Player who Returned 10,000 years Later
chapter-481

“Ah…”

Gaia’s eyes widened. Her heart beat rapidly as a chill ran down her back. She was gasping for air and her vision was blurring. She lost strength in her legs.

“Wh-Why…” she asked but received no answer.

The Oh Kang-Woo on the blue screen, the monster made of darkness itself with countless sharp teeth, was…

“Why is… the D-Demonic Sea… inside my child?” Gaia muttered as her eyes trembled.

The monster transformed into an immortal black mucus and ate the Parasite King alive. He was the predator of predators at the top of the food chain. Gaia was only seeing the monster through a screen, but it was easy to deduce the monster’s identity.

“Demon of Prophecy…”

He was the being who possessed the sea of demonic energy and would bring demise to the Triad.

“Hmmm,” Bael frowned in displeasure. “Well… I’ll let it slide. He indeed has the Demonic Sea as of this moment.”

He pouted and snorted in dissatisfaction. There was no need for him to tell Gaia that he was the true master of the Demonic Sea and the Demon of Prophecy who would bring demise to the Triad.

‘Since it’ll probably be more interesting that way.’

Bael smiled and moved his shoulders up and down.

“Were you surprised? Well, I don’t blame you. I’m sure you’re shocked out of your mind. Hihi. After all, the retainer you treasured so deeply turned out to be… the Demon of Prophecy.” He snickered to mock Gaia.

“L-Lies! My child cannot be the Demon of Prophecy!!”

Gaia strongly denied Bael’s claims and clenched her fists.

“Is that so?” Bael jumped in place as if he were having the time of his life and continued, “What about this, then?”

He snapped his fingers, changing the footage in front of Gaia.

Crumble—!!

“A-Aaaahh.”

An entire world was falling apart in the next footage; it was being reduced to ashes by the colossal flames covering the sky. One of the worlds of the Triad was ending, and a demon was looking down at the crumbling world.

“M-My child…”

The demon had wings of gold and black fire on his back, resembling the prophesized black sun.

“No… Th-That’s impossible.” Gaia shook her head in pallor.

She fell to her knees and curled up as if avoiding the undeniable truth.

“H-Hihihihihi!” Bael laughed brightly. “Man~ I was honestly quite surprised by this as well. Who would’ve thought that he would end an entire world before completing the Demonic Sea?”

Bael stared crazily at Kang-Woo in the System window.

“Well, then.” He got on his tiptoes and twirled to face Gaia. “You get it now, right?”

“...” Gaia aggressively bit her lip. She clenched her fists to the point that they trembled and slowly stood up. “I-I… trust my ch—”

“Ehhh? Still?” Bael licked his lips with his long tongue. “How about this, then?”

He snapped his fingers once again.

- Hyung… You were the Demon of Prophecy?

An innocent-looking young man appeared on the screen.

“That boy is…”

Gaia recalled hearing from Layla about the Player who recently joined Guardians and defeated Kim Si-Hun in a duel, and possessed the power to see the future. The human, whom Gaia had been planning on manifesting to meet, was trembling in fear and staring at Kang-Woo in shock.

“...”

There was no need to think deeply about what it meant for a human who could see the future to call Kang-Woo the Demon of Prophecy.

“A-Aaaahh.”

Gaia could feel her world falling apart; the flames of salvation that she had put her hopes in were going out.

- I’ll keep the fact that you’re the Demon of Prophecy a secret.

- Come on, man. It only takes an instant for shit like that to spread.

A familiar face was on the screen but from it came out an unfamiliar voice and manner of speech; the familiar man was acting unfamiliarly.

“This is… fake.”

Tears trickled down Gaia’s cheeks. She aggressively stomped her foot and extended her arm toward Bael.

“How dare you try to deceive me?!”

She shot an enormous shockwave at Bael, who giggled and lightly waved his hand.

Poof!

The shockwave infused with Divinity was neutralized after making contact with the back of Bael’s hand.

“Heh.” Bael smiled widely after blocking Gaia’s attack with ease and said, “What? You’re gonna say they were fabricated this time? Hah! What a comfy life you have! You see what you wanna see, hear what you wanna hear! How awesome is that?!”

Bael burst into laughter as he grabbed his stomach.

“Well… fine.” He stared crazily at Gaia. “If that’s what you want to believe, go ahead.”

“...”

“But… You’ll realize it sooner or later. No, even if you don’t, I’ll keep coming to tell you.” Bael slowly turned around. “Well then, see you next time.”

He walked away without hesitation. Darkness clumped together and a hunchback demon appeared in front of him.

“Have you finished what you need to do?”

“Yeah!” Bael nodded energetically.

Amon, the hunchback demon, clicked his tongue as he stared at Gaia blank-eyed in shock.

“What use is it to show that incapable woman the truth?”

“Hm?” Bael tilted his head.

Amon continued, his voice as unpleasant as nails on a chalkboard, “The Demon King… will do whatever it takes to keep his identity hidden.”

“Hehe, I know.” Bael nodded. “I’m sure he’ll manage to fool Gaia somehow even after I showed her all this.”

Considering the things that the Demon King had done in Hell, Bael knew this would be nowhere near enough.

“But aren’t you curious?” Bael smiled brightly, his eyes sparkling.

“What do you mean…?”

“About how desperately he’ll struggle to keep the truth hidden!” Bael shouted with his arms spread out wide. “H-Hihi! I’m sure he’ll crawl on the floor pathetically and bawl his eyes out again, right? Don’t you agree?”

The Demon King had kneeled to Bael and licked his feet, all to fool Bael.

“Heh, hehehe.”

Bael’s eyes shone madly as he recalled memories of the past. His heart beat rapidly and sparks traveled throughout his body.

“Yeah, that’s it! That’s how you should be!”

Bael wanted to see how pathetically the Demon King would act to hide the truth.

“A-Aaaahh.” Bael drooled; he got aroused just from thinking about it. “I wonder how he’ll deceive her? How pathetically will he act? Would he get on his knees and beg her to trust him as he bawls his eyes out?”

Bael then muttered in rage, “But no matter how much you struggle, you’ll lose everything you’ve built in the end.”

If once wasn’t enough, Bael would do it twice. If not twice, then thrice. No matter how much the Demon King struggled, he would not be able to keep his identity from getting exposed.

“H-Hihi. I’m sure all the humans he treasures will turn their backs on him.”

Bael knew very well how much the Demon King treasured the people around him. If those people were to abandon him, treat him like a monster, and point their weapons at him…

It would be so… so… fun. H-Hihi.”

Bael cackled as his shoulders moved up and down. The fury deep inside him was eating him whole. No, the fury had already eaten him whole since long ago because the Demon King was…

“You’re… You’re…” Bael muttered as he thought about the one he resented. “Nothing.”

The sound of gritting teeth echoed throughout the ruins of Olympus.

***

“If we can’t get in contact with the divine realm…” Kang-Woo clicked his tongue. “I guess I have no choice but to go there myself.”

He was sure that something had happened in the divine realm so he needed to check for himself.

“It’s too dangerous to go by yourself, hyung-nim.” Si-Hun, who had been organizing documents like a machine, stood up. “I will go with you.”

Si-Hun had awakened the Deific Essence of Heavenly Sword so there was no issue with him going to the divine realm. However, Kang-Woo shook his head.

“No, I’ll go by myself.”

‘We can’t get in touch with the entirety of Olympus. If it’s that serious, I might have to open the Doors.’

If that were the case, it would be too dangerous to have Si-Hun with him. Kang-Woo couldn’t afford to become black mucus covered in countless mouths in front of Si-Hun.

‘And if Si-Hun isn’t here, Layla might really collapse from exhaustion.’

Layla had been so busy that she couldn’t even take a shower despite Si-Hun helping her; Kang-Woo couldn’t help her, so he couldn’t take Si-Hun with him.

“Hyung-nim…”

“You stay here and help Layla. Also, no matter how busy you are, make some time to take breaks. Just look at yourself.”

Kang-Woo patted the disheveled Si-Hun’s shoulder. Si-Hun was born for martial arts; he would have far more trouble battling against documents nonstop for a week than against enemies with his sword.

“... Okay, hyung-nim.”

“Please stay safe, Kang-Woo. Since I’m physically fine, Lady Gaia should be fine as well,” Layla mentioned calmly.

Kang-Woo nodded. “I’ll be back in a flash.”

He placed his hand on the Hall of Protection and drew out his energy like he had learned when he went to the divine realm. The entire Hall of Protection shone white and Kang-Woo disappeared into thin air.

“This is…”

Kang-Woo frowned aggressively as soon as he arrived in the divine realm. He saw the destroyed Olympus, in worse condition than Seoul after the Parasite invasion.

‘I knew something happened.’

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes. He expected something had happened the moment he noticed that communications were severed, but he did not expect Olympus to be in such terrible condition.

‘Did the anti-Gaia faction do this?’

Although the situation was more or less resolved after Odin’s death, there were still many gods who opposed Gaia’s rule. Kang-Woo wondered if they had something to do with this.

“... No.” He shook his head.

‘There’s no way Olympus would have lost this miserably.’

Now that Thor and Odin were killed and the Asgard faction had scattered, Olympus was the strongest faction of Earth’s divine realm. Even if the anti-Gaia faction had risen in revolt, Olympus would not have been defeated so one-sidedly.

“... No way.”

An uneasy sensation ran down Kang-Woo’s back. He quickly entered what remained of the palace; he couldn’t feel the presence of any god— no one but Gaia’s.

“... Lady Gaia?”

“...”

The brown-haired goddess, collapsed on the ground, slowly turned to Kang-Woo and looked up at him in pallor.

“My… child…” she muttered faintly.