The Hero Returns

* * *

Gwangju, South Jeolla Province.

At the Mudeung Mountain, famed for its beautiful snow-covered winter scenery.

Normally, the footpaths should have been teeming with hikers by now, but they were currently all blocked off by military personnel. As a result, there was no foot traffic, and snow continued to pile on without anyone disturbing it.

"It's this way."

Scrunch—

New footsteps were engraved on the surface of the pure-white snow.

Three people have arrived—two soldiers and one man in the middle.

Su-hyeun was currently being guided by the soldiers toward the indigo-colored dungeon located somewhere near the top of the Mudeung Mountain.

"Where are Hak-joon and Thomas?" he asked the soldiers.

"They defeated all the monsters except the bosses, and after they heard that you've returned, Mister Hak-joon directly headed to the tower, while Mister Thomas should be in the Jongno tower."

Both soldiers, colonels no less, were awakeners themselves. They were fairly skilled awakeners, and as a result, their ranks rose up rather quickly despite their young ages.

"Here are some videos shot by the filming crew that accompanied them inside the dungeon. Not only do the bosses boast incredible defenses, but their sizes are also as massive as mountains, so if they manage to come outside, we predict they'll cause a huge disaster."

The soldier showed the videos to Su-hyeun as he said that, but the latter had already seen some images from Lee Ju-ho, so he wasn't all that interested in seeing them again.

He asked something else instead. "What about the scale of the dungeon itself?"

"It's not that large, actually. No, hang on, it is large, but…Even then, you should be able to discover the location of the bosses as soon as you step inside."

"That's great, then."

If he could immediately see the monsters upon entering the dungeon, then that would indicate that the dungeon itself wasn't dozens of kilometers wide in its overall scale. Besides, locating a Titan Turtle should not be that difficult considering its massive size.

"Please inform the association that I won't take long."

"We also think that will be the case."

They continued to walk up the footpath and eventually spotted the indigo color dominating one of the peaks.

The dungeon itself was located pretty far away from the usual mountain trails. No visible paths led to it, but Su-hyeun ignored that and simply jumped up high toward his destination.

Swiiiiish—

He closed in on the peak and eventually disappeared inside the dungeon's entrance. For a moment there, the indigo color completely dyed everything before his eyes.

And by the time his feet landed on solid ground, he was already inside the dungeon.

Boom—, Thud—

Gu-wahhhh—

Loud thudding footsteps and roars came from far away. There they were, two massive turtles visible right at the edge of the wide-open horizon.

The Titan Turtles.

"Been a while seen I've seen one of those."

This should be their first appearance in the world. Although he had no memory of two appearing at the same time, Su-hyeun wasn't too perturbed by this event.

The "future" had been distorted aplenty by now, anyway, and he realized that there was no point in thinking or worrying too deeply about it.

"Hey, Miru."

Riiip—

At Su-hyeun's summon, Miru peeked out its head before fully emerging. The dragon's size hadn't grown any noticeably bigger after it mastered the "giantification technique."

Growl, grrrrr—

Miru began growling threateningly the moment it appeared, though. It must've discovered the massive Titan Turtles in the distance, as they were busy sending shockwaves throughout the land.

"Take me over there, please."

Gya-ong—!

"Leave it to me!" Miru's expression said as it presented its back.

Su-hyeun lightly jumped on the dragon's back. Miru unfurled its wings and began rapidly flying toward the Titan Turtles.

Whoooooosh—

Bu-wuuuung—

Miru's movement speed was so much faster than before.

In its transformed and "giantified" state, the dragon would only need around three or four hours to reach the other side of the planet, but even in its smaller state, Miru was still faster than an average plane.

They were able to close the distance between them and the monsters in an instant. The two Titan Turtles must have discovered Su-hyeun and Miru's presence because they stopped rocking the ground and raised their heads to look at the flying duo.

"Two of them, really?" Su-hyeun thought.

He took out a long staff fastened to his back.

Chwa-rarak—

When he lightly shook it, tall feathers suddenly came out from the sides and the staff transformed into a large fan.

It was none other than the Palm Leaf Fan, the weapon once wielded by the Bull Demon King.

Giii-iiing—

A jewel embedded in the middle of the fan reacted to Su-hyeun's magical energy and began emitting a bright light.

"The Palm Leaf Fan is a divine artifact like the Somersault cloud. While the latter is the cloud of the beginning, the fan is crafted with a jewel containing the wind of the beginning engraved in the center."

According to the Bull Demon King's explanation, the Palm Leaf Fan was a divine artifact capable of summoning powerful winds. Depending on how one utilized those winds, it was eminently possible to even create a storm.

Whoosh—

Su-hyeun injected his magical energy and very lightly waved the fan around.

His actions caused some winds to blow—not some movements of air caused by the fan itself, no, but actual breeze gently blowing in from somewhere behind him.

Whoosh—

He waved the fan once more, this time a little faster and with a little more magical energy.

The winds got stiffer. They were now strong enough to blow away an average-sized adult male.

"So, this is what it feels like."

After waving it around twice, Su-hyeun could more or less figure out how to wield this fan.

Squeeze—

Su-hyeun's hand that was holding the Palm Leaf Fan gripped it even harder. The two Titan Turtles were looking up at him and Miru flying in the sky and continued to roar noisily.

"One, two…"

Su-hyeun pulled the fan far back and began counting down in his mind just like when he would throw his spears.

A short moment later.

"Three."

Fwhoooosh—!

He powerfully swung the Palm Leaf Fan right at the two Titan Turtles below.

Swhoooooooosh—!

Powerful winds coalesced together in one spot. Then, the winds transformed into a massive typhoon capable of sweeping across an area as large as dozens of kilometers wide and eventually became a massive flow that crashed into the Titan Turtles.

The spectacle produced by this process was truly something else to behold.

Fwhoooosh—

Kiii-aaaah—!

Both of the Titan Turtles floated up into the sky.

The winds transformed into sharp blades and began shaving and clawing away at the monsters' shell, and then, the creatures' massive bodies floating up in the air flipped around before crashing back to earth.

BOOM, BANG—!

Kura-raaaaah—!

The Titan Turtles screeched.

Although sturdy shell protected most of their bodies, some of their body parts were left uncovered. Wounds opened up in various uncovered parts of the turtles and thick blood trickled down from them like streams.

Their back shells weren't sliced open, however. No matter how sharp or fierce the winds were, they were not powerful enough to overcome the Titan Turtle's defenses.

"It's not concentrated enough."

There was no such thing as "limit" to the types of winds that the Palm Leaf Fan could rouse up. The only reason why the winds this time reached this level was because of Su-hyeun's unfamiliarity with wielding the fan itself. However, he wasn't all that interested in the amount of power exhibited by the concentration of the winds.

"But even then…This is still pretty good."

To flip that around, although he was not yet familiar with it, he still managed to draw out this much power from the jewel containing the winds of the beginning and the large fan that utilized that power.

"I feel bad for saying this about big brother's present, but as expected, a fan-type weapon isn't my thing."

Just one big swing was enough for Su-hyeun to figure out how to best use the Palm Leaf Fan.

"It's been a while, but it's time to go and speak to uncle."

The large Palm Leaf Fan was a simple weapon best used to create powerful gusts of winds like tempests with one large swing.

Unfortunately, such a type of weapon wasn't really suited to Su-hyeun's fighting style. However, if the structure of the jewel could be understood and researched, then the fan could potentially be modified or even be restructured into a new type of weapon altogether.

"It should be possible if it's uncle."

The odds weren't that good, but Su-hyeun believed in Kim Dae-ho. If the Palm Leaf Fan could be changed into something like a sword or even a spear, then the world would get to welcome the birth of a weapon that could exceed Balmung.

Ku-uhhhhhh—!

Kiii-aaahk—!

The two Titan Turtles continued to howl. The monsters suffering from numerous wounds struggled ungainly before finally managing to roll back to their bellies and regain their balance.

Crack, crunch—

Scrunch—

In the meantime, the cracks on the Titan Turtles' back shells began closing up gradually. Not only were the shells' defenses absurdly high, but the shells themselves also boasted an excellent self-repair capability to fix any broken parts.

Shu-rung—

Su-hyeun put the Palm Leaf Fan away and gripped Balmung and the Dragon Slaying Spear in each hand. Now that he has finished confirming the fan's effects, he no longer had any business with the Titan Turtles.

Shu-wuwuwu—

["Sage's Eye" is activating.]

["Gyeol" is activating.]

An azure light swirled within Su-hyeun's eyes. At the same time, he could clearly see "it"—a narrow line between the tiles of each Titan Turtle's shell.

"Since it's so big, I can clearly see it."

Indeed, it was the Gyeol of the monsters visible through the Sage's Eye.

"Wait for me here for a bit."

Gya-ong—

Su-hyeun's words were promptly answered by Miru. At the same time, he leaped off from the dragon's back and descended toward the Titan Turtles below.

Swoooooosh—

Pah-ahahahk—!

Su-hyeun increased his speed toward the Titan Turtles, which were each as big as a small island. Balmung continuously trembled in his hand as he amplified the blade with a massive amount of magical energy.

Buzz, buzz, bzzzzzz—

"One, two…"

Just before he crashed into one of the Titan Turtles, Su-hyeun powerfully threw his spear mid-descent.

[Wave Spear - Explosion Style]

[Wave Sword - Explosion Style]

Kwa-jajajajajajak—!

Craaaaack—

The spear he threw mid-air pierced past the turtle's back shell and penetrated deep inside it. At the same time, Su-hyeun's sword collided with the shell of the slightly larger turtle, causing the narrow fracture created by the Palm Leaf Fan to crack and split its shell apart viciously.

Kiii-aaaah—!

The two Titan Turtles screeched simultaneously.

Kwa-dudududu—

Splaaaat—!

The Dragon Slaying Spear that penetrated past the broken shell proceeded to mercilessly tear apart the innards of the Titan Turtle. As its power was greatly enhanced by the effects of "Explosion Style," the spear instantly transformed the massive turtle monster into a hedgehog full of bloody holes.

As for the other Titan Turtle…

Split—

Along with a destroyed back shell, its body was split in half.

THUD—

Tumble, drooop—

The shattered shell pieces rained down to the ground below, while the lifeless lumps of flesh powerlessly collapsed to the sides. Su-hyeun hurriedly dashed out from underneath of the falling body parts.

"Whoa, I would have gotten squashed flat there."

Because of the monster's massive body, getting trapped under it would have been a big problem. No matter how physically strong Su-hyeun was if he got squashed by the turtle's massive lump of flesh, extracting himself from under it would be no laughing matter.

He took a good look at the defeated Titan Turtles. He was under the impression that killing these two wouldn't be that hard after acquiring the ninth level of magical energy, but this result was well beyond his expectations.

"Sure, since it's so slow and lumbering, I didn't think cutting through its Gyeol would be hard, but this…"

Su-hyeun studied the shattered-to-bits back shell of the Titan Turtle and began pondering.

"I didn't think my attacks would be this powerful when I've only just reached the ninth level of magical energy."

Some extra time was always necessary to acclimatize to a suddenly acquired power. Even if he wielded this power back in his previous life, Su-hyeun thought he would still need some time to get used to wielding it again.

He initially figured that he would need around 10 minutes to kill these two Titan Turtles. Of course, he had not taken into account the Sage Arts or the Gyeol in that estimation.

"I really need to thank my big brothers."

He didn't get to figure it out while contending with opponents on the level of Sun Wukong, the Roc Demon King, or the Jade Emperor, but now, he could definitely feel it after returning to this world.

The Sage Arts, the breathing technique, as well as the Gyeol—they were far greater skills than what Su-hyeun had initially bargained for.