The Hero Returns

Act 2

Vuuu-wuuung—

Ka-boom—!

The Lich King's figure flew back after getting struck by Su-hyeun's fist and crashed into the ground below.

At the same time, the Balrog thrashing about in distress from the spear and sword that were stuck in both its eyes suddenly vanished. Su-hyeun easily caught his falling weapons.

Ta-dak—

Boom—

Su-hyeun landed back on the ground. More specifically, near where the Lich King had crash-landed.

Crunch, boom—!

Ki-aaaah—!

Ku-gugugung—

The undead armies summoned by Su-hyeun and the Lich King were still engaged in a bitter battle even then.

The defeat of the Lich King should have directly led to the dissolution of the latter's army. They were souls of the dead that entered summoned bodies through the Lich King's power, after all.

It meant that the Lich King wasn't dead.

"Figures. What with how tough your bones were."

Su-hyeun was planning to shatter the Lich's skull in one punch, but the result didn't quite turn out the way he expected it to.

Then again, this creature was hardy enough to withstand Gordon Rohan's "Divine Punishment" skill, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that its bony body couldn't be that easy to destroy.

Step—

Kwa-ga-gak—!

Just as Su-hyeun took a step forward, two spear shafts suddenly protruded from beneath his feet.

He peered deeply at where the Lich King had crashed into. A thick dust cloud was still rising from there.

"I understand it now." Before his silhouette could be spotted, the Lich King's voice resounded first. "All the magic enveloping you, as well as the armor you're wearing, they are meant to enhance your magic immunity."

Shu-wuwu—

The Lich King's figure floated up to the surface once more. The dust cloud settled, and the creature fully revealed itself.

Its skull, already half shattered from the battle against Gordon Rohan, was already almost completely destroyed. The only reason why it barely hung on was due to the reinforcement-type magic currently enveloping the undead creature.

"To deal with a bastard like you, the solution is to go with magic that exerts an actual physical force," said the Lich King before he bent down and pressed his hands on the ground. At the same time, ginormous magical energy permeated into the earth below.

Gu-gugugugu—

Chwa-rararararak—!

Thousands of black spikes protruded from the ground where Su-hyeun stood.

Each of the deadly sharp spikes was created by magic to possess actual physicality. It would be quite hard to defend against this sort of magic with only simple magic resistance.

The Lich King had figured out what Su-hyeun's weakness was from just a single exchange of blows.

However…

"Solution, my foot."

Vuu-wuung—

Su-hyeun, who was dodging every which way, suddenly punched toward one of the spikes.

Kwa-boom—!

The sharp edges of the spike were instantly crushed.

"So what about these things, then?"

Boom, ka-boom—!

Crunch—

Su-hyeun grabbed a spike and crushed it.

The spike was far bigger and thicker than a person's hand. Crushing it with bare hands would have required far greater strength than simply breaking it.

Thud—

Chwa-rurururuk—

The Lich King pounded the ground once more.

At the same time, black spikes and spears flew toward Su-hyeun. All of them were magic attacks that possessed physical properties.

Swish, crunch- bang—!

Slice—

But he dodged, broke, or sliced them apart so easily.

Seeing that, the Lich King decided to change his tactic.

Chwa-aaaah—

A dense, thick fog was cast across the air.

It might have looked like a regular fog, but in reality, this magic was far closer to minute sand particles thrown into the air. They were the kind of particles that would invade your body merely by breathing them in a little.

Originally, it had been a poison that would spread around, but that didn't work on Su-hyeun. Even if he did inhale the poison, he would have nullified it pretty quickly.

And that was exactly why these sand particles were a better choice.

Fuu-heup—

When Su-hyeun took a short breath to control his breathing…

Creak, creak—

The Lich King focused his strength on his hand and clenched a fist. And with that, Su-hyeun's movement came to an abrupt halt.

"I caught you."

Simple restraining magic wouldn't have been enough. Any magical restraint wouldn't have worked in the first place, while even the physical ones would have come undone from the explosion of strength.

That's why the Lich King made it so that Su-hyeun would inhale small particles containing magnetic force, and the moment they activated, the latter would lose all of his mobility in turn.

"And now…" the Lich King thought.

Wuduk, wu-du-duk—

The Lich King injected more of his powers into those particles.

The minute particles shot into Su-hyeun's internal organs and tore through them. The Lich King was planning to tear apart every single organ in Su-hyeun's body including his heart.

But then…

"Man, that freaking hurts."

Thud—

Su-hyeun's foot stepped forward.

Such a thing shouldn't happen. The Lich King was left deeply stunned and hurriedly injected even greater power into the sand-like particles that spread inside Su-hyeun's body.

Creak, creaaak—

It was as if he planned to crush and blow apart Su-hyeun's body in one go. However, the latter continued to move regardless.

Thud—

He stepped with so much force that for a brief moment the vibration on the ground was transmitted to the Lich King.

One step, two steps…

Su-hyeun continued to walk closer and closer.

"Why don't you keep it up?" he spoke up.

Step, step—

His steps were gradually getting faster as if he had gotten used to the Lich King's attack to some degree.

The Lich King continued to inject more magical energy, but soon, he sensed the approaching danger. He felt that the moment he undoes this magic, Su-hyeun's figure would arrive before his nose in an instant.

"What should I do?" he thought.

The Lich King's mind became a mess of confused thoughts. His mind conjured up countless memories of magic spells that he knew.

Which spell should he go for right after undoing the current one? What should he do in order to defeat the enemy before his eyes and survive for another day?

If this was any other opponent, it wouldn't have mattered regardless of which magic he used. However, the Lich King had almost never encountered an opponent that could threaten his existence until now.

And so, time passed by in this manner, and…

Thud—

The third step.

Su-hyeun's face was now almost within the touching distance of the Lich King.

"One more step from me, and…" he murmured.

Squeeze—

He gripped his sword even tighter.

"You'll die for real."

Shiver—

The moment he finished saying that…

Rumble—!

The Lich King stopped using his current magic spell and activated another one.

A massive wall shot up from the ground and cut off the path between him and Su-hyeun. The Lich King had chosen to secure his safety first and created some distance between them over everything else.

Unfortunately…

[The trait "Hero-Immortality" has been activated.]

[Conditions have not been satisfied.]

[Vitality and stamina will not recover.]

[Physical abilities will rise greatly.]

Piii-iiit—

It was already one step too late by then.

Su-hyeun was already past the wall, and his sword had cleanly cut through the Lich King's waistline.

Pow—!

Almost at the same time, the latter's body was sliced into two halves.

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"What the freaking hell is this madness?"

"Monsters are fighting each other, aren't they?"

"Maybe they are not monsters but divine beasts? Like, you know, summoned creatures and stuff?"

"Was there an awakener who commanded such summons? I've never heard of it. What about you?"

"Me neither."

Awakeners watching the battle from afar were all making bewildered expressions.

They arrived at the location where the monsters had shown up after receiving the news of an indigo-colored dungeon becoming an outbreak, but the sight that greeted them was a massive battle that was taking place between various monsters.

Kii-aaaah—!

Among them, a gigantic snake that was so large that its head actually broke through the cloud cover left an overwhelming impression on the spectators.

Crunch, crunch—

The Ouroboros snatched up a Bone Dragon that was firing a black-colored Breath at it by the waist and began chewing at it noisily.

It was a similar story for the other monsters as well.

The Hydra and its nine heads were spewing poison from each of its maws and melted town countless skeletons, while Cerberus swept across everywhere and crushed the skeletons with its feet.

The splendor and majesty of the monsters currently battling against the undead army of tens of thousands were truly spectacular to behold. However, that was to be expected since every single one of these creatures was around the level of bosses found inside high-ranking dungeons.

"Just who is on our side, though?"

"Dunno."

"I heard that only skeletons showed up in other areas, but uh, those monsters look much more threatening to me, you know."

"Dammit. At this rate, carelessly butting in will only mean we'll be interfering…"

"Hey man, hold on for a sec."

A few in the spectating crowd finally realized that something was weird there.

"Don't you think that…something is weird?"

The undead army battling against the boss-level monsters suddenly began staggering around. One by one, the skeletons lost their strength and began collapsing to the ground; even the Bone Dragons that were flying in the air couldn't flap their wings anymore and fell back to Earth.

Thud, boom—!

The huge bodies of the Bone Dragons crashed into the ground, and at the same time, the undead army came crumbling down, reverting to countless piles of bones.

Kiii-aaaah—!

The Ouroboros that was standing tall amid all the chaos loudly screeched out.

It was just a single moment, but it was the moment that ended the intense battle against the undead army.

<hr />

The Lich King's waist was cleanly cut through, and the undead's upper torso powerlessly fell to the ground. His robe came off, and black-colored magical energy began leaking out nonstop from his bony body.

Su-hyeun took a look around him. The undead army was quickly crumbling down.

"I was holding back for nothing," he thought.

He furrowed his brows at this bitter feeling taking root in his head.

He activated "Indomitable Body" to strengthen his body, and after his stamina stat got a rapid boost, he was finally able to resist the Lich King's magic.

However, Su-hyeun still had been saving up another skill as his very last recourse.

"If I knew this would happen, I should've used it earlier," he further surmised.

The "Immortality" trait was the highest skill Su-hyeun currently possessed.

Once his fatigue percentage reached a certain point, this skill would activate automatically. Not only did it recover his stamina and fatigue level in an instant, but this skill also boasted a cheat-like effect of greatly enhancing all of his physical abilities.

Su-hyeun patiently waited for the exact moment when the Lich King's magical energy would become unfocused. It was inevitable that, in order to switch from the currently active magic to a different one, a momentary opening would always occur.

And so, when the Lich King's magical power became unfocused, Su-hyeun immediately activated the skill. The Lich King couldn't respond in that blink of an opening and got his waist sliced in half.

"Hahaha!"

Laughter escaped from the Lich King's mouth.

Unless his Life Vessel was destroyed, he would continue to live on. This would be the biggest difference between a living human and an undead.

Of course, that didn't mean the Lich King was alright. Having his body sliced in half signified that he could no longer move his body through normal means, after all.

As a magician, there was nothing much he could do anymore when the magical energy contained within his body continued to leak out like that.

"Why haven't you finished me off?"

"You're going to die soon, so why are you laughing?"

"I'm already a dead being. Of course, I'm not afraid of dying a second time."

He certainly thought differently from other Lichs.

Other Lichs chose to become an undead because they feared death, but he was different from them. He was the beginning of all Lichs and was even referred to as the god of all Lichs. He had evolved into one all on his own.

"Besides, experiencing death twice means that there's nothing that can stop me from reviving for the second time."

"Nope, you won't revive. A miracle can only happen once."

"You sound like you know something."

"Of course."

The Lich King couldn't revive again. Su-hyeun knew this fact so well because he also killed the undead before his reincarnation.

A miracle could only happen once. When it happened for the second time, it could no longer be classified as a miracle.

"What is your reason for keeping me alive? You surely can end me right away, can't you? You must also know where my Life Vessel is."

Even as he said it, the Lich King certainly knew why Su-hyeun didn't kill him yet.

It wasn't that hard to figure out when they were chatting face to face like this. As a matter of fact, Su-hyeun even lowered his sword.

"You…" Su-hyeun trailed off as he was about to address the question of why he kept the particular undead alive. "You know about me."

"About you?"

"You said it earlier, didn't you? That the power I possess actually belonged to your sibling. Which means…"

"Of course, I know." The Lich King replied before continuing with a voice that held a lot of amusement. "I see that you're curious—curious about how I managed to cross over to this world."