Player who Returned 10,000 years Later
chapter-245

In a huge cave of transparent ice…

'Here.'

He raised his head and looked around.

Although a pitch-black cave was in front of him, a demon’s eyes could see faintly through the darkness.

KangWoo began walking and looking around.

"Ugh!"

A foreign sensation twisted his legs, and he felt something was wrong.

'What's going on?'

Then he finally saw the blue message window.

His expression distorted.

He read that someone with Divinity had forcibly tampered with the System, and…

"Level 1…"

It wasn't just his level that had gone down.

KangWoo opened his status window with a hardened expression.

[Status window]

Player Name: Oh KangWoo

Level 1 [First Awakening]

First Awakening Attribute: Authority of Predation (Rank: ???)

Strength: 1 Agility: 1

Vitality: 1 Magic Power: 1

Divine Energy: 1 Demonic Energy: 1

Intelligence: 1 Wisdom: 1

"Fuck."

He naturally cursed.

'What nonsense is this?'

All his stats had forcibly been set to 1.

He felt powerless.

Since he had the body of a demon, although his stats were set at 1, his base physical specs were better than the average human’s, but that was it.

His body had gotten so weak that he was barely stronger than the average human.

'This… is the power of Divinity?'

He'd heard that Divinity was a strength that allowed one to tamper with the providence of the universe, the System, but still, that was too much.

'It wasn't even like this when I arrived on Earth.'

Even then, all of his stats weren't set at 1.

"What's going on…?"

The Gaia System protected an entire planet, yet she couldn't seal his strength completely and used almost all of her Divinity. How come his strength was sealed in such an unbelievable way?

'It makes no sense.'

Leaving the ‘First Darkness’ or whatever aside, it wasn't a number that should be possible.

It was as if he were trying to put together puzzle pieces that didn’t match.

Tap, tap-

KangWoo heard some steps from behind that sounded like they had just walked out of the water.

KangWoo lowered his body and turned around.

He saw something walk out of the darkness.

"…"

Its head was split in half, and cranial fluid flowed from it Black blood poured from its entire body.

It was a horrible undead that looked like it could have been created by Balzac.

"Ah, ugh."

A hand that was dripping rotten pus moved toward KangWoo.

It was as if…

It was trying to hug him.

"Ha." He laughed in disbelief.

It wasn't an undead.

There's no way it was an undead.

After all, the demon walking toward him had disappeared long ago.

"D-Demon… King."

"…"

A desperate voice was calling him.

The demon walked toward KangWoo.

He already knew the name of that demon.

"Paimon."

It was the demon that had been his subordinate.

He used to be a very timid demon with an attitude that certainly wasn’t demon-like at all; that's why Balrog used to criticize him a lot.

He remembered that he easily got depressed after being scolded by Balrog, but just a few shoulder pats were enough to lift his spirits.

‘Even a demon that smiles like that doesn’t look cute.’

Paimon…

He remembered him.

'You idiot.'

When they were about to get trapped by Satan's army, he hugged a bomb and ran toward the enemy's lines to buy some time.

That had been the death of him.

One who used to be timid…

An idiot Balrog always used to scold.

- Please, escape!

"Ha…"

- Hehe. You must win… no matter what.

"Fuck."

Tap, tap.

He raised his head—there was more than one set of footsteps walking toward him.

He heard steps all around him.

"Agares…"

He was a demon whose facial expression always remained stoically unchanging—a quite boring fellow.

Mamon had burnt him to death.

"Verdin, Kaljas…"

They were very noisy guys that had been trapped and brainwashed by Asmodeus.

He remembered killing them with his own hands.

"Demon… King."

"Ah, aah."

The voices sounded like they were in agony.

They were walking toward him while dripping blood.

It was a scene that could have come straight from a cheap B-list zombie movie.

"So that's what happened…"

He sighed.

He figured out why his level had been set to 1 and how Satan could do something not even the system protecting an entire world could do after using almost all of its Divinity.

'This place…'

It wasn't real.

It was somewhere between an illusion and reality—a place worthy of being called a nightmare.

'That's why it said that I was entering a nightmare.'

He felt that he had finally put the puzzle together.

KangWoo raised his hand and tried to use the Authority of Blades.

"Tsk."

He couldn't use the Authority.

The Ten Thousand Demon Core inside his heart was silent.

'No…'

He shook his head.

He couldn't feel the Ten Thousand Demon Core at all.

It was as if the soul of the human ‘Oh KangWoo’ had left his body and been trapped in a nightmare.

The only things he had were his Authority of Predation and his Demonic Energy stat that was set at 1.

KangWoo sighed and bit his finger.

Crunch. He felt pain.

'It seems like I can feel pain.'

In that case…

KangWoo narrowed his eyes.

'Does that mean that I die in real life if I die in the nightmare?'

It was bothersome.

"Haa." KangWoo sighed.

Even at that moment, demons that used to be his subordinates were walking toward him.

He looked at each of their faces and remembered the long war they had participated in together.

- Balrog…

He saw himself sitting atop a mountain of corpses and crying.

- I'm tired.

"Fuck."

He felt his face turning red and shook his head at the memory.

'I was crazy.'

How much of a shameless memory was that? It was a dark history he wouldn't mind forever forgetting.

"Oh, fuck. How embarrassing."

The one who'd said to leave emotions to TV drama had made a full series of them.

There was no darker past than that.

'What did Balrog say at that moment?'

He remembered he'd said something very cringey.

Tap, tap-

While he was trying to remember the past, he heard the sounds of steps.

KangWoo looked into the darkness and saw a demon wearing a red mask that was walking toward him and surrounded in darkness.

[How was the reunion with your deceased subordinates?]

The demon laughed.

KangWoo coldly spoke his name.

"Satan…"

[It's been a while since we last talked like this… Just the two of us.]

Satan glared at KangWoo.

[I saw all of the crazy things you did. Thanks to that, all of my plans were ruined.]

Satan’s voice was filled with anger.

* * *

[I don't know how you survived the dimensional wall… but it all ends today.]

Satan raised his hand, and a pitch-black sword appeared within his grasp.

"Where is this?" KangWoo coldly asked.

[This is where the ‘First Darkness’ is.]

"How am I supposed to understand that, you idiot?"

[…]

Satan's body trembled.

He took a deep breath to try to hold down his anger.

[The Root of Evil… The resting place of Demon God Bauli’s corpse.]

Demon God Bauili…

After hearing the words ‘demon god’, KangWoo remembered the giant eye that reached a kilometer in size.

'Is it the same guy?'

The unknown being that was in the Abyss of the Ten Thousand Demon Core…

He still didn't know if that was Bauli or not.

He decided to stop thinking about that.

'Let's leave that for later.'

It wasn't time to think about that.

First, he needed to solve the situation that was right in front of him.

KangWoo looked at the dead that were crawling toward him.

"It doesn't seem to be a place that exists in reality."

[It's a place that mixes reality with illusion.]

Satan laughed.

[Although it isn't completely real, your soul will disappear if you die here.]

That was something he'd been expecting.

KangWoo nodded.

Satan frowned. [You seem quite calm.]

He couldn't understand it.

[Right now, you don't have the endless demonic energy of the Ten Thousand Demon Core. You don't have the hundreds of different Authorities or the blessing of a System.]

It was just the soul of the human Oh KangWoo.

The only things he had left were the Authority of Predation and his Demonic Energy stat set at 1.

[Have you accepted your defeat?]

The winner was already decided.

The moment you stepped into that place, your body’s strength didn't matter anymore.

After the Demon King devoured Satan's body, Satan learned how to use his strength without his body.

He'd been absorbing the Root of Evil for a few thousand years. Not only that, he'd learned how to use his strength in that place.

That wasn't the case for the Demon King—the source of his strength was the Ten Thousand Demon Core's endless demonic energy and the hundreds of different Authorities he had.

Since only his soul was left, he was more powerless than a normal human.

"…" KangWoo didn't answer.

Satan smirked.

[Well, that’s okay.]

He began to walk slowly. He didn't intend to kill him quickly.

[I've suffered a lot because of you.]

How he’d lost and put the ‘archduke’ title to shame was a terrible memory.

He didn’t want to remember how KangWoo had devoured his body and how he had barely escaped with his soul intact.

[Even on Earth…]

His anger boiled up and Satan grabbed the back of his neck.

The countless provocations had made him suffer.

It was time to get that sweet revenge.

There was only one thing he could think of as a suitable act of vengeance…

[Die after being eaten alive by your subordinates.]

Tap-

He laughed and pointed his finger.

"Ugh, aah."

Paimon walked toward KangWoo.

Agares, Verdin, and Kaljas also grabbed his clothes.

Paimon hugged him with an arm that was dripping pus, and tears dripped from his ruined eyes.

"Ah, ugh. Demon… King. It… hurts.

"…"

"It hurts… a lot."

"…"

He remained silent.

It wasn't really Paimom—it was just a doll imitating Paimon that the nightmare had created.

It was a cheap act to try to make him fall into despair.

"Sa…ve, me."

He knew it was fake, so there was no way such a thing would make him fall into despair.

"Ah, aah. Demon… King."

It was already over.

His dark past was already done with.

There was no way he would despair at that point because of such an illusion.

"It hurts, it hurts."

"My body is burning."

"It's hot, it's hot."

The hands of the deceased grabbed him.

A horrible smell wafting from the rotten pus stimulated his nose.

"…"

He wasn't angry or sad.

It wouldn't have been different even if they were the real corpses of his subordinates.

He'd caused a war, after all.

Leaving the reason behind, he'd fought against all the archdukes.

Wouldn't it be weird if no one had died?

It didn’t matter how they died. In a war, there would inevitably be some that die.

For example, he had killed countless demons.

It wasn't that demons had no emotions—they also had individuals they valued.

"Demon… King. It… hurts."

That's why it didn't matter.

- I'm tired.

Once again, he remembered the past. He remembered when he had collapsed and started crying.

It was a dark past that displayed cheap emotions.

—A cliche that was everywhere.

—An episode that made him cringe.

"Ah, aah."

The dead were grabbing him, and strong killing intent surged from him.

"You, you, you…"

"Killed… us."

"If it weren't for you…"

Their eyes were full of resentment.

Crack. Paimon grabbed his shoulder; his sharp claws pierced his skin.

"Die, die!"

Agares grabbed his leg tighter. Some of the skin on his thigh tore.

"It's all because of you!"

"If you hadn't caused a war…!"

The voices of the deceased were getting more intense.

Verdin and Kaljas each grabbed one of his arms.

Crack. His arms twisted.

"…"

KangWoo looked coldly at his subordinates that were tearing his body apart.

He opened his mouth.

"I remember."

He finally remembered what Balrog had said.

- Do you remember what you told me when you first met me?

- Demon King, regardless of what happens, you told me there's only one thing you must do.

Answer evil with greater evil.

A killing intent with a greater killing intent.

He would devour everything in the world and take a step forward.

"Fuck, it's more cringe than I remember."

Thinking about it made his head hurt.

Crack-

He opened his mouth and bit Paimon’s neck.

Crunch. He devoured Paimon's skin from where rotten pus was flowing out.

Stat 1.

He used demonic energy to activate his Authority.

'Authority of Predation.'

Crunch. He turned Paimon's corpse, no, he turned the illusion that was made with the Root of Evil into demonic energy.

Ting-

[Your Demonic Energy stat has increased to 27.]

[You've devoured the Root of Evil.]

[You've fulfilled the second condition of the last step to becoming a ‘Demon God’.]

A noisy message popped up.

His demonic energy began increasing at an explosive rate.

[Hmm?]

Satan frowned.

KangWoo was eating them instead of being devoured by the dead.

[What are you…?]

Crunch, crunch-

"D-Demon King…"

"S-save me."

The bodies of the dead were quickly devoured.

[Your Demonic Energy stat has increased to 48.]

A black liquid came out of KangWoo's body.

[Your Demonic Energy stat has increased to 87.]

The liquid pouring from his body had countless teeth floating within.

[Your Demonic Energy has increased to 129.]

Paimon, Agares, Verdin, and Kaljas's bodies were devoured by the sharp teeth.

[There's no way…]

Satan's eyes widened.

He saw the Demon King devouring the illusion that was created by the Root of Evil.

[Just how?]

The Demon King didn't have anything at the moment.

The only thing he had left was a 1 point in Demonic Energy.

Although he had the Authority of Predation, there was no way he'd be able to eat the Root of Evil with a single point of Demonic Energy.

The relation between demonic energy and the Authority of Predation…

To put it simply, it was the size of the mouth.

The more demonic energy you had, the more things you could eat, and the easier they were to eat.

At the moment, the Demon King's Demonic Energy stat was at 1.

'But…'

‘He can eat the Root of Evil?'

It was like eating a piece of gold with a mouth with a toothless mouth.

"It seems like you haven't learned anything."

Tsk tsk, he clicked his tongue.

His body started to regenerate.

[D-don't tell me you…!]

"Are all archdukes specialized in putting awakening flags on people? Fuck. If someone fights with you, even a dead person would wake up again and become stronger. You’re a pathetic bunch of idiots."

Whenever he did something, they said things like 'What the?!' or 'Just how?'

At that point, he would feel sorry if he didn't Awaken.

'Well, although it isn't an Awakening…'

He wasn't Kim ShiHoon, so it wasn't like he Awakened whenever there was a dangerous situation.

Really, it was just due to Satan’s mistake.

"Even after all the things you've gone through. You still don't know me?"

He stepped on the corpses of his subordinate and stood.

The white parts of his eyes had turned black; his pupils turned yellow as if he were a reptile, and a black dot appeared in the middle of the pupils.

"If you wanted to kill me…"

The tips of his mouth went up.

"You should have made it 0."

[Your Demonic Energy stat has reached 150.]