The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned

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Chapter 121: Extreme Situation (1)

A training ground so vast that the term “personal training area” hardly fits.

I stood alone in the center of the wide training ground, placing my hand over my chest.

A mana bullet, smaller than a grain of sand, forms in my bloodstream.

The mana bullet, carried by my blood flow, enters my heart and explodes inside it.

Thud.

The sound of my heart being crushed.

A dull sensation, as if a blunt object struck my chest, and the pain spreads throughout my body.

My vision flickers into darkness, and strength leaves my body.

But only for a moment.

Wooooooong!

My Stigma emits light, and my shattered heart regenerates back to its original form.

Haa.

A breath escapes my lips, mixed with ash.

“Blaze.”

With a low incantation, my entire body is engulfed in a faint flame.

Ash-gray smoke billows from my pores, covering the surroundings.

Ignition.

A technique that triggers the primordial flame through my "death," allowing me to gain immense power temporarily.

“Haa.”

Breathing out a sigh mixed with ashes, I grip my sword.

Whoosh!

Ashen Flames coil around the blade, burning fiercely.

Only a few seconds had passed since I had ignited the Ashen Flames, yet I could already feel the mana inside the stigma rapidly depleting.

I gripped the sword tightly and swung it violently into the air.

Ashen Flame Sword, First Form.

Ashen Severance.

The sword, enveloped in Ashen Flames, fiercely slashed through the air.

Boom!

The entire training ground trembled from the mere shockwave created by the swing.

“Next…”

Letting the sword hang down, I conjured a mana blade in the air.

To be precise, it was not a mana ‘bullet,’ but a blade made of pure mana.

Whoosh!

Ashen Flames surrounded the mana blade as it burned.

Ashen Flame Sword, Second Form.

Flame Blade.

The mana blade, wrapped in Ashen Flames, swept through the surroundings with ferocity.

Snap.

With a light snap of my fingers, the mana blade floating in the air dispersed.

“And now, the last one.”

It’s a technique I’ve learned recently, and I’m still not very skilled at it.

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Whoosh!

The Ashen Flames that had been coiling around the sword gathered at the tip of the blade.

As the Ashen Flames concentrated at the tip, they absorbed the surrounding ash particles, growing in size.

The Ashen Flame at the tip of the sword burned fiercely as if it would devour everything around it.

Ashen Flame Sword, Third Form.

Inferno Spear.

Just before the concentrated Ashen Flame could be unleashed.

Beep! Beep!

[Warning.]

[An anomaly has been detected in the shock absorption barrier.]

A loud alarm rang out, and the inside of the training ground flashed red.

‘And I haven’t even fired it yet.’

I frowned and dispersed the concentrated Ashen Flames at the tip of the sword.

“Phew.”

I slowly exhaled and returned my sword to its sheath.

Checking the mana within the stigma, I saw it was almost depleted.

‘These techniques certainly consume a lot of mana.’

Both Ashen Severance and Flame Blade require a significant amount of mana, but the new technique I’ve been practicing, Inferno Spear, consumes even more.

Ssszzzz!

The sound of burning flesh accompanied the rapid recovery of my depleted mana.

‘In the ignition state, mana keeps regenerating, so it's somewhat usable, but in normal circumstances, it’s hard to maintain.’

I frowned as I looked down at my body, enveloped in a faint flame.

‘Not enough.’

I recalled the memory of facing the Archbishop of Madness just a few days ago.

A suffocating pressure that made it hard to breathe just by looking at him.

Although I hadn’t actually fought him, I knew for certain that even with the Ignition state, he was a difficult opponent.

“To fight that brat…”

Closing my eyes tightly, I traced back further into the past.

To the time when I fought the Archbishop of Illusions, Astaroth, during the Sealing Festival.

-Do you have no sense of restraint?! How is this even remotely fair?!

Flames fiercely coiling around me.

Infinite mana surging without end.

For the first time, I could freely unleash all my techniques without the shackles of "mana," and with just a wave of my hand, everything around me turned into a sea of fire.

‘Indeed, I need the Avatar state.’

Just remembering the time when the primordial flame engulfed my entire body and granted me infinite mana sent shivers down my spine.

If I could control that power freely, I could easily trample the Archbishop of Madness.

“The problem is, I have no idea how to enter that state.”

I sighed, frowning.

I had tried countless methods to re-enter the Avatar state, but nothing had worked.

‘Simply dying multiple times didn’t trigger it.’

It had been confirmed through numerous trials that the primordial flame responds to my ‘death.’

Even though I kept creating mana bullets to blow up my heart, the primordial flame didn’t engulf my entire body as it did back then.

“There must be some condition besides just dying…”

I narrowed my eyes, lost in thought.

Looking back at the situation from that time, there was only one plausible hypothesis.

“…It was an extreme situation.”

The tension that made my heart feel like it would explode.

The desperation that felt like it was choking me.

The hostile pressure that weighed heavily on me, and the agony that made every cell in my body feel crushed.

‘It’s true; you can’t feel those emotions by repeatedly dying alone in a room.’

Even though it's the same stimulus, the sensation differs between massaging your own shoulders and having someone else do it for you.

Likewise, even if it’s the same "death," the feeling changes dramatically depending on who is experiencing it.

"In other words... I need to experience a proper 'death' to recreate a similar situation to back then..."

The problem was that I'd become too strong recently, so dying had become nearly impossible.

Of course, if I really wanted to, I could ask someone to kill me, but that wouldn’t be much different from taking my own life.

“Sigh.”

In the end, it meant that I’d have to throw myself into some extreme situation, like jumping into a fire while carrying oil on my back.

‘That’s easier said than done.’

If extreme situations were that easy to create, they wouldn’t be called "extreme."

And the thing about extreme situations is that what qualifies as one varies from person to person.

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For one person, encountering a stray dog while walking down the street might feel like an extreme situation.

For another, a bug bite might seem like an extreme event.

Or someone else might think it’s an extreme situation when their mom barges into their room while they're comforting themselves late at night.

‘I think I’d feel that was extreme too, to be honest.’

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a mom who’d barge into my room at night.

Anyway.

With my immortal body, it was hard for me to feel anything was extreme unless it was a truly dangerous situation.

"There is a way, though."

As I slowly combed through memories of my past life, I frowned.

There was indeed a method to push myself into an "extreme" situation, but it was a risky gamble.

‘Still, do I have any other choice?’

With a deep sigh, I stepped out of the training hall.

Just like you need chips to gamble, there was something I needed in order to carry out the plan forming in my mind.

* * *

“…You’re asking for a leave permit?”

Inside Professor Lucas’s office.

Professor Lucas, who looked utterly exhausted from staying up all night grading final exams, frowned at me.

"Don’t you know candidates aren’t allowed to leave during the final evaluation period?"

"That’s why I’m asking if you could do something about that."

To go off-campus during finals week, I needed a leave permit from the professor in charge.

"Didn’t Professor Elisha already finish grading our party’s evaluations?"

"Still, rules are rules. I can’t issue a leave permit during the final evaluation period."

Professor Lucas shook his head firmly.

"How about something Professor Bianca might like...?"

"No way. I said no."

"Tsk."

Clicking my tongue at his unyielding attitude, I sighed.

There was always the option of sneaking out of the academy since there were no more classes.

‘But if I get caught, it’ll be straight to disciplinary action.’

I’d gone through the trouble of getting first place in the finals, and I didn’t want to blow it with a punishment.

‘Maybe I should just go later.’

There was no guarantee that even if I went, I’d find any clues about the Avatar state.

It wasn’t worth forcing my way out for something so uncertain, so I was about to give up when—

Click.

The office door opened, and a sleek woman in a black suit walked in.

“Interesting conversation you’re having.”

Hearing our exchange, Professor Elisha strode in with a glint in her eye.

“…What brings you here?”

Professor Lucas scowled at her intrusion.

She chuckled, tapping the stack of graded papers on Lucas’s desk.

“I’ve finished my work, and I heard my adorable junior has been burning the midnight oil grading exams, so I thought I’d lend a hand.”

“Oh! In that case, could you grade Class B’s…”

“On second thought, I’ve changed my mind.”

“What?”

Professor Lucas stared blankly.

Professor Elisha glanced my way before continuing.

“I overheard that Cadet Dale was asking for a leave permit.”

“Ah, yes. But as per the rules, cadets aren’t allowed to leave during the finals.”

“Hmm. That’s strange…”

She stroked her chin, a smirk playing at the corner of her lips.

“As far as I remember, there was a cadet who snuck out during finals week to buy a gift for a female cadet he liked.”

“……!”

Professor Lucas froze.

“Now, what was his name again…”

“S-Senior!”

Bang!

Professor Lucas slammed the table and shot to his feet.

Professor Elisha smiled slyly, turning to him.

“You can issue the leave permit, right?”

“Grr…”

With a groan, Lucas lowered his head and opened a drawer, scribbling out a leave permit and throwing it to me.

“As expected, Lucas is a good junior who listens to his seniors.”

Elisha smiled in satisfaction and glanced at me.

“Does this work for you, Cadet Dale?”

“Thank you.”

Surprised by her unexpected help, I grabbed the leave permit with a slightly dazed expression.

I thought I could now carry out my plan without any worries when—

“But… it wouldn’t be fair to give special treatment to just one cadet, would it?”

She crossed her arms and stroked her chin thoughtfully.

“Hmm. I’ve got a good idea.”

“…A good idea?”

“If you leave under the pretext of helping a professor with an external task, it won’t cause any issues, will it?”

Her eyes gleamed with a hint of excitement.

“In that sense, Cadet Dale.”

She lightly tugged at my tie, running her tongue over her lips as if savoring the idea.

“Why don’t you accompany me?”

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