The Hero Returns

Chapter 222: Chapter 222

Split—

Rip— Plop—

The emperor's body that was splitting in half ended up rolling powerlessly onto the floor.

Heavy silence suddenly descended upon the audience chamber. For an emperor who exercised absolute power over the entire continent, this manner of death was such an unexpected and a rather forgettable one.

"I won't wait for long. If you're standing here not out of your free will, then you better point your swords in the opposite direction. If you do, this nation can still be saved."

What Su-hyeun said clearly agitated the knights. Predictably, the ones infected by the parasites were not included in that group.

"Kill him."

A Lich standing next to the dead emperor shattered this momentary silence. Right away, Lichs, magicians, and knights all resumed their attacks on Su-hyeun.

Their attacks happened just as he collected the thrown spear and began spinning it around again.

"Dammit, I don't know anymore!"

Swish, splash—!

A fountain of blood exploded from the back of a magician. It was the end result of a sneak attack from a knight standing next to him. The magician, whose eyes already didn't have any focus since the parasite had infected him, collapsed face first as his back split apart.

Plop—

"Ben! What do you think you are—?!"

"What do you mean, what?! We should be hitting these stinking Lichs with a big one instead!"

It wasn't just this knight named Ben, however. Several other knights began pointing their swords at the Lichs and then at their fellow knights and magicians infected with the parasites.

"Our emperor has passed on already, so is there a reason for us to keep siding with these damned Lichs?! Dammit, I can't carry on doing these dirty, debasing things anymore!"

"Even still, we must avenge our emperor—"

"Avenge, my foot! Fine, it's good that he died. Following a bastard like that as my emperor is an act of insult toward the previous emperors!"

"For the glory of our Ruman Empire!"

"To pass judgment on the darkness!"

After the emperor died, a portion of the knights began rebelling.

They were the ones who feared their death more than their loyalty toward the emperor and those who were stuck in a dilemma between the duty of a knight and their allegiance toward the emperor. To them, the emperor's death was like a necessary spark.

Of course, a part of their decision was based on the calculation that they might be able to win against the Lichs if they fought alongside Su-hyeun.

Whatever the case may be, this matter has been more or less sorted out, so…

The allies and enemies had been clearly divided now.

Su-hyeun stopped spinning the spear above his head and threw it again.

Giii-iiiing—

Pah-aaaahk—!

The spear spun rapidly as it dug into the group of Lichs.

They had already found out that the weapon couldn't be stopped by their defensive spells, so they quickly activated short-distance teleportation magic to dodge the incoming spear.

Su-hyeun saw that and threw himself forward once more.

I must hunt the mother first.

His aim was the knight sticking very closely to the Lichs, or more correctly, the mother of all the parasites hiding inside this particular host's head.

Chwa-rururu—

Clank—

Black chains suddenly shot out from the floor and quickly wrapped around Su-hyeun legs. This was a trap laid beforehand, after the path that he would take had been predicted.

Swoosh—

A middle-aged blonde knight who stuck close to the Lichs appeared right in front of Su-hyeun's nose before anyone had realized it.

Swoosh—!

Clang—!

Their swords collided, causing Su-hyeun to be knocked back out of his center of balance for an instant. He quickly extended his hand toward the middle-aged knight as the latter pounced forward to swing his sword again.

Grab—!

Slam—!

While catching the blade with one hand, Su-hyeun powerfully stomped on the floor. At the same time, the floor gave way and collapsed, prompting the black chains restricting his legs to shatter and fall.

Tap, swoosh—

Su-hyeun activated "Leap" while letting go of the middle-aged knight's sword and created some distance between them.

Drip—

Blood dripped to the floor from the hand that held the blade earlier. Despite using the skill "Indomitable Body" to reinforce himself, Su-hyeun still ended up with an injury. That sword strike was not something to be taken lightly.

"That's Count Balt," said Roy, while still being carried on Su-hyeun's back. "He's renowned as the empire's best swordsman, no, even the whole continent. I heard that he started as a commoner but became a count after being rated as a once-in-a-generation talent."

"The continent's number one swordsman, is it…?"

Not anyone could claim the title, "the best." One had to be strong enough to instill the required sense of belief first.

So, they stuck the mother parasite inside the strongest guy there is, is that it?

That certainly wasn't the worst idea. You could kill two birds with one stone by doing this, after all—protect the mother parasite by transplanting it inside a powerful host and hiding it in that manner.

One could even call this a "by the book" tactic.

However…

What a relief that they didn't try to hide it elsewhere.

As the bug in question was small, if they tried to hide it, then he'd have a difficult time finding it. Sure, he'd have located it eventually, but that still would've taken a long time.

But, something about this…

Su-hyeun recalled Count Balt's swordsmanship from earlier and muttered to no one in particular. "…Feels kinda familiar."

"Pardon?"

A puzzled expression surfaced on Roy's face after he heard Su-hyeun's muttering.

Did it feel familiar?

I need to make sure.

Stomp—

Su-hyeun moved to step on air. He then activated "Leap" again to fly toward Count Balt who was also ready to charge at him.

Chwa-ruk, chwa-ruruk—

Ku-wuwuwu—

Black chains sprung out again from below his feet and aimed for Su-hyeun's ankles. At the same time, oppressive air began crashing down on him from above.

But he ignored the gravity attack. His magic resistance was too high for him to be affected by artificially manipulated gravity in the first place.

As for the chains…

Piiit, piii-iiiht—

Clank—

All the chains aiming for Su-hyeun's feet were sliced apart.

As Su-hyeun took care of the chains, Count Balt took the chance to stab Su-hyeun's eyes with his sword. The latter didn't miss that and carefully observed the incoming attack.

Swish—

Within only a hair's breadth, Su-hyeun's head snapped back to avoid the attack. Right away, the sword was swung downward. Su-hyeun wielded his own Balmung, which he used to slice off the chains a second ago, and twisted his body out of the way.

Swish, swish—!

Two swords sliced the air toward each other. A blink of an eye later, they collided loudly in mid-air.

Clang, Clang—!

While regaining his posture in the air, Su-hyeun continued to observe Count Balt's swordsmanship.

I knew it.

He could figure it out after crossing swords a couple of times.

He initially wondered whether he had made a mistake or it was simply a coincidence. But the ensuing display of swordsmanship afterward made it impossible for him to label this event as neither a mistake nor a coincidence.

There certainly were some unnatural movements due to the parasite stuck in the count's head, but even then, Su-hyeun was sure of it now.

"Wrath's swordsmanship."

Su-hyeun's muttering brought about a momentary halt in Balt's attacks.

As the parasite could only move according to the host's memories and experiences, it couldn't help but display a sensitive reaction toward a piece of memory from back when the count was still a living being.

And that response only served to reaffirm Su-hyeun's thoughts. "I knew it."

Clang—!

His sword deflected Count Balt's sword up in the air.

Crack—

A thin crack formed on the latter's blade. Count Balt immediately noticed that an anomaly had occurred in the weapon that he had in his hand and hurriedly turned his body in an attempt to retreat.

Swoosh—

It was precisely at that moment Su-hyeun had dug into the count's defenses, all the while holding Roy in one arm to make sure the boy didn't fall.

Swish, bang, ka-boom—!

Clang—!

Three, four moves were exchanged in the blink of an eye. Count Balt defended, while Su-hyeun swung his sword.

By the time this short exchange came to an end…

Split—

Clang—!

The sword that was gripped tightly in the hands of Count Balt shattered into tiny pieces. His gaze shot up above his head next.

In that short moment, Su-hyeun's sword, which was already poised overhead, came slicing down powerfully.

[One Sword Cutting through Everything—Cutting the Sky]

Whoosh—

Kwa-aaaaaahng—!

Ku-gugugugu—

The huge imperial palace shook violently. A thin red line suddenly started running through not just the body of Count Balt, but even the floor of the imperial audience chamber.

Right after that, the count's body split exactly in half, from top to bottom.

At the same time…

Gu-gugugu—

The imperial palace that got split in half began crumbling down.

<hr />

Coughing could be heard within the thick dust cloud.

Roy continued to cough because of the dust that entered his nose and mouth. "Are you alright?" Su-hyeun asked while gently patting the boy on the back.

"Feels like… I might throw up."

He clung desperately onto Su-hyeun's shoulders as the latter rapidly moved around this way and that, so it was rather obvious that his innards wouldn't be in a normal state.

Su-hyeun did pay as much attention as possible to prevent Roy from getting hurt, but there was nothing he could do about the boy's vision spinning around and his innards scrambling randomly.

"If you want to throw up, just say it."

"Are you going to put me down if I do?"

"Nah. I was just gonna tell you to do it on my back. Sure, it'll be dirty, but there's nothing we can do about it."

A retching sound was Roy's immediate response.

"Don't deliberately do it, though."

Su-hyeun smirked before casting his gaze around their surroundings cloaked by the thick dust cloud.

The imperial palace had collapsed, and one by one, Lichs, magicians, and knights began revealing themselves.

That's a relief.

Count Balt was killed off, and the palace itself was destroyed.

However, befitting the imperial knight order, as well as the magic corps renowned as some of the very best in the continent, they seemed to have survived the destruction somehow.

Since they were capable enough not to get burned to death by the divine Flame, it would be unimaginable for them to get crushed to death by some measly falling debris.

So, the only remaining ones are…

The surviving Lichs seemed to finally realize that the situation had turned disadvantageous for them and began hesitating on attacking Su-hyeun.

He, too, had little interest in these small fries.

"I shall leave the remaining ones to your hands."

Su-hyeun's voice delivered through the magical power could clearly be heard by the surviving knights. Some of them seemed flustered, while several others nodded their heads with determined faces.

Su-hyeun turned around to leave without any hesitation. He then quickly left the destroyed imperial palace.

The streets were filled with bony skeletons. Although not much aura could be sensed there, he still searched for Miru's presence.

Gya-ong—!

Miru's call as it responded to Su-hyeun's magical power came from a far-off distance. After determining the correct direction, he held Roy tightly and said, "We're going to run for a bit, okay?"

"Eh, eh?!"

Roy's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Su-hyeun, oblivious to this fact, activated "Leap" and jumped high.

Boom, boom, boom—

Kwa-aaaaht—

Su-hyeun's figure rapidly scythed through the atmosphere. The surrounding scenery passed by in a blur every time he kicked the air. Roy was overcome with the sensation of his eyes spinning out of control and finally emptied out the contents of his stomach.

It was also around then that Su-hyeun came to a halt.

Tap—

Only pitiful retching noises could be heard from Roy.

"Good job holding it until now."

Gya-ong, gya-ong—!

Miru must have been missing him after being away for a brief period because it flapped its wings and hurriedly flew back toward Su-hyeun.

While patting Roy's back, he shifted his gaze over to Miru. "Where's uncle?"

Gya-ong—

Miru flapped one of its wings and pointed to a building in the distance at his question.

Su-hyeun rode on the red dragon's back with Roy and flew toward the building. They, then, entered through the broken front door to discover Herrels standing there in a daze, along with a lone skeleton.

"Ah, you've arrived."

Herrels regained his wits a beat later and offered his greetings to Su-hyeun. Then, he discovered Roy also riding on Miru's back, and his expression brightened a little.

It was truly a little, however. His complexion remained utterly ashen.

"Are you feeling alright?" Su-hyeun asked.

Herrels seemed to be quite fatigued.

The nobleman noticed the anxiety on Su-hyeun's expression and smiled weakly as his response. "I'm alright. It's just that I have never used my ability this much before. I'm merely feeling a little tired, that's all."

"I'm relieved to hear that."

"Yes, I'm indeed alright. However, this…"

Herrels gazed upon two figures collapsed on the ground.

Su-hyeun's own gaze naturally landed on the two corpses as well. They must have been in a bitter struggle because the blood was splattered all over the floor.

"When I entered here, I found these two already dead like this. It's also been the same story in other houses. Not many people managed to survive in the end."

"…"

"I was… too late. And we… the House of Rawlsman has…"

Drip—

Blood dripped from Herrels' tightly clenched fist after his nails dug into his skin. Rather than shedding tears from indignation and sadness, he chose to bleed instead.

"This is all because of us."

"Do you have any idea why these Lichs are targeting Roy?" Su-hyeun asked.

That question prompted Herrels to raise his lowered head and stare at Su-hyeun. He seemed to be agonizing over something for a moment or two, but he soon opened his mouth to answer.

"Yes, I do."