The Hero Returns

Act 9

Without a doubt, this was an illogical battle.

Things might have been different if Su-hyeun brought out his everything and fought without holding back.

He would have been able to attack much faster and much more furiously, after all.

He could have used the Somersault cloud to continuously seal off the enemy's movements, all the while hitting it with lightning bolts, and then strike rapidly with the Palm Leaf on top...

And then, by spreading the divine Flame everywhere to secure his territory and ruling over it, he could have continuously heated up the enemy's body and create an advantageous environment for himself.

Besides this tactic, he could have performed a barrage of different magic spells or land a powerful impact force in an instant and so on.

However...

"It's difficult to tell when its defenses will be overcome, so..."

Su-hyeun chose not to take such a gamble.

His opponent was a predator. It was on a whole other realm from the other creatures he had been fighting until now, the "preys."

As such, there was simply no way that he wouldn't contemplate what was to come.

"I figured out most of its attack and defensive power, as well as its speed. As for the Death Aura's corrosive factor, that won't work on me. Which means..."

The conclusion wasn't hard to get to.

"In the end, it's a protracted battle, isn't it?"

Correct distribution of stamina and magical energy, and then, fight the drawn-out battle...

He aimed to continue hitting the enemy until that horrifyingly tough body broke down, and to achieve his goal, Su-hyeun had been staying at his highest level of concentration for half a day straight.

Crack—

Su-hyeun's eyes caught the sight of a crack that appeared in the predator's body.

That wound did not regenerate. It was not that hard to tell that the creature's stamina had been depleted by a lot from how the predator wasn't moving at all.

"That's my opening."

Su-hyeun extended his hand toward the predator. At the same time, a magic circle drawn out with black lines floated on his hand.

Chwa-ruru, chwa-ru—

[Chain of Darkness—Prey Hunting]

The magic circle devoured his magical energy and Death Aura to produce lengthy and thick chains.

They quickly extended out and tightened around the predator's body. When the chains bound its arms and legs, as well as its torso, and even its neck, the creature suddenly began screeching out.

Kyah-aaaah—!

CLANG—

Along with that enraged howl, the black chains shook around violently.

Creeeak—

Clang, snap—

When the predator strengthened its arms and legs, the sturdy and thick chains simply snapped apart oh so easily.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. However, Su-hyeun took advantage of that brief moment and made his move.

CLANG—!

Kha-aaahk—!

For the first time ever during this fight, Su-hyeun's sword sliced open the enemy's Gyeol.

Crack—

The thin crack that appeared on the predator's body opened up even further. It was the result of suffering the impact on its "Gyeol" while it had been exposed to accumulated damage.

Also, for the first time, Su-hyeun felt the correct sensation in his hand that was gripping the sword.

With that, he became certain. There was no reason to conserve his strength and fight a protracted battle anymore.

"Arise."

Gugugugu—

Undead creatures began rising up all around Su-hyeun.

From Prince Nezha and Gluttony that had consumed the potions and became much stronger to the Chief Gatekeeper, Ouroboros, and Hydra, countless other undead revealed themselves in full, all the while looking almost like their original appearances.

Ruuuuumble—

[Flame—Land of Fire]

The desert was instantly enveloped in gigantic indigo-hued flames.

The sand particles were heated up by the scorching temperature, and smoke began rising up from the feet of the predator standing on them.

It showed no signs of suffering from the heat, but there was no way that it would feel fine while it was stuck in this environment.

The creature had already received quite a lot of blows by now. This heat would surely accumulate diligently within the creature's body and, at a certain given moment, start cooking it alive from the inside.

Rumble—

Su-hyeun's blade was heated up into a purple hue.

"Well then…"

Su-hyeun signaled with his hand. At the same time, Prince Nezha, Gluttony, and the other undead started moving forward.

Guwuaaaaahk—!

Gluttony's massive mouth closed in to swallow up the predator. The latter didn't move and simply seemingly stared at the incoming undead.

Swallow—

Gluttony successfully swallowed up the predator and tried to move its mouth to chew the creature but then...

Crunch, cruuuunch—

Spliiit—

The predator ripped open Gluttony's lower jaw with its hands and emerged outside again. However, what waited for it was a huge shadow cast over its head.

"What…is…?"

Whoooosh—

Ka-booooom—!

The massive Yogoe Beating Mace descended on top of its head, but after slamming that weapon down, a faint little expression formed on Prince Nezha's face.

It was puzzlement, and soon, the reason for such an expression revealed itself.

Creak, creaaak—

Bang—!

The Yogoe Beating Mace was lifted up again, but Prince Nezha wasn't the one doing the lifting.

The truth was, the weapon had been pushed up from below.

"So… many…"

Whoosh—

Baaaang—!

However, the moment the predator shoved the Yogoe Beating Mace away, Su-hyeun's sword flew in toward it instead.

Ruuumble—

Kya-aaahk—!

The purple-hued divine Flame entered the sliced-open crack of the predator. The creature screamed after the sword attack struck it dead-on, and the scorching heat entered its body.

Grab—

Su-hyeun powerfully grabbed the predator's throat. He gripped so hard that the creature couldn't even squeak out a sound before lifting up the predator in the air and slamming it straight into the ground below.

KA-BOOOOM—!

The desert sand exploded up.

The predator's body that was stuck in the ground got buried under the falling sand. At the same time, the summoned creatures directly leaped into the crater where the creature was still buried.

Kyah-aaaaah—!

Crunch, ku-gugugugu—

Hydra spat out powerful toxins, while the Chief Gatekeeper swung its massive steel ball. Ouroboros slammed its tail down, while the Yogoe Slaying Sword's crushing blow extended out to its target.

Lastly, Gluttony opened its giant mouth once more and tried to devour the predator. Its mouth had already fully recovered by then after absorbing Su-hyeun's Death Aura.

But right at that moment...

Pu-haaaahk—!

Su-hyeun's summons were torn into pieces and got blown away from the sand crater where the predator was buried in. Gluttony and Prince Nezha seemed to have managed to withstand the impact force somehow because they answered Su-hyeun's will to quickly create a great distance from the creature.

Bang—

The predator's figure floated up in the air.

Su-hyeun watched the creature from a bit of a distance away.

Countless purple-lines could be seen on its pitch-black body now. It reminded him of a previously sturdy vase about to shatter at any second.

"A little more push."

Grip—

Ruuuumble—

Su-hyeun enveloped his sword in the divine Flame.

Whoosh—

Soon after that, hot winds blew across the ground covered in the divine Flame. The predator seemed to have sensed that something dangerous was afoot because it suddenly began dashing rapidly toward Su-hyeun.

"Rip that thing apart..."

Squeeeeze—

Su-hyeun held the sword with both of his hands. Huge roaring winds engulfed the flames and created a sharp blade.

Poooow—!

The predator's figure rapidly closed in.

However, Su-hyeun wasn't planning to dodge or block that.

The creature's hand extended toward Su-hyeun's throat. Even though he saw that, he didn't deviate his sword swing from its original intended direction and pressed on.

"Palm Leaf."

Puuu-hwaaaaak—!

Fwhooooosh—

The winds made the flames burn even more violently. The scorching conflagration became sharp blades that spun around like a tornado to stop the predator's figure right there on the spot.

Creaaack, screeeech—

The predator's extended hand slowly inched toward Su-hyeun. However, just before it could touch his throat, its arm faltered weakly to the ground.

"So…annoying..."

Whoosh—

Su-hyeun cocked his arm back, and a blue-lined magic circle materialized above his clenched fist.

[Earthquake—Tremor]

RUUUUMBLE—!

CRACK—!

Su-hyeun's punch, along with the tremor focused on a single point, slammed into the predator's head. Then, the monster's body was powerfully flung away.

Fwhoooooosh—!

Gu-wuwuwuwu—

The predator flew away for several kilometers before crashing into the ground, kicking up an almighty dust storm. Su-hyeun blew at his numb-feeling fist and dusted it off.

"Man, that thing's seriously tough, isn't it?"

Shu-wuwu—

The divine Flame spread around the surroundings dissipated.

He sensed a distinct feeling in his fist. It was the shattering of a hard shell into bits, which had definitely been transmitted to his hand just then.

"With that much, maybe…"

Maybe it had died.

Logically speaking, it had to be dead. The bastard had already been weakened considerably, after all. On top of that, Su-hyeun had confirmed the changes to the creature's body just now, too.

"Its whole body showed up as its weakness."

Through the power of Sage's Eye, he took a look at the creature's Gyeol.

The Gyeol indicated where one should cut or hit to inflict the most amount of damage. Meaning, it didn't matter where Su-hyeun hit the creature, his attack would still prove to be fatal. That was why he didn't worry about where to hit and powerfully struck the predator in the head.

However, for some strange reason, he didn't feel confident at all.

"Something's still..."

Gu-wuwuwu—

Kyaa-aaaaaah—!

The first thing to shoot past Su-hyeun was an incredibly huge ripple of energy. He hurriedly raised his arms to block it, and a beat later, the predator's loud screech resounded next.

"I knew it."

That thing was still alive.

Not only was it sturdy but its vitality was also top-tier.

Unfortunately, out of the two guesses in his mind—"it must be dead from all those attacks," and "it's probably not dead yet"—the truth turned out to be the latter.

Su-hyeun dashed toward the predator once more, but when he stepped on the desert sand to fly forward...

"Uh?"

He came to a temporary halt because he discovered a huge black "matter" in the distance.

His expression crumpled instantly.

That previously small bastard was growing back in size, it seemed.

* * *

Flap—

Whoosh—

Ellid discovered the predator beginning to enlarge itself again, so he spread his wings and flew to where Su-hyeun was.

Miru accompanied the elder dragon as well after having been apart from Su-hyeun during the battle. Even though the red dragon had gone through giantification, it was still only about one-fifth of Ellid's total size.

"You've arrived."

"And you really won."

"No, I still haven't defeated it yet."

While replying like that, Su-hyeun pointed at the predator in the distance.

The black matter taking on a truly bizarre appearance was grotesquely writhing around while still getting larger. Su-hyeun could tell that what they were seeing now was the true appearance of the gigantic predator that Ellid had mentioned earlier.

"No, you've won, judging from that thing's state. That bastard is simply going on its final desperate struggle, that's all."

Gya-ooong—

Miru energetically nodded to say that Ellid was right.

Su-hyeun simply shrugged his shoulders as his reply, though. Even if they said that, in all honesty, he didn't think it was already over.

"By the way, why did you guys come over here? Just like you said, I haven't lost yet."

"Well, that looked a little too dangerous, you see. I don't think you'll lose at this point, but even then, there's a slight issue..."

While saying that, Ellid looked behind them.

The village was currently being protected by the solid wall of ice dozens of meters thick, as well as the magic circle Ellid had set up earlier, but the amount of energy gushing out from the predator before their eyes had already gone past the level of worrisome by now.

If and when such an intense amount of Death Aura was unleashed on all of the surroundings, then even though Su-hyeun and Ellid might be fine, the ice wall protecting the village could melt down in an instant.

"It seems that getting rid of that thing as soon as possible might be in our best interest. Even I can't tell just by how much larger that thing will grow."

"I was already planning to do so, anyway."

"But I thought you were taking a break due to your fatigue? You've been staying still for a while now."

"I wasn't being still, actually."

Rumble, grumbleeee—

Su-hyeun raised his head and looked up. "I was preparing that."

"Preparing...?"

Ellid followed after Su-hyeun's gaze and looked up as well.

Dark, murky clouds had drifted into the pitch-black skies. If this was any other time, Ellid would have dismissed them as simply regular clouds, but right now, he could tell that they were anything but ordinary.

Ellid quietly observed, "Now that I see it, the entire the sky has..."

The cloud cover had blanketed everywhere.

Just how far did this cloud cover extend to? These clouds densely covering the skies were rapidly churning and tumbling as if they were forming a typhoon.

"N—no, wait. They aren't moving away."

Rumble, Ku-rururu—

Ellid's eyes progressively opened wider and wider as the clouds churned while letting out a furious grumble as if they were enraged right now.

"They are gathering above this guy's head."