The Hero Returns

* * *

Chwa-rarararak—

"Raindrops" fell from the sky. They were actually thin and tiny pieces of the spear, and each of these countless pieces, created by the thrown spear which separated itself, began emitting bright light next.

Flash—!

Rumble—

The spear pieces permeating with the divine Flame descended rapidly on top of the Lichs' heads.

They now only had two options—to defend or dodge.

Most of the Lichs chose the former. Unfortunately for them, the latter was the correct choice.

Pang, papapapang—!

Pow, powpowpow—

The spear pieces penetrated the Lichs' heads and burned their bodies with the bellowing flames.

If this was only on the level of being stabbed by a mere spear, they would have thought of it as nothing major. From the get-go, Lichs couldn't be killed off unless their Life Vessels had been damaged.

However, the situation this time was rather different.

This flame, it—!

Rumble—

The flames burning on every single spear piece seeped into the Lichs' bodies. As if they wanted to find and burn away their Life Vessels.

That would undeniably be fatal for the Lichs. Thousands, no, tens of thousands of spear pieces went past the Lichs' defensive magic and turned their bodies into something resembling Swiss cheese.

Rather obviously, the Life Vessels nestling within the Lichs were also pierced through. Even those Lichs who barely managed to block the spear pieces were having a hard time.

I need to escape from here.

Jingkrome was among those in the latter group.

As an apostle himself, he had more breathing room compared to other Lichs, but he too couldn't keep defending against the continuous downpour of the spear pieces.

It'll stop soon.

Even if the spear had been separated into countless pieces and even if their attack power had been enhanced by the mysterious flames, the spear simply couldn't separate infinitely.

Meaning, the barrage of the spears should eventually come to an end.

However, Jingkrome had been overlooking a small detail.

Giii-iiing—

Yet another round of massive magical energy could be sensed from the sky.

There's…

[Dragon Slaying Spear]

"Another one?!"

The previous attack only ended a couple of moments ago, yet another one of the exact same nature was flying toward them again.

Was it even possible to use such a massive amount of magical energy again so soon? The Lich didn't even have enough time to dodge before they found themselves in that predicament.

But just then, they found themselves in another situation.

Jiii-iiiing—

Clang, clang-clang-clang-clang—!

Stab, stab—

A huge dome-shaped barrier formed above the heads of the Lichs and began blocking off the downpour of the spear pieces. Jingkrome saw through the identity of that barrier and hurriedly turned his head to look at the indigo-robed Lichs.

As I thought!

No matter how monstrous that human's powers were, they had several apostle-ranked Lichs on their side. Meaning, they shouldn't be frightened at all.

"Not bad, you blocking that," said Su-hyeun.

Rumble—

Su-hyeun's figure was revealed among the flames spreading over the barrier. He was still riding on Miru's back while lifting up yet another spear.

"In that case, why don't you try to stop this one, too?"

Boom—

Su-hyeun leaped up from Miru's back. At the same time, his body arched like a bow, and then, he powerfully threw that new spear forward. This one looked rather ordinary when compared to the previous Dragon Slaying Spears.

Pow!

Fwoooooosh!

The spear flew quickly and precisely like a fired siege weapon and headed directly toward the apostle-ranked Lich responsible for casting the barrier.

The Lich must have realized that Su-hyeun was targeting him from the very beginning because he had cast an even stronger barrier around himself as if the right time to act had finally arrived and, then, extended his hand toward the incoming spear.

Giii-iiing—

Two opposing forces collided, and the apostle-ranked Lich's magical power began forcing the spear back. The weapon froze in mid-air for a brief moment.

But only for the briefest moment.

Pow—!

Kwa-jeeek—!

A blink later, the Lich's skull shattered, and a thousand little bone pieces rained down everywhere.

"…Huh?!"

Rather obviously, Jingkrome was put in a fluster, and almost immediately, his view slowly dropped toward the ground.

Tumble—

Smash—!

Jingkrome's head rolled onto the ground; then, Su-hyeun's foot stomped down hard on it.

Splatter—

The Life Vessel hidden in Jingkrome's head was shattered into powder.

The Lichs belatedly realized that Su-hyeun had already broken into their ranks and tried to mount some kind of a counterattack.

"Too slow, you morons."

Giii-iiing—

[The Wave Sword - Explosion Style]

A massive amount of magical energy gathered in Su-hyeun's sword. While holding the weapon with both hands, he twisted his waist as far as he could and took a swing with all his might.

Swooooosh—!

Kwa-aaaaaht—!

A humongous sword aura had spread out in the trajectory of the sword. At the same time, magic attacks from the apostle-ranked Lichs bombarded Su-hyeun's position.

Ka-boom—!

Chwa-rararararak—

The bodies of the Lichs were ripped into tiny ribbons. Almost none of these undead were capable of surviving the destructive power of the "Explosion Style."

The attack that unfolded in the middle of the undead caused two apostle-ranked Lichs to get utterly decimated, while about half of the rest were turned into a fine powder.

The Lichs that managed to survive just so happened to be a bit farther away from the action.

"Half of us in one attack…"

The indigo-robed apostle, Markom, took a good look at his surroundings. He had never imagined that two indigo-robed apostles, as well as dozens upon dozens of Lichs, would be killed off by a lone human.

Even if he dove into the middle of his enemies for the purpose of a kamikaze-style attack, what that human had accomplished was a truly stunning feat.

However, this is the end.

Crackle, crackle—

The black flames started burning on the spot where Su-hyeun was standing.

The "Hellfire."

The name was meant to imply that this flame had been summoned directly from the depths of hell itself. This spell was ranked as the highest grade within the fire-type magic.

This flame would burn away everything—it would never go out until life itself was burned out of its target.

It was simply unimaginable that any swordsmen would be able to survive after getting hit squarely by this deadly magic.

Unfortunately…

"Hellfire, is it…? Well, it's more lukewarm than I thought."

Crackle, hiss—

A voice came out from the bellowing black flames. Almost at the same time, dark blue flames suddenly erupted from within.

Rumble—!

Soon, the dark blue flames began swallowing up the black flames. Stunned silly by this development, Markom hurriedly activated teleportation magic and retreated to a far-off distance.

He survived that?!

No, he wasn't simply on the level of surviving. His voice sounded completely fine. That nonchalant and relaxed voice could not have belonged to a dying man.

Step, step—

Su-hyeun strode outside the center of the flames while enveloped in all sorts of blinding rays of light.

[Indomitable Body]

[Spirit's Grace]

[Armor of the Mage]

[Sky King's Feather]

[Reflect]

All these skills were meant to increase his magic resistance, as well as protect his physical body. On top of this…

[Armor of Hades]

A new armor was draped over Su-hyeun's body.

It was the masterpiece crafted by Kim Dae-ho from the sturdy shell of the Titan Turtle, an item that boasted the highest level of immunity against magic.

"I guess I don't need to cast my skills anymore when it's like this. I wasted my magical energy for nothing."

Skills enveloping Su-hyeun's figure disappeared one by one. It wasn't a bluff, but he really didn't need his defensive skills anymore.

That made perfect sense, however.

Its magic resistance is absolutely the best.

The base material for the Armor of Hades, the Titan Turtle, was a monster that could emerge completely unscathed even after being hit by a breath from a dragon, a creature renowned for being the pinnacle of magic.

Although this armor wasn't as thick as the shell of an actual Titan Turtle, it was made of adamantium and a high-grade Ether stone. Plus, Kim Dae-ho was responsible for crafting it.

So, something like "Hellfire" doesn't pose a problem, huh?

This was an ideal stage to analyze the performance of his new armor, indeed.

The performance of this Armor of Hades could only truly shine when fighting against magic-reliant monsters or Lichs, after all.

It's over.

Su-hyeun's glare then shifted over to the Lichs who were frozen to their spots near him.

A fight where their attacks didn't even work—only a one-sided result could come about from such an event.

It was easy to guess what these Lichs were thinking about while they stared dumbfounded at an opponent who treated the fabled Hellfire like a lukewarm flame.

Well, then…

It was now time to hunt.

* * *

Crackle, hiss—

Rumble—

The forest was burning in blackish flames.

It was as implied—the black flames roared on, while the burning trees turned into ashes before scattering away in the harsh winds.

In the middle of this devastation, the skulls of the Lichs were strewn about all over the place.

This—this is a human?!

The sole surviving Lich, Markom, stared at Su-hyeun standing tall amid the burning forest and ungainly stumbled backward.

All these countless Lichs, including the other indigo-robed apostles, fell powerlessly at this human's hands.

"I admit that, just now, it was a bit hotter than I thought. But it was enough for me to test out the armor, so that's fine, I guess."

"Are you saying that you used us as experiments?"

"Something like that. In any case, an apostle-ranked Lich of your caliber should be someone pretty high up in the food chain, so you probably know a lot of information, right?"

Shu-ah-ahk—

Grab—!

A hand reached out from behind suddenly grabbed Markom's head.

Just when did he?!

This human was so fast that no one could tell just when he got behind the Lich. However, Markom almost freaked out from the sight waiting in front of him.

"What is the meaning of…?"

Su-hyeun was still standing on the same spot as before, with his sword sheathed and arms crossed, even.

[Doppelganger - Shadow Attachment]

It was one of the additional high-grade skills from "Doppelganger" that allowed the caster to attach a shadow to a target by stepping onto the target's shadow.

The "Doppelganger" skill ended up evolving after Su-hyeun's proficiency with it had reached a high-enough threshold.

Markom was a magician whose fame was even recorded in the history books of the continent when he was still alive, so he was able to figure out immediately that the skill had been activated with his own shadow as the intermediary. He began gnashing his teeth.

Just when did this human touch my shadow?

The fact that this man managed to step on Markom's shadow during the chaotic battle indicated that their distance had been much closer than he initially thought.

Su-hyeun had stepped on the Lich's shadow without the undead magician realizing it. This implied that the human could have easily killed Markom but chose not to.

The reason for that was soon revealed by Su-hyeun himself.

"You were the strongest among everyone here, you see. That's why I was curious about something regarding you. But I'm sure you don't plan to answer me."

"Obviously, I would never!"

Lichs couldn't feel pain, which obviously meant that things like torture wouldn't work. They also didn't fear death—to them, there was something far more terrifying than death.

"I knew you'd say that, so I came prepared."

Gya-ong—!

Miru's call could be heard coming from afar.

The red dragon was next to Su-hyeun seemingly only a minute ago, yet it seemed to have traveled to somewhere in the meantime before coming back.

It can't be…!

Only then did Markom remember just who had been accompanying Su-hyeun all this time.

"L—let go of me!"

"Don't wanna."

"Dammit!"

Markom's hand consisting of thin and frail-looking bones reached toward Su-hyeun's shadow that held his skull.

The moment the bony hand touched it, the shadow began to gradually melt away. This phenomenon was caused by the toxins that gushed out of the undead's hand.

Hiss—

Kwa-jeeeeek—!

Suddenly, Su-hyeun's hand pierced into Markom's skull.

The Lich was distracted by the shadow and didn't even see how Su-hyeun had moved. The hand that pierced through his skull was now holding Markom's Life Vessel.

"When I shatter this, you'll be dead for good."

The Life Vessel of a Lich wasn't all that sturdy. Even a small impact could easily break it.

That was why Lichs carefully stored their Life Vessels inside their bodies. They did this to prevent the one-in-a-million chance of the Vessel being destroyed through an accident of some kind after storing it in a location that's out of sight.

"The thing is, I won't kill you."

While holding the Life Vessel, Su-hyeun retracted his hand. He couldn't disregard the possibility of Markom choosing to self-destruct when in a tight spot.

"N—no, you can't…"

"This is indeed amazing."

The new voice belonged to Herrels.

"Are they all dead? No, wait. They are already dead, to begin with, aren't they? In any case…" Herrels Rawlsman stared at Markom and asked, "Is this him? The Lich you said you'd keep alive."

The moment Markom saw Herrels, the Lich instinctively realized that something had gone wrong and how Su-hyeun managed to find the locations of the Lichs.

Did he use the souls of the dead to locate us?

Herrels was an existence capable of commanding the dead. Meaning, countless dead souls could act as his eyes and ears.

The souls had been used to find the Lichs' location.

"He's a fairly high-ranking individual among the Lichs. I've already secured his Life Vessel, so he can't die by himself unless I do the job for him," Su-hyeun spoke.

"Well, that's a relief," said Herrels.

Step—

Herrels then approached Markom. Right away, the latter felt his soul getting violently shaken about.

"S—stop, stop…"

Markom raised his hands to shield his half-shattered skull as he lowered his head.

"I command thee, dead being." Herrels slowly walked up to Markom and issued his new order. "All of your friends…Summon them all to this spot."