The Hero Returns

“Of course. It was not over yet,” Su-hyeun said.

Dullahan was not weak but if it ended like this, it would have been too easy to be a green-colored dungeon — Dullahan was the level of a boss of a yellow-colored dungeon, not a green-colored dungeon. Perhaps the real boss would be the one that came closer right at the moment. It had to be a big creature that Su-hyeun could see with his naked eyes despite the distance.

<> Su-hyeun thought.

Rumble, rumble—

The ship began to move gradually. It moved upward. In the beginning, the ship appeared from the sea, and it looked like it was going back to where it was originally.

“It is not a usual ship,” he mumbled.

This ship was too big for only Dullahan and his armor soldiers. It was at least a few kilometers long. It was almost like a small island. Furthermore, as the ship was floating, it was obvious that there was a power source moving the ship.

Rumble—

The ship was headed upward little by little. Su-hyeun went inside of the ship. When he went deeper into the ship, he could see the structure of it.

“This ship… is alive.”

He knew it was not an ordinary ship, but he did not expect that this ship would be like a living thing.

“Then…” Su-hyeun turned his body and said, “Hey, Miru?”

Purr—?

“Can I ask you a favor?”

***

“Damn. There are too many.”

Lee Ju-ho, who cut off the armor soldiers one by one, stopped a moment and took a breath. Although he complained, the situation was not bad. Many of the armor soldiers were destroyed so there were not many left now. He did not even need to help anymore. Other people from the three guilds were pushing the armor soldiers more competitively to get more contributions.

“At first, it was tricky because we did not know their weaknesses. But it is not difficult anymore since we know them.”

Kim Taek-hyun, who held his cane in his hand, approached Lee Ju-ho and said it looked like he did not much care about the contributions. “I heard you were a B-Rank awakener. Did you become an A-Rank? I didn’t hear any news,” Kim Taek-hyun said.

He had been watching Lee Ju-ho’s battle against the armor soldiers quite carefully. And even in this mess, he noticed that Lee Ju-ho was using about Grade 6 magic.

“It has been a while. I will take a reexamination soon.” Lee Ju-ho replied without any hesitation because he did not intend to hide it in the first place. This dungeon was just a stage to expand his experience and experiment with his new skills.

“Is that so?” Kim Taek-hyun looked at Lee Ju-ho carefully and said, “If you are interested, please join our Red Devil Guild. You won’t be disappointed by the remuneration we give you.”

“Join your guild?” Lee Ju-ho asked.

“Yes. As long as you are interested. Ha-ha!”

It was an unexpected recruitment. But to Lee Ju-ho, it was a proposal not even worth thinking about.

“Sorry, but I am fine. If I wanted to join any guild, I probably would have done so a long time ago,” Lee Ju-ho refused.

At the instant refusal, Kim Taek-hyun smacked his lips as if he felt shame. He wanted to recruit Lee Ju-ho, who became an A-Rank. But he also thought it would be a great opportunity if he could make some sort of relationship with Su-hyeun through Lee Ju-ho.

“How many people are hurt?” Lee Ju-ho, who didn’t want to talk about the uncomfortable conversation, changed the subject. Kim Taek-hyun knew the reason why Lee Ju-ho did that, but he answered, pretending not to know.

“There are about two people in my guild. They’re not big injuries either.”

“That’s fortunate.”

If two people were injured in the Red Devil Guild, the other guilds would have a similar situation. About one in ten was injured and the injuries were not serious. This was not much damage. If the green-colored dungeon attack stopped at this much damage, it would be a great success.

“But it’s a little strange. It can’t be this easy,” Kim Taek-hyun said.

Lee Ju-ho totally agreed with Kim Taek-hyun’s opinion. It was his first time to attack a green-colored dungeon, but since he received the reports, he knew the approximate data.

“Maybe this isn’t over yet.”

“I suppose you are right.”

They had not searched the whole city yet. Perhaps there were more traps and monsters left. If that were true, it could have been the reason why the fight was over with so little damage.

“Let’s check the injured people as soon as we’re done here,” Lee Ju-ho said.

Kim Taek-hyun nodded and asked, “But where did Mr. Kim Su-hyeun go?”

“I think he is investigating the ship over there.”

“Why is he taking so long…?”

Purr—

At that moment, they could hear a familiar sound. It was Miru. Miru flew toward Lee Ju-ho, circling the sky.

Lee Ju-ho asked in surprise, “Miru! Why are you here alone…?”

“Isn’t this Mr. Su-hyeun’s divine beast?” Kim Taek-hyun asked.

He was surprised since the divine beast that Su-hyeun had wrapped around his neck flew to them alone. Both of them thought something might have gone wrong with Su-hyeun. If that happened, attacking this dungeon would be impossible.

Purr, purr—!

Miru flew in front of Lee Ju-ho’s eyes and fluttered its tail. At that moment, Lee Ju-ho found a small piece of paper tied to Miru’s tail.

“Paper?”

Purr—

Miru stuck out the tail to him. Lee Ju-ho carefully unwrapped the paper so that it would not be torn up. When he opened the paper, something was written on it.

[I will break this floating ship. I will give you ten minutes. Everybody evacuates.]

“W-w-what?”

“What the hell…”

The two men who read the paper became panicked. They lifted their heads and looked up at the floating ship.

“Is he going to break that ship?”

“If that happens…”

“Everybody! Run away!” Kim Taek-hyun shouted as loud as he could.

Lee Kang-hee, who was finishing up the armor soldiers, asked, “Run away? What are you talking about?”

“What is happening…?”

“The ship will fall! Hurry up!”

“What? What?”

Everyone got busy. They all thought one thing: they had to run away.

***

“Everybody is running away well.”

Su-hyeun sat on the bow of the ship and looked down at the ground. He could see the people who started to run away after they got the note that he had sent with Miru. They were small like dots, but he could tell they were in a panic. He felt a little sorry, but he couldn’t just leave this ship alone. He felt uncomfortable.

<>

He got up from where he sat.

Purr—!

Miru flew back just in time. Actually, he came faster than Su-hyeun expected.

<>

Su-hyeun stroked Miru’s head and said, “Good job, son.”

Purr, purr—!

He wanted to play more with Miru, who was rubbing his face on him. But he had no time to do that. The people below were finishing the evacuation. In fact, even if the ship fell down, people could run away by themselves since they were skilled enough to attack the green-colored dungeon.

The preparations were now over. Even though it was an old ship, to break this huge thing, he needed to spend quite a bit of energy. So, there was something he had prepared.

“I didn’t know I would use these this way.”

Su-hyeun threw a nail-sized red stone that he had held.

Chink, chink—

That red stone was the last one. He had evenly sprayed the stones. The red stones were the work of Kim Dae-ho.

***

“I made these from the Ether stone you had brought. They were difficult to make. So, don’t waste them.”

“Where can I use these?”

“They are magic amplifiers.”

“Magic amplifiers?”

“The connection between stones will make a path that magic can go through. And then, it amplifies the magic power instantly. It is like the better version of a magic circle that awakeners use.”

Although the description was poor, Su-hyeun quickly grasped the usage of the items. In other words, they were a medium for creating a magic circle. The form of the circle was pretty simple.

“I said it was a magic circle, but the form does not really matter. You can make like a circle or you can put them in a row. As long as you can make a line, they will become a great amplifier.”

“I guess they will be useful to make a trap or something.”

“Not just for a trap,” Kim Dae-ho laughed proudly and said, “It’s best when you destroy things.”

***

In fact, these red stones were difficult to use although Kim Da-ho put a lot of effort into making them. To use this item, Su-hyeun had to install the stones in many places. So, when he had to deal with a moving monster, it was a useless item. This item was just good to set traps. But in this situation, it was a different story.

<>

Rumble—

Rumble—

The red stones that he had spread on the floor began to glow. At that moment, Su-hyeun turned his body. The reason he chose the bow as the place for the last stone was that way he could run away quickly.

“Let’s run away!”

Purr—

About the moment that Su-hyeun jumped—

Bam—!

Boom—!

—dozens of explosions occurred within the huge ship.

***

Rumble—

Boom, boom—

The remains of the huge ship fell down. Seeing that, Lee Ju-ho opened his mouth.

“What the hell did he do up there?” Lee Ju-ho asked.

“Can’t you tell?”

Thump—

At the voice from behind, Lee Ju-ho turned his body. At the back, Su-hyeun was about to land on the ground.

“I feel uncomfortable to leave that ship like that,” Su-hyeun said.

“What was the ship for?”

“That ship was alive. If I didn’t break it, it would bring more armor soldiers.”

“What? The ship…was alive?” Lee Ju-ho asked.

“Yes. Let’s talk about it later. It is not over yet.”

Su-hyeun pointed up as he spoke. Although the smoke from the explosion covered above, Lee Ju-ho could see something where Su-hyeun was pointing with his finger.

“Wh-What is that?” Lee Ju-ho asked.

“Can you see?”

“What the hell is so big like that?”

At the surprised Lee Ju-ho’s voice, people ran to them from all the sides.

“Mr. Su-hyeun! What the hell is that?”

“Is that…?”

The giant octopus was now close enough for everyone to see.

“Have you guys ever watched <>”

Su-hyeun now seemed to be able to figure out the theme and background of this dungeon. He could tell the identity of the ship and the identity of armor soldiers, including Dullahan, and the giant octopus that was coming to the big city under the sea from over there.

“That is Kraken,” Su-hyeun said.

“Kraken…”

“The name is not important now. Can’t you see how big that monster is?”

Lee Kang-hee made a great fuss. Kraken looked as big as a World Cup stadium. The overwhelming pressure that came from the size was not something that compared to any other monsters. Kraken was bigger than Igolas.

“What’s wrong?”

Su-hyeun answered as if it was nothing. “Won’t you catch it because it is so big?”