Chapter 305 (1/2)

The Hero Returns B.Ain 62300K 2022-07-24

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Shu-wuwu—

At first, it was nothing more than a gentle breeze.

‘What is he doing?’ Hak-joon wondered. Su-hyeun’s actions confused him.

Su-hyeun didn’t bother to rouse a lot of magical energy nor did he swing the sword in a particularly threatening manner. He wielded that weapon as if it was weightless.

“When he said ‘Palm Leaf’, isn’t that…,” Hak-joon pondered.

Whoosh!

But just before Hak-joon could ask his questions, the wind began to blow harsher. Shortly after, it turned viciously sharp.

An unbelievable spectacle happened afterwards.

Pi-pit! Pipipipipipipik—

Splat!

Slice, slice, slice.

In an instant, the sharp wind transformed into a windstorm. It then killed countless of monsters that it encountered along the way. Blood was splattered all around, and mutilated body parts were literally flying in all directions.

Su-hyeun didn’t have to swing his sword. The windstorm did most of the job. It appeared to be sharper than any known blades as it mercilessly tore and cut the monsters’ bodies.

“Whoa!”

“What the hell is…”

“Blow away!”

However, Su-hyeun wasn’t satisfied with that one swing. He felt that something was lacking, so he swung his sword again.

“Palm Leaf.”

Whoosh!

Windstorms were roused once more. It was more savage this time. It destroyed the monsters trying to cross from Gangwon Province. A lot of them were killed, and the scene was terrifying.

Drip. Dribble.

Tumble. Drip.

Mutilated body parts were all over the place. Having witnessed everything that transpired at that moment, Hak-joon was speechless; he couldn’t believe it. He was amazed that he forgot how exhausted he was.

‘If it’s bro…’

He wondered if Su-hyeun could deal with all these monsters by himself. It didn’t take long for him to realize that it was definitely possible.

Result-wise, it was indeed a possibility. However, the process to achieve that result completely differed from what Hak-joon had imagined.

‘What the hell is this?’

He still couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed.

‘It was…it was too easy.’

It was mere two strokes of a sword.

Su-hyeun caused windstorms to destroy all monsters using only his sword. This was another level of power compared to every wind-type attack skill Hak-joon knew of.

There was no need to suspect ‘it’ from the very beginning. Su-hyeun was still out of reach somewhere farther than Hak-joon thought.

“You guys feeling okay?”

“Ah…yes,” Hak-joon replied with a nod.

Less than one or two minutes ago, they were surrounded by countless monsters. Now, they were all killed. Hak-joon and Thomas were still trying to get a grip on the current situation.

Too tired to even stand, Hak-joon and Thomas simply plopped down on the ground and rested. Even Thomas, who would normally get excited to talk to Su-hyeun, lay on the ground to relax.

“Bro, how did you get here anyway?” Hak-joon asked, eager to know.

“Brother Ju-ho told me that he couldn’t get in touch with you,” Su-hyeun related. “He informed me of your whereabouts, so I learned that you were here, fighting monsters.”

“When did you come back from the trial, though? I thought you would be stuck there for a long while, with no save zones this time.”

“About 10 minutes ago? Not sure.”

“Ten minutes?” Hak-joon’s eyes widened. He could not believe what he just heard.

Hak-joon was puzzled with Su-hyeun’s reply. No matter how hard he thought about it, there was just no way that Su-hyeun could have gotten there so fast.

“Brother Ju-ho called me on the phone, and he told me that you guys were here. And then, I got here quickly because of an item I acquired in a trial a while ago.”

The ‘Celestial King’s Feather’…

This item allowed Su-hyeun to teleport to a location from his memories. Its name was similar to a skill that Su-hyeun already possessed.

Su-hyeun explain the item’s effect to Hak-joon, and he soon understood. It now made sense how Su-hyeun could travel as fast as lightning.

“Okay… So,” Su-hyeun began, “what is up with this situation? Brother Ju-ho simply said it was too urgent and I should hurry up. I wasn’t able to ask him for details.”

“Well, what happened was…,” Hak-joon began to describe what happened during the past 20 days to Su-hyeun.

While listening, Su-hyeun’s expression gradually changed.

Gangwon Province had to be abandoned for good. There was an outbreak of dungeons—too many that they proved difficult to stop. Recent events were indeed disastrous.

“Does that mean Gangwon is completely deserted at present?” Su-hyeun inquired.

“Yes.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Hak-joon confirmed. “Before the first dungeon became an outbreak, we had confirmed that everyone was evacuated through the usual means, and the whole of Gangwon Province was set as a restricted area afterwards.”

“Really?” Su-hyeun had a strange expression after listening to Hak-joon’s explanation. “So that’s the case, isn’t it?”

Su-hyeun’s gaze shifted to his sword, which he put back in its scabbard.

‘Will the size of Gangwon be sufficient for it?’ Su-hyeun wondered.

He had not confirmed it yet, but that didn’t mean he had found a suitable location to test it out either. Any old magic circle would not be enough to withstand the power of his weapon. That’s why he had been patiently waiting for the right opportunity.

The situation was certainly terrible, but it was also the opportunity he had been waiting for. If he succeeded today, resolving this crisis would become so much easier as well.

“Very good,” Su-hyeun muttered.

“Excuse me? What is good?” Hak-joon asked Su-hyeun.

“I’m going to get rid of all monsters in Gangwon Province,” Su-hyeun declared confidently, without hesitation.

Su-hyeun’s response didn’t surprise Hak-joon. He was in fact expecting it.

He barely managed to suppress the corners of his lips from smiling. “Is it okay for Thomas and I to come with you?” he then asked, hoping for a positive response.

Hak-joon still wanted to fight alongside Su-hyeun even though the latter had gotten so far ahead of him that it was difficult to reach his current level.

Besides, even before Su-hyeun came back, Hak-joon had been feeling quite frustrated by the fact that they had to abandon Gangwon Province.

However, if Hak-joon and others worked with Su-hyeun, Lee Ju-ho would not have any issues about them going to Gangwon and reclaiming it from the monsters. Not only that, they would also raid those dungeons that had yet to be conquered.

But then…

“Nah, there’s no need,” Su-hyeun refused to Hak-joon’s dismay.

Rip.

Gya-ong!

Su-hyeun raised his hand in the air, and Miru emerged. The red dragon poked its head out first. Then after spotting Hak-joon and Thomas, it greeted them.

It had been a while since Hak-joon last saw Miru. He began to pat its head to say hi before turning around to speak to Su-hyeun. “Tell me, why did you summon Miru?”

“I’m going to hop over there for a bit.”

“Eh? Where?”

“I’ll be back in no time. Take a rest. Recover your strength. Miru, let’s get going.”

Gya-ong!

Miru turned its back to Hak-joon when Su-hyeun called it. Su-hyeun lightly jumped up and mounted the dragon, and the duo quickly soar into the sky.

Shu-ahahaha—

Despite not activating the gigantic option, Miru’s flight speed easily rivaled an average plane.

Hak-joon watched Su-hyeun and Miru took off and muttered to himself, “But this place reeks of blood, you know…”

While standing amidst the blood and thousands of mutilated body parts, Hak-joon could only groan under his breath.