The Fake Hero Is Too Strong-Chapter 138

From my sword, the power I had just stolen from Adin, so called Divine Radiance, began to surge forth.
It clashed against his radiance.
Thus began our tug of war of strength.
For a while, that struggle remained in balance.
“Khk.”
“Mide, are you alright?”
“So so. More importantly, hurry and get ready.”
Through gritted teeth, my words slipped out like a groan, and Lisel shouted:
“Mime! Come here.”
“Yes, my king.”
“How is Agril’s condition?”
“Well… that’s not really my place to say.”
At that, Xenia seemed to examine Agril herself.
I could hear the party’s voices.
“Sniff… Agril…”
“Xenia, how is he?”
“He is alive. Quick, give me a potion.”
“But you just said he was alive… Never mind, here.”
What kind of face did Xenia make for Serein to suddenly switch to honorifics like that?
I sensed movement from the rear.
Soon.
“Grhhk.”
“Agril, thank goodness.”
“Hyung, we can run now!”
Good.
I looked past the light, to Adin’s face.
He was already past his limits.
“Grrhh…”
Earlier, only his left arm had shown a glimpse of human skin, but now that patch was spreading.
In other words, the white brilliance shrouding him was fading.
It crawled up from his arm to his face.
And then.
“So that’s the true face of Adin Press.”
When I had seen him before through the Eye of Omniscience, it was only for an instant, too fleeting to take in.
“Khk! How dare you…”
Adin was an old man.
Snow-white hair.
Deep, furrowed wrinkles.
Eyes clouded with desire, burning greedily.
A thoroughly unpleasant impression.
But that wasn’t what mattered.
—Has sinned against Impelium
— Unmeasurable
I saw his Blood Script!
‘Blood Script… I can see it! Up till now it never showed!’
[It seems he has stepped down from godhood, even if only temporarily.]
‘Yeah. The number of victims reads “unmeasurable.” Just how many people has he sinned against?’
[I don’t even want to imagine.]
‘Me neither. And more importantly…’
He has sinned against Impelium.
His most secret sin. The one he least wanted uncovered.
[Could it be that the one Mime mentioned, Adin’s opponent in the past, was Impelium?]
‘Not sure. I will ask when we meet again.’
[Heh. Give him my regards, too.]
I tightened my grip on my sword.
And to shake Adin one last time, I spoke:
“Seems you have committed quite a grave sin against Impelium.”
“…!”
At that, Adin was visibly shaken.
Now that his face was exposed, his emotions were plain to see.
“How… how could you possibly…?”
Now!
His shaken emotions caused his radiance to falter.
I seized that moment and pushed my power harder.
—Fwoooosh! Kwoooom!
My radiance began to overwhelm his.
“No… ugh…”
“This may or may not kill you, but do me a favor and die properly!”
“Aaaargh! Mide! Mide Mohan!”
He cried my name like a final death rattle.
And at that very moment, my radiance consumed him.
“Gyaaaahhh!”
For a moment, my light engulfed him entirely.
Seconds later.
“Haaah… haaah…”
Did I overdo it?
I dropped the Fake Hero’s Sword.
My knees gave way and I collapsed to the ground.
Neril quickly picked up the sword and handed it to me.
“You can’t lose this. The Mark will be gone too, remember?”
“Sorry.”
“No, it means you really fought hard, if you dropped it. Want to lean on me?”
“Please.”
I let Neril support me and lifted my gaze.
Adin was sprawled on the ground.
Not a trace of that white light remained.
What lay there looked like a corpse charred black.
Just then, Serein’s voice rang from behind.
“Mide!”
Looking back, I saw the party already mounted on Agril’s back.
Serein peeked her head out and blinked.
“Did you defeat him?”
“…”
“You defeated him!”
Damn. She said it twice.
The next moment.
Ssshhhk.
A chill ran down my spine.
Neril shivered beside me, she felt it too.
“…Let’s get out of here.”
“Looks like we will have to.”
“It’s Serein’s fault. Why would she say something like that now?”
“Heh. You thought the same thing I did.”
“And you can laugh about it?”
Together, Neril and I climbed onto Agril’s back.
Fwoosh!
Agril soared into the air.
The others were already scolding Serein.
“Serein! There are things you just don’t say!”
“I…I only asked if it was over…”
“Haven’t you read history? Back when the Demon King’s minions fell, every time someone said that line, they got back up without fail.”
“Ugh… I guess I didn’t read that part…”
“And you said it twice. Now he will revive twice over.”
“Wait, is this really my fault? Come on, that’s not reasonable!”
I gave a chuckle and cut in.
“It’s not your fault. If anything, it’s ours for rescuing Agril.”
“What do you mean?”
“The only reason he weakened like that was because holding Agril counted as more than ‘passive cooperation.’ But now that we have taken Agril back…”
“You mean the world’s laws no longer restrain him?”
“Exactly. Look.”
The charred husk that was Adin slowly rose to his feet.
Focusing my sight, I saw his body once more cloaked in white radiance.
It increased rapidly in size.
When we first encountered him, Adin was only three or four meters tall.
But now.
“I will kill you! In my name, I will kill you all!”
A mountain of light rose.
Even the giant insect we crushed in Dronoar territory wasn’t this massive.
He had regained every ounce of power he once wielded.
Thoom, thoom.
Each step made the ground shake as he pursued us.
“Uaaah! He is covering hundreds of meters in a single step!”
“A..Agril, faster…!”
“Grhrrrk.”
“This is his top speed! Serein, get closer!”
“Already on it.”
Serein scrambled over to Agril.
Then Lisel spoke:
“No need to worry. Mime!”
Soon Mime appeared, flying alongside Agril.
“Yes, my king.”
“Push Agril from behind. With his speed and your support, we might achieve an unprecedented pace.”
“If that divine beast’s body can withstand it.”
Agril roared.
“Grrrhhk!”
Xenia translated:
“He says he can handle it. And don’t underestimate him.”
How on earth does she understand that…
Anyway, Lisel gave Mime the signal.
Mime quickly positioned himself behind Agril.
And then, with all his strength, he began to push Agril’s body forward.
“Krroooaaahhh!”
Agril let out a wild roar, as though exhilarated, and shot through the sky.
Thankfully, a spell to reduce air resistance was already in place. Otherwise, at this speed, bare skin would have been painfully torn by the wind.
“Stop!”
Thoom. Thoom.
The giant light, Adin Press, shouted at us.
Even with Agril’s insane burst of speed, it still felt dangerously close.
“Tch.”
I moved to Agril’s tail and gripped my sword once more.
“Neril. Hand me the Gem of Desolation. I’m completely drained right now.”
“Ah, right!”
I tightly grasped the gem she handed me.
Then, drawing on every last drop of its vitality, I swung my sword.
‘Light Attack!!’
[That better not be your new skill name. Please tell me it isn’t.]
Boosted by the Gem of Desolation, my “Light Attack!” surged forth, brighter and thicker than before.
The beam struck Adin, the giant light, head-on.
But.
“Pathetic!”
He staggered only briefly before steadying himself again.
If anything, he seemed almost exhilarated by the attack, his pursuit quickened.
I almost laughed out of sheer disbelief.
“…Unbelievable.”
“Mide…”
“Only now do I realize just how weakened he was during our earlier fight.”
“You holding up?”
“Yeah. No matter what, even if he’s a fake, he is still a god. Wouldn’t make sense if it were easy. More importantly, how much farther till the starting point’s boundary?”
Xenia answered.
“At this speed, one minute!”
One minute to cross a territory-sized boundary?
Amazing yet in this situation, all I could think was: faster would be better. Such is human selfishness.
“Alright. Then let’s give it everything we have got for just one minute. Neril, take my hand.”
I placed the Gem of Desolation on my palm and extended my hand.
Neril quietly pressed hers over mine.
“Don’t overdo it. Just stall him.”
“You too.”
“Of course.”
We wrung out every drop of energy from the gem, unleashing every technique and spell we had.
Then Lisel chanted in the spirit tongue:
“Vairar. Miar. Neäl!”
Mime, along with every spirit present, hurled themselves at the celestial god.
It was likely the greatest destructive force our party could muster.
Unfortunately, even that was not enough to kill Adin, who was still chasing us.
But, it slowed him. Only slightly, but slowed him nonetheless.
“Forty seconds left!”
The distance widened bit by bit.
Good. Enough.
And then.
“Diiieee!”
Craaaack.
Suddenly, Adin’s white mouth split wide open.
Light began gathering inside.
Moments later.
FLASH!
A blinding light shot forth.
Compared to the breath attack he had unleashed earlier during the battle, this was in another league entirely, greater power, size, and speed.
I knew instantly.
Too late.
Neril turned toward me.
“Mide! Dodge!”
Even before regression, in that final battle against Idria, Neril had turned to look at me just like this.
She had tried to say those very words. Dodge.
But before the word left her lips, she had been obliterated.
That despair came crashing back into my mind.
No. I can’t lose my comrades again.
That was when it happened.
Suddenly, time seemed to slow.
I had felt this sensation once before in Atrium Territory, the moment I foresaw Idria killing Xenia.
‘I have to block it. I must. I, the Hero!’
Instinctively, I raised my sword.
I would throw it.
Throw it, and split the beam apart!
And then.
[Use another sword.]
‘Trail?’
[That’s the Fake Hero’s Sword. You still need it. Better to throw an ordinary one.]
‘…Not Trail. Impelium….?’
No answer came.
Well, now was not the time to worry about that.
I grabbed a spare, ordinary sword I had bought from a smithy.
Holding onto that fleeting sensation as tightly as I could, I hurled it at the beam.
‘Sword Throw!’
Time snapped back to normal.
My blade split the radiant beam, cutting through it, and flew toward Adin.
“Wh… what is that…?”
“Hyung, what did you just do?”
“The sword… it pierced light itself. Impossible.”
The beam was severed completely, and the blade pierced through Adin’s body.
Thud.
The same god who had shrugged off all our attacks until now suddenly staggered.
“H-how is this possible…?”
He stopped.
Instead, he stretched out his arm toward us.
That long, white arm reached forward in pursuit.
It was as awe-inspiring as the giant’s chase itself.
But.
Bzzzt! Crack!
His hand struck an invisible wall. Sparks flew.
The same barrier Agril and the rest of us had passed through unhindered.
But Adin could not breach it.
Xenia’s voice rang out,
“We have crossed the starting point!”
Thooom.
A vibration shook the air around us.
We gathered quickly, looking back toward the source.
Thoom. Thoom.
Adin Press.
The fake god was pounding against an invisible wall.
“Damn it! Damn it!”
“…”
“Remove this wall! Tear it down! Impeeeliuuum!”
…Huh?
Did he just call out to Impelium to remove the wall?
[Wait… you don’t mean it was Impelium who bound the Celestial God within the Starting Point?]
‘What the… Trail, is that you?’
[You sound disappointed.]
‘I just heard Impelium’s voice a moment ago.’
[What are you talking about? I didn’t hear a thing.]
Trail sounded baffled.
[If it had been in a dream, fine, I could accept that. Even if my soul resides in you, we don’t necessarily share dreams. But speaking to you while you’re awake, without me hearing? That makes no sense.]
‘Forget it. Doesn’t matter.’
[It very much does, actually.]
I ignored him and turned my eyes back to Adin.
Thanks to Agril’s insane speed, he was now just a speck on the horizon, but still visible if I tried.
He knew he had lost us, and yet he kept pounding at the wall.
The sight was…
“Hah! Serves you right, damn fake god!”
TL : Wait, it takes 7,454 meters per second for a human skin to tear from wind alone, and they were moving constantly for 1 minute to cross the staring point, which is similar to a territory in size. So Distance: Speed × Time (Distance= 7,454 m/s × 60 s =447,240 meters).
That’s about 447 km, roughly the width of Switzerland. Now, we can kinda estimate how big the territories are. LMK if I made a mistake.