The Hero Returns

* * *

[The 202nd floor's trial is commencing.]

[Please stop the incoming apocalypse.]

"Huh?"

Su-hyeun heard the messages just as the trial began.

His brows rose at the second message, though. Stop the apocalypse? It sounded pretty simple, but to him, it was a special trial for sure.

Not only that...

"No way..."

The scenery that appeared before his eyes as the trial began proved to be rather familiar to him: a long and winding river in the distance, countless skyscrapers standing tall and near each other with not a visible gap, cars and people busily going about their business under the daylight, and the distinct smell of exhaust fumes mixed in with the trees.

And then, there was the tall yet spindly tower he was standing on...

"Isn't this...Nam Mountain in Seoul?!" he muttered under a cloud of uncertainty, but his uncertainty didn't require a lot of time to morph into certainty.

Vrrrrr—

His smartphone that was tucked away inside his pocket began ringing loudly.

His phone suddenly coming to life by ringing even outside the range of data or communication network could only mean that the device was now connected to the grid.

And that was the evidence Su-hyeun needed to prove that this was Earth he called home.

"Could it be an error?"

Without a doubt, the system clearly stated that the trial of the 202nd floor was commencing.

But to think that he ended up returning to Earth, of all places.

He couldn't help but wonder if the trial hadn't begun yet after the system developed some kind of an error somewhere, but that thought didn't last for long.

Su-hyeun tried to open the "doorway." Opening it was the unique privilege given to awakeners, which allowed him to connect his homeworld to the Tower of Trials.

But then...

"It's not opening up."

The doorway that he could open oh-so naturally like breathing didn't want to budge as if it had been locked up tight—as if something was blocking his access.

"I can break through if I want, but..."

There could only be one reason why the doorway that not just Su-hyeun but all the other awakeners were permitted to use was firmly locked.

"Hah..." Su-hyeun spat out a long groan and then took in the sight of Seoul below the Namsan Seoul Tower. "So, that's how it is, huh?"

Zeus recommended challenging the 202nd floor's trial right away because Earth was the stage for the trial given to Su-hyeun this time around.

* * *

Lee Ju-ho was sneaking a glance at Su-hyeun, who had suddenly returned to Jongno Tower without any warning.

The latter entered the chairman's office suddenly, opened the cover of a book, and kept his eyes glued to it. Lee Ju-ho sneaked another glance, this time on the book's contents, but it was written in letters that he didn't recognize at all.

"What is he reading, anyway?"

Driiibble...

Lee Ju-ho prepared the coffee that Su-hyeun seemed to like. The sound of coffee filling up the cups was quite loud inside this strange silence.

That sound caused Su-hyeun's gaze to finally drift away from the book for the first time in several minutes. Lee Ju-ho didn't know what Su-hyeun was so focused on right now, but it seemed that Su-hyeun wasn't even aware that Lee Ju-ho prepared coffee.

"Ah, hold on. Let me—"

"It's fine. I was getting sleepy anyway. Here," Lee Ju-ho pushed forward a cup with coffee in it to Su-hyeun. He then took his own cup and settled on the edge of his desk. "What are you thinking about?"

"You said that nothing particular has happened while I was gone, right?"

"Yeah. Too little has happened, and that's proving to be the problem. Dungeons are getting scarce, and consequently, Ether stone production has fallen, too. Thanks to these events, I can safely say that the biggest problem so far has been the Gordon Company's stocks losing as much as 20 percent of their value."

"That's a steep drop."

"It's an issue on a global scale. Well, since it's the Gordon Company, I'm sure it can rise back up again even without the Ether stones. By the way, why are you asking me about that?"

"It's nothing, really," Su-hyeun replied briefly and then took a sip of the coffee.

Once some caffeine slipped past his throat, his concentration from earlier softened a little. His mind seemed to have been refreshed, and new chains of thoughts were able to enter.

"Stop the apocalypse. The apocalypse..."

That message from the system indicated that a crisis on the apocalyptic level was about to hit Earth. As such, Su-hyeun asked Lee Ju-ho as soon as he returned if there had been any strange phenomena to take note of. But rather weirdly, it seemed that nothing much important had happened during his absence, which wasn't what the system had alluded to.

"Do I have to wait? No wait, is it fine for me to simply wait?"

Even if he was inside a familiar setting, this was still a trial nevertheless. Until now, the trial found a way to lead Su-hyeun into taking some kind of action.

So, waiting until something happened since nothing was happening right now wouldn't be the correct answer to solve this problem.

He had to do something. Anything would suffice.

"Even if it's a trivial incident, please let me know if there's something off about it."

"Are you done mulling about it?"

"Yes."

"I guess something major is going to happen, then. Okay, got it. Come back tomorrow. I'll organize every incident in the reports that seem off into a readable file for you."

"Thanks."

Lee Ju-ho was indeed an excellent partner to have. Su-hyeun had not seen anyone who could quickly and perfectly take care of all official business.

Lee Ju-ho was the partner who filled the parts Su-hyeun was lacking. If it was Lee Ju-ho, then he was completely trustworthy.

Lee Ju-ho asked, "What will you be doing in the meantime? If you're planning to take a break somewhere, let me know, so I can send the file over to you."

"Nah, it's fine. I'm not going anywhere far."

"Really? Where?"

When Lee Ju-ho asked that in confusion, Su-hyeun lightly tapped the floor with his foot, "The basement here, actually."

"What?"

* * *

Su-hyeun headed to the Jongno Tower's basement.

A wide-open space where he could move around freely was located below the underground parking lot of the Tower, the home to the Awakener Association.

Its original purpose was to let awakeners test out their skills or allow them to spar with one another. However, it was rarely used now.

The reason for that was simple enough: the illusion magic circle produced by the Gordon Company.

One could experience what a dungeon raid would be like ahead of time, basically nullifying most of the purpose this underground space was built for.

"That's why it was pretty easy for me to rent this place for a day, but still," Su-hyeun scanned this vast underground space that was at least several dozen thousand square meters wide and muttered to no one in particular, "It's way too big for me alone, isn't it?"

It was far too quiet in here, so even his soft muttering ended up bouncing off the walls and returned to him as an echo.

It was a perfectly enclosed space. Not only that but this place was constructed quite sturdily, so most regular impact forces shouldn't affect the Jongno Tower above.

"Still, anything can happen, so..."

Shu-kaaahk—

Whoosh, slice—

Su-hyeun unsheathed the sword by his waist and then flashily swung it around in the air.

With him as the center, a huge circle was suddenly engraved on the ground surrounding this huge underground space that reached dozens of square meters.

This circle was perfectly round, with not a single deviation anywhere. He then began inscribing new "symbols" within this circle next.

[Six Paths of Past Lives]

[Grand Wizard, "Arwen"]

He didn't have much trouble trying to inscribe a magic circle that he didn't know anything about until now.

It was all thanks to the memories of Arwen the Grand Wizard, the greatest wizard in the history of his world, who also happened to be one of Su-hyeun's many past lives.

"I mean, I can now instantly understand the grimoire I was having a tough time with recently, so..."

Su-hyeun tried to read again the grimoire Ellid the red dragon gave to him. Thanks to the Six Paths of Past Lives, a part of his unique ability Samsara, he acquired the memories of Arwen. At the same time, he also got his hands on the theories concerning magic, as well as all the related experiences that he had been sorely lacking.

All of this allowed him to reach the same height as Ellid in terms of magic. No, wait; it shouldn't be an exaggeration to say that, considering all the qualifications of godhood in his possession, he had already surpassed the red dragon to enter an even loftier realm.

Tsh-ut...

Su-hyeun didn't need to work hard to complete the magic circle.

Wuuuung—

From the circle he had created, a transparent barrier spread out. This magic circle could not be broken no matter what hit it.

The principle was simple enough: the caster of the magic circle was Su-hyeun, and as long as he spent his energy, the barrier would continue to absorb all impact force that tries to leak outside.

In other words, the magic circle's barrier would not shatter unless Su-hyeun collapsed out of exhaustion first.

"With this, any impact happening in here won't affect the outside, so..."

He could relax just a bit more now.

Step—

Su-hyeun walked over to the center of the magic circle.

"Come."

Tsu-tsutsutsu...

When Su-hyeun unleashed his will, pure-white clouds were generated on the highest point within the range of the magic circle's influence.

"Somersault cloud."

Flash—!

A flash of light struck down from within the clouds. The thunderclap soon became an echo that rang around within his ears. The lightning bolt of the Somersault cloud accumulated in Su-hyeun's left hand, which still wore Zeus's Thunder Glove.

Pazzzik, bzzzzzik—

The electrical charge maintained its form inside his grip without scattering away. It initially took on the shape of a spear and then changed into a sword next. Not only did it possess a physical form, but its destructive power had been enhanced by a great deal, too.

Shu-wuwu—

Su-hyeun's figure floated off the ground, but he hadn't activated "Leap" or used his magical power to make himself levitate.

The Somersault cloud was actually supporting his body. He couldn't try out this method until now simply because his proficiency level was still too low.

"As I thought, this..."

This wasn't merely the matter of his proficiency with the Somersault cloud shooting up. No, its control was now completely under Su-hyeun's will.

He figured out the reason for this easily enough, "Is it because the Godhood of Sky is above the Godhood of Clouds?"

That seemed reasonable. Clouds were a part of the massive space called the sky. Even though many different types of godhood existed out there, it was true that godhood with higher concepts also existed.

Now that he had acquired a qualification of godhood boasting a higher concept, Su-hyeun found it as easy and obvious as breathing to "rule" over the Somersault cloud.

"Which means this too...!"

Pazzzik—

Rumble, ku-rururururung—!

According to Su-hyeun's will, lightning bolts rained down everywhere. The hundreds of lightning fell like raindrops, but then, all these bolts of golden-orange hue came to a sudden stop as if time had come to a standstill.

Grab—

Su-hyeun reached out to one of the lightning bolts and grabbed it, and then, he watched it assume another shape within his grip.

"The required amount of energy to create a Thunderbolt has gone down by a lot. My stats haven't been increased since I'm not in a battle, so to be like this..."

Not just commanding the Somersault cloud but even using the Thunder Glove became so much easier for him after acquiring the Godhood of Sky.

Originally, his magical energy reserve would've drained out at an alarming rate whenever he fired off a single Thunderbolt, but now, he didn't require a whole lot of effort to summon a lightning bolt through the Thunder Glove.

"Maybe I can..."

Su-hyeun closed his eyes for a bit.

All magic came from one's imagination. This was the opinion of Arwen the Grand Wizard from Su-hyeun's past life.

And one's power of imagination included all sorts of things that one had witnessed and experienced.

Su-hyeun tried to imagine the technique he witnessed Zeus using not too long ago in his mind.

When he successfully recalled that technique, which had been powerfully engraved in his consciousness now, all the unmoving lightning bolts around him began moving once more.

Paazzzik, bzzzzz—

Rumble, ka-boooom—!

Soon after that, lightning continued to flash from the dark clouds near the ceiling of this place.

The loud thunderclaps filled up the interior of Su-hyeun's magic circle. The ceaseless lightning bolts answered Su-hyeun's will and his imagination to create a colossal silhouette next.

Boom, ka-boom—!

Kkyaaaaah—!

The reddish-golden lightning current gathered into one silhouette, and then, its maw split open to issue a thunderous screech. It was as if this "creature" was announcing its birth to the world.

Su-hyeun opened his eyes and looked at the large silhouette of the lightning wrapped around his body.

A huge "dragon" was coiling around him right now.

"Strike down—!" One order from him and the crimson-gold dragon suddenly sprang into action. "Thunder Dragon."