The Hero Becomes the Duke’s Eldest Son

Chapter 83

Second Year of the Battle Against Talos, Last Day

Rumble.

The fortress was collapsing.

For the past two years, the Hellgate Tartarus had spewed countless monsters from the underground world.

The Black Thorn Fortress, built as if to guard that gate, was now crumbling.

This could only mean one thing.

The death of the Underlord, the ruler of the underground.

It was a sight Aden and all humanity had longed to see.

“Ugh!”

However, Aden could not rejoice despite achieving this feat.

-You have been infected with the Underlord’s power, ‘Curse of Erosion’.

At the moment he took the Underlord’s life, he had fallen victim to its curse.

“Argh!”

He staggered and fell to his knees.

He writhed in pain as something foreign raged within his body.

It felt as if something was eating him from the inside out. His body convulsed, and his skin crawled.

-Curse progression: 12%.

-At 100% completion, ‘Aden Albireo’s’ identity will be obliterated and replaced by a replica of the ‘Underlord’.

The pain and fear of losing his mind were beyond imagination.

In his dimming vision, he saw his comrades.

Sylbeta, Spica, Kalsis…

His comrades.

Precious people who had fought life and death battles with him.

“Aden.”

“Sir Albireo.”

However, their expressions were strange.

None of them were disturbed by his suffering.

They looked calm as if they were witnessing something natural.

Aden, amidst his excruciating pain, struggled to speak.

“Why, why are you all…?”

Why are you all making that expression?

He couldn’t understand.

Aden couldn’t finish his words.

At that moment, a woman in a white robe, Archmage Shaura, approached and gently embraced him.

“Aden, you did well.”

“Sha, Shaura…”

“Therefore.”

At the moment he called her name.

Thud.

A dagger was thrust into Aden’s chest.

“Wh…?”

Drip, drop.

A stinging pain accompanied by falling red blood.

And Shaura’s hand, thrusting the dagger into his chest.

Her soft voice whispered close to his ear.

“Rest in peace, Aden.”

Light burst forth from the dagger soaked in Aden’s blood.

-The Great Sealing Spell, Gleipnir, is activated.

Wooong!

A magic circle formed on the ground around him.

His former comrades each spoke.

“A sinner who sought to destroy sin will become the new sin. This is the legend passed down in the Imperial family.”

Murmured the Great Alchemist Kalsis.

“The Underlord is a legacy. Killing him only means a new Underlord will arise, not his eradication. You, who can wield Dragon’s mana, becoming the new Underlord would be a terrible thing. For the Empire, would you sacrifice yourself, Sir Albireo?”

“……”

The Iron-Blooded Saint Spica remained silent.

“Therefore, we had no choice but to make this decision. We won’t ask for your forgiveness, Aden.”

The Knight King Sylbeta said not to forgive.

-The Gate of the Void is opening.

A pitch-black hole opened in the air…

Clang! Clang!

Dozens of chains shot out, wrapping around Aden’s body and pulling him in, as if to devour him.

In that moment, Aden felt his mind go blank.

He had always been adept at assessing situations.

Thus, he quickly understood what this situation meant.

‘Betrayal.’

He couldn’t believe it even more because of that.

They were the only ones he had opened his heart to after his master.

They shared trust, friendship, and bonds.

And they betrayed him.

Why, how, why…?

Meaningless questions swirled in his mind.

Clang! Clang!

The chains tightened, pulling Aden into the black hole of the abyss.

-You are imprisoned in the ‘Void’.

Thus, Aden was imprisoned in the Void, exiled from the world.

It was a memory of a horrible betrayal, a nightmare.

—

“Hah!”

Aden, who had been sleeping, woke up with a start.

“Hah, hah…”

He clutched his chest and gasped for breath, his face pale.

His body was drenched in cold sweat.

Aden realized it after feeling his body and looking around.

‘It was a dream…’

No, it was a memory from his previous life before his regression.

It was a future that had vanished before he became Aden Remes.

Currently, Aden was on a pilgrimage journey, camping in the forest with his companions.

Next to him, Lowe was sleeping neatly, and Priest Bali was snoring loudly in a sprawled position.

At that moment, a voice in his head spoke. It was Curse, a fragment of the Underlord’s consciousness and curse.

-Dragon Slayer King, did you have another nightmare?

“…Damn it.”

Aden cursed meaninglessly.

It happened occasionally.

Just when it seemed like the memories were fading, they resurfaced in the form of nightmares.

The betrayal by his trusted comrades felt like his soul was being torn apart.

And the wounds from that betrayal still bled.

“Sylbeta, Kalsis, Spica, Shaura.”

Aden recited the names of his former comrades one by one.

His voice was icy, devoid of any emotion.

‘Until I take revenge on all of you…’

He would have difficulty finding peaceful sleep.

He recalled the words Archmage Shaura had spoken with a smile.

-Rest in peace, Aden.

“Yes, I will rest.”

By making you kneel and plunge into despair, only then could he escape this nightmare.

With that thought, Aden sharpened the blade in his heart once again today.

—

The magical carriage made by Gustav was convenient.

It did not shake at all, allowing one to sleep inside even while traveling, and the weight reduction magic made it easy for the horse to pull quickly.

With a portable bed and other equipment installed, there was no need to stop at an inn for comfortable lodging.

Thanks to that, travel time was significantly reduced.

‘If mass-produced, it would sell well.’

However, he was not a carriage merchant, so it wasn’t his concern right now.

The carriage moved smoothly toward the city. Priest Bali, who was driving, burst into a hearty laugh.

“Haha! We have finally arrived at Kartan City!”

The first destination of their pilgrimage journey was the Free City of Kartan.

It was a large city rivaling the trading city of Makellan.

“Wow! It’s a huge city!”

“Be careful not to fall over. Sit down properly, young saint.”

As Elise, who was looking outside from the carriage, exclaimed in excitement, Cassie gently cautioned her.

To Elise, who had mostly stayed in the underground market of Makellan City, this was a novel place.

The streets were filled with mercenaries wearing armor and wielding swords, and there were inns and shops catering to them.

Kartan City.

It was also called the ‘Dungeon City’ due to the numerous dungeons around it.

Normally, dungeons were rare and found in remote areas, often one or two in a region.

However, Kartan City had over eighty dungeons clustered around it.

Lowe was amazed.

“It’s surprising to see so many dungeons in one place, and in a city at that.”

“That’s because the city grew around the dungeons.”

Aden responded as if it was obvious.

Magical stones, bones, leather, and various by-products from monsters found in dungeons were valuable.

The treasures and artifacts collected by monsters were also highly valuable.

Kartan City had accumulated wealth by targeting such dungeon by-products.

“People gather to raid the dungeons, and commerce develops to cater to those people, making the city thrive.”

And it wasn’t strange for dungeons to be clustered in one place.

“Dungeons multiply on their own.”

Dungeons formed where monsters gathered, drawn by the core’s magic.

They were labyrinths that trapped monsters.

However, the core’s control had limits, and the number of monsters it could contain was limited.

What would happen if the number of monsters exceeded the dungeon’s capacity?

-What happens then?

‘It just explodes.’

The overloaded dungeon core would explode, releasing the monsters trapped inside.

This was called a Dungeon Break.

The monsters, freed from confinement, would devour everything in sight and multiply rapidly.

But it was only temporary freedom.

The magic released by the exploding dungeon core would cling to mana-rich objects, creating new dungeon cores. The monsters, drawn to these new cores like fish to bait, would form new dungeons.

And the dungeon would absorb the foreign magic into its internal items, turning them into artifacts, which humans, enchanted by the artifacts, would enter the dungeons for, much like the monsters.

That’s how dungeons multiplied on their own.

Thus, Kartan City, which had experienced several Dungeon Breaks, had many dungeons.

“Kartan City is a Free City because, despite the tempting dungeon by-products, it could be ruined by a disaster at any time.”

A city as developed as Kartan would be coveted by nearby empires or the Syres Grand Duke Family.

However, due to the risk of Dungeon Breaks, it was like a chicken rib, and thus, it remained free from any ruler.

Because of these circumstances, Kartan City had strong independence and was run by guilds.

The strongest guild here was essentially the city guard and defense force, and its guild master was practically the city’s leader.

There was a reason Aden recommended visiting here first.

‘There’s no better place to experience stable combat than a dungeon.’

Combat would be inevitable during their pilgrimage across the continent.

Even though Elise was young, she needed to be trained to protect herself.

Considering the upcoming Disaster-Level Monster Wave, it was even more necessary.

To do so

, it was important to build teamwork and gain experience before facing danger.

Dungeons increased in difficulty as one moved from the outskirts to the core, controlled by the dungeon core’s power.

Additionally, monsters wouldn’t chase beyond the dungeon’s boundaries, making it an ideal place to gain combat experience.

‘Of course, this isn’t the only reason we’re here.’

While sweeping through the warlocks’ laboratory in the Forest of Death, Aden discovered some information among the documents.

‘There’s a secret warlock laboratory here as well.’

Chaos and Sylbeta were in a cooperative relationship.

Sylbeta must be doing something in this dungeon city, and where there were warlocks, there were bound to be dirty secrets.

Thus, he decided to meet someone who might have information.

‘The guild master of the Maedala Mercenary Guild, Marcus Maedala.’

An S-rank mercenary once called the Swift Sword Mercenary.

A rare strong man among mercenaries who had reached the pinnacle of Sword Aura.

Aden had marked him as someone to form a connection with.

He was highly regarded as someone who might have become a Sword Master, a transcendent, if he had not retired from the field and continued his mercenary work.

In this city, the economy revolved around mercenaries hunting monsters in dungeons, eating, and sleeping.

Naturally, the mercenary guild held the most power and the guild master was one of the actual rulers of this free city.

‘Mercenaries wander the world as their home.’

Therefore, wherever you go, there are always mercenaries, and they hear various stories from across the world.

Thus, a large mercenary guild’s guild master was practically the leader of a major intelligence organization.

To Aden, it was an appealing force.

-Dragon Slayer King, you already have access to the ‘White Moon’ information organization through Niketa Florence, don’t you? Do you really need more?

‘What are you talking about? You can never have too much information.’

A small piece of information can often be the key to life and death.

However, the information that each organization could obtain varied greatly in quality and nature.

It was common to place requests with several information organizations to find accurate information.

‘In Kartan City, the guild master of a large guild is practically a king. Besides information, they can be helpful in other areas.’

This would be greatly beneficial for his long-term goal of revenge.

To recruit him, Aden would need to stay in the dungeon city for a long time.

He would have to visit many dungeons as well.

However, he didn’t plan to enter a dungeon immediately upon arrival in the city.

“Let’s find the nearest mercenary guild first.”

They needed to register as mercenaries before entering any dungeon.