I WAS The Rank–1 Hero-Chapter 57: The Name That Shook The World [1]

Somewhere in Demon Continent:

"Sir Defender," a girl with white hair and red eyes spoke, "I-I think we’re lost."

"…"

The rank-69 hero—Defender didn’t respond, he kept silent, leading a bunch of kids in an undefined, unexplored continent—it was making him nervous.

As a double digit hero, he was indeed powerful, but even so, the current situation was making him question his whole existence.

’E-Everything will be fine,’ He kept repeating the same sentence over and over inside his head.

In the past, he was lucky. Every time he was in a dire situation, a single-ranker always came and handled it. But now—it’s seems impossible.

He turned around, facing all the students, forcing a confidence smile on his face, he declared.

"Students, don’t be nervous I will get you out of this damn place… even if it’s kills me."

His last sentence was so quiet that only he himself heard it.

Defender was not any ordinary hero, he had achieved quite a feat, it grants him a position in the top 100 on the Hero ranking chart.

Some may make fun of his rank—but he doesn’t care, he now has only one goal—that is to keep all these young students safe, to get them home safely.

No one was coming to rescue him. He was on his own now. Even so, this didn’t stop him.

Unlike others he didn’t get to attend Nova—it isn’t because he had no skills or talent, it’s because he had no one to support him.

A small, pleasant smile spread across Defender’s face as he recalled a few of his bittersweet memories.

He remembered his child hood, clear as day— his small house, leaking roofs, torn clothes, he only got a mother who got cancer and was counting his last breath in her hospital bed. Defender was all alone—taking care of his mother, paying her hospital bills, and doing odd jobs at just the age of thirteen. Life was cruelly unfair to him.

He recalled his naïve declaration to his mother: ’Mother sniff… I will… I will become the Rank-1 Hero and—and I will earn lots and lots of money, and then... sniff….I— I will get you a good doctor, so…so please mother…sniff….snifff… open your eyes.’

His mother died, he was all alone. What will he do now? At such a young age, with no money and parents, he felt—hopeless.

All those years of odd jobs, all those hard work he poured to get money for her treatment—wasted.

That’s what he thought back then, but now things were different. Unlike him, all these students in front of him had parents waiting for them back home, and he had to take responsibility for getting them back safely.

His thoughts halted as he took a look at his surroundings, he counted all the students—one, two, three… …ninety-six.

Total of fifty second-year, and 46 first-year. Only four first years were missing. Until now, he had been successful in finding all the students from the fresher’s party. He had explored the whole forest like a madman before finding them.

"Sir Defender," Alex, the Rank-1 second year, spoke hesitantly. His voice carried both fear and confidence. "The first years need some rest. Shall we take a short break?"

Defender paused, his gaze scanning all the students—messy hairs, clothes covered in blood and dirt, broken limbs, dull eyes, dried lips, trembling legs… it was a disturbing sight.

’Fuck, I was care less!’ He cursed himself.

"Alright, we’ll take thirty minutes break." He agreed.

He took out all 200 recovery potion elixir from his inventory ring and handed it to Alex.

"Give this to each one of them." He ordered, his voice carry regret.

"Y-Yes sir." Alex was shocked, because each one of those elixir cost over millions. Simply distributing it like that—

’How kind of him.’ Alex thought, he now has a whole new image of Defender.

Alex accepted all the potion, he took and distributed two bottles to each one of them.

Upon receiving the recovery potion, the students’ eyes widened in shock, all of them turning toward Defender, who now stood before them—holding a longsword and a translucent blue shield in one hand.

They had been walking this continent for over two days now, yet Defender hadn’t taken a single moment to rest.

The white hair girl stood up and walked towards Defender.

"Ummm.. sir," her voice low and steady, "please rest…you haven’t even rested—"

"I’m fine," Defender spoke, cutting her mid sentence.

"…"

A worried look spread over everyone’s face. They exchanged glances, noticing that Defender was really exhausted, he has dark circles under his eye, his skin on the palm got ripped off due to all those earlier monster hunt, he was breathing heavily, drenched in sweat and blood, his condition didn’t look good.

If few more monsters attack them—

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He won’t survive.

Every one knew that.

"But sir, you hand," the girl was persistent, "its bleeding really bad."

Defender lowered his head to assess his condition.

"…"

Indeed, he was in bad shape—his fingers were a mess, nails torn, toe dislocated. He had just realized it.

He bit his lips forcefully to hide his frustration.

He found his body weakened, the grip on his sword loosen.

’Fuck, Not now!’ He pleaded, forcing himself to stand tall even with all the injuries.

He doesn’t want the students to realized this.

So he forced a warm smile on his face before answering.

"Don’t worry, I’m fin—"

Dooooooommmmm!

"!!"

A dense aura resulted everyone to halt in their place.

No one moved.

The Defender held his breath.

’Wh-What was that?!’

He didn’t move, he felt the fear through his quivering palms.

A calmed voice came from above.

"Which one of you holds the Authority?"

Everyone turned their gaze upward, and wat they saw sends an electrifying chill inside their body.

Clad in a crimson gothic gown, her presence was nothing short of majestic. Pale as moonlight, her skin contracted against the surroundings, her obsidian-black hair cascaded, draped over her shoulders, her eyes, deep blood-red burned with intensity that perfectly matches her attire.

She floated effortlessly in the sky, her white feathered wings drifted weightlessly, like a divine blessing descending upon the world.

She had arrived—summoned by Nathalia.

"A-A Fallen," someone whispered, their voice trembling with terror.

At that word alone, their knees buckled, and their bodies collapse to the ground.

Fear—no, something beyond fear—gripped them all.

Yet the most shocking sight was of Defender’s.

He stood frozen, gazing at that figure above. His mouth opened and closed repeatedly, yet no words came out. It was as if, the truth he wished to denied was stuck in his throat.

After all the struggle, he finally spoke, his voice burdened with disbelief, terror, and… shattered faith. He knew what he was seeing—he wished he didn’t.

"Th-That’s… not a Fallen..." His voice barely made it past his lips. Silent fell over the forest.

Indeed, she was not.

Defender knew this better than anyone. Fallens were always male. Their kind had never birthed a female.

Her eyes flickered toward him. A smirk tugged at the corner of her lips.

"Correct."

Her voice rang through the air, imbued with both divinity and melody.

"I am the wielder of ’Will’, daughter of the Goddess of Will— Zila. The last Angel in existence."

A surge of power rippled through the air, pressing down on them.

Her crimson eyes glowed brighter.

"Lilith."

End of Chapter.