The Last-Seat Hero Has Returned

Chapter 71

71. In Search of the Demon Sword (3)

Whether they belong to a national institution, a large guild, or wander like a ronin without belonging to any organization.

Heroes generally form a ‘party’ to act.

Among them, the most preferred party size across the three kingdoms is five.

There were many theories about this, such as the influence of the ‘Great Five Heroes’ who sealed the demon 500 years ago, or the principle of the Five Elements (五行).

In reality, it was simply because five people were the most efficient number in terms of balance, synergy, and ultimately, management in battle.

The ‘ideal’ hero composition when forming a party of five was usually three warriors, one mage, and one support.

Of course, sometimes one of the warriors would be replaced by an ‘irregular’ hero, who didn’t fit into any category.

Generally, a party was formed with this 3-1-1 composition.

The biggest advantage of forming a party was that it could exert not just five times the power of a single hero, but ten or twenty times the power.

A party that had worked together for a long time could move as if they were one body, defeating opponents that seemed impossible to win against objectively.

‘Of course, the opposite could also be true.’

A newly formed party, or one made up of inexperienced heroes, could show less power than the individuals alone, let alone five times the power.

Yes.

Just like now.

“Iris, your response wasn’t bad. But considering our party’s strength, it would have been better to just cast a blessing rather than focusing on defense.”

“Ah… I see.”

After a battle ended.

Iris nodded as she received feedback.

“And Beryl and Camilla, your overall vision is too narrow. Since you’re not fighting alone, you need to keep an eye on the leader’s movements.”

“Ugh…”

“Got it. I’ll keep that in mind, brother.”

Beryl and Camilla, who had been easily breached by the sudden charge of the bat monster, nodded with a heavy heart.

“Lastly, Yuren.”

“……”

As if he could roughly guess what evaluation would come out of my mouth.

Yuren hung his head like a sinner, his lips tightly shut.

“Don’t try to do everything by yourself. The party is not something you need to protect alone, but comrades you need to fight together with.”

“…Sorry.”

Yuren, who had put the entire party in danger with his reckless charge, hung his head with a sullen expression.

“Well, everyone makes mistakes at first.”

I patted Yuren’s back and chuckled.

‘Who would have thought the day would come when I would say this to Yuren.’

It was exactly the opposite situation from when I had just started forming a party with Yuren in my previous life.

Believing in his immortal body, he charged thoughtlessly, putting the party in danger instead.

“Sigh. We all learned in school that we shouldn’t leave formation recklessly.”

Yuren sighed, blaming himself.

I shrugged with a bitter smile.

“Classes and real battles are different.”

“Still, to make such a mistake against mere monsters…”

Well, I could fully understand Yuren’s feelings.

The bat monster we just faced was a low-level monster that Yuren could easily sweep away on his own.

‘This is exactly the case where being too strong becomes a poison.’

Thinking he could handle the monster alone, he didn’t consider cooperating with his comrades, but instead envisioned himself charging in and wiping them all out.

“Anyway, shall we keep moving?”

“Yes. I won’t make any mistakes this time.”

Yuren gripped his sword tightly, burning with determination.

Thus, the exploration of the ruins resumed.

“I’ll take the right side, so you take the left, Berald!”

“Got it!”

“One is coming back!”

“Need support?”

“No! I can handle it alone!”

“I’ll cast a blessing first!”

Maybe because everyone had basic skills.

With each battle, the party’s coordination was noticeably improving.

‘Yes, this is it.’

The gears that had been creaking and not meshing properly were finally turning smoothly.

I watched from the rear, providing appropriate support as my party members continued their battle with the monsters.

The one showing the most remarkable performance was none other than Berald.

‘I knew Yuren was strong, but… Berald is a bit surprising.’

It had only been about a month since Berald started learning martial arts from me.

Until then, Berald had only known street fighting, which was embarrassing to even call martial arts, but in the past month, his skills had improved remarkably.

‘Well, he had more talent for martial arts than Yuren.’

Ever since graduating from Hero School, Berald had begun to seriously learn martial arts, to the point where he created his own new martial art. This alone showed how overwhelming his talent was.

Of course.

He still had a tendency to rely more on magic(?) than martial arts.

“Stone Arrowooo!”

Berald chanted as he pulled out a stalagmite from the ground and threw it.

Boom!

The corpse of the bat demon, pierced by the sharp stalagmite, flew far away and stuck to the cave wall as if hit by a ballista.

‘Yeah, damn it. This is magic, what else could it be?’

Berald in his previous life said.

Extreme physical force is indistinguishable from magic.

“How was it this time, brother?”

“Much better.”

When he gave a thumbs up, the expressions of the party members brightened (though Camilla’s face changed to one of ‘why am I happy about this guy’s praise?’ in the middle).

‘I’m glad I came.’

Before starting the ruins exploration, he was half-doubtful whether this exploration would help his comrades, but seeing their skills improve so much in just one day made him smile.

“Alright, it’s late today, so let’s stop here and continue the exploration tomorrow.”

“Are we going back to Valhalla City?”

“No, that would take too long.”

Even though there was a warp device near the ruins, it wasn’t a convenient distance to travel back and forth.

They had already come quite deep into the ruins.

“Let’s camp here.”

“Haha! Don’t worry, I brought plenty of camping gear!”

Berald said, patting his bulging backpack.

“Then let’s set up the tents first.”

Although they were inside the cave, the name ‘Cave of Red Tears’ was fitting as red droplets continuously dripped from the tips of the stalactites, so tents were essential.

“Two tents should be enough, right? One for men, one for women.”

“Huh? Are we all sleeping together?”

From noble mtl dot com

Yuren visibly flustered.

I looked back at Yuren as if to say, what are you talking about?

“Of course we have to sleep together. When have we ever set up tents according to the number of people?”

“I, I have my own personal tent that I brought…”

“Oh ho. A personal tent, you say? What are you talking about? The romance of camping is all about squeezing into a small tent and sleeping together, isn’t it?”

“I don’t need that kind of romance!”

Yuren shouted and turned his body abruptly.

“Anyway, I’m going to sleep in the personal tent I brought!”

“Hmm.”

Come to think of it, even in his previous life, Yuren had an extreme aversion to sleeping with others.

‘Well, that’s why noble young masters are…’

I clicked my tongue and nodded inwardly.

“Alright. Then I’ll just sleep with Berald.”

“Hehe. Let’s spend some cozy time together, brother.”

“Get lost, you punk.”

Anyway, after setting up the three tents.

The party members, who had prepared light meals with the lunch boxes they had brought before departure, each entered their tents and prepared to sleep.

“I’ll take the first watch, so everyone else can sleep first.”

“Then I’ll be sleeping first, brother. Wake me up in a bit.”

“Sure.”

After the party members entered their tents, not long after.

Soon, the sound of sleeping breaths could be heard from inside the tents.

‘They must have been tired.’

Well.

They had been fighting monsters all day, so they couldn’t help but be tired.

“Alright, then. Shall I get to my work?”

I got up and set up a barrier around the tent to ward off monsters, then headed alone into the ruins.

Using ‘Wind Walk,’ I sprinted at high speed to the deepest part of the ruins and headed towards one side of the wall.

A place where a wide pool formed by red droplets was gathered.

‘It should be around here.’

I put my hand in and channeled my magic into it.

Bubble bubble.

As I channeled my magic, the red pool began to boil.

“Now!”

I moved the magic that had spread within the puddle, infiltrating the barrier installed at the bottom.

Vrooom!

The barrier activated immediately, red sparks flying up to repel the invading magic.

“Not a chance.”

For someone like me, who had perfectly mastered the magical theories taught by Senior Sophia, finding the ‘core’ of the barrier wasn’t a difficult task.

After all, a barrier was just another form of magic based on theory.

Rumble!

The cave shook as if an earthquake had struck, and the red water that had filled the puddle was sucked into the ground, like pulling the plug from a bathtub.

Revealed at the bottom was a small hole, just big enough for a person to squeeze through.

This was the secret passage leading to the place where the ‘Demon Sword’ was sealed.

“I went through so much trouble to find this place before…”

In my previous life, I found this place during my time as a mercenary.

After receiving a request for exploration, I arrived here with the mercenary group and spent nearly a month investigating the ruins before finally discovering this secret passage.

“Memories from my past life sure come in handy at times like this.”

Finding the secret passage that I had struggled so much to locate back then so easily now made the corners of my mouth twitch upwards.

“Let’s see. Once I go inside…”

I entered the narrow entrance and walked down the eerie passage.

[Turn back.]

A deep voice echoed in my mind.

[This is the place where a bloodthirsty monster slumbers.]

A door, oozing with a blood-red mist, appeared before me.

The door, glistening ominously as if drenched in blood.

As I stood before it, the deep voice echoed in my mind once more.

[Those who open this door will fall into despair.]

[Those who open this door will lose all hope.]