Antihero In the Hero Academy: I Can Connect the Past Heroes
Chapter 228: Cleanse

Chapter 228: Cleanse

Juliet had not yet returned. Everyone knew that Juliet was capable of killing the other two high-ranking demons in a matter of seconds. This was enough to show that Juliet, like Atlas, was trying to protect others.

Atlas acted quickly and began making moves to knock out every demon fighting each other around him.

The mana was dirty. Very dirty.

Still, it wasn’t mana that couldn’t be cleansed.

It required stronger, deeper, and incredibly pure mana.

Of course, two people could do that right now.

Atlas and Juliet.

It was as if they had both thought the same thing at the same time, because within seconds, Juliet’s massive mana had spread out and overwhelmed even Atlas himself, while Atlas’s mana had managed to spread completely over an area of nearly twenty kilometres.

Although the mana was very slow, when it began to clear, Atlas finally realised that the passageway he had created was still open and that the demons were coming out of it.

He did not know exactly how to close the passageway. After all, he had never done such a thing before. The person who did it was Constantine, but Atlas did not have the power of a Sage.

He had an idea, but of course, he had no way of knowing if it would work.

That was precisely why he had once again moved forward and started killing every demon that had managed to escape through the passage.

With every demon he killed, he grew stronger, but at the same time, everything was getting worse because even though the dirty mana was being purified, more demons were escaping through the passage every second.

That wasn’t all. Atlas himself could sense that there was another passageway somewhere else, and the only reason for this was that he could feel another passageway at the other end of the capital, in addition to the one in front of him.

He had to act quickly. He had to do whatever he had to do and close the portal as soon as possible, then run towards the other one.

He had to leave the mana cleansing task in the area to Juliet.

He began to move quickly and started drawing runes around the passage. When the runes stuck to the passage, at least they managed to prevent the demons from coming out. Still, Atlas could see the demons looking at him from the other side of the passage.

It was a frightening sight.

Many demons were leaving the area, which was enough to tell where they were going. After all, there were two gateways for demons to pass from hell to the world.

At least in this kingdom.

Atlas’s gaze and posture had changed, and his deep thoughts had begun to grow even more complex.

Of course, he had no idea how to destroy a passage directly. After all, he was not a Sage. Precisely for this reason, his stress was increasing, and as the runes he had placed on the passage began to weaken, he began to feel a sense of fear deep within him.

Atlas thought that Juliet might have already gone to the other passageway because the dirty mana in the environment had almost completely disappeared within the short five minutes that had passed. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Juliet had cleaned up even faster than Atlas had expected. The dirty mana had begun to disappear from the environment.

Meanwhile, the people Atlas had knocked out were slowly beginning to wake up, and almost all of them had managed to get to their feet.

They had seen Atlas enter the battlefield. They had noticed Xezbeth’s body lying on the ground, and that alone was enough to tell them what had happened.

When Atlas noticed that they had woken up, he didn’t hesitate for a second and shouted, ’Target the demons around you, don’t let a single one survive! There’s another one in the same passageway in another part of the capital, do whatever it takes to protect the people!’

Everyone who had awakened did not question the words they had heard. Each of them sprang into action within seconds and quickly left the area, following Atlas’s orders.

Atlas was afraid that they would be affected by the passage. After all, this passage was truly dangerous. It was no ordinary thing.

Atlas loaded more runes onto the demonic passage along with everything else, and the passage itself seemed to tremble.

Atlas thought he was beginning to succeed in some small way, but everything disappeared in an instant.

Every single rune on the passage had vanished as if it had been devoured by the passage itself.

[Be careful, Atlas. The runes have vanished completely. The demonic gateway will soon grow. You must act quickly and decisively; we cannot predict what will emerge from within the gateway.]

When Moros suddenly sent a message, Atlas’s attention was distracted, but he could see that the passage was indeed beginning to grow, just as Moros had said.

It was a frightening sight.

The fact that he could see demons staring out from inside the passage like hungry wolves, without a moment’s hesitation, made everything worse.

With the runes disappearing, Atlas suddenly began to focus on killing the demons that had started to emerge from the passageway again.

’Does anyone here know how to destroy this thing?!’ Atlas suddenly shouted. This was not a request to the gods and goddesses, but more like a prayer.

[Instead of using the runes to seal off the outside of the passage, you must attack it from within. Remember what happened to the passage in the World Tree. It was much easier for Constantine to break the passage from the inside, that is, from the other side. For this, you must use the runes of blow and destruction. Remember the book Hecate gave you and what Selene taught you.]

This message came directly from Artemis herself. When this message reached Atlas in a way that no god or goddess would have expected, everyone around Artemis began to look at her with angry expressions.

Each of them was aware that Atlas had to resolve this situation himself, and this had made everything worse. After all, no matter how much the gods and goddesses loved him, the same thing would happen again in the future, and when Atlas fell into this situation, he would have to survive without the gods and goddesses being able to see him, just like when he was in the Life Stone dungeon.

Still, Artemis was very afraid. Even though Juliet was not far away, Atlas was completely alone. The great goddess could not risk one of the ancient demons, or demons of the highest rank, suddenly emerging from the demon gate.

Her thoughts were not entirely wrong.

Azazel, one of the highest-ranking demons, had already noticed the gate. The deaths of Xezbeth and the other two had reached the ears of the ancient demon, and this was enough to tell him that another gate was open elsewhere.

While Juliet’s attention was distracted, if Azazel could get out now, Atlas could put up a good fight, but he would be torn to pieces within five minutes at most.

Alright, this was a bit of an overestimation. Perhaps Atlas could manage to kill him. Though it would be an incredibly powerful, almost unimaginable feat, in a one-on-one battle, Atlas was currently one of the most deadly beings on the planet, whether alive or dead.

In his previous life, he had been able to create enormous effects in one-on-one combat and had even managed to corner Cosmo Mammon before killing him, when he was only in a state of twelve magic rings, which was technically several times weaker than his current state.

Azazel... He was a bit of an odd character. His power was not directly tied to darkness, but rather to the depth of darkness within people. At least, that’s what was said about him.

Atlas, on the other hand, was a person who truly harboured a great deal of darkness and very deep feelings within him.

It was precisely this that made Azazel dangerous in his presence.

Atlas had to think about Artemis’ suggestion, interest, and words, and act accordingly, making the most of them.

That is precisely why he began to breathe deeply and did his best to visualise the rune patterns in his mind.

The strike and destruction runes had two different rune patterns. Many runes were drawn inside a circle or square. This ensured that the rune pattern was deep and solid, but these two runes did not work that way.

The strike rune consisted of three interlocking triangles, each containing the numbers ’1-2-3,’ indicating the pattern that would activate the strike rune and perform three consecutive attacks.

The destruction rune, however, was entirely different.

The Annihilation Rune, in the ancient Latin alphabet, meant ’Exstinctionem,’ which, contrary to expectations, did not mean "extinction" but rather ’annihilation.’

This rune had a structure that illuminated the letters every second it progressed and, upon completion of the rune’s duration or pattern, shattered it into pieces, locking, pressing, and erasing its name. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

This was why Artemis mentioned these two runes. The Strike rune would support the Extinction rune, and the pressure it created would turn the Extinction rune, which normally ends in a single move, into three separate but equally powerful moves.

Frankly, it was a pretty good plan.