Not All Heroes From Earth Are Bad [EN]: Chapter 61

Based on Hemis’s draft, Raidrun created a detailed tournament plan.

The completed official document was distributed throughout the 3rd Corps.

“Hemis, we’ve sent the official documents to each unit as you instructed.”

“Good work.”

“But… are you sure this is okay?”

Raidrun asked with a worried expression.

Hemis tilted her head, looking puzzled.

“Okay? What do you mean?”

“It’s too late to say this now, but… I think it’s become too large in scale.”

The initial plan was to select battalion commanders through a one-on-one tournament.

But now, the scale had grown far too large.

It had transformed into a massive event to select one regimental commander and thirteen battalion commanders.

“What’s wrong with that? It’s fun.”

“There’s talk among the high-ranking commanders that this tournament is ignoring the customary commander selection process.”

“So?”

“They might complain to the Demon King.”

It was a plausible scenario.

Not only was a new regiment being created, but a large-scale tournament with over a thousand participants was being held.

Moreover, it was to determine high-ranking commanders at the battalion commander level or higher.

It was inevitable that there would be negative attention.

Hemis licked her massive lips with her tongue.

“Tell anyone who’s dissatisfied to come find me directly. I’ll give them a commander selection battle they’ll enjoy.”

“…”

“If they really don’t like it, they can take my corps commander position and do as they please, right?”

“That’s true…”

“Until then, I’m the corps commander, so I’ll do as I please.”

“Understood.”

Once Hemis had made up her mind, Raidrun’s role was clear.

He simply had to follow his superior’s orders silently.

Hemis would take all the responsibility for it.

“Cheer up. Thanks to the added rules, Choi Hyun-seok has more room to shine, right?”

Hemis grinned as she continued.

“My heart is already starting to race. Aren’t you curious about what Choi Hyun-seok will do in this tournament?”

A smile filled with madness.

Raidrun could only silently watch his excited superior.

***

“This tournament will be held in a total of three rounds.”

“Three? It wasn’t just a tournament?”

Rachel took out her red glasses and began to read the paper.

“Hmm, it seems the scale has become much larger than expected.”

“Yeah. Just keep reading.”

“Yes. Explaining in order, first, there will be a large-scale preliminary round to filter out 100 people.”

“A large-scale preliminary round. What’s the event?”

“It’s… a race?”

“Huh? What?”

Choi Hyun-seok frowned.

Choi Hyun-seok asked again, wondering if he had misheard.

“A race? The kind of race I’m thinking of?”

“Yes. The first 100 people to cross the finish line in a group race will advance to the next round.”

Choi Hyun-seok’s expression twisted subtly.

‘A race… it’s strange no matter how I think about it.’

The Demon King’s army pursues only one thing.

First is strength.

Second is strength.

The Demon King’s army is a crazy group that determines commanders based on martial prowess.

In such a group, they’re choosing commanders based on a race?

‘There’s definitely something more to it…’

Choi Hyun-seok asked again, just in case.

“Are there any specific rule explanations?”

“Attacking other participants during the race is allowed.”

“Tch, I knew it.”

There’s no way they would just run.

It would probably be a deadly race with a whirlwind of bloodshed.

“However, murder is prohibited.”

“That’s a relief, at least.”

“Listen to the end. Murder is prohibited, but unintentional killings will result in one warning. Three warnings will result in disqualification.”

“Huh…”

Choi Hyun-seok made a dumbfounded expression.

‘In other words, they’re saying they’ll overlook about two deaths.’

How would they determine whether a death during a fight was intentional or not?

This just means they’ll overlook it as long as you don’t blatantly strike a vital point to kill them.

“I wonder whose head this crazy plan came from.”

Choi Hyun-seok let out a hollow laugh.

He was already thrilled to death at the thought of running a death race.

“Okay. What’s the next round?”

“They’ll tell us after the race if we pass.”

“I see…”

It seemed they wanted to maintain secrecy for the sake of fairness.

“Oh, and the winner of this tournament will be given the position of regimental commander of the newly created regiment.”

“Regimental commander?”

“Yes. They’re also selecting 13 battalion commanders. 8 existing battalion commanders who died, and 5 battalion commanders to join the newly created regiment. That makes 13 in total.”

“It’s very elaborate.”

“Right? What is that lip monster thinking, doing something like this?”

Rachel looked genuinely curious.

Choi Hyun-seok shook his head.

“It’s obvious. Isn’t it just because it seems fun?”

“Hmm, I guess so. It does seem like it would be fun!”

Rachel smiled brightly.

Choi Hyun-seok flicked Rachel’s forehead.

“Ouch! Why did you hit me!?”

“Are you going to talk so carelessly when you’re not the one participating!?”

It might be fun from an observer’s perspective, but Choi Hyun-seok, who had to jump into that crazy tournament, was dying inside.

“Haa… only two weeks left. I need to finish preparing within that time.”

“What are you planning to do?”

In response to Rachel’s question, Hyun-seok scratched his head.

“What else can I do? I have to keep training.”

“I guess so.”

“Instead of this, I should go hunting quickly.”

There was no time.

If he wanted to live, he had to raise his level by even one more.

“Okay! Let’s go beat up a bunch of monsters again today!”

Rachel shouted, throwing punches into the air.

Choi Hyun-seok’s eyes narrowed as he watched her.

‘Anyone would think she’s the one fighting…’

***

A few days later.

Choi Hyun-seok was receiving mana stabilization healing from Abelson as usual.

“Kuh…”

Choi Hyun-seok clenched his teeth at the pain of his body burning.

Rachel, who had already experienced similar pain, watched with a tearful face.

“Hoo, it’s over.”

Abelson Marriott sighed and took her hand away.

“Thank you.”

“Fortunately, it’s improving little by little.”

“That’s great!”

A smile appeared on Choi Hyun-seok’s face.

Abelson’s expression crumpled at his overly optimistic appearance.

“The recovery speed would be faster if you reduced the reckless mana training.”

“I’m sorry… I can’t help it…”

It’s not like Choi Hyun-seok was training because he liked it.

He wanted to wait until his mana was completely stabilized, but.

The situation didn’t allow it.

‘The tournament is already just around the corner.’

The battalion commander tournament.

Or should I call it the regimental commander tournament?

Anyway, there were only three days left until the match.

He couldn’t waste a single moment.

“I’ll stop here for today. See you at the same time tomorrow.”

“Yes. I’ll bring dinner with me.”

“Okay…”

Abelson nodded at the mention of bringing dinner.

To be honest, the food Choi Hyun-seok made was very delicious.

Abelson, who was indifferent to everything, was looking forward to dinner every day, so there was no need to say more.

“Then, goodbye.”

As Abelson left.

Rachel ran up to him as if she had been waiting.

“Hero, Hero!”

“What.”

Choi Hyun-seok answered, putting on the top he had taken off for treatment.

“Did it hurt a lot?”

“I’m used to it now, so it’s bearable.”

“Ugh… how can it be bearable? My hands and feet tremble just thinking about that time.”

Rachel wasn’t exaggerating.

The pain of mana eroding the body was truly beyond imagination.

It was understandable that Rachel was so scared.

‘The feeling of the body burning from the inside… it’s really indescribable.’

Choi Hyun-seok was now used to it, but at first, he thought he was really going to die.

“So, don’t play those pranks next time.”

“Yes… Hehet!”

Rachel smiled awkwardly as Choi Hyun-seok spoke with a stern expression.

“Anyway, Hero!”

“What.”

“You’ve gotten quite strong, Hero!”

“I’ve gotten stronger?”

“Yes. I secretly looked at the combat power measuring device earlier, and it went up a lot!”

“How much did it show?”

He hadn’t checked his combat power recently.

Judging by Rachel’s reaction, the numbers seemed to have risen quite a bit.

“Don’t be surprised! A whopping…!”

“A whopping?”

“Twenty-six thousand five hundred and twenty (26,520)!”

“Oh! It’s gone up a lot.”

It was still pathetic compared to the target battalion commanders, but it was still a significant achievement.

With this level of power, he wouldn’t be so easily defeated even if he fought a battalion commander.

“But there’s something strange.”

“Something strange?”

“Yes. There’s a question mark I didn’t see next to the measuring device. What is it?”

“Question mark?”

In response to Choi Hyun-seok’s question, Rachel wrote letters on the ground with a twig.

[Combat Power: 26520 + ????]

“It came out like this.”

“Hmm… could it be because of mana?”

“Mana?”

“Yeah. If you look at the status window, mana is still marked with a question mark. I think that’s why.”

Choi Hyun-seok checked the status window again, just in case.

▫Name: Choi Hyun-seok

▫Title: Trainee Hero

▫Level: 461

·Strength: 167

·Agility: 163

·Stamina: 165

·Magic Power: 168

·Mana: ???

·Charisma: 65

·Bonus Points: –

▫Hero Points: 1450

▫Abilities: Mana Manipulation (D) and 4 others

▫Skills: Promote and 2 others

“It’s still the same.”

As expected, mana was still in a question mark (?) state.

The only difference was that there was one more question mark than before.

‘Could the number of question marks represent the number of digits?’

If his guess was correct, Choi Hyun-seok’s mana had already exceeded 100.

Choi Hyun-seok sighed deeply.

“I wonder if I’m going to turn into a demon like this.”

Even now, he could feel that his body was different from before.

The recovery of wounds also felt faster, and he didn’t get tired easily.

It might just be a feeling, but looking at his stats, it wasn’t necessarily the case.

‘Even considering the rewards I received for completing the Hero Quest a while ago, the increase in stats is too steep.’

Recently, Choi Hyun-seok acquired a large amount of stats by creating a new fighting style.

[You have overcome the limits of the Hero and broken the existing framework!]

[Special rewards will be given!]

[Strength stat increases]

[Agility stat increases]

…

The stats he gained at that time totaled about 40 points.

However, even considering that, his current stats were too high.

‘Roughly, it’s about 120 points higher than before…’

To summarize.

40 points raised by leveling up.

40 points received from the quest.

Then where did the remaining 40 points come from?

There are two ways to raise stats.

‘One is to invest bonus points earned by leveling up. The other is to increase stats through combat or training, but…’

Compared to raising 1 point each time you level up, the latter is not easy to increase.

Sometimes, even if you raise 10 levels, additional stats don’t increase.

‘But now, my stats are increasing as much as leveling up…’

It was an impossible phenomenon in the past.

‘It makes sense if it reflects the strengthening of the body as it adapts to mana.’

The rapidly improving condition recently.

The abnormally rising stats.

It could be explained if it was all due to the body being changed by mana.

“Hero. Is something wrong?”

Rachel’s face was worried as Choi Hyun-seok exuded a serious atmosphere.

“Just wondering what would happen if I turned into a demon instead of a human.”

“Eii~ There’s no way that would happen, right?”

“Right? There’s no way that would happen.”

Fortunately, there were no external changes yet.

Choi Hyun-seok decided not to worry about this issue anymore.

‘It’s not like I can afford to be picky.’

He was prepared to make a deal to sell his soul if he could gain power right now.

‘Just increasing mana is something to welcome.’

Get stronger by any means.

Survive and do what you want to do.

He decided to only think about that for now.

***

The capital of the Holy Empire of Gatrein.

Pope Orban IV was talking to his confidant, Cardinal Elrond.

“Have there been any updates since then?”

“Yes. The last report was that they had arrived at the Black Star Fortress and were about to begin the attack.”

“Then we must assume that the mission has definitely failed.”

Nearly a month had passed since the hunting dogs, including Oseld Gefen, had left to assassinate the Saintess.

Since there had been no news until now, it was safe to assume that they were all dead.

“It’s a pity that the empire’s talents have disappeared so futilely…”

In this incident, a hero-level figure and three strong individuals comparable to him had died.

Considering that there are usually only two or three hero-level figures in a country, this was a huge loss of power.

“There was definitely no Gourmet [Hemis’s nickname] in the Black Star Fortress… I can’t understand why the mission failed.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No. How is it Cardinal Elrond’s fault that they failed the mission?”

Elrond carefully watched the Pope’s expression.

On the surface, he had the same gentle expression as usual, but he could tell that he was quite angry.

Deep anger was smoldering in his eyes.

Elrond carefully changed the subject.

“What will you do with the next Saintess, Abelson Marriott?”

“Abelson… we can’t leave her as she is. She’s always been a troublemaker, and now she’s doing this until the end.”

Abelson Marriott was a headache even for the Pope.

Unlike other Saintesses, she did not follow the Pope’s control and wandered outside.

She was popular and had many followers, so he couldn’t treat her carelessly.

The fact that she was a princess of the Marriott Kingdom was also one of the reasons why she was troublesome.

“I tried to deal with her and silence her on this occasion, but since it failed, there is only one way.”

“…”

“From this moment on, I will dismiss Abelson Marriott from her position as the next Saintess. And officially announce that she has colluded with the Demon King’s army.”

The Pope’s declaration fell.

Elrond had a surprised expression.

“Is that okay? There are many who support Abelson Marriott in the empire. And what will the Marriott Kingdom say…?”

“It doesn’t matter. From now on, Abelson Marriott is a traitor. Those who sympathize with her will be considered to be plotting treason together. This also applies to the Marriott Kingdom, so let them know.”

“Understood.”

Pope Orban made a strong move.

It was unavoidable.

If the popular Abelson made a mistake, it could cause great turmoil within the empire.

It was better to nail it down firmly, even if it meant taking some turmoil.

The Pope frowned deeply and glared sharply.

“We must make the Gourmet [Hemis’s nickname] who caused this pay the price in some way.”

Gourmet Hemis.

When you think about it, all of this happened because Hemis kidnapped Abelson.

She had been obstructing the great cause in every way since the past.

Fortunately, she had succeeded in throwing her into the Black Star Fortress with the cooperation of the Demon King, but she didn’t know that things would escalate like this.

“So, about that. This report has come up this time.”

“Report?”

“Yes. It’s a report from a spy who recently made contact with the Demon King’s army.”

Cardinal Elrond handed over a piece of paper.

The Pope’s expression subtly changed as he received it and read it.

“A large-scale event is being held at the Black Star Fortress?”

“They are creating a new regiment and selecting commanders to match it.”

“Hahaha! That’s interesting.”

The Pope laughed loudly as if he really found it interesting.

“To think that those people, who have nothing but fighting in their heads, would do something like this. Is this also the work of the Gourmet [Hemis’s nickname]?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm, it’s interesting, but it’s not a good thing.”

The Pope’s eyes sank coldly.

“Those morons haven’t changed in the last 500 years. And they should continue to be so in the future.”

“…”

“Changing demons. I can’t let this go.”

“What will you do?”

“It’s a good thing. On this occasion, we must narrow the Gourmet’s [Hemis’s nickname] position within the Demon King’s army. So that she can’t run wild anymore.”

The Pope’s eyes as he spoke were like those of a snake aiming for its prey.