Chapter 346

"Go ahead, let’s clear this portal."

A female hero dressed in advanced battle gear spoke to her nine colleagues standing right behind her.

All of them were fully geared up and ready for battle.

This group was no collection of weaklings.

They were all powerful Class B Heroes, and they had received a distress call reporting that a portal had opened right in the middle of one of the largest cities on the Southern Continent.

Being part of a well-renowned and powerful Hero Guild, their Guild Leader had dispatched ten of their strongest B-Rank Heroes to deal with the situation.

The B-Rankers themselves had believed this mission was overkill.

After all, they were all exceptionally strong for their rank and firmly believed they would soon be promoted to Class A.

Yet all the confidence, courage, and arrogance they had nurtured over the years evaporated the moment they came face-to-face with the portal they had been sent to clear.

"Those damn citizens are crazy."

"Aren’t they supposed to clarify that the portal color is red?"

One of the men spoke with a pale face.

The others nodded in agreement.

Strong or not, a Red Portal was completely outside their league.

Such portals were considered certain death for anyone below the S-Rank.

To clear a Red Portal, an S-Class Hero was required, or at the very least several exceptionally powerful A-Rank Heroes.

Without that level of strength, no one dared to enter a Red Portal.

Forget about the ten of them.

Even their entire Hero Guild wouldn’t be able to clear this damn portal.

And they were expected to face it head-on.

"I think Elen has gone crazy."

Another hero spoke as he looked toward the woman who still wore a solemn expression despite the danger.

Elen was the one who had suggested entering the portal.

As a result, everyone was now looking at her as if she had completely lost her mind.

Because honestly...

It seemed she had.

If not, then why was she telling them to walk directly into the jaws of death?

Elen looked at her companions.

Her solemn gaze hardened into one of determination.

"We need to clear this portal."

"As reported, this thing has been here for almost two days already."

"It is only through sheer luck that it hasn’t broken yet."

"If we leave and this portal breaks, then this city and all the neighboring cities will be doomed."

Her eyes sharpened.

"We are heroes."

"This is exactly what we are supposed to do."

"So why are all of you acting like cowards?"

"Was this not your Hero Pledge?"

"We pledged to protect ordinary people and stop beast and monster attacks."

"True."

One of the others immediately replied.

"But we never pledged to willingly throw our lives away."

"If we enter that portal, our chances of dying are at least two hundred percent."

"Maybe even higher."

"And you still expect us to follow you?"

Another hero shook his head.

"We should simply tell the citizens to evacuate as far away as possible."

"Only the top-tier guilds can handle something like this."

The group continued arguing against Elen’s deadly proposal.

Elen did her best to convince them.

After all, they couldn’t afford to allow this portal to break.

Otherwise, countless innocent lives would be lost.

She even revealed her plan.

Their goal wouldn’t be to fight every monster inside.

Instead, they would track down the boss monster and kill it.

If they succeeded, the portal would collapse and close on its own.

However, the others only stared at her as though her madness had tripled.

After all, the boss of a Red Portal was always a guaranteed S-Rank Beast or Monster.

An existence of that level wasn’t something they could even dream of defeating.

The group was still bickering among themselves when a calm and playful voice suddenly reached their ears.

"You all should head back for now."

"I’ll handle this portal."

The group froze simultaneously.

Every single one of them turned toward the source of the voice.

Then they saw him.

A young man casually walking toward them.

He appeared to be in his early twenties.

He had short blond hair and sharp black eyes.

A calm smile rested on his face as he approached.

Anyone seeing him would think he was heading toward a picnic or taking an evening stroll.

Not walking toward a Red Portal.

"What are you doing here, kid?"

"Do you think this place is some kind of joke?"

"Turn around and run back right now."

One of the older heroes stepped forward and spoke sternly to the young man, who clearly didn’t understand the danger a Red Portal represented.

Aiden calmly looked at the man.

Then he casually patted the hero’s shoulder.

"Nah."

"I know exactly what I’m doing here."

Aiden spoke with a small smile.

"And what exactly would that be?"

Another hero asked angrily.

Their mood was already terrible.

And now some spoiled brat had shown up to make things even worse.

"To clear the portal."

Aiden answered simply while pointing toward the massive Red Portal in the distance.

Every hero’s expression immediately changed.

They all stared at him as though he had grown another head.

"And who exactly do you think you are?"

"An S-Ranker?"

One hero scoffed.

"Kid, turn around and run while you still can."

"You clearly have no idea what a Red Portal signifies."

"If I were you, I would be running as far away as possible before losing my life."

Another hero spoke harshly.

Kids nowadays were far too full of themselves.

They awakened a mediocre C-Rank or B-Rank skill and immediately thought they stood at the top of the world.

Such foolish ignorance.

Aiden merely looked at the man.

The smile on his face never disappeared.

"I might not be an official S-Class Hero."

"But I do have the ability to close this portal."

"Trust me."

Then his gaze slowly swept across all of them.

"But all of you..."

"You are weak."

The words were spoken casually.

As though he were merely stating a fact. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

His gaze moved across each of them before he continued.

"Since all of you were planning to run away anyway, be quick about it."

"Leave."

"So I can do what I came here for."

Aiden’s grin widened slightly.

"Run along, little kittens."

He said with an annoyingly carefree smile plastered across his face.