The Hero Returns

As the summoner realized Su-hyeun's breathing had turned normal, he quickly responded. He raised his hand and shouted.

"Kill them!"

The summoner's loud voice echoed throughout the cave.

At the summoner's command, the hundreds of monsters showed their teeth in unison, flexed their claws, and charged towards both Su-hyeun and Lee Ju-ho. The monsters were of a similar standard as the Lizardcops, perhaps even stronger.

But…

Burning—!

At the same time, the flame on Su-hyeun's sword was set ablaze. He hit the wall with extremely high heat, and it covered Su-hyeun's body. To find Su-hyeun in the flames, the summoner had to use his cane and search for him.

"Where did he go…"

Swish—!

Kyaaa—!

A group of monsters moved in one direction in unison.

It was the summoner, the mastermind, who was controlling the monsters' minds. However, the summoner's controls and intentions were nearly useless.

Fwoom—!

The monsters that were charging in one direction exploded and turned into burnt pieces. At the same time, Su-hyeun's new form escaped and ran towards the summoner.

At that moment, dark black magic burst out from the summoner's cane.

Slam—!

A sword and cane.

The crash of red hot flames and dark magic led to a massive explosion.

The summoner recoiled from the explosion and coughed. Feeling embarrassed by his own reaction, the summoner looked at his numb hands.

<<This energy…>>

It was the magic concentration that Su-hyeun was handling and the energy and flames that were created by his magic.

Although it was just one clash, he was sure about it.

<<He is incompatible with me.>>

The summoner felt threatened.

Just based on Su-hyeun's movement alone, it seemed unusual. Not only that, but Su-hyeun's magic was also incompatible with the summoner's.

The summoner finally found Su-hyeun — he couldn't find Su-hyeun earlier as he did not know where he went.

In a way that suggested he was not too concerned about it, the summoner hurled his cane like a wildcat in the air.

Dark energy started to burst everywhere. The surrounding air had been polluted, and the ground and walls started to rot.

Burning, burning—

Eventually, Su-hyeun revealed himself.

It was an attack that left Su-hyeun with nowhere to hide. Though his control wasn't right and was not as effective, it was a quick response.

<<How ignorant.>>

Su-hyeun frowned as he faced head-on with the dark magic.

Su-hyeun's eyes focused on the purple glowing stone that was located on the tip of the cane.

<<Was it because of that?>>

Most of the summoner's magic had come out from that stone. It was quite easy to see what kind of stone it was.

<<The highest grade of ether stones.>>

An ether stone that had contained magic.

It was a stone that could only be harvested in small quantities from the dungeons, and a fistful of this resource could fetch astronomical prices. Most items used by awakeners contained these ether stones. Of course, items with an ether stone of that size were scarce.

<<I might obtain an awfully rare item soon.>>

It made the situation harder to deal with, but not too much. It had never occurred to Su-hyeun that he would lose to a summoner.

Burning, clash—!

As the dark energy and flames clashed, they began to compete. Su-hyeun grew the fire with all his power and went for a head-on crash with the summoner.

"What…!" The summoner's voice exploded in bewilderment. The summoner began to step back as the dark magic from his cane was pushed by Su-hyeun's flame.

At that moment, the flame that was bursting out from Su-hyeun's sword fell to the ground.

Rip—!

A sharp sword attack split both the flame and the dark magic. The summoner, who blocked the sudden attack by raising his cane, looked at his cane incredulously.

"What's… this…"

A crack formed on the cane. In fact, there were quite a bit of crack lines.

As cracks formed on the cane which he believed to be unbreakable, the summoner's mind turned blank.

"It's not over yet."

Su-hyeun's sword rose up once again.

At the same time, the summoner held up his cane on reflex once more. He used dark magic, forming layers of black protection around his body.

<<To crumble that wall…>>

He must narrow their distance.

After coming to a decision, Su-hyeun sprang to his feet. Having leaped into the air a few times, it increased his speed.

Crack—

Su-hyeun's new form penetrated through the dark magic protection created by the summoner.

His whole body ached. The feeling of flesh rotting could not be erased entirely by the flames that were protecting his body.

But he endured it. Since he risked himself, the damage to the summoner would be fatal.

Slash—!

The flame which had been scattered momentarily gathered immediately back at Su-hyeun's sword.

Wielding the red sword in his hands, Su-hyeun aimed at the summoner who hid in his protection.

"Goodbye."

Stab—

Su-hyeun's long sword pierced through the dark shroud.

* * *

"Whirl—"

Lee Ju-ho pointed his sword at the monsters and had his back towards the wall.

Grrr—

There was nowhere else he could retreat.

"There's a shit load of them, seriously."

It was his first time to come face to face with such a large number of monsters. It was thanks to his skill Swift that he could survive up until now; otherwise, he would have become their meal.

<<Have I killed around ten of them already?>>

However, there were still dozens more of them left.

Not only just physically, but mentally he had problems, too. Moreover, having to deal with a large number of monsters on his own gave him enormous pressure.

Stomp, stomp—!

Grrr—

At that moment, the reactions of the monsters had changed.

The monsters which had been targeting Lee Ju-ho until now changed their line of sight.

'What had happened over there?'

The fight between Su-hyeun and the summoner. Their fight made Lee Ju-ho feel sick.

<<It's not a fight that I should interfere in.>>

It was to the point where the magic concentration dispersed in the air during their fight would cause his skin to shrivel up. It was obvious what would have happened if he had interfered.

<<No, it wasn't only that.>>

It wasn't just a fight where they were just slashing, stabbing or shooting skills at each other.

There was a massive gap between them; how would one utilize and use it?

Would the A-rank awakeners, who were of a level higher than him, be that way, too?

Even if so, he would never have thought that all A-rank awakeners would be as strong as Su-hyeun.

<<If so, what about the S-rank awakeners?>>

That was when he realized that there was another piece of sky higher than the current piece of sky.

<<Could I also be…>>

Blow—

He let out a deep sigh.

After calming himself down, his breathing had also slowed down.

For some reason, the mana that was nearly depleted dropped even more. Lee Ju-ho felt better for nothing.

"Great."

Grab—

He straightened the sword in his hand and brought his legs back up.

"Shall we start…"

Clash—!

Boom—

That moment, the cave shook wildly, and two types of magic clashed.

"Oh, oh my."

* * *

Boom—

The flames that clashed with the dark magic exploded and shook the whole place. The magic that could be felt from the end of Su-hyeun's sword started eating at his body.

Rip—!

As it penetrated through the dark shroud, Su-hyeun wielded his sword wildly.

As the flame spread out, it swept in front of his eyes. At the same time, cracks quickly formed on the dark shroud.

Crack, crack—

Bang—!

The summoner collapsed onto the floor amidst the broken dark shroud.

Although his head was pierced and his body was halved, the summoner's limbs were still moving, creaking away.

"I… will… curse… you…"

"Do that when you're in hell."

Crack—!

With his feet stretched forward, Su-hyeun crushed the summoner's head.

A small bead rolled out from the empty skull. Su-hyeun looked at it and said, "Rest in peace."

Grrr—

As the summoner's control disappeared, the monsters had lost their bearings. The confused monsters did not even have thoughts to attack Su-hyeun and Lee Ju-ho.

"So, now…"

Su-hyeun looked at Lee Ju-ho, who was leaning against the wall, with a puzzled look.

Burning—

Su-hyeun used his remaining strength and spread the flames around him, which had gathered on his sword.

"Let's wrap this up quickly and head back."

* * *

"Pant, pant—"

Lee Ju-ho laid on the floor and stretched widely. A burnt smell came out from his mouth, and he could hear his heart beating clearly in his ear.

"I-I really can't move anymore."

His back was covered with the monsters' blood. He swore there was never a time where he had slain as many monsters as he had today.

<<I feel quite relieved.>>

He had prepared to lose his life, but he managed to survive.

Not sure if it was satisfaction or a sense of achievement, he felt proud of himself and happy about it.

On top of that…

<<I have fought quite well at this level, too.>>

Of course, it was compared to his other fights.

As he looked at Su-hyeun, who seemed to have a bit of health left standing without issues, he felt a sense of shame.

A sneer escaped from the corner of his mouth. His skills were not as strong until he personally witnessed how Su-hyeun dealt with a hundred over monsters.

Lee Ju-ho hadn't personally seen him fought them.

It was the same up till this moment. Su-hyeun saved up as much mana as he could while fighting.

However, as his opponent was quite strong, Su-hyeun was still forced to go all out at the summoner, which could be seen as the boss of the dungeon.

It was beyond Lee Ju-ho's imagination to be able to witness Su-hyeun's ability through his own eyes.

He couldn't believe the Su-hyeun was just an awakener in his first year.

<<If a few more years pass…>>

Su-hyeun could be dubbed to be on par with the world's top rank awakeners, the S-rank awakeners.

"Please rest up a bit."

Su-hyeun did not push Lee Ju-ho, who was spread out on the floor.

Since the summoner was slain, there was no use staying around in the dungeon anymore. There was nothing else left for Lee Ju-ho to do.

There were only two things for Su-hyeun left to do.

<<Clearing up the summoner.>>

And…

Su-hyeun's eyes laid on the stone and the halved cane that was left behind by the summoner.

<<Collection of the ether stone.>>

First and foremost, he had to crush the summoner's stone.

[Time limit: 00:01:45]

It was very close.

If they were a tad slower, they might not have even gotten to destroy the summoner's stone on time.

Trudge—

Su-hyeun walked towards the summoner's stone and placed his hand on it.

In the aftermath of the fight, the stone gained some scratches and crack lines. As it hadn't been completely crushed, it still had its functions.

As Su-hyeun touched the summoner's stone, he injected magic into it.

Whirl, whirl, whirl—

Waves of disturbance started stirring from within the stone as he injected magic into it.

Su-hyeun started crushing the summoner's stone from within as he raised the flames.

A while later.

Boom—

Crash—

The summoner stone that started to split from within showed streaks of red light and started crumbling.

[You have passed the trial.]