The Hero Returns

“What a bastard…”

“Sir! Do we still have to put up with him?”

When Su-hyeun began to release his magic upon them, the dark magicians started to get up from their seats. However, the old dark magician remained sitting down with his eyes closed. He appeared to be undecided and worried. The other magicians were preparing to attack Su-hyeun. They stared at him with a feeling of agitation.

“Okay.” The old magician opened his eyes and said, “I will help you.”

“Sir!”

“Shut up!”

The old man shouted back at the magician that raised his voice at him. In response, the magician turned pale and sat back down on his chair again. When it became quiet once more, the old magician nodded.

He said, “So, you say that you want to catch Ouroboros. Okay, I will help you. However, I only can bring the beast to you. It is up to you to catch it.”

“That’ll be enough help.”

“I will give you a room on the second floor of this tower. Just wait one day. We will leave tomorrow.”

The old magician looked at the magician that was sitting next to Su-hyeun.

“Hey, Syujeu,” he called.

“Yes, sir.”

“Can you guide him to his room? My back hurts these days, so it is hard to move around.”

“Y-yes, sir!”

At the request of the old magician, the man named Syujeu rose from his seat. Su-hyeun followed him and left the room through the large door.

Creak—

Thump—

The heavy door closed after the two men left the room. As soon as they were gone, the other magicians in the room vented their grievances to the old magician.

“Sir!”

“Why did you just watch him leave?”

“Yes, it is not like you.”

At the complaints of the dark magicians, the old one rested his chin and sat silently. Their resentments continued, and he continued to listen. Then suddenly, the dark magicians felt strange. This was usually the time when the old magician would scold them.

However, he remained silent.

Their complaints naturally died away without the old magician having to say anything to them. Their fear of the old magician was rooted deeply within them, so they didn’t want to get on his bad side. Therefore, their complaints of disappointment gradually ended. The dark magicians realized that they had dared to talk back to him and fell silent.

“Are you all done chattering?”

When the old magician opened his mouth to speak, the other dark magicians lowered their heads. The old magician’s gaze turned cold as if he had never smiled kindly before in his life.

“After hearing you all lose your temper just now, I would love to feed some of you to the dogs. However, because I understand how you all feel, I will let it go today.”

“I am sorry, sir!”

“Forgive us!”

Thump—

The dark magicians slammed their heads to the table in shame. The old magician looked at them and clicked his tongue. He found them pathetic.

“Why did I put up with him?” he asked. “Did it look like I was putting up with him?”

“Yes?”

The old magician shook his head and looked at the others who did not understand him.

‘How pathetic.’

“I did not put up with him. He put up with me,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“Only a strong person puts up with a weak person. It is a form of generosity.”

The dark magicians were surprised by his response. The old magician seemed to have just called himself the weak one. That couldn’t be possible. The old magician looked at the door where Su-hyeun had exited through.

“He gave us two options to pick between.”

Su-hyeun’s proposal gave the old magician two choices to think about.

“Either all the dark magicians risk their lives and join forces to fight him, or we can hope he dies in his fight against Ouroboros.”

This was the reason why he told Su-hyeun that he would take him to Ouroboros. They had no choice but to wait for the mighty beast to swallow Su-hyeun just as it had done to thousands of other sacrificed dark magicians.

***

“This is it.”

The dark magician named Syujeu led Su-hyeun to a room on the second floor. It was quite a spacious room for one person. There was a restroom and shower inside as well. Syujeu seemed displeased with Su-hyeun, who was looking around the room.

Syujeu said, “I brought you here because the boss told me to, but watch out. This room—”

“Hey.” Su-hyeun waved off Syujeu without looking at him. “Leave, little cheese.”

“You f*cking bastard.”

Slam—!

Syujeu went out, slamming the door.

“Look who’s talking,” Su-hyeun mumbled while looking at the books in the room.

He picked up one of the books off the bookshelf. On the cover, there was a picture of a dissected human body. It was a book about human sacrifices that were later reanimated into undead people.

“Wankers.”

He closed the book. It was not worth reading.

Bam—!

Su-hyeun threw the book on the ground and trampled on it angrily. He conjured up a flame with his powers and directed it towards the book until it turned to ashes. He considering reading the other books, but they appeared to be disgusting based on the titles. Su-hyeun instead walked to the sofa and laid down.

Grr—

Miru, who had been reading Su-hyeun’s face this whole time, moved towards him and laid down on his tummy. Su-hyeun habitually stroked Miru’s back. When he closed his eyes, he could feel gazes around him.

‘They are keeping an eye on me.’

Since he had caused so much chaos, they could not help but be interested in what he was doing. Like them, Su-hyeun was nervous. He did not care about other dark magicians, but the old one was not an easy opponent.

‘His power level appears to be similar to Hwang Jun-peong.’

He had been wondering why the dark magicians’ power levels were so low. However, there was a powerful one amongst them. Even after combining all the other magicians’ power in that room, they could not compare in strength to the old magician.

“The level of difficulty for this trial is insane,” Su-hyeun muttered out loud.

This entire situation was ridiculous. This was only the 30th floor of the trials. Chloe, an Awakener of the Dump Guild, said the 30th floor was a lower level of difficulty. However, this floor contained a powerful magician and Ouroboros as enemies.

‘Well, catching Ouroboros is not actually part of the trial.’

The gatekeeper had given Su-hyeun advice after he had paid him 100,000 achievement points. Su-hyeun didn’t know why the gatekeeper gave him any advice. After all, the risk of helping him was quite high. However, it was information that was hard to ignore.

‘It is very risky, but it is worth a try.’ Su-hyeun opened his hand and lifted it.

Su-hyeun wanted advice on how to pass the trial successfully, and the gatekeeper offered two ways. The first one was for just passing the trial as it was. The second one was for how to receive better rewards after completing the trial. Su-hyeun chose the way that would grant him better rewards. The Tower of Trials always gave bigger rewards to a greater challenger.

‘I can do it.’

Su-hyeun clenched his fist.

‘I can do it.’

Act 10

It was the next day. Su-hyeun left the city with some of the dark magicians. When they arrived at the city wall, some people blocked them from leaving. However, when the old magician showed his face, they were granted access to leave. Su-hyeun recognized the position of power that the dark magicians had in Moros, and the old magician held even more power than them.

Stomp, stomp—

Ten of the dark magicians and Su-hyeun walked without talking. They headed to the seafront that was quite a distance from Moros.

“We will reach the sea soon,” the old magician said as he clasped his hands together behind his back.

The other dark magicians held their breath as if they were nervous. Even though they had control over Ouroboros, they were still nervous every time they came near the beast.

“Are you sure about this?” the old magician asked Su-hyeun for the last time.

Su-hyeun looked at him for a while and then turned away. “You are loud.”

“Hahaha. You are very confident.”

Grr—

At the old magician’s words, Miru roared, showing his teeth. It appeared that Miru didn’t like the old magician’s unpleasant laugh. The old man looked away from Miru and saw that they had finally arrived at the shore.

“Well, we arrived.”

Roar—

The sky was clear, and the sea was blue. There was a reflection of the sunlight on the sea. It was an incredible landscape. Somebody who did not know what this place was would think this was a vacation spot. It was the place where Su-hyeun had first started his trial.

“How are you going to call Ouroboros?” Su-hyeun asked the old magician.

The old magician replied with a smile, “The beast is already coming.”

Ten dark magicians had been muttering something since earlier. It seemed to be a spell to call Ouroboros. Su-hyeun turned his gaze toward the sea again, and at that moment, he could feel a vibration through the sand.

Grr—

Miru started to cry angrily. No, more accurately, it seemed like Miru was frightened. The divine beast, Miru, and demonic beast, Ouroboros, were naturally hostile to each other since birth.

Rumble—

After a while, a huge shadow appeared in front of the shore. The shadow gradually grew and then lifted its head over the surface.

Roar—

A huge black snake appeared over the sea. The giant snake covered the sun and shook its long body. Its red eyes looked down upon Su-hyeun and the other dark magicians. Ouroboros had arrived.

Ouroboros’s body covered the sky. Its body frame was very thick and several kilometers long. This was the great demonic beast that could destroy the whole country.

‘It is massive.’

Su-hyeun had never seen any monsters this size. Ouroboros had a presence far greater than other high-level divine beasts. It was closer in appearance to a massive dragon rather than a snake.

Gulp—

It had been a while since he felt this nervous. As soon as Ouroboros appeared, Miru hid behind Su-hyeun. To young Miru, Ouroboros was too big of an enemy.

“Hahaha. So, what do you think after seeing Ouroboros this close?”

The old magician passed Su-hyeun and glanced at his face. He had expected Su-hyeun would be scared by now, but his expectation was wrong.

“Well, let’s leave,” the old man said to the other dark magicians.

They would be caught up in the fight if they stayed here. They called on Ouroboros to appear here, but they didn’t want to be involved in this battle. The old magician quickly walked away. He planned to release his control over Ouroboros after he left from this place.

“I am anxious,” the old magician muttered as he walked away from the shore and toward the city.

“What do you mean, sir?”

“The look on that man’s face.”

The old magician looked back at Su-hyeun, who was quite a distance behind them now. He could not see Su-hyeun’s face anymore, but the look he had made before bothered the old magician.

“What about his face? How was it?”

“I thought he would be scared, of course, but it looked like he was expecting something.” The old magician shook his head and still could not believe what he saw.

“What? Expecting something?”

The other dark magicians looked puzzled and did not understand.

‘He should be scared by Ouroboros and run away, but he was expecting something? What could he possibly be expecting?’

“I’m anxious. I’m anxious.”

The old magician murmured over and over. He was unable to relieve his anxiety.

‘What would be the consequences of my choice? It is all up to Ouroboros now.’

The old magician opened his mouth to speak when they moved far enough away from the battle. “Ouroboros, eat him up.”

Rumble—

The words he muttered traveled toward the shore with the power of dark magic. At that moment, he heard a loud noise.

Kiyaa—!

The howl of Ouroboros roared over the sky.