The Hero Returns

“I got lucky,” said Su-hyeun.

That was the opponent he had in mind, the very same man he wanted as his first fight and asked Gordon Rohan about it earlier. Su-hyeun had been ruing the missed opportunity after his request was denied, but luckily enough, he got matched up with the individual he wanted to fight anyway.

“Who’s your opponent that you’re saying you got lucky?” Hak-joon asked. He was busy searching for his own name until he heard Su-hyeun’s muttering and began searching for the latter’s name instead. And after spotting what he was looking for, he gasped in surprise and asked again. “What do you mean this is luck? That’s Thomas, isn’t it?”

“That’s why it’s good.”

“Dude, could it be that you get, like, super excited and stuff when fighting strong enemies?”

“You think I’m a monster? I hate fighting. I’m a pacifist.”

“But then, why….That dude, he’s dangerous, isn’t he?”

Hak-joon glanced at Thomas grinning away in the distance.

That man also must’ve been rather pleased with who his opponent was. It was quite likely that he, too, had been conscious of Su-hyeun.

“You know, I just wanted to step on him at least once, that’s all.”

Hak-joon knew that Su-hyeun was quite angry. Still, he couldn’t help but worry. It probably had to do with Thomas’s previous display of ruthlessness.

“If you think it’ll get too dangerous, please throw in the towel. Please,” said Hak-joon.

That was what Su-hyeun told him yesterday.

“If it comes to that.”

And the reply implied that it wouldn’t come to that.

Hak-joon spat out a lengthy groan.

While the two of them were chatting away, Gordon Rohan began addressing everyone else.

“Everyone, I assume that you’ve all confirmed who your opponent is by now. As for who goes first, it’s coincidentally me. Well now, lucky me.”

Gordon’s opponent was an awakener named Mirage Rowoon. The latter sucked in deep breaths — perhaps out of nervousness — and raised a shield and a shortsword.

Mirage Rowoon was famed for his high defense and endurance. So much so that as far as defending was concerned, he was absolutely confident in enduring the whole day, even if the entire world started attacking him.

“Okay, then. Let’s get started right away.”

Swiiish—

With the exception of Gordon Rohan and Mirage Rowoon, all the other participants were transferred to the waiting area.

Crack, craack—

Gordon Rohan’s body slowly descended to the floor. “Good. This is not bad for my first challenger.”

“Challenger? Are you talking about me?” Mirage Rowoon gripped the shield even tighter and glared straight at Gordon Rohan. “Sure, I might not be as strong as you, but it still feels pretty insulting to hear you looking down on your opponent even before the start.”

Clunk—

The four-sided wooden shield began transforming little by little, and eventually, was enveloped in blue-colored metal. Its size also grew much bigger than before. Now curved in an elliptical shape, it had transformed to provide not just protection from the front, but from both sides, as well.

“Right, it’s understandable that you feel confident about your chances. You must be pretty skilled just by the fact that I’ve heard your name.”

Gordon Rohan was feeling quite happy with this match-up because he knew about his opponent.

“You allegedly said that even if you were fighting the whole world, you can still last the entire day. Is that true?”

“That I did.”

[The match will begin.]

The moment Johnny Brad’s start signal reached the two…

“Why don’t we put that claim to the test?”

Fwooosh—

Gordon Rohan’s figure disappeared from the spot.

At the same time, Mirage Rowoon raised the shield, having instinctively realized that an attack was incoming.

Kaaaa-boooom—!

Kurung, kurururung—

An incredible impact force was transmitted over the shield. While being pushed back, Mirage Rowoon looked over the shield at his front.

<<A punch?>>

It was just a single punch with nothing special about it.

Although magical energy was injected into that one strike, it didn’t look like any special skills had been activated.

But…

<<He isn’t even a damn missile, so what the hell is…?>>

That impact caused by a single punch was easily the strongest attack Mirage Rowoon had ever experienced so far. Even though he had heard Gordon Rohan’s name many times before, not once did that name loom intimidatingly large like in this very moment.

“You’re indeed quite sturdy.”

Gordon Rohan rolled his fist tightly. He struck so hard just now that his hand felt a bit numb. “Looks like you’re qualified to make that claim, after all.”

“At the very least, I’m not planning to easily….”

“But the thing is…”

Two pairs of wings suddenly unfurled right behind Gordon Rohan’s back.

“Did you know?”

Right afterward, pure-white magical energy began spreading out around those wings.

It was at that moment Mirage Rowoon’s unique crisis perception began ringing warning bells.

<<That…is incredibly dangerous.>>

The moment those wings appeared, Gordon Rohan felt like a completely different person.

Not just the density of his magical energy, but even the amount spreading out to the surroundings were on another level altogether. Up until a second ago, Mirage Rowoon believed he could somehow battle it out and endure, but now, that was no longer the case.

Mirage Rowoon injected far, far more magical energy into his shield. At the same time, every single defensive technique in his possession was wrapped around it. Never mind one day, lasting for one hour would be a miracle at this stage.

“Did you know that everyone lives in their own little worlds?”

Gordon Rohan stepped forward while extending his hand in the air. “A newborn baby believes the room within its field of vision is the entire world.”

A pure-white spear soon appeared in his hand. It was shaped like a trident, with nary a speck of imperfection or dust on it.

“Students think of their schools as their whole world, while adults experience the world called their workplace. While riding planes, you view the world outside, and through experiencing culture, you gain knowledge and understanding. All of that is a process to broaden your horizons.”

“What the hell are you trying to say here?”

CLANK!

Gordon Rohan’s spear slammed down on Mirage Rowoon’s shield.

Despite deploying every single defensive skill on the shield, the latter still ended up stumbling backward. The moment he blocked the former’s hit, an impact great enough to break his arm had been transmitted.

“When you said that you could defend against the world for the entire day, did I exist in your little world?”

That question caused Mirage Rowoon’s eyes to quake unsteadily. Indeed, he didn’t know about Gordon Rohan when proudly making that statement.

“The world is far wider and greater than you think. It’s the same story for me. And that is precisely why I built the tallest tower in the world and organized this competition.”

Right now Gordon Rohan wasn’t addressing Mirage Rowoon. No, he was speaking to the rest of the world who should be watching his figure through the cameras currently focused on him.

“In order to broaden the scope of the world that I know, in other words.”

His desire to become the best was also the desire to stand on the very top of this world, as well.

BANG, KWA-BOOM!

Gordon Rohan continued to pound down on Mirage Rowoon’s shield. The latter felt the numbness spread all over his arm with every attack and gripped the shield as tightly as possible.

<<At this rate, forget one hour, not even one minute….!>>

Mirage Rowoon’s shield began to crack apart little by little. The unexpected development took him by surprise, and just as he hesitated for a moment…

Craaack!

“Heo-urhk?”

A spear penetrated through the shield, and he fell on his behind while looking at its tips approaching him. Even then, he still hadn’t let go of his shield. However, he didn’t even get the chance to swing the sword held in his other hand once.

Gordon Rohan’s spear was now pointing squarely at the fallen man’s throat. The tip of the weapon ever so faintly nicked the flesh and drew small droplets of blood.

If he willed it, Mirage Rowoon’s neck would’ve been thrust cleanly through.

Gordon Rohan withdrew his spear and leaned it against his shoulder. And with a brightly beaming face, he extended his hand towards Mirage Rowoon.

“I congratulate you on your world broadening one step further.”

* * *

The first match was quite one-sided.

The winner was obviously Gordon Rohan.

The matter of winning or losing no longer seemed important to other participants watching the proceedings through the screens.

They all got to hear the reason why Gordon Rohan organized this Ranking Wars just now.

“You know, he’s a bit…insane but at the same time, pretty cool.”

Hak-joon was dazed by Gordon Rohan’s proclamation and could only mutter those words. For sure, what he said contained a lot of hidden meanings. The American was indeed deserving of that high position.

<<The world that I know, is it….>>

Gordon Rohan organized this event in order to broaden his horizons – the world that he knew.

He was perhaps one of the “greatest men” alive. Everyone acknowledged that. Whether it be his financial muscle or sheer physical power, it didn’t matter what the category was; he couldn’t be satisfied unless he was the best at it, and eventually, he achieved that status.

However, that still failed to satisfy him.

He was thinking of the world that he didn’t know.

He didn’t settle for the status he finally achieved and longed to find an even broader world, and was trying to prove that he was still the best even in that context.

“Makes sense to me why he’s become so famous,” Hak-joon muttered as if he was impressed even more.

But Su-hyeun was thinking about something else at that moment.

Even back In the past — before he regressed — each and every phrase Gordon Rohan uttered went on to become well-known anecdotes on their own.

So, Su-hyeun should’ve heard of such a proclamation that carried so much impact from somewhere before, yet strangely enough, he couldn’t remember ever hearing about it. Sure, it wasn’t as if he knew everything about Gordon Rohan, but his knowledge base should have been about the same with other people’s.

<<What happened?>>

It was possible that he simply wasn’t aware of it, but then, the thought of that not being the case abruptly entered his mind.

<<Did the future change because of me?>>

That answer had a higher chance of being right. If so, this should be nothing more than a minor change. Even then, he couldn’t help but frown at how the future began changing recently because of his interference.

“You’re up next.” Hak-joon reminded him.

“Yeah, I saw that.”

The match to follow right after Gordon Rohan versus Mirage Rowoon was Su-hyeun versus Thomas.

Su-hyeun got up from his seat. He glanced back and spotted Thomas also standing up while looking back at him.

Soon afterwards, two men’s figures vanished.

The location they reappeared in was the competition arena as seen through the screens. They were standing about twenty meters apart while staring at each other.

“Ooh, this place is so cool!” Thomas exclaimed right after being summoned to the arena as he took a look at his surroundings. He then swept back his long, disheveled red hair and continued to grin away.

“Let me ask you something before we start,” said Su-hyeun.

He unsheathed his sword right away.

Johnny Brad was delaying the start of the match as if to let the participants prepare first. It seemed that it was to prevent potential sneak attacks as soon as the summoning process was completed.

“Did you really have to do that?”

“Mm? Do what exactly?”

Maybe his mental age was slightly lacking?

Thomas was still grinning foolishly away. The old saying went that it’d be hard to spit on a smiling face, but this very moment would be a rare exception to that rule.

At the bare minimum, he should’ve understood what Su-hyeun was asking about.

“I’m talking about breaking the arms and legs of those who couldn’t even fight back. That was not a fight, but a display of one-sided brutality.”

“Uh…. Oh, that?” Thomas clapped his hands as if he finally remembered and replied. “Yup.”

Only

“…’Yup?'”

“Yup!”

Son of a…. Su-hyeun spat out some choice words under his breath.

He initially thought that Thomas would bring up some other reason. However, this guy seemed to be, simply put, a damn nutcase.

“Is that right? In that case….”

[The match will begin.]

“Looks like I’ll have to do the same.”