*

“Haah, ha…”

I panted heavily.

Just then, a notification popped up indicating that class was over.

The Chaos Beast I had just defeated was likely the last one.

‘I could handle this much on my own.’

Even while fighting, I kept track of my teammates’ statuses.

Everyone was surviving well. For some reason, they quickly gathered around me as soon as the class ended.

“Sung Yoo-rang.”

The first to arrive was Yusera, who was nearby.

She looked worried for some reason.

Then she pointed at my leg and said,

“…What happened to your leg?”

I looked down at my leg.

A slightly torn wound caught my eye.

It was a result of trying to handle things on my own as much as possible.

“It’s nothing. It’s not that serious of a wound.”

It was just a minor tear, so it should heal quickly.

“But if I had helped, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt in the first place…”

At that moment, Elsie also arrived, running from quite a distance.

“What happened to your head?”

She looked really angry.

“Elsie?”

“What’s going on? You were doing fine up until the first semester.”

Judging by their reactions, Yusera and Elsie seemed unhappy that I had effectively left them behind.

That left me without much of an excuse.

“I can handle this much on my own to a certain extent.”

In fact, using the rapid mobility of Wind’s Power, I managed to annihilate most of the Chaos Beasts.

“Is it handling things if you’ve hurt your leg?”

But, of course, that leg was causing me problems.

“We’re in a trial anyway. When we go outside, I’ll be back to normal.”

“True, but there was no need for you to push yourself that far.”

She began to nitpick the actions I had taken one by one.

“The group of armored Chaos Beasts you caught earlier. It would have been way more efficient for Yusera to handle that.”

“But what if even one of them had survived? Then Yusera would have been left defenseless!”

Yusera shook her head and replied.

“The probability of that is far too low.”

“But there’s still a chance.”

“That’s…”

No matter how low the probability, if it exists, then it’s not impossible.

By the time I regretted it after it was already too late, it would be too late.

So it was better to eliminate that probability altogether.

However, that line of thinking wasn’t without its counterarguments.

“If you consider every worst-case scenario, then the strategy will fall apart. Just like a moment ago.”

Elsie accurately pinpointed the contradictions in my actions.

“And you hardly considered the probabilities that could happen to yourself.”

“No, I did consider it. There’s no way I would die to these Chaos Beasts.”

“That’s true for these Chaos Beasts. But what if it’s not a mock battle? What if the opponents are stronger Chaos Beasts, or even a Demon King?”

That was similar to the worries I was having.

The difference was that the subject and the target had been reversed.

“I assure you, as things stand, you’ll try to handle things alone again.”

I couldn’t argue against that.

I wasn’t confident I wouldn’t.

At that, Elsie delivered the final blow like a hammer.

“With that attitude, you can’t call others your comrades.”

Comrades are precious.

But because of that, the actions I took had the opposite effect.

I wasn’t entirely unable to understand Elsie’s words.

‘But…’

At that moment, my body was engulfed by the sensations peculiar to the trials.

It seemed it was time.

Since the mock battle had ended, I would be expelled from the trial.

‘Alright, I’ll think this through properly outside.’

*

With that thought, I closed my eyes and opened them again, only to find the space I was in had changed.

However, this wasn’t outside the trial.

Nor was it a place where the Great Tree could be seen; it was another familiar space.

‘Is this… the waiting area?’

A waiting area separated from the space where the mock battle was taking place.

But something was off.

For some reason, the number of candidates in this space was far too many.

Moreover…

‘The atmosphere feels strange.’

Everyone seemed to be filled with confusion.

As I sensed that the situation wasn’t ordinary and was about to look for Elsie and Yusera, a murmur suddenly reached my ears.

“Was that for real just now?”

“The barrier of Hailen broke? What does this mean…”

At that moment, I froze.

‘What?’

The ongoing conversation continued to unfold.

“Wasn’t that a Demon King we saw earlier?”

Only frozen for a moment, I finally began to understand the current situation.

Hero Academy candidates were still pouring into the waiting area. No, it wasn’t just candidates; civilians were starting to mix in as well.

Combining the conversation I had heard earlier with the current situation, the only conclusion I could draw was one.

‘The sheltering of the trials.’

It was easy to understand if I thought about the other trials outside the barrier.

Because the trials are considered divine property, there existed a small barrier surrounding the lake. So even if the barrier of Hailen was breached, the barrier of the trials would remain intact and functional.

‘Though it’s not invulnerable.’

Barriers aren’t invincible.

The collapse of the Ice Valley had proven that, and if what I had just heard was true, then even the most resilient barrier—Hailen’s—had crumbled.

In such a worst-case scenario, assuming that the frail trial barrier would hold is optimistic thinking.

‘If they really did invade Hailen as they said…’

The combatants outside must be fighting against the Demon King and the Chaos Beasts.

Fortunately, the combatants here in the Saint City of Hailen were superior in both quality and quantity to any other city.

It’s no coincidence that Hailen is called the city of heroes. Still, the confusion lingered.

‘Why did they invade Hailen at this moment?’

How on earth did they break the sturdy barrier of Hailen, and why was this place their target?

‘Were they not focusing on the invasion of the Leim Kingdom?’

All the information I had gathered indicated that, and considering the current situation of the Demon Kings, it had to be true.

The Demon Kings had avoided direct conflict with humans for several decades.

Of course, that was merely to minimize the wear-and-tear with Saint-level Heroes, but they were secretly carrying out various operations.

One of those was the 71st Demon King that I had initially interfered with, and upon its failure, they shifted focus to the 72nd Demon King and the Leim Kingdom operation.

The operation regarding the Leim Kingdom was undoubtedly important to them. If successful, the 72nd Demon King would become powerful enough that simple intervention would fail.

However, it was also a lengthy operation. That’s why I had been preparing thoroughly at the Hero Academy.

But for them to leave the Leim Kingdom and invade Hailen’s capital means I could make at least three hypotheses.

‘First, the 72nd Demon King has completely awakened.’

But that doesn’t make sense.

The awakening of the 72nd Demon King isn’t the type that can be hastened by their attention.

Moreover, even if they had awakened, there was no reason for them to immediately invade Hailen. At the very least, they would have had to take control of the Leim Kingdom first, and if they did that, news would have reached us before this happened.

‘Then secondly, the operation in the Leim Kingdom failed for some reason, leading them to invade Hailen in desperation.’

If that’s the case, they would likely be suppressed by the heroes of Hailen, but I felt that this was a rather optimistic assumption.

Most importantly, the core issue was that such a situation had never occurred even once in the Hundred Braves game.

‘It’s not the only operation they have left.’

All endings reached by users in the Hundred Braves universally led to the destruction of the world.

There was no way they would resort to a desperate invasion.

Then I needed to think a little differently.

‘Last hypothesis. They possess some kind of weapon that can decisively conquer Hailen.’

Originally, that would be the 72nd Demon King, but now it’s too early for that.

So perhaps they’ve found another weapon.

There wouldn’t be any reason to conquer a sequence of neighboring countries; they could just focus on Hailen, which is the heart, and start from there.

‘If that’s true…’

This world might be in danger.

Even to attempt to stop that, it seemed necessary to understand at least the situation outside.

‘The problem is whether to take Elsie and Yusera with me…’

Just then, someone spoke loudly.

“At this moment, nobody except heroes can leave once they enter this place! If there’s someone you need to find outside, please let us know!”

It seemed they locked the trials to prevent candidates and civilians who had evacuated from facing catastrophe once again.

In that case, I had no choices left.

Elsie and Yusera weren’t officially heroes yet.

‘But I can go out.’

Although I had the identity of a hero candidate named Sung Yoo-rang, I still retained my status as Allen Pleuk, a High-ranking Hero.

‘First, just check the situation outside.’

I could decide how to act afterward based on the circumstances.

*

The first thing I saw after exiting the trial was the sky.

Why is the sky so special, you ask?

Well, originally, the building where the trial took place had a ceiling.

‘What’s going on…’

The outer walls of the building that had surrounded the trial had been blown away.

Not just the outer walls. Most of the buildings in the Hero Academy, no, the Saint City of Hailen, were destroyed.

The scene of crimson Chaos particles pouring in from outside was reminiscent of a hellscape.

“Shit.”

An expletive escaped my lips that I hadn’t uttered in a while.

Of course, I had anticipated this sight to some degree upon hearing that the barrier of Hailen had broken and the Demon King had invaded.

Yet seeing it firsthand sent chills down my spine.

‘What the hell happened?’

The only somewhat intact area was this small space surrounded by the trial’s barrier.

Everywhere else was a complete mess.

Those exposed to Chaos were rapidly transforming into Chaos Beasts, wreaking havoc and causing destruction everywhere.

“This is…”

Cold sweat trickled down my forehead as I clenched my fists.

It was the first time I had seen such a horror with my own eyes.

If I hadn’t stopped the 71st Demon King in my hometown, a similar catastrophe would have occurred, but the scale was vastly different.

This was Hailen, regarded as humanity’s final fortress and the largest city.

That same Hailen had already met its demise.

In the midst of it all, my leg naturally buckled.

In the end, the questions of ‘why’ or ‘how’ didn’t matter anymore.

The only question left for me in this situation was ‘how’ to respond.

That singular question.

And that question was…

“Damn it.”

There were no answers.

*