Player who Returned 10,000 years Later

Tsssssssss!!

White steam fumed explosively from the back portion of the black armor, forming wings. The intense heat from the steam distorted the air like a heat haze. Power immense enough to destroy even the largest mountain in the world with one strike gathered into a fist, truly befitting the Deific Name of Domination. The energy that could obliterate everything in its path smashed into a little boy.

Rumble—!!!

The training room, protected by several dozen layers of barriers, shook like an earthquake. The nightmarish violence turned the defenseless little boy into mush.

Wriggle.

Black mucus as viscous as tar flowed from the little boy, who had popped like an overinflated balloon.

"Heavenly Dragon—"

Just then, an extraordinarily handsome young man wielding a sword enveloped in white frost leaped into the air. An illusion of a spiraled blue dragon roaring formed around him. The blue dragon then bared its sharp teeth and charged at the black mucus.

"Rampage!"

Hundreds of supersonic slashes split the space in less than one second, creating a massive storm. The blade storm split apart the squirming black mucus in an instant. The destruction was so horrendous that no living being should have been able to survive it.

Wriggle—!!

"Kurgh!"

"Hurgh!"

However, the tiny pieces of the black mucus suddenly expanded in size, spread apart like a fan, and aimed for the young man with a sword.

"Watch out—!"

The giant in black armor pushed the young man away and stretched out his arm to block the fan of black mucus.

Crunch! Crunch! Crack!!

The sound of metal getting ground echoed. The countless white teeth protruding from the black mucus devoured the black armor protecting the giant’s arm, being reduced to rags. The white teeth sunk into the giant’s exposed muscular arm.

"Shit!"

The young man with the sword jumped off of the giant’s shoulder and into the air. He raised his arms, a massive condensed sword energy surging from his sword, and swung down at the black mucus devouring the giant’s arm.

Fwoosh—!

"Gasp!"

Just then, gold and black flames ignited from the black mucus. They were the Flames of Voracity that blazed with Chaos as its fuel. The flames that looked like a black sun absorbed the blue sword energy in an instant and squirmed aggressively.

"Argghhh!"

The Flames of Voracity did not leave burn marks; they left lacerations on the skin as if attacked by a wild beast. The young man grimaced from the excruciating pain of getting his skin ripped apart, but only for a moment. He stopped the bleeding using his Qi and gripped his sword tightly.

"Haaaaaaaaaahhh!!"

The giant, whose black armor was now tattered, also clenched his fists and roared.

"That’s enough," muttered a mouth that appeared from the black mucus.

The young man and the giant stopped in their tracks.

"Haaa, haaa."

"Kurgh."

The young man grimaced as he held his wounds, and the giant crouched as he clenched his ragged fists.

Wriggle, wriggle.

It took a little over ten seconds for the squirming black mucus to take the appearance of a human. The little boy’s body, which had turned into mush after getting smashed by the giant’s fist, turned back to normal without a scratch on him as if nothing happened. Kang-Woo, the little boy, checked his body’s growth first.

Riiing.

[Hastening the reconstruction as per the influence of the demonic energy from the Abyss.]

[Growing the body by 0.02 cm.]

"Goddammit," Kang-Woo cursed as he read the message window that popped up in front of him.

’The effect is getting weaker and weaker.’

The method of stimulating the Demonic Sea by harming his body with Balrog and Kim Si-Hun’s help was slowly losing its effect.

’I’ve grown 5.78 cm in total so far.’

Kang-Woo thought he would get to his former appearance in no time since he grew over 4 cm the first time, but the effect drastically waned after the first time.

’If it’s this little even after Si-Hun took part in it, I might not even grow at all the next time.’

He clicked his tongue as he stared at the blue message window. He could hypothesize why the method was losing effect so quickly.

’It’s not that the harming of my body is wrong.’

Stimulating the Demonic Sea through physical harm was no doubt effective in hastening his growth.

’The problem is…’

Kang-Woo stared at Si-Hun and Balrog with narrowed eyes. Even if Kang-Woo was getting destroyed by their attacks, the Demonic Sea was no longer getting stimulated because it had simply grown used to their attacks.

’And no matter how much bloodlust they exude, it won’t compare to actual bloodlust.’

Si-Hun and Balrog held unwavering trust in Kang-Woo. Even if they were to attack him with bloodlust at his command, they couldn’t exude bloodlust with the unfaltering desire to kill him. The Demonic Sea realized that Si-Hun and Balrog were not a threat to it.

’Doing this is pointless now.’

He needed someone else who could drive him to the brink of death and stimulate the Demonic Sea. Most of all, they needed to be an enemy who held undeniable hostility against him, unlike Si-Hun and Balrog who were only pretending to try to kill him.

’Easier said than done. Where the hell am I gonna find someone like that?’

Kang-Woo sighed deeply. It would be almost impossible to find an enemy powerful enough to stimulate the Demonic Sea.

’And most of all…’

He slowly turned to look at Si-Hun and Balrog, who were treating their wounds as they panted heavily. People might think Kang-Woo was extremely strong despite being weakened since he was easily defeating those two monsters who could defeat Top-rank gods, but there was a fatal flaw in that thought.

’I’m only fighting using the Demonic Sea that naturally flows out when my body regenerates.’

If Kang-Woo fought against Si-Hun and Balrog without them harming him, he would be beaten senselessly without even being able to scratch them.

’In other words, I’m fucked if the enemy decides to seal me or something without killing me.’

Even if Kang-Woo were to be sealed, he might be able to break out of it if the Demonic Sea deemed it dangerous to its existence. The problem was that Kang-Woo had no idea when the Demonic Sea would feel threatened. Worst-case scenario, he might only be able to break out after several years.

"That’s not good at all."

Kang-Woo shook his head as if not even wanting to think about it. He knew how much pain the people around him went through in his three years of absence.

"Ngh… My wounds are finally regenerating," said Balrog as he walked toward Kang-Woo, shaking his healed fist.

"I think… I’ll need a little more time," said Si-Hun, who did not have extraordinary healing capabilities like Balrog, as he smiled bitterly and wrapped his wounds in bandages.

"Sorry. I could heal you in a flash if I could use my Authority of Regeneration."

"No, it’s okay. These injuries are nothing as long as I can be of help to you, hyung-nim."

"Sheesh, you little son of a bitch."

Kang-Woo smiled as he lightly patted Si-Hun’s shoulder.

"Oh, and hyung-nim. I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to make time tomorrow."

"Hm? Oh, it’s fine. I was gonna put this training to an end anyway."

"Y-You are?" Si-Hun asked in slight disappointment.

"Yeah. I don’t think it’ll make much difference even if we keep doing it."

"I… see."

"That aside, do you have plans tomorrow?" asked Kang-Woo as he took out a potion and poured it on Si-Hun’s injury.

"Mm… I’ve been hearing reports of a bizarre monster lately."

"A bizarre monster? Is it related to the otherworldly invasions?"

"I’m not sure about that yet."

"What kind of monster is it?"

Si-Hun sheathed the Frost Sword on his waist and continued, "Apparently, it is a monster that suddenly appears in front of people, gives them a question to solve, and drags them away to somewhere if they answer wrong."

"The hell’s with that?"

"There are only rumors about the monster so far. Its exact identity hasn’t been figured out yet."

"Hmm." Kang-Woo tilted his head and stroked his chin.

’It drags them somewhere if they get the question wrong, huh?’

A certain being naturally came to mind.

"Something like the sphinx?"

"Yes, although it is a little different," Si-Hun answered.

It was certainly different; the sphinx killed and ate those who failed to solve its riddle but this unknown monster was dragging them somewhere.

"But I’ve heard that the questions it asks are… rather unique," Si-Hun remarked.

"What sort of questions are they?"

"One usually thinks of riddles when they think about the sphinx, right?"

"Yeah."

"But I hear this monster poses SAT-level questions. Mathematics, the year that historical events happened, and even famous quotes from famous artists."

"Why the hell is it so weirdly realistic…?"

"I hear it asked about the year that the Berlin Wall fell back when it appeared in Gwangju."

"How would anyone answer that on the spot?"

Riddles would be easier to answer since people rarely memorized specific years that every historical event took place. People in Germany might have a chance but not many Koreans knew such trivia.

"The Player who was given the question happened to have studied German history in great detail so they luckily got it right."

"What an irritating monster. Is its name Namuwiki[1] or something?"

"Hahaha. There are actually some Players who call the monster Wikiholic."

’I fucking knew it.’

"I guess all sorts of monsters are appearing now that Bael is dead." Kang-Woo chuckled nonsensically. "None of the people who were dragged away have come back?"

"That’s right."

"Then they must be dead." It was far too optimistic to think the people who were dragged away by a crazy monster like that were alive. "A monster who drags you away if you get its question wrong, huh?"

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, to be more specific, they’re not dragged away by the monster but are teleported away," Si-Hun clarified.

"Teleported…?"

’Are they getting isekai’ed?’

"I’m not sure about the details," Si-Hun replied.

"It’s certainly worth looking into." Kang-Woo nodded and turned around. "I’ll look into it as well, so let me know if you find anything."

"There’s no need for you to put yourself in danger…"

"I won’t, dammit. Why would I try to find the thing myself when it’s obviously dangerous? I’m just gonna have Lilith gather some information."

It was far too reckless to chase after an unknown phenomenon when Kang-Woo had yet to regain his powers.

"Understood." Si-Hun bowed and turned around to leave.

"Right, then." Kang-Woo looked around the mess in the training room as if ten beagles were let loose in it, and stretched. "I’ll leave the cleanup to you."

Kang-Woo summoned Satan and smiled as he patted him on the shoulder.

Satan’s expression turned somber as he gripped the broom.

1. Namuwiki is basically Korean Wikipedia. ☜