The Hero Returns

Screech, kkiiieeek-

The carnivorous apes madly rushing in from every direction suddenly changed their behavior. They began retreating fearfully, instead. It was as if they were deathly terrified by something.

"Hey, what the hell? What's wrong with them?"

"They're acting weird all of a sudden..."

The members of the raiding party panicking at the horde of the ape monsters all looked over to Su-hyeun next.

They saw the third eye in the middle of his forehead.

Many, many awakeners possessed weird skills, so they didn't think of such a change as anything notable, but still, they all became acutely aware of Su-hyeun finally activating the 'skill' now.

Not only that…

<< This concentration of magical energy, it... >>

<< It's because of Kim Su-hyeun?? >>

They quickly figured out that Su-hyeun was the reason why these carnivorous apes had gotten scared. Even then, this reaction from the monsters was definitely weird, to say the least.

No matter how powerful he was, were these monsters were getting scared of a lone human being?

When taking into consideration the vicious nature of these monsters that pounced fearlessly on humans even under the threat of imminent death, this was truly bizarre behavior, indeed.

Rumble, ruuumble-

Su-hyeun stepped forward while his entire body was enveloped in the divine Flame. And every time he took a step, the carnivorous apes shambled one step backward.

The sight was so shocking that it went straight into the realm of pure disbelief. They couldn't believe their eyes.

"Hey, Miru."

Gya-ong-

Miru answers Su-hyeun's call, currently circling around in the air above the group.

"Look after this side for me. Make sure no one dies, okay?"

Gya-ong-!

Miru replied energetically, as if to say, "Leave it to me!"

At the same time-

[Protective Barrier of the Dragon God.]

[Blessing of the Dragon God.]

[Reflect.]

"...Uh?"

"Buffs?"

"Did that dragon just cast buffs on us?"

The members of the raiding party looked confused as buff effect messages rose up, one after the other, along with a transparent barrier that surrounded them.

They all thought Miru was simply a for-flight only divine beast, so they didn't expect the red dragon to use these sorts of buffs and defensive skills, too.

<< Are all these just to protect us? >>

Chernov realized that all of Miru's skills were aimed primarily at the raiding party, including himself. Meaning, Su-hyeun wouldn't accept anyone dying on his watch.

<< Kim Su-hyeun has finally begun using his skills. >>

Chernov was really looking forward to seeing the display the South Korean would put on.

<< In that case, we should also show our gratitude, too. >>

There was no need to interfere in Su-hyeun's battles by taking excessive, unnecessary actions. He must've chosen to act now because he felt fully confident of sweeping away all these ape monsters all by himself, after all.

"Everyone, don't break out of the defensive formation. Just provide your support from a distance. The close-quarter combatants will focus on blocking the carnivorous apes that close in on our position, while those capable of long-distance support will attack the monsters in the opposite direction to Kim Su-hyeun!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Everyone! Let's…."

[Dragon Slaying Spear.]

[Flame.]

Chwa-rurururuk-

Stab! Stab, staaab, staaaaab-!

Kkiiii-aaaaahk-!

Right at that moment, the rain of fire permeated with the divine Flame descended ruthlessly on the group of carnivorous apes gathered in one direction. The huge trees fell powerlessly, while the apes nearby were set alight with blue fire, numerous stab wounds riddling their bodies. In an instant, dozens upon dozens of monsters were killed off.

"S-son of a...."

"…."

They couldn't even express their intense shock this time.

The awakeners in the raiding party just looked on, their jaws dropped to the floor at the sight of the terrain transforming as countless giant trees fell.

Meanwhile, Su-hyeun was holding yet another spear, one of the three that used to be tied to his back. He was thinking of using them all when he brought the spears along, so he was unhesitant about using them.

[Dragon Slaying Spear.]

Chwa-ruk, chwa-rarararahk-!

Stab! Staaaaab-

The spear, splitting apart into tens of thousands of fragments, swept past his front once more.

Having finished throwing his spear, Su-hyeun clenched and unfurled his fist repeatedly while muttering to himself. "Not bad."

Punching and swinging a sword around weren't the whole story. The biggest area impacted by his enhanced strength stat was precisely this, throwing spears.

The muscles on his lower body, his back, and his arm required to throw a spear had all been strengthened now. Thanks to that, the power now carried in the spear had doubled. Of course, it also became that much harder to aim at his targets compared to the past.

<< Still, it won't take too long to get used to it. >>

Su-hyeun decided to save the last spear for later. He gripped his sword and rushed into the remaining carnivorous apes.

[Leap.]

Swiiish-

The ape monsters witnessed Su-hyeun's rapid movement and tried to retreat again.

But then, right at that moment...

[Provocation.]

The 'Provocation' skill, opposite in nature to the 'Predator' skill, was activated, instead.

The apes trying to run away suddenly came to a halt. And, in that brief opening, Su-hyeun's blade coldly flashed in the light.

Slice-

Splaaaash-!

Su-hyeun didn't stop running, simply sliced apart the mid-riffs of several ape monsters with one horizontal strike.

Other carnivorous apes got caught by the provocation and pounced at him. And, just before the claws of those monsters reached his back, Su-hyeun spun on his heels.

Crack-!

Kkiiii-eeehk-!

His fist swung while his body spun, it collided against the ape's hand, and utterly crushed it. As the monster rolled around on the ground, holding onto its destroyed hand, Su-hyeun's blade flew.

Sliiice-!

Ruuumble-!

After chopping one carnivorous ape apart, Su-hyeun draped himself with the divine Flame once more. The ape monsters rushing in from all directions froze in their tracks again, just like that.

His figure, now hidden within the blue flames, suddenly reappeared within the gathered masses of the carnivorous apes.

Slice, sliiiice-

Splaaash-!

And so, an indiscriminate massacre against hundreds of carnivorous apes commenced in this bloody fashion.

* * *

Sizzle, crumble-

Ruuumble-

The navy-blue flames showed no signs of going out as they burned on the trunks of the humongous trees. The flames then transferred to the corpses of the carnivorous apes littering the ground and created rising plumes of revolting stench.

The members of the raiding party witnessing the scene all had utterly fed-up expressions.

<< This... this is Kim Su-hyeun. >>

Dmitri, who had expressed doubt over Su-hyeun's abilities earlier, hastily gulped his saliva down.

<< This is no goddamn joke, man! >>

Everyone was thinking and feeling the same thing—their own insignificance compared to Su-hyeun, and then, a sense of awe.

They hadn't even lifted a finger, but all those countless carnivorous ape monsters were already rolling around on the ground as burning corpses.

Su-hyeun's abilities once he started using his magical energy were on another realm compared to before.

Chernov's skillset was somewhat better than other awakeners in the raiding party, so he was able to confirm Su-hyeun's utilization of his various skills.

<< I'm not sure what kind of skills those were, but he perfectly alternated between a fear-type skill and a provocation one. >>

The 'Predator' and 'Provocation' skills were wildly different in how they should be applied since they were the polar opposites of each other.

The 'Predator' belonging to the fear-type skill category, and caused the carnivorous apes to get scared and try to escape in a hurry. On the other hand, 'Provocation' caused the aggressive nature of these ape monsters to focus on the skill user.

Two skills on the opposite ends, used one after the other in the blink of an eye, and the ape monsters fell into confusion as a result. And that momentary confusion froze their agile movements.

Simple, but undeniably effective. What's even more surprising was the massive area-of-effect attack from the throwing spears.

<< He's supposed to have raided a blue-colored dungeon all by himself... >>

Just hearing the story didn't make it easy to picture the scene, but, having witnessed Su-hyeun's power personally, Chernov now could tell that it was all true.

Su-hyeun definitely possessed enough talent to do it.

Su-hyeun got rid of most of the carnivorous apes, approached the raiding party still maintaining the defensive formation, and asked them, "Is anyone hurt?"

Who should really be asking that question to whom, though?

He belatedly realized that point and smiled in slight embarrassment, before trying to change the subject. "If you're all fine, let's get going right away. I'm planning to move a bit faster from now on."

<< This wasn't you moving fast?? >>

<< Just how much faster are you planning to go...? >>

The raiding party members had been thinking that he was already moving really quickly until now, so they all ended up shaking their heads helplessly.

They knew now that Su-hyeun wasn't one to make empty claims.

Su-hyeun was planning to use his magical energy from this point onward and raid the dungeon a little faster than before.

<< This won't even take two days. >>

Chernov had been thinking to himself that the raid this time could very well last several days, no matter how quickly they moved, with the scale of this dungeon being what it was.

Unfortunately for the Russian S-Rank, though, Su-hyeun's hunting method was way beyond anything he could understand.

* * *

[Provocation.]

[Provocation.]

[Provocation.]

[…]

Swiiiiish-

Su-hyeun, riding on Miru's back, darted freely around in the forest.

What he did during that time was rather simple—he continued to activate the 'Provocation' skill and attracted just about every monster hiding in the forest.

It was totally dumbfounding.

Every other raiding party would do their absolute best to avoid having many monsters gather in one spot, yet here was Su-hyeun, deliberately scattering the 'provocation' skill in a wide area to summon the monsters to him, instead.

And, once hundreds upon hundreds of monsters showed up, he'd begin his hunting in earnest.

<< What kind of simple-minded.....?! >>

This was so flabbergasting that the raiding party was rendered utterly speechless.

They did think this method was rather foolhardy, but still couldn't deny the fact that this might indeed be the most efficient method after seeing Su-hyeun's fighting capabilities.

<< Is this what he meant by 'moving faster'? >>

A hunting style akin to 'battue' that utilized a flying divine beast and a provocation skill. Now, normally, such a method was only possible within a computer game. Sure, 'battue' was undeniably fast and efficient, but great danger came along with its usefulness, as well.

In games, you could restart after dying, but there was no 'reset' button in real life. When you died, that'd be it.

Despite all that, his still going through with 'battue' meant...

<< He's that confident in himself. >>

Confident that things wouldn't get too dangerous for him.

In reality, Su-hyeun only gathered monsters up to a certain point and no more than that. He always stuck to his limits and never exceeded them. And the divine beast Miru's job was to protect the raiding party from the gathered horde of monsters.

Half a day. That was how much time they needed to search through every nook and cranny of this massive forest-type dungeon and kill every monster hidden within.

The raiding party didn't have a much of a need to take a break, other than getting some quick shut-eye as the raid on the blue-colored dungeon continued around them.

Eventually…

"That thing over there... must be the boss," said Chernov, pointing at the stone statue of a monkey with its eyes closed, visible in between the gaps of the tall trees in the distance.

At a casual glance, the statue, which looked to have been carved out of a bolder, looked like nothing more than some garden ornament. But, judging from its eyes slowly opening, the statue was no ordinary artwork.

"Looks like it's discovered us. Should we attack it first?"

Chernov's question was answered by Su-hyeun shaking his head.

"No."

"Should we wait, then?"

"...Yes."

The reply came about a couple of beats later.

Chernov studied Su-hyeun's expression. The latter seemed rather serious this time.

<< I was wondering, since the monkeys showed up en masse, but this... >>

The Roc-key.

Su-hyeun has thought that the damn thing might appear as the boss of this dungeon. But now that he actually confirmed it with his own eyes, he couldn't help but worry about the folks accompanying him.

"From now on..." He turned back to the raiding party and addressed them. "Everyone excluding Mister Chernov must evacuate to a distance of three kilometers."

"Excuse me?"

"What are you..."

The raiding party members hearing Su-hyeun's new order all looked surprised.

Meanwhile, Su-hyeun tasked Chernov with taking care of the aftermath, then pulled out the spear from his back—the sole remaining spear he hadn't used until now.

Chernov saw this scene and belatedly realized that something was off.

<< Now that I think about it, why did he conserve the spear until now? >>