The Hero Becomes the Duke's Eldest Son

Translator: Marctempest

Editor: Rynfinity

Chapter 188

When Aden cursed inwardly, the Lord of the Sacred Fire continued speaking.

— You cannot accept the Sacred Fire, which embodies the energy of extreme yang, because you were born with the Supreme Yin Body.

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

“You blasphemous fool... In simple terms, it means that your body is more suited to darkness and cold. Though I don’t know how much you’ve consumed, it seems you already possess quite a bit.”

“Hmm…”

At least, he couldn’t deny the part about having consumed a lot.

Because it was true.

Darkness and cold.

These were the attributes Aden was already handling.

‘No wonder Winter Queen’s mana and dark energy harmonize so well.’

He was merely trying to make the most out of the conditions given to him.

As a result, he ended up acquiring powers that matched his current body.

— The power I possess is meant for those who share my extreme yang nature. However, I’ve given you a gift more suitable for you, so do not be upset.

“A gift? What do you mean… hmm?”

Aden, who had been frowning, suddenly paused.

“This is…”

The memories of the past that the Lord of the Sacred Fire showed Aden.

Along with that, the knowledge passed on to him flowed into his mind.

— There’s no point in giving you another power since you’ve already reached a considerable level. You have the strength and enough mastery, so what you need now is a technique to fully utilize it.

“Hmm…”

Aden couldn’t deny those words.

The knowledge the Lord of the Sacred Fire imparted was that valuable.

“I’ll accept it with gratitude.”

— Good.

With that, the body of flames that had formed his shape disappeared.

The origin that had been sustaining his thought-form was handed over to Elise.

— I entrust the fate of this world to you…

With those final words, the Lord of the Sacred Fire’s avatar vanished.

* * *

After completing the task of igniting the first Sacred Hall.

Aden and his party returned to the village of the Red Cat Tribe and discussed all the ongoing events in the Great Forest, including the Black Tiger Tribe, the warlocks, and more.

Chief Pamsibet rubbed her forehead, letting out a low sigh.

“The Black Tiger Tribe… I can’t believe they did something like this…”

“An artificial Sword Master…”

It was a story hard to believe for Pamsibet and the others who heard it.

But in the end, they had no choice but to accept it.

The divine beasts, including the Cat Divine Beast, the Snake Divine Beast, and the Wolf Divine Beast, confirmed that every word of Aden’s story was true.

With a somewhat tired expression, but a sincere smile, she said,

“Thank you, Lord Aden Remes, for saving the Divine Beasts and uncovering the truth, even though you’re not a resident of the Great Forest.”

Aden shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, it wasn’t entirely someone else’s business. After all, Cassie is a guest of our family.”

It wasn’t as if he lacked the ability, so he could at least help out the relative of a guest under his care, right?

‘And I’ve gained a lot from it too.’

The incomplete Philosopher’s Stone and the artificial Sword Masters.

He had also learned facts about the Chaos that he would never have known if he hadn’t come here.

“…I owe my daughter a lot.”

Pamsibet smiled bitterly.

Aden then asked her,

“So, what do you plan to do next?”

“The Divine Beasts of the Great Forest are like our pride. Not just us, but the other tribes must also be furious.”

Pamsibet spoke resolutely, her eyes fierce like a lioness.

“If the Black Tiger Tribe has used force to subdue and gather the tribes of the West, we must form an alliance to oppose them.”

An alliance of the tribes of the Eastern Forest.

This implied a large-scale war within the Great Forest.

“The chiefs have already agreed to gather in response to the disturbances in the Great Forest. I know it’s a lot to ask, but could you provide detailed information about the enemies at that meeting?”

“Of course.”

Aden agreed readily.

If they left things as they were and simply departed, the tribes of the Eastern Forest would be ravaged by the Black Tiger Tribe and the other subjugated tribes of the Western Forest.

Eventually, the East would also be overpowered by force, leading to a war with the Magic Tower Nation, just like in the future.

This would set the stage for Archmage Shaura, who was allied with Chaos, to debut as a hero.

‘I can’t let that happen.’

Aden’s eyes gleamed coldly and sharply.

The Black Tiger Tribe, Chaos, Shaura.

They could all go to hell.

* * *

Vivaldi of Vice, a high-ranking member of Chaos, had been dispatched to the western part of the Great Forest.

He barely managed to suppress the extremely profane curse that threatened to escape his lips.

‘The Caliph of Deceit is dead?’

Through their connection, he felt the life of the Caliph abruptly cut off.

The Caliph of Deceit and Vivaldi of Vice.

The two were entrusted with overseeing the entire ‘Divine Beast Hunting Plan’ by the leader of Chaos.

The beginning had been easy.

After winning over the chieftain of the Black Tiger Tribe, they sincerely supported him and his tribe.

The warriors who survived after consuming fragments of the Philosopher’s Stone reached the level of superhumans.

As a result, fifty warriors of the Black Tiger Tribe reached the superhuman level.

No tribe or divine beast could stand against them, and the Black Tiger Tribe quickly became the dominant force in the western part of the forest.

They convinced the tribes to see the divine beasts not as beings to be revered but as resources to be exploited, and thus, the hunt began.

Though the Philosopher’s Stone was incomplete, with its power to sever all divinity, hunting the divine beasts wasn’t difficult.

The problem arose in the Eastern Forest.

‘Why did he die? How?’

The Caliph of Deceit, who was assigned to handle the Eastern Forest, had perished.

Not only that, all twelve Black Tiger warriors with him were dead!

The whereabouts of the Philosopher’s Stone, which contained the divine power of the most important divine beast, were now unknown.

From Vivaldi’s perspective, this was an extremely troubling situation.

‘What happened? Was there really a divine beast in the Eastern Forest that powerful?’

That couldn’t be.

They had already identified the powers of the four divine beasts of the East, and there was no way they could lose.

And that wasn’t the only issue.

According to the information gathered by his subordinates, the tribes of the Eastern Forest had noticed the abnormality of their divine beasts.

The news came that the ‘Red Cat Tribe,’ the ‘Blue Bear Tribe,’ and the ‘Silver Wolf Tribe,’ the strongest tribes of the East, were gathering.

Even though the divine beasts’ powers had been weakened, their survival was confirmed, and there was even a shocking report that one of the four great divine beasts of the East, ‘Eunrang, who tore the sky,’ still retained its full power as a divine beast.

If left alone, those tribes would form their own ‘alliance’ and resist the Western Alliance.

‘Damn it, you tattooed bastard. How could you screw up this badly and die! Damn it!’

The tribes of the Eastern Forest had strong bonds with their divine beasts and depended on them heavily.

He believed that by killing those divine beasts and reversing their power, he could easily neutralize and subjugate the Eastern Forest.

‘I wanted to unify the forces of the Great Forest as much as possible…’

The reason Chaos was helping the Black Tiger Tribe was not only to hunt divine beasts and seize their divinity but also to provoke a war between the Great Forest and the Magic Tower Nation.

A blood sacrifice.

To fully complete the Philosopher’s Stone, countless wrongful and resentful deaths were necessary.

Moreover, Chaos intended to turn one of its members, a ‘mage,’ into a war hero who would save the Magic Tower Nation, thus allowing them to take control of the Magic Tower.

This was Chaos’s ambitious plan, aiming for dual gains.

It was preferable for the Great Forest’s forces to be as unified as possible to incite them to attempt war.

But things had gone awry from the start.

Vivaldi of Vice barely suppressed the bubbling anger and frustration within him.

By nature, he had a hot temper.

‘To lose twelve precious ‘complete’ Black Tiger warriors before the real war even begins… Damn you, Caliph.’

Now, only thirty-eight of the ‘artificial Sword Masters’ remained in the Black Tiger Tribe.

Of course, even this was an incredibly powerful force, but to lose 30% of their entire fighting force just before the war to unify the Great Forest was a bitter blow.

‘And there’s no way to replenish them now.’

To create those artificial Sword Masters, they had to carefully select suitable candidates and feed them the fragments of the Philosopher’s Stone.

But even after selecting the most suitable individuals, not all of them became Sword Masters.

One in twenty.

Out of twenty people who consumed the stone, only one could endure its power and become an artificially created superhuman warrior.

The remaining nineteen would die in agony.

In other words, nearly a thousand Black Tiger warriors had died to create the fifty Master warriors.

Now, it was impossible to replace the number of dead Black Tiger Masters.

There was only one option left.

‘We must resort to force, even if it results in losses and damages.’

Gather the ‘Western Great Forest Alliance,’ centered around the Black Tiger Tribe, and strike the East.

They had to subjugate and unify the Eastern Forest through force, making the Great Forest one.

‘If we fail, the boss will never forgive me.’

The thought sent a chill down his spine.

Recently, the boss had become increasingly irritable as things weren’t going well.

If he failed in his mission in the Great Forest, it would be difficult to keep his life.

Even if he survived, he would never be able to recover.

“Damn it, where did things start to go wrong?”

As he pondered the mysterious force that killed the Caliph and wiped out twelve Black Tiger Masters, Vivaldi of Vice was plagued with worry.

* * *

After visiting the first Sacred Hall, Elise’s pilgrimage came to an end.

“We’ll head to the Southern Sacred Hall.”

“Please take care, Priest Bali. Elise, have a safe journey.”

“Got it!”

There was no reason for the Saintess of the Sacred Fire Church to remain in a war-torn region.

Elise and Priest Bali were tasked with reporting the situation to the Southern Sacred Hall, where they were already on edge due to the strange occurrences in the Great Forest.

‘If war breaks out within the Great Forest, the church’s healers will be indispensable.’

If a full-scale conflict erupted between the West and East of the Great Forest, many injuries would inevitably occur.

The church’s rapid support would be essential to minimize the number of casualties.

Their mission was crucial.

Meanwhile, the formation of the Eastern Forest Alliance proceeded swiftly.

The fact that the Black Tiger Tribe attacked and coveted the power of the divine beasts spread.

Upon hearing this, the tribes of the Eastern Forest were engulfed in a fiery rage.

“They dare to attack our guardians!”

The divine beasts were not just ancient, powerful creatures.

They were the guardians who had suppressed the exponential growth of monsters in the Great Forest and had provided the tribes with habitable lands for centuries. They were friends, benefactors, and protectors of the Great Forest.

The tribes took pride in the fact that these divine beasts were with them.

So when they learned that these divine beasts, symbols of their pride, were attacked, they were genuinely furious, trembling with rage.

“Let’s avenge ourselves on the Black Tiger Tribe!”

“Divine punishment to those arrogant fools who have no respect for nature!”

With Fenrir, the strongest divine beast of the Eastern Forest, and the other three divine beasts taking active roles, the formation of the alliance progressed rapidly.

Though they had lost most of their divinity and had fallen, their dignity and authority remained intact, and the tribes they protected had not disappeared.

And so, currently.

“The daughter who inherited the flames of the Fire Cat, Chief Pamsibet of the Red Cat Tribe, welcomes the brothers of the Great Forest.”

“The son who inherited the claws of the Blue Bear, Shamamaku of the Blue Bear Tribe, greets the brothers of the earth.”

“The children who inherited the fangs of the Silver Wolf Mother, the first wolf of the Silver Wolf Tribe, Fierce Fang, greets the allies of the Great Nature.”

The chiefs of the Red Cat Tribe, Blue Bear Tribe, and Silver Wolf Tribe.

These three, along with the envoys of the smaller tribes, gathered in Pamsibet’s tree fortress.

Aden, sensing the power they exuded, was slightly impressed.

‘They are all strong.’

Chief Shamamaku of the Blue Bear Tribe and Chief Fierce Fang of the Silver Wolf Tribe were master-level warriors.

Though Pamsibet, Cassie’s mother, was a shaman and lacked in pure combat power, considering her mastery of shamanism, she was at least on par with or superior to the other two chiefs.

Three master-level beastmen.

And the chiefs and envoys of the other smaller tribes were all outstanding warriors.

They were finely honed swords, forged by the harsh natural environment, and a formidable force.

Aden smiled.

Then, standing before them, he spoke bluntly.

“All of you gathered here will die.”

The eyes of the chiefs darkened.