The Hero Returns

This man noticed they were understaffed to stop Su-hyeun. He found out he had enough power. If Su-hyeun kindly explained his purpose and expressed his opinion that he did not want to fight, there might be no more support. After all, that would be revealing the truth that Su-hyeun was not a real terrorist. But if Su-hyeun kept calling himself a terrorist, the story would change. To prevent him, the Authority must use its force. The reaction to the terrorist would be obvious.

“And what I have to do now...”

Whoosh—

Slash—

Su-hyeun gathered the flame he had spread everywhere and pulled the sword. He didn’t need to act anymore. There was only one thing he had to do from here.

“I have to withstand an attack.”

It was the same with Kim Do-ui. It was not sure whether Kim Do-ui moved according to Su-hyeun’s will because of his favor or something else. But since this already happened, there was only one thing that Kim Do-ui had to do.

“Get him!”

Poof, poof—

At the command of Kim Do-ui, dozens of awakeners began to move.

Swish, swish—

Whip—

Su-hyeun avoided the spears and other unknown skills that had flown from all sides. Sometimes he could not avoid, so he warded off or stopped them.

Whoosh—

The Flame surrounded Su-hyeun’s body. It worked as a shield and blocked other awakeners that were coming.

The concentration and grade of the magic of Su-hyeun was not a region that other awakenings could invade.

“Possibly Magic Level 6... Rank A awakener.”

Kim Do-ui, who watched other awakeners fight against Su-hyeun, coldly analyzed Su-hyeun’s ability.

“The skills he has are the rarest skills of the highest level. He also has basic physical stats to utilize them. He also has quite good combat sense,” he thought.

Skills, magic, stats, combat sense, everything could be called the best. Most of all, his combat sense was remarkable. In the eyes of Kim Do-ui, the awakener of the same A-rank, Su-hyeun’s sense of battle seemed like an exceptional ability.

“It is almost unbelievable. Did he get any professional training somewhere?”

Su-hyeun did not attack other awakeners. He either avoided or blocked. It was purely possible because of Su-hyeun’s ability. He was different from other awakeners who could only beat and crush.

“If I fight with him... I will completely be defeated.”

He almost felt chilled. They had the same level of magic, but the basic skills were very different. Compared to Su-hyeun, he just got stronger naturally while he was climbing and climbing the Tower of Trial.

“Kim Do-ui! What are you doing? Why don’t you help us?”

One awakener got angry while he was fighting with Su-hyeun looked at Kim Do-ui and asked. Kim Do-ui, who had no intention of fighting, answered with a small frown.

“I am thinking right now.”

“What? What do you think about?”

“Whether he is the enemy or not.”

“What the hell are you talking about...?”

“You are a fool. You don’t get it?”

At the blunt remark of Kim Do-ui, the man, who was asking him to fight, frowned his face. Kim Do-ui clicked his tongue and continued to say.

“Is anyone hurt now?”

“What?”

“Or do you think you are fighting even against him right now because you guys have good skills?”

The man could not answer at Kim Do-ui’s question. What he said was all correct. He well knew about Su-hyeun’s ability. The big flame he showed at the beginning, that was enough to show them that they could not do anything with Su-hyeun. If Su-hyeun had decided, no one would have been alive by now.

“So, what the hell you want to say now?” the man asked.

“He is overlooking you guys. So, don’t go overboard,” Kim Do-ui answered.

It was a word that scratching his pride. But it was not wrong. The more they fight, the more they feel that Su-hyeun was just overlooking them.

“Are you saying that man is not a terrorist?”

“Don’t you think that is possible?”

“Hmm...”

The man looked closely at Su-hyeun again. No matter how many times he thought about it, it was clear that he was letting them off. The damaged objects around them were also due to their attack, not Su-hyeun’s.

“Then why did you call for backup? If your word is true, it would be better to cancel the backup now. Wasn’t that a waste of manpower?” The man asked as if it was strange.

If Su-hyeun was not a terrorist as Kim Do-ui said, the support he had called here would be meaningless. There would be no way that he did not know about this.

“Tut...”

At the man’s question, Kim Do-ui raised his head and looked up the sky.

“I did not call the backup to stop him.”

“What?”

The man looked puzzled as if he did not know what he was talking about. But it was still too early to answer the question. Kim do-ui shook his head and saved his words.

“No. Nothing. We will figure out soon or later.”

Kim do-ui said so and turned his head. He sensed the presence of people around him. Kim Do-ui felt about 10 people’s senses and knitted his brows.

“...They came.”

Additional personnel came for the backup request. Kim Do-ui, who had guessed their identity, muttered to himself, “Was it their first activate?”

Not many people knew of their existence. There was a new institution made up of some of the nation’s awakeners. As far as he knew, this was their first mission.

“I guess the director is really pissed off.”

Act 3

Swish—

A sharp knife pierced the Flame and passed the tip of Su-hyeun’s nose. He stepped back and increased a delicate distance. He looked around the newly appeared awakeners. He already knew about them.

“They came,” he thought.

He was wondering when they would come. He assumed they would start their business by today. It was faster than he expected. Su-hyeun used Leap skill and increased distance quickly.

He looked around. Unlike other awakeners that previously attacked Su-hyeun, the ten people who appeared at this time were different from the atmosphere. Their eyes were sharp-sighted, most of all, their postures were set. It meant, they did not thoughtlessly climb the Tower of Trial, trusting their skill and stats. They had received professional training.

“It reminds me of old times...”

Su-hyeun was once a member of this group.

“I should be careful,” he thought.

He drew the sword.

Whoosh—

As the Su-hyeun pulled the sword, the Flame around him disappeared. Instead, the sword that shined in gray, became red-hot.

“A sword...?”

“He was not a magician?”

The awakeners that were there previously started to whisper themselves. It was a sudden change. Seeing Su-hyeun, who had fought with Flame skill so far, they thought that he was a sort of magician awakener who focused on the fire skills. But suddenly he took his sword.

“Is he a swordsman? Then, what about the fire he showed so far...?”

Kim do-ui was confused as well. The only people were not confused were the ten awakeners that newly appeared. They did not see how Su-hyeun fought so far.

“Heew—”

Su-hyeun took a breath and closed his eyes. It was that short moment.

Swish—

Clang, Clang—

Several strands of chain popped out where Su-hyeun was standing. At the same time, the new awakeners began to move.

Whip—

Boom, boom—

Dozens of swords and chains flew in a complicated path. Each one was quite a high level of skill, and skill proficiency was also high.

“Weaving a spider web.”

Su-hyeun already knew this technique, which was developed by several awakeners. As so, it was not difficult to destroy.

Swish—

Slash—

The sword in Su-hyeun’s hand, Gram, cut a part of the chain that was tangled like a spider web. At the same time, the chain that had been tightly intertwined and coming over Su-hyeun loosened. He squeezed through the gap and escaped.

But as soon as he escaped, the big sword came in front of his eyes. Su-hyeun as if he was expected this, stretched Gram to up.

Claang—!

Crack, craack—

When the big sword and Gram stroke each other, the big sword was pushed by the force and rose. It could not bear the strength and sharpness of Gram and started to crack. The arms of the awakener who wielded the sword widely opened up.

“He is still the same. He is just pouncing, trusting his power too much.”

Su-hyeun penetrated to front smoothly. The man with open arms shrugged with amazement, but it was already too late.

Slash—

Su-hyeun’s sword cut the man’s chest. But strangely, there was no blood.

“...?”

The man looked puzzled. Su-hyeun did not answer the puzzled look. Instead, he rose with the Leap skill. No one followed. The awakeners seemed to hesitate for a moment, realizing that their pincer movement was not working.

Whiz—

Su-hyeun, who landed on the roof of one low building, looked around them. One by one, their faces were familiar.

“I was...”

To one side among them, he could see the familiar face blurry.

“I was there too...”

He was Sung-in. It was Sung-in’s face. Of course, it was a past that had gone.

“You...” The man who wielded the sword opened his mouth, looking at Su-hyeun, “Did you know about us?”

Su-hyeun felt bitter at the man’s question. It was obvious why he was asking this question. The pincer movement they used just before was an attack that they had been studied for a long time.

“That is a pincer movement to catch a strong individual or boss,” Su-hyeun thought.

It was a well-organized attack, consisting of awakeners who practiced similar types of chain skills and one with strong attack power. However, Su-hyeun skillfully disregarded such a pincer movement as if he knew it in advance. Not only cutting the core of the chain but also, easily defeating the big sword. The series of actions was natural. It would be impossible if he didn’t know ahead of time. It was only natural that a man would have such a question. Of course, what he worried about was the possibility of leaking the information.

“No, I did not,” Su-hyeun answered.

It did not matter that he knew them. In the first place, Su-hyeun was in the same institution with them. Su-hyeun was the one who knew it better than anyone.

The man stroked a half-cracked sword with one hand and said, “Really? That’s weird. It seemed like you know us well.”

“Do you mean the pincer movement that you guys showed?”

“...Yes.”

“Did you just assume I know you well because I destroyed that simple attack?”

The ten awakeners frowned at Su-hyeun’s words. They put serious effort to collaborate for a long time. But he disparaged their skill as a simple attack.

“You... What you said... Are you sure you won’t regret it?”

“Of course. I won’t,” Su-hyeun opened his mouth.

It was obvious. Su-hyeun already knew who they were, what skills they used, and the weaknesses of the skills.

Above all...

He continued to say, “I will be not an easy opponent to try your unfinished skills yet.”