The Hero Returns

“What is it?” Su-hyeun replied in a slightly cocky manner, which was unlike his usual self, and studied the man before him.

It was a knight with a manly face, in his mid-30s, and kitted out in heavy and uncomfortable-looking full plate armor. His eyes were shaped upward as if he was angry about something.

“His Majesty has said this, didn’t he?”

Kiiing, clack—

He unsheathed his sword about a finger’s length before sheathing it again. Despite not knowing the etiquette of this world, even Su-hyeun could tell that such actions signified this man’s desire to challenge him to a duel.

“He said that I must defeat you and stand next to His Majesty.”

“You must be as dumb as a pile of bricks.”

“What was that?!”

“Is that how you interpreted what His Majesty said? Honestly, this is what I heard,” Su-hyeun said as he stared straight at the knight’s reddened face. Then, with a sneer, he continued, “Get beaten up black and blue and then learn your place.”

“Are you done running your mouth?!”

“You better loosen your grip.”

Squeeeeze—

Su-hyeun grabbed and squeezed the knight’s wrist that was still holding onto his shoulder. “Unless you want me to break your hand before we start fighting.”

“Keuh-euh…”

The knight tried to use his brute strength to yank his hand back, but he couldn’t. No matter what he did, the wrist grabbed by Su-hyeun didn’t even budge an inch.

Just as the knight became fearful that his wrist might really break if they kept this up, Su-hyeun suddenly relaxed his grip and let go.

“What’s going on?”

“It seems that Lord Milton has issued his challenge.”

“Lord Milton did already?”

“Makes sense since Lord Milton’s personality won’t allow for some random rock to roll in and block his path.”

“I am the same as he is. We don’t even know what his background is…”

The nobles in the vicinity whispered among themselves when Su-hyeun and the knight began their standoff.

It seemed quite a few people here had predicted a situation like this one would happen sooner or later judging from their lack of surprise. From what Su-hyeun heard just now, this knight standing before his eyes, Milton, was famed for his hotheadedness.

“Hah-ah—”

Su-hyeun gave out a long sigh and scanned his surroundings.

The eyes of every single noble glaring at him contained naked animosity. Bluish light swirled within Su-hyeun’s own eyes as he studied them all.

“You know, let’s not complicate this.” He scratched his head and spoke in an annoyed tone. “I really hate the idea of accepting challenges one at a time, so why don’t we get started right away? I’ll resign immediately if I lose, so…”

He then turned around and headed toward the underground drill hall that Bradley told him about yesterday.

“If you are confident about your chances, then all of you should come at me.”

* * *

The nobles that joined in after Su-hyeun made his announcement numbered more than quite a few.

They were so confident of their own skills that they all unhesitatingly followed Su-hyeun down to the underground drill hall while carrying triumphant expressions.

Although this result wasn’t all that surprising to behold, he still felt rather dumbfounded by it nonetheless. Their expressions all implied how they viewed themselves—more than qualified enough to immediately earn Bradley’s approval and get appointed as the new personal guardian knight.

“Friend, I hope you can be more understanding of them. I mean, many people dream big despite their comparatively lacking skill levels, right?”

Among the gathered nobles happened to include Binladen as well.

Binladen, as it turned out, was the commander of the imperial court’s 12th knight order.

“Mister Binladen? Why are you coming along as well?” Su-hyeun had to ask the knight when the latter followed him into the drill hall.

“How can I miss such a wonderful opportunity?”

“An opportunity to spectate?”

“Of course. Isn’t that obvious?”

Unlike the first impression Su-hyeun had of him, Binladen replied with a naughty grin on his face. It seemed that he found the notion of Su-hyeun fighting off all these nobles rather entertaining to behold.

In the meantime, more nobles were streaming inside the hall.

The majority of the nobility of this world were individuals who had their strengths acknowledged in some ways. This was solely because of Bradley’s policy of giving preference to strong people.

As such, the nobles were rather willing to personally step up and fight Su-hyeun. They all believed that becoming the emperor’s personal guardian knight would elevate the station of their house to the next level.

Of course…

“I guess they all look rather shabby to you, friend.”

Even to Binladen’s eyes, the strengths of these nobles were merely on the “alright” level, so he could easily guess how Su-hyeun viewed these hapless men right now.

“Well, a few handfuls are the exceptions, though,” Su-hyeun replied.

“Are you talking about those men over there?”

“Yes.”

Su-hyeun shifted his gaze toward the same spot Binladen was looking at, where a group of knights kitted out in plate mail armors was standing around.

Among them was the knight named Milton—the very first man to pick a fight with Su-hyeun.

“They are all knights affiliated with the imperial knight orders. A few of them are commanders, too.”

“Where would a commander-level knight rank in terms of strength?”

“That’s hard to answer since the differences in strengths are too great.”

“Let me change the question in that case. How good is the strongest person in all of the imperial knight orders?”

“Lord Waffman, the commander of the imperial court’s first knight order is second only to Duke Layard in terms of skills. There’s no doubting his abilities, but he’s famed more for his viciousness and cruelty, you see.”

“Even if you explain it like that, I don’t know who Duke Layard is, so…”

“Ah, that’s true.”

“Let me change the question again, then.” Su-hyeun pondered for a bit and then asked Binladen, “How strong are they compared to His Majesty?”

“What was that?”

Binladen was stunned by that question and stared at Su-hyeun in a stupor.

Could he compare them to the emperor?

Su-hyeun had never met this Duke Layard, but he certainly did meet the emperor. And then, he was appointed as the emperor’s personal guardian knight soon after.

That request to compare them to Bradley implied that Su-hyeun had some grasp on the true capabilities of the emperor by now.

Binladen kept his mouth shut for a little while since he wasn’t sure how to answer that question. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any solid idea of how strong Bradley actually was.

“If it’s too hard to answer, you don’t have to. I’ll find out once we start fighting, anyway.”

Step—

Su-hyeun took a big step forward as he said that.

The glares of the nobles and the knights standing around in groups were immediately locked on him.

Su-hyeun frowned and said, “We’ll see after it’s over.”

“…?”

What he said prompted puzzled gazes to gather on him from here and there.

He strode into the middle of the drill hall only to say they would “see after it’s over”?

After he said something that seemingly made no sense, Su-hyeun shifted his gaze over to Milton. The latter had been loosening himself up by then, so he unhesitatingly walked over while unsheathing his sword.

“Shouldn’t you be wearing a proper set of armor?” Milton asked.

It seemed that he considered the thin armor Su-hyeun currently had on as not a real armor at all.

“No need,” said Su-hyeun as he unsheathed his own sword.

But then, he didn’t even assume any proper stance and lowered his weapon. From Milton’s perspective, Su-hyeun seemed to be full of openings.

“Why aren’t you getting into your stance already?”

“My stance, huh?” Su-hyeun spread open both of his arms wide. “Alright, then. Come at me.”

“You dare…”

Anyone could tell that Su-hyeun was mocking him, so Milton began gritting his teeth. This would be the first time he had been looked down upon to this degree. To make matters worse, he was a pretty renowned knight within the empire.

He was the commander of the imperial court’s 11th knight order, to boot.

“Do not resent me for reaping your life, then!”

Wuu-uuung—

Aura began enveloping Milton’s blade. It was the same “power” referred to as Dao energy back in the world found on the 60th floor.

From what Su-hyeun heard, it seemed that people called this energy “aura” in this world.

“Isn’t that aura blade?”

“Oh ho ho. So Lord Milton did have a reason to be confident, I see.”

“So young, yet he’s already reached that stage…”

“It is indeed the empire’s great fortune.”

Judging from the reactions of the peanut gallery, Milton’s skill seemed to be a rather amazing thing. Su-hyeun studied Milton’s ability with some interest as well.

The knight had wrapped his sword with aura and created a silhouette of a larger blade. It became even sharper than any treasure swords you could find in the world.

One could easily spy just how much Milton had to polish his “Sage Art” in order to perfect the skill called the aura blade.

“Even then, it’s a bit…”

When Su-hyeun openly stared at his aura blade, Milton formed a triumphant expression and asked, “And so, do you still not plan to get into a proper stance?”

Su-hyeun didn’t bother to reply to that.

Milton must have thought that he was still being ignored because a deep scowl dominated his expression almost immediately. He then grasped his sword with both hands and took a large stride forward.

“I see. In that case, why don’t you—?”

Paaahk—!

Swooooosh—

The moment his feet left the ground, his whole body flew in front of Su-hyeun, aiming for his open chest. However, even as he held his sword to make a downward strike, Su-hyeun’s stance showed no change whatsoever.

“Die already—!”

CLAAAANG—!

Milton was planning to cut apart his opponent’s chest in one stroke, but his expression ended up stiffening in pure disbelief.

His sword, which definitely should have split open Su-hyeun’s torso, was currently stopped in front of the latter’s chest.

Shudder, quiver—

“What is going on?” he thought.

No matter how much he pushed, the blade didn’t go any further.

It was as if he was trying to hammer down on forged steel. No, wait—his sword should have easily cut through mere forged steel like a radish.

But now…

“How come…?”

[Somersault cloud]

[Indomitable Body]

[The Armor of Hades]

The thin armor Su-hyeun had on was a piece of equipment crafted by Kim Dae-ho using the shell of the Titan Turtle. On top of that, the Somersault cloud wrapping around his body, plus the effects from the Indomitable Body, was more than enough to withstand most physical and magical damages.

Meaning, Milton wouldn’t be able to even scratch Su-hyeun even if the latter chose to stand still.

“So this is the aura blade?”

Su-hyeun grabbed Milton’s sword with his bare hand.

Milton was stunned by that move and tried to yank his weapon back, but too bad for him, it didn’t even budge an inch just like his wrist earlier.

Su-hyeun continued, “It certainly is sharp, but in terms of either its density or structure, I have to say it’s on the poor side. It’s only at the level of barely manifesting the correct shape, and that’s about it.”

Crack, crunch—

Veins bulged on Su-hyeun’s hand.

His strengthened grip easily distorted the aura Milton had generated. The flustered knight tried to reclaim his sword by strengthening his arms and legs and urgently pulled back.

Clang—!

And right at that moment, Milton’s sword snapped in half, causing him to stumble ungainly several steps back.

“…Huh?”

“I don’t think I’ll have to use my sword for the likes of you.”

Cruuunch—

Su-hyeun crushed the broken piece of the sword in his hand. The audience waiting for an exciting fight grew silent at what had transpired out of the blue.

“Anyone else wishing to challenge me? If you’re reluctant to come at me one at a time, it’s fine for you to attack in groups.”

The drill hall fell into an even deeper silence, so much so that it was hard to believe that dozens of people had gathered in the place.

They were either too busy sussing out each other’s moods first or were glancing at Milton. As for Milton himself, he simply stood there, dazedly staring at his broken sword.

A voice came from the group of knights. “Goodness me. The faces of the imperial knight orders are rather shameful to look at right now.”

Someone with a smiling face suddenly stepped out from among the hesitant knights. It was an old man with pure-white hair and white eyes.

Quite unlike his aged outer appearance, however, his physique was well-toned, and the atmosphere he carried spoke volumes for his hidden strength.

“Please forgive us for passing judgment on you based solely on your appearance. As expected of a man acknowledged by His Majesty.”

“Who are you?” Su-hyeun asked.

“I’m the commander of the imperial court’s first knight order. Waffman is my name.”

He was the imperial court’s best knight according to what Binladen said not too long ago.

“This man is that Waffman,” Su-hyeun thought.

Although Binladen did bring him up, this old man’s overall countenance seemed somewhat ill-matched to the description of being vicious and cruel.

However, that smiling face was hiding something underneath. One would normally resort to such a face when they wanted to hide a part of themselves they didn’t like sharing with the rest of the world.

An unnatural smile forced upon one’s lips—that was the easiest mask a person could wear.

“I’ve heard of you from Sir Binladen. He mentioned that you’re probably the strongest person out of everyone present.”

“Is that so? That friend, his praise was a bit excessive.”

“But he’s not wrong. Even I can tell you’re strong.”

“Really?” Waffman laughed at that. “This old man is happy that so many youngsters are evaluating me so highly.”

Unlike his chuckling face, though, Waffman’s eyes were not smiling at all.

Su-hyeun studied the aura wafting around Waffman. For sure, this man’s level was far greater than Milton.

“Aura blade, huh?” Su-hyeun contemplated inwardly.

Although only by a little, he was now interested in the upcoming battle.

The level of abilities of this world wasn’t high overall, but as far as its structure was concerned, Su-hyeun had to admit that it had been quite well-developed. Aura control began from the same roots as the Sage Arts, so he thought that there must be a few things he could learn from it.

“Okay, should I try it myself?” he thought.