The Hero Returns

Kiyaa—!

Rumble, rumble—

Ouroboros let out an extremely loud roar that hurt Se-hyeun's eardrums. He covered his ear with one hand and spoke to Miru, who was on his head.

"Miru, go inside the subspace for a moment."

At Su-hyeun's words, Miru spread his wings as if he was waiting for that command and went inside the subspace. It seemed like Miru was frightened by Ouroboros quite a bit.

'Well, Miru is still a baby, even if he is quite big,' Su-hyeun thought.

Miru was not even half a year old yet. The demonic beasts were opponents of the divine beasts. Since Ouroboros was a top-level demonic beast, it was understandable that Miru got scared by him. Su-hyeun was proud that Miru even tried to be brave by not crying out.

Se-hyeun used his powers to utilize various skills like the Indomitable body, Doppelganger, Flame: Phoenix, and transfiguration skill.

Caw, caw—!

Dozens of small birds appeared around Su-hyeun. They were birds made of blue flames. His eyes changed to blue as well, and he stood in the middle of the birds with his eyes shining.

'I should not take this fight lightly.'

Swish—

'Here I go.'

Caw, caw—!

Dozens of birds flew toward Ouroboros. In the center of them, Su-hyeun leaped in the air a couple of times and swung his sword at Ouroboros' scales.

Slash—

Kiyaa—

The scales were very thick and hard. Even though the sword was covered with Su-hyeun's magic, no cut was made on the beast's body. After he stabbed the sword deep into the beast, he quickly jumped away from the creature.

Swoosh—

Ouroboros' tail smashed down and missed where Su-hyeun landed by a hair's breadth.

Ka-boom—!

One side of the shore collapsed, and seawater flowed over it. A strong gust of wind formed when the beast lifted its tail. Su-hyeun staggered widely but jumped up through the air once more.

Swish, swish—

Slash—

Su-hyeun swung his sword, with the Flame skill applied to it, a few more times. However, the beast's scales were ridiculously hard, so he could not deal much damage to the creature. Since Ouroboros was very big, Se-hyeun could only inflict small stab wounds, no matter how many times he cut the creature. Even then, it was challenging to inflict those types of injuries.

'I have to cut this beast more deeply,' Su-hyeun thought.

Stab, stab—

Su-hyeun continued to wield his sword.

'I will cut this beast at once!'

Rumble—

Su-hyeun concentrated his magic on the sword. He rushed his sword toward the wounds that he had been making on the scales of Ouroboros.

Rip—!

He made quite a deep wound this time. Blood splattered out of Ouroboros, but the creature didn't even scream in pain. This wound seemed to be nothing more than just a small scratch to the beast.

Soon after he had made the wound to the beast, a huge shadow fell over Su-hyeun's head. He quickly moved his body before his brain could even process what was happening.

Swoosh—

Ka-boom—!

The thick tail hit the surface of the sea. Seawater splashed up.

Gulp—

Su-hyeun nervously swallowed as he observed the power of the tail that passed right in front of his eyes.

'One hit from that tail could kill me at once,' he thought.

He thought Ouroboros would be slow since he was massive, but he was actually quite agile. The creature didn't seem to have magical powers, but its strength came from its large size. Not to mention, the rigidity of the scales on its body made it difficult to wound the creature. Su-hyeun could count all the monsters he had seen in his life on the fingers of one of his hands. However, none of them were like this beast.

'A small wound.'

Su-hyeun's eyes focused on one place.

'Let's try again.'

Swish—

Su-hyeun quickly jumped towards Ouroboros again.

Whoosh—!

Boom—!

Su-hyeun could hear the tail ripping into the air. Again, Ouroboros' tail missed Su-hyeun as he quickly disappeared from where he was.

Hiss, hiss—

Ouroboros looked around and flicked its tongue out. Su-hyeun could move quicker than the beast since he was smaller in size. He climbed on the back of Ouroboros and ran up the creature before it could notice what he was doing. Su-hyeun was holding a long spear instead of the sword this time. It was the Dragon Slaying Spear.

Su-hyeun grabbed the spear tightly and aimed the weapon at the wound in front of him. It was the wound that he had been deepening with stabs previously.

'One, two.'

Whoosh—

The blue Flame skill wrapped around the spear.

'Three!'

At that moment, Su-hyeun's body bounced forward.

Boom—!

Su-hyeun threw the spear with all his might. The Dragon Slaying Spear flew precisely and quickly toward the wound on Ouroboros. However, somehow the spear was maintaining its original state. This was a weapon that was supposed to fragmentize as soon as the user threw it.

Rumble, rumble—

The rumbling sound came from the Dragon Slaying Spear. It trembled as if something restrained it.

Su-hyeun muttered to the spear, "Please hold on a little more."

Whoosh—

Ouroboros moved its tail again. At that moment, the spear flew into the wound and stayed there.

Kiyaa—!

Ouroboros screamed out for the first time. The Dragon Slaying Spear shattered into thousands of pieces inside of the wound. For the giant Ouroboros, the Dragon Slaying Spear was just a small thorn. However, it was a different story when it turned into thousands of pieces.

Whooosh—

Bam—!

Ouroboros swung its tail faster. Su-hyeun dashed toward the end of the coast. Ouroboros twisted its body due to the pain it had never experienced before. The creature then looked around to try and find Su-hyeun. At that moment, Su-hyeun yelled out.

"Go bite it!"

Caw, caw—!

Dozens of Phoenixes flew up.

Whoosh—

Boom, boom, boom—!

The Phoenixes bumped into Ouroboros eyes just as they were searching for Su-hyeun. The creature closed its eyes at the burning pain.

Kiyaa—!

The creature's big body shook.

Boom, boom—!

Rumble—

Ouroboros swung its tail randomly with its eyes closed and hit its head on the ground. The coast was completely ruined, and the seawater rose and splashed like rain on the shore.

After feeling some relief from the pain, Ouroboros opened its eyes again and started looking around. It was hard to find the original terrain since it collapsed and was ruined. Su-hyeun was nowhere to be found.

***

Boom, boom—

Kiyaa—!

The magicians in Moros poured into the streets after hearing the loud roars. The earth shook, and the cry of Ouroboros filled the island. The tall wall couldn't block the sound of Ouroboros from them.

"Why is the creature suddenly going crazy?"

"Are the dark magicians trying to kill everybody?"

"That sound really drives me nuts."

The magicians on the street buzzed with speculation. Amongst them, a small bent Malcolm lifted his head. He could see the head of Ouroboros from afar.

"Why is Ouroboros suddenly—"

"Mr. Malcolm! What is happening?"

"Isn't Ouroboros your responsibility? Explain this!"

The magicians found Malcolm and started to complain one by one. They usually treated Malcolm as an invisible person because of their resentment towards him, but if Ouroboros went crazy, Malcolm was the only person that they could turn to. He was the one who knew Ouroboros better than anyone else.

"W-well, I have no idea. There is no reason for Ouroboros to be acting crazy like that," Malcolm said.

"What do you mean? How do you have no idea?"

"Yes! You are very irresponsible! What didn't you study about that—"

"You should come up with a solution!"

Malcolm backed away, sweating at the sound of resentment in their voices. He knew nothing about what was happening right at the moment.

"I can explain this."

Thump, thump—

At that time, a small voice interrupted the crowd. The magicians looked back. There stood the old dark magician who wore a black robe around his shoulders. At his appearance, the crowd of magicians dispersed and made a path for him. Malcolm stared at him with surprise as well.

"Raeng, what are you doing here?" Malcolm asked.

"Long time no see, Malcolm." The old dark magician named Raeng approached him and said, "My old friend."

***

Sizzle, sizzle—

Su-hyeun's whole body was tingling. There was fluid falling from the ceiling, and he felt a slimy liquid under his feet. He was inside a dark cave with no light at all. Su-hyeun could barely keep his balance as he held onto the wall with his hand.

"Well, somehow, I didn't die."

Whoosh—

Su-hyeun used the Flame skill to illuminate the dark place he was standing in. He could see quite a spacious area that was slightly curved into a slope. There were some puddles of black liquid.

'The liquid seems to be quite a deadly poison.'

Sizzle—

The black liquid that fell over his shoulder evaporated and left a burning sensation. It was fortunate that he was wearing Falcon's Holy Armor. It seemed that the armor protected him from the black liquid with its magic.

"It's so humid and stuffy."

Rumble—

The area around him shook once more. Su-hyeun grabbed the wall tightly. It seemed like Ouroboros was moving.

'Well, I came in here somehow but—'

After Su-hyeun was discovered by Ouroboros, he jumped into the beast's mouth when it screamed. He entered the creature's body through its esophagus. He decided to attack Ouroboros from the inside.

'I guess the head-on match is impossible.' Su-hyeun sighed and scratched his head.

Perhaps he was becoming confident, but he thought he possibly had enough power to kill Ouroboros now. The creature wasn't just big. It also had hard scales and thick skin that Su-hyeun's sword could not penetrate easily. It was evident that Se-hyeun would die before he could cut through the creature's skin. However, perhaps he can injure him from the inside now.

'Well, this monster was not for catching in the first place.'

The main purpose of this trial was not to defeat Ouroboros but to survive. The primary objective of this trial is to escape the magicians when they tried to sacrifice him in a month.

'I certainly digress from the main objective.'

All he had to do was survive. It was natural that the achievement rate of the trials would vary depending on the course of action taken. However, Su-hyeun believed he made the right choice in his decision to fight Ouroboros.

"Where should I look around here anyway?" he muttered.

The inside of the beast was like a winding slope, so he could not navigate his way around easily. Furthermore, time was a problem. It was unlikely that he would be able to withstand a few hours of the venomous fluid in Ouroboros. Ordinary people would have probably melted as soon as they got in here.

Rumble, rumble—

"Uh, uh?"

At that time, Ouroboros, who was standing upright, began to lean down slowly. Su-hyeun was now standing on the very wall he had initially been holding onto so he would not fall. Ouroboros moved its body, and the winding path straightened up.

Rumble—

The area shook for a while. He was certain that Ouroboros had laid down.

'What is it doing all of a sudden?'

His body became more comfortable, but he felt anxious inside.

Syaa—

Su-hyeun turned his head toward the unpleasant snake sounds and saw multiple mouths open. The inside of Ouroboros was filled with thousands of pairs of eyes staring at Su-Hyeun.