The Hero Returns

Act 3

Jii-iing, jiii-iiing—

Su-hyeun traveled on Hercules's back once more, and after flying for a few minutes, he spotted a familiar color spreading on the skies above.

"Purple…"

A section of the skies was dyed in a purple hue.

Without a doubt, it was caused by a dungeon.

Even the aura he could sense felt the same as well. Su-hyeun decided to go and see alongside Hercules because of the familiar aura, and what waited for him at the destination turned out to be a purple-colored dungeon.

Hercules spoke, "Why are you freezing up like that? I thought you have already resolved yourself to fight?"

"Is that where the Giants show up from?"

"That's right. That is the pathway that connects the world of the Giants to ours."

The pathway—that was a perfect term to describe the dungeons.

Just like what Hercules said, a dungeon was indeed a portal—a pathway—that connected a different world to this one, and Su-hyeun had experienced several worlds inside the trials where dungeons were manifesting.

However, even then, an event like this would be the first time for him.

A purple color? That was the dungeon color with the highest difficulty that Su-hyeun knew of.

And also…

"The dungeon where Fafnir showed up was a purple one, too."

When his thoughts reached that point, Su-hyeun shook his head.

This wasn't the world he lived in. No, this was inside the trial, and the dungeon before his eyes didn't produce a monster on the caliber of Fafnir but the race of the Giants.

Judging from what the administrator had said, Fafnir wouldn't suddenly appear in a trial found on the 102nd floor. If that happened, the rise in the difficulty would have been far too much for just one floor's difference, after all.

"They are about to come out," muttered Hercules as he stared up at the purple-colored sky.

Su-hyeun too sensed a suspicious aura spreading about. This sensation was pretty familiar to him.

"The Sage Arts?" he thought.

It was similar to the aura he first sensed coming from the Bull Demon King and Sun Wukong, the two people that had mastered the Sage Arts.

"No, wait…It's more similar to Bradley's, isn't it?"

The aura called "Dao energy" currently being spread around was far murkier, and all sorts of impure energies were also mixed with it.

Fwhoooosh—

A massive hand suddenly extended from above the purple skies.

Soon after that, gigantic faces and flesh-colored naked bodies began appearing one by one. These creatures' eyes were pure white with no visible irises, and each of them was as big as a small mountain. They belonged to none other than the race of the Giants.

"One, two, three, four…there are 30 of them. Quite a few have shown up, I see."

Hercules took out the large club tied to his back.

And before the Giants descended fully to the ground, he turned around and addressed Su-hyeun, "Now take a close look. Those things are the Giants, the opposers of the gods."

"Opposers of the gods…?"

"It means, even from their birth, these creatures possess opposing nature to the gods. Their starting points might be similar, but the paths that they took were different. These things couldn't become gods as a result. They are such types of monsters." Hercules looked back at Su-hyeun once more. "How about it then? Are you still planning to fight them?"

Without saying anything, Su-hyeun stood there and studied the Giants for a while. Hercules must have taken that as Su-hyeun being afraid, and he simply turned around and got ready to pounce.

"If you wish to fight, then follow me. However, I won't blame you even if you go back without saying anything. It's not surprising that you're scared. Well, it was fun sharing a meal with you."

Ka-boom—!

Hercules leaped up, and the ground beneath him caved in and overturned. Soon after, he was high up in the air, and his club began crushing the heads of the Giants.

Su-hyeun continued to study the Giants that were extending their hands toward Hercules.

These creatures hadn't mastered any unique discipline like the Sage Arts or anything like that.

"Creatures that are born with godlike qualifications from their birth, eh? No, wait…"

The way these creatures looked was quite different from the godhood the Bull Demon King had brought up in the past.

It was more like…

"The opposite of godhood—the predator. These creatures resemble that."

These creatures were natural monsters—a species that neither could be classified as a man, god, nor even a predator."

"Thirty days, hmm…"

Su-hyeun quietly observed Hercules as he fought them off for a little while.

Out of everyone that Su-hyeun had run into, the demigod's physical prowess, which was on display as he swung the club to crush the Giants' heads and suppress the monsters far larger than him, was second only to the Bull Demon King.

"Something will happen during that time period, in other words."

Hercules had been battling these Giants all by himself for over 10 years by now, so Su-hyeun didn't believe such a man would suddenly find himself in danger unless something unexpected happened.

"It's not surprising to get scared, huh?"

Su-hyeun, moving and observing Hercules's battle from afar, finally reached down to his sword.

"Well, I wonder about that."

**

Splat—!

A Giant's arm broke and hung limply. Hercules swung his large club then while kicking away the Giant's arm and leaped up high once more.

Whooooosh—!

A punch from a Giant was descending to hit Hercules's head, but right at that moment, Hercules also threw a punch in the direction of the huge fist.

Ka-boooom—!

Crack—

The one that was destroyed during the collision of punches was the Giant's fist.

Every single one of its fingers was crushed and broken, and the Giant stumbled while retracting its arm. However, Hercules would have none of that. He immediately grabbed the Giant's hide…

Griiiiip—

Fuu-wuu-wuuph!

And swung his arms with all his might. The Giant's massive body became airborne and got flung away into the distance.

Fwhooooooosh—

KA-BOOOOM—!

The Giant flew far away and crashed into the ground, all four of its limbs breaking apart at the same time. The remaining Giants began faltering when several of their kin were killed off in an instant.

"That's why I told you lot to come with a force that boasted triple-digit numbers."

A voice came from over the shoulder of a Giant. The monster's head quickly spun in that direction, but right at that very moment, the head powerfully swung in the opposing direction instead, along with a loud "smack!"

"The likes of you aren't even enough to warm me up."

While saying that, Hercules retracted the club he had swung just now. After sensing that the Giant with its neck bent in the wrong direction was gradually tipping over, he powerfully leaped up in the air again.

"Thankfully, those other creatures haven't shown up. If it's only these 30 individuals, then I can quickly take care of them and go back—"

SPLAT—!

It was right then that a familiar noise came from somewhere next to him.

He usually heard that noise when his fist went on to kill a Giant.

"Huh?" Hercules turned his head around, and that was when he saw it.

A Giant collapsed on its back after its face was pummeled by a fist, and the figure of Su-hyeun who threw that punch just then came into view.

"How?!"

Hercules was left momentarily flustered and formed a confused expression.

"What kind of magic did he use?" he wondered.

As he stood there stiffly in disbelief for a bit, a large shadow loomed over his position. He instantly raised his head. After discovering a fist as big as a house was descending on him, he tried to swing his club upward, but then…

Whooooosh—

SLAM—!

Su-hyeun's foot flew in and powerfully kicked away the Giant's fist. Accompanied by the sounds of bones breaking, the Giant's hand was broken into shreds.

Su-hyeun spoke, "Aren't you being too relaxed? Why are you looking away during a battle?"

"Friend, are you really a magician?" Hercules chuckled in dismay.

At first, he thought Su-hyeun was a magician, but as it turned out, he was wrong.

A magician who could hunt a Giant with bare fists?

Hercules had never seen anyone capable of doing that among the warriors he knew. No, among the entirety of humanity itself.

The only person strong enough to do that was none other than Hercules himself.

"That's my side profession."

Clang—!

Slice—

Su-hyeun rapidly unsheathed his sword and sliced a Giant's leg off.

"It's true that I can use magic, after all."

Ruuuumble—

The surface sliced apart by the sword caught on fire, and the Giant collapsed to the ground. The ground rocked noisily as a creature as big as a small mountain fell down. Su-hyeun scanned the remaining Giants.

Only about 10 or so remained now.

Most of them had been dealt with by Hercules already, but with Su-hyeun's aid, the act of killing the Giants had sped up by another level.

"I guess I have been too disinterested in the matters of the world lately that I have not heard about the news of someone like you appearing here."

It seemed that Hercules was under the impression that Su-hyeun was a renowned warrior, or a magician, among the human population.

The truth was that Su-hyeun didn't originate from this world, but he didn't plan on undoing the demigod's misunderstanding. Being mistaken like that was better for him since he wouldn't need to explain at length anymore.

"Regardless of what, his physical strength is better than mine," Su-hyeun inwardly said.

Su-hyeun glanced at Hercules while fighting against the Giants.

He could tell the difference between them while fighting against the Giants and comparing the results. If the criterion was "Strength" stat and nothing else, then Su-hyeun didn't even come close to Hercules.

"Did he acquire the qualification of godhood, too?"

A thought abruptly popped up in his head, and he ended up chuckling at that because that would be obvious.

From the get-go, Hercules was the son of Zeus from the Greek pantheon and was also known as a hero that symbolized strength. He was a godlike existence that fought in the frontlines of the war of the gods.

Of course, the myth and reality differed by quite a lot. Just like how it was with Sun Wukong and the Bull Demon King from the tale called "Journey to the West," this world with Hercules had its differences from the myth Su-hyeun was familiar with.

However, even after considering all that, there was no doubting the simple fact that Hercules was a descendant of a godly bloodline.

BOOM—

The last Giant keeled over to the ground.

Su-hyeun turned his head.

Hercules had taken care of the last Giant a while ago and was observing Su-hyeun's battle with his arms across his chest.

Step, step—

He then walked over to Su-hyeun, and with a pretty serious expression on his face, he reached out and grasped the latter's arm.

Grab—

"What are you doing?"

"I was wondering where such strength could come from this body of yours, you see." While saying that, Hercules continued to touch and grip Su-hyeun's arms and legs as if he couldn't quite figure it out. "Truly mysterious. Friend, are you a descendant from the ones above, too?"

"Ones above?"

"I'm talking about the gods. Those who live in a place we can never reach, somewhere far beyond the skies." Hercules replied and then let go of Su-hyeun's arm and began scratching his head. "Well…I'm sure you were already aware of me being their descendant. Thanks to that, at least my strength alone isn't lacking when compared to theirs. Should I say that I'm half-human and half-god then?"

Hercules was Zeus's son, and what he inherited as the god of lightning's blood descendant was the strength of a god.

That was something Su-hyeun also possessed.

Of course…

"I'm a human being."

Su-hyeun's case was different from Hercules's.

"At least for now."

"For now?"

"I'm planning to climb up, all the way up there."

"All the way up, you say…?"

Hercules raised his head and stared at the heavens above.

The "world" where the gods resided, Olympus, was a world so high and out of reach that just staring at it alone would cause his neck to creak unnaturally. That's what Hercules believed even though he was a son of a god, even if he was only a "half" as he claimed.

But now, Su-hyeun declared that he would climb up to godhood despite being a human being.

"Your ambition is certainly admirable. I'll cheer you on then. But I'm not sure how the ones above will respond to your determination."

"I'll ask them when I get there."

Hercules laughed at that. "When I first saw you, I thought you were some kind of a gigolo magician, but as it turned out, you're a man among men! Friend, I'm liking you more and more."

Hercules pounded on Su-hyeun's back with his large hand. Any regular person would have been crushed to death by that, but Su-hyeun could accept the "patting" with a smile on his face.

Of course, it still hurt like hell.

"Before all that, though…" Su-hyeun ducked low to sneakily evade Hercules's hand and asked, "Can I take care of one business first?"

"Is it number one?"

"It's nothing like that," Su-hyeun groaned and shook his head at Hercules's rather childish question. "Remember when I told you that being a magician is my side profession?"

Shu-wuwuwu—

A blackish fog began flooding out from all around Su-hyeun's vicinity. Along with the activation of the Necromancer trait, Death Aura began swirling around his body.

"This is my side profession."

[Dead Summoning - Gluttony]

Su-hyeun's eyes, now dyed in black, were locked on the corpses of the giants lying on the ground.

"Devour, Gluttony."