The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned
Chapter 299

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Chapter 299: The End of the World (4)

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!”

I stomped the ground violently and cursed aloud.

Why hadn’t I noticed sooner?

Why hadn’t I realized it faster?

—How could the Order of Eternity know so precisely what was going on inside the school?

The Hero Academy was an extremely closed-off place.

Except for certain periods, outsiders were strictly forbidden entry, and even cadets couldn’t leave without a special permit.

And yet…

The Order of Eternity knew exactly who had just left or entered the academy, as if they had surveillance devices installed inside.

‘They were already inside the school from the start.’

Yes.

That would also explain the cult’s absurd level of intelligence.

‘Then the reason all the information about the Masters kept leaking outside…’

A memory flashed through my mind—when I had looked into whether Khalid Han was one of the cult leader’s pawns at Camellia’s request.

-Tsk tsk. Wondering if there’s a traitor among the Masters?

-I’ve looked into it for quite some time... and my conclusion is that none of the Masters are involved.

-I suspect someone close to the Masters, a trusted aide, is the real traitor.

-The traitor is among the Masters’ inner circle.

And Maurice Jin was the son of Khalid Han—someone who could be called the closest of the close.

Even if Khalid hadn’t said it outright, if their relationship was that close, it wouldn’t have been difficult for Maurice to gather information about the Masters.

“…Ha.”

A hollow laugh escaped my lips.

I didn’t plan to blame Khalid Han.

Honestly, who could have guessed that their biological father was pretending to be their adoptive son?

‘That lunatic.’

Trying to hide your identity by becoming your own son’s adopted child?

Unbelievable.

‘I should’ve realized the moment I heard about the message!’

Camellia had come to the academy because she received a message from Khalid Han claiming he had vital information on the cult leader.

But when asked, Khalid said he never sent any such message.

Meaning—

The suspect was someone close enough to use Khalid’s Hero Watch without him knowing.

‘It can only be Maurice.’

Crack.

I bit my lip and hurried toward the main school building.

Maurice had headed for the auditorium, where the cadets were evacuating.

The reason he didn’t join the battle and went there instead could only be one thing.

‘The Warp Gate.’

Yes.

The key to the Warp Gate held by Chancellor Lionel—that was his true target.

Bang!

I kicked open the tightly shut auditorium door.

Inside were hundreds of cadets huddled together in fear in the corner of the hall.

And—

“Guh… urgh, cough!”

“You’re here?”

Maurice Jin stood behind Chancellor Lionel, who was collapsed and coughing blood.

Maurice grinned, holding the blood-soaked key in his hand.

“You’re later than I expected.”

“You bastard…!”

“I didn’t plan to resort to something this annoying, but once Mephisto died, I had no other good way to access the Warp Gate.”

Maurice shrugged and continued.

“So I decided to borrow what you worked so hard to make.”

“…Borrow?”

“Yeah.”

Vwoooooom!

As the key shone with an intense light, Warp Gates formed in midair.

Originally, they were connected to the capitals of the three nations to summon each country’s military might swiftly.

But—

Crunch, crack! Ruuuumble!

From within the gates emerged massive tree roots.

They quickly engulfed the entire auditorium, and flowers bloomed from them.

Chrysanthemums with snowy white petals.

Step, step.

Through the falling petals emerged masked figures from the Warp Gate.

The Order of Eternity.

So that’s why they hadn’t shown themselves earlier—they had been planning this all along.

“Cough, cough! Ma-Maurice!”

Khalid Han staggered to his feet.

He looked like he could collapse at any moment, his entire body covered in blood and injuries.

But he took a step forward, screaming.

“Why… why… why!!!”

A soul-tearing scream.

A situation too incomprehensible—no, too painful to even want to comprehend.

Red tears flowed down the wrinkled corners of Khalid Han’s eyes.

“…Hm, that’s a tough question. At least tell me what you’re asking.”

“Why, why you…!”

“You mean—am I the cult leader?”

He chuckled dryly and continued.

“Well, I pretended to be your son from the start just to deceive you.”

“What are you saying…?”

“You know the saying, ‘the darkest place is under the lamp’? I figured that you, who were desperately searching for the cult leader, would never suspect your own son.”

And his assumption had been dead-on.

No—it had to be right.

After all, who in the world would suspect that the biological father who disappeared in their youth had returned as their adoptive son?

“In times like this, the ‘Blessing of Regeneration’ is really useful. I can manipulate my physical age however I like, so it’s easy to fool people.”

“You… bastard…”

Grit.

Khalid Han clenched his teeth, glaring at Maurice—no, at his father.

“Then… the accident during Dane’s mission…?”

“Oh, Dane? Don’t worry. He’s over there.”

Maurice shrugged and pointed his chin at one of the masked cultists.

“…Ha. Hahaha, hahaha!”

Khalid burst into crazed laughter.

Everything—

Everything had been a lie.

His most loyal subordinate and trusted friend.

The boy he had raised and loved like his own son.

“Oh… ugh.”

He remembered.

The day he drank alone in front of his friend’s grave.

The day he adopted that friend’s son as his own.

The day that timid boy, who had always looked at him in fear, called him “Father” for the first time.

The day they shared drinks together after the school entrance ceremony.

“Ugh… Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—!!”

He remembered, he remembered, he remembered—

Every single moment.

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Without exception.

“Mauriceeeeeeeeee!!!”

He ran forward, sword in hand.

A dizzying pain surged through his shattered body.

His wounds tore open from the sudden movement, blood gushing out.

But he ignored it.

He didn’t care.

Because there was something far more important right now.

“Haaahhhh!”

Countless sword energies shattered into hundreds, thousands of fragments.

The thousands of shards, each the size of a fingernail, surged like a whirlwind—resembling cherry blossoms scattered in the spring breeze.

It was this spectacle that earned him the title "Falling Blossom Sword."

Those fragments raged toward Maurice like a violent storm.

"Tsk. I told you everything, so why the hell are you acting like this?"

Craaaaack!

With a casual flick of his hand, tree roots shot up from the ground and struck Khalid.

“Gah!”

Coughing blood, Khalid rolled across the ground.

Maurice clicked his tongue, looking down at the fallen Khalid with contempt.

“A failure is just that—a failure.”

Shaking his head, he snapped his fingers.

Rumble—!

The tree roots, twisted into the shape of sharp spears, flew toward the fallen Khalid.

And then—

Fwoooosh!

Ashen flames swirled around the roots, igniting them.

The tree roots, so hard that even thousands of sword shards couldn’t scratch them, turned to ashes in an instant.

“Oh.”

A sound of admiration escaped Maurice’s lips.

He smirked as he turned to face the one standing in front of Khalid Han.

“You really are different. A true success.”

“……”

Grinding my teeth, I glared at the smiling Maurice.

A conversation I had with Khalid Han flashed through my mind.

—I stayed with Father for a while. Just a few months, really.

—And after that…?

—I was discarded again.

—What?

—He said I wasn’t the ‘seed’ he was looking for.

Right.

Khalid Han had been thrown away because he wasn’t the seed the leader of Eternity was searching for.

But I…

—You, on the other hand, are the seed I’ve been waiting—desperately, so desperately—for over the past 500 years.

“Hah.”

So that’s how it is.

“……”

Failure and success.

The benefactor of the orphanage.

The shared surname “Han.”

The scattered pieces of the puzzle were finally falling into place.

“Maurice… or should I call you Father?”

“Oh? You just figured it out now?”

Maurice chuckled, shrugging.

“How many?”

“Hmm? How many what?”

“How many children did you father and dump at the orphanage?”

“Oh, who knows? Too many to count.”

“……”

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. I never forced anyone or did anything shady. I was actually pretty popular, you know?”

He gave a nonchalant shrug as he looked at me.

“Why…?”

“Why did I do all that?”

Maurice let out a short laugh.

“With the ‘Blessing of Regeneration’ I carry, I couldn’t fully absorb the Primordial Flame.”

“……”

“You know, right? Blessings are most likely passed down through heredity.”

So that’s why…

“I planted seeds. Hoping that one day, among the children I fathered, someone would be born with a blessing strong enough to hold the Primordial Flame.”

For 500 years.

He waited.

Desperately, endlessly.

For the day he would reach the ‘End of the World.’

“…Did you want to die that badly?”

I bit my lip and stared at Maurice.

As much as I didn’t want to admit it…

I could understand him.

Because I, too, had once lived chasing nothing but death.

The pain of an endless life—no one understood that better than I did—

“Huh? I never said I wanted to die.”

“…What?”

What the hell does that mean?

“When the Primordial Flame and the power of the Tree of Creation collide, this world will meet its end. It will vanish without a trace—turned to a handful of ash.”

And then—

“The gate will open.”

“…Gate?”

“Yes. The gate that formed when I first stepped into this damned world.”

Maurice’s face twisted into a cruel, bitter grin as he continued.

“I’m going back.”

Back to where he came from.

Back to his home.

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