The Hero Returns

* * *

Ku-gu, gugugu—

The Moon's shape transformed into a crescent. Other than some portions of the terrain, most of it was had been erased out of existence.

Pazzik, pazzzzik—

Shu-shushushu...

Electricity and black energy current continued to buzz and dance around what remained of the Moon.

And in the center of it all was a pair—a man and a giant—barely standing up.

Stagger—

Su-hyeun's figure stood unsteadily.

Half of his torso had melted down while blackened blood leaked out from the corner of his lips. He tried to strengthen his legs to prevent himself from falling to the ground, but even so, it still felt as if he would still collapse if he relaxed just a little bit.

Cough!

His innards tumbled about, and in the end, he vomited even more dead blood.

His magical energy reserve was empty, and only a tiny little amount of prana left in his tank was barely holding his lifeline together.

His trembling hand managed to stab the sword on the ground so that he could prop himself up, delaying his inevitable collapse for the time being.

Afterward, Su-hyeun slowly raised his head.

Step—

Fafnir took a step forward.

Other than the part of the staff he was gripping, the rest of it had been vaporized. The same applied to half of his face.

The left part of his head, including his eye, was completely gone, blood continuously dripping from there. Even so, Fafnir continued to advance, one step at a time.

"He's...still alive?" Su-hyeun thought.

Su-hyeun yanked the sword from the ground. He was thinking of cutting Fafnir's head off for good somehow.

But then...

Stagger—

"Huh?"

As soon as he pulled the sword out, his knees buckled, and he faltered to the ground. He had no choice but to stab the sword down again. Without propping himself up against the sword, he found it too difficult to even stand up still.

Step—

In the meantime, Fafnir continued to advance. The distance between them gradually narrowed.

"Dammit."

He tried to desperately rouse up any remaining magical energy, but his whole reserve was utterly empty—squeezed dry. It was the same story for the World Tree's energy.

The only remaining energy was his truly minute level of prana, so small and faint that it was barely detectable.

"If I use this..."

He would definitely die.

Prana, the energy, was the same as the life force of a living being. If it was running dangerously close to being empty, then it meant Su-hyeun's own life force had been depleted by that much, too.

Judging from the grievous injury on his torso, it didn't take a genius to figure out what would happen if he squeezed out his remaining prana.

"It can't be helped, I guess."

Even so, Su-hyeun still decided to use the remaining amount of his prana.

The small quantity of prana circulated and spread around his body. His trembling legs regained some of their previous strength back.

Enough strength had returned to him so that he could fight.

But then, just as he prepared to move again...

"Huh?"

He sensed that something was strange. Fafnir, who was steadily approaching him, had stopped moving for some reason.

"His steps have gotten slower?"

The Predator hadn't suddenly come to a standstill. From the moment he began walking toward Su-hyeun, Fafnir's steps were gradually slowing down.

And right now, he had come to a complete standstill.

Su-hyeun chuckled hollowly, "Hah..."

All tension abandoned him just then, and he let out a long sigh.

Plop—

His body, initially re-energized by rousing up what little remained of his prana, suddenly became as heavy as soaked cotton. He didn't even have enough strength to hold onto his sword.

He kissed the ground with his butt and settled down there completely.

Fafnir, who had managed to get within 10 paces of Su-hyeun, was no longer getting closer. He was a giant of nearly eight meters tall, so such a distance would've been covered with one or two extra steps, yet the Predator didn't even move an inch.

Su-hyeun silently stared at Fafnir for a while, then said something in a hushed whisper, "It's... over."

He was dead.

Fafnir was dead.

Countless thoughts brushed past Su-hyeun's head just then—from the memories of the first purple dungeon's appearance, one where Fafnir showed up from, to the battle against a monster where his own strength seemed not quite enough, to even the intense loneliness he had to suffer from as he became the only one alive in the world about to meet its annihilation.

So many thoughts and memories of past situations brushed past him like a panorama. Su-hyeun laid down on the ground spread-eagled.

Even keeping up with his thoughts was getting tiresome. He was too exhausted both physically and mentally to think and feel.

There was only one thing he could think about and mutter in the open, "It's finally over..."

Lying on the ground, Su-hyeun slowly closed his eyes.

And then...

Snore—

He fell into a deep, deep slumber.

* * *

It had been a really long time since he had slept without worries and without being vigilant of his surroundings.

Su-hyeun had always been aware when he was "sleeping." Therefore, rather than calling it "sleeping," it was more correct to say he was only half asleep.

In any case, this restful slumber was a long time coming.

Unfortunately, though, it didn't take too long for his slumber to be disturbed.

"Why is he working so hard for that kind of world?"

"Yeah, I wonder about that myself."

"I wiped out the world I lived in with my own hands."

"Yeah, it's the same for me."

"It's all because his experience with his world has been too frivolous and soft-hearted. To think that the last version of me would use the one and only chance to regress in this manner..."

The increasing chatter caused Su-hyeun to furrow his brow deeply.

His eyes were still closed, so he couldn't see anything. It felt like he was floating aimlessly in outer space without stars to guide him.

The voices continued.

"Doesn't matter what you do, you can't delay the inevitable Armageddon."

"Didn't he already see it? How desolate and lonely it is to be the only one left standing."

"Whether you're a hero or a villain, being a part of a world is the only way to give your existence a meaning, after all."

"I don't get it. Just what does it take for someone to grow desensitized to the deaths of other people?"

Su-hyeun also heard opposing voices. This conversation sounded as if it was between those who agreed with Su-hyeun's actions and those who didn't.

The loud conversation continued for some time. Su-hyeun wanted to tell them to quiet down so that he could get some sleep, but he couldn't think of a way to voice his unhappiness.

"Let me sleep, will you?" he thought.

In the end, he got royally irritated in his mind and ended up yelling angrily. Rather unsurprisingly, though, his inner voice didn't reach the owners of those voices.

The one they were yapping about didn't want to think about anything due to his exhaustion, yet they went on and on regarding his actions.

One side argued that he did something unnecessary. In contrast, the other side opined that what he did was par for the course, something completely necessary.

And as they chatted away, though, a familiar voice could be heard within their arguing.

"Well, it doesn't really matter either way."

Su-hyeun's attention naturally focused on that voice.

"Whatever the end result is, 'we' will be the one to pass the final judgment."

That voice belonged to one of Su-hyeun's past lives, Cheon Mu-jin.

* * *

Huff—!

Su-hyeun hurriedly sat up breathlessly as if he had been holding his breath for a long while.

His body still felt as heavy as a lump of lead, but at the very least, his mind didn't feel too tired to think, thanks to getting a bit of rest.

Still, he felt dazed and numb for a moment. Without focus in his eyes, he found himself sitting on the ground.

"What...the hell was that?"

Was it a dream? But for a dream, it was far too vivid. Also, the last voice he heard belonged to Cheon Mu-jin. He was sure about that.

In his past life as Cheon Mu-jin, an existence referred to as the evil phantom—the heavenly demon—drove his world to destruction. Su-hyeun clearly recalled that man's life. That was how he recognized the voice immediately.

What a weird conversation they were having, though. Just why were those beings discussing the right and wrong sides of Su-hyeun's actions among themselves?

But that wasn't the only thing that bothered him.

"He said 'we,' didn't he?"

During the last exchange, Cheon Mu-jin definitely said "we."

The "we" obviously referred to the owners of the voices arguing just then. But more than that, Su-hyeun instinctively felt that he too was included in that "we" they were talking about.

The reason for that was simple enough.

"...My past lives."

Slap—

Su-hyeun face-palmed himself.

It wasn't as if all of the past memories had returned to him.

Through one of the abilities of the Six Paths, he had "awakened" his past lives, allowing him to acquire their memories and experiences.

However, he still hadn't awakened every single one of his past lives. As a matter of fact, he had a feeling that the lives he had awakened so far were nothing more than a tiny sliver of the long history of the universe.

The voices just then belonged to Su-hyeun's past lives, which could only mean one thing.

"Cheon Mu-jin wasn't the only one, huh?"

From Su-hyeun's perspective, Cheon Mu-jin was easily the worst villain bar none. Compared to him, even someone like Hwang Jun-peong, the guild master of the Dump Guild, which was a gathering of bloodthirsty murderers, came across as a relatively nice guy.

Cheon Mu-jin resented his world, and through his own strength, he led that world to destruction. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one out of Su-hyeun's past lives to think the same as him.

Thankfully, though, Su-hyeun wasn't bothered at all about his past lives. Whatever the case might have been, their lives were already finished. They were "past," and the current him had already drawn a clear line to denote that he was different from them.

Maybe that was why he came to realize only one thing through this "dream" event.

"Wow. If the Path to Hell's effect was also influenced by the past lives, then it would've been terrible for me."

Even if several of his past lives were similar to Cheon Mu-jin's, he also lived several other past lives similar to his current.

"I am me," Su-hyeun told himself one more time, then tried to get up from the ground.

This happened just then.

Lick—

A wet tongue licked him from above his head, leaving behind hot and sticky saliva. He looked behind him to discover a colossal dragon sitting on the ground, its wings neatly folded away.

"Miru?"

Grrrr—

The huge red dragon that had almost reached adulthood after its "puberty" stage ended was indeed Miru.

It was at this point that Su-hyeun discovered Miru's saliva soaking his whole body. He hadn't been aware of it during his "slumber," but it seemed that Miru had been licking him constantly while he was unconscious.

"My injuries...they are almost all fully healed."

The grievous wound Fafnir had inflicted on him had healed up nicely. Su-hyeun figured it would at least leave behind a scar, but his skin was so blemish-free that he even briefly wondered if he got injured in the first place.

He realized that this was all thanks to Miru's recovery ability, and the corners of his lips curled up slightly, "Thanks, Miru."

Gya-rrrrr—

Even though Miru was an adult now, its growl didn't sound that much different. Sure, it might have gotten a bit deeper, but its "gya-ong" remained the same as back then when it was still a newborn.

Su-hyeun patted Miru's head a couple of times, then got back up to his feet. He walked over to Fafnir's corpse next.

"It's not completely over, now is it?"

In the beginning, he believed that everything would be over after he defeated Fafnir. He thought that when he stopped Armageddon, things would get back to how they were.

But with time, he learned that it wouldn't be the case. He realized how narrow and shallow his worldview was and how difficult the job of protecting his world actually was, which turned out to be well beyond the scope of his imagination.

For that purpose, Su-hyeun still required even greater power.

Step—

Fafnir, who had died standing up, didn't even move an inch from the spot.

"From now on..."

[You are activating the "Necromancer" trait.]

[By using "Death Aura," you can either see or command the dead.]

Shu-shushu...

Death Aura began leaking out from the tip of his hand.

"Become my slave."

And right at that moment...!

Sha-aaaaah—

The crimson aura leaking out from Fafnir's corpse suddenly flowed over to Su-hyeun and began surrounding him like a halo.

"Huh?"

Su-hyeun flinched at this unexpected response. He planned to use the Necromancer's special ability to turn Fafnir into one of his summoned creatures. Still, this reaction was completely out of his expectation.

Shu-aaaaaah—!

And so, the crimson aura escaping from Fafnir's corpse began seeping into Su-hyeun's body. It all happened so quickly that he couldn't even put up any meaningful resistance.

Right afterward...

[You are now acquiring "Dragon Blood."]

[You have acquired "Predation."]

One after another, two messages popped up in his view.