Chapter 106: Hero (5)

If reaching tier four allowed a warrior to distribute their accumulated elemental power throughout their body, laying the foundation for transcending humanity…

Then tier three was the stage where one took off from that foundation, truly soaring.

It was the realm where the elemental power stored within could be harnessed and freely utilized according to its innate attributes.

Naturally, proficiency determined the rank even within tier three.

In this sense, both Pablo and his opponent had reached the pinnacle of mastery in tier three.

Shunk.

The blade brushed against Pablo’s cheek.

The intense heat that followed made him involuntarily wince as it scorched his forehead.

However, seeing the swift return of the sword’s trajectory, Pablo knew he had to swing his hammer with precision.

Thwack.

The sword and hammer clashed once more, sending both combatants reeling apart.

“Huff… huff…”

Pablo’s opponent, who had been forced to move faster than anyone else just to evade the powerful hammer blows, now gasped for air roughly. Meanwhile, despite bearing wounds all over his body, Pablo showed not a hint of distress in his breathing.

This sight made the scarred man grit his teeth.

This is why I hate fighting those earth attribute bastards!

Those born with Earth affinity possessed higher stamina and vitality than any other elemental warriors. Those who faced them often described it as ‘grueling’.

At this rate, I’ll be the first to tire.

If that was the case, there could only be one way out.

I’ll finish this in one breath!

His only option was to cut off his opponent’s air supply with a single attack. Among elemental attributes, only lightning boasted greater offensive power than heat. The scarred man had unwavering faith in the might of his attribute.

Hwoooo…

After taking a deep breath, he lowered his sword at an angle. A wave of scorching heat immediately engulfed him.

Realizing that his opponent aimed to end the battle right then and there, Pablo mustered all his elemental strength as well.

Grrr grrr.

Pablo’s body screamed as it brimmed with immense power.

”…”

”…”

Pablo and the scarred man locked eyes, neither uttering a word.

“Ohhh!”

“Ooh!”

Shp shp.

Excited by the thrilling moment of battle, the twins vigorously sucked on their candies.

Gulp.

Page swallowed nervously, realizing that this would end the prolonged struggle once and for all.

The final confrontation began with Calzador striking first.

Hwoosh hwoosh hwoosh.

His entire body glowed red-hot, emitting an intense heat that made it nearly impossible to breathe inside the Bridge.

“Heat Lance!”

The man’s aura heated even his sword, causing its blade to turn bright scarlet as it hurtled towards Pablo’s heart.

Witnessing this attack, Pablo countered with his most powerful learned technique.

“Haaah!”

With a forceful shout, he charged forward.

Whoom!

His hammer roared with all his might behind it.

“Mountain of Ice…”

Pablo’s earth-colored hammer was poised to strike vertically downward.

It was his ultimate weapon, honed against the biting winds of the Winter Continent. This attack had cleaved hundreds of winter orc skulls in the past, and now it boasted its power once more, aiming for another enemy head.

“SPLIT!” he bellowed, just as he was about to send the enemy’s head flying.

Squelch.

The man with a scar on his face snapped backward at the neck.

Two streams of red liquid erupted from him.

Witnessing this, Pablo froze mid-swing, blinking in disbelief.

…What the hell?

If what he saw was real, then that was…

“A nosebleed?”

Clearly visible in mid-air were two bright crimson streaks—a classic case of nosebleed.

But that was only the beginning.

Thud-thud-thud!

Suddenly, black crystals the size of ping pong balls materialized out of thin air, pummeling every inch of the scarred man’s body.

Crack-crack-crack!

Crunk?!

He tried to react to the onslaught of attacks coming from all directions, but it was futile. The black crystal moved too quickly for him to keep up, landing relentless blows on the Calzador man.

How much time had passed?

After more than five minutes of being pummeled, the Calzador man finally collapsed onto the ground with a thud. His face was so swollen from the beatings that he was barely recognizable, as if he’d been stung by countless bees.

Splat!

A fist-sized black crystal struck the back of his head.

“Ugh!”

With a final cry, he lost consciousness.

“Huh…”

Pablo couldn’t help uttering this sound upon witnessing their formidable adversary crumble so pathetically after what seemed like an evenly matched battle.

Soon followed by another voice, grumbling:

“What’s this? They’re still fighting?”

The rabbit, its face gleaming with satisfaction after devouring a hearty meal, nonchalantly emerged while fiddling with its pocket.

Silence enveloped the bridge.

In less than twenty minutes, Louis had appeared, full of life. He glared at Pablo and spoke:

“I thought it would be over in about ten minutes, but you’re still going on like this?”

”…”

Louis stretched out his arm and patted Pablo’s bottom. Originally, he intended to pat him on the shoulder, but…

“Well, anyway, good job.”

“Oh… yes… I suppose so…” Pablo replied with a deeply dejected expression as he stared up at the ceiling.

What… have I done?

Seeing how Louis effortlessly dispatched their opponent, who they had been struggling against, filled Pablo with a sense of futility.

“Ah! You jerk Louis! I was trying to help!”

“No way! I was going to do it!”

The twins appeared, berating Louis for stealing their moment. Of course, Louis simply ignored them.

Meanwhile, Louis looked down at the leader of the raiders, who had been holding his breath this whole time. Suddenly realizing something, he smacked his palm with his fist.

“Oh, right! I forgot to ask why they were doing all this.”

From the fact that everything in the captain’s cabin remained untouched, Louis could tell their goal wasn’t loot but purely capturing the airship. The problem was, he didn’t know what they wanted with the airship itself.

And they had done so by killing all the passengers…

Louis looked at Page and asked, “Do you know him?”

Page shook her head, looking confused. “No… I’ve never seen this man before.”

She was indeed bewildered.

The man who had fought Pablo was undoubtedly a stranger to her.

Although it was highly likely that he wasn’t part of the Revolutionary Army, Page still appeared uneasy due to the time she had spent away from home.

It had been twenty years since Page left the Summer Continent.

During that time, new members would have joined the ranks of the Revolutionary Army.

This individual could very well be one such revolutionary.

But then again,

What if this person isn’t actually a member of the Revolutionary Army…?

What were these people trying to gain by posing as revolutionaries? And that too at the cost of turning Lord Samuel, the owner of this airship, into their enemy?

Seeing Page deep in thought, Louis shrugged nonchalantly.

“Well, whatever. We can get all the details once he wakes up.” Just as Louis was about to rouse the unconscious man…

Boom!

The airship shook violently.

“What’s going on?!” Startled by his body suddenly floating, Pablo grabbed onto a nearby pillar for support.

Louis was equally taken aback.

“Huh?”

It quickly became clear what caused them to feel weightless.

Are we rapidly descending?

Realizing something was amiss, Louis hastily turned towards the window outside.

A fog-like cloud enveloped us, made impenetrable by an ink-black darkness that obscured everything from view.

“Come to think of it…” I mused, “Just where in blazes are we?”

I had been so preoccupied with dispatching our assailants and making my way to the bridge that I’d lost track of time—time enough for the airship to have already landed.

Thud.

In the meantime, the airship had descended once more. Its body pitched forward abruptly as it emerged from its misty cocoon.

Finally, a scene unfolded beyond the bridge’s windshield: through the airship’s glass portal, a city of considerable size came into view.

“What the devil? What kind of city is this?”

The sporadically lit cityscape below looked quite picturesque from this altitude, but there was no time to appreciate such things now. Page’s eyes were wide with shock at the sight before her.

To be precise, it was a massive palace situated in the heart of the city.

“N-no way!” Page, who had been barely hanging on to her composure, turned pale at the sight of this familiar and longed-for place. She scrutinized the airship’s straight trajectory. If time continued as it was, this is where the airship would crash:

That place…

“The Bernium Palace!”

“Huh?” Louis, startled by Page’s outburst, looked at her quizzically. “What do you mean?”

“W-we’re in the Frenche Kingdom!”

“So these bastards really are that Leon whatever revolutionaries?”

“No!” Page denied it loudly. Suddenly, all the events she had experienced so far began to fall into place in her mind.

Why they had hijacked the airship.

Why they had killed the passengers.

What their ultimate goal was.

Realizing everything, Page shouted, “They’re guards of the Frenche royal family!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“The bastards are aiming for the palace! They’re determined to drop this airship on it!”

“But why would the Frenche royal guards target their own palace?” Louis couldn’t make sense of Page’s words.

Royal guards attacking the palace…

As they conversed, a shout came from nearby.

“Can you two stop chitchatting while we’re about to die?! Do something already!” Pablo yelled, his face pale as he trembled uncontrollably.

They said there were only fifty crashes in twenty years! This is number fifty-one!

The ground was rapidly approaching. Pablo, who had never been one to cry easily despite his size, found himself sobbing at the thought of experiencing the fifty-first crash.

Louis let out a small sigh.

“…We’ll discuss everything later.” He left Page behind and headed straight for the controls, his expression grim.

“This…” The airship’s control stick was pulled out and completely smashed. Louis tried other buttons and levers, but they were all nonfunctional.

He finally realized that this situation was part of the attackers’ plan.

The sudden acceleration earlier and now flying low—everything has been calculated.

If true, it meant these intruders hadn’t planned this over just one or two days. They would’ve needed precise calculations on where exactly to drop the airship so as not to miss their target.

A hijacking! In his previous life, Louis never imagined he’d become a victim of something typically seen only in movies.

“What? What’s wrong?! Why do you look like that?”

Louis scratched his cheek at Pablo’s question.

“Well…um…the control stick is busted?”

“…” A moment of silence followed Louis’s words.

Then Pablo let out a loud wail. “Aargh! Why did you crack that bastard’s skull?!”

The “bastard” Pablo referred to was the leader of the intruders lying unconscious on one side of the airship. If he were conscious, he might have known how to resolve this situation.

…Did I hit him too hard?

Judging by the way he lay there motionless, it didn’t seem like he’d be waking up anytime soon.

Louis rubbed his chin again. “I should’ve seen this coming.” How could he ever predict being hijacked in a fantasy world?

Grumbling, Louis turned toward the front of the ship.

At this rate, we’ll end up embedded in the palace.

Judging by our angle of descent, it looked like we were heading straight for the central building of the royal palace—and within minutes.

“Hmm…” Louis scanned their surroundings.

“Eek!”

“Look at this, Sis! Look!”

The twins hopped around on the tilted bridge deck.

“Aaaaargh!” Pablo clung to a pillar and let out a piercing scream.

Page seemed preoccupied with simply keeping herself steady during these steep inclines.

Only Fin appeared relatively unscathed.

“What should we do?” she asked him.

Louis sighed softly. “…There’s nothing else I can do.”

He was the only one who could resolve their current predicament. With that thought, his Dragon Heart began emitting intense energy once again.