The Hero Returns

Act 9

The huge mansion was lit up by luxurious lights. There was a large living room with a high ceiling where some men with crumpled faces were talking.

“What happened?”

“Sir, the dark magicians of the lower village have died. Well, except for Calvin. The whole village is covered in their blood.”

Upon hearing his subordinate’s report, Roman crumpled his face with anger.

“Which bastard killed them?”

“We are not sure about that.”

“What do you mean you are not sure?”

“There were signs that magic was used, but some of the bodies had stab wounds made from a sword. Therefore, I think there was more than one person responsible for their deaths.”

“Some sort of group then?”

“It didn’t look like a big group killed them. I think two or three people might be responsible.”

“Two or three…”

Roman took a sip of the strong liquor he had placed on the table. He felt a burning sensation in his throat and started to calm down a little.

“Did you say there were injuries made from a sword?”

“Yes.”

“Huh. A swordsman, not a wizard…”

Calvin and the dark magicians in the lower village were the least skilled of their kind. However, about 100 of them were living there. Unlike the old saying, “There is strength in numbers,” the number of magicians in the village didn’t matter. They all died anyway.

“Wait. Didn’t you say there was a new visitor in town a few days ago?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Is he possibly the one who wielded the sword? As you know, we don’t have any swordsman residing in our town.”

“But a swordsman can’t just enter the town either.”

“But all visitors are intended to be sacrificed. So, it doesn’t matter if he or she is a wizard or a swordsman, because they would be allowed entry either way.”

“Do you…think that’s true?”

Roman’s subordinate had some doubts and scratched his head. In all of their history, they never allowed a non-magician entrance into Moros. The magicians of Moros City took pride in this strict policy.

“Just find the perpetrators first. You can go and look for witnesses or track the magic that remains there.”

“What will you do when you find them?”

“After we find them, we must kill them. Even if the residents in the village were killed, nobody can touch us because we are the strongest dark magicians.”

Others had despised the dark magicians for a long time. Therefore, they had developed strong ties amongst one another. Compared to the general magicians, who usually valued individualism, they were just a little better because no one cared for each other like the dark magicians.

“More than anything, if people start to look down on us, we are done. For now, people are quiet because we have Ouroboros to intimidate them…” Roman clenched his teeth and jumped out of his seat. “We can’t go back to how it was like in the old days.”

Thump, thump—

Roman walked along the hallway of the mansion. The disaster in the small village gave him an ominous feeling. He could not sit still anymore.

***

Su-hyeun looked at the wall that was in the distance. It was the high wall surrounding the great town.

Malcolm came up to Su-hyeun and said, “If you want to run away, I will help you.”

Su-hyeun looked back at him. “Didn’t you say nobody can run away?”

“I did, because even if you go over the wall, you will be surrounded by the sea. This place is an island.”

“And Ouroboros is in the sea.”

“Yes.”

“Knowing that, will you still help me?”

Malcolm nodded heavily. “If that is what you want. Helping you will be my duty.”

Su-hyeun seemed to be aware that he would become a sacrifice. Therefore, Malcolm thought that Su-hyeun was looking at the wall because he was trying to escape.

“Sitting down and waiting for death is not my thing,” Su-hyeun said.

“Then—”

“I don’t need your help.” Su-hyeun stopped leaning against the wall and started to walk off. “I will be back.”

Malcolm did not stop him, but he watched him walk away with a sorry look. Su-hyeun walked out of Malcolm’s house and looked around at the magicians on the street.

‘I have 27 days left.’

It was the time he had left until he would become a sacrifice for Ouroboros.

‘I have enough time.’

It was not long ago that the dark magicians appeared in Moros. They had been hiding in the shadows of the city. However, after they gained control of Ouroboros, they gained control over the town as well.

In reality, the dark magicians weren’t very powerful. Nevertheless, other magicians had no choice but to leave them alone because of the existence of Ouroboros.

‘Here they are.’

Su-hyeun stared at dozens of dark magicians who wore black robes in the middle of the street. They were walking around and asking magicians questions as if they were looking for someone.

It seemed that they were questioning everyone because of the mess that Su-hyeun had made in the lower village of the dark magicians. He jammed on the hat that he took from Malcolm’s house and hid in the crowd. He began to follow the dark magicians while in disguise.

***

“Damn it!”

Roman, who was very annoyed, kicked a small stone on the street. The dark magicians gathered around Roman in a secluded area in the alley.

“How has no one seen anything?” Roman shouted.

“Should we search through Malcolm’s house?”

Roman turned his head and glared in his subordinate’s eyes.

“Are you insane? I told you! Do not mess with him! What are you going to do if he became crazy and decided to kill everyone?”

“Y-you are right…”

“No one knows about Ouroboros better than he does. For the sake of keeping control over Ouroboros, we must not get on Malcolm’s nerves. Do you understand?”

“I’m sorry, sir. I did not think straight.”

“You idiot.”

Even though Roman rebuked him, he understood why he asked that question. It was hard to find any clues anywhere. The magicians were usually by themselves, and they did not look around thoroughly.

‘Calvin, that bastard, is disabled.’

Calvin, the only survivor, was not in a state of being able to answer questions.

“Is something not going well?”

Thump, thump—

A quiet, young man’s voice was heard down the alley. The dark magicians turned their heads to the direction that the voice came from.

“Who is he?”

“I’ve never seen him before.”

“Is he on our side? Does anybody know him?”

The man was wearing a robe and pulled his hat over his eyes. They could not tell if he was a dark magician or just an ordinary magician. However, one thing was certain. Nobody knew who he was.

“I am sure all of you know me.” Su-hyeun took off the round hat on his head and dropped the robe to the ground. “I am the one you are all looking for.”

“Swordsman?”

“Is he…?”

When Su-hyeun took off his robe, they could all see the sheath on his waist area. The dark magicians stared in surprise. The man who they were looking for brought himself to them.

“Get that bastard!” He shook his finger at Su-hyeun and yelled as he grasped the situation.

“Wait.” Su-hyeun raised his hands and said, “I’m not here to fight. Calm down and let’s talk.”

“Bullshit.”

Roman had no intention of talking to Su-hyeun. He was an enemy who had killed many of the dark magicians.

Swish—

Clank—

Whoosh—

The dark magicians released their dark magic upon Su-hyeun. The black magic came from them like a tsunami as they released a curse on him that attempted to tie up his body. Black flames and lightning strikes were dealt to Su-hyeun as well. Roman licked his lips in dissatisfaction.

“Did we kill him too easily?”

‘Even if we did kill him, we could mutilate his body. That way, we could show an example to other people to not disturb us.’

Just then, they heard a sound.

“That one hurts a little.”

Whoosh—

Roman was surprised when he heard Su-hyeun’s voice emerge from the black flames. He supposed to burn to death or should have turned to ash, but he was standing before them without a mark on his body.

“How…?”

“I guess you are all not ready to talk yet…” Su-hyeun thought for a moment. He nodded and said, “Hey, Miru.”

Gya-ong—!

A cry came from above. At that moment, the dark magicians lifted their heads.

“Silence.”

Miru, who was flying over the sky, cried out. Then the sound from the dragon disappeared. When no sound was heard, the dark magicians raised their heads in surprise. They were never aware that a small dragon had been flying above their heads.

‘Silence magic?’

Roman looked around in surprise. Silence magic was a form of space magic that muted sounds. It was not unusual for a divine beast to deal with magic. A top-ranking class divine beast, like a dragon, could easily use Silence magic. However, Roman was confused as to why Su-hyeun had used this form of magic. It would have been better for him to attack the dark magicians before they noticed the dragon.

The dark magicians opened their mouths to shout something, but no sound left from them. The Silence magic was muting them from talking to one another. There was also no sound made from the unsheathing of the sword. At that moment, Su-hyeun’s body quickly disappeared without a sound.

‘Where did he go?’

He was directly in front of them but still managed to disappear. Since they could not hear any sound, they could not anticipate his location. Since they were unsure of his whereabouts, they began to fear that Su-hyeun’s sword could attack them at any moment. Roman hurriedly raised his hand to reverse the silence spells around him.

Slash—

He felt a burning sensation around his neck. Roman hurriedly touched his neck in surprise. The blood came out when he moved his hand away.

‘When…?’

When Roman looked around, other dark magicians also were bleeding from their necks just as he was.

Woosh—

Thump—

Just then, the sound of the wind came loudly, and Roman could feel Su-hyeun right behind him.

“If I was going to kill you, you would be dead already.”

At the words of Su-hyeun, Roman looked around at the bloody, red lines on the necks of the dark magicians. This man, during this short time, cut all their necks with a sword. The wound was not deep, but even a fool would know that if Se-hyeun wanted to, their heads would have been cut off by now. That would have been easy for him. It is actually harder to make such a shallow cut as he has just done to them.

“I could still kill you if I wanted to right now.”

Roman looked at Su-hyeun and held his breath. No one spoke easily. The Silence magic was gone, but it was very quiet as if the magic was still keeping them all, except for Su-hyeun, mute.

“I think we’re ready to talk then.” Su-hyeun grinned with satisfaction and nodded.

‘Talk?’

Roman’s face was pale as he shook his head. A conversation with a sword to his neck could not be called a conversation. This was an act of intimidation.