subsided, and the cries of pain became fewer and fewer.

Countless mutilated corpses lay across the arena.

The more than two thousand adventurers were now all cold corpses.

However, there were still a dozen or so people alive.

Unfortunately, most of them had gone mad.

"Hahahahaha!!! Monster!!! Hahaha!!!!"

One of the mad adventurers twisted his body and pointed at the jet-black swordsman.

"I'm not afraid of you hahahahaha!!!" The crazed laughter was terrifyingly creepy.

"Schlick——"

Without a word, the jet-black swordsman's sword rose and fell, splitting him open from head to toe.

A nauseating scene, but unfortunately, there were no living people left to vomit.

The jet-black swordsman walked in front of Virginia.

There was no life in Virginia's eyes.

Deep despair had made Virginia give up all hope.

"Young Miss!!!! Hide behind me!" Blanche opened her arms.

Even though it was meaningless, Blanche still stood in front of Virginia.

"Blanche…"

"Don't worry… I'm right here."

Blanche turned her head and gave Virginia a gentle smile.

"Blanche!! No!!!" Virginia's eyes refilled with color, and she cried out in terror.

The jet-black swordsman raised his right hand.

In Blanche's eyes, time seemed to slow down.

She could clearly see the appearance of the falling greatsword.

——“A jet-black greatsword… truly ominous…”

"peng"

A nicked sword smashed onto the jet-black swordsman's body.

The jet-black swordsman turned his head towards the direction the sword was thrown from, and lowered his greatsword.

Bray's forehead was covered in cold sweat, but from his face, no fear could be seen.

While the jet-black swordsman was stunned, Bray quickly rolled over and picked up 「Final Echo」.

"Clang——"

Then the jet-black greatsword in his left hand slashed towards Bray's back.

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