Chapter 129: Team Revival (3)

I've been thinking about something for a while, and I realized it was possible during my fights against the Wendigo. It was that I could stay in the air using Ruyue's power.

Of course, it would be best if Ruyue could fly, but she was a wolf. She did not have wings, so she could not fly. Even so, I wanted to freely move in the sky. Talaria's duration was too short. I needed a more consistent and long-lasting method.

What I thought of was to infuse Ruyue into my boots. With my proficiency in Spirit Aura and affinity with Ruyue, I could freeze anything my boots touched. It might only seem useful when I attacked with my feet, but there was another purpose. With it, I would be able to walk on air. Using Spirit Aura, I would freeze a portion of the air below my feet, creating a temporary step out of ice. Once I stepped off, I would take away the elemental power and the temporary step would disappear. That way, I wouldn't use much mana, and once I got used to it, I would be able to stay in midair for a long time. I considered making a hoverboard out of ice and controlling it with Ruyue's power, but I gave up since that would consume too much mana.

At first, I wasn't sure if it would work well, but there was no problem when I tested it. With Spirit Aura, I could accurately create circular steps where my feet touched. By leaping from off of them and retrieving the mana from the steps I already created, the ice would lose the power to maintain itself and disappear. I realized it was quite simple and convenient. Plus, it felt really good. I could fly in the sky without any restraints! Though, in order to not waste mana, I couldn't walk, only jump to cover more distance.

In any case, thanks to this realization, I could freely go wild at the Wyvern's Nest.

"Th... Thunder Knight is..."

"He's walking on air. Is that his ability, too?"

"Look under his feet. He's stepping on something. It's hard to see because it's night, but it shines when you expose it to light."

Spotting a wyvern flying through the sky, I once again kicked off the ice step. It also saw me and flew toward me while breathing fire. I quickly created an ice step and jumped.

[Guaaaa!]

The wyvern cut off its fire and looked up. Then, it started breathing fire again. I charged into it. Although I roused Ruyue's power and created a barrier using her freezing energy, I couldn't completely block the wyvern's flames. I could feel my armor getting hot. If I was in the dungeon, I could probably see my HP falling.

Without paying it much attention, I sent my fist inside its mouth.

[Kuhak!]

The wyvern made a strange cry and tried to spit out my fist, but I wrapped my other arm around its neck and concentrated my mana in my fist.

"Peika!"

[Thunder Bomb!]

[Kuaaaaa!]

The shock of the lightning explosion caused the wyvern's flames to cease. Thanks to Ruyue, my armor, which had gotten hot enough to cook eggs, cooled down. Meanwhile, I pushed my fist deeper into its mouth.

"Die! Tempest!'

[Thunder Bomb!]

Tempest and Thunder Bomb were mixed together. The mana whirlpool, which had reached a certain level of attainment, took in Thunder Bomb and transformed into a violent lightning storm. Immediately afterwards, the wyvern's head exploded into pieces. Hah, what was this incredibly refreshing feeling...?

[You created the skill, 'Thunder Tempest'! By adding strong lightning's explosive force to the whirlpool created by Peruta Circuit, you can deliver a deadly blow to your target! Unlike Elemental Tempest, which strengthened the whirlpool with nearby elementals, Thunder Tempest is powered by lightning elemental power and focuses its destructive force in a small area. By using at least 5% of your mana, it deals a powerful lightning attribute explosion damage to your target. By adding more mana, you can increase its destructive force. As the skill's creator, the skill level is adjusted to mid-rank level 2.]

[You created a skill! Thunder Tempest is a variation of Elemental Tempest. While it's more suited for one-on-one battles, it maintains an overwhelming destructive force. This skill, which shows its creator's high level of attainment in Peruta Circuit and elemental magic, contains a destructive force that no one can ignore. You obtained 1 skill point as reward. Current skill points: 3]

I knew it! I had really created a new skill. I didn't know mixing Tempest and Thunder Bomb would create such a powerful skill. Wait, I could probably use this with a spear too! My excitement grew from the unexpected skill and the skill point I obtained.

"Alright, let's continue."

I grinned inside my helmet. If I could relieve my frustration, I didn't care what came my way. As I was now, I felt like I could destroy everything.

"Get over here, you damned lizards!!"

[You used Provoke! Nearby enemies' hostility becomes fixed onto you!]

My shout, which rang out through the entire canyon, even caused other people to react.

"Eh? Was Thunder Knight French?"

"What are you talking about? He just spoke in German."

"Don't lie, that was Japanese."

Well, as long as I had the choker on, I would get found out anyways. You guys can think however you want!

I grinned on the ice step I was standing on. Creating whirlpools mixed with lightning on both hands, I slammed them together. The wyverns were getting closer. Tomorrow, I would have an enjoyable wyvern meat party.

Until 6 A.M., I was completely absorbed with hunting wyverns. In the end, I managed to hunt almost 70 wyverns by myself. When I landed after killing the last wyvern, people began to murmur.

"He wasn't that strong when he was in Britain."

"He was strong, but not as strong as them."

"But now..."

"He's an SS ranker."

On the other hand, there were some who came to talk to me directly. It was a Caucasian man, who seemed to be part of America's Guardian. He was wearing an armor engraved with Guardian's emblem.

"I'm America's S ranker, John Smith."

"John Smith?"

"It's my real name."

That was the fake name I wanted! How unfortunate. I wanted to be called John Smith instead of something strange like T.K. John Smith, who had become the target of my envy, pointed at the wyvern I just fell and asked.

"If you'd like, we can collect the wyverns you hunted for you. Of course, we won't do anything else."

"Why? That seems too good of an offer."

I had planned on letting Hwaya collect them later with her usual extradimensional storage excuse, but I tilted my head at the unexpected offer.

"It the least we can do. You came to America from a foreign country and reduced the number of wvyerns greatly in a single night. Taking care of the monster corpses should be the least we can do to thank you for your work."

"Ah... I see."

Now that I thought about it, it made sense. In any case, I was happy that there was less work for me to do. Collecting all 70 wyverns would have been tedious, but since they should be able to monitor the entire canyon, they should be able to do it quicker.

"Hm, then you guys can have 10 of them."

"No, we didn't make the offer to get any benefits."

"It's fine. It'll be to thank you for your work. Will 10 be enough?"

"It's more than enough. Wyverns are rare monsters, so we hunt however many we can. If you'd like to sell the other 60, we'll pay a generous amount for them."

For the record, he said each wyverns were over 2.3 million dollars. In Korean won, that was 2.5 billion won. Geez, they were a billion won more expensive than the melting tunas! Wait, doesn't that mean I just made over 180 billion won? No matter how much money I made, I never used it, so I didn't realize just how much it was. For a moment, I thought, 'Was giving 10 away too much?' I should have asked for the price first! However, as a ranker, it was unsightly to ask for them back.

I asked while trying to calm myself.

"Then I'll sell 20 of them for now."

"Understood. We can talk about the details in the afternoon after getting some rest. Of course, we'll collect all the wyvern corpses until then."

"Sure."

I returned to the lodging. Even though I cleansed myself of the wyverns' blood and flesh with Ruyue's power, it was impossible to dodge them completely. The Guardian employee at the lobby became startled when he saw me, and led me to the shower room. As expected of a place for rankers, there were private shower rooms for each. I could finally take my mask off.

"Huu..."

Even though I relieved my stress using the wyverns, I was reminded of what happened last night under the hot shower water. The shocked Ciara, and Hwaya who looked at me with worry. Ludia wasn't in a state to talk about Heroes and Ye-Eun was worried about me, but Hwaya was different.

She considered Ciara's offer realistically and asked if I was okay with refusing her. She knew how dangerous being a Hero was, and thought it was better for the world and for my safety to accept her offer.

"Organization, huh..."

It would be a lie if I said I never considered it. It would be a lie if I said I never considered myself in the shoes of other continents' Heroes, who fought against their worlds' enemies as their worlds' cores.

It was irritating and uncomfortable in that it was an unavoidable future, but it was also something exciting, cool, and mystical that every boy dreamed of. A man fighting with the world's fate on the line. It was quite cliché. Plus, it wasn't that I didn't like being safer. I wasn't that stupid.

I didn't want to die. I was worried about my family, friends, Ludia who was relying on me, and... Loretta, who would be hurt.

There were many things I had to protect. Many people I loved and many that loved me back.

That was why I was even more afraid.

That I'd use countless number of people just because the world's fate was on the line. That many people would die to protect me. I was afraid of the blood that would flow under the name of Hero.

I was afraid. It was disgusting and fearful.

As such...

"I have to get strong."

I had to get stronger. Strong enough to crush everything with my own strength.

I remembered Luka continent.

In face of the world's ruin, I remembered the people who joined hands with the demons to save themselves.

In face of the world's ruin, I remembered the emperor, who sacrificed his life for those who had not enjoyed their life to their fullest.

If the Hero didn't die, such things wouldn't have happened. Traitors wouldn't have had to join hands with the demons to save themselves, and the emperor could have put his life on the line for the future, not the present. However, the Hero died, and the world fell. My friend despaired and her parents died a dog's death.

As such, Earth's Hero will not die. He was not allowed to. To not die, he had to get stronger. Overwhelming so, as to not create meaningless deaths.

I turned off the shower head. I wiped my body with a towel and pondered. I thought about a way to solve this problem.

I couldn't think of anything. As always.

Author's note:

Shin is not perfect as a main character, both physically and mentally. You could say he's still inexperienced, but it won't stay that way forever.

He thought the dungeon only as a place where he could get stronger. In face of reality, that will slowly change. What awaits him, what decisions he will make, please wait and see. You will not be disappointed.