The Hero Returns

Maxman closed his eyes for a while and thought. In just a second, he thought many things. The scales in his head were tilted to one side and then back to the other constantly. He had never thought so deeply and quickly in such a short amount of time. Maxman finally opened his eyes.

"I…" Maxman opened his mouth.

He could see Su-hyeun in front of him. The voice from below still made his head dizzy.

It was at that moment.

Well, then. I think all you guys should rather die here.

Whirl, whirl, whirl—

Maxman made his decision.

" All army…!"

He turned his body and looked at the soldiers.

"Get out of the castle! Right now!" He put magic in his voice and shouted. His voice was full of power. He worries completely vanished.

And it was a rebellion against the high officials of the kingdom, who made sound from downstairs.

-Are you betraying the kingdom?

The shrilly voice shook the castle. Maxman looked down with contempt and opened his mouth.

"A real soldier doesn't feel diffident superior," he said, "the real soldier reads subordinate's countenance. Especially, if the price is the life of people, there is nothing to think about."

The reason he stopped worrying was simple. It was an easy question. The balances shook several times and soon it tilted to one side. The difference in weight was quite clear. Maxman had no intention of keeping the superior's order, which was a death sentence for the soldiers.

If you do that...

Crack, crack —

Barroom, crack —

The castle started to shake, and some sort of dark energy flowed through the walls. Maxman was surprised and pushed the soldiers back.

I will kill you all.

Whooooom—

"Runaway! Right now!" Maxman had a feeling and shouted.

The soldiers were also anxious. In the meantime, the order fell, so they ran as quickly as they could.

"R-run away!"

"Get out of the castle!"

"Hurry up! Quickly!"

The soldiers began to move in perfect order, the energy from the wall began to shoot.

Pow, pow, pow—!

Swiiiish—!

Hundreds of thousands of spear blades struck the soldiers.

Maxman quickly moved his magic, but he could not cover all the soldiers with only his power.

"Is it too late…?" he thought.

Whoosh—!

At that moment, a huge fire swept through the walls of the castle.

crackle—

The heat had encroached on the castle. The heatwave seemed like it could burn the flesh. Thankfully, the black spears that had been firing at the soldiers were destroyed by the fire.

"W-what the?... Maxman mumbled.

"Are you in charge here?" Su-hyeun asked.

Maxman turned his head to Su-hyeun when he heard his voice. He thought this guy was his enemy, but he saved their lives.

"You've made a good choice. Go out, quickly," Su-hyeun said calmly.

"Why...?" Maxman asked.

"The reason is not important right now. You have to survive first, right?"

Su-hyeun's word was right. First of all, surviving was the most important thing. He didn't want to let thousands of soldiers be killed because of his foolishness. Maxman nodded and opened his mouth.

"Donald!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Take all the soldiers out of the castle and escape right now. I will leave the rest to your judgment," Maxman commanded.

"What, sir? What do you mean, sir?" Donald asked.

"You heard me! Move right now! We don't have much time!"

With loud scolding of Maxman, the deputy commander, Donald, shook his body and nodded. As Maxman said, there was certainly no time to linger. Su-hyeun was blocking, but the threat had not yet disappeared.

"Run! Escape out of the castle! Now!" Donald shouted.

He began to lead soldiers. He had been in charge of the soldiers for a long time with Maxman.

Su-hyeun opened his mouth as he watched the soldiers running away.

"Why don't you go?"

"I want to see with my own eyes if my judgment was correct," Maxman answered.

"Do you still think I might be the enemy?" Su-hyeun asked.

"Perhaps… No… Yes," Maxman answered slowly.

Maxman had made a choice, but he was not sure about it yet. Right at the moment, he thought saving the soldiers was the right decision and he didn't regret it. However, it was necessary to check who Su-hyeun was.

"I am grateful to save the soldiers. As a superior, I thought it was better to take your side than that ruffian that told all soldiers to die. But..."

Maxman shut his eyes, opened again, and continued to say.

"I can't eliminate any single possibility. I have never seen you before. So, if my decision was wrong...I will take responsibility for myself."

It was understandable. Su-hyeun was the person he never saw before, especially he invaded the castle. It was hard to believe that Su-hyeun was on his side, even if he had saved them. At least Maxman thought he needed to check the situation as the man in charge.

"Whatever. Do as you please," Su-hyeun said.

Rumble, Ruuuuumble—

The walls shook more and more loudly. Su-hyeun gave a little more magic to the Flame. The magic of Richie and Su-hyeun continued to collide.

"It could have bothered me," he thought.

Maxman's choice about the voice that came from below was fortunate for Su-hyeun. If Maxman decided to keep the position and attack Su-hyeun, he had no choice but to escape from the soldiers.

He was not sure what was underneath. But no matter what was there, if the soldiers stayed, he could not be rash in a choice move or fight.

"Since he made a difficult decision—" Su-hyeun thought.

Whoosh, whoosh—

"—I guess, the decision I made was not wrong."

Su-hyeun was blocking all the sides' walls in the castle with the Flame. Additionally, he had controlled his power and focused to not burn the soldiers so far. The magic and concentration that was consumed in the process were difficult to cope with even though he was excellent at controlling magic.

And Maxman, who was facing Su-hyeun himself, might know that. Maxman was also a man who could use magic. For a long time, Su-hyeun concentrated and blocked Richie's magic. When he was convinced that all the soldiers had escaped from the castle, he finally put out his Flame.

"Huu—" he sighed.

It had been a long time that he had used so much magic. Although his Magic Factor increased over the past year, there was a limit, of course.

Sweat formed on his tired face. Su-hyeun sat down and checked around.

"Is he tired, too?" he thought.

Richie, who had been fighting for a while, also stopped releasing his power. Su-hyeun was thankful for that, he had time to take a breath.

"You really won't go out?" Su-hyeun asked once more to confirm before he stood up, "I can't protect you anymore."

" I can protect myself," Maxman said.

"Well... I don't think so…" Su-hyeun said.

"Don't' worry. I won't beg for my life. As commander here, I must see what is going on in this castle."

He was an inflexible and stubborn man. Su-hyeun wondered, how this kind of man could decide against the kingdom.

"I guess he takes care of the soldiers that much," he thought.

Maxman was a good superior. Thanks to him, this test became much easier.

"Now, it is almost time to end," Su-hyeun thought.

Tuk, tuk—

He beat the dust off the pants and stood up.

Maxman also stood up and drew his sword.

"Then, let's go," Su-hyeun said.

"Are you going underground?" Maxman asked.

"Yes," Su-hyeun answered.

"I'll take the lead. Follow me."

Maxman, who knew the castle's structure well, stepped to one side to guide him.

"You don't have to."

Crack—!

Su-hyeun struck the sword toward the floor as he did the first time. Then, he injected his magic and began to break the floor.

Whack, whaaaack —

Craaaash—

Maxman shouted in surprise as he looked back at Su-hyeun, who was about to break the castle disappear below.

"How dare you break the castle...!"

"We don't have time to go around," Su-hyeun said.

"But…"

"If we don't hurry, all soldiers may die."

In response to Su-hyeun, Maxman shut his mouth up. The soldiers might die. Nothing more effective for Maxman than that and it was not just to make his mouth shut.

Crack, rumble—

The floor began to collapse. Su-hyeun jumped down and glanced at Maxman. While falling, Maxman calmly slowed down. He didn't particularly study magic, but he had quite excellent physical skills.

"Hmm… He is quite good," Su-hyeun thought.

Maxman had a good magic ability, but he was the swordsman who had a much better physical ability. He might be comparable to Richies that Su-hyeun just fought. At least, he would not be a burden.

Swish—

Crunch, crunch—

Su-hyeun broke the floor several more times. As they descended, they finally arrived at the dark underground. There was no light. Indeed, it was dark. It was not just because there was no light. There was some energy hovering around. It was very dreary energy, and could even erase the musty smell of the underground.

"Where is this place…?" Maxman mumbled.

He never saw this place before--a surprise since he knew the castle underground so well. It consisted of prisons for sinners or for soldiers who had committed wrongdoing. But this place was not for that. The underground that Maxman knew was above this place. This place was the underground of the underground.

Maxman, who was commander of the castle, never knew this place existed.

"Watch out. Don't move," Su-hyeun said.

He quickly grabbed Maxman's shoulder as he was about to take a step forward.

"Your ankle will be cut off."

"...!"

Maxman looked around in surprise. Hundreds and thousands of blades were laid on the floor. They wriggled and wandered around the floor as if they were alive. They were not normal weapons. They were blades made in some magical way.

"That is too bad. You could pay the price for betrayal."

The shadow of a person revealed with a giggle.

"Betrayal, my a*s. I don't think someone fooled others can use such words."

Richie, who was looking at Maxman, turned his face to Su-hyeun as if his words made him feel bad.

"Where did a guy like you come from?" Richie asked in a quiet voice.

"I dropped with a thud from the sky. To kill the bastards like you," Su-hyeun said.

It was not necessarily wrong. He had fallen to pass this place to pass the test. Until now, it was only a series of steps to complete this trial perfectly.

And perhaps the final test of this trial would be the Richie in front of him.

"Are you trying to play some sort of hero?" Richie asked.

"Did you just say a hero?" Su-hyeun knitted his brows at Richie's question and said, "watch your mouth. That word. I don't like it much."