** Village Chief's POV **

It happened when we were climbing the hill.

"It was true…"

A man murmured as he looked into the distance.

Other villagers followed the man's gaze and widened their eyes.

It was understandable.

Why? Because everything looked so white, from the mountain range to the forest below, as if all the grasses had been turned into bones.

However, these bones are moving in an orderly fashion toward the village, like an army that is about to go to war.

'If such a large horde were to surround us… No, even if they simply chased us as we tried to escape.'

Then everything would be over.

There's no way we could run away from them, and even if we can, for how long?

The only reason we had managed to run away with our lives right now is thanks to the boy who had chosen to sacrifice himself for us.

'Raon Eva…'

A young hero who had driven away the goblins.

And now, that young hero had once again risen to fight against a horde of monsters.

To think that we had to rely and leave our entire fate to such a young child…

'I feel ashamed…'

If only I had learned to fight during my youth.

No, even if I had just learned to fight after the goblins had invaded, then surely, I could have taken his place and prevented him from throwing away his life and entire future for us.

'But alas… regret always comes last.'

It was too late to wallow in regret.

The best thing I can do right now is to lead the villagers to safety while the young hero buys some time for us.

"Everyone, keep moving! Don't stop until we reach the city!"

There's no time to stay still.

If we delay any longer, then the hero's sacrifice might be in vain.

'I can't let that happen.'

At the very least, I should continue his legacy and protect what the young hero had tried to protect.

'There's a problem though.'

I looked to the side. There, a woman who seemed too young to be a mother kept looking back toward the horde of skeletons—or rather, toward where her son must be right now.

Normally, you wouldn't even think that it was possible to find a single person amidst that sea of white.

But was it a mother's intuition?

"Ah…"

She widened her eyes and let out a small gasp.

"Raon…"

From how worried she looked, she must have found the figure of her son.

It was an impressive feat, but it was unnecessary, considering that her feet had stopped moving forward.

If anything, didn't she even turn around as if trying to go back right now?

"Ma'am."

"Chief…"

She couldn't take a step.

To be precise, she tried to, but I held one of her arms.

"Let go…"

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that…"

“My son was there… He was there…”

"I know… but still, you shouldn't go there."

"But why?! Why can't I go? What if something happened to my son?"

"..."

I was about to reason with her, but when I realized how emotional she had become, I realized that there were no words that could convince her.

At this point, I needed to fight emotion not with reason but to overwhelm her with a stronger feeling.

So I killed my conscience and spoke coldly to her, trying to be as threatening as I could.

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"And what can you do if you go?"

"What…?"

"Do you even know how to fight? Or what? Can you even think of a way for the two of you to survive?"

"That's…"

I waited for a moment to let my words sink in.

"Do you understand now? If you go there, the only thing you could do was to be a burden to him and helplessly get killed."

Her eyes trembled. I was about to say more, but I chose to observe her for now. If she understood this much, then there was no need for me to speak any harsher to her.

Fortunately, it seems like she would listen to me for now.

‘But… just in case…’

I exchanged a silent gaze with Dao, asking him to take care of her.

He just nodded and stuck close to her as we continued our march.

'Haiz… being a leader is hard…'

Then again, it was a task that someone had to do.

A task that would be far lighter compared to what the young hero had taken.

'A task that someone had to do… was it?'

The young hero also said something similar before he left.

'To be so responsible at such a young age… he's very talented to be a leader.'

He was probably even more talented than the first hero, who was said to have been born as a natural leader.

'For this land to be the birthplace of both heroes… was it a sign after all.'

The birth of a hero.

In a way, heroes are the hope of humankind.

Why? Because a hero would only be born when the world was at risk of being destroyed.

That's why their power was absolutely necessary to save the world.

But that also means that a huge danger must be looming soon—a crisis that would befall the entire human race.

At best, it would happen when the hero had reached their old age.

'No, why am I thinking about this?'

I shook my head to drive away the thought. No matter how much that boy reminds me of the hero from Legends, he was nothing more than a normal boy from the village.

'Surely… right?'

The more I think about the boy, the more I notice the similarities between him and the hero of Legends. Especially his bravery and how he had always been proactive about protecting others from harm.

'That's not the quality of an ordinary 10-year-old.'

What if Raon Eva is truly the hero?

And what if he died because we left him at this place?

'That would be the worst.'

At that point, humanity's extinction will be guaranteed.

It was when I started to worry about this and that.

"H-hey! Look!"

A villager pointed back to where we came from. Or, to be precise, to a clearing in the forest where the skeleton should be, but–-

"W-what is that?"

"A cyclone?"

It was a scenery so absurd that I couldn't help but rub my eyes in doubt.

A hurricane that rose so high as if it was trying to swallow the clouds.

And a sea of skeletons that gets sucked into it and sliced to pieces.

Forgetting our goal to run away, all of us just looked at the scenery as if in awe.

Then, the hurricane disappeared, and the figure of a lone boy was seen, fighting the horde of skeletons with incredible might all by itself.

And rather than getting pushed back, he was the one who pushed the enemies back.

If anything, didn't he even manage to kill such a large amount of enemies?

'I know he was strong, but I didn't know that he was this strong.'

It was a scene that seemed out of this world, so I couldn't help but be deeply impressed by his figure.

"A hero."

Someone murmured.

And I'm sure that everyone else also felt the same way when they looked at the boy.

'He might or might not be the real hero who would save the world, but… to us, his death would be no less painful than a hero's death.'

So we watched his gallant figure with bated breath.

And when he finally defeated all of the skeletons.

"Yes! He did it!"

"He defeated them all!"

"Wow!"

The villagers cheered as if they were happy about his success.

Even I felt like cheering along with them.

However, our joy was short-lived as something unexpected happened.

"H-Hey, what is that?"

"The remains! They look weird!"

At that moment, the remains of the skeletons scattered here and there shone so brightly that they illuminated the entire forest, all the way to the base of the mountain range.

And then, suddenly–

""WHOA!!!""

A seemingly endless number of explosions occurred and shook the entire area. Although the explosion didn't reach us, we could still feel the hot air all the way here, far above the hill, away from the center of the explosion. It was a series of explosions so powerful that anything close must have been blown away to pieces.

'Raon! What about the hero?!'

I tried to lower my hands from my eyes and took a peek at where the young hero had been, but–

"Ah…"

No one was there. Or rather, nothing was left.

The ground, the trees, the bones. Even our houses in the distance got caught up in the explosions and were reduced to ashes.

From our village, the forest, and all the way to the base of the mountain range, everything disappeared as if it had been erased from existence. Only a large amount of craters were there as if the place had been bombed by many small meteors that had fallen from the sky.

And, of course, it was the same in the place where the young boy was supposed to be.

"Raon…!!!"

A woman screamed in tears and tried to break away from the villagers.

I exchanged another glance with Dao. He nodded, and finally–

“…!”

Dao hand chopped the woman's neck, making her lose consciousness on the spot.

Fortunately, Dao caught her falling body before she hit the ground.

However, she was not the only one who was shaken. The situation with the other villagers was no better than her.

Which is why--

"We have to go."

I took the lead and moved ahead of them.

"Let's go."

It took a while, but eventually, everyone followed from behind.

We just silently moved toward our goal. And this time, without looking back.

Why? Because there was nothing left for us back there.

Be it our home, our fertile land, or even the young hero who had sacrificed his life.

Everything was gone and broken.

The sound of sobbing was heard from all around me, but I bit my lips as I tried to hold back my sob.

'I can't be weak here. Because what the villagers need right now is a strong person to lead them.'

I looked up at the sky, trying to keep the tears from falling.

'Raon Eva.'

It was a name that I would never forget. And that sentiment was probably shared by everyone in this place.

'Our hero.'

That was the moment we became certain of the hero's death.