The Hero Returns

He was taken aback a little when he saw it from the outside, so he couldn't help but wonder. By being inside, however, he was definitely sure of it now.

The cave that Su-hyeun and the awakeners had walked into was not an ordinary cave at all but a corpse of an Ouroboros.

This monster was a high-leveled creature that would only show up as the boss of an indigo-colored dungeon, at the very least. Fortunately enough, it was already dead, and its remains now became a backdrop for a dungeon instead.

Hold on, could this be…?

A theory belatedly popped up in his mind, and Su-hyeun's eyes grew much larger. He still hadn't confirmed it yet, but the possibility was certainly there.

Smirk—

His worry at the appearance of an unexpected dungeon only lasted for a brief moment. A wide grin formed on Su-hyeun's lips. The genuine delight that he couldn't hide anymore had taken over his expression.

"M—mister Su-hyeun?" Yi Byeong-hoon, who was closely following him, got next to him, saw his expression, and asked, "What's the matter? Did something good happen?"

"No, it's nothing." Su-hyeun did his best to suppress his rising laughter and replied to the question. "Not yet, anyway."

"…?"

"Alright, then. Let's hurry up and finish this raid as soon as possible."

Su-hyeun quickened his steps.

Toward the deeper parts of the Ouroboros's remains.

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The type of monsters that appeared inside the Ouroboros's corpse turned out to be rather consistent—parasites living inside the gigantic monster's body.

These creatures that survived by eating the Ouroboros's remains didn't prove to be much of a challenge at all. However, the boss that did show up at the end was rather threatening in its own right.

"I thought this place wasn't much since only some bugs showed up, but who knew that we'd have to face a huge snake as the boss? I can't figure out what kind of a dungeon this is," said Yi Byeong-hoon.

An offspring of Ouroboros, which hatched from one of its eggs, was the boss of this dungeon. The Ouroboros snakelet consumed the parasites inside the corpse to mature. It was already several hundreds of meters in length and many meters in width.

It boasted a considerable speed, illusion-type skills that restricted the movements of its target, and even innate resistance toward magic.

It was basically just about what you'd expect from a boss appearing inside a green-colored dungeon. Of course, it truly was nothing more than a newborn hatchling compared to its mother.

Although it's a bit of a waste using it on this guy…

No matter what, this monster did appear as the boss of a green-colored dungeon. It might have lost its life rather feebly at Su-hyeun's hands, but overall, it was still a pretty high-class creature.

Rustle—

Su-hyeun extended his hand toward the dead Ouroboros snakelet with a hole in its head. Soon after that…

[Trait "Necromancer" has been activated.]

[By spending "Death Aura," you can now view or command the dead.]

The moment he activated his trait, a blackish light swirled within Su-hyeun's eyes. At the same time, the world in his view changed as well. The cries of the dead resounded within the Ouroboros's corpse, and he could now see semi-transparent souls.

I see. Simply maintaining this state alone already requires a pretty high amount of Death Aura.

It seemed that his newly acquired "Death Aura" stat wasn't that advanced at the moment. The current Su-hyeun would find it quite difficult to command several of the undead at the same time. And even if he could, the duration wouldn't be that long.

For now…

This was just the beginning of the skill. Su-hyeun locked his eyes on the Ouroboros snakelet and activated the next set of his skills.

[Soul Accumulation has been used.]

[The soul of the Ouroboros snakelet has been stored away.]

[The target for Dead Summoning has been set.]

[You can now summon the Ouroboros snakelet.]

Shu-wuwuwu—

The dead Ouroboros snakelet disappeared as if it had melted away. This was the sign that the skill had been activated successfully.

The raid party members watching on from behind were stunned, and their leader quickly asked him what they just witnessed.

"W—what just happened?"

"No, it's nothing important. You don't have to worry about it."

Thinking that there was no need to explain himself, Su-hyeun simply shook his head.

Yi Byeong-hoon's surprised expression lasted only for a little while. He observed Su-hyeun's moods and nodded his head. Awakeners possessed all sorts of colorful and varied skills, and as a result, it was fairly common to see them trying to keep their abilities a secret.

Su-hyeun was no exception. As that was the case, digging any further would be going against the accepted etiquette.

I've only heard from rumors, but man, his skills are really out of this world.

Yi Byeong-hoon, who had squatted down after getting tired from the high-intensity march earlier, stood back up and stared at Su-hyeun.

He was an A-Rank awakener himself. He was a proud leader of a guild, and he could confidently boast that, as far as abilities were concerned, he was on the highest level within the A-Rank.

However, even someone like him couldn't help but be blown away by Su-hyeun's abilities. For one thing, he began questioning what exactly his guild did during this raid. Su-hyeun had killed pretty much every monster that showed up, after all.

"In any case, I guess this is the end of the raid. It just doesn't feel real, ending a raid in less than two hours," said Yi Byeong-hoon.

A green-colored dungeon had been raided without anyone getting hurt. From his perspective, there was no better result than this one.

But before he could head outside the dungeon, Su-hyeun stopped him first.

"Can you go ahead without me? There's something I'd like to do and I gotta stay behind for a bit."

"Excuse me? But, you said you were really tired before we entered the dungeon…"

"I'm feeling a bit better, actually. Please go ahead without me."

Su-hyeun said that with a smiling face and lightly pushed forward Yi Byeong-hoon on the back.

Raiding a dungeon made him feel no longer tired? Yi Byeong-hoon tilted his head in disbelief but chose not to dig any further.

Su-hyeun wasn't really the type to stay behind in the dungeon after a raid had ended so that he could sneak away a few Ether stones for himself, and besides, the raiding party didn't have anything else to do.

"Well, in that case…We shall head out first. Thank you for your hard work."

"Yes, you too."

Yi Byeong-hoon led his guild members away and headed to the dungeon's exit.

Su-hyeun confirmed their exit and spoke, "Hey, Miru."

Split—

Gya-ong—

At Su-hyeun's call, Miru shuffled out into the open, still looking somewhat fatigued. He formed an apologetic expression and talked to his red dragon. "Sorry about calling you out when you were resting just now. Can you fly?"

Gya-ong—

Miru nodded energetically and turned around to show him its back. Meaning, he should get on.

The dragon had been injured rather seriously during the last trial, and just like Su-hyeun, it hadn't had enough time to rest up. That was why he planned not to call on Miru during this raid if he could help it.

However, he definitely needed the ability to fly right then.

Flap—

Swoosh—!

When Su-hyeun climbed up on Miru's back, the red dragon rapidly beat its wings and began flying up higher.

The bigger Miru got, the faster its speed became as well. The dragon quickly escaped from the Ouroboros's corpse and, as Su-hyeun had asked earlier, flew up high into the sky.

"This is high enough," said Su-hyeun while patting Miru's back, and the dragon instantly folded its wings.

They had come to a stop at a fairly high altitude. He could now take in the entirety of the Ouroboros's corpse floating on the ocean's surface.

Seeing that its hide and flesh have decomposed, it must've died a long time ago.

Su-hyeun's heart was pounding away.

Will it work?

He extended his hand toward the Ouroboros's remains. His hand was now blocking that vast creature from his view.

And right at that moment, the skill was activated.

[Soul Accumulation has been used.]

[An Ouroboros's soul has been stored.]

Shu-wuwuwu—

Black aura leaked out of Su-hyeun's body and rapidly got sucked into the Ouroboros. His body faltered for a moment there.

Heo-urk!

Gya-ong—

Perhaps worried about Su-hyeun's current status, the surprised Miru quickly created a wall out of magical power and supported his slumping figure.

Su-hyeun raised his hand to say not to worry about him. It was just that he got caught off-guard by his strength suddenly abandoning him for a second there, so it wasn't a serious problem.

"I'm alright. Don't worry."

He regained his center of balance. What leaked out of him after he activated his skill wasn't the magical energy but the Death Aura.

Souls have different grades, don't they…?

Su-hyeun recalled the explanation about the Soul Accumulation skill. It said that the number he could store away would depend on the grades of the souls. He had been wondering what this soul grade thing could be after reading that part of the description, but now, he thought he could understand it fully.

The mother is in another league compared to the baby, is that it? So the amount of Death Aura spent is so much higher.

This wasn't simply the difference between a big body versus a smaller one. No, the power within the souls themselves was different. Su-hyeun wiped the sweat streaming down his forehead and thought to himself.

If it were Mister Herrels, he'd probably have no problem commanding a creature like this one.

The two greatest undead Herrels possessed were the Bone Dragon and history's greatest swordsman, Louw. Not to forget, he also commanded several tens of thousands of other undead besides those two.

In the future, I'll also…

Su-hyeun extended his hand once more.

Right away…

[The target for Dead Summoning has been set.]

[You can now summon the Ouroboros.]

Pant, pant, fuu-wuu—

Su-hyeun panted heavily and quickly. His head was spinning, too.

"It's done…"

The Death Aura inside his body leaked out instantly again, and his body slumped forward powerlessly.

Act 6

Gya-ong, gya-ong—

Lick—

Su-hyeun felt a slick and warm sensation on his cheek. He regained his consciousness from that feeling. The moment his eyes opened, he spotted Miru's face right next to his.

"Ah…"

Did he black out?

Su-hyeun hurriedly got up. He found himself and Miru on top of a monster's remains floating on the ocean's surface.

The first thing he thought of right after regaining his consciousness left him somewhat flabbergasted.

"Looks like I might get a good scolding from the Authority for this," said Su-hyeun with a sheepish face while scratching the back of his head.

Now that he thought about it, the Ouroboros's corpse wasn't just some "remains" of a monster but the entire dungeon itself. The remains of the monster he had been lying on were just that of a parasite found inside the Ouroboros dungeon.

"Wait a minute, it won't end in a simple scolding, now will it?"

A smirk broke out on his face. Even though he had blacked out just now, overall, he felt quite alright.

No, he felt even better than he had ever before.

[Death Aura: 21]

Was it because he got to enjoy a deep, relaxing slumber? His previously depleted Death Aura had recovered to some extent.

Su-hyeun stood up and extended his hand toward the horizon.

Shu-wuwuwu—

Death Aura gathered on his palm. He continued to gather this power and murmured softly.

"Arise."

["Dead Summoning" has been used.]

[The Ouroboros is being summoned.]

Simmer, pop, hiss—

Bubbles began boiling on the surface of the ocean some distance away. And not too long after that…

Pow—!

Swhoo-aaaaah—

Kiii-aaaah—!

A massive snake made out of bones—Ouroboros—revealed itself above the surface. A big grin had spread on Su-hyeun's lips when he witnessed this sight.

Grin—

This was his very first summoned creature.

Sure, Death Aura consumption is massive because of this monster's size, but…

There was nothing to worry about. Since his stat was still low, the rate of its improvement after clearing trials should be quite fast.

It could probably rise up very quickly to 60, maybe 70 points. Reaching that figure alone should ensure that the number of the undead summons he could wield through the Necromancer trait would increase exponentially, too.

The real issue is, as expected, the suitable souls and the remains.

Su-hyeun didn't have one iota of desire to use this Necromancer trait to command dead humans. Not only were there the questions of ethics and morality to consider, but they also wouldn't be able to display as much destructive power as monsters.

It looks like I might get busy for a while.

For the past few months, he focused on passing the 50th floor's trial. If nothing of note happened, he was planning to take a day or two off to rest and then head straight to the next floor.

However, his newly acquired skill turned into a variable, and it was a pretty wonderful variable at that.

"I wonder when an indigo-colored dungeon would show up again."

For the first time ever, he started looking forward to dungeon generation.