The Hero Becomes the Duke's Eldest Son

Translator: Marctempest

Editor: Rynfinity

Chapter 195

The woman who had been one of the five heroes in the previous world, Shaura.

Simultaneously, she was Aden's comrade and betrayer. Now, she appeared before him.

"…Archmage Shaura."

"Oh my? Archmage, you say. That's still an 'overwhelming' title for me. But it does sound nice."

She laughed as if she was pleased.

Her smile was pure and beautiful.

But Aden did not fall for that face.

The Archmage he knew was a cruel sorceress who smiled so innocently while burning countless Talos alive.

And now, he knew she was a fallen sorceress collaborating with Chaos.

‘She was known to be a 7th-tier sorceress…’

Damn, 7th-tier my foot.

The aura she emanated now was far beyond that.

At least 8th-tier mana.

She had reached a level equivalent to an Advanced Sword Master for a mana warrior.

‘Did she use the Philosopher's Stone?’

If it was the power of a fragment of the Philosopher's Stone, which could make a Sword Aura warrior into a Master, and a Master into an Advanced level, her rapid growth was understandable.

Thanks to knowing her true nature in advance, her appearance wasn’t as shocking as expected.

However, it was still puzzling.

"…Why are you here? The plan in the Great Forest should have been fully handled by Vivaldi and Caliph, no?"

"To think you know even that, I'm surprised. Interesting."

Her eyes widened in surprise at Aden's question, then narrowed with intrigue.

"So interesting that I want to dissect you?"

A glint of madness flickered in Shaura’s eyes, as if she was about to devour Aden.

…Damn it.

To think he had this woman as a comrade in his past life.

For a moment, Aden felt a deep sense of self-loathing.

"I'll answer your question first. All of our executives have a biological connection to the Boss. So, when any of us die, that death is immediately reported to the Boss."

Aden was convinced by her words.

In other words, the death of that treacherous executive, Caliph or whatever, was reported, and the Boss of Chaos sent Shaura to investigate.

"If you know about Caliph and Vivaldi, I suppose you also know our plans?"

"Well, plans, huh… You mean the plan where you made the Black Tiger Tribe’s chief the leader, hunted divine beasts to create a Philosopher's Stone, unified the Great Forest, waged war with the Magic Tower nation, and then wiped them all out to act like a hero?"

"Indeed, you know precisely."

As expected, his previous guesses were correct.

"So, did you come here to kill me?"

She was an 8th-tier sorceress.

It would be a bit risky to face her, given that he had expended a lot of energy dealing with Kaan.

‘But I’ve already recovered quite a bit during the conversation.’

This was why Aden had deliberately led the conversation.

Thanks to Leo's healing power and the rapid regeneration enhanced by consuming the Immortal Lord’s heart, his body regained its vitality.

His eyes narrowed.

‘I may not be able to win easily, but at least I’m confident I won’t lose.’

However, her next response was somewhat unexpected.

"That depends on what choice you make, Prince Remes."

"Choice?"

"Let's cut to the chase. Prince Aden Remes, join us."

"…"

He suddenly received a scouting offer.

"The Boss is both wary of and covets you. Because you are Prince Remes, who is under the protection of the gods."

It seemed that the leader of Chaos was aware of Aden's relationship with the gods.

Join Chaos, she said.

Aden couldn't help but let out a hollow laugh.

"I’ve killed more than hundreds of your organization members. And now you want me to join Chaos?"

"We have a lot of vacancies since you killed Somora and Caliph."

"Ha…"

The situation was so absurd that he couldn’t help but laugh. In his previous life, he had never once been tempted to join Chaos.

However, no matter how Aden reacted, Shaura continued to speak.

"You don't need to react so negatively. It would be beneficial for you as well."

"And what exactly would be beneficial?"

"You can gain eternal life."

Since when had Chaos started to dabble in cult-like rhetoric?

"Don't make that rotten face. This isn’t a scam or a lie. You must have seen the power of the Philosopher's Stone, right?"

Aden affirmed her words with silence.

The Philosopher's Stone was an item imbued with transcendence, granting humans the power of the gods.

He had already witnessed Chaos's executives using the power of the stone to completely resurrect the deceased Black Tiger Tribe members.

With that power, immortality was certainly not an empty promise.

"The Boss will become a god, and his highest-ranking followers will also become divine beings, enjoying eternal life and everlasting power."

"So, is that why you’re doing all this? For immortality?"

"Death is something no one can escape, but if there is a way to avoid it, isn’t it only natural to choose it? Because it’s more advantageous."

"Very calculating."

"That’s what a sorceress does."

"That means other sorcerers think the same as you?"

"Well, you could say that all the old men in high positions do."

Her words were an affirmation.

It meant that the high-ranking sorcerers of Anguis Tower had already aligned themselves with Chaos.

The Great Forest War must have been just a show to solidify Shaura's authority.

None of this was known in his past life, showing just how excellent their information blockade had been.

Abandoning humanity to pursue immortality and truth.

It was a very Shaura-like, and sorceress-like, choice.

And Aden, who was inherently calculative with a strong mercenary spirit, was no different.

"I refuse."

"…"

That’s why the calculating Aden refused.

"I have no intention of living a long life, and just the thought of spending eternity looking at your faces makes me want to puke. Ugh, it’s disgusting. So, here’s my counter-proposal."

"…What is it?"

"Right here, loudly shout ‘I’m a crazy woman!’ three times, then let me behead you. That way, the world might look a bit more beautiful."

A clear refusal.

Shaura’s smile grew cold in response.

"So, that’s your answer. I guess there’s no choice."

"So, are you going to kill me?"

"Since persuasion failed, I’ll have to eliminate you cleanly."

"You’ll find that difficult."

An Advanced Sword Master and an 8th-tier sorceress were on equal footing. Moreover, Aden was well aware of the magic Shaura primarily used.

Unless she had a special trick that Aden didn’t know about, she couldn’t kill him.

She shook her head with an enigmatic smile.

"No, I don’t plan on fighting you. I have another ‘guest’ already booked."

A guest?

The moment Aden found her words puzzling, something strange happened.

*Burruk, Burruk.*

The corpses of the western divine beasts.

Their corpses suddenly began to dissolve and melt away.

He could hear the eastern forest coalition army’s alarmed voices.

"The divine beasts’ corpses!"

"What in the…!"

But it wasn’t just the divine beasts' corpses that were affected.

"The corpses are melting!"

"No! Zarafa's body!"

Regardless of whether they were from the eastern or western armies, all the bodies on the battlefield began to melt.

The soldiers who had been gathering their fallen comrades’ bodies screamed, and everyone was bewildered by the sudden, surreal turn of events.

*Kwishhhhhh.*

From the melting corpses, something like black smoke began to rise.

‘Could it be…?’

A familiar smoke.

It resembled the smoke that had appeared when Caliph, the treacherous executive of Chaos, used the Philosopher's Stone.

- It's resentment, Dragon Slayer.

*Curse* spoke to Aden.

- All the resentment of the dead and their deaths… they’re all gathering in one place. This is… impossible…!

"What?"

But Curse’s voice was trembling like never before.

- Someone is using their deaths as a sacrifice to resurrect an ancient being! We have to stop it, Dragon Slayer!

"What are you talking about…?"

- Damn, it’s already too late!

The moment Curse let out a lamenting sigh,

*Kugugugugu…!*

The ground suddenly began to tremble.

Shaura spoke to Aden with a smile.

"Vivaldi of the Fallen deeply resents you. So, I decided to give him a chance for revenge. I made him the ‘core’ so he could destroy everything. Conveniently, this battlefield provides excellent materials."

*Urrururung!*

As the ground shook, "it" slowly began to rise.

-Gaaahhhhh…!

A chillingly low groan spread across the entire battlefield.

"It" was absurdly enormous.

It resembled a human but was incomparably larger.

A colossal body over several hundred meters tall.

A massive skull, several dozen meters wide.

The moment the skeletal giant, whose mere presence belittled all other beings in the world, rose to its feet, Aden’s system reacted and sent him a message.

- The Giant Lord ‘Nephilim’ has manifested imperfectly.

A being that was one of the ancient Fallen Lords.

The Lord of the Giants.

-Gaaaaahhh…!

A being that transcended a thousand years roared.

---

Among all the beings Aden had encountered in his past and present lives, the largest had been the Mad Dragon.

The Mad Dragon’s mere movement made mountains tremble, and when it spread its wings and soared, an entire city was shadowed.

So, he had never imagined that there could be a being larger than a dragon.

A colossal skeletal giant over several hundred meters tall.

"…."

Everyone in the Great Forest was overwhelmed by its sheer size.

‘Giant Lord, Nephilim….’

Aden also felt an involuntary sense of intimidation before the being.

It wasn’t the oppressive aura like the dragon’s Dragon Fear.

It was simply overwhelming by its existence alone.

Was this how an ant felt when it looked up at a human?

The skeletal giant was so immense that humans were no more than ants before it.

The pressure was suffocating, making it difficult to even take a breath.

And so, silence ensued.

-Gaaaaaahhhh…!

The silence was shattered as the skeletal giant Nephilim roared.

*Whooosh.*

The giant raised its hand high and then brought it down toward the ground.

The skeletal hand drew closer, falling like a crashing meteor.

"All troops, retreat!"

"Everyone, get out of the way!"

"Arghhh!"

All at once, the eastern and western armies began to flee in a panic.

Griffins took to the sky, and the Eastern Forest Coalition, riding Warbears and Direwolves, used their speed to escape as far as possible.

However, the warriors of the Western Forest Coalition, who were closest to the skeletal giant, couldn’t avoid its massive hand.

*Kwagagagaang!*

The skeletal hand brushed the ground, sweeping through the western army.

"Arghhh!"

The screams of the western warriors echoed.

*Snatch.*

Like gathering scattered grains of rice, the skeletal hand swept them up and grabbed them.

Then,

*Gulp!*

It devoured hundreds of warriors from the Western Forest Coalition. It consumed them as if it were having a meal.

The warriors were crushed into lumps of flesh, chewed into bits by invisible teeth.

But it was nothing more than a skeleton without a stomach or mouth.

The mangled bodies of the western warriors fell through its ribcage, no longer recognizable as human.

-Gaaahhh…?

The skeletal giant Nephilim tilted its head as if puzzled.

Even though it had eaten, its hunger wasn’t satisfied.

But its curiosity didn’t deepen beyond that.

It simply moved according to its instincts.

To devour everything.

That was the only desire the Giant Lord now possessed.

The skeletal hand began sweeping the battlefield again, devouring the western army.

"Crazy…."

The curse escaped Aden’s mouth at the sight.

Shaura spoke.

"I’ll make one last offer. Will you join us?"

Join them?

Aden had only one response to that.

"No way in hell, you crazy bitch!"

*Chwaaaak!*

With a furious shout, he swung Baalzebul at Shaura.