The Hero Returns

Act 2

Su-hyeun looked down at Chloe and Jordan. He had expected this, but it happened much faster than his expectation. But thankfully, it looked like he was not late too much.

"Where have you been?" Jordan asked.

He was urgent, but he felt relaxed a little now. The others were the same. Su-hyeun spread his magic when he arrived to let everybody know he came. The awakeners from the Dump Guild who came with Chloe also found out about Su-hyeun's existence. The place where people killed and hunted each other became silent.

"One rat ran away, so I chased after it," Su-hyeun answered.

"A rat?" Jordan asked.

"Yes," Su-hyeun looked at Chloe and said, "MacRebur."

When the unexpected name came out from Su-hyeun's mouth, Chloe's eyes widened.

"He went by the alias 'Rolex'. The S-Rank awakener and the faithful dog of the Dump Guild... oh, do you guys not like being called that? Anyway," Su-hyeun grinned and continued, "Am I right?"

"How... How did you know that?" Chole said.

"Why do you guys always have the same reaction?"

"Where is MacRebur? What happened to him?"

Swish!

At Chloe's request, Su-hyeun lightly threw what he had in his hand.

Thud!

"He became like this," Su-hyeun answered, allowing the item to roll.

Chloe froze with her mouth open, not letting out a sound. She could not believe it; it was the head of MacRebur.

"Can you grasp the situation... old lady?"

Even though she heard what she hated most, Chloe couldn't bring herself to get angry. The situation was too frustrating to do so.

"MacRebur is dead. He is..." Chloe thought.

Originally, Su-hyeun was not part of the plan of Chloe and other awakeners of the Dump Guild. The first plan was this; when they entered the dungeon, MacRebur eluded using his hiding skill. He was supposed to kill people one by one secretly. When he killed enough people, Chloe was supposed to ambush Jordan. Then, Chloe and MacRebur would kill Jordan together before wiping the whole team out.

It was a perfect plan. They had more S-Rank awakeners and MacRebur was a good assassin. There was no way they could fail. Chloe thought she could win Jordan alone since she would ambush him. She thought MacRebur was late in getting rid of Su-hyeun. She thought it would've been better to attack Jordan first at the right time, rather waiting for MacRebur.

The surprise attack worked perfectly. MacRebur had joined to make sure the plan went smoothly, but it looked like that was unnecessary. But now, there was a problem. MacRebur, who was supposed to act as an assassin, was killed by Su-hyeun.

"How...?" Chloe thought.

When Su-hyeun had chased MacRebur at the beginning, she had thought that would not be a problem. But Su-hyeun caught MacRebur, which was a different story. Moreover, Su-hyeun fought MacRebur but didn't appear to be wounded. The situation was reversed. She planned to handle Jordan 2 on 1. Now, she was on her own.

"Damn it..."

Jordan stared at Chloe. Her face became all crumpled.

"Just give me a minute. I will help you after I take care of this," Jordan said to Su-hyeun.

Jordan pointed to his right arm and leg, frozen by Chloe's magic. He could not fight like this. If Su-hyeun stalled some time, he would able to thaw the frozen parts.

Whoosh!

At that moment, Jordan's arms and legs were lit with blue fire from Su-hyeun's Flame skill.

"What... what the hell are you doing?"

Suprised, Jordan swung his arms and legs to put out the fire. Soon, he realized something and stared at his flaming hand.

"Is there a problem?" Su-hyeun asked.

In response to Su-hyeun's apathy, Jordan made an absent expression. Jordan could not feel any hot feeling, but the ice that covered him started to melt. It was something to behold.

"Is this a characteristic of the skill itself? Or is he just that good at controlling his magic?" Jordan thought.

Either way, he was sure about one thing.

"This is a way higher level of fire skill than the one I use."

Jordan's fire could burn everything down that he wanted, but that was it. He could not make a flame that wouldn't harm his chosen target, whether it be a person or an object. Jordan stood vacantly, mesmerized by what he was experiencing. Su-hyeun looked at Jordan and jumped down from the tree.

"I can't give you more time as you requested because I plan on finishing her myself," Su-hyeun said.

Su-hyeun's eyes turned to Chloe. The hopelessness on her face was a sight to behold. Jordan looked at Su-hyeun and Chloe alternately.

Jordan said, "Then let me change my request."

"Ok. Tell me," Su-hyeun replied.

"I think I should take care of people over there. Can I leave her to you?"

It looked like Jordan was worrying other awakeners being attacked by the Dump Guild. They might've been able to fight back, but that would greatly harm his team unless he went now to help them. Thus, Jordan asked Su-hyeun to fight with Chloe to prevent more harm.

"Sure. No problem."

"Ok, then..."

"Wait."

Jordan, who was about to turn, tilted his head. Su-hyeun took his hand to the air.

Rip!

The empty air was torn, creating a space. A small dragon came out of it and spread its wings.

Purr!

It was a very small dragon. Su-hyeun patted the back of Miru.

"Take him. He will help you."

"Well... Thank you... for your help."

Jordan answered a little bitterly as if he could not believe what a small dragon could've done. Even so, he believed Su-hyeun who was facing Chloe. With that in mind, he turned his body without hesitation.

"The problem there is somewhat over," Su-hyeun thought.

He strode toward Chloe. Since it became one-on-one combat, Chole regained her mental security. She opened her mouth, "Are you trying to deal with me alone? Wow, you're arrogant."

"Aren't you tired of your pride and princess syndrome?"

"You little bantling..."

"Hey, old lady. Can't you see what is going on?"

Su-hyeun pointed at MacRebur's head on the ground.

"You'll be like that soon."

"Shut up!"

Crack!

The huge ice surrounded Chloe. At the same time, the air froze quickly to limit Su-hyeun's movement. When Su-hyeun did not resist, Chloe smiled of satisfaction.

"I got him!" Chloe thought.

Whoosh!

At that moment, a blue flame swirled around Su-hyeun's body.

Tramp!

Su-hyeun walked to her slowly as if nothing had happened.

"You must be an idiot. I just showed you this power."

"Damn...!"

"Why do you think I was so late?"

"What?"

"That guy was much more stubborn than I expected. It was hard to make him talk."

Whoosh!

While talking, Su-hyeun suddenly disappeared. Chloe was surprised and made a thick layer of ice around her.

[The Curtain of the Glacier.]

It was a thick ice cover unpenetrable by even a bullet. Although this skill blocked her sight for a moment, it could cover her. It was an effective defense skill.

"I have to drag time first, and then I will find him...," Chloe thought.

Slash!

Swish!

At that moment, Su-hyeun's sword came in from behind the ice, making a round hole in the curtain and cleanly kicking the ice off.

Wham!

"Where... where are you?" Chloe shouted.

An entrance was created, but she could not see Su-hyeun. She thought he would get in through the hole. Since his sword hit the ice, she prepared her sword.

COMMENT

"From now on..."

Swish!

She got chills. The sharp blade of a sword touched her neck. Her body stiffened. She thought her neck would be cut soon. That moment, she could hear Su-hyeun's voice right next to her head.

"If you answer my question well, I'll grant you a swift and painless death."

"...What?"

[The Curse of the Dark Psychic - Pain.]

She was on edge. Her eyes winded. At that moment, Su-hyeun's sword cut into Chloe's skin.

"Ugh...Urgh...!"

Chloe's screams echoed within the round ice curtain. It was just a superficial cut, but she felt the pain cutting her whole body. She constantly screamed. Su-hyeun grabbed Chloe's head.

"MacRebur said you probably know what he didn't. And he begged me to kill him."

"Ugh...Urgh...!"

Not only could she not imagine that the prideful MacRebur would say anything like that, but she was also helpless against Su-hyeun's skill. He created the pain that humans usually could not feel with his magic and skill.

"Well then, let me ask you again."

Su-hyeun repeated that he could not get the answer from MacRebur.

"Where is the Dump Guild's home?"

***

Argh!

Chloe's screams constantly rang out from the ice curtain. Jordan was not sure what was going on inside of the ice, but he was sure that Su-hyeun was okay.

"What kind of guy is he?" Jordan thought.

He dropped one of the Dump Guild awakeners that he held in his hand. That man was burnt to death. Jordan had known this man before as the A-Rank awakener of the Star Guild. It turned out that he was a Dump Guild member. However, Jordan was more surprised about Su-hyeun than Chloe. The Star Guild was related to the Dump Guild.

"... Is he done?"

The scream gradually faded away. The situation outside was almost over, too. It looked like he did not need to go to help Su-hyeun.

Grrrrrr!

"Ouch! Ouch!"

Jordan looked beside him. One member of the Dump Guild crouched and got hit by Miru's tail.

"It is pretty useful, too," Jordan thought.

He initially thought this small dragon would be useless, but it turned out to be more helpful than he expected. Miru helped his forces to recover from tiredness and placed shields on them. They saw great results from Miru.

Crack!

Jordan heard the ice breaking and turned his head. Su-hyeun walked out, cleaning up the bunch of the ice. Jordan could see the red blood through the broken ice pile. There was no doubt that it was Chloe's blood.

"That was fast."

At Jordan's word, Su-hyeun shrugged and replied.

"Yeah, right? She wasn't as patient as I thought."

"...Patient?"

Jordan wondered what that meant. He thought for a moment and asked in surprise.

"Did you torture her?"

That explained why there were only Chloe's screams. It sounded more painful than just a regular fight. Su-hyeun did not deny this. Jordan was surprised and said as if he was overwhelmed.

"You are colder than I expected."

"Well, I am dealing with the Dump Guild."

Jordan thought Su-hyeun was different than what he had thought. When they met the first time, he looked soft and gentle. Now he seemed harder and colder.

"You don't like the Dump Guild?" Jordan asked.

"It's pretty obvious I don't like them," Su-hyeun answered.

"Why? Is it like a personal grudge?"

"A grudge..." Su-hyeun mumbled and shook his head.

There was no such thing.

"Nothing happened for me to hold a personal grudge, but I do feel something towards them."

The Dump Guild was the crystals of the side effects that could happen when humans had a sudden power. Su-hyeun already knew so many accidents that would happen in the future because of them. Those were not something that he could stop by himself. This was more than stopping the accident right at the moment. There was only one fundamental solution.

Su-hyeun looked at Chloe's corpse and said, "I'll take this opportunity to kill all those cockroaches."