Chapter 327: Are They Going to Make History?

Chapter 327: Chapter 327: Are They Going to Make History?

Meanwhile, Lance, trapped inside the sealed hall, had no idea what a massive uproar his brutal, cornered-beast-like struggle deep within the Underground City was causing outside.

「Gray Rock Town. The central evacuation route.」

Night had fallen, dark and deep.

Under the joint guidance of the Adventurer’s Guild and the Patrol Bureau.

Tens of thousands of townspeople, with their families in tow, formed a long, chaotic line.

Led by a few carriages loaded with emergency supplies, they slowly and arduously evacuated toward White River City.

Suppressed sobs and the fear of the unknown permeated the crowd.

Many people kept looking back, taking one last, lingering look at the dilapidated little town where they had spent half their lives.

At that moment, the strange sky-screen above Gray Rock Town, originally split into a dozen separate images, underwent a miraculous change.

As time passed.

This change became more pronounced.

The images recording the chaotic slaughter in the other Underground Cities began to gradually dim and disappear.

But the one screen belonging to the "Rusted Stone Echo" Underground City, spurred on by some invisible force, began to expand across the sky—growing larger and larger!

Until finally.

That screen occupied almost half of the night sky above Gray Rock Town!

What the image displayed...

Was none other than the scene of Lance dragging his battered and broken body, locked in a brutal struggle with Galeos inside the Bronze Hall!

’The Display of Royal Authority has sensed a Legend in the making, so it’s starting to take effect.’

At the rear of the evacuating column.

Rein watched the image in the sky and muttered to himself, his tone filled with worry and regret.

He regretted letting Lance participate in this Summer Crown...

Beside Rein.

The Wolf Girl, Ella, was wearing a large, thick, gray cloth cloak, carefully hiding her conspicuous Sub-human features—like her furry ears and tail—in the shadows.

She was supporting Rein by the arm, playing the part of his niece.

Like Rein, she recognized the person in the image as Lance.

She had been sore about her defeat at Lance’s hands, but now, seeing such a brutal scene, she was a little scared.

Knocked down again and again, yet dragging his heavily injured body back to his feet each time.

Even this normally proud Wolf Lady felt a tremor of shock in her heart.

’What tenacious, even insane, fighting spirit.’

’If it were me, faced with such a hopeless power gap, I probably would have lost the will to fight back long ago.’

Moreover.

Ella recalled Lance’s strength from their last fight.

And compared it to the destructive power now being displayed on the sky-screen.

The terrifying, rocket-like speed of his growth made her tail, hidden beneath her cloak, tremble uncontrollably with fear whenever she thought about it.

"That’s a Heroic Spirit, isn’t it?"

"Who in the world is that young man? To think he could fight a descended Heroic Spirit single-handedly to this extent!"

An old veteran nearby exclaimed in awe. Nearly all the veterans were believers of Terence, the god who presided over the Heroic Spirit Hall, and therefore deeply respected every Heroic Spirit who earned a place there.

It was common knowledge that:

A Heroic Spirit could never be a purely wicked person.

At some point in their lives, they must have performed a glorious deed sufficient to change the course of an era. Only by earning the admiration and praise of the masses could they qualify to enter the Heroic Spirit Hall.

Even a king like Galeos, known as the "Tyrant."

In his lifetime, he had truly led the Human Race against an invasion from Alien Races, making an indelible contribution to the founding of the Kingdom.

This group of old veterans bringing up the rear of the evacuation column.

Under the constant urging of Vice-President Homman, had now started to move farther away from Gray Rock Town.

As for the old Guild President, Necros.

He had gone alone to the edge of Copper Creek Forest.

He was tasked with intercepting the Low Level Demon Tide swarming out from the depths of the forest.

Although this old veteran had already fallen to Excellence Level.

He was, after all, a "Hero" officially recognized by the Kingdom in the past.

That title carried serious weight.

However, it was unknown what other accidents might occur as this disaster continued to escalate, so they still had to evacuate as quickly as possible.

"Does anyone know... who that young man fighting a Heroic Spirit to the death is?"

The image on the sky-screen.

Although the image was constantly enlarging, its resolution didn’t improve.

In particular, the face of the black-haired young man in the battle remained blurry and indistinct.

After all, this was merely an incomplete projection caused by the Underground City’s abnormal state.

It was not the true "Display of Royal Authority."

"That’s a Heroic Spirit! In the history of the Material Realm’s Underground Cities, the few subjugation battles against Heroic Spirit Species were all won by groups, right? Is he about to make history?"

The voices of these worldly-wise old veterans grew more and more excited as they spoke.

And at this moment.

Hearing these words, many of the ordinary townspeople walking nearby also stopped in their tracks.

Although they didn’t understand the significance of a Heroic Spirit Species.

But when they heard the three words "make history," a wave of gasps still erupted from the crowd.

"The image is so blurry, you can’t even tell which Heroic Spirit that is."

"For all we know... the one that descended is just some no-name Heroic Spirit."

Seeing everyone marveling at the young man, a youth in the crowd couldn’t help but interject sarcastically.

However, the moment he spoke, he was immediately met with a collective glare from the surrounding old veterans, which scared him into shrinking his neck and not daring to say another word.

"But..."

"From what I can see... it looks like he can’t hold on much longer, can he?"

There were also some people with slightly better eyesight.

They could see that the blood-soaked, black-haired young man was clearly at the end of his rope.

Nia was also mixed in with the crowded evacuees.

She was being pushed forward by the throng of people.

But she stubbornly kept her head raised, staring at the image in the sky.

Her white teeth bit down hard on her lip, and her hands were clasped in prayer before her chest.

’No...’

’Lance, you have to survive.’

Nia prayed over and over in her heart.

She was filled with regret now.

Regret for her previous lack of honesty.

’If only time could turn back, back to that morning.’

’I would—I absolutely would—cast aside all my so-called reservations and loudly tell that young man the words hidden deepest in my heart.’

’Tell him that, actually... I had long since...’

However, Nia, immersed in her sorrow, didn’t notice.

The flame-star mark hidden on the inside of her wrist was uncontrollably beginning to pulse with a faint red glow in the darkness.

’No way! No way!’

Deep in Nia’s mind, Judith was panicking.

’This is not a good time to be resonating with him!’

’Please, that kid Lance, whatever you do, don’t you die in there.’

Even Judith couldn’t help but start praying silently in her heart.

However.

What happened next.

Completely shattered everyone’s perceptions.

The evacuating column, which had been moving slowly and buzzing with discussion.

At a certain moment.

Came to an instant halt, as if a massive group Immobilization Skill had been cast on them all.

Because.

Everyone clearly saw.

The one-sided deathmatch in the sky-screen undergo an earth-shattering change.

The mouths of tens of thousands of people.

At that moment, all fell open to their widest extent.

...

「The scene shifted back to the depths of the Underground City.」

「Inside the Bronze Hall.」

Lance was being beaten back steadily by Galeos’s attacks, and the number of wounds on his body continued to increase.

However.

A closer look would reveal.

That the light in Lance’s eyes was growing ever brighter.

It was the look of a hunter who had fumbled in the dark for a long time and finally saw the first glimmer of dawn.

This abnormal state.

Gave his opponent, Galeos, a faint, unsettling feeling.

Until.

The two clashed again.

Lance braced himself and took a heavy blow from one of the snake heads.

Gripping the Dragon Remains Crystal Spear with both hands.

He executed an upward thrust, aiming straight for Galeos’s face!

Normally.

Galeos habitually chose not to dodge or evade.

But.

At this moment, his combat Intuition suddenly screamed a warning in his mind!

This long-unfelt sense of crisis took Galeos by complete surprise.

Relying on instinct, he tilted his head slightly to the side at the last possible second.

SCRAAAPE!

The spear tip barely scraped across the sturdy Bronze Armor, kicking up a long, dazzling trail of sparks!

Immediately after.

Losing none of its momentum, the spear tip whistled through the air.

And grazed past Galeos’s cheek.

A thin gash.

Abruptly appeared on the Bronze Tyrant’s cheek!

A drop of dark red blood slowly oozed from the wound.

This was the first time in this one-sided battle that Galeos’s defenses had been substantively breached, and the first time he had taken real damage!

Galeos’s advance, which he had been about to continue, came to a dead stop.

He slowly raised a hand.

And gently touched the warm wound on his cheek with his fingertips.

Staring at the smear of red on his fingertips, a hint of genuine shock finally appeared in his eyes.

’Bronze King Body.’

’It’s been completely weakened without me even realizing it?’

He had identified the crux of the problem.

Moreover.

He could feel a faint but extremely stubborn, silver-red flame on the wound on his cheek, constantly searing deeper into his flesh.

’Is this Clovis’s ability? Balthazar, what have you been plotting all this time?’

Galeos frowned.

Puzzled as he was.

He paid the minor flesh wound no mind.

He prepared to activate his ability and heal the wound instantly.

[Heroic Spirit Specialization: Blood of Chaos]

[Base Effect: When not in combat, automatically restores 20 Life Value per second.]

[Hydra Legend Blessing: Passive Life Value recovery speed is massively increased to 80 points per second. When the body suffers fatal external injuries such as dismemberment or piercing, the damaged area will instantly reform and heal within 0.5 seconds. Furthermore, an "Evil Snake Head" will monstrously grow from the healed wound and automatically snap back at the enemy who inflicted the damage. The counter-bite is a guaranteed hit, dealing a fixed 70 points of toxic tearing damage!]

This was the terrifying aspect of Galeos’s Hydra Legend.

Not only was he impossible to kill, but attacking him would also trigger massive recoil damage!

Galeos let out a cold sneer, but in the next second, the smile on his face froze completely.