My Love Debts Are Everywhere!

On the way to the Palace, monsters suddenly sprang from the ground, roaming the area as if hunting.

*Whoosh!*

A white horse galloped by at incredible speed, immediately drawing the attention of all the nearby monsters.

*Argh!*

The monsters turned toward the horse in unison. With a deafening roar, they surged forward, relentlessly giving chase.

"Tsk! They really don't let up. This feels just like the Desert of Chaos," Leon muttered, his gaze fixed on the monsters behind him.

Though the monsters looked different from those in the Desert of Chaos, their aggressiveness felt eerily familiar, which only added to Leon's frustration.

Athena, hearing his complaint, couldn't mask the curiosity on her face.

"What exactly happened in the Desert of Chaos, Leon? Did you face a situation like this there too?" she asked, eager for an answer.

Though she'd heard Leon mention the monster hordes in the Desert of Chaos multiple times, she still didn't fully understand what he meant.

Was this horde the same as the one they were now up against?

Leon shifted his gaze from the pursuing monsters to the path ahead, giving a slight nod in response.

"You might not know this, but something similar happened in the Desert of Chaos when I led the demon army against humanity's forces," Leon said calmly.

He then shared the details of the incident with Athena, leaving her stunned by his story.

"So, the monsters you encountered in the Desert of Chaos were the souls of humans or demons, corrupted by the Evil God's negative energy?" Athena asked, her voice filled with surprise.

"Yes, something like that," Leon replied with a slight nod.

Athena frowned as she watched the monsters still pursuing them, then speculated, "Could these monsters be the souls of living beings, captured by the Temple of Twilight through a specific method or vessel, and transformed into creatures like these?"

Though the theory sounded strange, Athena couldn't help but feel it made sense.

From what Leon had shared, the monsters he faced in the Desert of Chaos had been the twisted remnants of souls from demon soldiers or humans who had died in wars centuries ago.

The black dragon monster she fought earlier, for instance, had once been one of her mother's personal guards.

After her mother's death, the guard had chosen to retire and live a solitary life in a distant mountain range.

Three hundred years later, Athena learned of his death. She even saw the guard's body firsthand—covered in wounds and punctures, which suggested that he had likely died in battle or from a targeted attack.

Upon seeing the transformation of her mother's guard into one of the monsters, Athena strongly suspected that the killers had come from the Temple of Twilight.

His soul had probably been taken after death and turned into the dragon monster she had slain earlier.

Leon paused, taken aback by Athena's theory, and thought it over carefully.

"So, these monsters are the souls captured by the Temple of Twilight, huh?" Leon muttered, his eyes narrowing slightly.

It sounded strange, yet not impossible. The Temple of Twilight, a cult devoted to the Evil God, could very well have a secret method similar to the one that created the monsters in the Desert of Chaos.

Their long history, spanning thousands of years, only added weight to Athena's speculation.

Leon took a deep breath, about to speak, but was cut off by a deafening bird's cry from above.

Startled, both Leon and Athena instinctively looked up to see a bird-shaped monster soaring through the sky.

The bird was massive—about twenty meters in length—with a menacing presence.

Its enormous wings were spread wide, and its blood-red eyes gleamed with a terrifying intensity.

Even more shocking, there wasn't just one of them, but more than ten!

"After his dragon monster was defeated, that Fourth Apostle sure has other tricks up his sleeve, Athena," Leon said, a mocking smile crossing his face.

Athena, her expression calm, nodded in agreement.

"In that case, let's take down all those bird monsters," Leon said coldly.

*Boom!*

Suddenly, a deafening explosion erupted from ahead, startling both of them once again.

They turned quickly, their eyes widening in shock at the sight of twenty giant monsters.

The creatures stood about seven meters tall, their hulking black bodies intimidating, with four arms sprouting from their waists.

Five human faces were embedded in their muscular chests, each one open-mouthed, as though silently screaming.

Leon halted his horse and regarded the monsters with a steady gaze.

"Athena, I may need to rely on you a bit more. Is that alright?" Leon asked, glancing back at her.

Athena gave a faint smile and casually shook her head. "Don't worry, Leon. Even if you don't ask, I'll still help. Actually, I'm still not satisfied after the fight with the black dragon. My thirst for battle is far from quenched."
Continue your journey with empire

"Good! Then I'll leave the bird monsters in the sky to you, and I'll handle these giants," Leon said eagerly.

He leapt from his horse and drew the sword at his waist.

*Boom!*

Holy power erupted from his body, enveloping the area with a terrifying aura. Leon's cold gaze locked onto the twenty giant monsters in front of him.

"Hero Technique: Five Dragon Steps!" he shouted without hesitation.

*Whoosh!*

His form shot through the air, spinning swiftly before slashing toward one of the monster's arms.

*Spurt!*

Greenish-black blood sprayed from the severed limb, causing the monster to let out a piercing scream.

The agonizing cry drove the other monsters into a frenzy. They attacked Leon with savage intensity.

Leon smiled playfully, unshaken by their aggression.

"Five Dragon Steps: First Step!"

He vaulted into the air, spinning horizontally, and severed the head of the monster charging toward him.

"Argh!" The monster groaned in agony, its massive body crashing to the ground with a thud that sent a tremor through the earth.

Without missing a beat, Leon shifted his focus to the monster closing in from his left. He bent his left leg and charged forward with lightning speed.

"Second Step!"

In an instant, his figure disappeared, reappearing one meter above the monster's head. With a swift motion, Leon drove his sword straight through its skull.

"Argh!" The monster screamed in pain, its body thrashing wildly from side to side, attempting to shake off Leon, who clung above it.

But the effort was futile. With the sword embedded in its skull, serving as a grip, Leon held his position, completely unshaken.

*Spurt!*

Leon pressed the sword deeper, driving it into the monster's brain, making it roar even louder in its frenzy.

With a nonchalant expression, he twisted the hilt to the right, causing greenish-black blood to gush out in a sickening spray.

Avoiding a single drop of blood on his clothes, Leon leaped high into the air. Moments later, the monster crumpled to the ground, lifeless.

"Argh!" The screams of the remaining eighteen monsters echoed from all directions, yet Leon stood his ground and charged toward them without the slightest trace of fear.

"Third Step!"

"Fourth Step!"

"Fifth Step!"

Leon's figure vanished in a flash, reappearing at the monsters' vital points and striking with flawless precision.

With each blow, the monsters were instantly drained of their strength, collapsing lifelessly to the ground.

Anyone witnessing this scene would be both shocked and awestruck. These monsters, towering and formidable, were brought down with a single blow from Leon's blade.

However, for those familiar with the hero technique "Five Dragon Steps," this display came as no surprise.

Among the hero techniques Leon had mastered, the Five Dragon Steps stood out as an exceptionally lethal sword style, particularly in close combat.

Although not his most powerful technique, Leon held a special fondness for it.

As its name implies, this technique was created by the 45th Sword Hero, who modeled it after the fierce and merciless combat style of a dragon.

The technique focuses on targeting vital points, delivering swift, fatal blows that leave enemies dead in an instant—much like a dragon obliterating its prey with a single, decisive strike.

*Slash!*

With a final strike, the twentieth monster fell, its massive body crashing to the ground with a resounding thud that shook the earth.

Leon swung his sword to the side, wiping away the blood splatters that clung to the blade.

He glanced at the fallen monsters, a faint smile tugging at his lips.

"I expected these monsters to be little threat, but they're surprisingly weak," Leon muttered dismissively.

*Buzz!*

Suddenly, the monsters' bodies quivered, emitting a dark, ominous light. Soon, the severed parts of their bodies began to shift and reassemble.

The sight caught Leon off guard, but he quickly regained his composure.

"Tsk! As expected, this fight won't be that easy," Leon muttered with a soft chuckle.

The blood splattered across the ground surged toward the reassembling body, followed by dismembered limbs—arms, legs, and more—pulling together in eerie unison.

Moments later, a grotesque humanoid monster stood before him, towering thirty meters tall, with forty massive hands sprouting from either side of its body.

In front and behind its body, human faces with varying expressions—smiling, sorrowful, laughing—twisted in horrific unison. Its mouth gaped wide, revealing sharp black teeth, with red saliva, resembling blood, dripping from the corners.

If Leon were to be honest, this monster was the most absurd and terrifying creature he had ever encountered.

Shaking off the thought, Leon sheathed his sword and reached out to his right.

*Whoosh!*

The brilliant Holy Sword of Zenith materialized in his grasp, and holy power surged from his body.

With the sword raised defiantly, its tip aimed at the monstrous form, Leon declared, "Let's begin the second round! I'll show you why I'm known as the strongest hero of this era!"