The Hero Returns

Act 3

Shuwuwuwu!

The thick fog suddenly blocked Su-hyeun’s vision.

The world before him became so blurry that he couldn’t see an inch in front of him. Still, he tried to look around.

Luslec, who was next to him only a second ago, had vanished. It was the same story for other people as well.

Did the location change?

‘Yeah. It did. Definitely.’

Su-hyeun was now standing on an empty, fog-covered field. Although this set was an illusion, the location he now stood had surely changed.

He probably had been transferred to elsewhere in a similar manner to how other people had been summoned earlier.

‘It shouldn’t have been easy to summon all those people at once, but then…illusion on top of that, too.’

The predator he met before was specialized in physical defense, speed, and strength.

In that case, could this new predator be adept in magical abilities?

Su-hyeun thought about the unknown voice before paying attention to the system’s voice.

[Please select the trial’s difficulty.]

[Your rank will be determined based on the overall score, the difficulty chosen, and the passing of the trial.]

[The higher rank will ensure that you receive better benefits in the fourth trial.]

‘Difficulty? Rank?’

No detailed explanation was given.

It certainly was a rather unfriendly explanation.

If it was about difficulty, then he didn’t really need an explanation for it. However, he had no way of finding out what this ‘rank’ even meant.

‘Better benefits… Is it…’

[Please select your difficulty.]

[Levels 1 to 10]

That was a rather familiar question. He didn’t need much time to make up his mind.

“I’ll go with the 10th level, then.”

[You have selected the 10th level.]

[Additional trial will be applied with the passage of time.]

[Please select the type of your trial.]

[Weight, air, monster, darkness, weather]

Five different types of trials were laid out. He was supposed to choose one of them.

‘It said my rank will depend on the difficulty and the overall result, right?’

He still had no idea what that rank thing meant. However, one thing was certain.

Without a doubt, by passing this trial with better results and acquiring nicer benefits, he would be able to get much closer to the unknown voice.

In that case…

“I’ll be selecting all of them,” Su-hyeun decided.

He already had an answer to this question as well.

[You have selected all types for your trial.]

[Weight will be increased with the passage of time.]

[Air will be reduced with the passage of time.]

[More monsters will appear with the passage of time.]

[Denser darkness will unfold with the passage of time.]

[The weather will become more extreme with the passage of time.]

[In case you wish to terminate the trial, shout, “I give up!”]

[The minimum length of time you must endure is one hour.]

Five different types of trials…

The moment it started, this unmistakable feeling of weight was placed on Su-hyeun’s shoulders.

Although only by a little, it became tougher to breathe as well.

Then, he sensed the presence of monsters in the distance, and the darkness seeped through the fog, obscuring his view.

As for the weather, it seemed to have become a little colder, too.

‘So this is what you meant.’

Su-hyeun smiled faintly.

In the end, the goal was to endure.

Endure the weight on his shoulders, endure the environment where it was getting harder to breathe, endure one’s instinct of fearing the darkness, and endure the hot and cold weather.

Su-hyeun had chosen all of those trials, so now he had to endure the worst situation available.

“Fine, then. Let’s endure them all. No, wait…” Su-hyeun raised his head and addressed the unknown voice that must have been watching him. “Let’s see who will win in the end.”

* * *

A lot of time had passed.

Drip. Drip.

Monster remains were scattered everywhere, while green- and red-colored blood dripped to the ground and got mixed into one.

Currently, Su-hyeun was sitting on one of the corpses. It felt like he was carrying a steel beam with several dozen tons in weight on his shoulders, but it was still quite bearable at the moment.

‘I can’t see an inch in front of my face.’

He had no choice but to rely on his senses to check his surroundings.

Not only that, the air became gradually thinner, so he had to rely on the breathing technique and his stamina while moving around now.

The number of monsters and their levels had gotten stronger over time as well.

Of course, all of those were pointless in the end.

As for the weather, a bitter cold snap would rush in, only for it to change abruptly to temperature so hot it would have burned one’s flesh. He preferred the hot weather over the cold because he needed to envelop himself in magical energy to endure the cold snap.

That was how a day had passed by.

“It’s kind of getting boring.”

Su-hyeun took a jerky from the subspace and munched on it.

This was his first meal.

Monsters showing up one horde at a time continued for three hours straight and only then did they stop showing up. He must have fought off several thousands of them by now.

Fuu-wuwu.

Soon after that, the weather changed again.

The cold snap went away, and the searing heat toasted the ground below.

‘This weather is no longer on the level of being hot, but more like stepping directly inside a furnace…’

The air had become so thin that it was almost impossible to breathe without the breathing technique.

‘If I wanted to, it would not be that hard to break this illusion,’ Su-hyeun considered. ‘But that kind of feels like I’m admitting defeat, doesn’t it?’

The basic principle of an illusion was all about manipulating the target’s mind.

And the most basic way to shatter such an illusion was for the target to perceive that they were stuck in one and break out of it forcibly.

If doing that was impossible, then one could also destroy the illusion’s medium or even the connecting points for the power itself. However, Su-hyeun didn’t need to go through all those cumbersome processes.

‘Are other people also experiencing these sorts of trials?’ Su-hyeun wondered. Surely, he wouldn’t be the only one, right?

However, there were some differences depending on one’s chosen difficulty.

After all, Su-hyeun not only chose the highest level of difficulty, he even selected all types of trials as well.

Even after considering that, though, it would still be tough for the others to endure this sort of trial, especially those who were close to being or actually regular people.

‘Still, it’s a relief that you can select your difficulty and can also give up after a set amount of time.’

Those scared of losing their lives wouldn’t have chosen to go with higher levels.

But if they did, then that would mean that they were confident of their chances.

What could he do when they themselves chose higher levels despite their lives being on the line only to get killed? Su-hyeun wasn’t planning to babysit them that far.

Gu, gugugu.

The weight pressing down on Su-hyeun’s shoulders stopped increasing once it reached a certain level.

The same thing happened to the scorching hot weather or the number of monsters.

No more trials happened after a day had passed.

“What’s this? Is it over already?”

Su-hyeun chuckled. “Surely, this wasn’t it? Something will happen,” he muttered.

He looked up and smirked derisively.

As if to say, “Are you giving up already?”

As if to say, “The trial you started could only amount to this much?”

And so, more time passed by.

And then…

Kyah-aah!

Bang! Thud!

He detected the presence of monsters rushing towards him from somewhere in the darkness.

Just how many there were this time?

The darkness had become even denser, and he almost began to think that something might suddenly leap out right in front of his nose.

Su-hyeun easily suppressed his fear of the darkness, only for his body to shiver a little. That’s because the bone-chilling coldness biting into his skin had become even harsher than before.

He didn’t know why, but he felt confident about this—confident that this was the last hurdle.

“Yup. This is what I’m talking about.”

He was referring to an unknown number of monsters that couldn’t even be seen.

Su-hyeun stood up from the monster’s remains and did some stretching.

It didn’t feel like he was resting just now.

The cold made his body shiver, while the darkness made it impossible to see what might jump out at him. Then, his body felt like it weighed several dozen tons and even the air was too thin to breathe.

Of course, he couldn’t rest properly in such a situation.

However…

‘I still have plenty of stamina left, you know.’

* * *

Swish!

Splat!

Su-hyeun swung the sword skillfully as he dashed forward. The monster was sliced into halves.

He still couldn’t see anything, but his other senses were functioning just fine. He could determine the movements of the monsters to a certain extent by remaining focused. He could sense their presence.

Besides, the attacks of those monsters didn’t work on Su-hyeun in the first place.

[Somersault cloud.]

Pow!

A monster’s stomp coming above was blocked off by the white clouds.

The somersault cloud surrounded Su-hyeun’s body. It was the strongest defense he currently possessed. It absorbed most physical damage and also possessed resistance against magical attacks.

And finally…

“Blow away…”

Whoosh!

“Palm Leaf.”

Whoosh!

The gigantic storm winds created by the Palm Leaf were the strongest wide-area attack technique Su-hyeun currently possessed.

The storm winds that turned to sharp countless blades proceeded to shred the bodies of the monsters. When the storm spun crazily with Su-hyeun in the center, the entire area surrounding him fell under his attack range despite him being unable to see anything.

Thus, the remaining monsters were ripped apart just like that, and Su-hyeun pushed his senses to their limits.

‘The ones remaining are 10 individuals.’

Some monsters managed to survive, but not because they were especially strong or anything like that.

They were simply lucky.

There was no reason to use the precious Palm Leaf on these creatures.

[Ice spear.]

Large spears of ice materialized around Su-hyeun. There were 10.

While in that state, Su-hyeun began bending backward.

‘One, two…’

After taking aim at 10 different directions…

Gi-ing!

More magical energy surrounded the ice spears, and then…

[Spin.]

Whir…

The spears began to spin rapidly.

“Three.”

Whoosh—!

Ten ice spears flew at the monster writhing on the ground.

Pow!

Thud!

Almost at the same time, he heard sounds of things collapsing.

This wasn’t too bad. Due to the weight pressing down on him, he couldn’t exert as much strength, but he could easily supplement that by using his magical energy.

‘It was definitely worth learning magic.’

Magic certainly had plenty of uses during battles.

Su-hyeun’s combat style was based on his swordsmanship as well as techniques to throw spears, so the magic spells to create ice spears and to amplify their destructive powers proved to be useful to him.

‘Beside this one, magic that can be used in battles are…’

While Su-hyeun was briefly pondering about the types of magic and their combinations…

[Third trial has concluded.]

[Difficulty: 10]

[Number of trials: 5]

[Time: 27:30:12]

[You have recorded the highest result.]

[Your rank is ‘Grand Duke’.]

“Grand duke, is it?”

Messages popped up, one after the other. These puzzled Su-hyeun.

He had been told that his rank would be determined depending on the results. Then again, the ‘rank’ was the kind that existed in human aristocracy.

[Will you transfer to the next area?]

The message was demanding his consent.

It didn’t seem like a simple message. If Su-hyeun was a normal person, transferring his body to someplace wouldn’t have been that difficult, if that’s what the unknown voice wanted.

However, his case was somewhat unique. Unless Su-hyeun decided to give his consent, the predator wouldn’t be able to send him to another location.

‘Just what is that guy planning here?’

The predator had summoned all those people and subjected them to trials under the pretext of those being a game.

The creature could speak and was even proficient at illusion-like magic that allowed it to freely create an artificial world.

It would be safe to assume that as far as the level of intelligence went, this creature was far smarter than the predator Su-hyeun had run into in the previous trial.

“Alright. I will.”

When Su-hyeun expressed his consent…

Swish!

His body left this world and was transported to another location. It all happened briefly, but it felt like he had moved quite a lot nonetheless.

So the third trial came to an end, and a new world was revealed to Su-hyeun.

A clear blue sky above his head, the rolling lush grass fields, and the refreshing scent of spring…

And the biggest object his eyes could see, the gigantic golden castle.

This scenery was so peaceful and beautiful that he briefly wondered if this was paradise.

“What’s going on here?”

And what surprised him the most was…

‘This is not an illusion.’

This peaceful world Su-hyeun now found himself in was all ‘real’.