The Hero Returns

"Pant, pant…"

In the middle of a desert, gigantic corpses of monsters like earthworms were strewn about on the sand, accompanied by the green-colored blood scattered everywhere.

Gwon Jae-hoon wielded a pair of shortswords and was panting away. he had already killed dozens of monsters, yet he couldn't even see the end of them.

"These bastards…. just how many of them are still out there?"

He couldn't even count them all. And the ground he was barely standing on didn't feel safe, either. He just wasn't sure when those monsters would jump out from there, their sharp fangs bared.

If something like that happened, it'd be the end for him.

He had been concentrating for the last twenty minutes or so. Nothing could be more tiring than being constantly on edge. Both his magical energy reserves and his stamina were reaching rock bottom. He was in no state to keep fighting while relying on his concentration alone.

<< It was a mistake to come here. >>

The blue-colored dungeon.

At first, he thought he'd be able to raid it without a problem. As long as his Hahoetal Guild gave everything it had, then a dungeon they had information on shouldn't be difficult; that's what he thought.

But he was so, so wrong.

Even if their colors were the same, difficulties in dungeons varied. For instance, a green-colored dungeon's difficulty could spike several times higher than others of the same color depending on its scale.

Not to mention, the blue color had appeared only once before. That wasn't a great data set.

He overlooked that. He didn't prepare adequately for it. The consequence of his negligence was his current situation.

<< Let's take a break for now. >>

Plop-

Gwon Jae-hoon spread out his magical energy in all directions to confirm the locations of the monsters, then plopped down on the sand. Being able to defeat the monsters without getting hurt too much gave him some leeway.

<< I can get out of here as long as my magical energy reserves recover. >>

He still didn't know where the exit was, but he did manage to run quite a distance away from the entrance. So, he might be able to find it by using his 'Space-folding' skill a couple more times.

Just like how the oasis acted as the entrance, the exit should also be in the form of some notable landmark as well, so it couldn't be that difficult to locate.

But, right then…

Wriggle-

The damn monsters began approaching him again from beneath the ground.

<< Dammit, I only managed to recover a small bit of magical energy so far! >>

Gwon Jae-hoon gritted his teeth, and was about to activate the 'Space-folding' skill, but then…

Piii-iit, piiit-

Splaaash-!

Green blood rushed up from below the sand he was sitting on.

<< ….Uh? >>

Boom, boom-

Monsters rising up from the ground began collapsing on the sand, bodies cut into large chunks.

Fwooosh, whoosh, swiiish-

There were dozens and dozens of monsters, and Su-hyeun's figure was darting between them effortlessly. A single stroke of his sword caused the tough outer shells of the monsters to shatter, and their resilient hides underneath were sliced open.

That simply didn't make any sense. Monsters, each more than strong enough to act as the boss of a regular yellow-colored dungeon, were falling in droves, powerless to stop Su-hyeun.

Ruuumble-

Bang, ka-boooom-!

The monster corpses were set alight. It was the same story underground, as well.

Su-hyeun wasn't just fighting the visible monsters. No, he was also taking care of those hiding beneath the sand, not just the ones the naked eye could see.

<< Is he actually planning to find and kill them all? >>

Even Gwon Jae-hoon could spread out his magical energy and discover the locations of the monsters hidden beneath the sand. But it was a different story altogether if he needed to use his skills and wield his weapons while doing that.

He'd have to divide his thought process and magical energy into two—no, three—while fighting in order to do that.

Gwon Jae-hoon looked on at the scene of Su-hyeun fighting the monsters in a daze. Belatedly, thoughts of escape floated up in his head.

<< That bastard is even more dangerous! >>

The relief of being saved lasted only for a second or two. Gwon Jae-hoon remembered that Su-hyeun was his enemy and sneakily began to stand up.

<< I need to run away. >>

While thinking that he might be able to live through this, he activated the 'Space-folding' skill once more. The world became crooked in his view, and he took a large stride forward. And so, just as he jumped the space and began his escape attempt again…

Stab-

There was a burning sensation in his forward leg.

<< ….Uh? >>

Splat-

Gwon Jae-hoon stumbled forward ungainly with a spear straight through his thigh.

He barely fought back against the pain and raised his head to look back, only to see Su-hyeun in the distance assuming the position of a spear-thrower.

<< What just happened? >>

How did Su-hyeun even figure out which direction Gwon Jae-hoon was moving in to throw that spear? Wasn't Gwon Jae-hoon using the space-folding skill to move? Each step taken would be equal to dozens of normal steps, maybe more.

So, to other people's eyes, he must've looked like he had teleported through space just then.

"You've sure come pretty far, haven't you?" Su-hyeun said as he walked over to Gwon Jae-hoon. "Even if you ran, you'd still end up as a monster's lunch, anyway."

"P-please, don't kill me…." Gwon Jae-hoon couldn't escape with the spear stabbed through his leg, and, in the end, had no choice but to beg desperately. "Please, let me go, just this once! I'll never, ever do this kind of thing again. P-please…."

Su-hyeun arrived at where Gwon Jae-hoon was, paused briefly to ponder something, before asking a question. "Hey. Don't you think that you might have heard the very same thing before, somewhere?"

"….What was that?"

"I'm sure you have. From those people pleading with you to let them go."

"…."

Now that he thought about, he was indeed familiar with the words. With what he just said, with the current situation.

-Please, don't kill me…

He could hear their voices now. Not from just one or two people, but so many of them. And what they wanted from him was always the same.

To let them go.

That was what the folks from the targeted guild always begged for whenever the Hahoetal Guild decided to sabotage them.

Su-hyeun continued, "So. My answer is…."

"N-no! Wait!!"

Stab-

Su-hyeun's sword stabbed deeply into Gwon Jae-hoon's head.

"…The same as yours."

Splaaash-!

Gwon Jae-hoon's lifeless body collapsed on his back.

Creak, creaaak-

Su-hyeun's gaze scanned his surroundings. The only thing visible was the endless sea of sand. But he still felt countless presences below the ground he was standing on.

Additionally, he could even sense their emotions and desires, too.

"You want to eat this guy, is that it?" Su-hyeun said while preparing to make a large movement as if he actually understood what the monsters were telling him. "In that case, come at me, you damn worms."

Pow, boom-

Kiii-aaaahh-!

Dozens of gigantic worms exploded out from the sand and rose up. And at the same time, Su-hyeun's body leaped up into the air.

Act 10

Gwon Jae-hoon's body was gone. It was devoured by a monster during the battle.

Plop-

Su-hyeun used a monster worm's corpse as a chair and sat on it. Not a single creature rushing in at him remained alive.

"What a stupidly huge place this is."

Just where did it end?

And where was its boss?

He had experienced many different types of dungeons before, but still—this type was never easy to figure out. The bigger problem than fighting the monsters was actually finding the correct path.

If he was in a maze-type dungeon, then at least he'd be sure of an exit waiting at the end, but this was an endless desert-type dungeon.

<< Still, there's no such thing as a dungeon without an end. Besides, a blue-colored dungeon of this scale, it's… really strange. >>

He couldn't discount the possibility that the entirety of the desert before his eyes was just an illusion. Su-hyeun cast his gaze down to the monster corpse he was sitting on, and then at the rest of the remains strewn about around him.

These things rose up from the ground, didn't they?

<< What if… >>

Su-hyeun seriously pondered the theory that came to him.

<< ….this whole dungeon visible to my eyes was nothing more than just a trick? >>

Hints certainly existed. It was worth checking out.

He got up from his spot. There was no reason to take a long break, as his stamina and magical energy reserve hadn't dropped too low, anyway.

Shu-rung-

He unsheathed Balmung, resting inside the scabbard, held it with both of his hands, and raised it up high.

Buzz, buzz, bzzz-

The tip of the blade vibrated harshly.

Balmung absorbed his magical energy and began amplifying it infinitely. And, right at that moment, Su-hyeun's sword descended to the ground.

[One Sword Cutting Through Everything- Splitting the Great Mountain.]

Fwuu-wuuung-

KWA-BOOOOM-!

The blade upended the ground. As if a massive bomb had gone off, the sand exploded in all directions.

Su-hyeun stood in the middle of sand particles falling like raindrops, opened his eyes wide and quickly scanned beneath the desert's surface to prove his theory.

<< Bingo. >>

Having confirmed it with his naked eyes, Su-hyeun smirked and threw his body down there.

He covered his eyes with magical energy to prevent sand from getting in and continued to descend below, and eventually, a massive cavity revealed itself below the sand-filled desert.

There was another space below the desert, as it turned out.

<< Is this a passageway created by the monsters? Or a pre-existing part of the dungeon? >>

He couldn't be sure which one it was. But one thing was for certain—the monsters of this dungeon inhabited the space below the desert's surface. If a lifeform was walking on the desert, they would sneakily rise up to the surface and start the hunt that way.

But that wasn't the important part.

<< This is already the third one. >>

The appearances of the blue-colored dungeons had been moved forward in the timeline. From what Su-hyeun could remember, there had been a time gap of about a year and a half before the second blue-colored dungeon made its appearance.

Furthermore, that second blue-colored dungeon wasn't even the 'twin dungeon' like this one was.

Of course, that didn't mean no blue-colored 'twin dungeons' appeared in history.

<< Didn't it first appear around the year 2028? >>

He remembered seeing it in the records, or maybe the data related to something else.

<< Let's unpack this for a second. >>

While figuring out this dungeon's layout, Su-hyeun also began combing through his memories.

<>

Although he didn't have any detailed information, he still remembered the rough outline of one such dungeon. He had seen it from the records the awakener authority had sent to him.

The blue-colored twin dungeons were an incident serious enough to send powerful ripples across the world even back then.

<< It's not as if dungeons that didn't exist before are suddenly showing up. But the timing and location have changed. And also, the moment dungeons of the same color appear for the second time, the rate of dungeon generation will accelerate greatly. >>

That last part was a theory commonly accepted for a long time. And also, a change that would happen in the future, too.

<< The real problem will begin when the navy blue color shows up. >>

The difficulties of blue-colored dungeons varied greatly, like heaven and earth. But raiding one wasn't impossible as long as the team was carefully organized around a skilled S-Rank awakener. No need to even mention it if said S-Rank was someone like himself or Gordon Rohan.

But the story would change drastically from the navy-blue color onwards.

And on the day a navy-colored dungeon first makes its appearance…

….The doomsday theory would reach its peak.

"This is driving me insane."

He just couldn't figure out why the rate of dungeon generation had accelerated to this degree, so how could he not get exasperated and pissed off?

The cause of this was still unknown.

But one thing was for sure—at this rate, he'd have to move even faster than he initially anticipated.

<< Because, at the current rate, that bastard Fafnir will appear much sooner, too. >>

The one silver lining here was that the dungeons appearing so far had appeared before in the previous timeline. It was just that the pre-existing dungeons appeared at different times and locations, that was all.

<< If it stays like this, it should be fine for now. >>

Su-hyeun's eyes gleamed brightly. Although he wasn't happy about this development, he had already resolved himself to such an eventuality ever since an unexpected green-colored dungeon suddenly made its appearance.

He had resolved himself about the future he knew of going through some changes.

From the get-go, knowing future events ahead of time was just too big of an advantage. It wasn't as if that advantage had completely disappeared—no, it was just a little diluted, that was all.

RUUUMBLE-

The underground dungeon he was standing in reverberated greatly. Inside the cave found beneath the endless desert, countless monsters were making their move.

<< For the time being, let's plug this place up first. >>

Kkiiiiaaaah-!

Monsters' screeches could be heard from a distance.

The current issue had to do with their sheer numbers. Su-hyeun's vision caught the sight of countless monster worms rushing toward his location from the deeper parts of the cave.

Just as those creatures were about to pounce on him…

<< If their number is a problem… >>

Su-hyeun smirked and whispered softly. "Hey, Miru."

He opened a closed 'doorway', causing the head of a dragon to pop out, along with a blinding ray of pure light.

"Sweep them all away."

Ruuuumble-!

[Breath.]