The Hero Returns

Chapter 368: Chapter 368

Act 7

The 105th floor.

As expected, it was set in another uninhabited city—and not just any city but one that had almost completely crumbled away and was covered in thick layers of dust.

Su-hyeun was no longer taken aback by such a sight, and he started looking around him straight away. As he thought, the administrator could be found leaning against one of the walls, and he was yawning rather grandly away.

"I almost fell asleep waiting for you. What took you so long? Your trial ended ages ago, didn't it?"

It seemed that he had been waiting here since Su-hyeun passed his trial.

Su-hyeun briefly thought that he made the administrator wait unnecessarily and replied with an awkward grin, "I had some things to discuss with someone, you see."

"You mean, with that guy, right?"

"Yes, Luslec. He said he's an apostle."

"Tsk! He's got pretty loose lips, alright. Well, unlike us, he isn't under some kind of restrictions, anyway."

The administrator let it all slide without any fuss. His attitude made it seem like he didn't care as long as the stuff didn't come directly from either him or his colleagues.

It was rather likely that the 105th floor's administrator wasn't a firm believer in hiding the truth about everything.

"Okay, so? Will you start your challenge right away?"

"No, not right now." Su-hyeun momentarily clenched and unfurled his hands for a bit before making his reply, "I'll see you again after a day from now."

"Sure thing. Well, then," the administrator replied and simply vanished from the spot.

Now that he was gone, Su-hyeun no longer had a reason to remain on the 105th floor, so he immediately opened the portal and returned home.

The first thing he did after returning was to carefully comb through his current status.

[Name: Kim Su-hyeun]

[Magic count: 98]

[Magic level: 9]

[Strength: 101] [Agility: 100]

[Stamina: 100] [Reflex: 100]

[Death Aura: 99]

[Skill: Leap * advanced]

[Skill: Transfiguration * advanced]

[Skill: Godhood—Flame * advanced]

[Fatigue: 8]

[Godhood—Flame]

* LV: 1

* Proficiency: 48.43%

* The sacred flame that burns away evil. It inflicts fatal wounds on enemies with darkness attribute, and its power is determined by magic level.

Su-hyeun now possessed a total of seven qualifications of godhood.

His reflex stat had finally reached the triple-digit mark, and excluding magical energy, that stat was the most useful one for Su-hyeun out of all the four primary stats.

The reason for that was simple enough.

"Maybe it's been too long because I can't seem to get a grip on it that easily…"

Su-hyeun closed his eyes for a bit and heightened his other senses.

"But it's still great, isn't it?"

In his previous life, Su-hyeun had reached the peak at 100 points in his reflex stat as well.

It was the only stat that reached the three-digit mark back then, and it was also the most familiar sensory perception to him. That's why Su-hyeun felt like he had gone back in time to when he first experienced this sensory perception, which was something he hadn't felt in a long, long time.

Of course, he was currently a lot stronger than back then.

Step, step—

Su-hyeun immediately started walking, picked up his phone, and called someone.

"Hello? Yes, it's been a while."

* * *

A massive change had occurred in the Awakener Authority in recent times.

Not just the director responsible for the day-to-day running of the Authority but even the vice-minister above him got axed, and the minister had been suspended as well.

In all honesty, the Authority had lost at least half of its powers at this point.

But even then…

"Welcome."

Su-hyeun came to visit Bak Yun-gyu who was currently accepted as the Authority's strongest awakener, but that wasn't all; behind Bak Yun-gyu was a large group of awakeners affiliated with the Authority standing in rank and file.

They were all here because of a request Su-hyeun had asked earlier.

"Welcome, sir!"

"It's our honor to make your acquaintance, sir!"

Their loud and energetic voices resounded.

About 100 awakeners present today were directly under Bak Yun-gyu's command, and their skill levels were quite high. Indeed, they were a gathering of the Authority's elites who were under the direct command of no one but Bak Yun-gyu alone.

Su-hyeun bowed slightly at them in greeting and then extended his hand toward Bak Yun-gyu.

After shaking hands briefly, Su-hyeun spoke up first, "I didn't think you'd gather this many people, Mister Bak Yun-gyu."

"But you did say the more, the better, didn't you?"

"Still, with this scale, isn't it like you have gathered most of the available awakeners affiliated with the Authority?"

"Doing this much is only obvious, of course. Mister Su-hyeun, we do owe you a good deal of debt, after all. However, I'm rather pleased by the fact that the Authority has been thoroughly cleaned out, all thanks to your efforts," Bak Yun-gyu laughed.

Su-hyeun made a somewhat awkward expression at Bak Yun-gyu's words.

He knew that the Authority had lost a lot of its power due to the events from not too long ago. This wasn't what he intended, but he still did expect it to be the likeliest result.

Whatever happened, Bak Yun-gyu was an Authority-affiliated awakener at the end of the day. He was not just any awakener, though, but an instructor in charge of fostering the awakeners and, at the same time, the figure that best represented the Authority in the public eye.

Su-hyeun felt apologetic toward him.

While Su-hyeun was hesitating on what to say next since he couldn't think up of anything suitable, Bak Yun-gyu said, "There's no need to apologize, Mister Su-hyeun. What happened was the natural course of action. The correct resolution, if you will."

"Even then—"

"Mister Su-hyeun, you aren't the type to regret the choices you make, are you? You did the right thing. If there was a body part that has been rotting away for some time, then it's only natural to cut it off before it can taint the rest of the body," Bak Yun-gyu said while deeply bowing his head.

"Actually, I'm grateful for your actions. You did something that I should've done," he continued.

"Thank you for putting it like that," Su-hyeun smiled awkwardly and shifted his gaze over to the awakeners behind Bak Yun-gyu. "Well then, please take care of me for today."

"Yes, sir!"

"Please take good care of us instead, sir!"

Although their replies seemed a bit too spirited, Su-hyeun didn't go out of his way to point that out because their gazes didn't feel all that unfamiliar to him.

Envy, adulation and respect, and even expectation—so many different emotions were contained within their gazes.

In a way, such a thing would only be an obvious result since the world's best awakener was standing right before their eyes. Even if that was indeed true, Su-hyeun still thought that their gazes were merely at the "beginning point" of what's to come.

Well, he had already experienced what the world would think of him "past" this sort of gazes, after all.

"A hero, hmm…"

Su-hyeun scratched his head while walking away.

He wasn't really a fan of that title in the past. Just hearing that name made his shoulders feel like they weighed thousands of kilograms, and he couldn't even breathe properly.

"I guess it's a bit better now."

Maybe time was indeed a good medicine? If not, was it all thanks to meeting the Bull Demon King and learning the Sage Arts?

He was no longer concerned about what might happen afterward. His thoughts were slightly complicated, but he chose not to worry too much about it.

And so, while chatting to Bak Yun-gyu regarding the current events, Su-hyeun headed to the Authority's underground space.

"As you've requested, we've turned off the virtual reality dungeon system, Mister Su-hyeun. And also…" Bak Yun-gyu trailed off and shifted his gaze to where several awakeners were approaching them while carrying some "luggage," which were actually bundles of slender short spears, piled up on the side of the space. There seemed to be at least a thousand of those spears, and the several awakeners began distributing 10 short spears per awakener.

Bak Yun-gyu spoke up, "As for the spears, we had to source them at a short notice, so their quality isn't so great, unfortunately. Still, they should be able to fly faster and stronger if magical energy is injected into them before throwing them."

"Your preparations are quicker than I thought."

"By the way, will you really be alright?"

"To heighten my senses, I need to resort to this kind of behavior. Don't worry, I'll definitely pay for tomorrow's meal cost for everyone. No, wait, I promise to take care of the tab for the rest of this month's meals for everyone here."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, of course. I do have a lot of money, you know."

"It's just that my guys have quite an appetite, you see."

"Don't worry. Just send me the bill afterward. However, at least for today…"

Snap, crackle—

Su-hyeun loosened his finger joints and the rest of his body.

"Please make sure that they work without a rest for half a day."

"Understood," Bak Yun-gyu replied and took a quick look around.

His gaze prompted the 100 or so gathered awakeners to spread out. It was the same story for Bak Yun-gyu as well.

"Ah, I almost forgot…" Before the things could begin, though, Su-hyeun spoke about one more thing. "I will hand over the armor I'm wearing right now to the very first person who manages to hit me with their spear. Please think of it as a bonus."

What he said instantly changed the temperature of the underground space.

Of course, anyone who was an awakener knew about the armor worn by Kim Su-hyeun. It was famous not only because was it crafted out of the Titan Turtle's back shell mixed with adamantium but also because the master craftsman Kim Dae-ho proudly boasted that the armor was one of only a handful of masterpieces he had crafted in his entire life.

More than anything else, it was an item used by Kim Su-hyeun, so it should be unsurprising to see the highest premium imaginable being attached to the armor in the eyes of the awakeners.

Putting that armor on would be no different from acquiring dozens of extra lives, and if one wanted to sell it for money, one would be able to live the rest of one's life in the lap of luxury.

"Yes, that's more like it," Su-hyeun thought and smiled faintly as if he finally felt satisfied.

Up until a second ago, their gazes were much, much closer to idolizing and curiosity.

With their pride at being able to do something like this with the one and only Kim Su-hyeun, their reverence toward the world's best awakener, their own curiosity at how strong he really was, and so on—separate from how willing they were to humor his request—one couldn't really say that they looked like they were planning to go all out today.

However, Su-hyeun definitely needed them to go all out.

They must throw those spears with enough determination to kill him. Only then would they be really helpful in heightening his senses.

"Well, then…"

Su-hyeun closed his eyes, and his action caused puzzled expressions to appear on the faces of the awakeners who were busy psyching themselves up until then.

"Please begin."

And then, silence ensued.

No one threw a spear because not only did Su-hyeun close his eyes but he hadn't even roused up his magical energy.

"…."

"W—what's going on?"

"His eyes? Why did he…?"

"Wait, is it really okay to throw this thing?"

They were now getting flustered, wondering if something had gone wrong somewhere.

The same story applied to Bak Yun-gyu as well. Despite gripping the short spear tightly in his hand, he couldn't easily throw it at Su-hyeun when the latter had his eyes closed.

He feared that if he threw the spear now, it might strike the target dead right away.

But right at that moment…

Swiiiiiiiish—

Stab—!

A short spear flying from one side scythed through the air and impaled the wall on the opposite side. The gazes of everyone present were now split between their colleague who threw the short spear with all he had and Su-hyeun over there.

"Well, he told us to throw, didn't he?" the awakener replied as if he couldn't see a problem here and grabbed another spear before assuming the throwing posture.

And as the second spear left this person's hand, the other awakeners also began throwing their spears one after the other.

"What the heck? Is it really okay to do this?"

"I guess it's alright?"

"Huh. Take a look. He's dodging them all, isn't he? Wait a minute, maybe his eyelids are open a little bit?"

"Maybe he's using some kind of special skill?"

"Eh, if he was using one, then we should be detecting the flow of magical energy."

"Damn. I don't know anymore!"

Whoosh, whooooosh—

Stab, papapapapabak—!

Dozens of spears flew about without a break in between. The awakeners threw their initial pile of 10 short spears, and when they ran out, they retrieved 10 more to continue throwing them at Su-hyeun.

But he kept his eyes closed and didn't even use his magical energy.

Swiiiish, whoosh—

Su-hyeun moved his body just a little bit—with the absolute minimum movements and not all that quickly either.

He didn't rely on his sight but purely on his sensory perception to determine the trajectories of dozens of incoming spears.

"I can see," he mused.

His eyelids were closed, so his view should have been dyed in darkness, yet it had become an even wider and brighter "world" for him right now.

All the angles and locations his vision couldn't take in before were now so vivid as if he was looking down at them from the sky. He could estimate the trajectories beforehand and was able to tell where he should move to dodge the spears.

This sensory perception that made it seem like he was looking one second into the future was getting clearer as more time passed by.