The Hero Returns

Chapter 346: Chapter 346

* * *

One day after he started learning magic.

Scribble, jot—

Su-hyeun drew a circle on the ground.

It was a fairly well-drawn circle, too. He filled it up with some lines and then opened his mouth to give a command, "Crush it."

Gugugugu—

A powerful force began bearing down on the surroundings with the middle of the circle acting as the center.

"Gravity."

Crunch, cruuuunch—

The sand particles found all around the circle got crushed and became even smaller than before. A rather strong pressure continued to bore down, but it didn't impact Su-hyeun at all.

"…Hmm."

Su-hyeun turned toward Ellid who was observing the proceedings and asked, "What's the matter?"

For some reason, he had been making a puzzled expression.

Ellid alternated his gaze between Su-hyeun and Miru who was snoring peacefully to the side before finally asking his question, "Fella, are you really a human being?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, first of all, there's the matter of this child following you around and then…" Ellid shifted his gaze over to the magic circle Su-hyeun drew on the ground. "I also think your rate of learning magic is pretty much impossible for a human being."

"But there's no rule that says all humans must learn magic really slowly, is there?"

"Well, sure. There's no such rule. However, your learning speed is even quicker than that of dragons."

"Is that so?"

"You haven't learned it elsewhere first, right?"

"Well, I've never been taught how to cast magic, but…" Su-hyeun replied while drawing the next magic circle. "I'm quite familiar with injecting 'will' into something."

"You're familiar with it?"

"Yes. I know something like that."

Su-hyeun smiled faintly while making his reply.

"It's similar to controlling the Somersault cloud and Palm Leaf," he thought.

According to Ellid, you needed three things to cast magic: one, magical energy; two, a medium of some kind; and three, one's will.

Su-hyeun had so much of the first requirement that it was practically overflowing.

The second part was taken care of not with theoretical formulas but magic circles brought to life by his drawing skills.

Therefore, the remaining issue was with the third requirement.

But then, he had been practicing that part for a while now by learning to command both the Somersault cloud and the Palm Leaf.

No, actually…

"Magic is so much easier."

Both the Somersault cloud and the Palm Leaf were proofs of fairly high-leveled qualifications of godhood, so they required so much more concentration and willpower to command when compared to simple magic spells like this one.

Indeed, compared to those two, handling average magic spells was as easy as breathing to Su-hyeun now.

Meaning, even the third requirement needed to cast magic—"will"—didn't prove to be a hindrance for him.

Su-hyeun stopped drawing the magic circle and stood up before placing his hand on the ground.

Ellid closely watched, wondering what Su-hyeun would do next.

And right at that moment…

"Freeze up—"

Crack, craaackle—

Simply by audibly saying the activation phrase that also indicated his desire, the ground began freezing up instantly. The surrounding air temperature plummeted as if a truly bitter cold front had suddenly rushed in.

As he thought, it was possible after all.

"As long as there's enough magical energy, I can still bring about a powerful end result with my will and a simple magic spell like this."

Of course, one had to pay the corresponding penalty afterward.

"The magic energy consumption is not very efficient, though."

This was why the magicians kept creating different spells—the more complicated the formulas, the more complicated the magic circles. Those things weren't simply for amplifying the power of the spells, however.

They were the results of all their research into increasing the magical energy consumption's efficiency, which, in turn, would allow them to use much stronger magic.

While watching Su-hyeun getting ready to activate the next magic spell, Ellid crossed his arms and muttered to no one in particular. "Has he memorized the magic circles already?"

Not just in the manifestation of his will but Su-hyeun also proved to be top class in memorization and his understanding of the magic circles.

The last part was mostly due to Su-hyeun's long-time interest in the compositions of the magic circles and his continued analysis of them that began back when he was still Kim Sung-in, but Ellid didn't know that, so he could only think of it as his latent talent.

"Well, I guess we can just skip the basics, then."

Crimson scales suddenly rose up above the eyes of Ellid who was currently in the figure of an old man.

"Interest."

That was the most wonderful emotion for a dragon that had been living for a very long time.

Ellid had lived for far too long and lost interest in much of the things in existence, but then, he ended up experiencing something that his knowledge base said was impossible, and that roused his interest again for the first time in several dozen millennia.

"It seems that I won't get bored for a while," the dragon mused.

* * *

By the second day, Su-hyeun was able to converse and cast magic at the same time.

"Hmm, how should I put this? The feeling I got was like looking at the god of the dead," said Ellid.

"The god of the dead, you say?"

Pah-bababababak—

Su-hyeun gestured with his hand, and countless sharp wooden spikes shot up from the ground.

He "drew" the shape of a magic circle inside his mind and poured his will into it, all the while chatting to Ellid.

"Indeed. It wasn't the magical energy nor the dark magical energy normally utilized by the dark magicians. That creature commanded something far darker than theirs, kind of similar to the ominous energy the undead possesses."

"Could that be…" Su-hyeun stopped casting magic briefly and roused up a different kind of energy in his hand. "Something like this?"

Shu-wuwuwu—

From his hand, a faint but black-colored aura began spreading out.

At the same time, Ellid, who was sitting on the wooden chair, jumped up from his spot. "But, how…?!"

"It's called 'Death Aura.' Just like you said, it's a type of energy required to command the dead, sir." While saying that, Su-hyeun extended his hand to a spot on the opposite side to Ellid and commanded, "Arise."

Shu-aaaahk—

The Death Aura whipped up and coalesced on a spot before turning into a single figure. Prince Nezha soon made his appearance and knelt down before Su-hyeun.

"It's like this," said Su-hyeun.

"Fella, you were a dark magician?"

"Sir, you know better than anyone that that's not true."

Ellid nodded at Su-hyeun's reply.

Without a doubt, the aura coming off from Su-hyeun was different from the dark magical energy controlled by dark magicians. "Death Aura" was a completely different type of power compared to magical energy, after all.

Su-hyeun said, "Although I haven't learned magic before, I did pick up quite a few other sundry tricks along the way, you see."

"That power, is it one of the abilities you possess?"

"Yes. However, it's also my first time learning that a demonic beast is capable of wielding Death Aura."

Su-hyeun got to acquire Death Aura after mastering the traits of a Necromancer through the transfiguration skill.

The attribute called "Necromancer" that allowed him to command the dead had granted him this new power called "Death Aura."

This energy was originally produced at the moment of a living creature's death. This aura, through the manipulation of someone's power, didn't disperse from the world and remained behind.

It was a far cry from things like magical energy that existed in pretty much every world out there, and not to mention, it was also a lot more dangerous.

A dangerous energy type that would kill a regular person simply by coming in contact with it—that was the "Death Aura."

"What a coincidence this is. What a coincidence…" Ellid, on his feet, muttered to himself for a little while, and then, he suddenly tapped Miru who was napping on the side. "Wake up, little one. It's time to travel somewhere with your grandpa."

Gya-ooong—

Miru opened its eyes only halfway up as if to say it was still sleepy. Su-hyeun became puzzled by Ellid's sudden actions and stared at the old dragon.

"You too, fella. Stop with the magic practice for a while and accompany me somewhere."

"Where are we going?"

"The dead lands."

"The…dead lands?"

"Will you hurry up?! Are you expecting this old me to use my back to carry you?"

Ellid continued to nag Miru. The latter blinked its eyes a couple of times before yawning grandly and began the giantification.

* * *

Miru flew in the direction Ellid had pointed to while carrying the old dragon and Su-hyeun on its back.

After they flew leisurely for about 15 minutes, Su-hyeun picked up a familiar sensation on his skin.

"Isn't this…?"

Su-hyeun took a look at the distant ground below. The already-darkened ground had become pitch-black in this place.

And it wasn't just some random patches, either. He used his Sage's Eye and looked as far as his sight could see—to the land beyond the horizon, beyond the range of normal eyesight.

"Everything… is dead," he silently observed.

All living things could move, possessed beating hearts, and flowing blood as well as souls. Meanwhile, living nature possessed magical energy.

That was the common rule applied to not just the world Su-hyeun was in but also every single dimension out there.

However, the ground spread out right before Su-hyeun's eyes had completely upended that rule.

Miru was unable to fly any further forward from here. More specifically, it didn't want to.

The dead lands actively rejected the approach of any living beings. Even the descendant of the red dragons, Miru, was feeling such a strong rejection, so it would be impossible for regular people to live in this place.

"Most of the land is in this state," Ellid said. "These are the lands that bastard had devoured so far."

That bastard, of course, meant the predator of this world.

"That bastard kills all living things and devours the power that comes out during the process of killing. And I'm not just talking about living people, either. Like this land, the whole world is dying."

"Is such a thing even possible?"

"Of course, it's possible for that bastard. And also, that demonic beast you called Fafnir would be able to do it, too, although maybe not in the exact same manner."

The moment he heard Ellid's explanation, what Fafnir said back then brushed past Su-hyeun's mind for a fleeting moment.

"I shall devour you and consume this world."

Those were the words that monster said while swallowing up Su-hyeun/Kim Sung-in.

Consuming the world—Su-hyeun hadn't paid much attention to that part before. Well, he had already returned to the past, so there was no need to think about what happened to a destroyed world. That's what he believed.

Also, he thought it was a symbolic declaration rather than a literal one.

To consume a world…

His world had already been destroyed by Fafnir by then. That's why Su-hyeun simply took those words as the declaration of successful conquest.

But now…

"Those words actually meant this," he thought.

It might not be exactly the same as this world.

For one thing, while the predator of this world was extracting Death Aura from the dead lands, Fafnir didn't use Death Aura at all.

However, the middle of the process itself wouldn't be all that different.

With blackened ground and skies, that's how a world would eventually look when it lost its vitality and strength.

And predators like Fafnir absorbed that strength as their own and became even larger, more threatening monsters.

"That bastard will grow larger with the passage of time. Well, it's still devouring all the magical energy, all the life force, and the complex combination of powers like the soul, as well as that Death Aura you showed me, existing in this world, you see. I'm sure there are more places like this one in the world right now."

"What about this energy remaining in this place…?"

"It's like the leftover residue that the bastard couldn't fully devour. An insidious aura that spreads onto the rest of the world like some kind of a plague, more or less."

When Su-hyeun heard up to that point, he figured out why Ellid had brought him here.

"I still haven't found the way yet, but well, how about you, fella?"

"…I'll give it a shot," Su-hyeun answered like that and lightly leaped off from Miru's back.

[Leap]

Pow, pooow—

Su-hyeun powerfully stepped on the empty air.

The Death Aura he could sense only faintly became so much clearer as he got closer and closer.

Its level still remained on the faint side, but even then, no normal people or animals would be able to live in such an environment.

"I wonder, will I even be able to absorb it?"

That question popped up in his head. On the other hand, his chest was beginning to pound faster in anticipation.

"Although it does make me feel dirty…"

There was no doubt that this was an opportunity.

The Death Aura—it was the energy created by forcibly restraining the aura emitted when a living being or nature itself died.

Su-hyeun couldn't naturally collect this energy from somewhere. That's why he needed to kill something, but killing one or two couldn't replenish enough Death Aura.

Thankfully, he did acquire quite a lot of Death Aura while clearing all the dungeons in South Korea, but that was incomparably tiny when looking at the truly stupendous amount of Death Aura found in this land.

"Whatever the case may be, I'll gladly absorb it."

Shu-wut, shu-wuwuwu—

Su-hyeun closed his eyes and focused his mind.

The black aura pervading the vicinity got sucked into his body. He had activated one of the abilities of the Necromancer attribute that allowed him to command the dead.

[Death Aura has increased by one.]