The Hero Returns

Stomp, stomp—

It had been about 5 minutes since people started following Su-hyeun. Nothing appeared so far. It was a situation where nobody knew where and what things would appear all a sudden. If they moved without caution and got caught in a trap, it could cause trouble.

"Wait a minute! There is something!" Mirald, who was following Su-hyeun, found out something strange and shouted at him.

At that moment, a bright white light flashed in front of Su-hyeun.

Slash—!

Rip—!

A giant earthworm that soared from the ground was cut in half, and blood splashed everywhere. Su-hyeun cut the body of the monster as soon as he drew the sword out.

He spoke casually, shaking the blood from the sword. "Let's keep moving."

"…Okay."

Similar things happened after that. Other people tried to warn Su-hyeun about traps or monsters to get more achievement points, but it was useless. Su-hyeun's reaction was always faster than the other four.

<<Damn it. If he finds the exit in this way…>>

<<What's going to happen? He will take all the achievement points like this.>>

They tried to grasp the situation. More monsters and traps appeared, but Su-hyeun, who was leading the way, easily removed all of them. It was obvious that he would advance to the finals. Now, there was only one seat left.

<<Who will make the cut besides of him?>>

A common thought that came to everyone's mind. At that time, a familiar voice was heard in the heads of the three people.

—Hey. I would like to suggest something. If you agree with that, please nod your head after listening.

Three people were startled and looked at Mirald.

—Don't look at me. He will notice.

Stomp, stomp—

Their gait, which had been disturbed for a moment, went back to normal. Su-hyeun, who was walking ahead, glanced at the back once and started moving again. Mirald felt relieved and continued her talking.

—…So, what do you think?

The three people worried for a moment but nodded one by one. It was not a bad offer. Anyway, nothing was foul in this test, except murder.

***

Crack, crack—

The ground turned upside down and a giant earthworm soared. It was an earthworm with many large and small mouths all over its body. It was over ten meters and gushed out severe poisonous fluid from its body.

"Watch out! It's a meat-eating earthworm!" Mirald shouted the name of the monster as if she had seen it before. "The clear fluid on its body is extremely poisonous. The teeth are hard enough to chew even steel."

"How should we attack it?" one awakener asked.

"It is weak to fire. The skin is not tough, either…."

Whiz—

While Mirald was talking, Su-hyeun stormed out and went inside of the mouth of the meat-eating earthworm. Everybody was surprised at what just happened. That time, the body of the meat-eating earthworm began to shiver.

Rip—!

Drip, drip—!

Kiyaaaak—!

Its body was cut from the inside and burnt down. The meat-eating earthworm screamed. Screaming didn't go on for long. Soon, its body was cut in half. The dead worm fell on the ground. The other four, who had escaped to the top of the trees, were speechless. They never thought Su-hyeun would go inside of the giant worm and attack it from there.

"A-are you okay?" Mirald approached Su-hyeun and asked.

Even though everything was a hallucination, if Su-hyeun was poisoned by the meat-eating earthworm, he might be eliminated from the test.

"Yes. I am fine."

"How could you possibly be okay from the poison of the meat-eating earthworm?"

"I guess a hallucination is just a hallucination. That great Johnny Brad could not incarnate the poison of the monster I assume," one awakener behind of Mirald said, snorting. Then, he muttered that the contest was very crude. He bobbed his head to Su-hyeun and continued to say, "If you are done, let's move again. Obviously, you will pass the test as soon as you find the exit."

His tone was very sarcastic as if he was asking Su-hyeun if he was satisfied to get all achievement points by himself. Other parties' faces were not much different from him. Su-hyeun looked around their faces and nodded his head. The party started moving again. Su-hyeun touched the wall.

<<The exit is not that far.>>

He glanced back. Other people were touching the wall like him. At this distance, they would have also located the exit. The level of traps and monsters was not so high. The level might be difficult for only one S-Rank awakener, but it was almost too easy for five of them. As Su-hyeun had guessed from the beginning, the goal of this test was not to escape the maze.

<<It is about who gets more achievement points or…>>

As his thoughts got deeper, he stopped his steps and said, "It's a trap."

Hiss, hiss—

Numerous snakes crawled down the walls of the maze. It was the same on the ground. From red to purple, tens of thousands of slender snakes appeared.

Su-hyeun looked down at his feet and asked, "What does this mean?"

The black teeth that sore up from the ground bit Su-hyeun's ankle. The teeth were hard and sharp enough to dig into his ankle. It bit tighter as if it was not going to miss his foot. Su-hyeun stared at the man behind who summoned these black teeth.

"Well. If you are done guiding, you can leave the stage," the man grinned and said.

Su-hyeun could not remember his name. He had seen it when they were summoned here for the first time. But it was not that important of a name, so he didn't care to remember.

"Guiding…" Su-hyeun murmured.

He looked around all four of them. They were also S-Rank awakeners, who were famous in their countries. They did not look to be that great, but that was only for Su-hyeun's position. They all went through all sorts of hardships on their owns.

"Are you saying one less person will make things easier for you to pass the test?" Su-hyeun asked.

"Don't be too resentful. We are not going to kill you or anything. We just ask you to be eliminated in the preliminary round. So, just yield to us."

Yield. It was a good word. Yielding was virtuous and good. Su-hyeun looked at the camera, which would be watching them from somewhere. And only then, he noticed the skill of Mirald who was following from the most distance.

"Another hallucination that covers the hallucinations… I guess there was a talented person in this place."

"You noticed that well," Mirald said.

At this moment, the cameras that showing the five of them would send a completely different scene because of the hallucinations created by Mirald. It was not comparable to Johnny Brad's hallucination skill, which encompassed the entire huge stadium, but her hallucinations were also quite brilliant. It was limited to a narrow space, but it was not easy to create another hallucination that covered Johnny Brad's hallucinations.

"It does not look good, you know. Four against one," said Mirald.

"So, you do know it is a shameful work."

"Whatever. Soon, the camera will take a shot of your elimination by the snake in this area." She continued to speak in a softer voice. "I am truly sorry. But you have to understand. We can't help it. The world is like this."

"Yeah. So, why were you so greedy? If you worked together with us in the first place…"

The four people surrounded Su-hyeun and spoke as if they were sorry and as if it was all Su-hyeun's fault. Su-hyeun distorted his face.

He said, "It is funny that you guys can use the word 'understand' and 'yield' in this situation."

"Don't be displeased so much—"

"There are two things you guys wrong about," Su-hyeun said.

Swish—

Crunch—

Su-hyeun lifted his feet and hit the black teeth that were chewing on his ankles on the ground. The teeth shattered and scattered on the floor. The man who summoned the teeth frowned. That wasn't a skill that could be easily broken like that.

"First, you guys see the traps and monsters in this space as just simple hallucinations. Especially," Su-hyeun looked at Mirald and said, "you. You use hallucination skills. How could you not penetrate it? It is hilarious."

"I know more than you do."

"Well. That's just your thinking."

"Why are you so confident—"

"Second." Su-hyeun cut Mirlad off and said, "You guys assumed that I would be weaker than you."

Crack—

The third eye, which had been hidden over Su-hyeun's forehead, opened. The yellow eye looked bizarre as if it was not a human's eye. But the four of them were not surprised. Awakeners had all kinds of skills. That kind of body change was not a big deal among them.

But something was indeed strange. Mirald, who was facing Su-hyeun's eyes, felt a strange ominous feeling. So did the other three. Soon, they were able to confirm the identity of the ominous feeling.

Hiss, hiss—

Hiss, hiss—

The snakes had not been moving since they had appeared; it was as if they stopped thinking. But now, they turned their back on Su-hyeun and stared at them. It looked like they were protecting Su-hyeun. People got chills. They never saw snakes or monsters follow the order of a human. It was something impossible.

<<Johnny Brad!>>

One man's name popped into Mirald's head. He was the man who created this huge hallucination space.

"This is unfair! How Johnny Brad can help you?" she shouted.

"Wow. You are seriously stupid," said Su-hyeun.

Stomp—

Looking around the snakes around him, Su-hyeun said, "Johnny Brad is a great awakener. I never imagined that he would embody such details in his monsters. I doubted it at first. I never thought it would work."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Even if I tell you, you won't understand since you are too stupid. The other three behind you are the same."

[Third Eye - Predator]

It was Su-hyeun's trait. Predator was a skill that overwhelmed monsters far below his level. It required a lot of magic to use. So, it was usually better to just cut off the enemy than use this skill. But this was a different situation.

The opponents were tens of thousands of snakes of various kinds. The trait of Predator was from Ouroboros. Ouroboros was a demonic beast, known as the god of snakes. The trait of Ouroboros had a greater effect on snakes. Johnny Brad had even applied this nature to his hallucinations.

On the other hand, unlike Su-hyeun, the other four people did not believe in the details and the level of difficulty of these hallucinations. They had been watching Su-hyeun, who had been killing monsters so easily. So, they did not take these hallucinations seriously. And that disbelief ended with this problem. They underestimated Su-hyeun.

"You guys told me I needed to yield and understand, right?"

Su-hyeun looked at the other S-Rank awakeners who were aiming their weapons at him. Su-hyeun had been thinking this mission was too easy. But now, it became more interesting.

"So, I want you to understand my actions as well from now on."