The Hero Returns

* * *

The first match of the tournament's finals was between Kim Su-hyeun and Daian Gedeck.

The two men stepped up to the arena. Su-hyeun observed his opponent who was making his way to the other side of the expansive battleground.

The Necromancer.

The German's pale face was expressionless. It would be normal to be a little tense, but not a single emotion could be read on his stony face.

Tick, tock—

A clock suddenly appeared between the two men, and its hands ticked by slowly. The match would start in three minutes.

Daian Gedeck opened his eyes at that point, and in at that moment, Su-hyeun definitely confirmed "it."

"It's the Death Aura," Su-hyeun thought.

He knew this to be true because what he sensed from Daian Gedeck was the same as his own aura.

The Death Aura possessed a different type of nature compared to magical energy. If the latter was seen as a power source of the living, then the former was a type of energy related to the dead.

This power was absolutely necessary to command the walking dead—the undead. Su-hyeun suspected it the moment he heard the German's moniker, the Necromancer, and his suspicion had been proven correct.

"You're like me, it seems," said Daian Gedeck.

Wrinkles could be seen on his pale white face. No matter how pale his skin was, it was not possible to hide his age.

"What did you do?" he asked.

"Not sure I understand the meaning of your question."

"I'm asking what you were doing before you entered the other side. Were you a shaman? Maybe an exorcist? If not, then…"

"I was a student."

"A student?"

Su-hyeun's reply caused a slight rise in Daian Gedeck's brows. This would be the first expression the German had made so far, and it also allowed Su-hyeun to guess what the older man's previous job was.

"It seems that you were very interested in ghosts."

"…"

"A man who chases after ghosts…Is that called an exorcist? Were you involved in that side of things?"

"Something like that."

"You went beyond chasing ghosts, and now, your profession allows you to lord over them, instead…"

"Thanks to that, I was able to become the world's greatest exorcist." While Daian Gedeck was saying this, the glare in his eyes changed. "That's what I used to think."

After hearing that, Su-hyeun chose not to reply but simply waited until the time was up.

He didn't have to wait long.

"The match will now commence."

Almost at the same time that the mechanical voice resounded, Death Aura began to ooze out from Daian Gedeck's body. "Rise up."

Crunch, shatter—

Gu-gugugu—

Black bones began rising up from various spots in the huge arena. All sorts of skeletons and monster corpses numbering tens, hundreds, even well past thousands began revealing themselves.

Su-hyeun watched this happen and smiled faintly. This sight kind of felt familiar to him.

Compared to what Mister Herrels could do, this was nothing much.

Still, the number of undead was more than he initially expected.

Summoning Ouroboros here would be a bit over the top, so…

If he did call out his Ouroboros, the entire arena would be utterly destroyed.

"Not like I need that guy, anyway," he thought.

The number of creatures Daian Gedeck summoned was quite considerable. The undead army was big enough to completely fill up the huge arena. There had to be at least a few thousand of them.

However, Su-hyeun still didn't feel that they were threatening to him.

Other than their number, the summoned undead weren't all that strong. Except for a handful of the undead, the majority were monsters from measly orange-colored dungeons.

Not only that…

"Should I try that out?" Su-hyeun wondered.

Just like between Herrels and the Lichs, Su-hyeun and the undead were in direct conflict with each other.

[The trait "Necromancer" has been activated.]

[By spending "Death Aura" you can see or command the dead.]

* * *

The Necromancer Daian Gedeck's ability could command countless numbers of the undead at will.

He possessed enough skills as an awakener to raid a green-colored dungeon by himself, which there weren't all that many of in the world to begin with. Moreover, the addition of a single S-Rank awakener would enable just the two of them to raid a blue-colored dungeon.

Quite obviously, Daian Gedeck was deeply confident of his own skillset.

He was also confident that not many people existing in this world would be able to break through the army he controlled to defeat him.

But…

How bizarre.

He was sensing an inexplicable feeling of absurdity as he faced off against Su-hyeun.

"But why?" he asked himself.

The German could sense the same type of aura coming from Su-hyeun.

It was the Death Aura, an aura of the dead. This was a power that regular awakeners could not possess. That was why Daian Gedeck felt a little happy to see Su-hyeun wielding the same powers as him.

But once the match went underway, he could no longer sense the same type of feeling coming off of the South Korean.

"He's not the same as me, but rather…"

Drip—

A thick droplet of sweat trickled down Daian Gedeck's pale face. He had belatedly realized that he felt as though his entire body was covered in a cold sweat.

"Am I actually scared?" he thought.

This was an instinctive fear that his brain hadn't fully registered yet.

Through this, Daian Gedeck became sure of it. Other than their auras being the same, Su-hyeun's ability was on another realm altogether compared to his.

- I'm scared…

- We need to run!

- No, we need to obey.

- No, we…

The summons he was in control of had fallen into confusion. They were scared of Su-hyeun, but they also wanted to worship him. Daian Gedeck could feel his entire ability quaking in fear.

Just what ability did that man possess?

Step, step—

Su-hyeun finally started walking.

In other people's eyes, his steps would come across as ordinary. He must have looked relaxed and unconcerned as he walked. However, the truth couldn't have been more different from Daian Gedeck's perspective.

It didn't take long for the audience watching the match to realize that something was wrong here.

"What's this?"

"Why aren't they moving?"

"Look, Gedeck's undead, they…"

The audience soon grew restless.

Before long, Su-hyeun was walking among the undead Daian Gedeck had summoned. He was so close to them that if they turned their bodies or wielded the swords and spears in their hands, they would have touched him.

Even then, the undead did not display any reactions. Some of them even stepped out of the way to create a path for him.

"Just what is he thinking?"

"Is a Necromancer thinking of fighting head-on against a swordsman?"

"From Kim Su-hyeun's perspective, this must be pretty insulting to him. No, wait. Maybe he finds this whole thing laughable instead?"

Unsurprisingly, the audience didn't think Su-hyeun was responsible for the current spectacle. The one who summoned the undead and controlled them was undoubtedly Daian Gedeck. As such, everyone watching thought that this event was what he wanted to create in the first place.

The truth was…

His control had been taken over.

His power to control over the undead army had grown weaker. Even before he had noticed it, the connection between him and the army had been severed.

The fault lay with the activation of power much higher in level than his. He wasn't even curious about who the culprit could be. Well, there already was an existence wielding a far greater level of power than him standing right before his eyes, after all.

Step, step—

Su-hyeun walked in slow but steady steps without pause. Meanwhile, Daian Gedeck simply stood there as he continued to sweat.

"If that man willed it, then…" he thought to himself as he watched Su-hyeun move even closer to him.

The undead army would attack him instead.

Gulp—

For the first time ever, Daian Gedeck felt scared of his own summoned undead army. They were supposed to be allies that always protected him, but at least at this moment, they were not.

Their swords and spears now belonged to Su-hyeun.

"Do you wish to go on?" Su-hyeun asked after completely closing the distance between them. He was so close that a sword swing would easily reach the German.

"Hah!"

Plop—

Daian Gedeck let out a dejected chuckle and fell on his backside. His strength seemed to have abandoned his entire body.

In his trembling voice, he said, "I surrender."

"…"

Those two words brought a sudden bout of silence in the arena.

Right afterward…

"Winner, Kim Su-hyeun!"

The mechanical voice completely filled up the whole arena.

The finals of the Ranking Wars, the first round of 32—the winner of the first match was Kim Su-hyeun.

It was a victory in which not a single sword strike took place.

* * *

The first match was over, and the second one commenced right away.

Daian Gedeck exited from the arena in unsteady steps. He still hadn't recovered from the shock.

"I always thought that the rumors were exaggerated, but…" he thought.

He had heard various stories about Su-hyeun. He was a young genius, and after being an awakener for only a few years, he defeated Gordon Rohan and rose up to become the world's strongest.

Daian Gedeck really had thought the stories had been greatly embellished. Su-hyeun might have been a really amazing talent, but as the world was thirsting for a hero right then, the German thought that extra meat and spices had been added to enhance the flavor of the rumors.

However, his first-hand encounter with him made him realize that there was no exaggeration in the rumors at all. No, they were lacking instead.

"You should know what embarrassment is."

Daian Gedeck turned his head toward the direction of that voice as he stepped outside the arena. A familiar face was waiting for him by the exit. It was a face often seen on TV screens.

"Adel Castle. I've heard a lot about you."

"If we're talking names, then I've heard about you, too. Daian Gedeck, the great Necromancer. But now that I've seen you… You were just a coward, I guess?"

A mocking sneer surfaced on Adel's face.

This was clearly a provocation.

Daian Gedeck easily read the rage burning within Adel's eyes. "Although this isn't something I should say in the first meeting like this, let me give you a piece of advice anyway."

"Advice, you say?"

"Don't ever forget that what you see isn't everything. That was the same story for me. Also…"

Daian Gedeck stopped his sentence there and peered deeply into Adel Castle's eyes.

That burning rage reflected in Adel Castle's eyes was not directed at him. Daian Gedeck wasn't deaf to the rumors floating around, so he knew very well who that rage was reserved for.

"You should stop considering a man you can't even deal with an enemy. Forget about your anger. It'll be smarter for you to live a quiet little life instead."

"…Are you really saying that to me?"

"I pray that you go back to your old, gentlemanly demeanor. Although, I'm not certain if that was your true self back then."

Daian Gedeck was finished with what he wanted to say and brushed past Adel Castle.

Adel simply sneered while looking at the German as he walked away without responding to the provocation. To his ears, Daian Gedeck's advice only sounded like a coward's excuse.

"Who gives a sh*t?"

Adel then began walking away himself. His match was next, after all.

Act 9

While the tournament was progressing smoothly, Su-hyeun suddenly got up from his seat. The first rounds of the matches had come to an end. Round 16 was scheduled to take place that evening, so he had some time left to kill.

Just as Su-hyeun was exiting from the arena, Lee Ju-ho approached him and asked, "Where are you headed?" It seemed that the latter had been waiting to meet up with him.

Su-hyeun figured that this was actually for the better and replied, "I was planning to take a look around, you see."

"Around here? Why? I thought you were not interested in sightseeing?"

Su-hyeun had arrived in the U.S. not too long ago. But even if that was true, he was not really the type to behave like a tourist, nor did he know anyone on this side of the world.

"There's something I wanted to confirm."

"Which is?"

"Dungeons have been raided ahead of time, around one month before the Ranking Wars started, am I right?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right. If not, a dungeon that's impossible to raid might go on to become an outbreak while the Ranking Wars are underway. As you already know, anything above the green-colored ones becoming an outbreak can result in a big, messy aftermath."

"Right?" Su-hyeun replied with a somewhat doubtful expression. "But still… just in case, I'd like to make sure."