The Hero Returns

Act 6

The night grew deeper.

Su-hyeun couldn't fall asleep, so he went outside the house. He settled on the rocking chair in the front yard and, while enjoying the cool breezes, looked up at the moon above.

Creak—

The quiet stillness of the front yard was broken by the sounds of the rocking chair.

"The predator, is it…?"

To Su-hyeun, the word "predator" equaled "Fafnir."

He had not yet seen another predator beside that monster nor did he hear about one yet, and he only knew it as a monster that failed to become a god.

But now…

"So, a god could become one, too."

He learned a new fact this time—that even someone like Uranus, the grandfather of Zeus and the possessor of countless qualifications of godhood from his birth, could also become a "predator" depending on what his ideals were.

And when he learned of this fact, the mental images Su-hyeun had of predators had to change alongside the new revelation.

"Diametrically opposed to the gods, hmm…"

When he was told that the race of the Giants stood diametrically opposed to the gods, Su-hyeun simply thought that the term was used symbolically, a figure of speech in other words.

The predators were those that opposed the gods and were also beings that possessed auras similar to those creatures. That's why they were "diametrically opposed" to the gods, at least that's what he thought.

But Su-hyeun began thinking about some things after learning that they were monsters born from Uranus, who was defeated by Zeus and had been forced to retreat while bleeding profusely from his wounds.

"What you guys said to me earlier might be right, after all."

A while ago, the administrator asked Su-hyeun if he was confident of not falling into despair after learning the whole truth.

Through the current events, Su-hyeun learned more about these existences called predators and came to realize that the battle against them would be even harder than he initially bargained for.

Like an onion, the layers were still coming off to reveal what's deeply hidden underneath.

He abruptly recalled what Apollo told him because what he said echoed the administrator's own words pretty closely.

He said that Su-hyeun would walk the path of Shura and that the path before him would be difficult and fraught with dangers.

"Is this why you gave me this?"

Rumble—

The purple-hued flame rose above Su-hyeun's hand and illuminated the pitch-black night.

This was his newly acquired godhood.

Rather than acquiring this power through his own perseverance, it had been added on top of his already-existing skill, and that was probably why he still found wielding it freely difficult compared to his other skills and powers.

Even then, there's no doubt that this fire was much hotter and more dangerous than ever before.

"So you were sitting here busy lamenting your pitiful fate, I see," said a hushed voice, accompanied by cautious footsteps.

Click—

Su-hyeun looked behind him and spotted Hercules exiting through the house's open door.

The burly demigod quietly walked over, and Su-hyeun asked, "You also couldn't sleep?"

"Didn't feel sleepy."

"What about your wife and the kids?"

"Slumbering quietly without a care in the world. Wifey's gone to bed not too long ago, as well."

Not too long ago? That was certainly late into the night, then.

But it seemed that Megara too was having a hard time falling asleep. Including Hercules, she was probably one of only a handful of people who knew intimately about what's going on in this world, after all.

"Isn't she beautiful? Megara, I mean."

"Pardon? Ah, yes. Sure."

"And my children, they are so adorable, too. It's a relief, them not resembling me but my wife, that is. Still, I kind of wish that my son resembled me a little more. He's a boy, but he's just too pretty, you see."

He suddenly began boasting about his family. For a little while, he talked about seemingly happy-sounding subjects mainly related to his family without much energy behind his voice.

His broad shoulders were slumping forward. Hercules bent down and picked up a small stone before rolling it around in his palm. "With how things are going, it'll get harder to protect them all soon."

Then, he suddenly changed the subject. His complexion had darkened considerably as well.

"Even if I can somehow deal with one, maybe two Colossi…If five or six of them show up at once, then it'll become too hard even for me. So, what if more than 10 suddenly appear next? Well, as long as you're here with me, maybe it'll be doable," Hercules said before breaking out in a soft, hollow chuckle. "However, if Uranus…if my great-grandfather decides to show up, then, well, even I can't think of a way to handle that one."

"Have you ever met him before?"

"No, not even once."

"In that case, we don't know if—"

"However, I did meet my father before."

His father—Hercules meant Zeus, the god. The word "father" that already weighed heavily became even weightier as it left Hercules's mouth.

Squeeze, crush—

"I inherited this strength from my father. When I was young, I never paid much attention to stuff like this."

Hercules used his hand grip to crush the stone into a fine powder before dusting his hand.

Shu-rururu—

"I grew up thinking that something like this was an obvious thing, that everyone else was capable of doing this much. Then, well, was it when I was around eight years old? It was nothing more than a childish little prank, but the punch I threw out of anger shattered the skull of my first-ever friend."

"…"

"I was really shocked back then. It's truly lamentable, but I didn't inherit a bright head from my father. So, events similar to that happened every now and then. Naturally, I grew to distance myself from other people." Hercules picked up another stone. "I was scared of people because they died so easily. Even if I made a small mistake, even if my emotions got the better of me by a just little bit…I could kill them so easily."

Crush—

"Just like this," Hercules muttered absentmindedly before continuing with a slightly brighter expression. "In any case, it's none other than my father who gave me this strength. It's not as if he has deliberately given me this amazing power like how Apollo has granted you with one. No, what father has given me is simply his bloodline."

"You mean, the blood of a god?"

"Right, that. Even out of all the others mixed with human blood, apparently, the blood of a god running in me is quite dense or some such. Isn't it surprising? The fact that a monster like me can be born merely because of some bloodline?"

"Is your father that powerful?"

"Is he powerful, you ask? That's obvious," Hercules replied as his eyes gleamed sharply with an intense desire to win. "It's my goal—my everything—to win against that man, after all."

"That man?" Su-hyeun echoed in his mind.

The title being used had changed somewhat just then. Actually, though, this new one felt more honest than the title of "father."

"Well, in any case, I have not even a tickle of confidence in winning against my father. And according to his estimation, Uranus is such a monstrous being that, at the bare minimum, father needs to step up to have some chance of defeating him."

"That sure sounds hopeless."

"Yes, and that's the problem," Hercules muttered with a bitter expression and raised his head. "Because what will come for us eventually will be annihilation."

"…"

Su-hyeun stared at Hercules with sympathetic eyes.

To the demigod, the existence of Uranus was the same as Fafnir to Su-hyeun—a calamity verging on Armageddon that would come to visit sooner or later. Then, there was his fate of needing to stand up to such a creature.

Knowing that made Hercules feel that with every passing day, the world was getting one step closer to its annihilation.

"How did you meet your wife?" Su-hyeun asked.

Hercules's head snapped back down at that unexpected question. "You mean, Megara?"

"Yes. I was kind of curious about how you met her since you say you were afraid of people."

Hercules laughed at that. "Well, that's true. Sounds like I've turned myself into a liar."

"I didn't take it that way, you know."

"She was special. By the time I met her, I had learned to control my strength quite well. She was a princess of a kingdom, and…"

For a while there, Hercules talked about the past tales related to his wife, Megara.

However, anyone would've done that. Tales involving the one you loved would always be beautiful and enjoyable to talk about, especially more so when it was about the person you currently loved, not some past lost love that left you with deep emotional scars.

It was a relief to see; Hercules's complexion seemed to brighten up just a little as he talked about his meeting with Megara.

[Remaining time: 14 days, 7 hours…]

Su-hyeun confirmed the remaining time while listening to the tale.

"Half and a bit remain," he thought.

Quite a lot of time still remained until the end of the trial.

"And it's just really the beginning, isn't it?"

Apollo, the god of fire and the sun; Zeus, the god of the skies; and then, Uranus, the grandfather and also the "predator"—Su-hyeun had heard about and also ran into some serious heavy hitters here recently. The scale of this trial, as it turned out, was far greater than what he initially bargained for.

He got the feeling that there would be yet another twist in the tale somewhere in this trial.

* * *

[Remaining time: 12 days, 18 hours…]

Snap, snap—

Rumble, rumble—

Su-hyeun lied on the ground and snapped his fingers over and over again.

Every time he snapped his fingers, flames repeatedly flared up like a lighter before going out.

He was currently somewhere far away from the house, where the surroundings were a sea of fire, yet nothing was burning.

"It's not easy."

Su-hyeun could do only one thing in a world where Giants haven't shown up yet, and that was to get familiar with the godhood of fire and master its usage.

Rumble—

His method of using the power hadn't changed from before. He just thought about wanting to use the skill and injected his magical energy—it was as natural as breathing to him at this stage.

However, it felt like something somewhere was still missing.

Gya-ong—

When Su-hyeun repeatedly roused up the flames only to kill them shortly afterward, Miru, who was dozing off next to him, raised its head and cried out softly.

"Did I annoy you? Sorry about that."

Gya-ong—

Miru shook its head to say that wasn't it.

Su-hyeun patted the red dragon on the head while feeling slightly puzzled. Miru wasn't asking to play with him, and it wouldn't suddenly cry out for no reason either.

"It's not like something dangerous is nearby…" he thought.

Miru's instincts were highly accurate.

Su-hyeun's own senses were highly developed themselves, but they were nowhere near as good as Miru's. The red dragon would sometimes discover hidden dangers or leads that usually couldn't be found simply by relying on one's senses.

And its reaction seemed rather similar to those times.

"Just what is—?"

Snap—

Rumble—

Suddenly, a lick of the flame Su-hyeun lit up almost out of habit suddenly grew larger.

The fire soon enveloped the surroundings and drew a large circle with Su-hyeun in the center. A large space created by flames had materialized in an instant.

But these flames were not hot at all but wonderfully warm.

"This isn't my fire," he inwardly observed.

Su-hyeun shifted his head to the side after sensing someone's approach.

Step—

"We meet again," said a familiar voice.

In the direction of Su-hyeun's gaze, a familiar silhouette of a man walking out of the dancing flames appeared. He was as beautiful as a sculpture, and his skin was just as smooth as well.

It was Apollo.

"You came here personally this time?" Su-hyeun asked.

"Well, this is my flame, after all. I did use your flame as the starting medium, though."

"But is it alright for a god to appear before a human like this? If it is, why don't you personally fight the Giants off instead?"

"I'm sorry, but that's not possible, especially when I'm currently on the run from my uncle."

"Your uncle?"

"Hades. The one you know as the god of death."

Death.

Most likely the framework of that "power" was related to the stat of "Death Aura" Su-hyeun possessed.

Even though Su-hyeun's eyes gleamed a little at the revelation that Apollo was currently on the run from the god of death, he couldn't help but form an expression of confusion.

Why would Apollo run away from Hades, anyway?

"It's similar to banishment. You're supposed to get punished if you do something wrong, after all," the sun god supplied.

"Did you do something wrong, then?"

"Well, father found out that I've shared my godhood with you. Even though he's normally a taciturn guy, he's still my father, so he probably didn't want his son losing out."

"In that case, why did you come here?"

"Didn't I say it? I'm on the run. Because my uncle should be really angry right about now," Apollo replied in a troubled voice while scratching his head. "You see, I've escaped from my punishment…after burning hell down, too."