The Hero Returns

“You… impotent bastard…!”

Buzz, buzz-

A high-pitched voice loudly reverberated within a cavern. The woman’s voice was yelling angrily, but it was still entrancingly beautiful to listen to.

Unfortunately, the man standing before the source of the voice didn’t seem to be very impressed.

“Come on, miss. That’s a bit harsh. You might get killed if you’re not careful,” said Gordon Rohan, while spinning the pure-white spear in his hand. “Well, even if you hadn’t said that, you’d still die, anyway.”

“You…!”

The woman covered in a black sheet looked as if her pride had been wounded. The woman had a pair of wings on her back, and a face so beautiful that you had to wonder if she came from the heavens or some such.

<< Why, why can’t I seduce him? >>

She was a Succubus. And she happened to be one of the higher-ranked individuals within the Succubus race, which was an offshoot of the demonic beings.

She often boasted that, never mind normal human males, she could enthrall even the purest angel if she wanted to. But this man before her eyes was like a literal piece of rock or a tree. Forget about falling for her, how could he not even blink?

<< If he can’t be seduced, then… >>

Shu-shushushu-

A massive amount of magical energy began flooding out from the Succubus’ body. Her abilities weren’t simply about stealing men’s vitality. As a high-ranked Succubus, she also happened to possess a rather remarkable combat ability, as well.

<< Although it’s unfortunate, I’ll just have to kill him. >>

The moment Succubus’ eyes gleamed…

Guo-ooooh-

Ruuumble-

The magical power exploding from Gordon Rohan’s figure began to submerge the entirety of the cavern. And, as this pure-white energy brightly illuminated the darkness of the cave, a gigantic silhouette could be seen standing behind him.

“Th…the…the Heavenly…?”

Swiiiish-

Stab-

A spear descending from the air pierced the Succubus’ shoulder. The demon’s brows shot up and she hurriedly raised her head. And, after confirming the scene playing out above her head, her face fell.

“Ah… ah, ah…”

[Divine Punishment.]

She saw thousands of spears completely filling the cave. The moment her eyes caught the sight, the Succubus gave up on fighting back. She had acutely sensed the gap between herself and her opponent.

“You were wondering why I didn’t fall for your charm.” Gordon Rohan’s gaze remained fixed on the demon’s face. “It’s bloody obvious. It’s because you’re hideous.”

“I’m hideous? Me?”

“What, you think you’re pretty, then? Seriously?”

The Succubus came to a realization after listening to his retort. Gordon Rohan could see her true face underneath.

“Aaaaahk!”

She hurriedly covered her face with both of her hands. Not the mask made by magic, but the real face underneath.

“Stop, stop looking at meeee!”

Her face was disguised with magic and emotions to look beautiful. But the demon’s original face was fully visible to Gordon’s eyes. The Succubus hated someone looking at her real face more than anything. The shame of it all was so great that she even forgot about the terror of her impending demise.

“…Tsk.” Gordon Rohan lightly tutted at the Succubus’ scream. “Even you don’t consider yourself pretty, yet you wanted someone else to think that you were?”

Swish, swiiiish-

Stab, staaab-

He made a hand gesture, and all the spears spread out near the cave’s ceiling all came down at once. “Sorry, but a woman with low self-esteem isn’t my type.”

“Kkeo-urhk, keo-uhurk…”

The Succubus breathed her last as spears pierced her body.

Only after making sure that the demon was dead for good did Gordon exit the dungeon. He was greeted by the Florida beach, where wide-open clear skies and an even clearer ocean waited for him.

But there wasn’t even a bird in sight, never mind any beachgoers.

Gordon Rohan walked along the beach for a little while, before calling someone on the phone.

Rrrrr-

-Hello, Mr. Gordon. I heard the news.

“I heard you went to Paris? What happened there?”

As soon as Su-hyeun answered, Gordon Rohan immediately asked for a status update.

-The matter in Paris has been settled. We’ve actually just reached the next destination, Beijing.

“Really? In that case, I’ll head to Brazil. That’s the closest place from here, after all. They’ve already made a request through the company, too.”

-Is their situation that urgent?

“Brazil has been suffering from the shortage of high-ranking awakeners for some time, after all. They must’ve realized the current abnormal situation is related to a dungeon by now, thus, the request sent our way.”

-It’s the same story with Beijing. Leaving aside the issue of the entire city being paralyzed… The real problem has to do with the scope of the affected area widening.

“I’ll do something about all the stuff happening on the American continents.”

-Thank you.

“No need to thank me. I’m getting paid, after all.”

Gordon Rohan ended the call after his business was finished.

“Getting paid, is it…” A stunning beauty walked down the beach to approach him and spoke up. “Funny, hearing you say that, since you’re not even remotely interested in such pocket change.”

It was Ashlyn.

She was walking on the beach in her high heels. Rather mysteriously, though, her sharp heels didn’t sink below the loose sand, as if she was walking on a rock-hard surface.

Gordon Rohan countered her. “What do you mean, pocket change? There’s no such thing in this world, you know. Every penny is important.”

“And now, you’re even saying something you don’t believe in.”

“That’s because you have no idea how juicy the payment was. This line of business will definitely grow bigger with the passage of time, I bet.”

“Even then, it still can’t be all that much compared to the profit you make through your own company, yes? What’s the real reason for you suddenly gaining an interest in raiding dungeons?”

“This is all a part of the business.” Gordon put the beach behind him and put on the sunglasses Ashlyn handed over. “Hey, Ashlyn. You know what’s the most important bit in making money?”

“I wonder… the end product? Ad.s? Customer service?”

“There’s one thing that combines all of them. It’s called ‘image’.”

“Image?”

“The public image of having great products. The image of having a wonderful customer service network. The image of being an upstanding, moral corporation. And finally, advertising all of those.”

“That makes sense after listening to your explanation.”

“This image will translate into money. First of all, the articles about how Gordon Rohan saved the State of Florida by himself will spread all over the world, and it’ll be the same story with Brazil, too.”

After listening to him, Ashlyn immediately realized why Gordon Rohan had joined the Paragon Guild, and decided to raid dungeons despite his busy schedule.

She asked. “You want to become a ‘Hero’?”

To put it bluntly, he was trying to become a hero. A hero that saved the U.S, then Brazil. And beyond that, a hero who protected countries and the whole world from dangerous monsters.

“A hero? Well, that’s not a bad idea. That’s a man’s romantic ideal, isn’t it?” Gordon Rohan grinned in a mischievous manner, then wrapped his arm around Ashlyn’s shoulders. “But before I become a hero of the world, I’d like to be the hero of a certain lady… Ouch?!”

“Stop cracking jokes.”

Ashlyn punched him in the abdomen, then began walking on ahead of him. Gordon Rohan held his stomach and toppled over in an exaggerated manner, before looking at her back getting further away from him. “…I wasn’t joking, though.”

He could only sigh helplessly.

Gordon scratched his head, before lifting the sunglasses over his head to stare up at the clear blue sky above.

“Why is this thing so difficult, anyway?”

Act 10

On the rooftop of the Beijing Tower.

The whole tower, which had been bathed in a blue hue, was gradually regaining its original color.

Su-hyeun lightly patted Hak-joon’s shoulder after the two of them emerged from the dungeon. “Good job.”

“Hu-aaaaahh-.”

Hak-joon plopped down on the ground.

The tower’s roof was more than tall enough to induce dizziness, but he simply didn’t have the energy to even get scared by that.

He muttered, “Being really tense made me feel fine while we were inside, but my legs, they just gave up as soon as we got out.”

“Even then, you withstood everything really well.”

Hak-joon almost didn’t have any skills or items related to magic resistance currently. Fortunately, the raid itself proceeded relatively painlessly due to Thomas’s ‘dark world’ skill.

Su-hyeun chose not to step in and watched the two men raid the dungeon from the sideline. He wanted to know if those two could clear a blue-colored dungeon by themselves. Also, he figured that them raiding a blue-colored dungeon without him present was a valuable experience, as well.

Thankfully, the raid itself went well.

<< Both of their skill levels have jumped up by a lot. >>

Thomas’s skill level was already excellent, to begin with. Not just his ‘dark world’ skill, but even his basic combat ability and magical energy control alone would be rated among the world’s very best.

As for Hak-joon’s rate of growth, there was no need to even mention it twice.

Unless it was someone on the level of either Thomas or Gordon, almost no one would be strong enough to rival Hak-joon now. Apparently, he had been climbing the tower at a much quicker pace recently, and as expected, his growth rate had picked up noticeably, as well.

Su-hyeun shifted his gaze behind him and looked at Thomas walking out of the dungeon’s exit. He was carrying a darker-skinned man with a much larger physique than him on his back. It was the Chinese awakener, Wang Wu, the one they found sprawled on his back on the dungeon’s floor.

“T-thank… you. Hah, haha…”

“You’re so lazy!” Thomas loudly yelled after Wang Wu offered his gratitude.

It was the same thing he said after discovering the Chinese awakener sagging like a wet cloth on the dungeon’s floor. Since Wang Wu heard the exact same line well over a dozen times while being carried on Thomas’s back, he found it hard to even raise his head out of pure embarrassment.

Su-hyeun chided him. “We already told you not to forcibly attempt the raid. We also told you that you need to plaster yourselves with high magic resistance items, and find awakeners with related skills first before going in.”

“…I have no excuse.”

Wang Wu could only drop his head.

From this failure alone, China lost one S-Rank awakener as well as pretty much every member of the raiding party. As a matter of fact, he was the sole survivor.

If only they had paid more attention to ‘magic resistance’, just like Su-hyeun had warned them earlier, then the end result might have been very different. This dungeon was quite unlike regular ones and, rather than inflicting physical damage, it confused one’s mind and emotions, instead.

<< The progression of dungeons is too fast. >>

Su-hyeun glanced back at the Beijing dungeon.

A raiding party with two S-Ranks including Wang Wu and several dozens of other awakeners failed to raid this very dungeon. Not to mention, the outbreak hadn’t even happened yet, but the dungeon’s influence still managed to spread all over Beijing.

He didn’t expect the scale and the rate of progress to be this rapid. He thought that to himself after first learning about the unfolding crises in Paris and Beijing, and his thoughts hadn’t stopped yet.

<< Why so soon? >>

From the very beginning, these seven dungeons shouldn’t have made their appearances at this point in history. At the very least, they should’ve shown up only in several years’ time. Not only that, but the dungeon’s progression rate was much faster than expected, too.

<< It’s happening too fast. >>

Su-hyeun already knew that the incidents and dungeon generation events from the previous timeline were gradually happening earlier in history. Even considering that, though, there was no denying that events were happening far too early.

If he hadn’t helped out, then the Chinese awakeners without any prior information wouldn’t have been able to raid this dungeon at all.

<< At this rate… >>

Six dungeons had already appeared in Paris, Beijing, Florida, Brazil, Australia, and Argentina. The first three dungeons had progressed to a level where they posed a real threat to the citizens outside.

Such a rate of progression meant that ‘it’ wasn’t far away now.

<< Should we get going right away? >>

Originally, his next destination should’ve been Australia. The symbol of the dungeon appearing there was ‘gluttony’. But Su-hyeun couldn’t go there.

Rrrrrr-

A call came through to Su-hyeun’s phone. He couldn’t answer while he was inside the dungeon, and as a result, dozens upon dozens of text messages had clogged up his inbox.

“Hello? Yes, bro, it’s me. What’s goi…”

-It’s Korea this time! In Seoul!!

Lee Ju-ho’s voice sounded far more urgent than before, which was enough to cause Su-hyeun’s heart to fall to the pit of his stomach. This time, it wasn’t just the progress rate that had gotten quicker.

“What do you mean, it’s Korea?”

As far as Su-hyeun knew, not a single one of the seven dungeons appeared in South Korea in the first timeline.

“Where is it?”

-At the Namsan Tower! It’s not all that large in scale, but…

Lee Ju-ho’s voice sunk even deeper than before.

-Its color… is indigo.