TFHITS Chapter 239

They frowned at the same time.

“Don’t copy me.”

“Ah, anyway, thank you. I will contact Impelium first!”

Bion immediately reached out to Impelium through the Eye of Omniscience.

She quickly informed him of everything.

If it were another hero, maybe not, but Impelium could be trusted. He had been a member of this laboratory.

After confirming all the facts, Impelium spoke in a grave tone.

-I will start by contacting every hero I know, one by one.

“Yes, yes! Thank you so much.”

-No. It’s only natural.

“……Is there anything you want to say to me, personally?”

-Hm?

“Well, you’re a hero who fought a Demon King…… and the hero system that creates Demon Kings started here.”

-I was one of the people who made it, you know.

Impelium just gave a small laugh.

Then Serad’s voice was heard.

-I have something I want to say.

“Oh. Serad.”

-You have worked hard, Bion.

“……!”

-Honestly, I don’t remember everything clearly, but even from that short story, I can imagine how much you struggled there on your own. Even if our positions differ, Impelium and I know how hard and exhausting it is to manage a world.

-Serad…… you’re still so kind.

Impelium cut in.

-She has gotten a bit cold toward me lately, though. A rut, perhaps.

-Don’t talk nonsense.

-Yes, ma’am.

-Bion. Don’t worry about us here and hurry. You have to protect our hometowns.

Bion wiped at her tears and replied.

“Yes! I will.”

<……That’s how it turned out. Do you roughly understand?>

Unlike Bion, Impelium had no choice but to communicate in text.

Partly because Adwin hadn’t been able to set things up in advance, but more fundamentally because he was in another world.

“…….”

What kind of expression was I making right now?

All the heroes of every world were stepping forward to protect Mide’s world, the origin.

Suppressing the surge of emotion, I spoke.

“So they agreed to help without hesitation?”

<At least the four heroes I contacted did. Ah, recently the fourth hero defeated a Demon King and was just granted a world.>

“The Demon King of Division, was it. Looks like he won in the end.”

<Of course. That’s how the hero system was designed.>

For some reason, there was a sense of depth in his words.

<The hero system that ‘we’ made.>

“Impelium.”

<I knew from early on that you weren’t ordinary, but I never imagined there was something like this behind it all. I left with Serad during a very busy period, remember? I’m sorry.>

“Don’t say that.”

Impelium gave a small laugh and changed the subject.

<More importantly, I wonder what choice the heroes of other worlds, beyond the reach of my ‘connections’, made.>

At that moment, Bion’s voice rang out.

[Everyone…… everyone pooled their strength.]

[What?]

[Look at this, Mr. Mide!]

<Mide Mohan / Total Fame : 39,456,310>

<Mide Mohan / Total Fame : 42,997,390>

<Mide Mohan / Total Fame : 49,667,000>

And then.

<Mide Mohan / Total Fame : 56,120,102>

My fame had surpassed fifty six million.

In an instant, it had jumped by more than twenty million!

Stunned, I said.

[How did it rise this much? Are there really that many heroes?]

[No. Compared to the number of ordinary people, their numbers are negligible…… but they are veterans.]

[What do you mean?]

[Earlier, I said your fame had reached its limit because people thought you couldn’t make them any happier. In other words.]

[Heroes were able to imagine far beyond that.]

Ordinary people find it hard to imagine just how far a hero could make them happy.

But heroes are beings who defeat Demon Kings and cultivate worlds.

They know very well how far a hero can go if they truly set their mind to it.

That was why the breadth and depth of their imagination were on an entirely different level.

I spoke.

[But…… does that mean they felt happiness because of me?]

[Yes.]

[Why?]

[Because this is what we told the heroes. A great evil called the Primordial Demon King has appeared, and it is trying to destroy the world of a certain hero.]

Bion continued in a strangely warm voice.

[If that world falls, the Primordial Demon King will seek its next target. That target could be your world…….]

[Ah.]

[By defeating the Primordial Demon King here, Mr. Mide can protect their happiness. In other words.]

[…….]

[In other words, every hero loves their own world.]

There was no one else like Aktion.

Only Aktion had been twisted.

Realizing that, it seemed something knotted inside Bion finally loosened.

I took a deep breath and spoke.

[When this is over, I will tell the heroes the whole truth.]

[What? Th-that’s…….]

[The hero system is shared anyway, so Demon Kings in other worlds won’t be born anymore. Even if I don’t say anything, they will realize something’s strange before long.]

[…….]

[In that case, I think it’s right that the truth comes from my own mouth first. No, it has to.]

Bion spoke cautiously.

[When Aktion invaded other worlds, you told a few heroes the truth as a warning. But.]

[They got angry, right? You said some hero named Sabert even said he would join Aktion.]

[……Yes. Apart from loving their own worlds, it might give them the impression that they were being played in the palm of our hands.]

[It can’t be helped.]

[Mr. Mide]

[If you curse, you get cursed back. If you get cursed at, you take the curses. Their fates became tragic because of the system we made.]

But if my intuition was right, the reaction wouldn’t be as fierce as it had been back in Aktion’s time.

Back then, I was the one who created the hero system.

Now, I was also the one who had erased it.

I would calmly explain my thoughts and logic.

Hoping that, at the very least, the response would be better than before.

That was when it happened.

Impelium, who had been silent, spoke.

It seemed he could converse with Bion in the laboratory, because he appeared to know everything we had discussed.

<That’s only a concern if your world survives.>

“Ah.”

<Hurry up and kill that Kaeld or whatever it is, and protect my homeland.>

“Yeah. I will. No matter what.”

He spoke with a small smile.

<I believe in you. Final Hero.>

The connection with Impelium was cut.

I gathered myself again.

By then, the party members were already on the verge of collapse from exhaustion.

I raised my sword and said.

“I’m going to make the final attack now.”

“What?”

“I will explain the details later. This one will work.”

Resolve filled the faces of the party members.

“And if this attack works, that gigantic hand will probably shatter into pieces and fall to the ground.”

“Probably. Pieces have already been falling nonstop.”

“Yeah. I want you to block those. Can you do it?”

I knew it was an unreasonable request when they were already completely spent.

But they nodded at the same time.

Not as if asked whether they could, but as if it was something they simply had to do.

They truly deserved to be called a hero party.

Trusting them, I quietly closed my eyes.

The fifty six million fame created by heroes who had departed for other worlds.

I will use all of it as my power.

‘What’s the most effective attack?’

Should I condense all this power into a single point?

No. The target is far too large for that.

Simply piercing that palm won’t be enough.

‘It has to be destroyed.’

Shattered into as many tiny pieces as possible.

Only then can we reduce the burden on the shielding spells spread across the continent.

In that case..

I decided to hastily improvise a technique.

And opened my eyes.

Swoosh.

I lightly raised my sword and aimed it at the Primordial Demon King.

The next moment, I unleashed every last ounce of my fame with all my might.

My naming sense has already been exposed anyway, so for the final attack, it should be fine to shout it out properly, right?

“Attack with Light Extremely!!”

The next instant.

Countless beams of light began pouring out from my sword.

Each beam alone was large enough to cover half a territory.

“Th-this might hit us too!”

“Focus! If that hand shatters and falls, we are the ones who have to block it!”

“Everyone, channel your energy to me and Serein. Neril, use vitality conversion magic!”

The party members, stunned by the sheer spectacle of the attack, still found their own roles to fulfill.

Wiiiiing.

The shield they created together grew thicker and sturdier.

My legs gave out and I staggered.

But my gaze remained fixed on the sky.

“……Is it working? It’s hard to tell from this angle.”

As if she had heard my muttering, Bion brought up a screen window.

[See for yourself, Mr. Mide.]

I hurriedly turned my eyes to the window.

The brilliant light extending from my sword was first spreading far and wide across the entire world.

It lingered briefly over the skies of each territory on the continent.

Then, as if possessing a will of its own, it circled each territory once...

“……!”

...and then, all at once, shot toward the Primordial Demon King.

Bion changed the view again.

Our world appeared, a massive sphere.

And there was the Primordial Demon King, trying to grasp it with that hand.

From the ground, it hadn’t been apparent, but from this distant, observing perspective, it was truly close enough to be called ‘on the brink of annihilation’.

In my view, the distance was only a matter of centimeters.

But the next moment, the brilliant light stretching out from the entire continent flew toward the Demon King’s hand.

-Kugung. Kugwaaaang!!

“Graaaaaaah!”

The Primordial Demon King began to break apart.

Cracks formed in that blood red hand.

At first, they were hairline fractures, too small to see clearly.

But soon, with sharp cracking sounds, those fissures spread wide, like rivers branching across a map.

Before long, the cracks covered the entire hand.

And then.

At last.

“Aaaaaaah!”

With the Demon King’s ear splitting death cry...

-Kwaaaaaang!

The hand shattered into countless pieces.

The debris was so enormous it made the moon and stars feel small.

Thud.

I finally collapsed to the ground.

‘I can’t move at all.’

I truly don’t have the strength to twitch even a single finger anymore.

“…….”

Some of the shattered fragments of the hand flew far off into distant space.

But most of them.

“They are falling.”

“Everyone, give it everything you have got. This is the last stretch.”

“If we block just this. Just this!”

The group was pouring out every last bit of strength, just as I had moments ago.

I could practically hear their teeth grinding.

I tried to force myself up to help them.

But Neril stopped me.

“Stay still, Mide.”

“But...”

“Your face looks like it’s about to turn to a corpse. Leave the rest to us.”

“……I’m counting on you.”

“Yeah. Don’t worry.”

With a resolute expression, she lifted her gaze upward.

“We will block it. No matter what.”

A few seconds after she finished speaking...

-Kugugung.

A thunderous roar shook the earth, slamming into my eardrums and my entire body.

The first fragment had collided with the shielding spell.

Lisel clenched her teeth and asked.

“Everyone okay?”

“More or less. Where did that one fall?”

“The spirits told me. The Dronoar territory.”

“At that distance, and it still shook this much.”

“That one was a pretty big piece. There shouldn’t be any more that large.”

“There will just be a lot of them instead, I guess. Whew.”

Serein’s groan didn’t get to finish.

More precisely, no words could follow at all.

-Kwaaaang. Kugwagwang.

The Demon King’s fragments began slamming into the spell in numbers too many to count.

With no strength left to rise, I could only move my lips.

“Bion……”

[Yes!]

Before I could even ask, Bion brought up the screen again.

It was a vantage point from which the entire continent could be seen at a glance.

The continent was covered in a golden, hemispherical shielding spell.

And falling into it were fragments, fragments and some more fragments.

Now, they had to block all of it.