The Hero Returns

"Can you tell me the reason?"

"…Now that I think about it, Roy is already 10 years old, isn't he?"

That wasn't the answer Su-hyeun was anticipating.

Herrels' gaze shifted over to Roy. The boy hadn't seemed to have recovered his wits yet after throwing up everything inside his stomach earlier.

"Time does indeed move on too quickly. It feels like only yesterday that I had gotten married, yet here I am, already with a son, and that son is already 10 years old…"

"Why bring up Roy's age all of a sudden?"

"Since he's 10 already, my son probably has learned all that he needs to know by now. He's pretending to not know anything despite that fact because he has closed his sight and his hearing."

"What do you mean?"

"I was once like him. The stories that I didn't want to hear and the sights that I didn't wish to witness—I closed my eyes and ears to them. Only after I reached 16 and stood tall as an adult did I finally start seeing and listening properly to the world that I was living in." Herrels stopped his explanation briefly, seemingly lost in the reminiscence of his past, before continuing on. "The world I live in is different from everyone else's. I tried to make them the same, but in the end, what's different will always remain different."

"Are you referring to the ability to see dead people?"

"Do you know why the dead follow me?"

Of course, Su-hyeun wouldn't know the answer to that.

Herrels didn't seem to be asking for one either, as he carried on immediately from where he left off. "Because I'm the king."

"King…?"

"The king of the dead. That's what the ones carrying the Rawlsman bloodline always hear from the mouths of the dead. It's not that different from what the Lichs say. Although they are the undead that reject death itself, Lichs are still not exempt from the authority of my Rawlsman bloodline."

"Why are the Lichs targeting Roy, in that case? Is he not their supposed king?"

"Roy's situation is slightly unique, and the Lichs' purpose is not to murder Roy, either."

"I've already noticed that. They seemed rather fearful of even leaving a single mark on the boy."

"I'm sure that's the case," Herrels replied and nodded as if he had foreseen this. "Roy is supposed to be the vessel for their god, after all."

Act 2

The capital's streets at night were eerily silent—so quiet, in fact, that you could clearly hear the sound of a rat busy scurrying about in the darkness.

Somewhere above this deathly quiet street, Su-hyeun was sitting on a window sill.

[Remaining time: 164:28:56]

He checked the remaining time.

Less than 80 hours had passed. He couldn't even venture to guess what might happen next during the remaining time.

A god, is it…?

Su-hyeun recalled what Herrels had said.

The vessel that would become the god of those bastards, those Lichs.

Of course, it wouldn't be a literal god. No, it'd be more symbolic in nature than an actual physical deity. Besides, Su-hyeun knew better than anyone who the Lichs' god actually was.

The Lich King—

The being referred to as the god of the Lichs and the dead is also the boss from one of the indigo-hued dungeons, as well as one of the worst monsters ever, according to Su-hyeun's memories.

Will Roy end up like that guy?

Step—

He couldn't stand still, so he began circling the same spot.

Or, could it be that Roy will…?

A hypothesis he didn't even want to imagine surfaced in his mind.

What if the monster called the Lich King, the one he was so familiar with, was Roy who later transformed into that abominable creature? Was this world based on the creation of the Lich King? Could it be that he was sent to the past of another world?

"Dammit."

He roughly scratched his head currently filled with complicated thoughts and swore softly under his breath. He did his best to shake off all the useless thoughts out of his head and began analyzing the situation.

The city was deathly quiet. Even if there was some distance to consider, no sounds of battles taking place between the knights and Lichs could be heard coming from the ruins of the imperial palace.

It seemed that the undead had managed to escape.

They'll be back.

It didn't take long for him to regain his cool.

Roy is here, after all.

There was no need to get agitated. He was inside a trial. Not only that, but it was one found on the 50th floor, no less.

He already had anticipated a high-enough difficulty, and this level of toughness was within the acceptable norm for a trial related to none other than the Lich King. Meaning, nothing was strange about this situation.

When he looked at it that way, he felt that his scrambled thoughts were settling down just a tad.

My job is to protect Roy from the Lichs.

The purpose of the Lichs was to turn Roy into their "god," and Su-hyeun's goal was to protect the boy from those undead for the next 10 days.

He could glean a single clue from that.

Why 10 days, though?

He didn't think this trial would end simply because he managed to protect Roy for the next 10 days or so.

This trial couldn't have been that simple. Without a doubt, something else must be waiting for him afterward.

As long as the Lichs aren't completely wiped out, Roy will continuously be…

When his thoughts reached that far…

Step—

Su-hyeun suddenly stopped circling the same spot, his head snapping in a certain direction: toward a building where Roy, Herrels, and Miru were currently sleeping.

He hurriedly kicked the ground and dashed forward before urgently flinging the door open to enter the building.

Bang—!

"Lord Herrels!"

Herrels and Roy sleeping alongside Miru were startled and jerked awake.

The nobleman must've been really fatigued because he had been drooling in his sleep. He hurriedly wiped his saliva away and replied, "W—what happened?! Are the Lichs—?"

"My apologies for waking you up so abruptly, but I need to ask you about something."

"Regarding?"

"I heard that Roy's been kidnapped by the Lichs several times before. Is that true?"

"Yes, that is indeed so."

"How did you find Roy every time that happened?"

Herrels, still not fully awake yet, heard Su-hyeun's urgent question and replied in a slightly confused tone of voice. "That is… I asked the dead for a favor. I requested them to find Roy for me."

"…Thought as much."

Su-hyeun grinned widely when his thoughts proved to be right on the money.

He found it rather odd that Herrels, a man who clearly loved his child dearly, remained in the capital despite Roy's disappearance. Surely, he would've immediately set out to find his son, which was an action more in line with his character.

However, it wasn't as if he had given up on finding his missing boy; instead, he stayed put in the capital while relying on the dead to search every corner of the continent.

"Can you also do that now?"

"I beg your pardon? But Roy is here with me."

"No, not Roy." Su-hyeun grasped Herrels' shoulders tightly and continued, "I meant the Lichs."

"…!"

Those words must've chased away any remnants of sleep from Herrels' head, as his brows shot up high next.

Roy, who was sleeping next to them, woke up briefly but, after murmuring some incomprehensible things, went back to slumber while using Miru as his pillow.

* * *

The empire's capital had fallen.

The once-impregnable fortress protected by the continent's number one swordsman, Count Balt, which was also the capital of the massive empire that occupied at least half of the continent itself, was no more.

One of the Lichs' goals was to bring that city down, and it had been achieved rather wonderfully.

However…

"Something had gone wrong."

That goal was nothing more than just a small part of the overall picture. It was more like the spoils of war that you'd get after accomplishing the final goal.

That was why the Lichs weren't celebrating. No, they had to turn tail and run instead.

"How can a lone human be that strong?!"

The Lichs began racking their brains.

Their mission in the capital wasn't to hunt that lone human down. It was meant to drive the empire to the brink of destruction, all the while taking back their "god" who was stolen from them.

Indeed, the matter of killing that human was seen as nothing more than one of the things that would naturally happen during the proceedings.

However, they failed.

They managed to destroy the empire's capital. That end result was basically written in stone the moment they formed an alliance with the emperor himself.

No, their problem had to do with the fact that the far more important goal—the one they were certain of not failing—had indeed ended up in failure.

"Just what was that human?" One of the Lichs who gathered inside this forest spoke up.

Their current location was a forest quite a distance away from the capital. Although it was widely known as a forbidden area due to the frequent sightings of carnivorous monsters, such creatures didn't even reach the level that would pose a threat to the Lichs.

So, they were able to completely take over this forest, allowing them to gather and ponder their options. Every single one of these Lichs used to be magicians belonging to various imperial or royal courts, or even world-renowned freelancer magicians when they were still alive.

"I do not know if he can even be classified as a human at this stage."

"Count Balt was defeated. In a matter of seconds, no less."

"The emperor was killed, too."

"Even if we attacked together, we would have fallen just the same as well."

"What if we work together with the apostles?"

"Several apostles have already been killed by that man. A handful of apostles will not work. We need not just regular apostles, but higher-ranked ones."

"Agreed."

They were of the same opinions, so they got into action right away.

Shu-weuk, shu-weuk—

Scribble—

The Lichs combined their strengths and began inscribing a massive magic circle on the ground. Its diameter alone reached several hundred meters. The lines that made up this magic circle glowed softly as the magical energy permeated within them.

They used this newly created circle as the intermediary to activate their magic.

Wuu-uuung—!

The moment this magic circle was activated…

Rumble—!

Streaks of darkness so pitch-black that they momentarily dimmed the night sky even further shot out in every direction.

Crack—

Rumble—, tumble, bang—

Black flames danced and leaped toward the trees near the magic circle. All the lush vegetation then burned down to ashes. The black flames didn't stop there, though; they swallowed up everything in the vicinity.

A short while later, several new existences revealed themselves in the center of the magic circle found within the piles of ashes that used to be a forest.

"You've come."

A total of five Lichs emerged.

They were all kitted out in indigo-hued robes. They silently scanned their new surroundings, while the Lichs that summoned them there knelt down before them.

"You've failed, it seems."

"It is indeed so, oh mighty apostles."

"Apostle," it was a title given to a hundred or so Lichs that assisted the Lich King from the closest vantage point.

Within the history that spanned 10,000 years or so, only Lichs possessing the highest level of abilities were given such illustrious positions. And even among them, only the high-ranked apostles were allowed to wear the indigo-hued robes.

"Jingkrome."

"Here."

At the apostle's call, the Lich named Jingkrome stepped forward.

He, too, was one of the hundred apostles, but unlike those honored with the indigo robes, he was merely a low-ranked apostle.

"Now, explain this situation. Explain where this is, what happened to our new god, and also…" The apostle wearing the indigo robe pushed its hood back and raised its head. "Explain who that human up there is."

"…!"

Jingkrome, stunned by that revelation, hurriedly looked up. What greeted him was a clear, cloudless night sky.

Up until now, he hadn't paid any attention to the sky. However, after hearing the apostle's question, Jingkrome thought that he could faintly see something up there.

It was a small speck of a dragon, flapping its wings while floating up there.

Since when?!

It didn't seem like the uninvited guests had arrived a second ago. No, it was more likely that the Lichs were being observed for quite some time.

"Is it because of that punk?"

"It—it is indeed so."

The question of the indigo-robed apostle was quickly met with Jingkrome's reply.

Although he was stunned, there was no need to get scared here. After all, the whole reason for summoning these five new apostles was to deal with that dragon and its master, the human.

"Since I got found out, I might as well ask you this."

Wuuung, wuu-uung—

The voice of the human flying up high in the sky, Su-hyeun, could be heard next.

The voice itself was soft. However, it was carried on a high concentration of magical energy, and it was so clear that as if the words were being spoken directly into their ears.

"Do you have anyone else you want to call?"

"W—what was that?!"

The human asked if they had anyone else they wanted to call.

He had been waiting?

Did he figure out that the Lichs would summon the high-ranked apostles?

What Su-hyeun said implied that he was hiding and waiting so that he could deal with all of them at once, including the apostles.

Even before Jingkrome had enough time to reorganize his chaotic thoughts…

"Well, if you don't have anyone else you want to call on, then…" Su-hyeun, still riding on Miru, pulled out a spear from his back. "Let's get this thing started right away."

It was none other than the Dragon Slaying Spear.