The Hero Returns

It was a snake-like eye. At the same time, a new type of scale that didn't belong to the Imoogi began sprouting out of Su-hyeun's skin. Sensations picked up from all over his body sharpened up considerably. Everything in his surroundings could be felt vividly on his skin now.

Not just the snakes thrashing about on the floor, but even the heavy breathing coming from Ouroboros's gigantic body could be felt clearly.

<<Now isn't the time to check out my new trait, is it?>>

Indeed, confirming the new trait acquired through the transfiguration skill should come later. The important thing now was that Su-hyeun's body became quite similar to Ouroboros's temporarily through the usage of his skill.

Vrrrr, vrrrrr—

The sword still sucking in the power of Ouroboros was vibrating angrily even now. But one thing was for certain: his body accepting that power had regained its stability.

At the very least, his body was no longer rejecting this power. That alone made it far easier to accept more and more of the Ouroboros's magical energy.

"And from now on…"

Su-hyeun gripped the hilt even tighter as if he was planning to never let it go.

"I'm your master."

[Magic factor has risen by one point.]

<hr />

Raeng and Malcolm sat opposite of each other, choosing to not say a single word for a long while. They needed time.

Malcolm fiddled around the book Raeng had handed over. He couldn't bring himself to flip open the cover and start reading it.

"Do you need more time to think about this?"

Waiting for dozens of minutes already, Raeng pressed Malcolm for an answer. But the latter couldn't reply, simply pretending to not hear the question while touching the book's cover.

One of the dark magicians couldn't watch any longer and had to ask, "Do we really need this person's aid, sir?"

Now normally, he'd not have shown any courtesy to Malcolm, but the person in question happened to be Raeng's old friend. The dark magicians learned of this truth for the first time today; it was only obvious that their attitude in dealing with Malcolm would change accordingly.

"It seemed that none of you are aware of my friend's ability," replied Raeng.

"We knew that he played a vital role in summoning Ouroboros, but…"

"It's not that he 'played a vital role,' but my friend here had performed it practically all by himself. You and I, we simply sat on the banquet table after the feast had been laid out for us, that's all."

The dark magicians all shut their mouths at Raeng's words. Technically speaking, his assertion wasn't wrong. Every dark magician present could easily gorge on the feast already prepared for them.

Mere words weren't enough to express how incredible Malcolm's wealth of knowledge was.

"As I thought… I'll have to refuse."

"But, Malcolm."

"Please don't try to change my mind. As I feared, this isn't right. Even if…"

Crumple—

Malcolm spoke as his energyless fingers crumpled the book's corner. "Even if I get to meet my son again."

"…That's unfortunate."

Raeng simply stood up from the chair, looking as if he had no thought of taking the book away from Malcolm's grip. "I shall leave that tome behind with you. Please have a good look through, and if you have a change of heart by any chance, then come seek me out in the tower at the center of the city."

"You shouldn't wait for me."

"I shall give you ten days. If you don't come within that time frame…"

Kyyaaaaaah—

Just as Raeng was hesitating with what to say next, his ears picked up Ouroboros's cry.

Kyaaah, kyaaaah—!

No, this couldn't be a mere cry.

This was…

"A scream??"

It couldn't be, but he needed to confirm nevertheless. He shifted his gaze only to see Malcolm making a similar expression as his. Even the latter believed that Ouroboros couldn't possibly scream like that.

"S-sir, this…"

"Let's go take a look." Raeng turned his pale complexion towards Malcolm still sitting in his chair. "Are you coming with us?"

Malcolm thought about it for a moment or two after hearing the question, but eventually, nodded his head.

For some reason, he kept recalling Su-hyeun's face.

<hr />

A drop of hot liquid fell on Su-hyeun's face.

His tightly-shut eyes opened up all by themselves. The first thing he noticed after his trembling eyelids opened was a blurry, unclear view.

Gya-ong—!

Next was Miru's cry. Su-hyeun reached towards the direction of that cry, then rubbed the dragon's slumped back still lying on the floor.

<<Did I black out?>>

It seemed that all of his energy had been exhausted and he blacked out the moment the Immortality skill's duration came to an end.

He couldn't muster any strength in his body. No, more correctly, he really didn't want to move his body at all. He just wanted to lie there for a little bit longer.

"Good job, my boy."

Growl—

Su-hyeun petted the back of Miru sagging on the floor just like him.

Three Breath attacks.

This kid used to behave as if it'd die of exhaustion after firing two consecutive Breath attacks, so Su-hyeun couldn't quite figure out how his dragon managed to shoot the third shot.

It did mean that Miru had grown just a little more, but it also meant that the dragon put in even more effort than ever before, too. Su-hyeun was feeling so proud and happy right now. However, they couldn't just stay here doing nothing.

"Urgh."

He forced himself up with the trembling arms, and felt some strength return to his body little by little.

Having his torso upright, Su-hyeun was able to take a better look at his surroundings. As his mind grew clearer, his previously-blurry vision was slowly restored as well.

The floor he'd been lying on felt a lot harder than before. After he took a look at his vicinity, he noticed that the snakes, Ouroboros's clones, were strewn about messily all over the place, none of them budging an inch.

Every single one of them was dead.

<<I managed to survive, somehow.>>

It was literally the difference of a hair's breadth.

If he took even a moment longer to destroy the heart and failed to perfectly absorb the power from it, then he'd also be rolling around on the floor as a corpse himself by now.

In other words, he got to fully enjoy the effects of the hero-class skill, Immortality.

<<In any case, did I succeed or not?>>

He still hadn't been graded for the outcome of the results yet. But then again, it was obvious as to why, seeing that hunting down Ouroboros wasn't the objective of the trial in the first place.

Of course, the remaining matters weren't going to pose much of a problem. The objective of this trial as Su-hyeun figured out wasn't fundamentally a difficult one.

<<Status.>>

[Name: Kim Su-hyeun]

[Magic factor: 81] [Magic level: 8]

[Strength: 83] [Agility: 89]

[Health: 78] [Reflex: 91]

[Skill: Leap * details]

[Skill: Transfiguration * details]

[Skill: Flame….]

….

[Fatigue: 55]

After confirming his stats, Su-hyeun almost cried out in happiness without even realizing it. No, his cry did half-way come out of his mouth, but then he managed to swallow it back down. He didn't want to wake Miru.

[Magic factor: 81.]

[Magic level: 8.]

The first digit of his magic factor had reached 8 while his magic level had reached 8, too.

In all honesty, such numbers scarcely made any logical sense. If he let slip that he achieved this result in only half a year, no one would even believe him, that's for sure.

Su-hyeun extended his hand forward, and at the same time, the magical energy he absorbed from Ouroboros began swirling about within his outstretched palm.

Giii-iiing—

Sizzzzle—

His palm felt hot as if it was on fire. He furrowed his brows and stopped arousing his magical energy.

The magical power he absorbed from Ouroboros was showing an adverse reaction. He might have absorbed it, but it seemed that he hadn't fully assimilated everything yet.

<<Two different types of magical energies are refusing to fuse together and are acting independently. I've never seen anything like this before….>>

If he tried to use more than a certain amount of magical energy, the energy he absorbed from Ouroboros would start rejecting his control. The whole thing kind of felt like his new power hadn't acknowledged Su-hyeun as its new master.

<<Looks like I'll have to jump through some hoops in the near future.>>

It wasn't as if he couldn't think up of a way around this. Su-hyeun stood up from the spot and activated the newly-acquired trait, Third Eye.

Kii-ririririk—

A snake-like eye opened up in Su-hyeun's forehead.

At the same time, he could vividly sense every little minute sound and presence in his near vicinity as if he was looking at them through his eyes. Even this darkened space brightened noticeably in his view.

<<Maybe it's like a snake's eyes?>>

Although it sort of looked grotesque, he could thankfully close his new eye again. Not only that, the abilities he could enjoy when opening his third eye weren't just limited to the enhanced visual senses.

As this trait was acquired from Ouroboros, the third eye also allowed him to assimilate the gigantic snake's powers as his own as well.

Was that why?

The magical energy showing signs of rejection began to quieten down gradually. Now it was acting as if it couldn't tell whether Su-hyeun was an enemy or an ally.

<<I guess I can bear with it if it's this much.>>

He had acquired this power rather abruptly; it was only right that he'd have to deal with this level of inconvenience. Besides, he still ended up becoming much stronger than before even without resorting to Ouroboros's power.

A magical energy level of 8.

Su-hyeun knew really well the level of destructive power that signified as he had already wielded such strength before.

<<For now…>>

Su-hyeun closed shut the third eye in his forehead, lifted up Miru sagging on the floor, and placed the dragon on his shoulder.

"Let's get out of this place first."

Act 2

"Son of a…"

"This can't be happening…."

Dark magicians arriving by the seafront formed stunned expressions while looking around the area.

The sight of the seaside that had been utterly crushed beyond recognition was one thing, but they found the spectacle of Ouroboros's corpse lying unmoving on that very location even harder to believe, despite what their eyes were telling them.

"Is it…is it really dead?"

"It's not breathing…."

"Maybe it's just asleep?"

They were unwilling to think that the creature had died.

Although some wounds could be seen on its body, they didn't see them as anything fatal when considering the overall size of Ouroboros. So, it was perhaps unsurprising that the first thing they thought was that the creature was simply slumbering away, rather than it being very much dead.

Unfortunately, the way it didn't breathe or how no hints of life could be detected behind those giant eyes — they were far closer in appearance to a rapidly-cooling corpse, instead.

"Just what on earth has happened here…." Malcolm formed a similarly stunned expression.

Of course, unlike how it was with the others, the death of Ouroboros was something to be celebrated from his perspective. Still, an unbelievable spectacle was unbelievable no matter what.

"That punk, he couldn't have…."

Raeng's already heavily-wrinkled face now crumpled like discarded paper.

Unlike Malcolm, he was aware of what had transpired in this place. The figure of Su-hyeun dashing forward, wanting to fight Ouroboros, vividly filled his head.

"Malcolm. Is this the sight you've been wishing for?" Raeng asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Your guest has managed to kill Ouroboros, so now ask of you, do you feel satisfied?"

Raeng's angry words caused confusion to overtake Malcolm's expression. The latter simply couldn't figure out what the former was saying here.

<<My guest? Just who could he be talking about….>>

Right then, the face of a man flashed inside Malcolm's mind.

"Kim…Su-hyeun?"

Moros's latest guest with a strange name. Maclom recalled that man's face, the one who had disappeared after staying with him for the past few days.

"So, his name was Kim Su-hyeun?"

Raeng's deeply scowling face was now glaring at Malcolm. The latter soon felt the unchecked murderous intent oozing out from the former and ungainly took a step back.

Even if they had started learning the dark magic around the same time, Malcolm stopped in the middle of his training, so there was no way he could possibly withstand Raeng's aura.

"It seems that the b*stard called Kim Su-hyeun isn't around here, so…"

Raeng gritted his teeth and extended his hand towards Malcolm. "So, you should pay for his crime, instead."

"….Huh, huhuhuh."

Malcolm stopped backing away and chuckled softly to himself.

He could see Ouroboros's gigantic corpse behind Raeng. For some reason, watching the latter's rage explode drove home the fact that Ouroboros had indeed been killed off for real.

"Thank you."

The moment of his death had come, yet he felt rather refreshed.

He was already thinking about when he'd die, anyway. He had no real reason to continue living on, other than to worry about Ouroboros suddenly going on a rampage.

And now, even his sole remaining worry had vanished.

<<Now I can die without any regret.>>

But then, just as he closed his eyes and waited for Raeng to end his life…

"What do you think you're doing?"

A human's voice suddenly came out from the massive maw of the collapsed Ouroboros.

"Better put that hand away, or else."