The Hero Returns

It was a total of six. Su-hyeun nodded his head after counting their numbers.

Thankfully, they have all hatched. The snakelets had the body size of an adult male. Although they were young, they were still twice the size of an anaconda. Their growth period would end within a few months.

Adult Predatory Snakes usually slept soundly for a day after a meal. On the contrary, the snakelets would eat much more than that.

Creak—

The six snakelets showed their teeth as they approached Su-hyeun, who was taking the lead. Although they were smaller than the adults, their build was still a lot larger than humans; hence, the young men are intimidated by them. But…

"Close your mouths."

Creak, creeeak—

Su-hyeun spoke again, walking towards the snakelets. "Close your mouths."

Gu, guuu—

The wide cave shook. Not only the young men, but also the snakelets that were facing them were in disarray.

Seuk, eukkk—

A pair of magic-filled eyes looked at the snakelets. The snakelets were frightened and cowered at Su-hyeun's eyes. The young men watching Su-hyeun saw him once again as a monster.

W-what is that?

I knew he wasn't normal when he killed that monster...

Is he human?

A human overpowering a monster with his eyes alone? It was impossible. Just one of those snakelets could turn the village into nothing. The Predatory Snake was a monster of that capacity.

"W-why did you show them to us?"

"It couldn't be..."

Disbelief was in their eyes. They thought that Su-hyeun might throw them to feed the snakelets. The fear made them unable to think.

"What are you guys thinking of?" Su-hyeun shook his head and spoke while looking at the young men.

"We will be training them from now on."

"What?"

"What do you mean, 'training them?'"

Su-hyeun started explaining to them as they looked confused. "I have explained to you that the habits of Predatory Snakes are that they sleep soundly after meals and do not prey on the one who feeds them."

"Right."

"Those habits are for the normal Predatory Snakes. Though they have similar habits, the snakelets have one more habit. It's a normal one, not much different from animals."

"No way..." They must have understood after listening to this explanation. Su-hyeun nodded at the men's suspicions.

"Right. They would regard the person who feeds them like their mother."

So they had to train the Predatory Snakes. That was what Su-hyeun was suggesting. In this era, monsters were evil and predators to humans. It was absurd to think of taming them.

"Taming these guys... means the villagers would once again..."

"Why did you think that its food has to be humans?"

"What?"

"Isn't there food for them outside the village?"

"Outside the village?" They showed faces that could not comprehend. Su-hyeun nodded towards the green-horned beasts.

"They eat humans, but there's no rule that they can't eat other monsters."

"A-are you suggesting to feed them the monsters outside the village?"

"It's impossible! How can we..."

"Who asked you to catch those monsters?"

"...What?" Su-hyeun was faced with puzzled expressions. Su-hyeun let out a deep sigh. He picked only the most robust men from the village, but they had more fear than he thought.

"I'll catch the monsters. You guys would just have to feed them to the snakelets." There was a reason why the Predatory Snake gave birth to snakelets at the start of the trial. Su-hyeun took advantage of it to pass the trial.

* * *

The trial occasionally gave extremely tough missions. This trial could be said to have the theme of endless dedication. Asking to rescue the village with no strings attached was not a problematic mission for Su-hyeun.

It's me. Though it might have felt relatively easy, as time went on, it became more ridiculous. What if he had not known about the Predatory Snake? What would have happened if he did not heed the gatekeeper's advice and trusted the village chief?

He would have fallen into the trap that the chief made without getting a clue and would have been sent as the Predatory Snake's prey.

[Accomplished: 30%]

[Will you complete the trial?]

These were the messages that appeared in his mind when he killed the Predatory Snake and suggested to kill the village chief. They were a different style of message. It didn't say that the trial had ended, but instead gave him the choice to end it himself.

He had encountered these types of trials in his past life. There were times where you could choose when to complete the trials.

Is dealing with the village chief and the Predatory Snakes the minimum requirement for clearing?

The trial seemed more irresponsible than he had imagined.

I can't treat what I've done so far as rescuing the village. The village was nearly at its end when the chief died and they lost the Predatory Snake's protection. It was evident that they would soon be attacked by monsters.

Although he did not know when it would happen, he knew at the very least that it would not be in the distant future. "30% accomplished" definitely meant that the village was still not completely safe.

From now on, Su-hyeun had to find a way to protect the village and increase his level of accomplishment.

It was a purposeful installment of the snakelets… The key point was how he made use of the installment.

It would have been impossible to clear the mission without knowledge of the Predatory Snakes' habits. Su-hyeun came to that conclusion. It was apparent every time, but the level 10 trials did not just require one's strength. As the trials got harder, they required something more.

It was the evening. Nevertheless, dark clouds brought upon total darkness in the sky. Su-hyeun was familiar with this world, which could not even see dusk.

"It's been a while since I've done babysitting." Su-hyeun muttered after stepping out of the village. The Predatory Snakes' territory had been maintained for a month.

The Predatory Snake marked its territory with bodily fluids secreted from its mouth, and the nasty smell made weaker monsters stay away. As per the villagers, the territory would only last for 15 days. He had to train them within that period.

"Six snakelets..."

One snakelet per day. He had to fill the stomach of six snakelets.

"I have to work hard for quite some time."

Step, step—

Su-hyeun stopped in his tracks and observed the surroundings. "No, there's no need to."

Grrrr—

As soon as he stepped out of the territory, he detected several signs of monsters.

"It's not as much of a nuisance as expected."

He did not have to search for the monsters. They lurked around the predatory snake's territory, targeting the people coming out of the village.

"Here! Your prey is here!"

[You used the skill "Leap."]

[Excluding the targeted object, the surrounding enemies perceived you as an enemy.]

Kyaaaa—!

Stomp, stomp—!

The monsters that were salivating as Su-hyeun came rushing towards them.

Clang, clang—!

Su-hyeun grabbed his sword and spear in his hands. And at the same time, Su-hyeun leaped forward.

Ssss—!

Rippp—!

A monster's body with the face of a huge wolf was slashed half. After avoiding the forthcoming monsters with Leap, he leaped once more in the air.

He leaped twice in total. As the skill's ability increased, the number of times he could use the skill increased as well.

"Hoop—"

Su-hyeun looked down as he leaped high in the air. He fixed on his target.

Paang—!

Swooooosh—!

Su-hyeun bent his body into a bow and threw the spear.

Plat—!

The massive spider monster's heart was destroyed. Su-hyeun first finished the trickiest monster, which secreted venom.

Hwooong—!

The next monster that came running was a translucent goblin type monster with no form. It swung Su-hyeun's body around and emitted dark energy. It was an energy that made human flesh age and rot.

Whoosh—

That moment, the end of Su-hyeun's sword was engulfed in blue flames.

[The skill "Flame" was used.]

Hwaaa—!

Slash—!

Not only did Su-hyeun's sword cut the dark energy, but it also slashed the formless goblin.

Su-hyeun, who leaped high in the air, returned to the ground. The monsters hesitated.

They focused on the flame, which engulfed the sword. Su-hyeun instinctively sensed that the blaze was more dangerous than anything else.

It was at that moment when the monsters were afraid of Su-hyeun. "Where are you heading to?"

[The skill "Provocation" was used.]

Once again, Su-hyeun made the monsters turn back. "I would be sad."

* * *

Flame. Su-hyeun obtained that reward on the eighth floor. Su-hyeun chose not to learn too many skills. If the skills were not used at the right time and place, he thought that it would be pointless to obtain them as well. Thus, Su-hyeun chose to focus on learning the most useful skills.

Leap and Provocation were the most-used skills by magical awakeners and were also proven to be effective. And amongst them, Flame was a skill that the picky Su-hyeun liked.

[Flame.]

-Magic Level: 4.

-Level: 1.

-Ability: 15.5%.

-A sacred fire that burns magic. It inflicts fatal wounds on dark-type enemies and its power is determined by the magic level.

It was a level-dependent skill. Firstly, he liked this part. Level-dependent skills, like the Transfiguration skill, were more efficient. In particular, many of the dark-type monsters were quite tricky. There were some enemies in soul forms that would not be harmed by physical attacks.

It's certainly the best skill in terms of power. Su-hyeun's assessment of Flame was quite generous. Amongst all the top-notch skills that Su-hyeun had seen, giving the Flame skill such high evaluation meant that it was quite exceptional.

Besides high magic consumption, it has quite a heavy pressure on health too.

It was too excessive a skill to be used on small monsters. Nevertheless, Su-hyeun used Flame for just one reason.

When else can I increase my ability other than at this point?