Quit The Hero Party

EP.99 Lac von Grace

The northern winds always blew.

The cool breeze was fierce. The northern winds were a symbol of harshness.

Harsh environments showed no mercy to humans living there. Those who decided to survive in the north had to be strong.

To avoid being clawed by the fierce wind.

To endure the harshness.

They disciplined themselves. To live in the north, where the human body struggled to endure, they sought ways to survive.

“The history of the north is the history of survival.”

Northern warriors are strong. Not because they survive, but because they survive that makes them strong.

Lac recalled that phrase.

“······.”

Lac gazed at the darkened forest.

Red eyes flashed between the thickets, beyond the trees. He felt a presence. They were hiding, but not entirely.

‘They are approaching.’

The presence grew closer.

Lac estimated their number with a glance. There were many, but their condition was poor.

Rusty armaments.

Equipment barely worthy of the term “armor.”

Their bodies were smeared with soot and dirt.

It looked as if they were defeated, retreating soldiers. Was the outpost of the apprentice knights on their path? It was hard to tell.

‘They are soldiers, though their condition isn’t good.’

However.

‘Even so, they are soldiers.’

Veterans who have experienced the battlefield.

From their gazes, Lac sensed a dreadful intent. They could not be taken lightly.

“···Huh.”

Lac took a deep breath and assessed the situation.

Demak had gone to call an instructor. No matter how fast the support arrived, it would take at least ten minutes.

Ten minutes.

That was the time Lac had to endure.

“Is that so?”

Lac nodded.

“It’s a real battle.”

He only had one question for himself.

‘Can I do it, or not?’

Is it bravery or foolishness?

He answered the question he posed to himself.

“I can do it.”

That was enough.

Should he run away?

Should he endure while waiting for support?

Is hiding the right choice?

Such chaotic thoughts Lac brushed aside. They were unworthy of time or value. Having made a decision, he focused on only one thing.

‘How will I hunt?’

Lac gripped his axe tighter.

There were prey right before his eyes. A hunter doesn’t run away in front of prey.

Pududuk!

Lac’s fingers made a loud sound as they dug into the circuit etched on the axe handle. The axe trembled in his hand.

Accel.

Muscular enhancement.

He unleashed the spells he had stockpiled.

The presence drew even closer. The figures that had come within reach emerged from the darkness.

Torches illuminated their faces.

Red-eyed menacingly gleamed in the night. Their gazes locked onto Lac.

Lac’s red eyes settled.

‘The important thing is the flow.’

If you lose the flow, you’re swept away.

To seize the flow, he had to use heat. He could use it, but should not be ruled by instinct. At that moment, he had to awaken the strange sensations he had briefly experienced during the practical exam.

It was difficult.

Yet, it was something he had experienced once before.

Lac raised his arm wielding the axe.

As if sensing the signal, the demon soldiers lunged at Lac. Arrows flew through the air.

Gwooooaar!

Their cries rang in his ears.

And amidst all that, Lac’s axe made a light Thud sound.

The axe handle struck Lac’s heart.

Heating.

Kuwung, Lac’s heart beat loudly.

2.

“Isn’t it a bit too much to have that child Lac, no matter how exceptional, to experience a battlefield? Don’t you think, Raniel?”

“Huh?”

Lac’s words made Raniel, who had been sprawled out on the sofa immersed in a novel, slowly sit up.

Her disheveled ashen hair swayed.

Dressed in pajamas, Raniel blinked as she looked at Lac. It seemed she had been reading a novel before sleeping.

“Isn’t that true?”

Lac sighed as he replied.

“I admit that he is exceptional. Still, isn’t he still young? No matter how much the Battle Magic Department emphasizes practical experience….”

“Pfft, I was around that age too.”

Raniel shrugged.

“Was it twenty? Or nineteen? I think I first went to the battlefield back then?”

“Yours was a different case….”

Lac pressed his temples.

This foolish disciple often projected her uniqueness onto others.

‘No matter how prestigious Apuria is and how competent the Battle Magic Department is at raising soldiers…’

That comes after graduation.

There was still much for them to learn. At least, asking Lac to experience a battlefield this early seemed unreasonable to Lac.

“Still, it seems a bit too much for a battlefield. One could get hit by a blind arrow and get hurt.”

“We’ve arranged it so that you wouldn’t get hurt… Truthfully, I don’t think it will be necessary.”

“You’ve arranged it? I won’t say much about that, but… don’t ask students for experiences like that of heroes, Raniel.”

“Huh?”

At that question, Raniel tilted her head in confusion.

Just then, Lac sighed, intending to explain again from the beginning, and Raniel blinked before blurting out.

“It’s not that different, is it?”

“What?”

“I know we’re special. If it were other students, they wouldn’t be asked to do that. Bak’tk would at most be a hero? But he’s not that type.”

Muttering, Raniel raised her arm. Then she patted the corners of her eyes with her fingers.

“You can tell just by looking.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Whether they belong to that group or not.”

“That group?”

“It’s a bit difficult to explain, but anyway, there is such a thing. You can tell just by looking.”

Sword Master, Kuntel.

The last mage of the fallen nation, Kelharlem.

The specter of the front lines, Sword Demon Draka.

Reciting the names of those who etched legends on the battlefield, Raniel continued.

“They may not be heroes, but they are called superhumans.”

They were not chosen by the stars, but through intense training, they gained strength akin to superhumans.

“Kuntel uncle said that signs can be seen in such children…”

Raniel smiled.

“I believe Lac is one of them.”

She declared with confidence in her voice.

“Once he gets the hang of it, he’ll catch up before graduation.”

Who? Lac wondered but did not ask.

Raniel replied with only a faint smile, shrugging her shoulders.

3.

Boom, bang!

Lac’s heart pounded loudly. Blood coursed quickly through his body. His breath resembled steam. The veins stood out on his flushed arms.

His body felt hot.

His vision narrowed.

The scenery Lac, now in the heating state, saw was different from what others saw. In his bloodshot eyes reflected only one thing.

‘Enemies.’

The beings he had to hunt.

With the heat rising in his head, Lac didn’t think complicated thoughts. Only one word spun in his mind.

‘Kill.’

Lac’s axe moved with murderous intent.

He thrust forward, swinging his axe. The head of a zombie holding a bow flew off into the air.

Thwaack!

The head dropped with splattered blood. Lac did not stop. He spun his body and struck the back of a hunting dog guarding the zombie.

Crack!

He felt the satisfying crunch of breaking bones and ending a life. The demon army was momentarily staggered by Lac’s speed, but only briefly. They charged toward Lac.

Spearheads approached from all directions.

Lac swung his axe to deflect the spearheads. He couldn’t knock them all away. Lac stepped back. More soldiers approached from behind.

The numbers were overwhelming.

Unlike Lac, who was alone, the enemy was many. And they were soldiers. Soldiers knew how to deal with a formidable foe they couldn’t defeat alone.

Whoosh!

Their spears thrust at Lac tenaciously, restricting his movements. They limited Lac’s motion while shooting arrows from afar.

Dodging the arrows, Lac lowered his posture. He crawled along the ground to evade the spear shafts and slipped into their midst. His axe targeted the nearest prey.

Slash!

A soldier fell backward, an ankle severed. The encirclement broke. Lac plunged his axe into the fallen soldier’s chest and changed direction.

Like slipping, Lac altered his path and charged once more. Blood and flesh adhered to the axe blade, dulling it. There was no time to shake off the residue.

Chwack!

He swung the axe down as if chopping.

Using weight, he pressed down, shattering the skull. Crushed the ankle to finish off the adversary.

Thud!

Lac lodged the axe handle into the mouth of a hunting dog trying to bite it, twisting to snap its neck. He moved faithfully to his instincts.

He didn’t think deeply.

With a narrowed vision, Lac made swift judgments.

However, as the battle continued, Lac sensed something. It wouldn’t end this way. He needed another way.

‘There are too many.’

Killing one wouldn’t be the end.

There were indeed many foes. Lac was alone. They were steadily closing in the encirclement. If this continued, he would be cornered. Lac, knowing that, couldn’t think of a solution.

His rationality was paralyzed.

A vague thought that this shouldn’t be how it was lingered in his mind, but his body continued to follow its instincts.

Whoosh!

An arrow kept Lac in check.

The thrusting spears nudged Lac back step by step. Before he knew it, Lac was cornered.

Bang, something touched his heel.

It was wood. Lac twisted his body and swung the axe. It was a primal movement, born from the need to create a way out.

Yet, it was a poor move.

The soldier, having anticipated Lac’s response, sacrificed one to catch Lac. Lac swung the axe, sensing it immediately.

‘A mistake.’

Though it couldn’t be seen with his restricted view, he felt the flow of air. The spearhead was approaching. The target of the spear aimed for Lac’s chest.

‘Death.’

Lac sensed his impending demise.

The death he faced was chilling. A chill ran down his spine. Time stretched infinitely.

In that elongated perception of time, Lac felt it.

Something was rushing down his spine. It was a cool sensation. A cold current coursed along his back. With each passing rush, his senses expanded.

Every sense stood sharply alert.

A current, rushing down his spine, encircled his skull. It felt as though cold water was being poured over his head. Sparks flared before his eyes as he heard the sound of something severing.

That sensation.

It was the sensation he had felt then.

In an instant, his vision expanded. In one moment, along with widened sight, Lac’s movements were restrained. He redirected the path of the axe he had intended to swing.

SWOOSH!

His feet moved noisily, spinning as Lac twisted the axe to deflect a spear shaft. The deflected spear soared into the air.

Lac, using the momentum, hurled the axe.

Again, the axe buried itself into the head of a zombie that had stretched out its spear. Lac grasped the vacant spear left hanging in the air, threw it away.

Thunk.

“Hoo….”

In the blink of an eye, two fell.

When he blinked once more, three more soldiers had collapsed. The encirclement was completely broken.

The soldiers who had been closing in hesitated.

There was only one opponent, yet they could not easily close the distance.

‘That sensation.’

Lac breathed out briefly.

His body was still hot, and the breath he breathed out vaporized and disappeared. However, his mind was cold.

Rationality seized the instincts.

Two uncompromising forces aligned.

‘A curious sense of unity, the possibility of impossibility.’

Movements not possible while acting on instinct.

The expanded vision and peculiar sense of unity made the impossible movements become possible.

“So it’s like this.”

Lac murmured as he pulled his axe from the corpses strewn around.

“This is how it’s done.”

His voice was poured out with a heated breath, yet his tone was calm.

Lac gained a realization.

It was the moment he took the first step toward growth.

*

Ding, dong.

The bells signaling an ambush rang throughout the camp. As apprentice knights awoke, the instructors hurriedly gathered their weapons.

It was a bit early for an actual battle.

They needed to rush to support quickly.

Upon hearing the news, the instructors dashed out first. The apprentice knights prepared for battle under the remaining instructors’ orders. Just then, as the instructors first stepped into the forest’s edge…

-Grrrrah!
-Kyaaa!

The demon army jumped out from the woods.

The apprentice knights, preparing to set out, were caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the demon army. An instructor kicked a zombie that had jumped out and blinked in surprise.

‘Something is strange.’

The fallen zombie was terrified.

It wasn’t because it was frightened of the instructor. Rather, it seemed like it was fleeing from something. Its eyes trembled violently.

‘What in the world is it fleeing from?’

It didn’t take long for the instructor to realize.

Whoosh.

From somewhere, an axe flew through the air.

The flying axe head struck the head of the fallen zombie. Greenish blood sprayed everywhere.

“Huh, huh…?”

In the bewildered state, someone dashed forward before the instructor. He pulled out the axe embedded in the zombie’s head and dived back into the forest.

“…Lord Lac?”

The instructor recognized him late.

He charged at the demon army pouring out of the woods. His movements were relentless.

-Grrrrah!

The frightened demon soldiers thrust their spears.

There was no enthusiasm in their movements. The poorly thrust spears lacked power.

Thud!

Lac stomped down on a spear, breaking it. The wooden spear bent, then snapped completely.

Spin!

Lac seized the broken spear and hurled it. The zombie was pinned to a tree along with the spear. Lac swung his axe at the struggling zombie trying to pull itself free.

Slash. An arm fell, and the zombie’s neck was neatly severed.

It happened in an instant. In the blink of an eye, the zombie was dismantled.

The instructor watching the scene before him was still blinking in a daze.

‘What… is this?’

It felt alien.

‘What in the world… is that?’

It was an alien movement.

At first glance, it seemed like the boy was rampaging like a beast, but in reality, it was different. Every movement was efficient. Methodical. Following instinct but not losing reason. Every move flowed smoothly without interruption.

An unpredictable beast.

A beast danced through the demon army.

“…”

The instructor forgot to assist the boy, merely watching the path he had taken. From deep within the forest, the boy emerged. The path he forged was marked with blood.

A long trail of blood.

Corpses of the demon army strewn about.

At the end of that path stood the boy. His white hair was matted with blood. The axe he held dripped with red liquid.

Thwack!

The only living thing in Lac’s wake fell silent. Lac exhaled sharply, raising his head slightly.

“Hoo…”

Standing over the corpses, the boy lifted his arm.

He wiped the blood off his face with his thumb.

It was a chilling sight.

The apprentice knights gathered with the instructor cast wary glances at the boy. The name of the bloodstained boy imprinted itself in their minds.

Lac von Grace.

A warrior of the north.

Author’s Note (Author’s Afterword)

It was the first step in Lac’s growth, so I got a little greedy, and it seems to have taken a bit longer. Sorry…! I hope you all liked it!

The illustration was done by ‘Otalja’ who also worked on Ganikalt’s illustrations!

Update at 1:38 AM.

For details regarding Lac’s illustration, please check the patch notes in the announcement…!

Rania took some “measures” to ensure Lac could return in one piece. This will be mentioned in the next episode!

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