The Hero Returns

Act 8

Plow—

Its feet sunk into the sand below.

Even taking a single step was so annoying for the black humanoid silhouette, the predator, but it continued to stagger forward.

“So…annoying…”

Moving around was just too bothersome.

It didn’t want to do anything. Unfortunately, a different type of desire had reared its head, ensuring that it had to move.

“Hun…gry…”

Its hunger was a desire that it had forgotten about for a long, long time.

Its ego or all of its desires wouldn’t simply disappear into the ether because of how lazy it was. Now that its starvation had reached its peak, the predator had no choice but to move.

Even then, its steps were slow and dull. Even to this moment, the predator’s body was being ruled by its indolence.

“So…anno…ying…?”

The predator’s meandering steps suddenly came to a halt.

Someone was coming.

“You’ve become really small now,” muttered Su-hyeun after checking out the predator’s current size.

Quite different from what he had been told, this predator’s size was only a little larger than a young kid. It was a black mass that looked like a person only about 160 centimeters tall but had no facial features like eyes, nose, or mouth.

“Anno…ying…”

Shu-arhk—

Just before the predator could walk past Su-hyeun’s side, though, his sword rapidly slashed toward the creature’s throat.

Pah-aht—

The predator’s figure disappeared from the spot. After slicing apart the black air current remaining there, Su-hyeun’s gaze shifted to his side.

That was fast.

Those excruciatingly slow-moving legs had moved at a speed almost undetectable by naked eyes.

“You…annoying…”

“Either say the full sentences or say it quickly, will you?” Su-hyeun tutted briefly before raising his sword up again.

First of all, he confirmed it to be fast, but was that all it had to offer in hand-to-hand combat? It was hard to tell.

“Still, I should be able to estimate it.”

Ba-dump—

Su-hyeun’s heart began beating harder and faster.

“Just by how much…has the gap closed up?”

The predator—the antithesis of the gods, completed after it devoured a world, was an existence that had failed to become a god and ended up as a monster instead.

Just like Fafnir.

“Okay, for the time being, let’s not think about what Sir Ellid has told me.”

Ellid told Su-hyeun that the predator used its Death Aura, sheer size, and countless tentacles to fight.

The tentacles that shot out from its massive lump-like body, which were made of Death Aura apparently, possessed such incredible destructive might that even Ellid found them difficult to block with his magic.

But right now, this creature had a completely different outer appearance.

It wasn’t all that hard to figure out why, though.

“Those zombies. Were they like this bastard’s excretion or something?”

If this creature was originally as large as Ellid had said and those zombies came out from this thing’s body, then…

Su-hyeun had fought off all those countless zombies until now, so he could guess up to a certain point.

But the real issue was with “why.”

“The meaning of him getting rid of all the excretion…”

Snap—

While taking a step toward the predator, Su-hyeun snapped his fingers.

“Something about the bastard must’ve changed.”

Pa-pa-pow—!

A chain of explosions went off where the predator was standing.

The explosions were strong enough to burn your average monsters to death, but Su-hyeun didn’t think the predator would be damaged from an attack of such a level.

And as he suspected…

“You…annoying…”

Step, step—

The predator walked out of the explosions in lazy steps.

There wasn’t even a hint of burn marks on that creature’s pitch-black body. However, rows of pure-white teeth showed up on its face.

“But you…dangerous…”

Pahk—

Whoosh, ka-boom—!

Kwa-dudududuk—

The predator rushed in and kicked the top of Su-hyeun’s sword. The latter was shoved far back, and only by pressing his free hand down on the ground did he manage to dissipate the impact force.

Kwa-wuuuuu—!

At the same time, the predator slammed its foot down on the ground, kicking up an almighty dust storm that rose up beyond the desert clouds above.

Numb, buzz—

“What strength…”

Su-hyeun didn’t know how the bastard would attack by using all that Death Aura wrapped around its body, so he had been on full alert just now.

But then, that strike just now…

It was so strong and fast that he almost didn’t believe such a small body had produced it.

“Well, this is no joke, that’s for sure.”

Just one exchange and Su-hyeun became certain of it.

This creature was a certifiable “monster.”

He initially wondered that it might have gotten weaker after shrinking down in size. However, he was so wrong about that.

Grit, crunch—

Veins bulged on Su-hyeun’s arm.

At the same time, his figure became a blurry line that shot straight toward his target.

Ka-boooom—!

Craaash—!

His sword scythed past the air and cut down on the predator’s waist. However, the noise that resulted from the attack wasn’t metal cutting into soft flesh but a blunt impact noise usually associated with hard objects colliding.

His fluster lasted only for a moment.

Su-hyeun’s figure again dashed toward the predator that had been sent flying.

Pow, pa-pow—!

Crash, bang—!

Kwa-dudududuk, rumble—

A series of purple-colored flames exploded, and a dozen-plus sword strikes accurately landed on the body of the predator.

And for the last strike, he aimed to slice open its chest and slammed his sword down as hard as he could, all the while suffusing the divine Flame into the blade.

Split—!

He followed that up with a powerful kick, sending the predator far up in the air once more.

Su-hyeun visually confirmed the sword wound inflicted on the predator’s body and furrowed his brows deeply.

“That thing’s stupidly sturdy.”

While he was hitting the creature, Su-hyeun got the sensation akin to hitting forged steel with a wooden stick.

“It’s not as if that thing doesn’t have any Gyeol, but…”

However, the predator didn’t leave its Gyeol unguarded even in the middle of getting pummeled by him. It actually tilted its body ever so slightly whenever Su-hyeun’s blade tried to cut its Gyeol down, thereby escaping from the range of the attack just enough.

“Is it instinct, I wonder?”

The bastard didn’t look like a deep thinker.

The only reason why the predator, which was seemingly made up of lumps of laziness, chose to attack Su-hyeun was that it knew that the latter wouldn’t move out of its way.

The creature was starving. Currently, its desire to devour something had overruled its laziness.

To flip that around, it would not do anything else until that desire had been satisfied.

“Things just got really annoying.”

It might have been better if the bastard had maintained its huge size because it would have been slow-moving due to its size, and Su-hyeun could have taken his time attacking it in a guerilla warfare style.

However, against an enemy that fought back in such patterns, he would have no choice but to completely alter his strategy.

In the end…

“Fighting it head-on.”

Whoooosh—

Baaaang—!

A pitch-black line descended from the sky and aimed for Su-hyeun’s head.

Ka-gak, creeeak—

Su-hyeun used his sword to defend against the “hand” of the predator and muttered to himself, “That’s the only option left, huh?”

Kyah-aaaaaah—!

Wuuu-uuuung—

Paaaaah—

Along with the predator’s screech, an incredible amount of Death Aura spread out to the surroundings. The impact force caused the sand particles to fly away in a wide circle.

Puh-hahk—!

Su-hyeun’s figure flew up into the air.

Thankfully, he had plenty of immunity against the Death Aura.

“It’s a good thing that I enhanced my stamina earlier.”

This creature’s defenses didn’t look like it would be broken through easily. His gut feeling said that lots of impacts would have to be overlaid on top for a long time.

In the meantime, he would have to evade and defend against the predator’s attacks, all the while not forgetting to hit the enemy a lot to accumulate damage over time.

That was the victory condition for this battle.

“If the fight drags on…”

Grip—

Su-hyeun tightened his grip on the sword as his eyes gleamed sharply.

“I will win.”

* * *

Boom, ka-boom—!

Ku-gugugugu—

Whenever two distant blurry lines collided, the resulting shockwave rippled everywhere.

By now, dozens of deep craters pockmarked this expansive desert landscape, flanked by countless smaller holes. As for the black clouds overhead, they had been sliced apart into many smaller bits a while ago.

Ellid was furrowing his brows while busy blocking out the shockwaves generated by those two who had been fighting nonstop.

“It’s already been half a day.”

How could anyone be able to fight so intensely for this long?

Speed, strength, and the management of magical energy…

The reaction speed necessary to block and dodge the opponent’s attack, and also to counter it…

Finally, the level of concentration and mental strength to merge all of those points together…

Ellid was well aware of how excellent Su-hyeun’s abilities were by now, but even then, he didn’t expect the latter to fight on such a level.

On the other hand, he was also surprised by the predator currently opposing Su-hyeun.

“Just how many times did it get struck by that attack by now?”

That previously huge body had shrunken down to a much, much smaller size.

Obviously, its strength must have become concentrated, and its body was so much sturdier as a result. Not a single part of its body had been severed or cut open despite getting struck hundreds, no, thousands of times by Su-hyeun’s sword.

There were plenty of small nicks on its body, but without a doubt, nothing had been sliced apart yet.

“Even if the scale is tautly balanced, there are no perfectly equal weights in this world.”

Especially more so when it wasn’t about a balancing scale that simply measured the weight difference but an actual battle where many complicated variables were at play.

Physical strength, stamina, speed, reflex, magical energy, adaptability, and tactical acumen, as well as many different magic spells…

The answer to which way the scale would start tipping due to the weights affected by all those variables was bound to reveal itself after a long time of fighting.

And then…

“The moment the scale starts to tilt…”

As per Su-hyeun’s request, Ellid continued to watch to make sure that the scale wasn’t tipping in the predator’s favor.

“I’ll make a move right away.”

* * *

Bang, ka-boom—!

Split—!

Su-hyeun’s sword slammed into the predator’s waist once more.

It was literally slamming into the creature, not cutting it open.

Kah-ahk—!

The predator screeched out.

The bastard that hadn’t let out a squeak began displaying some reactions from about 30 minutes ago, which could only mean that the impact forces had accumulated by now.

“Envelop and…”

Shu-wuwuwu—

As soon as Su-hyeun opened his mouth, pure-white clouds suddenly enveloped the body of the predator.

“Strike, Somersault cloud.”

Kwa-zizizizizizik—!

The clouds that wrapped around the predator’s body struck it with lightning bolts, and Su-hyeun immediately dashed forward to cut down on the predator’s Gyeol.

Pah-aht—

It was right at that moment that the predator’s figure drew a black line and exploded forward.

Its fist looked humongous in his vision.

While swinging his sword to cut open the predator’s chest, Su-hyeun also punched with his left fist.

[Damage Counter]

[Reflect]

Ka-boom—!

Crunch—

Their fists collided against each other and got flung back in opposite directions. Although the punching power was similar, Su-hyeun’s sword continued to travel forward and managed to slice into the predator’s body.

Ka-gagagak—

CLANG—!

The predator flew up after getting struck by the sword. However, rather amazingly, it reached out and grasped the empty air to stop its body from flying away.

“That’s a nice trick.”

Su-hyeun dusted his hand.

He wondered that if his strength stat hadn’t risen up by one point, just how would he go about solving this battle?

He barely managed to equal the creature’s strength by mixing in the impact-reflecting magic he had acquired recently during the battle.

The predator was also superior to him in speed, but its attacks were so straightforward and easy to read that he had no problem dodging or blocking them for now.

However, not a single mistake was allowed during this battle.

If he got injured greatly because of some simple mistake, then this battle would instantly become something really difficult from that moment onward.

On the other hand…

“I need to make sure damages keep accumulating on it.”

Fuu-wuu—

Su-hyeun exhaled at length.

It’s been half a day.

What a tediously long battle this had been so far.

Had he ever fought against a single monster for this long before? He couldn’t remember.

“Is it my first time?”

It seemed that way.

Not all that surprising, really.

This type of battle wasn’t Su-hyeun’s preferred way of fighting, to begin with. If it was him using the guerilla tactic to fight against countless many monsters, then he wouldn’t care much about it, but to think that he would be fighting against a single monster in a single location for this long.

“By the way, what’s the matter with it now…?”

Su-hyeun narrowed his eyes and stared at the predator.

The creature that didn’t hold back and attacked Su-hyeun for half a day straight had suddenly stopped moving and was simply hovering in the air.

“Why isn’t it moving?”

Crack—

It was at that very moment that Su-hyeun had spotted a small crack on that creature after looking at it with the Sage’s Eye.

Finally, its Gyeol had split open.

“That sure took a while,” Su-hyeun smirked deeply.

He believed that there would be a reaction of some kind, and he thought that said reaction was pretty slow to come.

Still, what a relief it was—a relief that it didn’t take too long in the end.