The Hero Returns

Act 2

The administrator's serious tone caused Su-hyeun to take a moment and contemplate the implication of what was being said here.

Be careful of the Sage Arts?

Not some unknown enemies or unexpected variables within the trial itself?

"I don't understand."

Su-hyeun expressed his honest impression.

Was the advice that told him to be careful of the Sage Arts really the hint for this trial?

A more detailed explanation came out of the administrator's lips next. "It's as I said. That's no ordinary power at all. In all honesty, we can't tell whether the Great Sage who Pacifies Heaven teaching you that power was a good thing or the absolute worst possibility for us yet."

A good thing or the absolute worst?

Those seemed like extremely contradictory judgments.

It was still unknown whether the administrators were on Su-hyeun's side or not, but it seemed that the Sage Arts had been deemed as a dangerous power by them in the meantime.

"In which way is it bad exactly?"

Unsurprisingly, Su-hyeun couldn't figure out the reason.

Never mind the person actually learning the art, Su-hyeun himself, but even the Bull Demon King or Sun Wukong who started way before him had not said anything like what this administrator was saying.

If the Sage Arts were truly dangerous, then they would've warned him way before this administrator said something.

The administrator silently contemplated for a long while as the rain continued to pour down. No, actually, he seemed to be mumbling something inaudibly with his eyes closed.

"Is he talking to someone else?" Su-hyeun thought.

If so, that "someone else" obviously had to be the other administrators.

The 100th floor's administrator chatted to the others for a long while and only opened his mouth when the falling drizzle began thinning out.

"…Sorry, but apparently, I can't tell you the details."

"But…why not?"

"Didn't I say it? Those guys are such worrywarts, you know? Seriously, one should know the truth regardless of how the outcome might turn out to be."

Judging from all the grumbling pouring out of his mouth, the administrator seemed rather pissed off right now. There must have been a big disagreement between the fellow administrators on how to handle this matter.

"In any case, that's as far as I can tell you about the Sage Arts. Just be careful with that power. This isn't a hint meant for the 100th floor but for your future," the administrator said before shaking his head belatedly and revising his statement. "No, wait a second. Maybe it can also be the hint for the 100th floor."

"Pardon?"

"Don't worry about it. I was talking to myself. Okay, this is your hint for the floor." The administrator waved his hand dismissively and then spoke with a grave tone, "Greed is a monster that doesn't know when to stop."

"A monster that doesn't know when to stop…"

"It's puzzling, right? Kind of like sophistry in a way. Even I think that. Why can't we just tell you straight away and stop beating around the bush like this?"

The administrator spoke what was in Su-hyeun's mind without holding back at all.

Su-hyeun smiled faintly at that and nodded his head. A hint was supposed to be just that, a hint, but as expected, the one given this time was also hard to figure out.

"A monster, is it?" he thought.

However, for some reason, this hint touched something in him.

Greed.

Everyone in this world probably possessed it.

Only when you rid yourself of all greed or no longer lust over anything else would you be able to step into the realm that the Bull Demon King had reached.

"Oh, and also, I'm saying this since your current case is different from the…answer to your question from earlier." After giving out the hint, the administrator added something else. "The trial you're about to undergo will be different from the one you've experienced so far."

"How so?"

"First of all, it's not real."

That answer caused yet another puzzled expression to surface on Su-hyeun's face. "Is it like an illusion, then?"

"No, this one's on another dimension compared to something so shoddy like that. As an example…You still remember the 43rd floor's trial, don't you?"

"I do."

"I'm guessing you also remember how the people you met during that had been created."

Su-hyeun nodded at that question.

How could he not remember? That was when he first learned about the existence of the administrators. Back then, it felt like the dense and blurry fog had been pulled back just a little.

"Did they feel like an illusion to you?"

"They were…certainly not like that."

The heroes Su-hyeun encountered on the 43rd floor's world were definitely not illusions. Every single one of them possessed their individual egos, real physical bodies, and their former strengths.

"They did exist, but their memories, their data, weren't from the present. They came from the past," he silently recalled.

According to the administrator of the 43rd floor, the "past versions" of the individual heroes had been "brought" there intact. Meaning, one could think of them as "living" data.

"It's the same here. Not fakes but not exactly real either."

Neither fake nor real.

That sounded about right.

Also, this type of backdrop would be the hardest one for Su-hyeun to experience.

Concerning the "human" beings that possessed the silhouettes of their past, Su-hyeun would have trouble trying to decide whether they were real and actual living beings or nothing but vestiges of the already-dead past.

"Even so, you better not take this thing lightly. You've experienced it before, so you should know it full well, don't you?"

"Yes, I do know."

"You see? It's fine in that case. Let's stop here, shall we? We've chatted long enough, after all. You've been warned about that thing, I believe?"

"You mean, the one about not being able to come outside in the middle of the trial?"

"Yeah, that. You knew, then. In that case, you should be on your way now."

The administrator waved his hand as if to say, "Hurry up!"

The deluge that seemed to have come from a hole up in the sky had almost stopped by then. Su-hyeun bowed a little at the administrator and headed toward the portal resting in the center of the plaza.

[Will you commence the 100th floor's trial?]

The message floated up.

His answer was simple.

The difficulty was set at the 10th level.

His choice hadn't changed.

Shu-wuwu—

The scenery before Su-hyeun's eyes began changing. Everything, even including the temperature of the winds and the overall atmosphere he could feel on his skin, changed gradually.

Soon, his eyes caught the sight of a dense forest with thick verdant trees and a large city in the far-off distance.

Chirp, chirp—

The skies above were clear. The chirping of the birds sounded pleasant and refreshing enough to make one feel like taking a nap.

[The 100th floor's trial will now commence.]

[Save points do not exist in this trial.]

[You cannot return until you have achieved your goal.]

[Prevent the birth of the "predator."]

Messages continued to float up.

Save points didn't exist. As for the part that said that he could not return until he had achieved his goal, Su-hyeun had already heard about that from the 60th floor's administrator.

He wasn't surprised by these announcements. But now that he had seen them, he couldn't help but start worrying inwardly.

Even though he didn't want to be hasty, he still thought about achieving his goal as soon as possible. But when he saw this trial's goal, his brows ended up furrowing deeply.

"What does it mean by 'predator'?"

The explanations of the trials themselves would become more unfriendly the higher one climbed the floors and the higher the trial's difficulty was set at.

And from a certain point on, there would be several occasions where the trial didn't even bother to tell you about the end goal.

Thankfully, he was at least informed of the goal this time.

Unfortunately, the details of who or what this predator whose birth he needed to prevent had been omitted entirely from the explanations.

"I'll probably learn about it one way or another, but…"

Su-hyeun took a bit of time to organize his thoughts and then began walking toward that large city in the distance.

"It's far plainer than I thought."

The 100th floor—the floor referred to as the mother of all hurdles. Even if its difficulty was set the same as other floors, the trial on the 100th floor was renowned for being especially difficult.

As such, Su-hyeun had resolved himself before coming here.

He thought that the moment the trial got underway, he would be set upon by a massive monster or some such. That was why he was deeply tense as he entered this place, yet he was greeted by the level of peace too good to be true for the backdrop he was given.

Su-hyeun took in the surrounding sights as he continued to move down the road.

Paht, paaaht—

Until he got closer to the city, Su-hyeun chose to dash forward at a high pace, but when he got close enough, he discovered something odd almost immediately.

"There are no gatekeepers?"

It didn't matter which world's city it was, gatekeepers always existed.

Spies from a rival nation might try to infiltrate, and not to forget, dangerous individuals with no clear identities could slip inside the city as well.

To compare it to Su-hyeun's homeworld, having gatekeepers would be similar to getting his passport checked at the airports.

"Something feels a little strange…"

Su-hyeun stared at the wide-open gates to the city itself.

"Can I just waltz straight in?"

He hesitated for a moment or two before starting to walk again.

Even if he deliberated on it, the conclusion he would arrive at should be the same anyway. Besides, this large city was the only thing in the near vicinity.

Without entering the city, he would not find any clues to solving this trial.

"Welcome, welcome! Today's vegetables are on a discount!"

"Wonderful new medicines from up north have come in! Why don't you stop by and take a look?"

"We'll sharpen any dulled blades! Free only for today!"

The interior of the city was bustling with activities.

There were plenty of people, and as a result, the atmosphere was lively. The attires of the passersby were diverse in style and color palette.

Su-hyeun quietly studied the faces of the people.

For sure, they were truly ordinary citizens.

"It's just a city with people living in it," he thought.

The architectural style of the buildings resembled the shabby wooden structures from the European middle ages. But the castle visible in the distance looked quite majestic.

"An ordinary-looking world where there doesn't seem to be any special dangers. And I'm supposed to find this predator in this place somehow?"

Su-hyeun could only sigh.

The first thought that popped up in his head was that perhaps, unsurprisingly, this trial was not going to be simple at all.

A trial that seemed ordinary at a glance could be one of two things.

Either it was exceedingly easy or extremely difficult.

This was the trial of the 100th floor, so obviously, the odds of it being the latter case were exceedingly high.

"Over here, young man! I can see that you're a wandering swordsman, so why don't you stop by at my place? Didn't I say that I'll sharpen your sword for free today?"

It was then that a blacksmith discovered Su-hyeun's attire and waved his hand at him.

Su-hyeun pondered for a bit before going along with the blacksmith to enter the workshop. Whatever the case might have been, he needed to come in contact with someone if he wanted to get information on this world.

"I don't have any hard cash, but do you accept gold?"

"Gold, is it? That's also good."

Su-hyeun's question was met with a bright expression from the middle-aged blacksmith.

Gold could be used as a currency replacement in most of the worlds he visited. That's why Su-hyeun always prepared and carried some amount of gold coins to use within the trials.

By doing this, he could save on the time wasted on earning money and familiarizing himself with the world he was in.

"What do you need, young man?"

"I'm looking for—"

Clack, clack—

The sounds of hooves hitting the ground suddenly resounded among the crowd.

Su-hyeun abruptly stopped chatting with the blacksmith and turned his head in the direction of the noises. The sounds of the hooves grew closer quite quickly.

"Ah, it's the knights."

"Knights, you say?"

"Right. Looks like they are on patrol today as well," the blacksmith said as he raised his hand and performed a salute. He glanced at Su-hyeun and said, "What are you doing? You should also be saluting, you know?"

"Ah, of course."

Su-hyeun noticed that not only the blacksmith but everyone else had also assumed the saluting posture and quickly did the same as well.

"Looks like they highly respect these knights," he thought.

Su-hyeun studied the faces in the crowds.

Normally, it would be hard to find any amount of respect toward low-ranking nobility in a class-based society. Even if people saluted, they would merely be going through the motions, with their expressions remaining flat and unmoved.

However, the majority of people he could see held genuine respect toward the incoming knights.

While Su-hyeun was feeling inwardly mystified by this rather rare spectacle…

Clack—

The sounds of the hooves grew even closer.

And right at that moment, Su-hyeun's eyes opened wider.

"Isn't that…?"

He felt a unique aura coming from the knights riding on horseback.

It was an aura Su-hyeun knew rather intimately.

"The Sage Arts?"