The Hero Returns

Chapter 404: Chapter 404

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The awakeners, who came to Mount Everest as soon as they could in order to fight, plopped down on the snow while panting in exhaustion. Their eyes were currently taking in a rather unbelievable spectacle.

"Why did we even come here?" Ashlyn muttered that question.

Sitting about a handspan away from her, Gordon Rohan thought about something for a minute or two before shaking his head, "I'm not sure, either."

Kwa-aaaaaah—!

Flames erupted from the foot of the mountain and incinerated the bodies of the monsters that appeared from the side.

Whooooooosh—!

Splat, riiiiiip—!

The other side was being pummeled by a massive tornado. It was as if sharp blades were mixed in among the whipping winds as the bodies of the monsters were cut apart and torn asunder, their ripped flesh bits piling up like small hills on the ground.

As for Su-hyeun, he must've disappeared somewhere else because no one could quite follow where he was. It was as if he was teleporting from east to west, moving too fast for people's eyes to catch him.

And more than anything else, he came across as a "god" handing down divine punishment from the heavens above.

"You, just what have you become?"

Gordon Rohan remembered that he asked Su-hyeun a question similar to that not too long ago. Back then, the latter avoided answering him. He simply mumbled some things about how it didn't really matter what he had become.

Gordon Rohan back then brushed that topic aside without giving it too much thought. A part of that was because he thought that the question was just too ridiculous in the first place.

But now…

"Did he actually become a deity or something?"

It seemed that Su-hyeun had really transformed into something else.

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Shu-aaaaahk—

A huge rake was extending downward.

It was a boss monster from a blue-colored dungeon, Rake-chain. This creature possessed a thousand "rakes" sprouting from its body.

Pu-ha-ahk—!

Su-hyeun's figure was torn apart into three. For a moment there, the Provocation effect concentrated on him disappeared. As a result, the monsters' cognitive ability froze up after they couldn't find the Provocation's target.

Ruuuumble—!

At the same time, the three "torn" parts of Su-hyeun transformed into flames.

[Flame - Transformation]

Siiiizzle…

Kkyaaaaah—!

The rake that cut Su-hyeun apart instantly melted down. The Rake-chain screeched from the pain from its limb melting away, but at the same time, a thin line was suddenly drawn upon its body.

Slice—!

Creak, creeeak…

That wasn't the only line, however; thousands to tens of thousands of lines suddenly appeared all around the boss monster.

The movements of all the monsters came to a stop after they had been sliced apart.

[The Wave Sword - Explosion Style]

Splaaaaatter—!

Fountains of blood exploded into the air.

Kwa-jajajajak—!

The ground before everyone's eyes was also torn apart, and the corpses of the monsters all fell into the newly appearing chasms.

Rumble, ku-rururu…

Meanwhile, thick and dark clouds were gathering high up in the sky. These clouds, so vast that their ends couldn't be seen, actually started off as a tiny little droplet of moisture.

Su-hyeun looked up at the clouds above before extending his hand above. "Strike down without mercy…!"

Squeeze—!

The moment Su-hyeun's hand tightly clenched…

"Somersault cloud."

FLASH—!

Ruuuumble, ka-boom—!

The heavens suddenly grew blindingly bright as a huge lightning bolt enveloped the land below.

Once the light subsided, the revealed scenery was the scorched-black corpses of various monsters.

"Fuu-wooo…" Su-hyeun breathed heavily out and furrowed his brow, all the while sensing his magical energy reserve draining at a crazy rate. "The amount of energy required to maintain the magic circle is turning out to be more than I expected," he thought.

The more one focused on the breathing technique, the faster one's magical energy would recover, so he had been focusing on the breathing technique even during the battle. However, inevitably, the recovery rate would always be worse when compared to him idling and not doing anything.

The more he fought, the more magical energy he had to spend. Su-hyeun carefully managed the energy expenditure during his fight because, if his magical energy supply ran out and the Provocation skill maintained through the magic circle came to an end, then the monsters would start attacking the various parts of the world once more.

"I can't afford to get tired already, in other words…"

"You…want help?"

A voice he had never heard before suddenly rang within his head. Initially, he thought it belonged to either the Somersault cloud or the Palm Leaf, but that thought didn't last for long, and Su-hyeun realized just whose voice it belonged to.

"The World Tree?"

"You figured me out so quickly!"

Would a newborn who just learned to speak sound like this? With how inarticulate and immature it sounded, Su-hyeun thought that he was chatting to a young child right now.

This voice sounded rather similar to the false World Tree from earlier. No, it sounded even younger.

"Did the seed mature already?" he thought to himself.

The voice of the World Tree came directly from Su-hyeun's body, and the reason why he could hear it right now seemed to be related to his desire for a little more power than what he had currently.

The World Tree's seed hadn't completely disappeared from his body, it seemed. It had merely been suppressed by his prana for the time being, and most likely, it would never disappear from inside him for the rest of his life.

"I thought you wanted help. Are you more curious about me?"

"It's both."

"You need help, and you're curious about who I am?"

"If I'm being honest, I'm in a bit of a dilemma. Should I really ask for your help in the first place?"

The World Tree was not simply a tree, after all. It was basically a small world of its own, one that came equipped with a functioning ego the moment it was born.

And Su-hyeun couldn't help but get the feeling that the World Tree taking root within him had a bit of mischievous streak. He thought that it didn't hold simple and straightforward goodwill toward him, either.

"Do you desire a body that will allow you to move around?"

"Yup."

"Well, at least you're refreshingly honest. So, is that why you want to give me extra power?"

"Yup, that's right."

"In other words, you want to plant your roots even deeper, huh."

High risk, high return…

The World Tree's ego would no doubt grow stronger if it planted its roots deeper within him and acquire an even greater strength through such an action.

Su-hyeun was indeed feeling conflicted, but that conflict didn't last for long.

"Give it to me, then."

"I knew you'd say that."

Shu-rururu…

The moment Su-hyeun's will permitted it, the seed that had found home within his body began sprouting tree roots. These roots began extending toward various corners of his body. Su-hyeun frowned slightly at this weird sensation akin to a tree growing right underneath his skin.

On the other hand, he also felt his drained energy rapidly filling back up.

[Fatigue: 0]

[The magic count has risen by one point.]

[The magic count has risen by one point.]

"…Son of a b*tch."

Su-hyeun confirmed the series of messages floating up. His fatigue level had dropped back to zero, which caused him to utter something that he'd usually not say out aloud.

His magic stat had increased by two points all of a sudden, and this stat didn't want to improve at all after reaching the three-digit mark, too!

The improvement of a stat after it reached the three-digit mark was on a completely different realm compared to when it was still stuck in the two-digit mark.

It was practically the same as one's godhood improving, after all.

The moment he decided to accept the World Tree's powers, Su-hyeun's magic count shot up by two points.

"So, this is the World Tree's seed?"

Up until now, the seed hadn't done anything else other than helped him awaken his unique ability. However, the seed was no simple elixir but an object that burrowed into Su-hyeun's body and planted its roots to grow even further.

"So? You need more?"

"Nah, this is plentiful already."

Squeeze…

Su-hyeun powerfully clenched his fist. All the strength he had spent until now had returned to him in an instant.

His body, the vessel that accepted more magical energy, had been enhanced a great deal now. With things like this, he might be able to put to practice something he had been thinking of trying, which could only remain as a hypothesis until now.

"Miru!"

Whooooosh—

Miru, who had been spewing Breath attacks for a long while now, heard his call and quickly flew back toward him.

Su-hyeun leaped on the red dragon's back in its adult form. He held onto the dragon's wing and looked up. "Let's go up! As high as possible!"

Whooooosh—!

Miru began its flight upward.

Maybe because the Provocation skill was still active, all the flight-capable monsters also begun their pursuit of Miru. Su-hyeun lightly swung his sword around and swiped away all those flying monsters that managed to close the distance.

Although there were a lot of flying monsters, not many of them were fast enough to catch up to Miru. One of them, though, happened to be a boss-level monster.

This creature was known as a mid-boss-level monster that usually showed up in indigo-colored dungeons. Its name was Mammoth Eagle, and this bird creature sported a huge horn on its head. It also happened to be fast enough to match Miru's flight speed.

"Man, how persistent."

Squeeze…

Su-hyeun pulled out the spear mounted on his back and then gripped it tightly. Then, he didn't even bother to assume the regular throwing posture and simply chucked it down below.

[Dragon Slaying Spear]

Chwa-rarararak—!

Stab! Pow, popopopow—!

The spear shaft split apart into thousands of pieces and mercilessly stabbed into the Mammoth Eagle's body, causing the monster to fall from the sky powerlessly.

Su-hyeun mopped up all the monsters giving chase behind him and continued to fly up on Miru's back.

Soon, they flew past Mount Everest's tall peak and even went past the stratosphere. The air grew fainter, but he could hold his breath for a few hours, so it was not a problem for him.

When he looked below, he was treated to the sight of clouds covering seemingly everywhere.

Su-hyeun raised his hand. The cloud cover below split apart, and he was able to see what he wanted to see—the massive magic circle maintained by his own magical energy supply.

"Magic amplification circle," he said inwardly.

It was seemingly a simple magic circle. Its effect was to amplify both the range and power of a deployed spell, and as such, the magic circle itself didn't consume a lot of his magical energy.

Even one of the most common skills, Provocation, which didn't eat away a lot of its caster's magical energy, had taken quite a lot out of him to maintain over the whole planet. But now, the story should be quite different for the current him.

"Just like back then…"

Back inside the false World Tree, Su-hyeun declared a truly vast location as his territory, but Earth before his eyes was several times larger than the false World Tree's world. Obviously, he would need a lot more magical energy this time. As such, Su-hyeun had no choice but to be satisfied with casting only the Provocation skill.

But, if it's now…

"Yes, I can do this."

Su-hyeun pointed his hand downward.

Giiii-iiiing—!

The faintly glowing purple lines grew even more vivid. All those faint lines drawn up all over the large landmass grew even brighter, indicating that the magic circle's power had become amplified even more.

And Su-hyeun let loose his flames containing godhood into the amplified magic circle.

[Flame]

Ruuuumble—!

The purple-colored flames followed along the lines of the magic circle and rapidly spread out. He sensed a truly ridiculous amount of magical energy drained out from his body at once, but his reserve now resembled a vast ocean that he couldn't even sense when it would run out.

The divine Flame continued to spread according to the magic circle. And soon…

BUZZ…!

The prana that was sleeping away near his navel began rousing as well.

[Flame - Territory Declaration]

[Amplification]

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The entire world was suddenly enveloped in flames. The planet gleaming in the blue color was instantly dyed in a purple hue and emitted an even greater light than ever before.

"Ouch! Fire! I'm on fire…?!"

"…Huh?"

"Hey, it's not hot at all."

People panicked at the sudden spread of fire, but that didn't last for long.

These flames were not hot at all. Instead, they seemed to actually warm people up from the somewhat chilly weather.

This reaction was not unique to non-awakeners, either; of course, the awakeners became deeply flustered as well.

On top of this, the awakeners that were keeping wary eyes on the monsters outside of the mountain range in case the damn creatures started going on a rampage again were treated with an even more unbelievable spectacle.

"T—the monsters…?"

"What the hell? I am really not seeing things, right?"

Kkayaaaaah—!

Grrr, kkyak—!

The monsters that were continuing to stream in one direction were incinerated and melted down.

Such an event wasn't happening only in one spot on Earth, either.

Lee Ju-ho was staring agog at a dungeon nearby, one that hadn't had the chance to enter the outbreak phase yet.

Hiss, sizzle…

This dungeon was actually disappearing from the world. Even before it could start an outbreak, the heat of the divine Flame had reached inside the dungeon and annihilated it.

Lee Ju-ho could instinctively understand what happened, "It's over now."

At this moment…

He knew that their world had taken a step farther away from the apocalypse Su-hyeun spoke of.