Player who Returned 10,000 years Later
chapter-485

- You’re nothing, man.

Oh Kang-Woo’s words of mockery were engraved in Bael’s head. Bael scratched his cheeks with his sharp fingernails, forming hideous wounds from his cheekbones to his chin. Black blood dripped from the wounds.

“I-I-I-I-I…” Bael mumbled crazily.

He swayed from side to side. His vision blurred and he panted heavily. Kang-Woo’s words continued to echo inside his head.

“I’m… not… nothing.”

He gritted his teeth and the broken fragments of his teeth mixed with his blood and flowed down to his chin.

“I was first,” Bael muttered crazily. “I was first, not you.”

Bael glared at the Demon King on the screen.

“Your position… What you have… They were all supposed to be mine.”

His resentment ran down his back and throughout his body. He knew better than anyone what the source of that resentment was.

“You’re… nothing,” Bael muttered, his voice filled with a sense of inferiority. “Haaa, haaa.”

He bit his lip as he panted heavily and wet his hand with the black blood pooling on his chin. He slowly looked up.

“Amon.”

“Yes, Lord Bael.”

A wave was formed in the darkness as if a black dye was dropped in water. The darkness gathered together and a hunchback demon with a staff appeared from it.

“Are the preparations complete?” Bael asked.

Amon easily understood what Bael was asking despite being given no specificity.

“Yes, preparations for the day of the Apocalypse are almost complete.” Amon bowed deeply and continued, “I have given Eilles the exact date and rallied the demons of the Ninth Hell. However…” Amon clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction. “It is a shame Doomguard was allowed to escape.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Bael answered in irritation.

Doomguard was but a fly who was of no consequence to the great plan.

“The true purpose of Ingrium hasn’t been discovered yet, has it?” Bael asked.

“It has not.” Amon smiled, his wrinkly face wrinkling even more. He bowed.

Bael’s grimace turned into a bright smile. “Heh. Okay, that’s all that matters.”

He laughed as he moved his shoulders up and down. His victory was guaranteed as long as he had that.

“H-Hihihi,” Bael chuckled as he glared at Kang-Woo in madness. “Mock me as much as you want while you still can. You’ll lose everything soon enough.”

Bael gritted his teeth which had instantly regenerated again.

“Now.” Bael stood up, opened his arms wide, and looked up at the burning sky. “It is time for the Apocalypse.”

The army of demons filling the colossal hill of red sand roared.

***

Whoooom.

A white light lit the floor of the Hall of Protection. The light gathered in one spot and appeared a young man with sharp eyes.

“Hyung-nim!” Kim Si-Hun ran toward Kang-Woo, who manifested back into the physical realm. He searched Kang-Woo in worry. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Kang-Woo nodded and walked.

“Did something happen in the divine realm?”

“Bring Layla first. It’ll be much quicker to explain it to you both.”

Si-Hun nodded and turned to head to Layla’s office but Layla, who had followed Si-Hun, entered the room before Si-Hun could bring her.

“Did you find out why contact with the divine realm was cut off, Kang-Woo?” she asked.

“Yes.”

Kang-Woo concisely explained to them what had happened in the divine realm. Of course, he did not tell them what happened between him and Gaia.

“Bael, that son of a bitch…”

“... So that’s why communication was severed.”

Si-Hun and Layla’s expressions turned gloomy after hearing Kang-Woo’s explanation.

“What could Bael’s goal be? If he attacked the divine realm when the Parasites attacked Earth, there’s no way he would leave the majority of gods alive…”

Layla frowned, having the same thought as Kang-Woo.

Kang-Woo shook his head and replied, “I’m not sure either.”

He knew that Bael’s goal was him, but he couldn’t afford to tell Layla that.

“Haaa. The otherworldly invasion, and now Bael… “ Layla clenched her fists anxiously. “Will we… really be able to save this world?”

Kang-Woo nodded without hesitation. “We will, as long as we do it together.”

It was a line straight out of a generic shonen manga, but Kang-Woo was not wrong. Even if he was able to stop Bael by himself, he would not be able to handle his army on top of that. Even if the entire force of Guardians was a match for Bael’s army, they would be no match for Bael himself. They needed to join forces to save this world.

“Hoho. Sounds like a line straight out of a shonen manga,” Layla expressed.

“I guess you’re right.”

“But the clutches of lust usually aim for the heroines while the protagonist is busy fighting evil…”

‘I don’t think we’re reading the same shonen manga.’

“A-Ahem. I’m just joking. Hoho, I’ve been so busy that I haven’t been able to go on Hit— I mean, relieve stress lately.”

‘I’d love to know how you usually relieve stress.’

“Hohohoho.”

‘Don’t try to elegantly laugh it off.’

“Ah, Si-Hun. Let’s go take care of the remaining paperwork.”

“... Oh, yes. Of course.”

Layla dragged Si-Hun with her back to the office. Kang-Woo chuckled and shook his head.

“Now, then…”

He narrowed his eyes. There was something he needed to do with utmost priority.

‘Is there a way for me to break free from the System’s eyes?’

Kang-Woo wouldn’t be able to prepare any countermeasures if he were being monitored at all times.

“I have no clue…”

Kang-Woo crossed his arms and shook his leg in dissatisfaction. As long as he was a Player, he was unable to free himself from the System’s influence.

‘... No.’

Something lit up in his head. Kang-Woo slightly raised his head and recalled back when he had made Cha Yeon-Joo his incarnation.

“Eve, was it?”

There was no response.

“I know you’re watching,” Kang-Woo continued.

A few moments later…

Riiing.

[The Law’s auxiliary control system ‘Eve’ is unable to make willful decisions.]

“Oh? What was that about the fucking splendor last time, then?”

[That was automatically assigned because it was the most apt title based on the analyzed actions of Player Oh Kang-Woo.]

“What did you say, bitch? Don’t you know that my slim chance of victory gets even slimmer if all my actions keep getting monitored like this?”

[...]

The blue message window in front of Kang-Woo shook. After some silence, the message window changed.

[Only a temporary block in information is possible with the current amount of privileges possessed by ‘Eve.’]

“How long exactly?”

[49 days.]

“That’s good enough.”

The final battle against Bael was just around the corner; being able to escape from his sight even for a short amount of time was good enough.

[However, information can be permanently blocked once Player Oh Kang-Woo achieves Transcendent-rank Deific Essence.]

“Hmm…”

‘Transcendent-rank Deific Essence, huh?’

Kang-Woo frowned. It would be amazing for him to escape from Bael’s sight forever.

‘But I have no idea how to get it.’

Kang-Woo put his hand over his forehead as if he was getting a headache.

‘I don’t think it can be achieved just by tons of devouring.’

Considering Kang-Woo possessed the Demonic Sea, an infinite supply of demonic energy, the amount of demonic energy was likely not the condition for achieving Transcendent-rank Deific Essence.

“Tsk,” Kang-Woo clicked his tongue.

‘I’ll go back home for now.’

He wouldn’t come up with an answer just by thinking about it. It was probably a better idea to train by himself.

“Physical training is pointless for me now…”

He would be better off placing a barrier in his room and training to better control the energy within him. Kang-Woo left the Hall of Protection and headed to his home.

Beep, beep.

He opened the front door with a fingerprint scan and entered his home.

“Darling~?”

Kang-Woo looked around for Han Seol-Ah.

Rumble—!

Just then, noisy footsteps rang from the living room and a black-haired girl jumped at Kang-Woo and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Kang-Woo!!”

“Whoa, there.”

Kang-Woo caught Echidna and smiled.

“Hm! Hm!” Echidna snorted and rubbed her face on Kang-Woo’s neck. Her eyes shone as she shouted, “I missed you soooooooo~ much, Kang-Woo!”

She even bit Kang-Woo’s neck, not being satisfied enough just by rubbing her face on it. Kang-Woo trembled as if it tickled. He walked to the living room with Echidna in her arms and put her down on the couch.

“Where’s Seol-Ah?” he asked.

“She went out because Yeon-Joo asked for her help. Something about healing people in the, uh… Church of Splendor, I think it was called? To raise their faith.”

“Oh, she’s doing very well.”

‘Looks like the Oppa~ is working wonders.’

“What about you, Echidna? Weren’t you supposed to be with Lilith and Halcyon to find information about Nostrian?”

“Hm! I came back because I had something to report to you!”

“Something to report?” Kang-Woo asked, his eyes shining.

Echidna stuck back on Kang-Woo on the couch and rubbed her cheeks on him.

“I’ll tell you in a little bit,” she said as she acted spoiled.

Kang-Woo smirked as he patted Echidna’s head.

‘I guess I haven’t been spending much time with her lately.’

Although Echidna was nowhere near as obsessive as Seol-Ah, she was highly dependent on Kang-Woo because she had been abandoned by her father in the past.’

“I looked around super hard, Kang-Woo,” Echidna mentioned as she leaned her head toward Kang-Woo as if asking him to praise her.

“Yeah, I’m proud of you.” Kang-Woo patted her head.

“Hm, hm! I even held off on my Master promos!”

“Master promos? What does that mean?”

“It’s for a game that Yeon-Joo showed me!”

“Oh, that. Yeon-Joo’s a Bronze.”

“Pfft. Bronze?” Echidna sneered. “Does Yeon-Joo only have three fingers?”

“... Mm. I think I understand how low a Bronze is now.” Kang-Woo snickered and spent some more time with Echidna. “Alright, then.”

Kang-Woo grabbed Echidna by the armpits and pulled her away from him.

“Urghh.” Echidna pouted but she also knew that she couldn’t act spoiled any longer. “We found a dungeon in a Gate around the Arctic Ocean.”

“A dungeon?”

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes.

‘The dungeon name isn’t something like Lilith ♡ Demon King Love House, is it? If it is, then I’m not going.’