The Hero Returns

His expression and tone of voice regarded Su-hyeun as if he was an insect. Also, the unmistakable naked murderous aura that came from him was primed to kill Su-hyeun at any second.

If this was any other time, Su-hyeun would have unsheathed his sword and fought straight away. However, he realized from the man's words that the latter was searching for the Bull Demon King and Sun Wukong.

That was why he couldn't start fighting there, and so, he should put the priority on having a conversation first.

"Are you referring to big brother Bull Demon King?"

"Big...brother?" A murderous intent flashed in the man's eyes once more. With his large strides toward Su-hyeun, it wouldn't have been strange to see the man reach out to strangle Su-hyeun immediately. "Who the hell do you think you are, calling him your big brother?!"

"I've recently joined the brotherhood. Name's Kim Su-hyeun. May I know what your name is?"

"I'm the Great Sage who Confuses Heaven, the Roc Demon King. I'm the sworn little brother to the Great Sage who Pacifies Heaven, the Bull Demon King, and the sworn big brother to the Great Sage Heaven's Equal."

The Great Sage who Confuses Heaven.

The Yogoe with a title that implied he was a great sage who caused confusion and chaos in the sky.

Su-hyeun had heard about this guy before. Not only did this Yogoe make an appearance in the Journey to the West, but the Bull Demon King and Sun Wukong also said that there was one other sworn brother in the family.

"Doesn't look like the entire roster of the seven demon kings of the east are in this world..." Su-hyeun thought.

In the Journey to the West, seven "great sages" had come together to become sworn brothers. However, there were only three in this world. The Roc Demon King, a "big" brother to Sun Wukong and a "little" brother to the Bull Demon King, was the third "great sage" that Su-hyeun had encountered so far.

If he was a sibling to Sun Wukong and the Bull Demon King, then according to their logic, he was also Su-hyeun's big brother.

"I offer you my greeting, big brother."

"Who the hell is your big brother?!"

The killing intent that leaked out of the Roc Demon King became even thicker.

At the same time, chilling aura gushed out from him and quickly spread out to the rest of their surroundings. But this aura was markedly different from the one emitted by either Sun Wukong or the Bull Demon King.

"Demonic Aura?" Su-hyeun thought.

It felt rather similar to the "Demonic Aura" emitted by the devils—an energy form at complete odds against Dao energy that resembled Mother Nature.

"He didn't master the Sage Arts like the others?"

Since he was a sibling to the Bull Demon King and Sun Wukong, Su-hyeun thought that the Roc Demon King would obviously have trained in the Sage Arts as well.

But for someone practicing the Sage Arts, the aura he gave off was far too different. And the emotion he was now displaying went well beyond the level of simple animosity.

"How dare a measly little human call me a big brother?! You stinking son of a..."

That expression and the voice filled with pure contempt...

A deep frown was etched on Su-hyeun's forehead. If it was possible, he would have much preferred Sun Wukong to come down from the sky and lend him a helping hand, but he had a feeling that his Yogoe big brother was going to sit this one out and simply observe from afar.

"Meaning, he wants me to resolve this situation by myself," he guessed.

He also actually wanted this.

He didn't think that having a chat with the Roc Demon King would amicably solve the situation, especially so when the latter was clearly unleashing his naked killing intent born out of racial prejudice.

"It seems that words won't get through to you," Su-hyeun said.

Shu-rung—

Su-hyeun unsheathed his sword and, at the same time, held his spear.

Split—

He also didn't forget to open his third eye on his forehead. And just as his trait "Third Eye" was activated...

Giii-iiing—

Whitish light began swirling within Su-hyeun's eyes.

And that caused the Roc Demon King's movements to falter, even though he had been glaring at Su-hyeun with so much murderous aura up until a second ago.

"The Sage's Eye?"

That aura permeating from within Su-hyeun's eyes and that familiar glare shooting out from them...

Those were definitely the "Sage's Eye," an offshoot of the Sage Arts and referred to as the Taoist God's eyes. The Roc Demon King had seen those from the Bull Demon King before.

"Not to mention, that eye in his forehead..."

As the Roc Demon King stared at the Third Eye, his expression rapidly changed into one of bafflement.

"He's not a human?"

Such a human-type Yogoe with three eyes, although rare, could sometimes be seen. There were certainly Yogoes with a third eye on their forehead or even numerous eyes on their faces.

But the smell coming off from Su-hyeun definitely belonged to a human, not a Yogoe. And that was something that caused much confusion in the Roc Demon King's mind.

"Well, then..." Su-hyeun stared at the Roc Demon King who was already wearing a confused expression on his face and made his move first. "Forgive me for this little act of mutiny."

* * *

Swoosh, split—

Cruuuunch—!

Powerful gusts of wind raged on.

The noises of a sword clashing against a hard unbreakable wing could be heard intermittently among the whipping winds.

Sun Wukong had placed his Somersault Cloud a little higher than usual and, along with the Bull Demon King, spectated on the battle that was taking place below.

"You know, the second big brother is also not too shabby himself. Don't you think he got faster than before?"

"Even if that's not the case, he's always been the fastest among us in terms of pure speed. If the youngest hadn't acquired his Sage's Eye, then the 'second' would've probably been an even harder opponent to fight than Prince Nezha."

The Roc Demon King was faster than Sun Wukong and even the Bull Demon King. Consequently, he became known as the world's fastest Yogoe.

Although Su-hyeun wasn't exactly slow, to begin with, he couldn't match up to the Roc Demon King's speed.

"Of course, being fast isn't everything."

"If being faster meant being stronger, then the second brother would've been the strongest among us." Sun Wukong nodded his head at the Bull Demon King's words and then smirked deeply. "Actually, he's the weakest among us, isn't he?"

"Is that something you should say about your big brother? You're being very rude."

Sun Wukong chuckled awkwardly and replied, "You know that my compatibility with the second brother is not very good." His eyes were still fixed on the battle that was taking place below. "I like humans. Unlike the second brother."

"Indeed. That is true."

Sun Wukong liked humans.

Their races might have been different, but he liked humans better than those with the race as him, the Yogoes.

And that was his reason for devouring every single Peach of Immortality in existence, which was referred to as the treasure of the Heavenly World, and for invading that world to start fighting everyone up there.

Because the Jade Emperor hated humans and because he wished to exterminate every single living human.

Sun Wukong's reason for fighting against the Heavenly World was definitely not for the sake of the Yogoes.

"Who do you think will win the battle?"

"Big brother, you already know that, so why ask me? The youngest has already defeated Nezha. He did that when he only barely learned the basics of the breathing technique and even before he awakened the Sage's Eye, too."

An obvious question would only get an obvious reply.

"The youngest will win, without a doubt."

As their conversation continued, the battle between Su-hyeun and the Roc Demon King was reaching its climax.

* * *

Swish, Swhoooosh—

Fwhooosh—

The Roc Demon King, who was flitting about this way and that, suddenly swung one of its wings—strong enough to tear steel like a piece of paper—in a big arc.

He instantly appeared behind Su-hyeun to severe the human's head.

However...

CLAAANG—!

The wing and the sword collided once more, causing the Roc Demon King's entire body to stagger unstably like before.

"Damn it!" the Roc Demon King cursed inwardly.

He already lost count just how many times this had happened.

Su-hyeun was far, far slower than he was. In terms of pure speed alone, the Roc Demon King was certain that he would overwhelm his opponent.

"But, why? Why…?!"

Fighting against Su-hyeun reminded him of facing off against someone else.

"Why? Why am I recalling that fool, Sun Wukong?"

Sun Wukong.

He might have been the youngest of the three brothers, but he was the only other existence after the Bull Demon King that made the Roc Demon King taste the bitterness of a crushing defeat.

A lowly monkey-type Yogoe and, not only that, a Yogoe with no special movement abilities—that was Sun Wukong. But even then, he relied on his instinctive senses to react accurately to all of the Roc Demon King's movements. It was as if he knew in advance where his opponent would appear next.

The reality, though, was the Roc Demon King's assumptions were fairly accurate in their own right.

"I can see it," Su-hyeun thought.

Su-hyeun's irises darted around rapidly.

Swish, whoosh—

He could clearly see the Roc Demon King's figure dashing about in the air, causing gusts to break out from his unfurled wings.

This Yogoe had so far relied on the speed that Su-hyeun had never encountered before, and the latter had accepted that fact as well. However, separate from his brain registering the movements, his eyes could clearly see each maneuver. It felt like his opponent was moving in a world of slow motions.

"Next time, he'll be over here."

Su-hyeun swung his sword ahead of time—well before the Roc Demon King's wing swung at him.

CLAAAANG—!

And once more, the ultra-sharp and hard scales on the wing collided viciously against Su-hyeun's blade.

Baaang—!

Swung with considerable power, the sword shoved the Roc Demon King's body far away. No matter how fast the Yogoe was, his strength remained far inferior to Su-hyeun's.

"Dammit—!"

The Roc Demon King's eyes were dyed in a crimson hue.

An aura similar to the Demonic Aura began swelling from his whole body. At the same time, he pulled both of his wings back before thrusting them forward powerfully.

"Go and die already—!"

WHOOOOOSH—

Swooooosh—!

The blackish aura mixed with violently whipping winds, which created hundreds of millions of small blades, rushed toward Su-hyeun.

In its entirety, it appeared as a storm made entirely of black turbulence.

These winds rushed toward Su-hyeun at a far greater speed than before. His eyes could see them, but dodging them would be far harder.

"I can cut it down."

However, that didn't mean he found this attack all that threatening to behold.

As he stayed within the greatly slowed-down time...

Su-hyeun discovered a slender line viciously whipping about in the middle of the winds.

"There."

The line seemed particularly bright.

Su-hyeun injected a ton of magical energy to his blade and then swung it ruthlessly toward the gap within the winds blowing about without any pattern whatsoever.

"Explosion style."

Giii-iiiing—

Along with a soft whisper, his sword sliced about at a leisurely pace.

Slower and more leisurely than ever before.

Whoosh—

Nonetheless, more accurately than ever before, too.

PANG—!

Whoosh—

The black turbulence that was menacingly approaching to rip him into pieces instantly shattered and scattered to their surroundings.

Clink—

The sharp blade-like winds died down to become gentle breezes. As he felt the air brush his skin, Su-hyeun replayed the sensation of the sword swing he felt through his fingertips.

It was as if he heard a message of some kind for a moment just then.

An expression of pure daze surfaced on the face of the Roc Demon King who was looking at the spectacle from a distance. It was the first time the gusts of wind he had summoned were broken and scattered so powerlessly like that.

"J—just what, what is…? How…?"

Clap—

A sudden clap of hands woke them up from their stupor.

The Roc Demon King was startled awake and hurriedly turned his head.

The Bull Demon King had appeared before anyone had noticed him. As he walked in between his two "siblings," he said, "There, there. Why don't we end this quarrel between brothers here? If this goes on any longer, someone might get hurt quite gravely."

The Bull Demon King seemed to be deeply entertained judging from that the wide grin on his face.

The Roc Demon King realized the truth after seeing that expression. The Bull Demon King had been watching his fight against Su-hyeun all along.

"Big brother! Even if your emotions have gotten fainter, how can you do this to me considering our relationship? Sure, even if you can't aid your little brother, at least you—"

"Our relationship? What kind of relationship could you be referring to?"

"What do you mean, what kind? Aren't we brothers?! So how come this human who is worth even less than an insect dares to—?"

"Indeed, that's right. We're brothers. And the youngest here, he is also my little brother. Our sworn brother."

Shudder—

The scales covering the Roc Demon's whole body ever so slightly stood up on their ends. Although the Bull Demon King spoke calmly, his voice definitely contained a stark warning.

"Worth even less than an insect? Did I hear you say that correctly?"

"…"

The Roc Demon King couldn't reply and lowered his head instead.

He failed to calm his body that was trembling nonstop. He even began feeling the threat of death that if he answered poorly now, his head might go flying off in an instant.

Brothers?

Did such a thing mean anything to the Bull Demon King, anyway?

His head might understand the concept, but what about his heart?

He could suddenly kill the Roc Demon King, someone he referred to as his little brother, without even a shred of hesitation. The current state of the Bull Demon King meant that such a thing was definitely possible.

"I...My apologies."

The Roc Demon King could only gnash his teeth and lower his head. He then immediately turned around and began walking away.

The Bull Demon King kept his eyes on the departing back of the Yogoe as he spoke to Su-hyeun. "I hope you can understand where he's coming from. That one, ever since his birth, he had to live as a slave to humans. Not only that, but his parents were also killed at the hands of humans—"

"I'm alright."

Su-hyeun seemed dazed and distracted somehow as he replied.

As Su-hyeun stood there clenching and then unfurling his hand that was still holding the sword, the Bull Demon King's eyes narrowed into slits as he stared at him.

As for Sun Wukong who was still riding on top of the Somersault Cloud...

"Man, our little brother is a monster, alright."

His nails were digging deep into his own thighs to suppress his boiling competitive spirit.