Player who Returned 10,000 years Later

Silence fell. Tai Wuji stared at Lucifer incomprehensibly.

‘We’d be better off fighting Gaia or Seraph?’

Gaia was greatly hurt at the moment, and Seraph had been annihilated at the price of sealing the Constellations of Evil. Lucifer probably was not referring to the two of them in their current state; he had likely meant that the Constellations would have been better off fighting Gaia and Seraph in their prime.

“What kind of… nonsense is that?”

Tai Wuji, a fellow god of the Triad, knew better than anyone how powerful gods of the highest rank were. No one but Titans, the creators of the gods, would be a match for them, but…

‘He’s telling us to run away from a mere human with no Deific Essence?’

[Shit! What are you doing?! Hurry up and tell the one who went to kill Oh Kang-Woo to… No, it’s probably too late for him. The rest of you should run, at the very least. You mustn’t be devoured by him!] Lucifer shouted impatiently.

He was more worried about them being eaten by the human named Oh Kang-Woo than for their lives. Tai Wuji frowned.

‘He doesn’t seem to be lying.’

He could not understand why Lucifer was reacting to such an extent.

‘Oh Kang-Woo…’

Tai Wuji needed to see for himself what kind of human he was.

“Thank you for the advice.” Tai Wuji stood up.

[S-Stop! Wait, Heavenly Dragon!] Lucifer yelled.

Tai Wuji’s eyebrows slightly wrinkled. He placed his hand over the black orb and said, “Do not call me by that name.”

Crack. The black orb shattered into pieces.

***

[I see, you weren’t human.]

The Constellation of Fear’s purple eyes lit up while clenching his scythe. The human’s body was regenerating while squirming as if it was made of liquid. No matter how one looked at him, he could not be called anything else but a monster.

‘How did a monster like that become Gaia’s retainer?’

The Constellation of Fear looked at Kang-Woo in confusion.

‘In any case…’

The Constellation of Fear took a deep breath and clad himself with Divinity. Even if the being in front of him could regenerate and was not human, there was nothing to fear. He looked down at his left arm that had been eaten by the giant mouth. The purple vengeful spirits gathered around the severed area to create a new arm.

[Fuuu.]

The Constellation of Fear was not human either, and also possessed regenerative capabilities on par with that monster. If that was the case…

‘As long as I’m careful of that mouth, I have the overwhelming advantage since I have Divinity.’

“Yes, that’s more like it.” Kang-Woo snickered in delight.

It had been a while since he had this much fun. He didn’t have to conceal himself with lies nor try to fool the enemy with tricks. He could rampage as much as his desires wanted.

Kang-Woo slowly raised his head, took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He could feel the giant current of demonic energy raging from his heart throughout his body. He had opened one of the three Doors that sealed the Demonic Sea, but he had not lost his reason nor turned into a black slime unlike when he had faced Baek Kang-Hyun.

‘I’m different from back then.’

It was a given, since not only had he regained the power he had back in Hell, but had far surpassed it. Kang-Woo controlled the energy of the Demonic Sea that was flooding him through the Door. The deathly violent current of demonic energy was moving according to his will.

‘Opening two Doors is still a bit of a stretch.’

Kang-Woo could do it, but he was not confident that he wouldn’t be swept by the colossal current of the Demonic Sea. It was a shame, but he decided not to pay it much mind. Although he had only opened one of the Doors, it was astonishing enough that he had become able to control the massive energy influx from opening one Door.

‘Though I’ll probably still suffer from the side effects.’

Kang-Woo did not care; he was more than capable of handling a risk of that level if he could devour a god.

“Haaa,” Kang-Woo exhaled and opened his eyes.

‘Inferno.’

Kang-Woo extended his arm to create a sword blazing with yellow flames and jumped into the air.

[Dance, sing.] The Constellation of Fear drearily chanted a spell, and then swung the giant scythe.

Whoosh—!

A portion of the hundreds of thousands of vengeful spirits making up his body was pulled out and gathered into hundreds of spheres, which then shot toward Kang-Woo.

Kang-Woo changed directions in midair; the foot technique that he had learned from Kim Si-Hun was a great help. He twisted around like a dancing dragon while stepping on the air and swung down Inferno with both hands. The Constellation of Fear raised his scythe to block the attack.

Claaang—!

Inferno was deflected once again along with a clear metallic sound.

[I told you that it was no use!] the Constellation of Fear shouted while bursting with Divinity.

Kang-Woo smiled. He raised the deflected Inferno and swung it at his own arm.

[What?]

Slash!

Kang-Woo’s arm was cut off by the blazing sword as the Constellation of Fear’s eyes were dyed with confusion. Black blood spewed out like a fountain and splashed on the Constellation of Fear.

Crunch!

[Gaaaaahh!]

Countless mouths appeared from the blood and bit off parts of the Constellation of Fear. Neither the Divinity barrier that he had been so proud of nor his hundreds of thousands of vengeful spirits meant anything. The hundreds of mouths that had appeared from Kang-Woo’s blood were gnawing at the Constellation of Fear at an alarming pace like a pack of piranhas.

[Kurgh!]

The Constellation of Fear looked down at himself in pallor. His entire body had fortunately not been covered with blood because he had instinctively jumped back after sensing that something was wrong. He severed the body parts covered in blood with his scythe.

[Huff, huff!] the Constellation of Fear panted heavily.

He had felt it earlier, but it was abnormally painful. The mouths had been so painful that cutting off the body parts covered in blood felt better.

‘I-I can’t let that bastard’s blood get on me.’

The Constellation of Fear stepped back in pallor. He had once faced the Constellation of Agony, but the pain that he had experienced back then had been nothing compared to being eaten by those mouths.

‘I’ll keep my distance and attack from far away.’

It would be over the moment that he was covered in that monster’s blood.

[Sound the requiem!]

Whoosh—!

The Constellation of Fear raised his scythe up high after widening his distance from Kang-Woo. The purple sphere made of vengeful spirits poured down like rainfall, leaving absolutely no space to dodge.

Rumble—!!

The deathly energy within the vengeful spirits exploded once they hit the ground. A giant purple storm tore apart the surroundings as it formed a crater several hundred meters wide.

[Is he dead?] the Constellation of Fear mumbled as he looked down at the destroyed ground.

He could see the monster having been torn into little pieces, having been unable to dodge his attack. Just then, he heard someone cackling.

“Thanks for the resurrection flag.”

The Constellation of Fear’s face stiffened as he turned toward the source of the sound.

Squelch, squelch.

The black blood spilled all over the ground was gathering in one place; the monster’s limbs and intestines were regenerating while squirming.

[What… in the world…]

The Constellation of Fear got goosebumps. Although he himself was a cluster of vengeful spirits, not even he was able to regenerate after being torn into little bits.

[How…]

How was he supposed to kill that monster? No, was that monster even able to be killed? The Constellation of Fear trembled as he stared at the inexplicable monster.

‘Shit.’

The Constellation of Fear clenched his scythe anxiously. That had been his strongest attack; if the monster did not die from that, then he had no other choice.

‘I’ll have to unleash the Demon God’s Deific Essence.’

[Fuuu.]

The Constellation of Fear’s purple eyes shone. He focused while raising his scythe. To unleash the Demon God’s Deific Essence— no, to be able to unleash it while staying alive, he needed to focus his entire being on the act.

Whoosh—!!

Enormous energy suddenly flowed out from the Constellation of Fear. The vengeful spirits making up his body shone purple and swirled around like a vortex.

“I’m sorry, but…”

Kang-Woo leaped forward without hesitation. He used the Authority of Blink to appear right in front of the Constellation of Fear, who was drawing out enormous amounts of energy.

“I’m not the kind of person to wait for transformations.”

Kang-Woo smiled as he stretched out his right arm. He thought about waiting leisurely to see what the Constellation of Fear’s trump card was, but he sensed that the energy flowing out from the Constellation of Fear was dangerous even for him after opening a Door.

Splash! Kang-Woo’s black blood spewed out as he cut off his right arm.

[Kuh!]

The Constellation of Fear halted his attempt to unleash the Demon God’s Deific Essence and quickly jumped back. However, a few drops of Kang-Woo’s blood got on his shoulder.

Crunch!

[Gaaaaaaahh!!]

Dozens of mouths once again appeared from the blood. The Constellation of Fear cut off his arm with his scythe while screaming.

[Huff, huff,] he panted heavily as he stared at Kang-Woo in pallor. [H-How…]

The Constellation of Fear had not tried to unleash the Demon God’s Deific Essence in the middle of battle without considering Kang-Woo’s interference. A barrier made of the Demon God’s power, powerful enough to buy him more than enough time to unleash the Deific Essence, was formed during the process.

‘So why…’

The Constellation of Fear looked at the monster in front of him incomprehensibly. That monster had managed to pass through the Demon God’s barrier with ease. He had not destroyed or ripped through it; he had simply gone through it as if it had never been there in the first place.

“Hm? What?” Kang-Woo asked.

Based on his reaction, it seemed like he had no knowledge of the barrier. The Constellation of Fear grimaced, unable to understand what was going on.

‘Since it’s come to this, I’ll have to unleash the Deific Essence right away… while risking annihilation.’

It was the worst possible situation. The Constellation of Fear fell into thought while clenching his scythe.

“What’s wrong? We’re not done yet.” Kang-Woo smiled widely and continued, “I wanna play some more.”

He had not had enough yet. Although he had stopped the Constellation of Fear from using his trump card, the Constellation of Fear could still fight. Kang-Woo wanted to experience this joyous battle for a little longer. Kang-Woo charged at the Constellation of Fear while smiling.

Just then…

Slash!

The barrier surrounding them was torn, and a middle-aged man with a diagonal slash scar across his face slipped through. He stood between Kang-Woo and the Constellation of Fear with a sword shining blue in hand. The man simply stared at Kang-Woo, who was charging at the Constellation of Fear, expressionlessly.

[C-Constellation of Despair.]

The Constellation of Fear’s eyes widened. The situation was straight out of a scene of a protagonist coming to save a heroine in danger. The Constellation of Despair raised his sword and swung it at the charging Kang-Woo. Kang-Woo could not feel killing intent from the swing; it was only meant to keep Kang-Woo at bay.

Kang-Woo smiled widely. The Constellation of Fear extended his arm, getting a bad feeling.

[Wai—!]

Kang-Woo jumped straight into the path of the sword swing before the Constellation of Fear could finish his sentence.

“What?” Tai Wuji, who had not expected Kang-Woo to jump straight into his swing, expressed confusion.

The Heavenly Dragon’s sword sliced Kang-Woo’s head clean off, and…

Splash—!

Blood splattered from the base of Kang-Woo’s neck like a fountain… toward the Constellation of Fear behind Tai Wuji.

“What in the…” Tai Wuji muttered, having not expected the monster that Lucifer had warned him about, to die from just a warning swing.

He turned around to look at the Constellation of Fear, who was covered from head to toe by the black blood.

[N-No… NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!] the Constellation of Fear screamed in terror.