The Hero Returns

* * *

At a casual glance, those clouds might have come across as merely ordinary.

No, wait—even in the eyes of regular people, those clouds wouldn’t have looked ordinary at all. Those thick clouds would be something only seen in truly terrible weather where thick raindrops fell mercilessly while powerful gale-force winds blew about in anger.

However, not many people out there would imagine that such a weather phenomenon had been artificially created by someone.

“I think I can tell why this guy was so good at magic from the beginning,” Ellid thought.

Just how much willpower would one need in order to command all those clouds?

It would not be easy at all to use magical means to create, then control, all those clouds. This power currently on display was basically flipping the law of nature on its head.

Yet, Su-hyeun was making that into reality.

“Just stay back and watch, please.”

Drip—

Sweat drops trickled down Su-hyeun’s forehead.

Not too long afterward, the predator’s ever-growing body became so big that it could touch his nose, so to speak.

And then…

“Because I’m going to finish this for real now.”

Squeeeeze—

Su-hyeun reached up with his hand before clenching his fist tightly.

“Destroy it.”

Flash—!

The entire world was dyed in a pale-yellow light.

“Somersault cloud.”

RUUUUMBLEEEEE—!

The noise came after that.

The arcs of electricity shooting out from the thick stormy clouds poured down on top of the predator’s body like falling raindrops. Light flashed hundreds, no, thousands of times, and the sounds of the heaven and earth being ripped up exploded nonstop.

The world seemed to have become bright white, although some flashes of color could still be spied every now and then.

The predator’s body split apart and began burning away.

Ellid hurriedly used one of his wings to shield himself and protected Miru with his other wing.

“What kind of power is this…?!”

This was definitely not magic. He hadn’t taught Su-hyeun this kind of magic before.

This was like witnessing a god sending his divine retribution to the ground below.

Ku-rurururu—

The deluge of thunderbolts gradually died down. Soon after that, the view out front was restored back to normal.

Su-hyeun lowered his hand that had been extended to the sky and wiped the streams of sweat off his forehead.

Fuu-wuu—

He tasted something bittersweet in his lengthy sigh.

The battle had lasted for half a day. On top of that, he had to pour out all of his strength at once to command the Somersault cloud.

“This is the first time I’ve used the Somersault cloud to this extent.”

The Somersault cloud was different from the Palm Leaf in that it was far less sophisticated and had “heavier” power.

He could quickly use minor techniques like surrounding himself with clouds to protect and defend his body, but if he wanted to fire off thunderbolts containing this much level of firepower, then he had to make preparations first.

He could call forth lots of storm clouds above and store up enough power and then manifest his will afterward. This process was definitely not short at all, so, realistically speaking, it would be hard to use lightning attacks with this much power during combat situations.

Still…

“Somehow, I made it.”

The predator had no clue about this part of Su-hyeun’s abilities, and thanks to that, he was given enough time to summon the clouds.

The end result was visible for all to see.

Sizzle, crackle—

Rumble, tumble—

The debris of the predator was strewn about everywhere on the ground.

Flames were burning on the bits of its black flesh, while its main body, which had been cracked and split apart, was writhing weakly on the ground before lifelessly slumping on the hot sand.

“It’s finally over,” Ellid muttered while staring at the debris.

It was really finally over now.

* * *

The trial didn’t end right away. The goal of the trial wasn’t to eliminate the predator but to protect the village, after all.

Still, the trial was as good as over by then.

The predator was dead, and Ellid already knew a way to revive the world that had been eaten away by the creature. As long as the Death Aura blanketing the skies and the land below was removed, the world would eventually regain its original appearance, and the magical energy would regenerate as well.

Despite the village going through a huge commotion, Su-hyeun returned to his rest area and plopped down on the bedding.

“That might have been really bad.”

He had no strength left in his body.

While fighting against the predator, he made sure to correctly apportion his magical energy and stamina so that he could fight for a long time without tiring himself out. However, while in the middle of doing that, he couldn’t help but feel relieved by the fact that he chose to raise his stamina stat.

“If I had chosen to increase my agility stat, then the battle would’ve turned against me in no time.”

It was indeed a fairly great advantage to be able to move around faster than before.

Power and speed—these two things were the most basic requirements for close-quarter battle, after all.

However, it was “stamina” that played the role of supporting those two requirements. Especially more so in protracted battles like this, greater stamina was a must-have.

No matter how strong you were, there was a clear and large difference between being able to punch only once or a hundred consecutive times.

“Did I get lucky, though?”

He didn’t think about this point during the battle itself. All he cared about was hitting the enemy as much as possible and then dodging or defending against the enemy’s attacks.

If he thought he was about to get hit, he injected magical energy into his armor and wrapped the Somersault cloud around his body. The attacks had been straightforward and without variations, so thankfully, it didn’t prove to be difficult to dodge or defend.

However, the predator had been way too fast.

If he had allowed even one attack to land, then it wouldn’t have been strange to see a hole open up in his body.

What if they fought again?

“I wonder.”

He couldn’t tell whether it was purely down to his skill or simply a positive outcome that was borne out of his excellent condition at the time that allowed him to prevent all attacks from landing on him.

It seemed that the battle wasn’t as easy as he thought it was, seeing how he didn’t feel confident about reaching the same conclusion if they had fought one more time.

“I don’t know anymore.”

Su-hyeun stopped organizing his thoughts and, while scratching his head, sat back up on the bed.

Honestly, he was reasonably confident. He had become stronger, after all, and not in the simple meaning of that word either. Everyone had already acknowledged that Su-hyeun was strong by now. For instance, even Ellid, who was referred to as the dragon emperor, wouldn’t be able to refute that claim.

He had acquired qualifications of godhood: strength, stamina, and fire.

He had even obtained the Somersault cloud and Palm Leaf that could be seen as quite high levels of godhood in their own right as well.

Unless you were on the level of the Bull Demon King, you couldn’t call Su-hyeun weak anymore.

However, Su-hyeun becoming stronger was all relative.

There was Fafnir. What Su-hyeun needed was the strength that could assure him of his victory against Fafnir when he compared the gap existing between them.

But at the moment…

“I’m not confident.”

He didn’t get the assurance that he had become strong enough for that.

He lied down and rested for a little while, allowing enough of his stamina to regenerate. It was all due to him not getting greatly injured in the first place.

“I don’t have the time to take a long break, though.”

Ten days remained until the end of the trial.

The predator was gone now, and the village had Ellid as well.

There shouldn’t be a monster capable of shattering the magic circle, so it would be fine to assume that nothing else would pose danger to the villagers.

In that case, during the remaining time, he should…

“I should work hard and devour all the remaining scraps.”

Su-hyeun got up from the bed.

There was too little time left for him to waste lying down.

* * *

He entrusted the protection of the village to Miru.

Ellid went out to refine the Death Aura and turn it into those potions. As for Su-hyeun, he too went some distance away to absorb the Death Aura on his own, and once his stamina fell, he returned to the village and studied magic.

[Death Aura has risen by 1.]

[Death Aura has risen by 1.]

[Death Aura has…]

The stat continued to rise slowly but constantly, and from a certain point, he temporarily gave up on studying magic and focused solely on improving his stat.

However, it stopped rising higher after reaching a certain point.

[Death Aura: 98]

It said 98. Although he didn’t expect it to reach the triple-digit figure, he did feel somewhat rueful at the number that still managed to exceed his expectation.

If only it had risen by one more point…

Just one more point and the Death Aura stat could’ve reached the three-digit mark with the help of “God’s Tear.”

“Can’t be helped, I guess.”

Even after he drank 10 potions and continued to absorb the Death Aura from the surroundings, the stat didn’t change at all.

It was the same as pouring water into a cup already filled to the brim. Unless the cup itself got larger, the stat couldn’t get any higher.

After that, Su-hyeun yielded all the potions Ellid had created to his summons.

From a certain point in time, Prince Nezha and Gluttony no longer enjoyed the effects of the potions, so he chose to enhance his other summons from that moment on.

And so, 10 days passed by like that.

[Remaining time: 00:07:55]

The end was almost here.

“Thank you for everything.”

Su-hyeun went to visit Ellid and deeply bowed his head.

Despite the sudden goodbye, Ellid didn’t get flustered. He simply patted Miru on the head and replied nonchalantly as if the expected event had finally come, “If you leave, you won’t come back here, I assume?”

“That’s a good possibility.”

“It sounds like you’re not sure.”

“You’re correct.”

Gya-ong—

Miru cried out ruefully at what Ellid said.

The two had gradually gotten close during their stay. To Miru who hadn’t met its kin before, Ellid was not only its very distant ancestor but, in a way, its real family as well.

However, Ellid was still a family member that they had not met for a lifetime, and there existed a small wall between Miru and the elder red dragon as a result.

That wall was slowly crumbling away during the period of one month, but it still hadn’t completely broken down yet.

“Do take good care of this child and the treasure of our race as well.”

“When you say treasure, are you talking about the Cintamani?”

“That’s right. It’ll help this child out a lot in the future.” Ellid gently patted Miru’s head before looking back at Su-hyeun. “Just like the sword you’re using, actually.”

Su-hyeun looked at the sword mounted on his hip when Ellid said that.

The sword Ellid was referring to could only be the Palm Leaf.

“Does that mean the Cintamani is similar to the Palm Leaf?” he thought.

Both the Palm Leaf and Somersault cloud were proofs of godhood. Just like the divine Flame Su-hyeun possessed, they were items with innate godhood.

“This child will realize how to use it in time. It’s unknown when that will be, but it will happen without a doubt.”

“Miru will figure it out?”

“Only red dragons like us will know how to control the Cintamani. I’m too old and at death’s doorstep already anyway, so it’s not right for me to demand it back, which means, this child will have to keep taking good care of it moving on.”

Ellid didn’t seem to have any attachments to the Cintamani.

From Su-hyeun’s perspective, this was a good thing. Whatever the case might have been, he had received a lot from Ellid already.

“Thank you for the grimoire. I’ll use it well.”

“You’re my disciple, so you better work hard to not embarrass me.”

“Got it.”

“Looks like you’re about to leave, then.”

When Ellid said that, Su-hyeun took a look at his own body. It was getting blurrier. The same thing was happening to Miru as well.

Ellid waved his hand at them. “Do have a safe trip.”

[You have cleared the 103rd floor’s trial.]

[You have acquired 30,000,000 achievement points.]

[Achievement progress is being analyzed.]

[You have acquired 20,000,000 additional achievement points.]

[Magic Count has risen by 1.]

[Death Aura has risen by 1.]

[Will you transfer to the next floor?]

* * *

It was a peaceful world.

The sky above was clear, and the clouds up there moved so lazily that watching them float away would make anyone doze off.

Su-hyeun stood on the spot for a little while and stared at the sky before taking a look at his new surroundings.

He was in a quaint little village with small buildings about twice his height stacked quite closely; it wouldn’t have been all that surprising if the sounds of children playing on the streets came from beyond the corner.

However, there was no one here.

“You came right on time.”

Except for one person, that was.

He was already familiar with this sort of thing. Su-hyeun turned his head and looked behind him.

That’s where he found a farmer wearing a large hat made out of straws.

Su-hyeun replied, “The trial this time was a type that ended when its duration came to an end, after all.”

“Wasn’t it difficult, though? It must’ve been your first time battling a predator.”

“My first time…”

Su-hyeun trailed off with his sentence and nodded at the administrator’s observation.

He didn’t know it back then, but he had already encountered a predator before, and although the ensuing battle couldn’t be called a proper fight, it was true that he did try to fight it.

“It was just…not as bad as I thought.”

“Is that so?”

“Besides all that, I’d like to take a look at the store.”

There was a trace of anticipation in Su-hyeun’s voice.

Administrators could communicate with one another, and that was why the 104th floor’s administrator instantly realized what Su-hyeun wanted.

“It seems you have finally collected it? One hundred million points, that is.”