The Returner

Chapter 84: What will happen if we enter there? (4)

(TL: This extra chapter is brought to you by these selfless individuals: Kaung TWN, Tyler L, Eric G, and Tae-Ha K!! Thank you for your support! I really appreciate it.)

ROOOAAARRR!!!

Oh-Sik’s roar struck the rebellious NDF ability users.

“Keuk!”

The aura emitted by an Ogre that had regained all of its former glory was no laughing matter. The feeling of danger was so overwhelming that even these users, who had fought against countless monsters in the demon world, couldn’t help but stand there in a daze.

People who got frozen stiff and unable to move after being affected by Oh-Sik’s ‘Howling’ continued to crop up everwhere.

“D*mn it!” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young bit down on her lower lip.

At that moment, her consciousness seemed to have been cast into a faraway place. Only after she drew blood from her own lip could she regain her focus.

Although it happened six months ago, she did fight against Oh-Sik continuously and so, she believed that she had built up some sort of ‘immunity’ against the Ogre. That was a miscalculation on her part, though.

If one were to get brutally honest here, then none of the ability users had actually fought Oh-Sik at his full power. And an Ogre no longer restrained by limitations was a terrifying existence none of them could win against.

ROOOAAAR!!

Oh-Sik revealed his demonic side as he roared out again.

“A, aren’t you going to stop Oh-Sik?” (Jeong Hae-Min)

Jeong Hae-Min began trembling in her boots as she watched this scene unfold. Because of its puppy-like adorable appearance, she had forgotten about the fact that Oh-Sik was still a monster. And that monster was busy eyeballing her friends right now.

“Stop him? Why?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk didn’t seem perturbed at all.

“What will you do if there’s an accident?” (Jeong Hae-Min)

“If there is one, then so be it. I’m not at fault here. They came running headfirst into me, so what am I supposed to do? Don’t blame me for this.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

No, hang on a minute, you’re approaching a no-go zone there, buddy.

How can you even say that you’re not at fault here after putting other people through a wringer like that? (the Author’s inner monologue)

Growl....

As Oh-Sik growled and threatened the NDF agents, other monsters rapidly appeared out of the black warp gate and stood alongside the Ogre.

Just one Ogre was already difficult to handle; when other equally powerful monsters joined the fray, the NDF agents began retreating unsteadily on their feet from fear.

“Hold the line!” (Seo Ah-Young)

However, as soon as Seo Ah-Young’s sharp voice rang out, the retreating steps came to an abrupt halt.

This wasn’t their first rodeo, so why were they acting like this?

With that thought popping up in their heads, the fear and unrest of a few seconds ago went away, to be quickly replaced by fighting spirit.

In the past, they wouldn’t even dare to dream about it, but at the moment, confidence that they could throw down against these monsters was quickly filling their heads.

The terrifying aura of several monsters and the burning fighting spirit of the ability users collided in a tense stand-off.

Soon, a deafening silence descended. It was a silence so quiet that a person’s breathing sounded like a thunderclap.

Breaking this tense silence....

“Uhm, excuse me....” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Choi Jung-Hoon cautiously opened his mouth.

“What now!” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young harshly shouted at him.

He was a traitor, so no need to go easy on him!

“No, wait, the thing is....” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“What is it?! Out with it, will you!” (Seo Ah-Young)

With a bitter smile etched on his face, Choi Jung-Hoon pointed towards the still-open Gate.

“I don’t think it’s over yet.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“What?” (Seo Ah-Young)

Everyone’s attention quickly shifted towards the Gate.

*

The creature was huge. Not to mention, it was powerful, too.

From the moment it was born, it feared nothing. It was always the apex predator. If it was hungry, it devoured. If it got bored, it destroyed.

Someone started calling it ‘Padoom’, which meant ‘calamity’. And it was known as Padoom ever since. And this ‘Padoom’ was in the midst of traveling between dimensions.

When a mirror-like bluish Gate appeared, Padoom entered as if it was caught under a hypnotic spell.

Onwards, to find new prey and a new world to conquer. Onwards, chasing after the small fries that entered the Gate before it did.

And finally, Padoom arrived at the destination – a brand new world.

In this brand new world, Padoom would be the biggest, strongest, and would be the most feared once more.

That was how it should have been, but....

Blink.

Padoom blinked its massive eyes.

Padoom’s massive eyes caught the sight of monsters that looked mighty savage and powerful, as well as several small lifeforms locked in a tense stand-off.

As for the monsters, it was all understandable.

Totally understandable, indeed.

But what was up with the aura of unexplainable danger emanating from those small lifeforms?

Padoom’s neck shrunk back from the ominous, powerful aura coming from those lifeforms smaller than its palm.

What was this? This place?

Was this hell?

No, even if this was hell, would such monstrous creatures be found in a large group like that?

Really now, wasn’t this just too much?

The attention of the monsters and the small but terrifying lifeforms suddenly shifted towards Padoom simultaneously.

Padoom flinched and began retreating away, step by step.

Monsters and the small lifeforms exchanged hushed whispers among themselves, and then, they all turned to face Padoom and slowly came closer and closer.

Seeing this, Padoom swiftly turned its large frame around, and like a bolt of lightning, jumped back into the Gate.

Unfortunately, the heartless Gate continued to bounce the poor Padoom away, not allowing it to return to its wonderful and nice home world.

When Padoom looked behind its back with trembling eyes, it witnessed a huge monster covered in fur throwing a wild punch at its way.

*SFX for many things breaking at once*

The strike ripped the tough hide of Padoom apart and its intestines ruptured in one go. It screamed and rolled on the ground as the impact force from the punch caused blood to explode out from every one of its orifices.

*SFX for fangs clamping down*

Fangs and fists landed, followed shortly after by flames and arcs of electricity.

The indescribably heavy impact force rendered Padoom completely immobile. It was at this moment that it saw... him.

Padoom saw what the true devil looked like.

The true devil was slowly walking towards the fallen Padoom.

Padoom obviously lacked the capacity to tell apart the appearances of small lifeforms. However, it could still instinctively tell just how many lives this small devil devoured and destroyed.

There was an unmistakable aura of blood reeking out of this small devil, the kind only discernible to the creatures born in the demonic world enshrouded in perpetual darkness.

Normally, such an aura would be slight and indistinct; yet, it was now swirling endlessly like a sanguine shackle that wrapped around the small devil’s frame.

Padoom’s entire being began convulsing as if it was experiencing a seizure.

A jet-black tentacle shot out from the small devil’s hand.

Padoom began shaking like a madman as the end of the slender tentacle opened wider and wider, and then, even wider.

That was all Padoom could ever do. Because, the tentacle swallowed up Padoom in go.

The world became dyed in pitch black.

The strange membrane that felt almost like a living, breathing fabric, covered the entirety of Padoom. It wiggled violently and began tightening around the monster.

Bzzzz....

Padoom lacked a vocal cord, so it could only shake its body and issue a small, pathetic scream via friction.

*SFX for things being crushed*

Padoom’s body was being crushed.

Accompanied by the level of pain it never had experienced before, its body was being crushed and then crushed some more into a meat paste.

Calamity?

This was the true calamity.

If the meaning of Padoom was ‘calamity’, then that name shouldn’t have been attached to this monster, but to the small devil.

Just before its brain got squashed and it lost consciousness, Padoom witnessed a huge jet black abyss just past the membrane crushing it to death.

*

“Hmm....”

Yi Ji-Hyuk felt the endless stream of Mana being sucked into his body and smacked his lips.

He did enjoy it, but what was this feeling....?

Should he say it tasted a wee bit impure?

This Mana made him feel a bit uncomfortable in the way that was subtly different from the Mana of the fairies he devoured earlier. The best description he could come up with was that, he had just consumed unhealthy junk food packed full of impurities.

“Well, I’m not in a position to be picky, anyways.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

After finishing the digestive process, Yi Ji-Hyuk turned around to face the others.

“Well now. Should we resume where we left off?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“..........”

Seo Ah-Young stared at Yi Ji-Hyuk with a somewhat complicated expression on her face.

After seeing Oh-Sik and his unrepressed power, she had to rapidly revise her assessment of Yi Ji-Hyuk.

Oh-Sik was such a terrifying creature, yet....

How strong did a man have to be, in order to thrash such a powerful creature into submission?

The old saying went that, the person seeing a tall mountain couldn’t tell how tall it could actually be. Only the ones who attempted to climb it could tell how tall and dangerous the mountain was.

That’s how Seo Ah-Young felt like right at this moment.

Vaguely acknowledging his strength and challenging that strength was two very different stories altogether.

‘Have I ever seen this guy go all out even once before?’ (Seo Ah-Young)

There was no way she’d know.

After all, he was a guy who didn’t seem all that dangerous. But, no one could tell just what he’d do if he got serious for once.

No, all she knew for certainty was that, her and her group’s odds of victory was slim even when the youth acted as he’d normally do everyday.

“Excuse me.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“....Yes?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“You’re not coming at me? I mean, I’m ready to go at any time, you know.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“H, hold on for a second.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Looks like you’re going to wait a little while longer, eh? Should I get even more ready, then? Well, it’s my first time being showered with such a warm-hearted kindness and I sure can’t get used to this treatment, you know?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Just who is showering you with kindness here?!” (Seo Ah-Young)

“If not, then....” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk beckoned at her with his crooked finger and formed a supremely arrogant expression.

“....Then, why don’t you come at me already?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

She couldn’t answer him immediately.

Watching Seo Ah-Young shrink back like that, other ability users also began realising the cruelness of the reality – the truth of Yi Ji-Hyuk being an unfathomable existence.

And they had to fight against an opponent as vague and hard to grasp?

The experience of the last six months told them that what they were thinking of doing was monumentally idiotic.

However!

She knew this. She knew the truth so well, yet....

Seo Ah-Young gritted her teeth.

Even if that was the case, she just couldn’t let this one go.

She was ready to ‘understand’ the experience of battling terrifying monsters and forcing themselves to continue living on.

But, she just couldn’t forgive him for making them go through the terrible ordeal of drinking monster blood when they got thirsty, and eating monster flesh when they got hungry.

Even when the members of the group ended up clashing against each other, she and others endured the past six months in hell through their mutual hatred of Yi Ji-Hyuk.

No, they had come too far to talk about being able to win or not in any sort of rational manner.

“In any case!” (Seo Ah-Young)

Grit.

The loud sound of teeth grating could be heard by everyone.

“The worst that can happen to us is just getting killed, right?” (Seo Ah-Young)

Ghostly flames of madness began burning in Seo Ah-Young’s eyes.

As if her fighting spirit influenced her group, they all began glaring at Yi Ji-Hyuk, with figurative flames also erupting out from their eyes.

“Ouch, that’s hot.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk mocked them and beckoned again.

“Come on now, hurry up. One hit from me will end this, so I’ll be gracious enough to let you try to hit me first.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“You’re going to regret that.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Wow, you really like worrying about other people, don’t you? Are you by any chance Mother Teresa? You must be overflowing with mercy and drown the others with your benevolence all the time, no?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“You running your mouth off will come to an end today!!”

As soon as Seo Ah-Young threw out a signal, the ability users rushed towards Yi Ji-Hyuk in a coordinated fashion.

At first glance, they seemed to be running at him without a plan, but their formation ensured that everyone was covering everyone else.

It was a formation where one could sense their ardent desire to land the mace of punishment on Yi Ji-Hyuk, even if only one remained among the ability users and everyone else fell in the process.

Yi Ji-Hyuk’s eyes shone as he stared at this formation that seemed to scream out their desperate willingness to sacrifice everything, if it meant they’d get to bite off even a small chunk of his flesh.

‘Yeah, they have improved a lot.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

These people wouldn’t have thought about going with a formation like this one in the past.

Such desperation to willingly sacrifice oneself in order to ensure another’s survival, could only be seen in those who were facing the immediate destruction to their homeland and to everything they held dear.

So, he should clap his hands and show them his approval, since they seemed to have finally realised the importance of the determined mindset and finding an efficient enough method to attack, but....

“Ehehehe.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

He’d never do that.

This wasn’t him making a boastful claim; even after exhaustively searching this world as well as every other dimensions capable of holding human lives, one would not find a man who had to contend with as many of such suicidal attacks as Yi Ji-Hyuk had.

He lost count the number of people throwing themselves at him, all for a chance to leave behind nothing but a small nick.

Even knowing about his immortality, many famed warriors and holy men still chose to throw their lives away like bits of straw just to have a go at Yi Ji-Hyuk.

In the end, here he was, still standing tall.

Compared to them, the attacks of these guys were not even worthy of being considered as dangerous.

The only thing he had to be mindful of was.... He had to subdue them without accidentally killing them.

Even that was quite easy.

“Bind.”

Mana dancing in Yi Ji-Hyuk’s hands followed his hand signals and formed black vines that grabbed and bound each NDF ability user to the spot.

“W, what the hell is this?!”

“Let me go!! No!”

“I can’t cut it!!”

Seeing the users absolutely lose their sh*t inside the Bind, Yi Ji-Hyuk clicked his tongue.

What a bunch of morons.

It seemed that they were attacking him at the same time in order to create an opening, perhaps thinking that he relied mostly on either an emission-type magic or his trusty tentacles....

The truth was, he hadn’t used any attack-oriented magic simply because there was no need. Yi Ji-Hyuk had climbed up to the highest peak of all magic in Berafe, a place so high that none would be able to come even remotely close. He was an existence so powerful, calling him the Greatest Sorcerer in history perhaps wasn’t accurate enough.

“It’s too early for you to mount such a rebellion against me.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Especially so, when you all are nothing but a bunch of little chicks.

“Keuh-euhk!”

“Hey you son of a b*tch!! Let me go now!!” (Park Sung-Chan)

Son of a b*tch?

Has he not figure out his situation yet? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

“A son of a b*tch, is it?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Park Sung-Chan shouted out after the anger got to his head.

“That’s right, you f*cking son of a b*tch!!” (Park Sung-Chan)

Vuuoong.

Black Mana poured out from Yi Ji-Hyuk’s right hand and created a large black hole.

‘N, no way. It can’t be?!’ (Park Sung-Chan)

He wouldn’t, would he?

Even if he’s a cruel b*stard, there is no way, right?

I mean, we’ve just come out from there! Only just now! (Park Sung-Chan)

“I am a son of a b*tch, is that right?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Park Sung-Chan forced a smile on his face and spoke.

“Ah, ha, haha.... M, Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk, you see, that’s not what I’m....” (Park Sung-Chan)

“A. Son. Of. A. B*tch. Right?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Ahh!! Noooo!! Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk!! Yi Ji-Hyuk-nim!! Hyung-nim!! Please don’t do this!! Euh, uwaaaah?! I was wro....” (Park Sung-Chan)

Park Sung-Chan was thrown into the black hole by the vines that restrained him as his terrified screams resounded out.

Everyone’s attention was focused on the black hole that just swallowed up the poor Park Sung-Chan.

“Anyone else with a complaint?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“..........”

When they saw the warp gate slowly advancing in their direction, the ability users paled instantly and shook their heads in total denial.

They might as well die, rather than go back to that place!!

Yi Ji-Hyuk soon deactivated the Mana vines and freed the ability users. Then, he fished out a cigarette and lit it up.

“My fellow comrades.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“............”

“I said, my fellow comrades!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Y, yes sir?!”

Yi Ji-Hyuk nodded his head and sucked on the cigarette.

“From today onwards, you shall do as you’re told, even pretending to be dead if ordered to. That is, if you don’t wish to become even more stronger.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

While seeing that evil, devilish grin forming ever so slyly on Yi Ji-Hyuk’s face, the once-rebellious ability users couldn’t help but sense that it was over.

Not even two months had passed by, yet the NDF had fallen completely into Yi Ji-Hyuk’s devious hands.

< 84. What will happen if we enter there? -4 > Fin.

(TL: I’ll try to release one more sponsored chapter by tomorrow. Again, thank you for your support, everyone.)