The Hero Returns

Act 2

"The first step is to intimidate."

Before the trio reached the capital city of the Heavenly World, Su-hyeun brought Sun Wukong and the Roc Demon King closer to explain their strategy.

"I believe the third brother is most suited for this role. You already have a prior record of wreaking havoc in the Heavenly World in the past, after all."

"Yeah, that's true."

"You need to cause as much chaos as possible. We will execute our second step after that."

"Wait, do you really need to explain all this? Isn't this, you know, the exact same process as 500 years ago?"

The Roc Demon King countered Su-hyeun's words with complaints.

Although not as bad as Sun Wukong, the Roc Demon King was also not a big fan of thinking about complicated stuff.

Su-hyeun could only groan at the reactions of these two and inwardly guessed, "Big brother must've felt exhausted by these two quite often."

He knew all about not just their powerful abilities but also their peculiar personalities. Perhaps that was why the Bull Demon King called Su-hyeun to one side and held a private discussion with him before their departure.

"Both the second and third brothers will most likely just plunge headlong into the enemy camp. Especially so for the third...Well, he might be better than anyone when it comes to fighting, but he's rather sloppy as far as coming up with a plan is concerned, isn't he? And that's why you need to help them out," the Bull Demon King said.

"I'm also not very good at military strategies, though," Su-hyeun replied.

"It's alright even if you're not. Anyone would be better than our third brother, after all."

After recalling that conversation, Su-hyeun ended up reflexively nodding his head.

From his observation for the past half a year, Sun Wukong seemed to have invested all of his stat points, if such things existed for him in the first place, only on the stats related to fighting and nothing else besides.

"According to what the third brother has said, the Jade Emperor is hiding somewhere within the capital city. And the city's outer walls are protected by countless soldiers and generals. It's not impossible to break through their defenses and enter the city itself, but that does not mean we'll have an easy time doing that."

"Sure, I guess."

"What do you want us to do, then?"

Su-hyeun saw how his two sworn brothers were still unwilling to think too deeply about this and had no choice but to get to the point right away. "We'll break through the outer gate right away. No, wait..." Su-hyeun looked at Sun Wukong and continued, "We'll just ignore it."

He was staring at the Ruyi Jingu Bang on Sun Wukong's back in particular.

**

Kiiii-aaah—!

Boom, ka-boom—!

All kinds of monsters began rampaging around in the heart of the Heavenly World.

The gods thought of them as Yogoes and not monsters, however. Needless to say, not once before in the Heavenly World's long history did these many Yogoes had ever been allowed to set foot in the capital city, the pride of the Heavenly World.

"Did that human summon them here?"

The general of the Heavenly World's army, Zhang Wumeong, was sweating bullets as he looked at the monsters that had appeared all around him.

Every single one of these things was at the level that regular gods would find very hard to deal with. He couldn't understand why all these monsters were heeding that human's orders. He also couldn't figure out where they had come from.

However, the biggest unanswered question was...

"How did you even get here in the first place?!"

The Great Sage Heaven's Equal was currently fighting by the outer perimeter of the capital city, so how did Su-hyeun appear in this place?

At Zhang Wumeong's question, Su-hyeun simply shifted his gaze over to one side—to the location where a deep crater could be seen.

"I rode on that."

"When you say 'that,' could it be...?"

Zhang Wumeong's gaze chased after Su-hyeun's and landed on the ground as well.

There it was, an indentation made by something heavy. Any god of the Heavenly World who had experienced first-hand the battle against the Great Sage would know just what the cause of that mark on the ground was.

"It can't be…" the general thought.

Swish—

Zhang Wumeong looked back at Su-hyeun in utter disbelief. "You...You rode on the Ruyi Jingu Bang?"

The Ruyi Jingu Bang, the treasure from the oceans that was meant to measure the depths of the dragon palace under the sea. It was the "weapon" that now symbolized the Great Sage Heaven's Equal and was capable of enlarging almost indefinitely depending on the ability of its wielder.

Su-hyeun had ridden on that weapon to infiltrate deep into the city.

"At least there's someone smart among you."

Du-dududududu—

Rumbleeeee—

A gigantic head slowly rose from the ground. It belonged to a snake that was tens of meters in width and several kilometers in length—the Ouroboros.

Kiii-aaaaah—!

This creature's entrance caused the skies of the Heavenly World to buckle.

Zhang Wumeong nervously swallowed his saliva after witnessing the Ouroboros ruthlessly crush the surrounding soldiers of the Heavenly World with its huge body.

Squeeze—

He then gripped the spear in his hand even harder.

"This bastard's specialty must be a summoning technique and using some kind of strange pressure to restrict his opponents," he inwardly considered.

Zhang Wumeong calmly analyzed Su-hyeun's abilities. He also hardened his resolve after realizing that the soldiers in the vicinity couldn't move an inch due to that strange pressure.

"I need to step up here."

Crunch—!

Strength traveled down to his legs, and right at that moment, his figure shot up high and flew toward Su-hyeun who was currently standing on top of a building.

Fwhoooosh—!

His long spear aimed for Su-hyeun's throat.

Zhang Wumeong inwardly cried out in elation when their distance closed up in the blink of an eye without much interference.

"I did…"

Crunch—

"…it?"

Whoosh—

Zhang Wumeong's spear that was thrusting forward simply stabbed into empty air.

At the same time, however, his body suddenly staggered. And even before he could figure out what happened, a powerful impact force slammed into the back of his head.

Ka-boom—!

Bang, crunchhhh—

The impact force caused the building Su-hyeun stood on to collapse spectacularly.

That's all Zhang Wumeong was able to remember. Su-hyeun simply grabbed the god's throat as the latter rushed in, slammed him down hard, and immediately leaped out of the collapsing building.

Boom, crunch—!

Rumbleeeee—

In the meantime, the monsters summoned there through the Necromancer trait were still ripping apart the soldiers of the Heavenly World and crushing the buildings underfoot.

It was literally a pandemonium.

Su-hyeun raised his head and looked up. "They sure are late."

Giii-aaaah—!

Grrrrr—

More soldiers riding on the backs of divine beasts began filling up the skies.

With spears in their hands, they aimed for Su-hyeun. On top of that, chaos was unfolding in the center of the Heavenly World, which caused even more soldiers to rush there from all directions as well.

Their numbers were quite high.

"That's more like it."

This was what he wanted.

Su-hyeun maintained the breathing technique and calmed his heart. Not only the magical energy but also the breathing technique managed to reduce his consumption of the Death Aura required to use the Necromancer trait.

"An army for an army," he thought.

The difference in numbers was rather considerable.

He was standing in the center of the Heavenly World. There were at least hundreds of thousands of gods residing in that place alone.

"I guess it'll be better to wait for now."

This battle was practically a war of attrition.

Not to forget, this was not a battle against an individual but an entire army. He needed to conserve his stamina and magical energy until either the Jade Emperor revealed himself or his current location was exposed.

So Su-hyeun chose to actively rely on his Necromancer trait for the time being. And he had readied one more card just for that purpose.

"Arise."

Gu-gugugugu—

"God of War, Prince Nezha."

["Dead Summoning" has been used.]

["God of War, Prince Nezha" is being summoned.]

[Your proficiency is insufficient to restore the summoned creature's full stats.]

[The summoned creature's stats will be adjusted lower.]

[Application rate: 31%]

Riiip—

Step, step—

Space tore apart in a straight line, and a man with a near-skeletal physique pushed himself past the opening to step outside.

It was difficult to see much resemblance to how he looked back when he was still a living being. The low application rate was to blame for that. However, Su-hyeun wasn't disappointed by this. He felt deeply satisfied by the fact that, more than anything else, he could even summon Nezha in the first place.

Sshu-wu-wuk—

Right after the Dead Summoning had been used, a considerable amount of Death Aura incomparable to anything up until now was consumed instantly.

However, he didn't feel that it was a waste. The true worth of his new summon was too amazing to feel that way, anyway.

"An application rate of 31%, huh?"

That number was quite low. However, the specs of the summoned creature while he was still alive were already too outstanding, to begin with, so it was fine.

The God of War, Prince Nezha.

Su-hyeun had to go through a wringer to turn this guy into his summon. For one thing, the grade of Prince Nezha's soul alone was on another dimension compared to any other monsters.

Shu-ka-ahk—

Whoosh—

Su-hyeun took out a sword he was carrying on his back with his usual spear and then tossed it at his new summon. Prince Nezha reached out and caught that sword mid-air.

It was none other than the Yogoe Slaying Sword.

Squeeze—

No matter how bony he looked on the outside, a god of war was still a god of war. The moment he caught the Yogoe Slaying Sword, Prince Nezha's grip became far stronger than before.

"And now..." Su-hyeun, having successfully summoned Prince Nezha, addressed his summoned creatures. His order remained the same as before, however. "...Sweep them all away."

**

Kiii-aaaah—!

The Ouroboros' screeching reverberated throughout the Heavenly World's skies. That wasn't all. Noises of footsteps belonging to numerous monsters were mixed in among that loud screeching.

The gods didn't need to hear a report to figure out that many "Yogoes" had invaded the center of the Heavenly World.

"Yogoes have invaded us!"

"How could Yogoes…In the center of our capital…?"

"Did the Great Sage Heaven's Equal form a pack?"

"Who cares?! Exterminate the Yogoes first!"

The entire Heavenly World was thrown into chaos.

The Great Sage Heaven's Equal, along with other Yogoes, began wreaking havoc—that news brought in many soldiers toward the center of the Heavenly World.

"Where is the current location of the Great Sage?"

"He's currently by the Eastern Gate, sir! Lord Erlang Shen has been dispatched to that location."

"Lord Erlang Shen did? Well, I guess there won't be a problem on that side then."

Erlang Shen was the greatest shield that protected the Heavenly World, along with the God of War Prince Nezha.

If he went there, then the matters in the eastern section should be alright.

"So, our problem is the Roc Demon King and that human over there, right?"

The third general of the Heavenly World's army, Wenchang Jun, was making a deeply troubled expression.

"This battle will ultimately be recorded as the Heavenly World's victory. However...Is there any meaning to a victory full of nothing but injuries?"

Basically, this fight had been initiated by the Heavenly World. As they were about to start the extermination of all humans and Yogoes, it was only a matter of time before a battle against the Great Sage Heaven's Equal would occur.

Many gods of the Heavenly World would lose their lives in the process, but there was nothing that could be done about it. By the time all traces of humans and Yogoes disappeared from the surface world, only about half of the gods would remain alive.

"It seems that the Heavenly World is especially noisy today."

Step, step—

A stately voice that Wenchang Jun had heard before somewhere suddenly entered his ears.

He quickly turned his head in the direction of that voice. And that's where he discovered someone he thought he would never meet ever again—an old man with an imposing physique and sporting a long white beard.

"P—Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, Li Jing? What brings you here, honored sir?"

"What's the matter? Did I come to a place I shouldn't have?"

"No, it's not that, but...I was under the impression that you have retired a long time ago?"

The Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King.

Not only was he one of the Heavenly World's top warriors, but he was also the father and master of Prince Nezha.

The Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King had stepped away from an important position in the Heavenly World when he grew old, and his son Prince Nezha earned the title of the God of War. However, no god in this place would not know how incredible a warrior he was in his prime.

"I heard that my son was killed."

Prince Nezha was dead.

His son was dead.

While mouthing those words, Li Jing's narrow eyes opened wider ever so slightly. "In that case, shouldn't I step forward again and restore the glory of our Heavenly World?"

Go-oooooh—

It had been a long time since the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King's fighting spirit was felt by the others. With this, he had returned from a lengthy absence to become the Heavenly World's proud warrior once more.

"So, where is the place that requires my assistance?"

When he roused up his fighting spirit and asked that question...

"Well, I think..."

The reply came from a completely unexpected location.

"...Over here?"

Swiiiiish—

BANG—!

Crack, spliiiit—

That voice, along with a powerful presence, caused Li Jing, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, as well as Wenchang Jun and the soldiers of the Heavenly World, to turn his head in its direction.

Wenchang Jun's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at the sight of a man with snow-white hair falling from the sky to make his sudden entrance.

"T—the…The…" Wenchang Jun's jaw dropped low as he loudly roared out the title that the Heavenly World had bestowed unto this individual. "Great Sage Heaven's Equal?!"