The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned

[Translator - Night]

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Chapter 178: Attack (4)

The trembling figure, curled up like a frightened child, was nowhere to be seen.

Watching Elisha casually smoking, Jackal furrowed his wrinkled brow.

“Hmph…”

What he had provoked was her deeply engraved trauma.

No matter how strong her mental fortitude was, she shouldn’t have been able to overcome it so easily.

‘She overcame it… with just a few words?’

Words spoken by a mere trainee under her tutelage?

‘No, that’s impossible.’

There was no way that could be true.

“You’re bluffing.”

Jackal sneered, drawing a sharp dagger across his palm.

Blood poured from the wound, dripping onto the tattoos etched into his body.

Wooooom!

The ominous patterns flared to life with an eerie glow.

“Bwooooaaahhh!”

A grotesque mass of flesh, twisted into monstrous claws, let out an agonized scream.

Along with it, the flesh-made forms of Elisha’s parents shrieked in torment.

“Ah, ah, it hurts… It hurts, it hurts.”

“Help us… Help us… Elisha…”

“…”

Elisha froze, her expression hardening as she listened to the anguished cries of her parents.

Closing her eyes tightly, she extended her arms wide.

Shwaaak!

Dozens of strands of web shot out from her fingertips.

With sorrowful eyes, she took a step forward, looking at her parents.

“Mother, Father… No… Mom, Dad.”

Not as the cruel, merciless spider-eyed woman she had become,

but as the mischievous little girl who once loved playing pranks with neighborhood kids.

“Thank you.”

Tears streamed down Elisha’s cheeks.

Hoo…

Taking a deep drag from her cigarette, she flicked the half-burnt end away.

The innocent girl’s expression disappeared, replaced by the ferocious gleam of her violet eyes.

“So now, I’ll let you rest.”

Boom!

With a powerful kick, she launched herself forward.

“Bwooooaaahhh!”

Shwaaak!

Tentacles shot from the flesh monster, targeting Elisha.

“Haap!”

She swung her arms wide like a dancer, scattering threads in all directions.

The threads formed a massive web in midair, trapping the monster’s tentacles.

Sharp threads bit into the tentacles, causing sticky blood to pour down like a waterfall.

“Bwooooaaahhh!”

The flesh monster writhed in agony, letting out a piercing shriek.

Raising one arm high, Elisha stretched her hand toward the ceiling.

Shwshwshwshw!

More threads shot out, lifting her high into the air.

From that height, even the enormous flesh demonic beast, towering dozens of meters, seemed like a mere toy.

Elisha crossed her arms in an X-shape.

“Bind it.”

Like a spider ensnaring its prey, countless silver threads interwove, wrapping around the flesh monster’s body.

“Not so fast!”

Jackal roared, attempting to press his bleeding palm against the glowing tattoos again.

“Geez, you’re annoying. When someone’s in the middle of a show, you’re supposed to sit back and watch.”

Dale, who had appeared beside him unnoticed, grabbed Jackal by the neck and delivered a brutal kick to his stomach.

“Guhh…!”

Despite being a mighty archbishop of demonic beasts, Jackal’s power stemmed entirely from his army of monsters.

His personal combat strength was far from impressive.

Jackal tumbled to the ground, coughing, while Dale didn’t spare him another glance.

Instead, he kept his focus on Professor Elisha, battling the flesh monster.

“Bwooooaaahhh!”

The demonic beast, bound by webs, thrashed violently, its sheer size and power snapping the threads.

“As expected of something that big—brute strength.”

Elisha looked down at the writhing creature, her eyes cold.

“But…”

Shwshwshwshw!

Threads poured out again, wrapping around the monster faster than it could break free.

“Bind it. Bind it. Bind it.”

Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of threads.

An uncountable number of silken strands surged like a tidal wave, trapping the monster in an inescapable web.

“Cough!”

Blood spilled from Elisha’s mouth as she pushed her power beyond its limits.

Her chest, marked with the Stigma, throbbed as if stabbed by a blade.

Her entire body screamed in agony, veins straining to their breaking point.

But she didn’t stop.

“Bind it.”

Elisha pushed past her limits, drawing out every ounce of her strength, squeezing the last drops from her stigma.

She had no intention of holding back.

That kind of complacency wouldn’t kill this grotesque demonic beast.

“Huff, huff, huff…”

Her breath came in ragged gasps.

As more threads tightened around the monster, Elisha’s face paled.

She was exhausted. She was in pain.

Every fiber of her being begged her to stop and rest.

After all, Dale could finish off the flesh monster in her place, couldn’t he?

The thought tempted her.

It wasn’t wrong.

Dale was far stronger than her.

With the monster restrained, turning it to ashes would be child’s play for him.

“Eli… sha…”

“Save… us…”

But she knew.

She knew they weren’t really her parents.

They were nothing more than flesh puppets, created to exploit her trauma.

And yet…

“I’ll end this… with my own hands.”

She remembered that day.

The day her life was shattered.

The blazing flames, the rising smoke, the deafening screams.

That day’s nightmare.

That day’s despair.

She would end it with her own hands.

“Bind it.”

And then…

“Crush it.”

[Translator - Night]

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The web, wrapped tightly around the flesh monster, began to contract.

Crunch, crackle! Snap!

The sound of flesh and bone being crushed echoed through the battlefield.

A shriek so piercing it felt like it would tear the heavens reverberated through the abyss.

“Ah, ugh.”

Blood gushed from her nose.

The overuse of mana had her entire body’s energy and blood screaming in protest.

But still—

“Heh.”

It was in pain.

It writhed in agony.

The nightmare that had trampled on everything she held dear.

The despair that had refused to end.

It now shrieked pitifully as it met its demise.

“El...li...”

“My beloved... daughter...”

Crunch, crack!

The forms of her parents shrank and were crushed amidst the encroaching web.

And then—

Boom!

The massive flesh demonic beast collapsed to the ground.

“...Ah.”

Elisha’s body, which had been hovering high in the air, fell like a kite with its string cut.

Thud.

A warm embrace enveloped her.

“Are you alright?”

“…Cadet Dale…”

Even if it was merely a fake, crafted from flesh.

For someone who had just killed their parents with their own hands, this warmth felt unfittingly blissful, filling her chest.

Dale gently laid Elisha’s body on the ground and softly stroked her head.

“Please rest. I’ll handle Jackal.”

“…Thank… you.”

Elisha nodded faintly with difficulty and gave a weak smile.

She crawled across the ground and leaned against a nearby rock.

Though her heart longed to collapse and sleep, she couldn’t.

The most important threat, Jackal, was still alive, staring back at her with both eyes wide open.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it…!”

Jackal hurled a string of curses, glaring at the grotesquely mangled corpse of the flesh demonic beast.

Ssssshh!

As smoke rose, the tattoos etched on his body began to fade.

“Running low on familiars, are we?”

I smirked at the sight of Jackal’s fading tattoos.

Jackal gritted his teeth and staggered backward.

“What’s the matter? Thinking of running away?”

“Grr…”

I approached Jackal with unhurried steps.

Then—

“You insignificant wretches…!”

Jackal roared, stomping his foot violently.

A sinister glow emanated from the few remaining tattoos on his body as several demonic beasts emerged from fissures in the ground.

The demonic beasts that appeared from the cracks bore nine eyes.

Even an active hero would need a team to take on creatures this powerful.

But to me, who had wiped out an entire pack of ten-eyed demonic beasts, these were no more than stray dogs.

“Scraping the bottom of the barrel, aren’t you?”

“Kill him! Kill that bastard!”

At Jackal’s command, the demonic beasts charged at me.

Whoosh!

I slashed at the approaching demonic beasts one by one with a sword engulfed in ashen flame, keeping an eye on Jackal’s movements.

“Grr!”

As soon as Jackal saw his demonic beasts charging toward me, he turned and fled.

I clicked my tongue and watched his retreating back.

“This is the best you could come up with?”

Using his demonic beasts as bait to run away?

The title of Archbishop felt undeserved for such a pathetic display.

Step by step, I cut down the approaching demonic beasts and pursued Jackal.

Then I saw Jackal, who had been fleeing in a frenzy, come to an abrupt halt.

“Heh.”

He stopped in his tracks and curved his lips into a sly grin.

With a face brimming with exhilaration, he turned to look at me.

“You’ve fallen into my trap.”

“…What?”

“Heh, hehahaha!”

Jackal burst into laughter, clutching his sides as if he’d heard the funniest joke in the world.

“You fool… Did you really think I was scared and running away from someone like you?”

Jackal sneered at me, his smug expression as if all his previous pathetic behavior had been a ruse.

I narrowed my eyes as I stared at him.

‘What’s this about?’

Did he have another trick up his sleeve?

I’d never faced Jackal directly in my past life, so I didn’t know the full extent of his abilities.

‘Could there be more demonic beasts than that flesh monster?’

If so, things might get tricky.

Not for my safety, but because the battle might spill over and harm Professor Elisha.

“……”

Standing still, I glared at Jackal as he spoke with an air of superiority.

“Do you even know what lives in this ‘abyss’?”

“…What lives here?”

“Heh heh heh! Of course you wouldn’t know! This place has been a forbidden zone for 500 years!”

Jackal’s shoulders shook with laughter.

“Listen well, boy. Here in this place… lies the ‘Tyrant.’”

“…The Tyrant?”

“The ruler of the third level of the abyss. The incarnation of death. The king of demonic beasts… He has countless titles.”

Jackal continued, his words dripping with pride.

“Do you want to know why I sacrificed my entire life raising an army of demonic beasts just to come here?”

Jackal spread his arms wide, his grin tearing across his face.

“Hahaha! Witness! Revere! This moment when the King of demonic beasts is reborn!”

An explosive burst of dark energy erupted from his body, engulfing the surroundings.

“Come forth! Tyrant of the Abyss, Behemoth!”

[TL/N: I got second-hand embarrassment from this.]

With a scream soaked in madness—

Jackal took one step forward, crossing a boundary.

And then—

“……”

“……”

Silence fell, deep and unbroken.

“…Huh?”

Jackal glanced around nervously.

He tapped the ground with the foot he’d stepped forward with, frowning.

“What’s going on?”

Why isn’t it coming?

[Translator - Night]

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