The Hero Returns

Chapter 365: Chapter 365

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Writhe, wriggle—

Chun Ha-jin barely managed to move his arms and crawl away.

Boom, rumbleeee—

Pow, kwa-wuuuuu—

Two massive auras were violently colliding against each other not too far from where he was. The aftermath of the clash flung Chun Ha-jin to some distance away, and from there, he began creeping away to a safer place.

"What kind of monstrous bastards are those two…?"

Shudder, shiver—

He almost lost his life just then.

Once the fear of death that came close enough to touch his face had receded away a little, he could objectively analyze the situation he used to be in not too long ago.

It was pure humiliation.

His pride had fallen to the ground to be trampled on. From the fact that he screamed in pain to how he got terrified by the enemy before his eyes—such things shouldn't have happened to a heavenly demon like himself who was used to be worshiped by a million followers and was currently the "emperor" to 10 million citizens in this world.

Grit—

Chun Ha-jin gritted his teeth.

He was at least certain of who one of those two was, and that would be the "devil" with the pitch-black skin that had arrived last.

"The god that summoned us to this place."

No, wait, he couldn't be sure whether that creature was a god or a devil.

However, judging from the battle between those two, this existence that everyone thought of as a god definitely was not an omnipotent creature.

"That's right, keep fighting like that."

Stumble—

Chun Ha-jin barely managed to make his legs move and forced himself up.

"And when you show just a bit of an opening…"

He'd become the god of this world instead!

Crunch, crunchhh—

His bones, broken and twisted in unnatural angles, were reverting to their original positions.

Although he didn't have a lot of opportunities during his life to try out martial art techniques that healed the practitioner's injuries, Chun Ha-jin had mastered several types of them. He believed that they could become the lifeline that would save him during a critical moment in his life.

And as it turned out, his thoughts were right on the money.

"It's done."

Although he lost a lot of blood, he hadn't suffered any fatal wounds.

In order to inflict as much pain for as long as possible, Su-hyeun deliberately avoided vital points and only stabbed or broke Chun Ha-jin's body parts that would hurt the most.

Such torture was meant to break Chun Ha-jin's mind but not an act to take his life.

Thanks to that, Chun Ha-jin didn't have much trouble restoring his body.

"Just a little bit more, a little more…"

And so, he slowly strengthened the muscles on his legs that had gone soft earlier, but just before he could stand back up…

Swish—

Piii-iiit—

He felt a stinging and hot sensation coming from his neck.

"…Huh?"

Chun Ha-jin raised his hand and touched his neck. Crimson blood, still warm to the touch, stained his palm. He gasped out in shock and hurriedly clutched at his throat, but it was too late by then.

Splatter—!

Tumble—

Chun Ha-jin's severed head rolled to the ground. His hands clutching at his throat went limp, and someone else's foot extended toward him from behind.

Kick—

Crunch—!

Luslec kicked Chun Ha-jin's back to shove the dead body away and began dusting away at his scorched clothing. "Gee whiz, I finally managed to get inside."

Luslec faced a lot of trouble trying to enter the arena due to the territory of divine Flame spread out everywhere, and the first thing he saw after making his way inside was Chun Ha-jin, who somehow managed to keep his life after fighting Su-hyeun.

From the body of Chun Ha-jin, who looked half-dead initially but began recovering himself, Luslec sensed a lump of magical energy that seemed to be stolen from countless many people.

Luslec muttered, "So, it's that guy? The quarry of this world, that is."

The predator was waving its hand at Su-hyeun.

The black fog wrapped around Su-hyeun's body and tried to restrict him like chains. He was pushed back by the predator's aura, but he ripped apart the fog with his bare hands and flew up again.

The sequence of each engagement remained largely similar as before: Su-hyeun closed in, and the predator created some distance and continued to pile damages on Su-hyeun.

At a glance, he seemed to be at a clear disadvantage.

"Well, that thing does look pretty tough, but…"

Luslec pursed his lips a little and whistled.

Whistle—

"Well, I guess it'll work out in the end."

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Tu-hwaaaak—!

Su-hyeun's figure was shoved powerfully back again.

The predator waved its hand around to control the fog. That was a type of unique "authority" called "darkness manipulation" that the predator felt most confident of using in a battle. The predator had created this ability by utilizing its impressive magical know-how.

This magic was about imbuing energy into the darkness that had no form and then using it to cause physical and magical damage.

This magic could be activated anywhere darkness existed, and in a limited space like this one, its power could be focused more and exhibit even greater strength.

"This fool doesn't know when to give up."

Pah-aht—

Su-hyeun rushed toward the predator once more, a process that had been repeating itself.

Nothing had changed, and Su-hyeun continued to rush in blindly like some kind of a wild animal.

"Compared to what I've heard before, a hound isn't all that special, is it? He just keeps rushing at me without even thinking too much about it…"

The predator waved its hand again.

The darkness spread out everywhere rapidly gathered in order to snatch up Su-hyeun's body once more.

He twisted his body this way and that. He also moved at an eye-searing quick pace to slice apart the gaps in the darkness before digging through the opening created.

"Blow away…"

In the middle of that, he held the sword with both of his hands. Flames and winds—two attributes that matched each other so well—swirled around the blade.

"Palm Leaf."

Fwhoooosh—!

Ruuuumble—

A huge wall of flames rushed in, and a blinding light accompanied the flames to drive the darkness away. Meanwhile, the winds completely shredded apart the physically manifested darkness.

At first, the predator became somewhat flustered by this attack. But now…

"Darkness exists everywhere."

Chwa-rururu—

The shredded-apart darkness quickly reverted to how it was.

"And there is plenty of it, too."

Ta-da-dak—

Su-hyeun instantly closed the gap.

Of course…

Fwhoooosh—

He was pushed back once more when the predator waved its hand around. At the same time, "rain" began falling from the darkness filling up the skies above.

Chwa-ruk, chwa-rurururu—

"Block that," said Su-hyeun as he raised his hand. "Somersault cloud."

Pi-pit, pi-pipipit—

The rain of darkness falling from above was blocked by the Somersault cloud. The previously-white cloud turned ashen in color, but the raindrops failed to reach Su-hyeun's body in the end.

"We're back to square one again."

The predator furrowed its brows.

This fight didn't seem like it would end any time soon. Meaning, someone had to get tired first for this battle to reach its conclusion.

"That won't be me, at least. But still…"

Even then, the predator was getting irritated. To think that it would fail to kill its opponent and could only crawl forward at a snail's pace.

"Fine. I'll keep repeating myself until you run out of steam."

Gulp—

While thinking that, the predator began drooling excessively.

"One, two, three, four…five, and six. Their individual tiers aren't all that high, but he still has six qualifications."

That number was higher than all the other emperors the predator had devoured in the past. Even Chun Ha-jin had barely managed to acquire a single qualification of godhood so far, after all.

"So, if I devour the fool over there, then I'll be getting seven quali—Huh?!"

The predator shifted its head ever so slightly to take a look at Chun Ha-jin, who should still be collapsed on the ground, only for its eyes to shoot open wider.

"Who the hell is that punk now?"

There was a punk currently spectating the battle without a care in the world while using Chun Ha-jin's corpse as his chair.

The predator couldn't even tell when that man had entered the place.

When Luslec met the predator's gaze, he smirked and waved his hand, and then, he pointed in a direction while speaking in a cheery voice, "Look to your front. Your front."

The predator gasped in shock and hurriedly turned its head while waving its hand around. Su-hyeun, who had sneaked in quite close by then, was shoved back again and began cutting down the black fog trying to enclose him.

"There was another hound?" The inside of the predator's head became a mess of jumbled thoughts.

If it was only Su-hyeun before its eyes, no problem, but the story would change radically if there was another one like him in the picture.

Two hounds? If the other one joined in, then the odds of victory for the predator would only get slimmer.

"Are you going to interfere?"

It was at that moment that Su-hyeun suddenly stopped his attack.

The predator looked at him to discover that he was paying attention to Luslec as he lowered his sword to the ground.

Luslec pondered for a bit before asking back, "What do you want me to do?"

"I'd prefer that you don't butt in, actually."

"Are you saying that there's no need for me to intervene?"

"Something like that."

Su-hyeun's expression didn't seem all that urgent, so Luslec simply shrugged his shoulders. "Well, if you say so."

Luslec remained sitting in the same spot.

Even though this situation called for his assistance, he didn't display any hints of making a move, and that was all because Su-hyeun didn't want him to butt in.

"These bastards…"

Wriggle, wiggle—

Rage began boiling inside the predator while looking at these two hounds because the conversation between them sounded as if they were completely looking down on it.

As if to match the predator's rage, the darkness spread out to the surroundings wavered even more ominously. Su-hyeun furrowed his brows while staring at the predator and the fog that was gradually getting denser.

"Even though I made myself clear, it's still worried, isn't it?" Su-hyeun observed quietly.

However, that seemed to be expected. Even he would naturally worry if another enemy was hovering somewhere behind him.

"Well, this isn't so bad."

Whatever the case might have been, Su-hyeun was in a situation where he had to hunt the predator down.

Su-hyeun declined any assistance from Luslec for one reason: he felt confident that he would still be able to kill the predator without getting any outside help.

"If he's not going to intervene, then there shouldn't be a reason for us to trip each other up, and I'd already get the desired outcome if the predator loses its focus."

The environment was at its most optimum state.

"Now what I need is confirmation."

The predator still had no idea what Su-hyeun had been doing for the past 30 minutes or so.

The creature probably was thinking that Su-hyeun would repeatedly rush in like an idiot only to tire himself out in the end.

"That thing said that darkness exists everywhere and in plenty of quantity, too," Su-hyeun recalled what came out of the predator's mouth earlier.

Honestly speaking, that was an undeniable fact.

Su-hyeun was genuinely surprised as the fight dragged on. Was it an ability that granted an actual physical form to the darkness and made it exhibit physical and magical powers?

Depending on the scale of this power, one could even destroy a world in an instant, and as darkness existed pretty much everywhere, it seemed nearly impossible to break through its sturdy and meticulous defenses.

However…

"Even then, the one controlling it is that creature."

Such darkness was still moving according to one creature's will. Meaning, patterns existed.

"I'll break through it in one go this time."

Swiiiiish—

Su-hyeun began dashing forward once more. Sure enough, his pattern was the same as before.

Shu-wuwuwu—

Su-hyeun's eyes changed to a blue color, and with them, he saw an opening.

More specifically, it was a slender little gap among the tightly woven net that seemed so frail and easy to break.

Rumbleeeee—

Shu-aaaak— Shu-ahk—

Thud, driiiip—

The blade burning in flames sliced the gaps in the black fog. Su-hyeun's figure rapidly darted forward and closed the distance toward the predator in an instant.

"Next up should be…this side."

Su-hyeun pulled out a spear with his left hand. It was the Dragon Slaying Spear.

It was normally a spear designed for a wide-area attack, but employing it as a single-use throwing weapon wasn't so bad either.

He didn't even need to count to three as usual.

[Wave Spear - Explosion Style]

Ka-boooom—!

The spear that left his hand rapidly flew toward its target.

Kwa-jajajajajak—!

The spear pierced through a part of the fog, creating a path, and to see this path, Su-hyeun continued to rush in without hesitation.

"And now…"

Shu-wuwuwu—

Bluish aura began rousing up from Su-hyeun's body.

It was the sign of the single-use skill that could be activated once in a day. It was the greatest skill Su-hyeun currently possessed—it was none other than "Immortality."

["Hero - Immortality" trait is being activated.]

[You have not met the requirements.]

[Vitality and stamina will not recover.]

[Your physical abilities will rise rapidly.]

"I shall run."