I Became the 101st Hero – Chapter 111

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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‘Overload.’

The effect, which originally increased stats by two stages, now increased them by three.

The side effect was also amplified, decreasing stats by two stages, but it didn’t matter since the battle had to be concluded within 30 minutes anyway.

“Elsie.”

I handed Elsie the remaining two pills.

The pills had a diminishing effect, so consuming more than three wouldn’t provide any additional benefit.

Therefore, I gave the remaining two to Elsie, who, like me, had an important role to play.

“This suspicious-looking drug isn’t dangerous, is it?”

Even to me, the pills, now emitting a black aura due to Overload, looked suspicious. However, as if to prove her question was a joke, Elsie put the two pills in her mouth without hesitation.

I also swallowed the three pills without delay.

“Oh, this definitely gives me a whooshing feeling.”

Elsie said, her eyes widening. She must have been feeling the rapid increase in her physical abilities.

It was the same for me, having taken three pills.

‘What kind of expression is “whooshing feeling”?’

But it felt accurate. The physical sensations I felt definitely changed in an instant. I opened my status window to check my stats.

‘The effect is certainly potent.’

My current stats were comparable to Gwen’s when I first met her.

Except for Agility, which was one stage lower, all my other stats were higher than Gwen’s back then. Of course, considering Gwen received the Precociousness buff, it might be different now.

“Then let’s start.”

Elsie urged me as I checked my stats. I had been planning to do so anyway, but it was true that I had been momentarily distracted by my status window.

I asked Elsie, as if to confirm,

“Can you do that now?”

Elsie nodded confidently.

“Of course. I feel overflowing with mana.”

Since the Awakening Pill increased all stats, it also increased mana along with physical abilities. Mana wasn’t a particularly useful stat for Yuseora or me, but it was different for Elsie.

I checked Elsie’s stats as well.

…Unbelievable stats.

It reminded me once again that this pill was a reward from the trial. All stats were A or higher.

With these stats, she could challenge not only high-ranking but even Saint-level heroes.

‘But being Saint-level isn’t just about stats.’

Besides, the Awakening Pill’s effect was only temporary. There were no items that permanently increased stats to this extent.

And reaching this level of stats without items was close to impossible.

In any case, it was more important to utilize these temporary stats to the fullest rather than getting caught up in them.

Elsie’s current mana was at a level that most mages would struggle to achieve. Furthermore, Elsie had practiced a technique that could fully utilize such mana.

However…

“Then I’ll begin.”

Perhaps because I was her teacher, I was still anxious.

“I wasn’t asking if you had enough mana. I was asking if you remember everything I taught you.”

It wasn’t something that could be done simply by having enough mana. But Elsie nodded with a serious expression.

“Whether I can or not, I have to do it. And I’ve succeeded a few times while practicing.”

Succeeded a few times. That meant she had failed dozens of times.

But she was right; whether she could or not, she had to do it now.

“From a point to a line, from a line to a space. I just have to do it up to that point, right?”

I nodded at her words. I had taught Elsie Libero’s swordsmanship during the vacation.

As expected of a playable character, Elsie had quite a talent for swordsmanship, and since the swordsmanship she originally used was also the Liedvall family’s style, like mine, teaching her wasn’t difficult.

Elsie absorbed the swordsmanship so well that it made me think her Sak route’s strength wasn’t for nothing.

However, Elsie’s limit was the realm of space. Reaching that point in such a short time was impressive.

It had taken me 100 playthroughs within the trial to barely reach the realm of space, and I only awakened to the realm of time after directly facing Libero.

‘That doesn’t mean Elsie can also quickly reach the realm of time, though.’

Perhaps reaching the realm of time would be forever impossible for Elsie. Even in my case, I only managed to mimic reaching the realm of time by relying on the wind authority.

I still didn’t understand how Libero, a genius swordsman, had reached the realm of time with his bare body. That technique was completely lost after Libero.

Therefore, the path to the realm of time was practically blocked for Elsie, who didn’t possess an acceleration-type ability.

‘So I have to fulfill that role.’

Elsie’s current Agility stat was certainly high.

Even I would have to accelerate for quite a while using the wind authority to enter the realm of time against her current speed.

But as long as she was limited by her stats, there was no guarantee she could cut the 31st Demon Lord’s main body within the tentacles.

Then Elsie’s role was…

“Opening the path is enough for me.”

To open a path for me to reach the Demon Lord’s main body.

“You always emphasized it. The most important thing in swordsmanship is conviction.”

She raised her sword without hesitation. The tip of her sword began to sparkle.

Perhaps because of her increased mana, it shone more intensely than ever before.

“From a point to a line.”

The light shining from the tip of Elsie’s sword began to lengthen. And soon, that light stretched out long enough to reach the sky.

She made eye contact with me one last time.

“Then, from a line to a space.”

At the same time, she swung her sword. To the Demon Lord, it would have looked like she was simply swinging her sword at empty air.

But the strike looked completely different from my perspective.

‘It’s a path.’

The elongated light distorted the surroundings, creating a path. All I had to do was use the space she created.

‘Wind Authority.’

Before I could even confirm the path, I was already running the moment she swung her sword. Her swordsmanship was fundamentally connected to mine.

This level of coordination was easily achievable.

‘The space created by Elsie’s sword is my space.’

In the seemingly slow flow of time, Elsie’s light painted the surrounding space, and I ran right behind it.

Although it was light with a high mana level of A, perhaps because I was running almost parallel to it, it only felt warm.

The light finally reached the Demon Lord’s outer shell. Elsie’s invisible attack, launched from a distance. The Demon Lord didn’t notice it.

Not until it pierced a hole in its outer shell, weakened by Yuseora’s attacks.

Ordinarily, such a small hole would have been instantly repaired. But this time, the situation was a little different.

‘From space to space.’

I suddenly appeared at the end of that invisible sword strike. It was a technique beyond common sense, created by two users of Libero’s swordsmanship.

From the Demon Lord’s perspective, it would have felt like I teleported using Elsie’s sword strike.

‘Success.’

Sensing the Demon Lord’s confusion, I continued moving without stopping the wind authority.

And before the small hole created by Elsie’s sword strike could be repaired, I quickly entered.

However, the next moment, I couldn’t help but be taken aback after entering its interior.

‘What in the world…?’

The scene unfolding before my eyes was unexpected. It was only natural, since I hadn’t heard anything from Stella about what it looked like inside.

‘This is…’

There was a reason why it was impossible to strike the main body from outside. The space inside was ridiculously vast.

‘Is this a universe or something?’

An endless expanse of dark space. The scenery here resembled outer space. The only difference was that there were no stars or dust here.

My gaze eventually settled on a single point. I had no choice but to look there. In this vast space, only that existed, floating.

‘Is that the 31st Demon Lord’s main body?’

An object floating in the void, seemingly the main body of the 31st Demon Lord. It had a rather unsettling appearance.

‘A fetus?’

A translucent red cocoon, pulsating like a heartbeat, floating in the void. What was inside clearly had the shape of a fetus. But I couldn’t hesitate now that I had come this far.

‘If I stop here, I’ll be ejected from the realm of time.’

My method of entering the realm of time was acceleration through the wind authority. If I stopped accelerating here, it would become impossible to enter the realm of time again.

Now, while the cocoon was still moving slowly… I had to enter the realm of time. I used the wind authority to accelerate further, rapidly approaching the cocoon.

By the time I was close to the cocoon, I had entered the realm of time and could no longer properly control my body.

‘Overload.’

I imbued the relic in my hand with Overload. And relying on the sensations coming through the wind authority, I thrust the sword. At the same time, a sensation was transmitted through the sword.

Thud.

The sword pierced deep into the cocoon. The sword penetrated the fetus inside. Simultaneously, the cocoon’s pulsating stopped.

‘Did I finish it?’

Just as I thought that, I heard a voice from somewhere.

Is this the end?

It was a colorless voice, neither male nor female, young nor old. I couldn’t even tell from which direction it came. But for some reason, I knew for sure that it was the fetus’s voice.

“You’re not dead yet?”

Dead? I will simply return to chaos.

Those words bothered me a little.

“Return to chaos?”

The voice spoke as if it was obvious.

A natural principle. All humans come from chaos.

“What do you…”

You will understand eventually. All causality will eventually flow toward the world’s end.

As I was confused by its cryptic words,

Ha…

It suddenly sighed.

So this was a fragment of the Chain. How amusing.

“Chain? That’s…”

Just as I tried to extract more information from that familiar word, the universe began to collapse.

Simultaneously, I could see the outside scenery through the cracks of the crumbling universe.

“Hey!”

I shouted into the void, but there was no response. All I could see was the gigantic outer shell of the 31st Demon Lord disappearing into particles, and Elsie and Yuseora standing around it.

Elsie and Yuseora, confirming the collapse of the 31st Demon Lord’s outer shell, were running towards me.

Yuseora exclaimed triumphantly, “I did it!”

“Are you taking all the credit?”

Elsie and Yuseora were running towards me with all their might. But I felt something was amiss.

It wasn’t that the 31st Demon Lord wasn’t dead.

‘It was definitely dead.’

As proof, the main body had stopped pulsating, and its outer shell had eventually disintegrated into particles.

However, for some reason, the achievement notification for the 31st Demon Lord’s death hadn’t appeared.

‘Something is strange.’

Not only that, but the very air around me felt ominous. I quickly looked around. Elsie, seeing me like that, must have also sensed that something was wrong, as she stopped in her tracks.

“Allen? What’s wrong?”

There had been a sense of unease since I encountered Guineus. That unease hadn’t lessened and had continued until now. And just now, an assumption about that unease had come to mind.

‘Is this place, perhaps…’

The voice had mentioned a fragment of the Chain earlier. A fragment, something separated and not connected. If that’s what it had meant…

At that moment, the ground shook with a loud noise. The tremors were so strong that I barely managed to maintain my balance as I looked towards the source of the noise.

There, I saw a gigantic shadow.

‘That’s…!’

I had only seen it in Seo Yoo Rang’s memories; this was the first time seeing it in person. But there was no way I wouldn’t recognize it.

A massive body, scales that seemed to be made of steel, and giant wings on its back.

‘The 72nd Demon Lord.’

That form, resembling a giant dragon, was its form after complete awakening. It was rising from the ruins of the Order headquarters.

“Allen, what in the world is that…?”

I had missed it.

If the Demon Lords had chosen this place as their target instead of the Lodreim Kingdom, it was highly likely that the 72nd Demon Lord would also be here, not in the Lodreim Kingdom.

Once the 72nd Demon Lord successfully infiltrated Hailen, there was no better place for it to awaken than the Order headquarters.

“The fact that thing is still here means…”

Of course, there were things you couldn’t prove without trying. But sometimes, there were things you could understand without proof.

Like simple addition or the laws of physics. This was one of those times.

‘It’s over.’

The 30 minutes would soon be up, and the penalty would begin. Moreover, I had used all the Awakening Pills for this subjugation.

That meant stopping this Demon Lord was impossible.

‘Most of the world destruction endings are caused by that thing.’

I could only watch blankly as it took flight. A massive energy began to gather in its mouth.

The energy condensed, forming a sphere, and slowly descended towards the ground. There was no way to stop it.

Watching the small sphere descend, I called out into the void,

“Hey, God of Voyeurism.”

The sphere touched the ground. And the next moment, there was nothing left.

Hailen was annihilated.

“This is the trial, right?”

You have worked hard. But that is not my name.

Back at the giant tree again. I sat leaning against it, my legs weak.

“Can I ask one question?”

Anything I can answer, you may ask.

“Is there a rule that trials always have to be this horrific?”

That is what a ‘trial’ is.

I almost nodded unconsciously. But even if it was a trial, the difficulty of this one was excessive. I had some expectations since he warned me it would be difficult, but this far exceeded them.

The 31st Demon Lord was manageable, somehow. But the last one was truly not.

“Wasn’t putting the 72nd Demon Lord at the end just setting me up for failure?”

It was an opponent I couldn’t defeat no matter what I did. That’s why I had to defeat it in the Lodreim Kingdom before it awakened. But to put it in along with the 31st Demon Lord…

I do not understand what you are saying. You have perfectly completed my trial.

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