The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned

Chapter 166: Witch of the Night (7)

Vwooooong!

The Stigma on Aaron\'s left chest glowed, radiating light.

A fierce blue aura wrapped around his spear, blazing intensely.

I watched Aaron as he leisurely let his aura ignite, then turned my head to look at the other two seniors.

They were watching us with gleaming eyes, as if they found the current situation quite fascinating.

“What are you doing? Just watching from over there?”

“…Huh?”

They tilted their heads, looking puzzled.

“You should join in too. You’re on the same team, aren’t you?”

“….”

Bella and Laios let out a disbelieving laugh, looking slightly exasperated.

Bella sighed and shook her head.

“Aaron, I think that guy might be insane.”

“I told you from the start not to trust him. He\'s not right in the head.”

Laios clicked his tongue, as if he had expected this all along.

“Haha, that\'s some serious confidence you’ve got there.”

Aaron didn’t even glance at him but instead gave me a smirk as I gestured at Bella and Laios to come closer.

Though he was smiling, his eyes were narrowed, cold and fixed, clearly irritated by my blatant disregard.

“Fine, let\'s see if your confidence is justified.”

Aaron\'s eyes sharpened.

Thwack!

In an instant, with a movement that made it seem like his body was stretching out, Aaron’s spear was suddenly right in front of me.

Thunk.

I caught the oncoming spearhead with my hand, as if snatching up a fish.

“…!”

His eyes widened.

Then, I pulled the spear roughly and kicked Aaron in the stomach.

Wham!

“Gah!”

Aaron staggered back, sliding across the ground, staring at his spear in disbelief.

The blue aura was definitely burning fiercely on the blade.

“How did you grab this with your bare hands…?”

A skilled martial artist could wrap their aura around their hand to catch a blade with their bare hand.

But that was only possible when the skill difference between the two was overwhelming.

Besides, my main weapon wasn’t martial arts but the sword.

“So, you’re not just all talk.”

Aaron’s eyes narrowed as he drew up more power.

Initially, he’d planned to go easy on me, considering I was his junior, but now, he thought there was no need for that.

“If you\'re serious, then I’ll go all out too.”

He adjusted his grip on the spear and lowered his stance.

The blue aura exploded, wrapping his body.

“Fade away.”

Swoosh!

Aaron’s body seemed to dissolve into the air, moving instantly behind me.

The spearhead, imbued with blue aura, aimed directly at my back.

The speed was terrifying, as if he’d warped through space itself.

“Serious?”

I twisted my mouth into a grin and lightly stomped my foot.

Berald’s Martial Arts.

Earth Shaker.

Rumble!

The ground cracked and burst upward, creating a massive wall of dirt.

Aaron lost his balance, and the trajectory of his spear veered off.

Thwack.

Once again, I grabbed the spearhead and yanked it.

“Guh!”

Aaron was pulled toward me, like a fish caught on a hook.

With the hand holding the spearhead, I grabbed his neck as he stumbled forward.

“Guh, gah…!”

“Who said I was serious?”

Aaron was strong, no doubt about it.

If he continued to grow at this pace, he could eventually rival someone like Yurina and become a hero.

But that was only a story for the future.

At the present moment, his skill was even lower than Yurina, who had recently undergone a rapid growth spurt.

“The only one taking this seriously is you, kid.”

I squeezed his neck harder.

“Guh… gah…!”

Aaron, still clutching his spear, tried to pry my hands off with both of his, his face turning pale, legs thrashing helplessly.

“Aaron!”

Seeing this, Bella charged toward me, sword in hand.

Her sword sliced through the air at a fearsome speed.

I used Aaron\'s body as a shield and held him up toward Bella.

“Uh…!”

She narrowly twisted her sword to avoid striking him, which left her upper body wide open.

Berald’s Martial Arts.

Thunder Kick.

Wham!

The sound that echoed was on a whole other level compared to when she had kicked Lanez in the stomach earlier, sending her flying like a skipping stone.

“Ugh! Ack! Blaaargh!”

Bella lay on the ground, retching, while I looked down at her and spoke softly.

“When an ally is captured, don’t move recklessly. Or, be ready to strike even if it means harming your own team from the start.”

“You… you bastard….”

Bella clutched her stomach, her body trembling with anger.

“Guh… gah!”

Thud!

I flung Aaron, who seemed on the verge of passing out, toward a nearby tree.

“Hah, hah!”

Aaron gasped for breath, gritting his teeth as he reached out.

His spear, lying on the ground, rose up as if to return to him.

Crunch!

But I stomped on the shaft, pinning it back to the ground.

I looked down at Aaron, who was struggling to catch his breath, and spoke calmly.

“A warrior should never let go of their weapon. Even if you\'re in agony, like you\'re on the verge of death.”

Thump.

I kicked his spear back in his direction.

Aaron, fists shaking, stared down at his spear as it rolled to his feet.

“Are you… trying to teach me?”

“That was the plan, but I changed my mind.”

Clicking my tongue, I shook my head.

“You don\'t seem worth it.”

“……”

Aaron’s face twisted with anger.

“You…”

He reached for his fallen spear, which rose back into his hand.

But then, something odd dawned on him.

‘Wait.’

During that whole exchange, had Dale ever used his ‘sword’?

He quickly turned to look at Dale, who was standing casually with a sword in his hand, its tip nearly touching the ground.

"......"

So, in other words...

Even while facing both him and Bella at the same time, he hadn’t even needed to use the hand holding his sword?

And he was a swordsman who used a sword as his primary weapon?

"You... just who are you...?"

Aaron looked at Dale with trembling eyes.

This wasn’t just a matter of him being a junior or whatever.

‘Is he really just a cadet?’

One of the top rankers, easily among the top five—at a level that earned him the title of a "Master."

This was something only heroes, commonly referred to as "Masters," could achieve.

Even within the Hero Academy, no one other than Lionel Ryu, known as the "Thunder God," had ever earned the title of Master.

Yet here was a mere cadet, only a third-year, hiding the strength of someone at the Master level?

"...Ridiculous."

Gritting his teeth, Aaron raised his spear.

"Hoo."

He took a short breath.

Slowly, he began to draw upon his blessing.

"Grr...!"

Vwoooooom!

An explosive aura of light emanated from his Stigma.

"A-Aaron!"

"Aaaaaaah!"

Ignoring Bella\'s urgent cry, Aaron continued to summon his blessing, the "Blessing of the Meteor."

Crack, creak!

A sickening crunch of bones echoed throughout his entire body, and veins bulged on his skin like tree roots.

The blessing’s power was so intense that using it once meant he\'d need at least a week in the infirmary afterward.

"But now...!"

Aaron pulled his spear back and stomped the ground fiercely.

Boom!

With a deep, thunderous sound, a halo of blue light gathered around his spear.

"Haaaaaahhh!"

With a fierce battle cry, he threw the spear with all his might.

Fwooosh!

The blue aura gathered around the spear exploded into dazzling light.

A spear shot out faster than the speed of sound.

Trailing a brilliant blue aura like a comet falling from the sky.

Crash! Boom! Boom!

The trajectory left behind by the spear obliterated stones, earth, and trees alike, carving a crater several meters deep in its wake.

Destruction on a scale unimaginable as the work of a mere human.

This single strike alone made it easy to see why he would later be known as "Meteor Spear."

But...

“Pathetic.”

Dale curled his lips into a twisted smirk, clenching his fist.

“Burn.”

Flames surged around him.

Through the swirling ash-gray smoke—

A fist wrapped in embers swung forward.

Mountain Shattering.

Kaboom!

A thunderous roar and an overwhelming shockwave shook the ground.

“Ugh!”

Swept up in the tidal wave of force, Aaron spat blood and tumbled to the ground.

Aaron, flung tens of meters away, crashed to the ground and passed out.

"Hoo."

I withdrew the embers, sheathing the sword I hadn’t even swung.

"Senior Laios."

"Y-Yes?"

Laios, who had been watching my battle with Aaron with his mouth agape, flinched and looked back at me.

"Please take care of Senior Aaron and Senior Bella."

Aaron was unconscious, and though Bella hadn’t fainted, she was unable to move properly.

"Ah, got it!"

Nodding with a voice full of respect, Laios dashed off toward the fallen Aaron.

"......"

I turned toward Lanez, who was staring up at me in a daze.

"...Ah."

When our eyes met, Lanez flinched and shivered.

Sigh.

Seeing her, complicated thoughts once again crowded my mind.

Was this really the right thing to do?

Considering the catastrophe she had caused in her past life, wouldn’t it make more sense to just kill her here and now?

But...

‘I’ve already made up my mind.’

To take her hand, which I hadn’t held in our previous life.

To shine a light for the witch who once longed for warmth.

“Th-Thank... Ow!”

Did she hurt her ankle when she fell earlier?

As she tried to stand up, Lanez winced and sank back down.

"......"

Perhaps due to the influence of the Blessing of the Cold, her lips were still pale blue, and her body was trembling.

Fwoosh.

I lit a small ember in my palm and approached her.

I wasn’t sure if this would relieve the chill she was feeling.

“Ah…”

As I brought the ember closer, her eyes widened.

The shivering in her body ceased, and her once pale-blue lips returned to a soft pink.

"How does it feel?"

I brought the ember a bit closer and asked.

"Is it a little warmer now?"