The Hero Returns

Chapter 51: Chapter 51

Roar, roar—

The flurries of snow got stronger. The awakeners, aware of the magic that began to mix between the snowflakes, stopped their movement and looked around.

It started.

“Heew—”

Su-hyeun, who was moving in a hurry, barely took his breath.

He moved his hand to his sweaty mask. Then, he pushed the button and took off the mask that covered his face.

Click—

People made commotions at his sudden action. The ridiculous mask was removed. The face of Su-hyeun was revealed. All eyes were on him. They were curious about not just his face but also the reason why he was taking the mask off now.

“From now on...” Su-hyeun said.

Hak-Joon who saw Su-hyeun’s face strained his eyes.

“Su-hyeun?” Hak-Joon thought in surprise.

When everyone’s gaze was gathered to him, Su-hyeun opened his mouth with magic in his voice. “Everyone gathered here must fight together.”

“What is he talking about?”

“We are doing that right now.”

“Does he mean the thing over there?”

The commotion did not disappear easily. But obviously, their hostility to Su-hyeun disappeared almost entirely. At the moment, they thought they had to concentrate on the huge mess of the magic that was growing above their heads, rather than the hostility or fighting against Su-hyeun.

“Soon, there will a be dungeon outbreak here.”

“Dungeon outbreak?”

“I have not heard that a dungeon has occurred here?”

“No way, really?”

“Seriously...?”

“Where the hell is that dungeon...?”

There was a mix of questions and embarrassment in commotion.

“The outbreak speed of the dungeon will continue to change. Among them...,” Su-hyeun looked at the green clouds rising above his head and continued to say, “Like the dungeon that appeared above, there will be a dungeon that bursts in a few hours.”

The rate of dungeon occurrence and the rate of outbreak changed every minute, especially the place of dungeon occurrence was not something to able to predict yet. It was the same with deformed dungeons. Su-hyeun was pointing that out. The world was too peaceful to think and aware of the dangers. He looked around and raised his magic once again.

Whoosh—

“Ok. My acting is over.”

A huge flame encircled him. When the flame shined in blue shrouded in all directions, other awakeners was overwhelmed and stepped back.

“I need your help. Please help me.”

Su-hyeun bowed his head to everyone. He looked like he had no intention of fighting. People felt relieved that the huge and overwhelming power was not something for them. They also felt something hot fermented inside them.

Glug—

The one person who watched held his breath. The man, Kang Seung-Cheol, who just fought with Su-hyeun using the big sword, felt dejected and dropped his sword by his side.

“It was real,” he thought.

He tried to deny the possibility during the whole time he was fighting. Su-hyeun magic, stamina, and a sense of battle did not dry out throughout the battle with hundreds of people.

“The reason why that was possible. It was because he is S-rank.”

He could feel vividly with his skin, the concentration and factor of magic around Su-hyeun at the moment. It was certainly above his A-rank magic. It must be the magic of S-rank. Everyone was confused.

But even before the chaos went away, change began.

Kyaaaa—!

A huge cry came out of the sky.

Kyaak, kyaaak—!

Woof, wooof—!

It was not one or two. How many howls? Dozens, hundreds? No, it seemed like more than that. There was only one such phenomenon. And not many of the awakeners present here had seen the phenomenon with their own eyes. Kim Do-ui, who had been working as an awakener for a long time, was convinced.

“It is a dungeon outbreak.”

The dungeon hadn’t even appeared yet, but there was a dungeon outbreak. A cloud of green light over the sky–that was the dungeon.

“Not from at this time—”

Kim Do-ui, who watched the fight between Su-hyeun and other awakeners all the time, walked forward and opened his mouth.

“—Everyone covers Kim Su-hyeun!”

“Yes?”

“What do you mean...?”

Among the awakeners of the country, Kim Do-ui had the highest command. Some people seemed embarrassed at his command, but some of them nodded quickly. It was the same with awakeners who belonged to guilds. In the first place, they started to not think Su-hyeun as the enemy and suddenly there were cries of monsters. Moreover, Su-hyeun had taken off his mask and asked for help. They were not foolish. They could realize the meaning of what Su-hyeun did so far.

“Damn it. He could just talk.”

“Who would have believed in words?”

“What is the world come to?”

Although they complained, one-by-one the awakeners had a confrontational attitude and prepared to fight. No one recognized Su-hyeun as an enemy anymore. Su-hyeun glanced at his watch and checked the time.

“It is at 10:00 p.m. Now it starts,” he thought.

Kyaooo—!

Shadows cast over the clouds. The thing made the sound gradually got closer and began to show up. There were hundreds of monsters. There were one-eyed pterosaurs, sharks with wings, giant elephants, and giant earthworms. It was a familiar image.

Su-hyeun injected his magic to Gram to sharpen the blade more. So far, he swung his sword in the sense of blocking and hitting rather than cutting. But...

“Now, I will cut.”

Whoosh—

The magic began to move according to Su-hyeun’s will. As if it had a will, Gram started to resonate with Su-hyeun’s magic.

Kick, kick, kick—

Su-hyeun jumped high with the Leap skill and cut the sky as hard as possible.

Rip—!

Act 4

“S-sir!”

Slam—

The worker of the agency suddenly opened the door and came in. The director looked at the face of him and asked as if he was irritated.

“What?”

The director, who valued case and courtesy, did not like the sudden visit. But the face of the man who came to the director’s office was urgent enough to not care about the director’s look.

“D-did you hear the news?”

“What news?”

Ring, ring, ring—

At that moment, the director’s phone rang loudly. The call sounded ominous. The director felt a chill. He thought maybe the man’s visiting would have the same purpose as this phone call.

“What is going on?

“Sir. The outbreak happened.”

“Outbreak? Did they fail to conquer the green dungeon?” the director asked.

He thought that would not be possible, but he asked just in case. Even an S-rank awakener joined in the mission. There would be no way to fail. Moreover, there were many A-rank awakens, as well.

“N-no, sir.”

“What? No? Are you acting rashly with an outbreak of another small dungeon?”

“It happened in Anyang,” the man who ran in a hurry gasped and answered.

The director’s eyes got wide while he was watching the man who tried to catch the breath and prepared the next words.

“An...yang...?”

“No way.” The ominous thought crossed the director’s mind. Ant that feeling was not wrong as always.

“Yes, sir. It is a green dungeon. Now the awakeners who went there to stop the terrorist are fighting,” the man answered.

“There was no dungeon there. An outbreak? What bullshit are you talking about?”

Bang—

The director slammed the desk. The man calmly continued to say as if he had expected the director’s response.

“Well... We could not figure out the cause either. We just consider it a strange phenomenon just like when the first dungeon had appeared.”

“Then what about Kim Su-hyeun?”

“He is fighting against monsters with other people.”

“What?”

“The report from the agent just arrived now. He was not a terrorist,” the man continued speaking in a confident voice, “Kim Su-hyeun is the hero of Anyang City.”

Slash—!

When Su-hyeun wrapped his body with Flame skill and swung his sword, the body of the giant monster cut in half.

Crack—

The monster, who ran into Su-hyeun to swallow him in one bite, began to fall to the ground, splitting his body from side to side. Su-hyeun used its body as a steppingstone and jumped higher.

Swish—

He could see the next target.

[You have used the skill Provocation.]

[The enemies around you, except for the designated target, recognize you as an enemy.]

Numerous monsters looked at Su-hyeun. Their hostility pierced Su-hyeun’s skin. He raised his magic to endure it. He wrapped his body with multiple layers of Flame.

[Indomitable body.]

[The transfiguration skill: Imoogi.]

Crack, crack—

Whack—

The scales of the Imoogi began to grow on Su-hyeun’s body. He could not fly like a real Imoogi, but he could mimic the ability to keep his body floating. He could use the Leap skill, and there were a lot of monsters he could use as stepstones, so an air battle was not a problem.

“Good,” he thought.

The physical ability rose to the highest point, and there was the Flame that was sharply worn all over his body.

Kiyaaa—

A lot of monsters filled Su-hyeun’s eyes. Other awakeners were preparing various skills to catch them, but he did not care.

“Ok, here I go.”

Whoosh—

Kukguk, Kukwook—

The preparation for the leap was over. It felt like Gram shouting to use it quickly.

“One, two, three.” He counted in his head.

Swish—

Su-hyeun’s body penetrated the crowd of monsters.

Kyiaaa, kyiaaaa—

Krrr, krrrr—

Slash, slash, slash—

Drop—

The monster’s body began to fall one by one.

Stab—

One!

Whoosh, boom, boom, boom—!

Two, three, four!

Sssss, Crack, crack—!

Ten... Twenty!

The blue flame filled with enormous magic swept. The sword shredded and cut everywhere. He ignored the claws and teeth of the monsters. Instead of avoiding or blocking them, he took them with his body and fought back. The indomitable body and body of Imoogi made it possible.

Drop, plop—

Rumble, rumble—

Dozens of monsters began to fall down the ground.

“Hu-ah, Hu—”

Su-hyeun quickly cleaned the monsters took a small breath. People felt like the time on the battlefield froze when they saw Su-hyeun stop about half the monsters in what seemed to be an instant.

“What... the hell?”

“What just happened?”

“Look. The monsters looked frightened.”

The monsters that appeared in the green dungeons were about the same as the boss from the orange dungeon. The B-rank awakeners could barely catch one of them. But Su-hyeun killed dozens of them in an instant. When he fought without hesitation with his sharpened sword, when his ability and magic were fully bloomed, people could not believe it. It more than they had imagined.

“This is Kim Su-hyeun. A new S-rank awakener.”

Kim Do-ui’s heart beat hard.

“We might able to do this.”

It was the first time that an outbreak in a green dungeon had happened as soon as it appeared. Other S-rank awakeners were vacant for various reasons, such as conquering other dungeons or going abroad. But someone who would fill the vacancy appeared.

“It is still too soon to feel relieved.”

Su-hyeun came down to the ground in the meantime took a breath and lifted his head. From the green clouds appeared in the sky, monsters were still pouring out. And among them...

“...That one. That one is a little annoying.”

Krrrrr—

They could hear a low crying as if it rang right next to their ears.

Wooooong—

The wings of a giant monster were tearing the clouds apart.