The Hero Returns

Chapter 53: Chapter 53

Shururuk-

Falcon's eyes were dyed black at the same time Su-hyeun raised his sword.

Right at this moment, the existence before his eyes had become Igolas once more.

"As I thought, he's still fighting it," Su-hyeun thought.

What a lamentable thing this was.

To fight against the demonic dragon while having forgotten all about who he was for a length of time so long that it was difficult to even imagine.

Falcon's ego managed to emerge above the surface this time because Igolas's main body was inflicted with a major wound.

"To wake him up again…."

Rumble-

The Flame enveloped Su-Hyeun's sword.

"I'll chop this body into pieces first," thought Su-Hyeun.

Piiiii-iiit-

Hwa-aaaahk-!

Wounds opened up all over Igolas's body one after the other according to Su-Hyeun's sword strikes.

It was the pattern of the Flame scorching the creature's hide, and then the Gram slicing into the weakened hide.

The sword attacks used to be effective many times before, however, it was different this time.

Kuruk, kururuk-

Blood sprayed out from Igolas's body enveloped its hide and scales. This blood, which was a lump of massive magical energy, became a sturdy armor and began protecting its body.

"It'll be difficult to break through in a single hit," Su-Hyeun thought to himself.

Chwa-ruruk-

That wasn't all.

The blood enveloping Igolas's hide suddenly coalesced and floated upwards. Every one of those lumps morphed into sharp blades and were fired in Su-Hyeun's direction.

It was the skill of Falcon, the ancient knight that became one with Igolas.

"Swords is it," Su-Hyeun said.

Dozens upon dozens of swords.

Su-hyeun swept his eyes across them. A fairly threatening amount of magical energy was permeating in every single one of them.

However, destroying them wouldn't be difficult.

"I'll shatter them."

Squeeze-

Su-Hyeun trusted in his skills, as well as the weapon held in his hand, the Gram.

He was capable of shattering them one by one.

Su-phat-

Pik, pik, pipik-

Chwa-rururuk-

Su-Hyeun cut down the swords flying in his direction, and then, cut down even more. Countless swords were powerlessly destroyed.

Perhaps it didn't expect such a development, Igolas flinging the swords stared at Su-Hyeun with great shock.

Crack, crack, craaack-!

"Fuu-wook, huk-"

Swords flew in endlessly.

Even as he swatted those away one by one, Su-hyeun shifted his gaze towards the wound he inflicted on the main body.

"As I thought, I should aim over there if I…"

Fuu-wuunng-

The sound of a huge gust of wind.

At that moment, Su-hyeun's gaze shifted to the side.

Ka-boom-!

"Keo-urk!"

Su-Hyeon's body, his focus stolen by the countless swords until then, was struck hard by Igolas's tail. For a moment there, all strength abandoned him and his head shook around.

Stagger-

['Hero - Immortality is activating.]

[Vitality and stamina are recovering rapidly. A fixed portion of abnormal status is recovering.]

[Physical ability is being rapidly enhanced.]

His shaken consciousness and body quickly came back to him.

The passive skill he thought of as insurance for that just-in-case.

He couldn't confirm its effects until now. It didn't want to activate regardless of whatever situation Su-hyeun deliberately created for himself.

However, the Immortality skill had become a truly dependable lifeline for Su-hyeun right at this moment.

His body felt light.

Power was overflowing within, and his concentration was shooting through the roof. His body was in the peak physical condition filled with vitality. No, the strength exceeding even that could be felt now.

"I can do this."

Squeeze-

Su-hyeun's gaze was directed at Igolas's tail that smacked him earlier.

"I'll cut it down."

Sliiiice-

A single thin line appeared in Su-hyeun's vision.

He didn't even exert all that much strength, either. As if drawing a line, he simply swung his sword quite naturally in the direction of Igolas's tail.

Tsu-eu-euht-

Chua-aaaahk-!

Igolas's tail was sliced off.

The cleanly-sliced tail and its smooth cross-section began falling below.

Igolas, having lost a part of its body in the blink of an eye, didn't even scream as if it hadn't felt the pain.

But, it soon sensed a certain emptiness and turned its head behind to confirm the situation with its tail.

Kii-aahk, kiii-aaahhh-!

Igolas started screeching out loudly.

The now tail-less Igolas spat out rage-filled breaths in all directions. The figure reappearing on the creature's back seemed to be enraged as well, as it opened its mouth wide and howled out, too.

"Ah, ah, aaaaahk-!"

"I will make you suffer!"

Igolas crying out in rage soon had to stop its screaming. It discovered that Su-hyeun had arrived near its position before anyone noticed it, that's why.

"…!"

As Igolas opened its pupil-less eyes wide enough to tear them apart, its expression was filled with sheer shock.

"What are you so surprised about?"

Squeeeeze-

Before anyone realized it, Su-hyeun's hand was holding a spear, not a sword.

"When did I… ever say I only had one?"

[Dragon killing spear - Nir.]

A single-use item.

The thing was, Su-hyeun had prepared two of them.

One to inflict a fatal wound on Igolas's main body.

And as for the other one…

"Let's finish up with this, shall we?"

To wrap everything up.

Su-hyeun's gaze was fixed on the huge wound he cut out on Igolas's back.

He bent both his arm and his body to ready the spear shaft.

Rumblllle-

Kuwa-aaaaht-!

Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands.

The spear Su-hyeun threw split countless times and rained down on Igolas's body from above.

Crack, crack, craaack-

Kiii-aaaaahhh-!

Igolas's body was mercilessly torn apart.

Su-Hyeun was planning to use this attack as the final blow to kill Igolas off. The magical energy contained within the spear now was incomparable to before.

Peok, peok, peopeopeopeohk-!

Its wings were torn off, and its hide and scales were scorched black.

Igolas's whole body went limp as if it no longer had any energy left to even flap its wings.

Gu-wuuuu-

Igolas's body began falling to the ground.

Act 5

Kwa-rung, boom-!

Igolas's body crashed into a high-rise building, and the structure couldn't endure against that weight and began crumbling to the side.

With its figure completely torn apart and penetrated through, Igolas couldn't control its body anymore and simply writhed intermittently. Su-hyeun landed on top and intently studied Igolas's condition.

"Looks like it'll die even if left alone."

The biggest weakness of Igolas was its low rate of regeneration unfitting for a high-ranking monster. With these many wounds, it was now as good as dead.

Su-hyeun walked on Igolas's back.

It was then, the streaming blood coalesced once more into a certain silhouette. This time, though, it had a person's head, not a dragon's.

"I shall ask again," Su-hyeun said.

Step-

Su-hyeun got real close to this figure and asked.

"Who are you currently?"

"I am…" Countless emotions were mixed in that faintly-trembling voice. "Falcon, the knight of Teserahm."

"Can you remember now?"

"Yes, I remember everything… Everything."

Falcon barely managed to squeeze out his voice.

It wasn't because he found it uncomfortable or difficult to talk, however. No, he couldn't speak because countless memories that he didn't want to recall came flooding in.

"I…. my… with my hands…."

After he became one with Igolas.

Falcon killed and devoured countless people. He could still vividly remember the texture and the taste from back then.

"Euph… Eu-euph…."

The sensation of vomit rushed in, making him feel nauseous and dizzy. Unfortunately, Falcon was made out of Igolas's blood and couldn't shed his tears nor empty his stomach.

"Bleurgh-!"

He tried to vomit, but nothing came out. The only thing leaking out from his mouth like drool was Igolas's blood.

"Even if you do that, people you devoured won't come back," Su-hyeun said.

"Wu-wuuk…"

"Those who died won't come back to life. And also… it was never your intention, wasn't it?"

"I…." Falcon lowered his head and dejectedly knelt down. "I killed everyone."

He began tearing at his hair. He wanted to endlessly scream and cry his heart out, but not a drop of tear came out.

"I…. devoured them all."

Like how a knight should, he wielded his sword for the weak all his life.

He became one with Igolas just so that he could save his empire.

However…."If only I knew it'd be like this… if only I knew…"

"If you knew, would you have watched and done nothing as the empire fell?"

Falcon raised his lowered head at Su-hyeun's question.

"You wouldn't have done that, right?" asked Su-hyeun.

"That is…."

"Since you're going to make the same choice anyway if you did manage to go back, please stop with regretting your past. Seriously, what is this? You saved a nation, yet it's still your fault? There's a limit to being a kind person, you know."

He wasn't wrong there.

Even if Falcon went back in time, he'd make the same decision in the end. Rather than watching the empire be destroyed, he'd willingly throw himself and stop Igolas, and eventually become one with the creature again.

"It's not your fault," Su-hyeun spoke in a slightly bitter voice. "Many more people survived thanks to you. There's no reason to beat yourself up over it."

"But…"

"But my foot. You saved the world by sacrificing yourself, so what's with this wretched display? What exactly are you guilty of, anyway?" Su-hyeun reached out and while patting the man's shoulder, spoke. "You shouldn't… punish yourself so viciously like this. You have done a great job already, Falcon."

"…."

Falcon remained silent at Su-hyeun's words.

His darkened eyes slowly regained their focus. As Igolas's body gradually died, Falcon's consciousness was getting clearer, that's why.

"Now that I think about it…" Falcon said.

His once-trembling voice became a little calmer.

Falcon observed Su-hyeun and spoke. "I still haven't expressed my gratitude. Thank you. Thanks to you, we were finally able to stop."

"No need to mention it." Su-hyeun formed a meaningful smile. "It wasn't for free, after all."

"What do you mean?"

"You aren't going to use that item anyway, right? In that case, please just give it to me."

"That item? Could it be…" Falcon's eyes widened before he guffawed. "Ha, hahaha! Ah, did you mean this? You aren't someone from our side, so I can't fathom at all how you even knew about it."

"There are certain ways of finding it out."

"Alright, take it. Just like you said, it's not like I'll be using the item again, and… And I should at least give you something in return. No, wait. Even if I don't give it to you, it's still yours regardless."

"Thank you."

"I should be the one thanking you. Thanks to you, the weight's been lifted off my shoulders. I've been freed from the pain, too… I'm truly grateful."

Igolas's death was the same thing as Falcon's death.

Falcon was supposed to have died a long time ago during his battle against Igolas. However, after he became one with the creature, he was unable to die and continued to live on while killing humans even though he didn't want to.

For a long time, he fought within Igolas's consciousness and protected his home by ensuring that the creature didn't attack the empire.

Kururuk, kuruk-

Kek, kekek-!

The maw on Igolas's massive head squirmed for a bit before it spat something out quite vigorously.

Su-hyeun stared at that something the creature spat out. It was a set of thin armor.

"Take it with you. You are more than qualified to possess it," said Falcon.

He was now in full control of Igolas's consciousness. That was because the creature's body was damaged beyond the possibility of repair.

In other words, the armor Igolas spat out was meant to be Falcon's gift. And it was also what Su-hyeun had been aiming for since the beginning, as well.

"In that case, I'll gladly use it," replied Su-hyeun.

"Alright."

Falcon closed his eyes.

Right afterward, his body made out of Igolas's blood began melting down little by little.

"Finally… eternal respite," said Falcon.

He accepted his death as eternal respite. Su-hyeun, having only lived a mere few decades, couldn't grasp at all what that even felt like.

Su-hyeun bowed his head towards Falcon.

This man before his eyes was a true hero, who, for the length of time no one could even begin to imagine, fought for the sake of the world.

And he was the sole witness to the last moments of such a person.

"Rest in peace."

I pray that his death wouldn't be one of agony but an eternal rest.

Su-hyeun earnestly prayed in his heart.