"What... was that?" Vega slumped to the ground, magic power surging through her body as soothing magic activated automatically.
Diallo shook his head. He took a deep breath, used his greatsword for support, and rose to lean against a tree. "I don't know. That kind of pressure... he's definitely reached that level."
Vega stretched out her hand, sensing the natural magic in the air whose composition had been altered. She murmured, "Node level? Wait, this is—"
Before she could finish, an icy wind swept in from the distance, sharp air mixed with ice chips scraping across their faces.
A layer of moisture appeared over the surrounding bushes and tree trunks before slowly freezing into frost.
The seasons in this world resembled those on Earth. By Earth's calendar, it should have been the height of summer.
And this location made the appearance of such low-temperature air even more impossible.
Then this sudden cold wave... could only be the aftermath of a battle! The two exchanged glances, seeing shock and fear in each other's eyes.
People divided beings of differing energy levels into several ranks, from low to high: novices just starting out; veterans who had gained experience and undergone their first "class change"; legends capable of single-handedly exterminating hordes of high-level monsters; sages who could serve as an army by themselves; Nodes, a level only Demon Kings and Heroes throughout history could reach, capable of changing vast stretches of terrain with a full-force attack and creating new natural nodes; and finally, gods, a class of their own.
"No, that means there's an even more serious problem!" Diallo snapped out of his initial shock. "If that King Hero could fight someone like that for so long, then that suddenly appearing Demon King officer must also be Node level!"
Vega froze. Right!
And according to the rumors, the Demon King had four officers in total, calling themselves the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
War and Domination were said to be the strongest among them. If even the officers had reached Node level, just how powerful was the Demon King himself?
At that thought, both of them shuddered. Could people like them really defeat an existence like that?
Then it seemed the person with the greatest hope of becoming a Hero was the King Hero, Chu Ke!
Bang! A faint tremor suddenly rang out beside them.
Chu Ke slowly landed, the life aura around his body withdrawing. He looked at Vega, who was sitting on the road, then at Diallo, who was leaning against a tree with an odd look in his eyes. "What's going on? You can't sleep here."
After adding points, Chu Ke's life level seemed to have entered another stage.
His pressure no longer leaked out recklessly. What had once been a passive effect while using skills had become an active ability, one that would not appear even when he summoned his aura.
It also felt as though his body had gained several new sensory organs, allowing him to "see" countless vast nets of different colors spread everywhere.
This was the world's "natural magic."
It was said that some extremely high-level mages could see the same sight. Once they did, the magic they cast no longer had distinctions of affinity or school—they could use every school of magic.
And Chu Ke had evolved this ability through the sheer extremity of his physical body.
"Mm, nothing." Diallo shook his head. "We were discussing your strength."
Chu Ke nodded and said what he had expected to say. "My strength now should be around the level Heroes reached in the past."
"Mm, as expected." Diallo recalled the books he had read. "Only a Hero at the Node level could create aftershocks like that."
Chu Ke raised an eyebrow.
Oh~. Looks like my stat estimate was pretty accurate!
"Was that a Demon King officer just now?" Vega asked curiously.
"Mm, it probably was. We can discuss the specifics on the way. There shouldn't be any more danger, so let's head to Lake of Truth."
"Mm!" Diallo nodded, then froze.
Wait, hadn't he still not drawn the Hero's Sword?
No! That power wasn't right at all!?
Across the boundless grassland, an enormous lake like colored glass rippled quietly.
Though the lake was less than ten feet deep, its waters were abnormally clear. At its center stood a small island, connected to the shore by a long stone path.
Lake of Truth—Vessel.
A massive tree, thick enough that dozens of people could not wrap their arms around it, grew upon the lake island. Its tangled roots twisted through the soil to form a huge tree hollow, where a sword with a blue hilt stood embedded in a boulder.
Beside the boulder, a figure in a black robe whose face could not be seen sat on the ground, facing a newly lit campfire.
Buzz! A sound abruptly rang out amid the stillness.
The black-robed figure turned to look. A dagger forged from magic slowly sliced open a gap in the air, and a man in a mage's robe and square-framed glasses stepped through.
"Oh? I'm not the first one here?" The bespectacled man glanced at the black-robed figure in surprise. When the other party did not react, he stepped forward, preparing to try pulling out the sword.
At that moment, the bespectacled man's pupils contracted. A magical barrier unfolded automatically, blocking the blood blade suddenly swung by the black-robed figure.
"What are you doing!?"
"Law Hero?" A hoarse voice emerged from beneath the black robe.
The bespectacled man said nothing, merely tightening his grip on his staff.
A demon? No, there's a barrier here. Even if the Demon King himself came, he couldn't enter!
"Spirits of all magic... bind him!" The bespectacled man made his decision at once, rapidly chanting a spell. Several golden shackles instantly appeared from thin air and bound the black-robed figure.
"Why..." The black-robed figure continued to roar. Strands of blood energy spilled from his body as the shackles broke apart piece by piece. "Everyone must die!"
"No... run!" As though lucidity and madness coexisted within him, the black-robed figure suddenly warned the bespectacled man.
That sentence caused the cone of light the bespectacled man was about to throw to abruptly veer aside, striking the wall instead.
In that brief moment, the black-robed figure fiercely broke one hand free and flung out a frigid blood blade.
The bespectacled man used magic to propel himself away, barely evading it. The blood blade easily severed the mithril staff in his hand and drifted onward behind him.
Suddenly, the bespectacled man's magical detection senses twitched. He turned toward the cave entrance and shouted, "Get out of the way!"
At the cave entrance, two indistinct silhouettes entered against the light, and the blood blade flew straight toward one of them.
That indestructible, incomparably sharp blood blade slammed fiercely into the person's chest. Then it scattered like foam, failing to even cut the person's clothes.
Chu Ke slowly stepped into the light with Diallo, patted down the wrinkled fabric on his chest, and frowned. "Who the hell has no public decency? Spraying nosebleeds everywhere?"
This little island seemed to reject everyone who was not a Hero, so Vega obediently remained outside.
Worth mentioning was that Chu Ke had initially been lightly blocked as well, but he squeezed his way in with just a little force.
The bespectacled man swallowed, stepped back, and pointed at the black-robed figure who was still bound.
Not my problem.jpg "Everyone must die!" The black-robed figure completely descended into madness, drooling as he howled at Chu Ke.
"What kind of hyper-aggressive kid is this?" Chu Ke stepped forward and slapped him across the face.
Bang! The tremendous force directly sent the black-robed figure flying backward, snapping the shackles around him and embedding him in the wall.
The black-robed figure's eyes instantly became clear.
"Gulp." The sound of someone swallowing came from a dark corner. A person dressed in strange clothes slowly emerged. "I'm late, sorry. Please don't hit me."
With that, all five Heroes were present.