kscans

Chapter 29 - # The Reincarnated Hero Does Not Save

The village of Elshia. A place where the legendary Hero Ares had once repelled the Demon Lord's army, bringing a time of peace.

But now, not a trace of that time remained. Burnt-out houses. Corpses lying on the ground. A shattered statue of prayer.

And in the center of the square where people gathered as if in supplication, stood a single person.

Taiga Nanjo, also known as the reincarnated Hero Ares, who was said to have returned.

"Ares-sama... is it truly you, Ares-sama...?" The elderly village chief stepped forward on trembling knees.

"Did... did the Hero-sama really come back...!"

"Now... we're saved...! From the monsters... from this hell...!"

Their voices were a mix of sobs and joy. Overcome with elation, some people fell to their knees, some even pressed their hands together in prayer.

"Please look...! At the state of this village...!"

"Even babies were killed...! Please, please avenge them...!!"

A young mother, clutching something wrapped in a bloodstained cloth to her chest, clung to Ares's feet. The child was no longer moving, and fang marks remained on its small body.

"Ares-sama... I'm begging you...! Please, save our village!!"

All of the people's hopes were focused on him. It was truly the prayer of a people who believed in their hero.

However.

"............"

Hero Ares silently observed the scene for a while, then slowly opened his mouth.

"...Aren't you all mistaken?"

His voice was cold and stagnant.

"I didn't... come here to 'save' you. Much less did I come here to 'fight.'"

"Eh...?"

"Who said I would save you? I'm just here for my own revenge. I have no intention of 'swinging my sword for someone else's sake' anymore."

A chilling silence fell over the village.

"Don't you dare mess with meeeeeee!!!!"

A man with bloodshot eyes screamed and charged at Ares, brandishing a farming tool.

"My daughter was killed...! My wife was defiled, and they left only her head...! You're the only one, the only one we have!!"

But Ares didn't even draw his sword. He simply grabbed the man's neck with one hand and lifted him up.

"Don't touch me so casually, you piece of trash." There was a dull snap. The man's body went limp and was thrown to the ground.

"............!!"

Everyone was at a loss for words, even their screams caught in their throats.

"You all thought the world would be saved if 'Hero Ares' came back, didn't you. You thought I was your hope, didn't you."

Ares laughed. A cold laugh, tinged with madness.

"But a guy named 'Hero Ares' doesn't exist anywhere anymore. I'm... not 'that legendary hero' you all know."

"Why... why...! You are...! You are the one...!"

"Me? Save you background characters? Ahahahaha... that's not my role."

Flames rose in the distance. A horde of monsters was once again approaching the village through the forest.

The villagers fell into a panic. They screamed, ran in all directions, and desperately called Ares's name.

"Hero-samaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

"Please... please...! Ares-samaaaaaaaa!!"

Still.

The reincarnated hero abandoned the villagers and walked away.

It was only a few minutes after Ares had turned his back and left.

An earth-shattering rumble broke the silence.

Don... dodon... dodododo...!!

"Wh-what is... that sound...?"

The moment someone whispered that, the trees of the forest split apart as if they had exploded.

Gaaaaaa, gwaaaa.

'Roars.' They were not human voices. Screams so loud they could pierce the ears.

A horde of monsters, cloaked in black smoke, charged forward at once with bared fangs.

At the forefront was a large-mouthed beast reeking of decay, a 'Grantvarm.'

Its massive body effortlessly crushed houses and sent stone walls flying as it advanced.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaah!!"

"Run!!"

People screamed as they fled in chaos. But there was nowhere to run. The beasts that caught up from behind tore them apart, starting with the elderly and the slow.

A young farmer reached out to flee, but his wife's throat was torn open before his eyes, and a spray of blood rained down on him.

"Uwaaaaaaaaaah!! Stooooooop!!!"

But his screams did not reach the monsters.

A flock of 'Hellravens' with jet-black wings appeared in the sky.

The villagers who could not fly were helpless, snatched up by claws, sent soaring through the air, and then slammed into the ground.

Zushaaaaaaa!!!

A small child was crushed like a doll.

"No... noooooooooooo!!"

The mother's screams were in vain, and the ground was already beginning to be stained red with pools of blood.

From the rear, a lava-like beast called a 'Magna Spine' reached the center of the village and, with a roar, spewed scorching flames from its mouth.

At the same time, 'Poiz Mantes' that emerged from the shadows of the forest laughed as they spread a poisonous fog. The air turned a murky white, villagers coughed, convulsed, and collapsed.

Houses engulfed in flames crumbled one after another. Under a collapsed wall, a woman cried as she shielded her baby.

"...It's okay, mommy... mommy will protect you..."

But in the next moment, the ceiling fell. Her voice could no longer be heard.

And so, the village of Elshia, the village of rebirth, 'was wiped off the map' in a single night.

Hero Ares, who was supposed to be their hope, did nothing and left, and the villagers died gruesome deaths while screaming his name.

By the next morning, everything was ash. The voices of people, their prayers, their thoughts, all had burned away.

The hero saved no one. And the game world of 'Legend of Brave Regalia' also broke, just a little more, for certain.