The Last Place Hero's Return

Hector, the Bishop of Ruin, was Amon’s loyal subordinate and one of the very few Apostles of Ruin who had received a direct share of the “Embers” from Amon himself. Within Gehenna City, he was treated as a high-ranking demon, on par with a general, even a noble. Recently, with every faction except that of the Archbishop of Ruin virtually wiped out, his authority and influence had grown even greater.

Hector strode through the swampy, humid jungle with an irritated expression. I can’t believe the task I’m given is kidnapping brats. Does he truly think so little of me?

The war against the heroes was fast approaching. The other Apostles of Ruin who had received the Ember were all fervently preparing for the coming feast of blood. Even if it was an order directly from the Lord of Ruin he revered, Hector couldn’t help but resent being assigned such a trivial errand. He also recalled Amon’s warning to be cautious—not of a professor, but of a cadet—and let out a short sigh.

As Hector and his subordinates pushed through the brush and advanced into the Demonic Realm, a faint scent of blood tickled his nose. He was a demon who bore the soul stigmata of the Demon God upon his chest, so the smell of human blood made his heart pound heavily in his ribs.

Hector’s eyes gleamed as he swiftly moved toward the source of the scent. Found you.

Just as expected, a lone cadet stood there. It was a cadet with dark gray hair, like the ashes left behind after something had burned. He wondered if this was the cadet that Lord Amon had mentioned. Gray hair was rare. So, the odds were high.

How convenient.

Hector ignited black flames in his palm as he looked at the gray-haired cadet. Then, a sudden thought crossed his mind. Why wasn’t the cadet wounded? The scent of blood that had reached his nose earlier hadn’t been the kind produced by a mere drop or two. Yet as he looked around, all he saw were drifting flakes of ash. There wasn’t a single visible injury on the cadet’s body that could explain such a strong smell. But it didn’t matter. Injured or not, there was only one thing he had to do.

The gray-haired cadet’s eyes widened as they met his. “A demon?”

Naturally, any cadet would tremble in fear after encountering a demon in the Demonic Realm.

However, the cadet calmly continued, “Wow! Didn’t expect to run into demons here. Well, I guess demons are better than demonic monsters.”

The Bishop of Ruin was flabbergasted. Huh? What the hell? Why is this brat reacting like that?

* * *

I had never expected demons, not demonic monsters, to show up after following the scent of blood. Though, to be fair, demons were better test subjects than monsters if I wanted to see Morris Jin’s true strength. But what were demons doing here in the first place? And Apostles of Ruin at that.

I narrowed my eyes at the black flames burning in the demon’s hand. As I had seen before in the Imperial Palace, black flames were the signature power of the Apostles of Ruin. These didn’t seem as strong as the ones back then. The Apostles I had encountered at the palace had each possessed power approaching that of an archbishop. The ones standing before me now were nowhere near that level.

That Hector guy looked somewhat capable, but the others were mediocre. They were stronger than ordinary demons, yes, but far beneath the Apostles I had faced before.

I decided to leave my thoughts for later. For now, eliminating them came first. I shouted, “Yuren!”

Light footsteps sounded from the distance. Yurina arrived in the blink of an eye. “What is it, Dale? Those are...”

She spotted the three hooded demons and frowned. “Demons? Why are demons here?”

“We’ll think about that later.”

Yurina nodded and drew her sword. “All right.”

Before the others arrived, there was something I needed to say. “Ah, Yuren.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t finish it too quickly. I want to gauge Morris’s skill.”

Yurina nodded again. “Oh. Got it. I’ll take it easy.”

The demons frowned as they stared at the two cadets casually chatting in front of them. “What the...?”

Instead of trembling in fear, the cadets were talking about not ending things too quickly, about taking it easy. What nonsense were they spouting?

Iris, Camilla, and Morris arrived late, only to stiffen at the sight of the demons.

“Dale! What’s going on?”

“Saintess, please stay behind me.”

“Haa, haa! Seriously, why are you so fast, Yuren?”

But their surprise lasted only a moment. Yurina commanded in a low voice, “Everyone, prepare for combat.”

Their expressions sharpened. Iris immediately cast her blessing. Camilla raised her greatsword and got in formation. Morris swiftly chanted a spell. They were quick. Morris, in particular, had reacted a step faster, likely thanks to his time working as a mercenary.

The demons smiled at the cadets.

“Heh. These little brats.”

“How adorable.”

Two demons roared, lunging forward, and the battle began. With Yurina at the center, our party formed up and pressed the charging demons.

Soon, the demons who had charged in so confidently were driven back, spraying blood.

“Aaagh!”

“Y-you’ve got to be kidding! What are these bastards?”

* * *

Hector watched the fight unfold before him, eyes narrowing in disbelief. “What is this?”

This wasn’t the level of mere cadets. This was a party composed of elites, heroes who would rank among the best even in active service.

Hector bit his lip and drew up his power. No matter how skilled they were, cadets were still cadets. Their real combat experience couldn’t be that extensive. He thought of striking the rear first.

* * *

Black flames burst from Hector’s hand and shot straight toward Iris. Camilla hurriedly raised her sword to block the attack, but she was swept up in the black fire and thrown backward. “Saintess! Guh!”

This is a bit dangerous. I frowned and was about to dash toward Iris when thick tree roots erupted from the ground, intercepting the black flames.

“Grow!” Morris chanted, then shouted toward us, “Leave this to me!”

He gripped a wand about the length of his forearm. It was an interesting development. The two nameless lackeys were one thing, but that demon called Hector possessed considerable power. Morris had blocked that attack so easily. And he hadn’t merely endured it. After summoning the massive roots to stop the flames, Morris immediately cast another spell, launching a counterattack at Hector.

* * *

Vines burst from the surrounding earth and coiled around Hector. Grimacing, he staggered back. “Ugh! Damn it!”

Hector’s eyes narrowed in disbelief. In what world did this count as the strength of mere cadets? What the hell are these monsters?

“Damn you!” He spat a curse and tried to draw upon the power of the Ember.

At that moment, the gray-haired cadet, Dale, nodded with a satisfied expression. “Mm. I’ve seen enough. Thanks. That answered a few questions I had.”

“What are you?”

Dale stepped toward him slowly. And then, savage, blazing Ashen Flames consumed his vision. That was the last thing Hector saw.

* * *

Breathing heavily, Morris collapsed onto the ground. I walked over and held out a canteen. “Good work.”

“Thanks.” Taking the water, Morris looked up at me with trembling eyes. “Dale, have you been hiding your strength this whole time?”

“Isn’t that true for you, too?”

His shoulders flinched.

“Judging by your magic, you’re practically at Master level. Why have you been concealing it?” I asked.

“That’s....” Trailing off, Morris let out a deep sigh. “It’s because of my father.”

“Your father?”

“I told you before I’m not his biological son, right?”

“Ah, yeah.”

“My father... He carries guilt about my real father.”

“Guilt?”

“He thinks it was his inadequacy that got my father killed. But mercenaries dying during commissions isn’t exactly rare.”

“And what does that have to do with hiding your strength?”

“If he found out I’m already close to the Master level at this age, he’d never allow me to become a mercenary,” Morris replied.

I could understand that. What father would want his child to become a mercenary? Especially someone who knew better than anyone how brutal that life could be.

“Then why do you keep maintaining second place in the year?” I asked.

If he wanted to hide his talent, there was no reason to rank that high.

“If you deliberately failed and ended up last...” I said.

“N-no, I can’t do that!” Morris shook his head urgently. “Being l-last place is... how should I put it. It’s just...”

He let out another heavy sigh. “It’s too pathetic.”

What did you just say, you bastard?

“I didn’t want to disappoint my father, but I didn’t want to raise his expectations too high either.”

So, second place was the compromise he came up with.

“And honestly, that was back when I was deliberately holding back. Now? Even if I go all out, I can’t surpass Yuren.” Morris glanced at Yuren and shook his head.

As he said, even if both of them were near Master level, Yurina had a slight edge now. Nevertheless, the fact that he was even that close to Yurina was absurd in itself.

In any case, I had achieved my intended goal of assessing Morris’s ability. Now was the time to find out why these guys were here. I turned to look at the demons. All three were sprawled across the ground in miserable condition, but I had made sure not to kill them since we would need them for interrogation.

“Iris, can you wake them up?” I asked.

“Ah, yes. But their injuries are severe. I think I’ll need to treat them first.”

There was something ironic about healing demons. Still, what choice did we have? If we wanted answers, they needed to be capable of opening their mouths.

“I’m counting on you.”

“Yes, Dale.” Iris approached the fallen demons.

Suddenly, black flames erupted and engulfed Hector.

“Iris!” I shouted.

“Eek!”

I grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back. The black fire roared violently. An ominous chill crawled up my spine, as though invisible hands were tightening around my throat. Hector’s fallen body rose to its feet. No, that wasn’t Hector anymore. The demon’s face changed as black flames wrapped around his entire body.

“Amon...”

It had transformed into the face of Amon, the Archbishop of Ruin.