The Last-Seat Hero Has Returned

70. In Search of the Demon Sword (2)

After Barreld, our fifth party member, joined the party, we left the school gate and headed for the ruins.

“Hehehe. I’m so nervous since it’s my first time exploring ruins!”

“…You don’t look nervous at all.”

I glanced at Barreld, who was sparkling with excitement like a child going on a picnic, and stifled a laugh.

“By the way, brother! Since we’re all gathered here by fate, could you introduce the party members?”

“Ah, of course.”

I looked around at Yuren, Iris, and Camilla and continued.

“This is Yuren. You’ve probably heard the name, right?”

“Are you talking about the descendant of the ‘Sword of the Sun’?”

“That’s right.”

“oooh! I’ve heard a lot about you!”

Barreld strode over to Yuren and extended his thick hand like a cauldron lid.

“Nice to meet you! I’m Barreld Ryu from the second-year magic department! I’m a year younger, so feel free to call me casually!”

“Ah, uh, okay.”

Yuren shook Barreld’s hand with a puzzled expression, filled with questions like, “This face is a second-year? And in the magic department…?”

“And over there are Iris and Camilla.”

“I’ve heard about you two as well! The saint of the Holy Kingdom and her knight, right?”

Barreld exclaimed in admiration as he approached Iris and Camilla.

“Nice to meet you! It’s an honor to be in the same party as the famous people of the school!”

“Please take care of me.”

“If you’re from the Beryl family… Are you related to Principal Lionel?”

“Hehe. That’s right. But I’m from a branch family, so I don’t have any special connection with Grandfather Lionel.”

Beryl answered with a bitter smile.

“By the way, how did you get to know Dale?”

“Hehe. We took supplementary classes together!”

“…Supplementary classes?”

“It’s the classes you take if you fail the exam. Haven’t you ever taken them?”

“Ah… No, I’ve never taken them.”

Iris shook her head with an embarrassed expression.

Yuren and Camilla also avoided eye contact with awkward smiles.

“Hahaha! You were all model students! My brother and I took supplementary classes all year long and formed a special bond…”

“Shut up, man. What’s so special about taking supplementary classes?”

He smacked Beryl’s back hard.

“Anyway, we’ll be arriving at the ruins soon, so let’s stop chatting.”

It had been about an hour since they left Valhalla City.

Thanks to using the warp device in the middle, it didn’t take long to reach the location of the ‘Cave of Red Tears’.

“Is that the ruin Dale mentioned?”

Yuren asked, staring at the huge cave entrance in the distance.

“Yes, that’s the ‘Cave of Red Tears’.”

A protective barrier was set up at the entrance to prevent ordinary people from entering.

Beep.

[Temporary Hero Certificate confirmed.]

[Barrier deactivated.]

When I turned on the Hero Watch and brought it to the protective barrier, the bluish film surrounding the entrance disappeared.

“Let’s quickly form a formation before we go in.”

I pointed to each party member and assigned the optimal formation I had thought of beforehand.

“I’ll take the rear.”

Usually, support or magic heroes are placed at the rear, but that formation is used in open fields.

In a cave where you never know when you might be ambushed, it’s safest to place a warrior at the rear and support heroes in the middle for protection.

‘It’s probably better if I don’t participate in the battle as much as possible.’

This exploration of the ruins also aims to give the party members, who lack real combat experience, a chance to gain some.

The moment I take the lead, there will be no opportunity to gain any real combat experience.

“If Dale is in the rear… then I should be in the middle, right?”

“Yes. Camilla, stand next to Iris and focus on guarding her.”

“Got it.”

Camilla nodded without a word, probably because she had originally come along not for the exploration but to guard Iris.

“Yuren and Berald, you two take the vanguard.”

“Ha ha! Leave it to us, brother!”

“Okay. Got it… Huh? But didn’t you say you were from the Magic Division earlier?”

Yuren looked puzzled as he saw a candidate from the Magic Division confidently placed in the vanguard.

“Well… you’ll see.”

He shrugged and used the ‘Light’ magic.

Glowing orbs formed, brightly illuminating the surroundings.

“Let’s go.”

As we entered the cave, a chilling aura sent shivers down my spine.

“Ugh… something smells fishy.”

As soon as we entered the ruins, Iris wrinkled her nose and pinched it shut.

“Look up, Viel.”

I pointed to the stalactites growing from the ceiling.

At the tips of the icicle-like stalactites, blood-red droplets were forming and dripping down.

“…So that’s why this place is called the ‘Cave of Red Tears’.”

Yuren frowned as he watched the red droplets fall.

“…….”

“…….”

Had they been overwhelmed by the eerie atmosphere of the cave?

The chatter that had been incessant before entering the ruins had suddenly ceased, and silence had descended.

I glanced at the tense faces of the party members and stifled a chuckle.

‘Wow, they all had such fresh, inexperienced days.’

Except for Camilla, Yuren, Berald, and Iris had been in my party for a long time in my previous life. Comparing their veteran hero selves in my memory to their current rookie candidate selves made me laugh involuntarily.

‘Something feels nostalgic.’

Although Senior Sophia is not here yet.

Coming to the ruins with my comrades from my past life made me feel like I had returned to the old days.

To those times I thought would never come back.

‘I need to go meet Senior Sophia too.’

Even though I peeked into the fourth-year classroom while waiting for the permit after submitting the ruins exploration application.

All the fourth-year candidates were away from school for the ‘Hero Practice’ period.

‘Well, I guess we’ll meet soon enough even if I don’t rush.’

For now, it’s best to focus on the ruins exploration.

“Krrk… Karrr.”

“Karak. Kerrrk.”

From noble mtl dot com

About ten minutes had passed since we entered the ruins.

The pungent smell of blood grew stronger, and eerie cries echoed.

“Beasts spotted ahead.”

Yuren drew his sword and quickly scanned the direction from which the cries were coming.

The sound came from the cave ceiling.

A group of beasts clung upside down to the stalactites, their red eyes gleaming ominously as they looked down at us.

Their bodies were covered in gray fur, with thin membranes hanging like cloaks under their arms, and vicious fangs protruding.

At a glance, they were clearly beasts mutated from bats.

“There are seven in total. Six are at the third level, and one is at the fifth level.”

Yuren quickly assessed the size and strength of the beast group and briefed us.

I watched Yuren with my hands behind my back, a satisfied smile forming inside.

‘Ah, as expected, he’s not the top student for nothing.’

This must be his first ruins exploration, yet he was flawlessly fulfilling his role as the leader without any sign of panic.

‘But.’

So far, it was just basic knowledge learned at school.

The real battle started now.

“Krrrrk!”

“Everyone, fall back!”

As soon as the bat beasts hanging from the ceiling showed signs of movement, Yuren dashed forward.

Thud!

Yuren kicked off the ground and jumped high.

“Kiieek?!”

The bat fiend flapped its wings frantically and fled backward.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Yuren chased the fleeing bat fiend, stepping on the stalactites protruding from the ceiling as if performing acrobatics.

“Haaap!”

“Kaaak!”

Yuren plunged his sword into the back of the bat fiend.

“Next….”

In the blink of an eye, Yuren had dispatched one fiend and turned to find his next prey.

“Kihyaaah!”

As the bat fiend of the Oan class roared, a swarm of bat fiends spread their wings and took to the air simultaneously.

Yuren gripped his sword tighter, as if daring them to come at him.

And then.

“Krrr!”

“Kyaaak!”

The bat fiends surged toward the party members instead of Yuren.

“Ah…!”

Yuren exclaimed urgently and tried to chase after the bat fiends, but he was already too far from his party members and was a step too late.

“Guardian of the Seven Stars!”

It was Iris who filled the gap left by Yuren.

She quickly drew a holy symbol and unfolded a protective barrier.

The bat fiends, which had been charging fiercely, bounced off her pure white barrier.

“I can’t hold them for long!”

“Leave this to me!”

Beryl charged forward, clenching his fists.

“Hraaah! One down!”

Crunch!

Beryl smashed the head of a bat fiend with a single punch.

“Urrgh!”

Grabbing the napes of two bat-like monsters flapping their wings frantically as if trying to distance themselves, I pulled my arms back, hugging them tightly.

Crunch!

With the sound of their skulls being crushed, blood and brain matter splattered.

“Karrrk!”

While Berald smashed the head of one monster from the front, two other bat monsters with viciously protruding fangs gnawed and shattered the protective barrier Iris had set up.

“Lady Saint! Please, get behind me!”

As soon as the barrier broke, Camilla swiftly stood in front of Iris to protect her.

“Haa!”

With a characteristic honest and straightforward sword strike of the Holy Kingdom, she slashed at the two bat monsters charging at Iris.

“Kishiiit!”

The last remaining leader monster let out an unpleasant metallic screech as it rushed forward.

Much faster than the other bat monsters.

“Uh…!”

“No, no!”

In an instant, the vanguard line from Berald to Camilla was breached, and the monster lunged at Iris with its vicious fangs.

“Tsk.”

Sun Sword.

Form II, Moon Slash (斬月)

Shraaak!

With a flash of the sword light, the body of the charging leader bat monster was split in half.

The leader bat monster died instantly, spilling blood and entrails.

I shook off the blood from my sword and looked back at my party members.

“Sigh.”

As expected.

“We have a long way to go.”