The Hero Returns

Five minutes flew by very quickly.

Two hours — that was the length of time they needed to endure.

<<Here they come.>>

The thudding footsteps and screeches of the creatures could be heard coming from all five paths.

The bizarre, sorrowful-sounding wail of the Silk Mermen was mixed among them, too. It seemed that every type of monster they had encountered so far while reaching this place was going to flood out from those paths.

Hiiii-eeeek—

Bark, baaaark—!

Their initial number didn't seem high, at one creature per path.

Su-hyeun looked back at the other three in the group and addressed them. "Let's take care of one each."

"One each?"

"A monster will emerge from each of the paths."

"But, that means one of them won't be dealt with?"

"It'll be fine since I'll be hunting down both of them."

Aile groaned deeply as if she already guessed Su-hyeun would answer like that. "Alright. We'll go with your plan, then."

"H-hold up. You defeated dozens of monsters all by yourself while coming here, yet you want to fight only two this time?" Howal asked in sheer dumbfoundedness.

With the skills Su-hyeun had displayed until now, he should have no problems dealing with all five monsters, never mind just the two. But now, he wanted them to fight the monsters here?

"Well, were you thinking of lazing around forever, then?" Su-hyeun asked.

Howal found it impossible to argue back after being smacked by that loaded question.

The reality was, both he and Keshunirn could only hide behind Su-hyeun and pick up the stray Ether stones until now. That was all they could do. The description of them lazing around doing nothing was pretty accurate.

<<Dammit, in that case, what will happen with the splitting of the loot?>>

Howal glanced at the bulging bundle still on his back.

At this rate, he'd end up getting only a couple of Ether stones and nothing else, since he hadn't done anything of note so far.

<<Dammit, I can't let that happen!>>

Five minutes flew by while he was thinking of this and that.

Keshunirn and Howal grew deeply tense. They had been hiding in Su-hyeun's shadow ever since entering this dungeon, but for the first time ever, they needed to do their jobs and fight against the monsters for real.

<<30 minutes.>>

Howal's eyes gleamed as he stared at the path about to spit out a monster.

<<Let's just endure for the next 30 minutes.>>

Act 2

Countless monsters poured out.

The first five monsters were merely the start. Soon, the number gradually grew to ten, then fifteen, and eventually, a whole horde poured out next.

"Pant, pant, ha-ah—"

Once the fighting was underway, it quickly revealed who among the group possessed the weakest constitution.

The first one to get injured was Keshunirn. He was currently resting on the sideline after experiencing a near-death encounter.

"Are you alright?"

Su-hyuen's question was met by Keshunirn's rough, heavy breathing as he held the wound on his waist.

"Ah, yes, I'm fine. I'll be back on my feet if I rest for a bit longer."

The wound itself was minor, but the real issue was his stamina. His complexion was deathly pale after having to rapidly exhaust his magical energy, and his movements had become unnatural from all the bleeding.

"Please rest for a little while. Or, would you like to wait for a bit and leave first since the exit should open up soon?"

"N-no, not at all!"

Keshunirn was stunned by Su-hyeun's question and shouted out loudly. He even hurriedly got up and waved his hands in denial, too.

"I'm really fine. Ten minutes. I'll be alright if I can just rest for ten minutes."

"….Is that so?"

The group had already made a pledge to one another. Even if the exit opened up, no one would try to escape from the dungeon first. If that happened, the remaining people would have to shoulder the additional burden.

Keshunirn swore that he'd uphold that pledge no matter what.

"In that case, please go ahead," said Su-hyeun.

"Thank you."

Keshunirn bowed his head towards Su-hyeun.

Soon, another five minutes went by. The remaining time was about an hour and a half.

Kiiiaaaahk—!

"….They are rushing in like a pack of wild dogs again," Aile muttered out as if she had grown sick and tired of this situation.

That was understandable, however. Dozens of them appeared the last time and that was enough to cause the group a lot of headaches, but the next incoming wave of monsters would be higher in numbers than before.

If Su-hyeun wasn't here, never mind two hours, they wouldn't have lasted even one.

"Here they come."

Su-hyeun completed his preparations to fill the void left behind by Keshunirn's absence. Just as the monsters poured out and the battle commenced again.

"Ahh-aahk!"

Howal's scream exploded out from the side.

Su-hyeun's gaze immediately spun in that direction. He spotted Howal sprayed out on the floor, while Keshunirn was hurriedly dashing towards the round tower, the location of the exit.

He instantly figured out what happened.

Keshunirn's shoulders were currently carrying Howal's bundle filled to the brim with the Ether stones.

Rumble—

Kkaah-aahk—!

The bird created out of the Flame, Phoenix, appeared on Su-hyeun's hand. It quickly flew past the gaps of the monsters and headed straight to the fleeing Keshunirn.

"W-what's this?"

He panicked at the sudden entrance of the Phoenix and cried out. He mistakenly thought that a monster supposed to be fighting against the other three people had slipped past and was somehow blocking his path.

"Eeeek!"

Keshunirn hurriedly swung his hand in the Phoenix's direction. Unfortunately, his swatting attempt only managed to scatter the small figure of the bird for a moment but failed to stop it from reforming again to torment him endlessly.

"Dammit, just… get out of my way!"

It was then.

Ka-booooom—!

Rumble, ruuuumble—!

Gigantic walls of flames suddenly raged on in every direction, and the high-density magical energy started oppressing the atmosphere.

The deeply-stunned Keshunirn fell into even deeper panic and tried to look behind him.

"Where do you think you're going?" a voice abruptly said.

"Heo-urk!"

However, he was shocked by the voice coming from right behind him and ungainly fell to his side. After his behind crashed on the floor, he raised his head only to discover Su-hyeun's face.

But, didn't he witness him fighting against the monsters on the other side just now…?

<<Just when?>>

Keshunirn's eyes shifted in the direction where Su-hyeun was fighting earlier. In the next second, those very eyes were jerked violently open.

"A-already?"

All those numerous monsters were instantly incinerated to death.

That explosion earlier was caused by Su-hyeun killing all the monsters away in one fell swoop.

<<H-he, he's on another level altogether?!>>

Keshunirn finally realized that he had been underestimating Su-hyeun's abilities until now. He never thought that Su-hyeun would be able to deal with the monsters so quickly.

The Phoenix landed on Su-hyeun's shoulder and looked down on Keshunirn.

"What were you planning to do after escaping with all of those stones?" Su-hyeun asked.

"T-that is… T-there must be some kind of a mistake…."

"So, if there's some kind of a mistake, you should stab your comrade, steal the loot, and run away?"

As expected, Keshunirn couldn't reply.

When that happened, Su-hyeun's previously-friendly expression asking questions hardened like solid ice. "Misunderstanding, my ass."

It was right then, Su-hyeun's gaze suddenly shifted to the other side.

Kka-aaahk—!

"Ouch, ouch! Ahk!"

Howal, who was attacked by Keshunirn earlier, was trying to rush towards the exit only for his movements to come to a crashing halt. Two Phoenixes were surrounding him, while yet another bundle of stones was being carried on his back.

"B-but, how?"

Keshunirn's eyes nearly popped out of his sockets.

Then, his gaze quickly locked onto the bundle he dropped as he fell.

Shu-wuuu—

The bundle began melting down like a lit candle. Keshunirn alternated his gaze between his melting, disappearing bundle and Howal with a confused, lost expression.

"You couldn't even recognize the duplication skill at work, and risked your life to steal some random rubbish?" Su-hyeun stared at Keshunirn and softly tutted.

Both men had similar goals, but Howal was slightly smarter of the two.

He used the Duplication skill, which allowed its user to disguise one item to make it look like something else, to swap out the real Ether stones and fooled Keshunirn into stealing the fakes. It seemed that Howal had noticed Keshunirn being a similar type of b*stard as he was a while ago. Su-hyeun had already figured out that Howal was also the same sort of person, too.

"Fooling us with your injury, duplicating the Ether stones and stashing them away…. Besides the question of who's dumber than the other, you two are exactly the same. How laughable. I guess you don't give a rat's ass about the safety of your own comrades?" Su-hyeun asked.

"It-it's a m-misunderstanding…."

Howal was already wounded, and he could only swing his hands about in a fluster at the sudden attacks of the two Phoenixes.

Su-hyeun's expression crumpled as he stared at Howal.

"That stupid 'misunderstanding' again. Aren't you sick of repeating the same thing over and over again?"

"It-it's the truth! It-it's just that I realized that bastard was trying to steal the Ether stones, so…."

"In that case, how do you explain that?" Su-hyeun spoke as he pointed at the high-grade Ether stone embedded in the middle of the round tower's magic circle. "That's also a fake, isn't it? Are you telling me that you didn't know about the second exit not being generated if that stone was removed from there? Why? You didn't want anyone else besides yourself to escape? Was that it?"

"B-but…how did you…"

Howal's brows shot up incredibly high.

At the same time, the high-grade Ether stone in the middle of the magic circle began melting down. The Duplication skill had come undone.

"I wasn't sure, but it turned out to be true," said Su-hyeun.

"W-what??"

"The duplication skill loses its effectiveness the moment its user thinks someone else has seen through their ruse. I only spotted you sneakily touching the stone earlier, but I couldn't be sure because I was still fighting the monsters, you see."

Only a handful of Awakeners knew about the Duplication skill. Not only was it a rare skill to begin with, but its usage was also rather limited as well, so not much was known about the skill itself.

<<Goddammit, if only this bastard wasn't here….!>>

His plan was seemingly perfect. He knew Keshunirn would betray them, so he decided to use that window of opportunity to escape with the Ether stones.

This many Ether stones would've afforded him a life free from all worries for the rest of his time on this planet, after all.

But now…

"I'd much prefer it if you don't start ruing your missed chances here. Because, even if you used that exit, you still wouldn't have reached the outside, anyway," said Su-hyeun.

"What was that….?"

The expressions on both Keshunirn's and Howal's faces were dyed in confusion as Su-hyeun continued on. "I tinkered with the magic circle at the beginning, you see. I changed the coordinates a little. If you used that exit and transferred elsewhere, you'd probably end up among the pile of the monster corpses over there."

"In…. such a short time?"

"What are you so surprised about? All I did was tinker with the coordinates a little. I mean, we'll all be able to leave in two hours' time, so it wasn't going to be a problem anyway, right?"

Despair dyed the faces of the two men after hearing Su-hyeun out.

From the beginning, they shouldn't have schemed about escaping. According to what Su-hyeun had said, no such thing as an escape route existed to begin with.

"As for the damaged Ether stone, it'll be fine after putting it back in its original position…. Well, then. Any last words?" Su-hyeun asked.

"L-last words?"

"P-please, spare me!"

Howal's complexion paled in an instant, while Keshunirn hurriedly got down on his knees. In the midst of desperately rubbing his hands and pleading for his life, Keshunirn inwardly thought to himself.

<<Right, he might spare my life.>>

The "Su-hyeun" Keshunirn observed for the past ten days was a really kind-hearted person.

A good example was earlier when he asked if the injured Keshunirn wanted to escape outside first. Even if he had changed the coordinates as a safeguard, Su-hyeun seemed genuine when he said that back then.

He was a hero-like person who could never forsake the injured, helpless people. A person as kind as that might really spare his life — that's what Keshunirn thought.

<<This guy, he's really soft inside, so for sure, he…>>

His mouth was pleading for his life, while he was thinking of something else in his head.

As he pleaded tearfully and desperately, Su-hyeun's voice stabbed him from above. "The thing is, there's a reason why I've been wasting my energy explaining to b*stards like you why you're going to die…."

"Eh?"

Just as Keshunirn raised his head at that unexpected reply…

Stab—

Su-hyuen's blade pierced into his throat.

"…So that you may know what your sins are and repent on your way to the afterlife."

Step—

Su-hyeun turned around unhesitatingly and strode towards Howal next.

The latter and his deathly-pale face stared at the former walking in closer, his teeth clattering incessantly.

Su-hyeun watched Howal whisper the words "spare me" under his breath and could only sigh softly to himself.

"You know, I don't think I've ever met anyone of your kind that genuinely repented for their sins and tried to ask for forgiveness." Su-hyeun's gaze was directed to the dead Keshunirn. "Nine times out of ten, you lot always say 'spare me' first, instead of 'forgive me.'"

"U-uwaaaah—!""

Perhaps realizing that Su-hyeun wasn't going to spare his life, Howal suddenly shot up from his spot and pounced on the former.

Crack—

Bang—!

Su-hyeun's hand grabbed Howall's neck and slammed him to the ground below.

"Keo-hurk!"

"I have no idea how you two thought of me until now, but…"

Break—

"You see, I'm not always such a nice guy."