The Hero Returns

* * *

Krrr, krrrr—

A low growl came from a vicious-looking dog with three heads baring their fangs. However, Su-hyeun simply clenched his fist.

Bang, bam, smack—!

Whimper, whimper—!

Another fleshy bump swelled on the heads of this dog. Even though this creature had three heads, they all behaved the same as if they were triplets. They bared their fangs and growled menacingly only to cower, tuck their heads away, and make pitiful faces after getting smacked around by Su-hyeun.

The same spectacle repeated itself several times over, however.

"This guy just doesn't want to stay down even after I killed it," Su-hyeun let out a heavy groan and then raised his fist again. This creature that had tucked its tail firmly between its hind legs began baring its fangs at him once more. "Should I just bury this punk deep underground or something?"

W—whimper, kkiiiing...

It seemed that the creature was rather intelligent, judging from how it actually understood what Su-hyeun was saying and from how it started shivering in fear.

Still, it was one hell of an annoying creature to deal with.

"So, this thing is the real Cerberus, huh?"

The "Cerberus" Su-hyeun knew of was a boss monster that appeared in some dungeons. Their sizes varied, but still, they were rather well-known monsters that appeared in blue-colored dungeons.

They were around the size of a house; their physical abilities and their magical resistance were known to be rather exceptional. However, that was about it, really; a raid party built around an S-Rank awakener could definitely kill a Cerberus without borrowing the strength of the Paragon Guild.

But the Cerberus found in this place was altogether a different proposition.

"It is comparatively small at only around the size of a tiger, but it's so much faster and stronger. It can spew out Hellfire from its mouths, and on top of that, it's also smart as hell. It's definitely strong enough to hunt a low-ranked Predator on its own. Most importantly..." Su-hyeun recalled his brief fight against Cerberus just now and muttered softly, "To think that it's an immortal monster that literally can't be killed."

He never imagined that there would be another "immortal" aside from Sun Wukong. It would be near impossible to emerge fully victorious against a true undying creature of this caliber no matter how long one fought it.

Of course, if he continued to fight it, then maybe he might find a way, but for the time being, Su-hyeun couldn't immediately think of a solution during his suppression of this Cerberus.

The three-headed dog had died multiple times already, only to revive again and bare its fangs in Su-hyeun's direction; Su-hyeun didn't know whether it had forgotten about his fist leaving behind welts on its heads or if it had overcome its fear already.

To Su-hyeun, while trying to wait until the entrance opened up, this creature was proving to be one annoying distraction.

"Right. I should just bury it underground."

Just as Su-hyeun made up his mind and was about to make a move...

Creaaaak—

The heavy doors that Cerberus had been guarding began opening up.

"That's going to be a bit troublesome if you do that," came a familiar voice from beyond the doorway. The voice was rather cheery, which didn't suit the dark and damp Hell. Not only that, but his outer appearance was even more at odds with Hell.

Red hair so bright that was almost blinding, chiton that boasted an even brighter and slightly amber hue, and luminescent skin that seemed even more pristine than white jade—these all made up for an eye-catching appearance that was not something one could easily forget.

"Lord Apollo?"

"Hey, it's been a while," Apollo waved his hand cheerfully at Su-hyeun.

Cerberus wagged its tail and approached the Sun God, probably thinking that its ally had finally shown up or some such.

Too bad...

Smack—!

"Hey, get away from me. I just took a bath, you know."

Whimper—

Cerberus let out a pitiful whimper. Today was turning out to be a not-so-nice one for the guardian monster of Hell, a creature that even the gods thought of as an object of terror.

Apollo asked Su-hyeun next, "How did you get here, though?"

"I created a pathway."

"A pathway, you say?"

"Yes."

Apollo's expression said he didn't really get it.

He was born a god, and opening doorways to enter or leave dimensions was all too natural for him. Therefore, Su-hyeun's explanation came across as rather strange to Apollo. However, it wasn't just him, but most other gods would've reacted the same as he did.

"As I thought, this place was close to the 102nd floor," Su-hyeun inwardly confirmed.

He met both Apollo and Hades during the 102nd floor's trial, and to meet them again, he climbed "down" the tower's floors. Now normally, such a thing would've been nearly impossible, but Su-hyeun forcibly created the pathway anyway.

Just like that, he headed to the world where he met Hercules through the 102nd floor, and right after that, he opened the doorway just like how Apollo and Hades did and entered Hell.

"Not sure I get you, but in any case, you have also reached this realm of strength, huh?"

"Is that how it is?"

"I did expect this outcome. No, wait—honestly, I did have a glimpse of it. In the future that I glimpsed back then, you had ascended to this very realm, after all. It's just that I didn't know it would be this quick."

Rustle—

Apollo swept up his long hair and revealed his eyes while talking to him. The light in his eyes was glowing in a bluish hue.

It was Insight.

It seemed that he really did peek into Su-hyeun's future when they first met.

"Can you...still see even now?" Su-hyeun asked while holding Apollo's gaze.

Unlike before, Su-hyeun also possessed the same type of "eyes" as the Sun God now—the "eyes" called Insight that could see through the truth of the world.

Apollo stared at Su-hyeun for a bit before replying. "Well, I can see something, but," he trailed off.

He eventually continued with some uncertainty in his voice, "I can see way too many."

"Too many?"

"Right. Back then, your future that I saw was just one, but now, there are hundreds, thousands, no, millions of possibilities, so much so that my eyes are hurting, and my head feels like it's going to explode. At this rate, there's no point in taking a peek."

Apollo squeezed his eyes shut. It seemed that his eyes really hurt after staring into Su-hyeun's eyes.

He continued, "You are changing your already-set destiny through your own strength. No, wait—we should say that you've already changed it. That should be the reason why your future is all jumbled up, and I ended up seeing so many possibilities."

"To put it simply, you can't see it?"

"Yes, yes. I can't see it," Apollo held up both of his hands in defeat.

When he did that, though, another voice came from behind him, "If my nephew can't see it, then it'll be the same story for the other gods, too."

That baritone voice, low but booming enough to rock the tall ceiling, belonged to Hades. He followed Apollo and stepped outside Hell's gateway as well.

"His Insight has been regarded to be even better than the Five Godly Sages, after all," said Hades.

"It's been a while," Su-hyeun bowed his head at Hades' entrance, but the greeting itself didn't last long. He immediately asked about the topic he found curious in the God of the Netherworld's explanation, "By the way, can you tell me what this 'Five Godly Sages' is?"

"The five strongest gods that represent all the other gods. In other words, they are like the kings of the gods."

"Kings of the gods...?"

"This fool's father, my little brother Zeus, is one of them."

"I knew it," Su-hyeun thought.

Su-hyeun wasn't all that surprised by this revelation; after he personally experienced the power of the Thunder Glove he was currently wearing over his left hand, he could more or less estimate the level of strength the god named Zeus possessed.

"The Five Godly Sages, huh," he inwardly said.

They were the five gods that represented all the gods—one of them was Zeus, then there was his son, plus his older brother, who just so happened to be standing right in front of Su-hyeun.

"I would like to meet him one day," said Su-hyeun.

"You mean, Zeus?"

"What, my father?"

Hades and Apollo both made slightly stunned faces. They had been wondering why Su-hyeun came to a place as cumbersome to visit as Hell, yet he suddenly said he wanted to meet Zeus on top of that.

Of course, his real purpose in coming here wasn't Zeus. He quickly waved his hands about to dispel any potential misunderstanding, "Ah, no. I didn't come here today to meet him. I was thinking of meeting someone else, actually."

"Who is this someone else, then?"

"Hephaestus. That's who I'd like to meet today."

"Hephaestus, you say?" Hades scanned all the equipment currently worn by Su-hyeun and then nodded in understanding.

There were quite a few gods who relied on equipment to some degree. For instance, even top gods like Zeus or Poseidon used Thunderbolts or the Trident when they fought their battles.

Wanting to acquire even better equipment would be a good enough reason why Su-hyeun was seeking out Hephaestus.

Hades spoke up, "Normally, it's impossible for the gods not affiliated with our realm to enter Olympus."

"Really?"

"However, Zeus was getting genuinely curious about you recently. I'm sure the necessary permission will be granted quite easily."

"Why me?" Su-hyeun wasn't sure why a top god like Zeus knew about him, let alone be curious about him.

But the reason was surprisingly simple.

"It has to do with Hercules. That man is Zeus's son, after all, even if the blood of humans flows in his veins."

Su-hyeun nodded right away at Hades' reply.

It wouldn't be too strange to be curious about the individual who saved your child, after all. Also, it wasn't that hard to figure out how Zeus knew about that incident if Su-hyeun thought about it for a second.

"The God's Tear that fell back then..." Su-hyeun realized the origin of the "God's Tear" that fell after the matter of Hercules—the trial of the 102nd floor—had been resolved. "That belonged to Zeus?"

Zeus had been watching everything—what kind of difficult road Hercules had to walk, what kind of emotions and desires tried to overtake the demigod, and what kind of transformations he was subjected under.

And Zeus shed his tears, which was none other than God's Tear, while watching everything.

"I mean, just because a god cried, that wouldn't necessarily turn into a God's Tear, after all."

However, such a thing did happen, and it most likely indicated that Zeus—a god in the Five Godly Sages-tier, the king of other gods, and the original master of the Thunder Glove—held a favorable impression of Su-hyeun.

It was rather unexpected, but Su-hyeun might get to meet such a being after all.

"Should we get going right away, then?"

Rumble—

Apollo spoke up and then swirled his finger in the air to open a doorway. Amber-hued flames spread left and right and revealed the sight of azure skies.

"Let's head to Olympus."

* * *

On the azure sky, white clouds gathered to create soft and fluffy "ground." A humongous temple was located on top of such clouds—it was none other than the temple of the Sun God, Apollo.

Hades was standing behind Apollo, all the while making an expression that said that he was definitely not impressed about something. "You punk, do not forget that you still have a lot of time left in your sentence," he said.

"Uncle, I beg of you to let this one slide, please," Apollo laughed good-naturedly.

Even a blind man could see that he was planning to use Su-hyeun's visit as his excuse to escape from Hell.

Hades thought about something for a bit and then alternated his gaze between Su-hyeun and Apollo. Currently, the trio was walking toward Apollo's Sun Chariot. "Fine, 10 days, but no more. Any longer than that, then I shall personally drag you away and throw you inside the depths of Hell," he warned.

"Understood, uncle."

"However, don't get distracted and drive your vehicle properly. If you crash your Sun Chariot on the ground like how you did before, then know that I shall keep you locked up in Hell for 2000 years straight."

"Don't worry about that, uncle."

Neiiiiigh—!

Three horses pulling the chariot that had been on standby inside the temple all neighed energetically. Actual flames gushed out from their nostrils, and along with stifling heat, a bright light illuminated the surroundings.

However, once the trio stepped into the chariot painted in luscious gold, all semblance of heat miraculously vanished. Su-hyeun wordlessly studied the interior of this golden chariot, "Is everything made of adamantium?"

The rarest and most valuable metal back in Su-hyeun's homeworld was none other than adamantium. For one thing, Su-hyeun's sword and armor were crafted out of this metal, and the prices on equipment containing adamantium reached astronomical numbers in the marketplace, too.

Therefore, to think that a chariot the size of a train car was entirely made of adamantium...

"This much should be enough to buy out a small country back home," Su-hyeun could only be silently astonished when he thought about the potential price tag of this vehicle. While he was feeling genuinely impressed inwardly, the chariot began moving.

Clunk—

Neiiiiigh—!

The horses neighed as the chariot became airborne, but the sensation of it moving lasted only for a truly brief moment. Soon afterward, the scenery visible outside the chariot changed instantly and displayed something new: another sky that existed over the sky below and a new world in the distance.

"That's Olympus." Apollo walked up behind Su-hyeun, who had been busy spectating the scenery outside. "I welcome you to the land of the gods," he said.