The Hero Returns

"Gee whiz, so dang noisy," Sun Wukong lightly tutted, displeased.

The sky turned pitch-black in an instant and began cracking apart once more. From the cracks, all those Predators that had vanished along with Osiris after the earlier battle began revealing themselves once more.

RUMBLE'”!

A loud thunder cracked from the side.

Su-hyeun hadn't created that thunder, though. Unlike his lightning bolts that mostly had an orange-golden hue, this lightning had a striking blue hue.

"You're late, dummy," said Sun Wukong.

"The war ended not too long ago, yet here they come again." The one that appeared along with the crack of thunder was none other than Thor. He wielded Mjölnir in one hand, his eyes scanning the ground below. "Is Osiris down there?"

"Yeah. But don't try to butt in, okay?"

Thor looked puzzled by what Sun Wukong said just then.

Osiris was an enemy even Odin found challenging to contend with. When dealing with such an opponent, the correct choice would be for everyone to work together.

"Well, it's complicated, okay? In any case! If you try to butt in, I'm gonna stop you myself, right here and now." Sun Wukong sounded genuine.

He certainly had enough strength to do that, too.

No matter how strong Thor was, he wasn't quite strong enough to handle Sun Wukong. Not only that but now wasn't the time for them to bicker.

From Thor's perspective, who was trying to rebuild Asgard and lead it in the future, he desperately needed the assistance of both Su-hyeun and Sun Wukong.

"Very well. I'll let it go for now."

"Good thinking, bud. Hey, you're smarter than you look."

"Ku-hum. As the new ruler of Asgard, this level of wisdom is obviously expected of me." Thor stood straighter and prouder at the throwaway praise.

Sun Wukong stared at Thor, his eyes displaying how unimpressed he was by the God of Thunder, then he silently shook his head.

Kkiiiaaaaahk'”!

The screeches of the incoming Predators broke their brief bantering.

These monsters were creatures that desired more power but lost their intelligence in the process.

Sun Wukong looked up at these Predators, "Here they come."

Poof, poof, poof'”!

Dozens of clones materialized all around Sun Wukong next.

Controlling hundreds of clones at once was taxing for his stamina and mental strength, but only a few dozen would be a cinch.

"Extend, Ru'”"

"Hold on," Thor suddenly grabbed Sun Wukong's shoulder.

Sun Wukong was about to mess up the battlefield with his trusty Ruyi Jingu Bang, so he could only crumple his expression in irritation while shooting a glare in Thor's direction.

"I'd like to handle that particular one by myself."

"That one?" Sun Wukong followed Thor's glare and turned his head to look, "Uhm, which one are you even talking about? There are more than one or two here, you know?"

The spot they were looking at was teeming with so many Predators that it was basically impossible to count them all.

Thor mulled over his reply for a bit before explaining himself, "To put it simply, it's the strongest one out of them."

"Aha! Then, it has to be that one over there."

The strongest one of them'”that description helped Sun Wukong spot a certain creature among the Predators. For sure, this one really did stand out from the rest.

It was a male humanoid with a pair of golden eyes and two horns, his skin remarkably pale.

In one hand, he wielded a staff while in the other, a sphere of some kind about the size of a child's head. This being emitted an unparalleled presence and aura even among the Predators.

"His name is Loki."

"Loki?"

"And he's my little brother."

"Say what?" Sun Wukong, looking visibly stunned, stared at the man with two horns'”the one Thor pointed out as his brother.

Indeed, Loki's glare, which was locked on Thor, could not be described as simple at all. It was quite difficult to believe that they were actually brothers, and that glare contained tangible killing intent.

"I'm getting a feeling that you two don't have a brotherly relationship?"

"Worse than with complete strangers, actually. That fool tried to stab our father in the back but failed. After running away, he went under the wing of Osiris."

"Hmph! I never had a father. Still, I can already tell what kind of relationship you have with him."

Sun Wukong cared deeply about his brotherhood, his family, more than anyone out there. That was why he couldn't exactly understand the emotions involved in a case like this one.

However, that didn't mean he hadn't experienced a similar circumstance before.

"Well, it didn't involve my parents, but I do have a similar experience to yours."

He recalled the Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King, Sun Wukong's other brother who murdered his own brethren and ran away, only to die and disappear altogether.

Thinking about him made Sun Wukong's heart ache a little even now. That was why he could understand how Thor felt, at least a little bit.

"Okay, got it. Your family affairs aren't something I should interfere with."

"I'm grateful that you understand."

"Hmm, that means only the small fries are left, huh?" Sun Wukong groaned at length as if he felt deflated.

Osiris was Su-hyeun's opponent, while Thor was going to deal with Loki, which left Sun Wukong with the other no-name Predators.

"Well, then, one more time!" Sun Wukong roared together with his clones. "Extend, Ruyi!"

* * *

Baaaang'”!

A loud noise came from the outside.

The darkness didn't seem to block off the external noise. Even the view up ahead was still visible, too.

"So, this isn't the Dark World..."

Su-hyeun reached out and grabbed air.

This fluffy sensation was being "sucked" into his grip. When he opened his hand, the darkness in his grip scattered away like smoke.

"Is it like darkness in its purest form?"

What a strange ability this was.

Osiris's abilities that Set remembered differed quite a bit from whatever this was.

Osiris was an excellent magician and easily the best sorcerer there was. However, he definitely was no dark magician capable of manipulating darkness like this.

The thing was, though, magic that utilized darkness as the basic element, like the Dark World, for instance, belonged to the school of dark magic.

Then again, it would be nearly impossible to command the darkness to this degree with just dark magic. Maybe this was a combination of some kind of sorcery and dark magic.

Gu-gugugu'”

Right at that moment, darkness began crashing down on Su-hyeun's body.

But it wasn't as if gravity had suddenly increased. The darkness that shouldn't have any weight began possessing actual, physical weight like ocean water.

Right now, the darkness seemed to have transformed into the Ocean of Inner Demons.

"If so..." Su-hyeun raised the sword he had in his grip. "It makes so much easier to cut it down, then."

Shu-aaahk'”!

[One Sword Cutting Through Everything - Ocean Divider]

Splaaaaat'”!

Now that the darkness became "material," cutting it down became so much easier. He no longer needed to use Insight to find its Gyeol or spend a whole lot of magical energy to search for its "main" body.

"Besides, the thing about darkness is..."

RUMBLE'”!

Pazik, pazzzik'”

A huge Thunderbolt was now being gripped by Su-hyeun's other hand.

"It always loses to the light, you know?"

He fired the Thunderbolt straight into the darkness.

FLASH'”!

SMACK'”!

A long line of energy was drawn in the air to match the path of the Thunderbolt. At the end of this line was Osiris's head.

"You said that to me, didn't you, Osiris?"

"You still remember that?"

"I couldn't forget even if I wanted to due to how bloody corny it was."

Osiris rubbed his face, which was struck by the Thunderbolt. He looked like someone who got hit on the face by a rock, not by a streak of lightning.

He muttered quietly, "Indeed, darkness will get erased by the light."

It was obvious logic, really. Despite knowing this all too well, Osiris still chose to walk the path of dark magic.

"However, darkness will devour the light in the end. I learned of this inescapable truth in the netherworld."

Riiip'”!

The space ripped open once more.

This new opening in the darkness was about 10 meters in diameter. It also looked quite different from all the other gateways leading to one thousand hells where Predators were pouring out from.

No, this one was connected to somewhere a little deeper.

Krrrk, krrrr'”

Creak, crack'”

A head that slowly revealed itself in the opening eerily resembled a tree.

This "tree" with eyes and nose limply jiggled about as if acid was melting it down. Its outer shape constantly shifted almost every second as Su-hyeun stared at it.

At one time, it looked like a tree, then it looked like a humanoid with a zombie-like visage. But some other times, it even resembled a dokkaebi.

Su-hyeun instantly recalled its name after clapping his eyes on this bizarre creature, "A Hell Tree?"

It was a monster that lived in the bottom of hell, at its deepest layer.

This would be the first time Su-hyeun was learning that the creature's existence was real. Until now, Set didn't believe that the Hell Trees were a real thing.

Funnily enough, it wasn't Set but Osiris who argued that Hell Trees existed for real in the ancient past.

"You never believed these creatures were real. However, I managed to find them."

Crack, riiiip'”!

Just as Osiris spoke up, more tears in space opened up. All of them were gateways leading to the lowest layer of hell.

The Hell Trees appeared from every single one. Their numbers must've been easily over 50.

"Now, behold! These are the monsters of the netherworld that you did not believe to be real."

Krrrk, krrrrr'”!

Kkyarrrk, kkyak'”

Bizarre hisses and screeches rang out everywhere.

These creatures all boasted visages horrifying enough to churn Su-hyeun's stomach. None of these appearances was probably the Hell Tree's real form.

A Hell Tree was a monster found in the lowest depth of the netherworld.

It used its opponent's fears and imaginations as its fertilizer to grow bigger. That was how it could transform its appearance, too.

Meaning, this creature didn't have a fixed form, making it a genuinely terrifying existence.

Regular people would've been crushed to death by their fears from simply running into a single Hell Tree.

"Wow, so they are real, after all," Su-hyeun scanned the 50 or so Hell Trees.

The closer they got, the larger their sizes seemed to grow. Actually, it wasn't a visual trickery of them looking bigger because they had gotten closer. No, they were really getting larger.

Soon enough, the Hell Trees had gotten several times larger than when they first appeared. They were now as large as a small apartment building.

Su-hyeun was surrounded by such monsters, but he simply beckoned with his hand dismissively, "Come get some, then."

[Provocation]

Kyaaahk'”!

The Hell Trees couldn't do anything to Su-hyeun but growl menacingly since Osiris hadn't issued a command yet. However, they suddenly let out monstrous screeches.

Every single one of them within Su-hyeun's view had been caught in the range of his Provocation.

However, Osiris didn't try to stop the Hell Trees even after they had fallen for the Provocation. He was obviously thinking of testing out Su-hyeun's strength through these monsters.

And as soon as the Hell Trees pounced...

Fwhoooooosh'”!

Riiiiip'”!

The body of a Hell Tree was ripped apart into dozens and hundreds of chunks. Instead of being sliced apart, it was far closer to being ripped apart mercilessly.

"Blow them away..."

RUMBLE'”!

Su-hyeun finished lightly swinging his sword, then infused the divine Flame into the weapon next. "Palm Leaf!"

[Palm Leaf - Flame]

KWA-AAAAAHT'”!

Storm winds that exploded from the sword, permeating with intense heat, crashed into the surroundings and utterly ripped everything apart.

This was the combination of Palm Leaf and the divine Flame.

Winds and fire had this synergistic effect of enhancing each other. Winds helped the fire burn even hotter, while the fire infused even greater energy to storm winds.

Just like that, several Hell Trees were ripped apart into pieces, their bodies catching fire. Even then, even as they got ripped apart and burned down to ashes, these monsters still tried to extend their hands toward Su-hyeun.

"Well, they do have tenacious vitality. I'll give you that."

Pa-sususu'”

The hands reaching out to him turned to ashes and scattered away. These creatures had already burned down to ashes but still forced themselves to move through their insanely tough vitality.

"But as I thought, they are nothing much to write home about."

In the end, that was all they amounted to.

The Hell Trees were strong enough to worry Osiris of the ancient past, but now, they no longer posed any threat whatsoever'”at least, not to the current Su-hyeun.

"Looks like I must increase the difficulty, then."

Fifty or so Hell Trees weren't enough to serve as a decent warm-up.

This was definitely too inadequate to estimate the depths of Su-hyeun's strength. Osiris pondered something for a bit before nodding, "I guess I should go with that one."

Riiip'”

Osiris opened a new gateway.

What kind of creature would show up this time?

Honestly speaking, Su-hyeun wasn't interested at all.

Just as Osiris was about to finish creating the doorway to the netherworld...

"Stop summoning small fries, and'”"

"Hm!"

He was shocked by Su-hyeun's voice that came from right in front of him. Osiris hurriedly leaned back.

SMACK'”!

Su-hyeun's blade slammed into Osiris's chest and smashed him far away.

"Start fighting yourself, you son of a b*tch!"