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Chapter 293: Interlude – The Sixth Hero
He’s going to die.
At this rate, his soul would dry up and turn to dust.
That’s what he genuinely believed.
“Haa… Haa…!”
A storm of pleasure raged on.
A dizzying ecstasy that seed to stimulate every brain cell jolted through his entire body.
Thanks to a body that had reached the realm of the divine, fatigue didn’t take much of a toll on his physique.
The problem was the ntal exhaustion carved into his spirit.
It’s like that feeling—you know the one.
After a night of partying with friends until dawn, when you finally make it ho and feel like a deflated balloon, unable to move a single finger.
Even though all you did was drink and have fun, you’re left in a state of complete lethargy.
That’s exactly how he felt now—only amplified dozens, even hundreds of tis over.
A pleasure-fueled journey beyond its limit, a sensation like his entire brain was burning up.
His soul scread under the onslaught of endorphins and adrenaline bursting through him.
“Ugh, I… can’t… anymore…”
Thud.
He collapsed onto the bed, declaring surrender for what must have been the umpteenth ti—but the starved lionesses showed no rcy.
“Haa… haa. You’re done already?”
“Mmm… Dale… just a bit more…”
“Ehehe. D-Dale, you’re so warm.”
“If it’s too much, you can just lie there.”
Unlike him—panting like he might die at any mont—their eyes still glead with unspent excitent.
It couldn’t be helped.
While he was being endlessly wrung dry, they were taking turns with him.
Each of them, no less, was a superhuman far beyond the level of an average hero.
Able to rest between their turns, they recovered quickly and rejoined the banquet with full energy.
It’s like this—if each of them was doing a full-body workout with one-hour breaks, then he was being forced to do continuous reps with no rest, not even for a second.
“S-Stop…”
His consciousness flickered and dimd.
After days of unrelenting pleasure, the final destination was a darkening vision—like a starless night sky.
“Ah.”
“He… he passed out?”
The won looked down at the collapsed Dale with wide eyes.
“What should we do? Wake him up?”
“Y-Yeah! That’s a great idea, Iris!”
“Hoho. Right, Lanez?”
Sharing eerie smiles, the corrupted saint and the witch passed sinister remarks between them.
Watching this scene, one of the heroes finally spoke with caution.
“Let’s calm down, everyone. Dale’s really exhausted.”
“Oh my, does that an you’re done too, Yurina?”
“Then how about… we give him five minutes and then wake him?”
“Sounds good?”
As the saint began to show signs of corruption, the hero followed, bringing a tragic sigh from the spider.
“Let’s stop here. Any more and Candidate Dale really will wither up and die.”
“He already looks like he has…”
“Ahem.”
“Hoho, just teasing.”
Iris giggled and stepped toward the unconscious Dale.
Gently stroking his forehead, seven-colored light softly flowed from her hand into his body.
“That’s…?”
“A spell to help him sleep. It’s great for recovery.”
“I see.”
Professor Elisha nodded, stood up, and walked over to the fridge in the corner of the room.
She handed out cold water to Iris, Yurina, and Lanez.
Clearing her throat, she glanced at her students—naked, not a thread of clothing on them.
Her mind had been too overheated earlier to fully register it, but now it hit her:
She had just slept with her students (well, one had graduated recently, but still).
‘A disgrace of a professor.’
As guilt crashed over her, a familiar voice chid in.
“Oh my, regretting it now?”
“……”
“There’s no need to, Sister Elisha.”
“I told you—at school, call Professor.”
Clearly still unused to being called “sister,” Elisha looked flustered.
Iris just laughed at her reaction.
“This kind of thing… feels nice, doesn’t it?”
“…Nice?”
“Yeah. Feels like… family.”
Iris smiled gently as she hugged her knees.
“I grew up an orphan… I never really had that feeling of comfort, just being around people.”
Camilla had been around, but the difference in status had always created an invisible wall between them.
“Family, huh… now that you ntion it, you said sothing like that before.”
Elisha recalled the first ti they had called her “sister” and let out a soft chuckle.
“It’s been a long ti since I felt sothing like this.”
After losing her parents at the hands of the Archbishop of Beasts…
She had never again felt her heart ward just by sharing space with soone else.
“M- too! S-Sotis… I do get a little jealous… but still… I like everyone.”
“Sa here.”
Lanez and Yurina nodded in agreent.
“This is nice.”
Iris looked around at the others with a smile.
“Broken people coming together… becoming a family.”
So might pity them.
So might feel sorry for them.
But—
“I’m happy. Right now.”
So much so, she almost felt guilty for having it.
“That’s why… I never want to lose this. Ever.”
“……”
A faint smile appeared on Elisha’s lips.
She gently stroked Iris’s hair and replied,
“You won’t. Dale—no, we—will make sure of that.”
“Wow… you sounded just like a professor just now.”
“…I am a professor.”
“Hohoho. Just joking.”
Iris stretched with a long yawn.
“Well then, should we head out?”
“Ugh… I want to stay with Dale longer…”
“Sa here, but he’s sleeping, so…”
“…Alright.”
Just as Lanez reluctantly rose to her feet—
“Ughhh…”
Dale stirred and slowly opened his eyes.
“Oh, you’re awake already, Dale?”
“……”
“P-Pretending to sleep won’t help, Dale.”
Iris and Lanez grinned as they approached him.
“We were going to stop for the day… but I guess we don’t have a choice now, huh?”
“W-Wait… sleep…”
"Ahem. Sorry about that, Cadet Dale."
When he opened his eyes, he was still inside the den of beasts.
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* * *
A few days passed like that.
Bang!
The door burst open roughly, and an old man stepped into the room.
As soon as he entered, the strong stench of alcohol filled the air.
When I turned my head, I saw it was Khalid Han.
“…What brings you here?”
“Hm?”
Khalid Han flinched slightly upon seeing my condition.
“Dale, did you get ambushed or sothing?”
“Ah, yeah. Well…”
I was pretty much mauled by hungry lionesses, yes.
Swallowing the words rising to my throat, I pulled a water bottle from the fridge and drank it down.
“Phew. So, what brings you here?”
“I ca to share so information with you.”
“Information?”
“Rember when we talked about the ‘Sixth Hero’?”
“Ah, yes. We did.”
The Sixth Hero.
The one who accomplished what even the Five Great Heroes couldn’t—
Slaying the Demon God.
That hero was none other than the Leader of the Order of Eternity.
“After that incident, I did so digging myself… and I’ve uncovered a few things about him.”
“…!”
What?
“You an you’ve found information about the Sixth Hero… about the Leader of Eternity?”
“Exactly.”
“…How?”
Information on the Sixth Hero was so thoroughly concealed that no records remained.
“I had so help from my son.”
“…You an Maurice?”
“Yes. He told he once overheard so rcenaries talking about the Sixth Hero—or rather, soone they believed was him.”
“rcenaries?”
How could rcenaries know anything about the Sixth Hero?
“Well… it’s more like a legend passed down among rcenaries, so I wouldn’t place too much faith in it.”
Khalid Han stroked his thick beard and continued.
“There’s a rumor among rcenaries: 500 years ago, a lone rcenary fought alongside the Five Great Heroes in the battle against the Demon God.”
“…Are you saying the Sixth Hero was a rcenary?”
“Possibly.”
Khalid clicked his tongue.
“That might explain why there are no records about him. Back then, rcenaries were treated even worse than they are now.”
“…That doesn’t seem like enough of a reason.”
Even if rcenaries were despised, it didn’t make sense for the slayer of the Demon God to be erased from history just for being one.
“As the story passed down through generations, it got pretty distorted… but this part is just my theory.”
“Go on.”
“I don’t think the Sixth Hero and the Five Great Heroes ever actually worked together for long—or at all.”
“…They never worked together?”
“Right. That’s probably why no one, aside from rcenaries, knew the Sixth Hero even existed.”
“So you’re saying… he acted completely separately and only joined in the final battle against the Demon God?”
“Exactly. A lot of heroes joined that last fight. He was probably one of them.”
So basically…
The Great Heroes and the Sixth Hero never really crossed paths at all.
“Of course, there are no official records of rcenaries taking part in that final battle. The enemy was just too powerful for ordinary rcenaries.”
“So there’s no actual evidence.”
“Which is why it’s called a legend.”
“……”
“Anyway. The story goes that the rcenary’s company was wiped out by the Demon God’s forces. Enraged, the lone survivor joined the final battle. That’s the extent of the legend passed down among rcenaries.”
“What? That’s it?”
“Yeah. There’s no ntion of him achieving great feats or fighting valiantly against the Demon God. Among rcenaries, it’s just a tale of pride: ‘One of us fought in that battle too.’”
“……”
If that was the whole story…
‘Now I understand why there are no records of the Sixth Hero.’
It was barely even a proper achievent—just a story of soone being there.
No wonder it wasn’t widely spread, even among rcenaries.
To outsiders, it probably sounded like self-aggrandizing fiction made up to preserve so pride, and so it was laughed off and ignored.
“So… the conclusion is, the Sixth Hero was probably a rcenary from 500 years ago?”
“There’s one more thing.”
Khalid narrowed his eyes.
“You’re aware of the dinsional rift 500 years ago, and the world called ‘Korea’ from which outsiders ca, right?”
“Of course. Every citizen of the Republic knows that.”
The very state they lived in—the Republic—was founded by those outsiders who crossed over from that world.
“There’s a rumor that the rcenary who joined that final battle… was the first of those dinsional travelers.”
“…The first outsider?”
“Yes.”
Khalid nodded and spoke.
“His na was….”
* * *
A garden filled with white chrysanthemums.
A black-haired man silently stared down at an old box.
“It’s been a long ti since I opened this.”
Smiling faintly, he looked at the box.
“You’ve all waited long enough, haven’t you?”
He slowly reached out and lifted the clothing inside.
“Now… it won’t be long.”
On the na tag of the old, uniform-like garnt—
“Let’s go. Ti to et the end of this world.”
—was written the na Daesu Han.
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