The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned

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Chapter 231: The Spider and the Empress (8)

Imperial Underground Space.

Fierce flames burned brightly, casting an orange glow throughout the area.

The suffocating heat made even breathing difficult.

I tightened my grip on my sword as I stared at the woman before me—black hair, thick-rimmed glasses.

“Let me ask you just one thing.”

“Oh? That’s convenient. I actually have a few questions for you too.”

Melina tilted the mace in her hand as if telling me to go first.

“Why did you betray the Empress?”

I recall Camellia talking about Melina.

The Empress, who always looked down on the world with an arrogant expression, had smiled that day.

It wasn’t hard to tell how much she cherished Melina, her personal maid.

“With the Empress’s trust, you must have held quite a position in the Empire.”

“Why did I betray Lady Camellia, you ask…? That’s a misleading question.”

Melina adjusted her thick-rimmed glasses before continuing.

“I never served that bitch in the first place.”

A cruel smirk twisted her lips.

“…But she was the one who saved you when you were kidnapped by the Demons.”

“Saved me? Saved me?”

Melina burst into laughter, clutching her stomach.

“You must be mistaken. I wasn’t kidnapped by the Demons.”

A sly smile crept onto her face.

“I was ‘sold’—by humans, just like you.”

“……”

“It’s been a long time, but I still remember it vividly.”

A worn-down building.

My mother, holding my hand, telling me she’d buy me sweets.

The rough-looking men waiting inside.

The pouch full of gold exchanged for me.

The bright, satisfied smile on my mother’s face.

“But I was fine with it.”

“…You were fine?”

“Yes. Because I gained a new family.”

A hazy look crosses Melina’s face, as if lost in a dream.

“Unlike my father, who was always drowning in alcohol… Unlike my mother, who beat me whenever she was bored… My new family treated me kindly. They were warm.”

“And that family… don’t tell me…”

“That’s right. The Demons.”

“……”

So that’s how it happened.

“I was happy. I truly believed I could finally live in peace.”

But then—

“That wretched woman…! She took everything from me…!”

I remember.

The seven-colored radiance that suddenly filled the sky one day.

The blessings of the seven hated gods.

—Aaaaargh!

—P-Please, spare me!!!

In the blink of an eye, the light swept through the city, devouring everything.

Including her second parents.

—Hmm. You’re not a demon, are you?

Descending leisurely upon the ruins was a platinum-haired girl.

With a power that seemed almost divine, she approached Melina, who lay crushed beneath the rubble, on the brink of death.

—Were you being held captive here?

—…Yes. Y-Yes, I was.

Terrified, Melina nodded dumbly, too shocked to even mourn her parents.

And then—

—Come with me.

That was how she became the servant of the one who had trampled over her happiness.

“I lived without even daring to think of revenge… until that person came to me.”

The Archbishop of Destruction, Amon.

Through him, she could dream of vengeance once again.

“So? Does that answer your question?”

“More or less.”

Just as Mephisto once betrayed the Demons to side with humanity—

She, too, had betrayed humanity to stand with the Demons.

“Then it’s my turn to ask.”

Melina gripped her mace, smiling.

“Why do you think I was so kind as to tell you my story?”

Whoosh!

Before I could answer, her body seemed to vanish into thin air.

—No.

She hadn’t disappeared.

She was just moving so fast it looked like she had.

Boom!

The impact of my sword and her mace colliding sent a numbing shock up my arms.

My body lifted off the ground, my vision flipping upside down.

“Candidate Dale!”

Professor Elisha spun a web into a net and caught my airborne body.

“Tch.”

I gritted my teeth, enduring the ache in my arms as I got back on my feet.

Melina adjusted her glasses, watching me struggle to stand.

“Now do you understand why I told you my story?”

“…Damn, you’ve got one hell of a temper.”

I clicked my tongue and tightened my grip on my sword.

“If you’re gonna ask a question, at least give me time to answer.”

Fwoooosh!

Dark gray flames flared up along the blade.

“…Huh?”

Melina narrowed her eyes at the ashen fire.

She stared at it, as if trying to comprehend something, then shook her head.

“Why does he have that energy…? No, that’s impossible. There’s no way.”

“What the hell are you mumbling about?”

“Hmph. It’s none of your concern.”

She replied coldly, raising her spiked mace.

Fwoosh!

Black flames engulfed the weapon—

The same power used by the Apostles of Destruction earlier.

No—

This was much darker, much more violent.

‘She’s at least at bishop level.’

The Apostles of Destruction were just short of a Archbishop’s power.

If she was a bishop, that meant she was nearly as strong as a Archbishop.

“Now, let’s finally smash that skull of yours!”

Melina grinned wildly, pushing off the ground.

Once again, her body vanished into the air, reappearing before me in an instant.

Whoosh!

Her mace, wreathed in black fire, howled toward me like a meteor.

Boom!

A deafening crash erupted as our weapons collided once more—

Like a thunderclap splitting the heavens.

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Intertwining flames.

Gray flames and black flames bared their fangs, fiercely trying to consume each other.

“Kh…!”

The impact was enough to make both arms go numb.

Melina’s prowess, wrapped in black flames, was beyond what he had imagined.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The mace swung relentlessly, like a storm.

Crack!

Each time I blocked an attack, it felt like a nail being hammered in, my feet sinking into the floor of the passageway.

‘At this rate, I’ll be pushed back.’

If that’s the case—

“Hah…”

I took a deep breath, drawing upon the power of the Primordial Flame even further.

“Burn.”

Ashen flames flared violently, wrapping around my body.

Sizzle!

The sound of burning flesh filled the air, accompanied by thick gray smoke.

Ashen flames that consumed life as they burned.

The rapidly diminishing mana surged explosively.

Boom! Rumble!

And then, we clashed again.

My sword, engulfed in ashen flames, violently knocked back the mace.

“Ugh?!”

Melina staggered backward, her face momentarily filled with shock.

I lunged at her with a clenched fist.

Berald’s Martial Arts.

Mountain Crusher.

Rumble—!

A deafening explosion rocked the underground space as if a bomb had detonated.

The walls of the imperial palace’s underground, which had remained unscathed for hundreds of years due to special magical treatment, shattered like a glass window struck by a hammer.

“Guh…!”

Melina gritted her teeth as she was pushed back by the impact.

“…Ha. Are you really just a candidate?”

She furrowed her brows in disbelief.

She knew that Dale Han, a candidate, possessed an extraordinary level of strength—enough to catch Camellia’s attention.

But she never expected him to be able to fight her on equal footing, even when she was drawing upon the full power of Destruction.

“Why? Want me to show you my candidate badge?”

“Hah…”

Melina let out a sigh, shaking her head.

“I’ll admit, you’re much stronger than I expected.”

But—

“You’re out of luck.”

“…Out of luck?”

“Yes.”

Melina shrugged and turned her gaze toward the burning Primordial Ember.

“Because of all places, you ran into me where the Flame of Destruction is burning.”

With that, she reached toward the Primordial Ember.

“O Destruction! O Terminus of Eternity!”

She spoke in reverence, like a priest in prayer.

“Devour my flesh, burn my soul, and grant me the power to smite Your enemies!”

And as if her voice had truly reached the ember—

Fwoosh!

A fist-sized ember detached from the Primordial Ember and flowed into her body.

“Guh…!”

Melina clutched her body, groaning in pain.

The aura radiating from her surged to an incomparably greater magnitude than before.

“…Heh.”

Wrapped in black flames, Melina smirked as she raised her mace.

“Well then, shall we start again?”

“Aha. So that’s how it works.”

“Hm?”

“No, I just think it’s a good method.”

Dale turned to look at the Primordial Ember.

Although Melina had absorbed a portion of its power, the flame itself still burned fiercely, unchanged.

Fwoosh!

He reached out toward it.

“Come.”

Unlike Melina, who had spoken reverently as if in prayer, he issued a command—like a master calling a servant.

“Hah.”

Melina scoffed in disbelief.

“What are you doing?”

Did he seriously think that just because he also wielded fire, he could absorb part of the flame like she had?

“Pfft!”

The sheer absurdity of the thought made her burst into laughter.

“Hahahaha! You really have no idea what that flame is, do you?”

The Flame of Destruction.

A power said to be the very flesh and soul of the Demon God.

Only Amon, the Archbishop of Destruction, could wield it—a power far beyond the Seven-Star Blessing that Camellia possessed.

Yes.

It was, quite literally, divinity itself.

“No matter what you do, that flame will never move for you!”

As Melina laughed mockingly behind him—

Dale spoke again.

“Tch. Acting like it can ignore me?”

Frowning, he glared at the raging fire.

“Hey.”

Fwoosh!

The flame, which had been burning fiercely, trembled as if startled.

“Hurry up and get over here.”

His eyes burned with intensity as he issued another command.

“……”

Melina sighed deeply, her laughter fading.

“…I see now why you’re just a fringe candidate.”

She clicked her tongue.

“I’ll say it again—no matter what you do, that flame isn’t going to—”

Fwoosh!

The Primordial Ember, which had been trembling, began slithering toward him.

“…Huh?”

Fwoosh—!

Unlike Melina, who had only absorbed a single ember, the entire ember surged into Dale’s body.

Melina’s jaw dropped as she watched.

“…What the hell?”

Why was it moving?

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