Not All Heroes From Earth Are Bad [EN]: Chapter 74

Choi Hyun-seok narrowed his eyes, watching the scene unfold.

A group of unidentified people had suddenly appeared.

They were all wearing hoods, obscuring their faces, but they didn’t appear to be demons.

The visible figures beneath the hoods were definitely human.

‘Who are these guys?’

As he pondered, the one in front removed his hood.

As expected, a human face was revealed.

Following his lead, the others began to remove their hoods as well.

Swish…

Despite it being a simple act, their movements were perfectly synchronized, as if they had practiced countless times.

Rather than admiring their precision, he felt a sense of unease.

‘Something’s wrong with these guys. Their eyes are unfocused.’

The atmosphere of those blocking their path was strange.

Empty eyes.

They looked like soulless dolls.

Choi Hyun-seok couldn’t shake off the unsettling feeling from this incongruity.

“Hero! They’re people! Let’s go ask them for help!”

“Wait.”

“Is there anything to think about!? We’re about to get killed by these dumb demons!”

Rachel exclaimed urgently.

He understood what she was trying to say.

They were cornered, and they had to grab at any straw to survive.

But Choi Hyun-seok shook his head.

His instincts were screaming.

No matter how dangerous it was, he couldn’t run from wild dogs into a tiger’s den.

“Isn’t it strange? Why are there people here, and why now, at this timing?”

“This isn’t the time to be picky. Can’t you see? They’re heroes!”

“I know, so just get inside for now.”

Choi Hyun-seok pulled Rachel closer, shielding her.

He quickly scanned his surroundings.

‘About fifty of them.’

‘Eastern appearances, rare to see here.’

‘Black hair, only seen on demons unless…’

He quickly analyzed and synthesized the information.

It wasn’t difficult to reach a conclusion.

Heroes.

As Rachel said, there was a high probability that they were heroes.

‘What’s strange is that I can’t feel any magic power from them.’

This was Inemosit, a place teeming with dangerous magical beasts.

It was impossible for ordinary people without any magic power to come and go.

‘There’s definitely something going on…’

As Choi Hyun-seok bit his lip and pondered, the man standing at the front of the hero group stepped forward.

Unlike the others who looked dazed, he had a clear, focused gaze.

“I am Taylor Andrew, a hero.”

The man’s name was Taylor Andrew.

He was a hero, as Choi Hyun-seok had expected.

At that moment, the hero quest notification popped up after a long time.

★☆★☆ Hero Quest! ★☆★☆

Oh dear! You’ve encountered a group of treacherous heroes!

There seems to be no hope against these villains.

Try your best to survive!

· Objective: Survival

· Additional Objective: Eliminate the hero group

· Reward: 1,000 Hero Points

Thanks to the sudden quest, Choi Hyun-seok was able to learn two things.

One was that the hero group was the enemy.

The other was that they were unbelievably strong.

Strong enough to give 1,000 Hero Points just for surviving.

‘Avoid fighting and slip away naturally.’

Choi Hyun-seok waved his hand with a friendly smile.

“Oh! What a coincidence. I’m a hero too. So, what brings you heroes here?”

“Demon hunting.”

Taylor drew his sword and approached.

Choi Hyun-seok nodded, putting on the kindest expression he could muster.

“Ah, demon hunting! That’s great! I can’t stand demons either. Can I join you?”

“I refuse.”

“Well, if that’s the case, there’s nothing I can do. Carry on with your business. I’ll be on my way. Haha!”

Choi Hyun-seok laughed heartily and started walking away.

“Let’s get rid of the demons and bring justice to the world! Fighting!”

He even struck a fighting pose as a final gesture before walking into the forest.

At that moment.

Swish!

A flying sword energy cut off Choi Hyun-seok’s hair.

Cold sweat poured down his back.

He glanced back and saw that the sword energy had cut through trees and rocks.

‘What power…’

If he hadn’t instinctively ducked, it wouldn’t have been his hair that was cut off, but his head.

Choi Hyun-seok looked at Taylor with a bewildered expression.

“W-What is this, doing this to a fellow hero…?”

“We also execute traitors.”

“Traitors? I’m a hero, remember?”

“I know you’re a hero. You can make excuses for why you became a traitor after you’re dead.”

“What the hell…”

It seemed he couldn’t avoid a fight after all.

The guy seemed to already know information about him.

Choi Hyun-seok took a fighting stance, drawing up magic power and demonic energy.

‘I can’t win in a head-on fight.’

He could tell for sure, even from just one strike.

That hero, Taylor, was on a different level.

In terms of the Demon King’s army, he was a regimental commander class. [A high-ranking officer in the demon army.]

Maybe even higher.

‘In this case, I’ll stall for time.’

So, all he could do now was stall for time.

He had to hold out until the other demons arrived.

‘Focus…’

Choi Hyun-seok glared.

He had to keep an eye on Taylor’s movements at all times.

He knew from his past experiences.

Speed and power.

An enemy who overwhelmed him in every way.

Against such an enemy, he had to gamble everything in every moment.

That’s why he had to maintain a high level of concentration that would break his head.

‘He’s coming!’

The moment he thought it, Taylor kicked off the ground.

He was already in front of him, wielding his sword.

The speed was so great that it was difficult to even react.

‘Don’t flinch.’

Choi Hyun-seok knew instinctively.

In this situation, a clumsy dodge would only be poison.

There was only one thing he could do to survive.

‘Charge into his arms.’

Choi Hyun-seok took a step forward.

Perhaps he hadn’t expected this response, as a brief moment of bewilderment flashed across Taylor’s eyes.

Whoosh!

The sword grazed his shoulder, and blood splattered in the air.

The sharp energy contained within made him realize once again that the enemy’s level was overwhelming.

But Choi Hyun-seok didn’t stop.

He couldn’t stop if he wanted to live.

He had to keep moving and throwing his trump card.

‘Strikes won’t work. I’ll go for grappling, which I’m not as familiar with.’

Choi Hyun-seok grabbed Taylor’s waist.

Even though he possessed overwhelming power, Taylor was still human.

Including his armor, his weight was just over 100kg [approximately 220 pounds].

That was a light weight for Choi Hyun-seok, who had surpassed human strength.

‘Slam him…!’

He hooked his leg to break his balance and spun him around.

In the blink of an eye, Taylor spun once in the air.

And fell headfirst to the ground.

Thud!

Taylor’s neck snapped as he was slammed into the ground.

Choi Hyun-seok didn’t stop and went into a follow-up attack.

The aggressive demonic energy boiling within him.

It was time to use the aura he had learned for times like these.

Raidrun-style martial arts

Form 7 – Gyukgoejakpa (擊䂷炸波) [Striking Boulder Exploding Wave – a martial arts technique].

The tightly clenched fist slammed down.

Even in the midst of confusion, Taylor raised his hand to block it.

In the first place, the difference in their power was so overwhelming.

Choi Hyun-seok’s fist could only be blocked in vain.

However, this was expected.

The real deal was from now on.

Buzz…!

Raidrun-style martial arts, Form 7 – Gyukgoejakpa.

A technique that vibrates demonic energy to unleash a shockwave over a wide area.

It was a kind of area-of-effect skill.

There was a reason why he used an area-of-effect skill in a situation where there was only one enemy.

Even if the attack was blocked, the vibrating demonic energy didn’t stop.

Choi Hyun-seok’s demonic energy passed through Taylor’s hand and began to spread in all directions.

Thwack!

The vibrating demonic energy shook the area, and the ground was overturned.

The thick cloud of dust that rose up obscured the vision for a moment.

Using that gap, Choi Hyun-seok quickly retreated.

“Hoo… Hooo…”

The series of attacks that took place in the blink of an eye.

It was a short moment, but his breathing was rough because he had used all his strength.

Even exhausted, Choi Hyun-seok stared sharply ahead.

It was too early to rest assured.

The enemy was still alive.

“Annoying style.”

Taylor walked out through the dust.

He spat on the ground.

It was red spit mixed with blood.

‘Is that all?’

Choi Hyun-seok’s face hardened.

He had expected it, but the enemy was too strong.

He had done his best, but the damage the enemy had taken was minimal.

The difference in basic stats was too great.

‘I can’t do that twice. What should I do?’

This time, it was only because the enemy didn’t respond to the unexpected attack method.

The probability of the next attack succeeding was low.

Choi Hyun-seok didn’t have many cards left to play.

‘Do I have to use Promot?’

The aura Promot he wanted to save until the very end.

He was seriously considering whether to use it or not.

“Human! You were here!”

“Wait! You don’t die even if I cut off one leg!”

“It’s a human! There are a lot of humans!”

The reinforcements he had been waiting for arrived.

***

The hero Taylor Andrew.

He glared fiercely ahead.

At the end of his gaze was the traitor hero Choi Hyun-seok.

He was panting, perhaps tired from the brief exchange.

Taylor watched him closely.

‘What is this guy…?’

He knew some general information about Choi Hyun-seok.

A traitor who was a hero but had joined the Demon King’s army.

His strength wasn’t very high, but he was growing rapidly.

And for some reason, he was one of the top priority targets to eliminate.

However, Taylor’s question wasn’t about such personal details.

‘In that short moment… I couldn’t respond.’

He had allowed Choi Hyun-seok to attack him.

No, it would be more accurate to say that he was unilaterally beaten for a moment.

‘It’s impossible considering the difference in power between him and me.’

That wasn’t arrogance, but an objective fact.

There was an immeasurable gap between Taylor and Choi Hyun-seok.

In fact, even though he was defenseless, Taylor didn’t suffer much damage.

That’s why he couldn’t understand it even more.

Why was he, who was overwhelmingly strong, forced to be unilaterally beaten?

Taylor’s mind became complicated.

‘Besides, the aura he used at the end… He vibrated demonic energy and released it. It’s not a technique that can be used at such a low level.’

The aura Choi Hyun-seok used at the end.

It seemed like he was simply imbuing his fist with demonic energy and slamming it down, but it wasn’t as simple as it looked.

It was a high-level technique that only a regimental commander-class demon in the Demon King’s army could use.

It wasn’t a technique that Choi Hyun-seok, who didn’t even seem to reach the level of a battalion commander [a lower-ranking officer than a regimental commander], could use.

‘The power of the aura is also strange. It was a power that could never come out of his level.’

There was another strange thing.

The output of the aura that Choi Hyun-seok used was too high.

Generally, the magic power used when using aura once is about 2-3% of the total.

Even if forced, it never exceeds 5% of the total magic power.

This was the same for the demonic energy used by demons.

However, Choi Hyun-seok used more than 30% of his magic power at once.

How was such control possible?

Even if it was possible, the body wouldn’t be able to withstand such a high output.

That was common sense.

However, Choi Hyun-seok, who used this bizarre aura, was fine.

He was panting, but he didn’t seem to have suffered any major physical shock.

‘It’s full of strange things. Looking back, even avoiding the first attack didn’t make sense.’

When Taylor first swung his sword.

He was truly intending to cut off Choi Hyun-seok’s head.

However, Choi Hyun-seok narrowly avoided the crisis of death by ducking his head.

You might think it’s a fuss over a trivial evasion, but considering the gap between the two, it was definitely strange.

‘I thought he was just a strange guy who used magic power and demonic energy together… There’s definitely something about him.’

Why was a seemingly insignificant traitor on the top priority list for elimination?

He thought it was simply because he was a unique being who used magic power and demonic energy together.

However, he could tell as a result of confronting him directly.

‘He’s a strange, no… a dangerous guy.’

Taylor had to admit it.

Choi Hyun-seok was dangerous.

He might be easy to deal with now because his stats were low, but what about next time?

He was a traitor, but he was also a hero.

Someday, he would level up and his stats would increase.

It was clear that it would be very difficult to deal with him even if he only had the specs of a regimental commander.

‘I need to nip it in the bud.’

An irregular who used power outside the norm.

Such variables had to be dealt with before they grew bigger.

The moment Taylor was about to move to kill Choi Hyun-seok.

“Human! You were here!”

“Wait! You don’t die even if I cut off one leg!”

“It’s a human! There are a lot of humans!”

The demons participating in the game appeared.

Taylor smiled as he looked at the guys who had come without him having to go out of his way to find them.

‘Thanks for saving me the trouble.’

Today. No demon, including the traitor, would be able to survive here.