“Woah...”
Leon let out a breath of awe as if he were caught in a trance by that brilliant light. Unlike Aura Sword, where the glow simply clung around the blade, Aura Fla flickered and danced like a true fla.
It was beautiful in form—yet the power coiled inside it was monstrous. The greatest destructive force that could be drawn out short of a Master’s realm.
With a single swing, it could probably split a massive boulder in two.
El-Cid, unsurprisingly, poured cold water all over that thrill.
—‘WoOaAh,’ shut up! So dazzled by such a cheap trick... Aura Fire is what happens when you fail to compress your Aura fully like Aura Blade and the excess leaks out like fire. That ans, from the very core, it’s an incomplete technique. Sure, it works if you’re settling a fight in one blow, but it’s useless for sustained combat.
“Hm. So it’s not sothing you can use for long, huh...”
Leon nodded in agreent as excitent over mastering it faded fast. The golden fla swirling around the Holy Sword also faded away.
He’d held it for barely ten seconds, yet already twenty percent of his Aura was gone. And that was when he was just standing still—not mid-battle. If he tried to use it in real combat, he’d be completely drained within thirty seconds.
Thinking it over, Leon recalled what he saw Caesare do a few months back.
Bishop Caesare only ever brought out Aura Fire in short bursts, just for the decisive mont. If he could hold it at all tis, he wouldn’t have bothered. It must be quite draining.
El-Cid read his thoughts and agreed.
—Exactly. Unlike Aura Weapon, which clamps the power tightly around the blade, or Aura Blade, which stabilizes it as a tangible extension, Aura Fire is just brute force. The Aura you fail to bind leaks out into the air. It’s the height of inefficiency.
However, its cons didn’t render Aura Fire useless. There was one reason to use it.
—When you need to break your limit, that’s when you bring it out. It exists for that mont alone. Think of it as a stopgap.
In short, it was a trump card. An ultimate move.
Aura Fire was, in essence, an overkill. If the opponent was weak enough, you didn’t need it. It had to be reserved for equals or opponents stronger.
Leon found himself asking reflexively, “Wait. If you put it like that, it’s actually really important, isn’t it?”
He might still be an inexperienced Hero, but he’d survived more than enough brushes with death to understand how critical a proper finisher move was. rak was a good example.
If he hadn’t used rak to cut down Andre from such a distance, he would’ve been caught in the blast—gravely wounded at best, dead at worst. And yet El-Cid called this trump card “a cheap trick”?
El-Cid snorted.
—Are you dumb? Aura Fire only ans anything to those below the Master’s realm. If you want to break that wall one day, that’s where you should be focused—not clinging to half-baked techniques. That thug you t in Blaine’s the sa story.
“Ah. I see.”
Leon understood imdiately and gave a deep nod. Aura Fire was flashy, but it was a skill with a dead end. The more you leaned on cheap shortcuts, the more you stalled your growth. If not for El-Cid’s brutal counsel, Leon might have wasted years on that dead-end path.
—Hmm. Well, good to see you actually get it.
El-Cid’s tone softened just a hair, pleased to see that Leon wasn’t one of the fools who’d cover their ears and cling to dead paths.
—Let’s see how far you’ve co, then.
With that, a translucent window popped up before Leon’s eyes.
Na: Leon
Title & Class: Hero (who’s half-baked)
Level: 43
Strength: B
Endurance: B
Agility: C
Aura: B
Skills: Sword Mastery III (1), Rodrick’s Martial Arts (6), Acquired Martial Root III, Aura Wielder IV (5), Secret Sword Technique: Grand Chariot (3)
Compared to last ti, his stats had grown dramatically. Attributes that once hovered at D-rank were now nearly two full steps higher, which was about equal to Karen’s level now.
His skills, too, had climbed. Sword Mastery and Aura Wielder had both reached the Advanced tier, and his Grand Chariot was now level 3.
—Hehehe. Not bad at all.
El-Cid gave a low, satisfied chuckle. Leon didn’t fully realize it himself, but his progress in just four months was remarkable.
Since parting ways with the Storm Caravan and holing up near the Titan Mountains, his skill had soared day after day. In hindsight, it made sense. He’d spent the entire journey fighting for his life with barely any real ti for focused training.
All that brutal experience—plus the power he’d absorbed from cutting down a Vampire Lord—it would’ve been strange if he hadn’t grown by leaps and bounds.
“Well, I did figure a lot out in these mountains...” Leon said as he shrugged his shoulders.
And he was right. Even the weakest monsters pushed out to the Titan Mountains’ edges were tougher than beasts found elsewhere. Fighting them in a pitch-dark forest ant that Leon was always one slip away from death.
His options were either improving or dying, and he’d nearly died once already. If he hadn’t stashed a high-grade potion ahead of ti, he’d have never reattached the half-severed stump of his left arm.
—Crisis is an opportunity, trial is training.
Leon let out an exhausted sigh at El-Cid’s smug line.
Now I see why Rodrick never had disciples while he was alive, Leon thought.
—Hah! That’s because no one could keep up with my greatness!
Or because they all dropped dead trying.
No answer ca, and the implied aning made Leon shiver at the thought. He sheathed his sword and swiftly changed the subject. Nothing good would co from dragging that line of talk out any further.
“Karen should be back soon,” he muttered.
Above the trees he’d felled in battle, the sunlight shone through, brighter than usual. That was proof enough that it was midday.
Despite the chronic darkness of the forest, the monsters still favored the night. Their power always grew stronger once the sun was gone, so both Leon and Karen avoided roaming around after dusk if they could help it.
—She’s surprisingly diligent. I figured an assassin type would know how to take shortcuts.
“I thought so too, honestly...”
Karen had turned out to be far more steadfast than either of them expected. In these mountains, her role was minimal.
The monsters here were too big, too tough, and too resistant to her poisons. What could massacre humans so easily was barely half as deadly to these monsters. Even so, she stayed by his side, venturing out to resupply the necessities when needed—all so Leon could focus wholly on his training.
“She’s soone I can’t do without now.”
—You did well bringing her.
Even El-Cid didn’t deny Karen’s value. For soone with an eye for people sharper than anyone’s, her unwavering loyalty struck him, too.
Rodrick had never needed companions. Perhaps that was why he was aware of the value of that missing piece.
As if brushing away that bitter thought, El-Cid changed the subject.
—Leon... It’s ti. Let’s go deeper.
“Right...” Leon answered calmly, eyes shifting toward the heart of the range.
A rare tension colored his gaze. It was only natural after surviving here this long.
Every few days, roars ca from deep within the range. That monstrous presence brushing against his senses was powerful enough to raise the hair on his neck. More fearso than the bloody giant in Blaine, more nacing than Andre after he beca a Vampire Lord.
That’s got to be the Titans.
Titans. The na of this mountain range and its ruler. Back at the Royal Academy, Leon had studied their strange history.
Ogres were monsters with a danger rank of A . They had overwhelming raw physical power to overwhelm A-rank rcenaries and adventurers alike. They were smart enough to wield crude tools and even speak simple words.
Hundreds of years ago, among these ogres, one abandoned its monstrous nature and begged for the Goddess’s rcy. That was the Giant King.
“If you grant us a place in this land, we shall devote our lives to hunting the monsters that plague it.”
And the Goddess accepted that plea. She blessed those under the Giant King’s rule with the gift of wisdom so they could speak, think, and live like people.
Just like that, a race was born: the Titans. Creatures of overwhelming strength, ard with human-level intellect.
—With your skill now, you won’t die. Well, probably.
Leon gave a wry smile at El-Cid’s asured praise.
“I’m with an A-ranker and that only gets a ‘probably won’t die,’ huh? What an absurd place.”
The Titans weren’t hostile to humans, but anyone foolish enough to violate their domain wouldn’t be shown rcy. Besides, the monsters in the inner range were a threat enough on their own.
This was the Titan Mountains, a place where A-rank monsters road in packs and even ancient monsters long thought extinct appeared without warning.
At that mont, a shadow stretched out at Leon’s feet.
“I’m back!”
Karen popped out from within it, voice bright and cheerful. Her pack bulged as if about to burst—probably stuffed with supplies from the village at the base. Even after filling her spatial ring to the brim, she still had that much left.
While helping her unpack, Leon told her the plan.
“We’re finally going in, huh.”
“Yeah.”
At that, Karen’s face tensed—sothing rare for her. The instincts of a top-class assassin scread at her that this place was bad news, and even death.
Do not fight here. Run. Don’t enter.
An assassin was as good as dead once they forgot their own limits. Decades of experience made the blood in her veins freeze.
“Karen.”
Leon read that hesitation. He reached out and closed his hand around hers—still trembling faintly without her realizing it. His warmth spread, and the frozen blood lted. Karen startled at his touch but didn’t pull away.
Looking straight into her eyes, Leon spoke seriously.
“Thank you. I couldn’t have co this far without you.”
He hadn’t asked her to co. He hadn’t told her to stay. That was her choice to make, not his.
So, he left it there, simply sharing his true feelings.
Thank you for staying this far. What you do next is solely your decision.
“What’s this, Mr. Hero? Getting sappy all of a sudden,” Karen replied as if nothing had happened.
Her hand no longer trembled. With her usual bright grin, she swung their joined hands up and down.
“What, you were planning to ditch here? Heading off to see the Giant King or whatever without ? Don’t you think it would be a little too heartless if my na dropped out of this part of the story?”
“Karen...”
“Not happening! Even if you tell to stay behind, I’ll just tail you anyway—that’s what it ans to be a companion, isn’t it?”
Instead of answering, Leon just grinned. Anything more would ruin the mont.
Karen had made her choice. All he needed to do was accept it.
“Let’s go.”
He let go of her hand, stowed the rest of their gear in his spatial magic bracelet, and turned toward the darkness, the pitch-black gorge where not even ten ters of sunlight could hold its ground.
They couldn’t use any light as it would only draw the monsters in. From here on, they’d rely only on Aura Sense and raw instinct to feel their way forward.
Leon and Karen, two adventurers, stepped into the uncharted depths of the Titan Mountains, into a labyrinth with no maps or paths, so deep even veteran Rangers would flee barefoot.
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