Player who Returned 10,000 years Later

- YOU BASTAARRDD!!

Tyrion's shout spread through his head.

Although the voice was filled with anger, the tone was quite low since Tyrion had weakened to the point of vanishing.

'Go back and rest.'

KangWoo made a fishy smile.

- Ugh! I must inform Mikael…!

'Who's Mikael?'

He frowned.

It wasn't that he hadn't heard that name before.

It was the name of one of the four archangels along with Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel.

'Is Tyrion related to Heaven?'

On top of that, he talked about Mikael as if he were his superior.

'Do archangels have a higher authority than a god?'

He couldn't easily understand what was going on.

Common sense said that angels had a lower hierarchy than gods.

He frowned at the unexpected development of events.

'I cannot let him contact him.'

He knew that he would figure out his identity when he accepted Tyrion's blessing…

But he had accepted anyway because Tyrion would vanish regardless.

He couldn't let him talk around about his identity.

Whir!

He used the Authority of Predation on the strength he'd obtained from Tyrion.

The golden energy started to be devoured by the darkness.

- Ah...

As he started using the Authority of Predation, Tyrion began disappearing at a faster pace.

'Just disappear.'

He was starting to get annoyed by Tyrion.

He thought that Tyrion would disappear as soon as he accepted his strength, but he was wrong.

- Ugh! N-no! I cannot give my strength to an evil demon!

Tyrion's shouted as if it were his last effort.

The golden energy within KangWoo's body started to flutter.

"Ugh!"

KangWoo frowned after feeling the energy inside him flutter.

A strong pain spread through his body.

'You bastard...!'

He bit his lip. He did his best to not lose his mind to the pain.

- Is… Is it up to here?

Tyrion's voice was so low that it was hard to hear him. Then, the connection with him was cut.

It seemed like he'd completely disappeared.

But…

"Ugh!"

WHIR!

Golden energy pierced through KangWoo's skin and burst out.

It was Tyrion's last effort—he'd exploded his strength so KangWoo wouldn't be able to take it.

'Damn.'

It was a mind-boggling pain.

Tyrion's energy fluttered within his body. It was a body-tearing, painful sensation.

It was as if he'd drunk a cup of water with razor blades inside.

'Fuck, I shouldn't have cheated.'

If he knew he would feel such pain, he would've given the strength to Kim ShiHoon.

He was paying the price for having scammed a hero god.

'You said he would extinguish immediately.'

He felt resentment toward the system's message window.

"Woah!"

"Hyeongnim..."

Kim ShiHoon and the other Guardians exclaimed in surprise and admiration.

From the outside, it seemed like KangWoo was awakening after receiving the power of a god.

"As expected of KangWoo. To think you'd accept so easily the strength of a hero god..."

'No, that's not the case, ShiHoon.'

"I admire you, Hyeongnim."

'It hurts too much.'

"Compared to Hyeongnim... I am greatly lacking."

'Save me.'

He asked Kim ShiHoon for some help in his head, but it seemed like he wasn't able to hear it.

KangWoo felt he was about to lose his mind in that situation where he couldn't laugh or cry.

'It hurts so fucking much.'

He was used to suffering from pain.

—He could even smile while his skin was being cut.

Despite that, he was having a hard time withstanding it.

A normal person would've already died after feeling pain that was as if his entire body was cut into pieces.

'Damn.'

He couldn't keep regretting it.

KangWoo closed his eyes and tried to restrict Tyrion's strength.

—But that didn't last long.

'I can't control it.'

It was too different from the strength he'd used up to that point.

It was as if he'd put electricity into a car that ran on petrol.

It was fundamentally too different from petrol, so restraining it was impossible.

'Then…'

He clenched his fist.

If he couldn't restrict it, he had no choice but to devour it.

The magic inside his blood rose.

KangWoo turned his head while he struggled.

Even though Tyrion had disappeared, he could still see the sword Del Lain shining while emitting a golden light.

'Authority of Predation.'

Black energy appeared and surrounded Del Lain.

The golden light resisted the Authority of Predation.

…But he ignored those efforts. Like a predator who forcibly devoured struggling prey, he covered that energy with the Authority of Predation.

Ting-

[Using the Attribute 'Mana-craving Demon.']

[Warning. There's a different energy mixed in this Mana. You can't fully turn it into demonic energy.]

[Will you still proceed?]

'Who cares about that?'

He didn't care if he could or couldn't fully absorb its strength. He felt that his body was about to explode.

He was starting to regret accepting Tyrion's strength, so he had no mental space to worry about things like that.

He focused and used the Authority of Predation to an extreme.

Whir-!

"Cough."

Tyrion's energy fluctuated as if he were about to have a seizure.

His skin was torn apart, and black blood leaked from his body.

As black blood started pouring out from the cut skin, one of the Guardians shouted.

"Th-this is Transformation!"

'No, it isn't.'

"Woah!"

'It hurts, you motherfuckers, so don't just stand there doing nothing. Please use some healing magic.'

"Seeing that black blood is coming out, it looks like the body is expelling the waste from inside."

'My blood is black.'

Kim ShiHoon nodded.

"It's definitely Transformation. Everyone, please watch the surroundings. Hyeongnim's body could be in danger if he receives even a small impact."

'Hey, ShiHoon, please save me.'

"Sh-shouldn't we do something?"

'Healing magic...'

* * *

"No. That's a wound formed from the reconstruction of his body."

'Use some healing magic on me, you bastard.'

He couldn't expect to receive healing magic due to what ShiHoon said.

At that moment, he felt resentment toward Kim ShiHoon.

'AARRGGHH.'

Since he couldn't expect to receive healing magic, he would have to absorb Tyrion's energy as quickly as possible.

Ting-

[You've succeeded in absorbing part of the Hero God Tyrion's energy.]

[Releasing the energy that wasn't able to be converted.]

BOOM-!!

The surface shook.

A blinding light swept the surroundings.

"Woah."

The Guardians exclaimed in surprise after feeling the holy energy.

[Your Demonic Energy stat has increased by 4.]

[The quality of the stat has increased, and a section of the passage that leads to the 'Deeper' part of the Ten Thousand Demon Core has become active.]

[To fully use it, you must first fulfill the conditions for 'Demonic Soul.']

[You've reached the maximum of a stat you can have at the moment. Your stat will increase once you fulfill the 1st condition of 'Demonic Soul' or your leveling up restriction is lifted.]

Even if he'd absorbed only a part of it, he'd still absorbed the energy of a god.

His stat reached 129, and he felt a huge strength flowing through his body.

Tyrion's sword, 'Del Lain,' turned into dust and scattered away.

The golden dust that covered their surroundings was a superb view.

A brilliant light that seemed to dispel the darkness rose.

"Haa, Haa!"

"Hyeongnim!"

"Mr. KangWoo!"

KangWoo bent his body while breathing heavily.

Gaia, Kim ShiHoon, and the other Guardians went running toward him.

'Fuck.'

The pain stopped. Besides that, as a reward for having absorbed the power of a god, he'd obtained a huge reward.

'I thought I would die.'

Although he was used to pain, he’d struggled so much that he’d almost lost his mind. It wasn't that the impact of having gone through such pain would suddenly disappear.

On top of that…

'ShiHoon, I'm disappointed by you.'

He knew why Kim ShiHoon had said they shouldn't use healing magic on him.

To be honest, he would've also thought he was going through Transformation if he'd seen what happened from the outside.

He knew that, but he couldn't help but feel disappointed.

Human emotions were quite complex, after all.

"I'm glad, Hyeongnim."

"..."

"Hyeongnim? Did something happen?" Kim ShiHoon asked, worried after seeing his hardened face.

KangWoo turned his face away.

"I don't know."

'How could you do that to me?'

"H-hyeongnim… What's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

'I've done so much for you; yet...'

"Your expression says otherwise."

KangWoo walked past Kim ShiHoon.

"H-hyeongnim!"

Kim ShiHoon hurriedly followed him.

KangWoo snorted.

'Hyeong is angry with you.'

* * *

All of the Guardians returned to the Grand Canyon.

Inside the canyon, which had a sullen atmosphere, a small fissure was formed.

Crack-

It was a fissure that had a black and blue color.

A black arm emerged from the fissure.

CRACK-!!

The fissure widened, and a black figure pulled itself out.

He had two horns and bat wings. His tail was long, and his body was muscular.

He had yellow eyes, and his pupils were torn horizontally.

A breathtakingly thick demonic energy came out of him.

"Is this the place called Earth that Mr. Lucifer talked about?"

"Malphas, can you see anything around?"

"No. I can't see anything around here."

"Hmm. Father said that there are a lot of humans living in this world."

Three demons appeared from the fissure.

The three demons that couldn't be distinguished based on their appearance looked around the canyon.

"Well. I guess we'll soon figure it out."

"There's no way Mr. Lucifer lied to us."

The names of the three demons were Phenex, Malphas, and Halphas.

They turned around and bowed toward the fissure.

"Glory to Lucifer."

The three demons bowed to their owner, the Demon God, Lucifer.

Halphas took a step forward.

He grabbed some sand with his hands.

"I can feel Tyrion's energy."

"So it's true that Tyrion died."

"Tsk. Who cares about a low-ranking god disappearing?"

"Yes. What matters is the being that made him disappear."

Halphas raised his head. He remembered their owner, Lucifer's order.

- Find him.

"Let's move."

"Where should we start?"

"I heard that Gaia's underlings are on this world. They should have more information."

"Can we kill them?"

"She's a god of 'that camp.' I'm sure it won't matter if we kill them."

"Isn't Gaia a high-ranking god?"

"Hngh. Are you scared of killing an underling of a half-dead god?"

"No way."

The three demons looked at each other.

"Then let's go."

They opened their wings simultaneously. The three demons rose toward the dark sky.

They had gone to that faraway world after receiving Lucifer’s orders for one reason…

"Even if Tyrion was a low-ranking god... To think that he'd managed to get rid of him. How impressive."

"If he weren't impressive, there would be no reason for us to find him."

"That's true."

"He's probably going to be of great help to Mr. Lucifer's plans."

The three demons let out grim laughs.

"Satan…"

"Let's find him."

They had gone to Earth to find the Demon of Prophecy, Satan.