The Hero Returns

Creaaak...

That voice was accompanied by the noise of the door opening.

To Su-hyeun, it felt like the door was opening in slow motion. After that, what he saw was a figure with two small horns on his head who had already stepped inside the doorway.

There it was, the familiar face.

"First brother?!"

It was none other than the Bull Demon King.

He spoke up first, "How have you been, brother?"

Although it had been quite a while since their last meeting, the Bull Demon King didn't make a significant emotional facial expression like overly enthusiastic or anything like that. His greeting was as simple as lightly waving his hand at a family member who was staying under the same roof as him. As if he was asking, did you sleep well last night?

As such, Su-hyeun also didn't react noisily and calmed himself down to reply in a composed manner. "Yes, first brother. I have been doing well."

"Uhm, who...?" Lee Ju-ho could only alternate his confused gaze between Su-hyeun and the Bull Demon King.

He could clearly see those pair of horns. He could tell that their new guest was not really a human being, but this person could still speak in the human tongue, and not only that but Su-hyeun seemed to be very familiar with him, too.

Lee Ju-ho remained confused as ever, so Su-hyeun introduced the Bull Demon King to him, "Ah. This person is the Bull Demon King, brother Ju-ho."

Although they didn't share any blood, Su-hyeun still grinned deeply and spoke without a shred of hesitation, "He's my oldest brother."

* * *

Su-hyeun went on to introduce the Bull Demon King to Lee Ju-ho in full, starting from how he met the Yogoe first during the trial within the Tower to how he stayed in the latter's home and became sworn brothers. He even explained how the Bull Demon King continued to aid him even after that, and finally, he explained how the Yogoe was the strongest being he had ever met.

"Okay, so...This gentleman is that powerful?" Lee Ju-ho cautiously asked.

"Yes. I won't even serve as a warm-up to him," Su-hyeun replied confidently.

When he first met the Bull Demon King, he couldn't even tell just how mighty the latter was as an existence, other than vaguely sensed that the Yogoe was an amazing individual. Back then, he had no idea about the depths of the power or how lofty the status of the Bull Demon King was.

However, the story was rather different now that he had acquired a few qualifications of godhood, became a demigod, and took in the seed of a World Tree.

Su-hyeun's eyes could "see" the true extent of the Bull Demon King. He could see now how incredibly vast and tall the latter was.

"Hmm. This tea is quite delectable," the Bull Demon King savored the tea brought out by Lee Ju-ho.

The Yogoe that was leisurely drinking tea was at least a head taller than most adult men.

Lee Ju-ho could be called an ordinary person when compared to Su-hyeun, so he found it hard to accept the latter's explanation. He just couldn't sense the awe-inspiring aura similar to what Gordon Rohan emitted, the air of a seasoned veteran Su-hyeun gave off, or even some kind of a tangible presence from the Bull Demon King.

The Bull Demon King spoke up, "I have never tasted this kind of tea before. Is it possible for you to give me some when I leave?"

"Ah, of course. It's not a problem," said Lee Ju-ho.

"Thank you. This makes it very much worth the trouble to come this far," the Bull Demon King replied and smiled faintly.

Lee Ju-ho continued to steal some glances at the Yogoe while gathering up every tea stored in the office's pantry.

"Wait, could it be that the little brother Su-hyeun had brought along was also...?" Lee Ju-ho began recalling Luslec, who showed up alongside Su-hyeun in the past.

Something about that guy kind of seemed off back then. Lee Ju-ho abruptly thought that that Luslec guy was also someone Su-hyeun ran into inside one of his trials, just like the Bull Demon King.

Despite the large commotion earlier, Su-hyeun found the current development much to his liking. He had to part ways with Sun Wukong not too long ago but to think that he would get to meet the Bull Demon King again.

Not only that but in his own homeworld, Earth, too!

"How did you come to this world, first brother?"

"The path to come here was somewhat complicated, as it turned out. Although I used the Palm Leaf in your possession to search for you, it still took me quite some time. Thankfully, however, it wasn't so far away that I had to give up on coming here and say hello."

"How did you find the trip?"

"Maybe I should blame my old age because I fear I won't be able to visit this place often. The way back is already proving to be a bit of a hassle, so next time, you should come and visit us instead."

"Understood. I'll do that," Su-hyeun replied confidently.

He initially thought that he would never get to meet his sworn brothers ever again, but things were different now.

Not only did he meet Sun Wukong but he even met the Bull Demon King twice like this, and he even had a "lead," too.

"Feels like I can really make it happen," Su-hyeun thought.

The Bull Demon King got here through the Palm Leaf, while an item allowed individuals to communicate through dimensions as well.

Su-hyeun had been searching for a way after learning about these two possibilities, and he was confident that it wouldn't take that long for him to succeed.

"By the way, why do you think I've come to you?" the Bull Demon King abruptly asked, but when Su-hyeun made a puzzled face, the Yogoe asked a different question, "Why do you think I showed up now?"

It was right at that moment that a thought flashed past his head.

"Our king...wanted to meet a human...was in a hurry to reach this place...suddenly vanished...never returned..."

That was what the Heavenly Dragon, Dragoon, had told Su-hyeun.

Su-hyeun recalled the conversation he had with that black dragon, and while wondering about it, asked back, "Was that you, first brother?"

There was no context to that question, but the Bull Demon King understood it nevertheless because it was the right question to ask. "Yes."

"But why did you do that?"

"Because you are still not ready to deal with that creature."

Squeeze...

Su-hyeun's hands clenched tightly into fists. His current expression, something he had never shown to the Bull Demon King before, indicated how hard he was trying to hold himself back. He barely managed to suppress his frustration and rage and said, "But it's impossible to tell that without fighting first, isn't it?"

"No, I can tell."

"It all...could've come to an end. I could have ended it."

"Yes, you could have." The light in the Bull Demon King's eyes gleamed softly. "If what you wanted to do was to repeat the events of the past."

"But First Brother—"

"Do not get ruled over by your emotions. You are currently acting differently from the courageous little brother that I know, the one who is always composed and cool-headed."

"Fuu-woo," Su-hyeun did as the Bull Demon King suggested and sucked in deep breaths to control himself.

The latter was right; getting agitated wouldn't solve anything. No matter how prickly he felt right now, it wouldn't be a bad thing to listen to the Bull Demon King and take his time digesting the new information.

"In that case, please explain it in a way that I can understand."

"Now you sound somewhat like the little brother that I'm used to," the Bull Demon King grinned brightly.

The conversation progressed in a lot calmer atmosphere compared to a few seconds ago.

"That creature has been trying to reach this world for quite a while. From the look of things, it seemed that he was urgently heading here from a realm very far away."

"Yes, I was aware of that. It's probably because that guy desperately wanted to find me."

"Correct. Only a few years ago, that creature was merely one of the One Hundred Evils, but during these short years, he has grown powerful enough to devour Asura."

"Asura...?"

"It's a deity who had become a Predator after its desire to fight had grown out of control. Apparently, it was one of the Ten Great Evils."

The Ten Great Evils—Su-hyeun had heard about this from Luslec. Among the Predators, the most dangerous ones were ranked as One Overlord, Three Destroyers, and Ten Great Evils.

According to the Bull Demon King, Fafnir was now one of the Ten Great Evils.

"You said it yourself earlier, didn't you? You willingly admitted that you can't even serve as my warm-up."

"Yes, I did."

"Since that is the case, it will be the same story with that creature. I required almost one full day to suppress that Predator, after all."

Su-hyeun's eyes widened at what the Bull Demon King said.

This had to be the most shocking thing he had heard so far. Out of everyone Su-hyeun had met, the Bull Demon King happened to be the godliest creature without being an actual god.

"Rather than just listening to me, you should see for yourself so that you'll understand more quickly. So, why don't you confirm it for yourself?" The Bull Demon King extended his hand toward Su-hyeun's head.

Su-hyeun didn't reject that hand and waited. When the Yogoe placed his hand on top of Su-hyeun's head, Dao energy began flowing inside him.

"Confirm the difference between the Predator you remember and how it is currently like."

Buzz...

Right at that moment...

The scenery around the two men staring at each other gradually changed.

Giii-iiing...

The surroundings, twisted and distorted as if many different paint colors had been messily mixed around, shifted around to finally recreate a completely new landscape.

This new world was filled with nothing but pitch-black skies and land. Su-hyeun was still staring at the Bull Demon King face-to-face, but another Bull Demon King was standing a little bit away from them.

And in front of that Yogoe was a giant Su-hyeun could never forget, the one with the head of a dragon.

"Fafnir...!"

The "Fafnir" Su-hyeun knew of was around four meters in height, but this version was completely different.

When considering the timing, then this would be about 10 years before Fafnir and Kim Sung-in met in person, yet the Predator's physique was at least double its original size.

Just what on earth had happened to this creature in the meantime?

"Probably the same thing as me," he thought.

Fafnir returned to the past, just like Su-hyeun had.

Su-hyeun knew about the future events. He had the knowledge, and it would've been the same situation for Fafnir.

Most likely, the Predator decided to walk the same path as Su-hyeun had done; by utilizing the fact that he knew the future, he focused solely on getting much, much stronger than ever before, regardless of the cost or the method involved.

That was Fafnir's desire, after all.

Gu-wuwuwu...

A loud, heavy noise reverberated from above, which made Su-hyeun look up.

Small planetary bodies were falling toward the ground. It was one of Fafnir's abilities that allowed it to drag in asteroids existing in the far reaches of space.

Su-hyeun got to witness this ability at work during the trial of the 100th floor.

However, there was one noticeable difference, and that would be...

"What is up with that ridiculous number...?!"

The number of asteroids falling from the sky wasn't just one. In the blink of an eye, it became impossible to count just how many had begun falling.

One of them happened to be so huge that Su-hyeun's eyes grew incredibly wide in alarm. That thing was almost the same size as Earth's moon, and it alone possessed enough destructive power to obliterate the planet on impact.

Pah-aht...

The Bull Demon King jumped up into the deluge of meteors. As he flew up, he opened his mouth to say something.

His voice couldn't be heard perhaps because this was inside an illusion, but still, a vast quantity of Dao energy flooded the surroundings of the Bull Demon King to materialize a figure.

Buzz, vrrrr...!

The figure, an image of a gargantuan ox, began blocking off the falling meteors.

Gu-gugugu...

The meteors shattered into bits, and the debris pelted the ground below.

In the meantime, Fafnir was preparing a different type of magic spell. Dozens of dragons appeared next and bared their fangs threateningly at the Bull Demon King's humongous ox. The Yogoe nimbly darted forward and punched at Fafnir.

Crack, riiiiip—!

The land below cracked and split apart, and the debris of the meteors crash-landed to gouge out deep craters.

A barrier materialized all around Fafnir, but the punch cracked it. The sheer power contained within the Bull Demon King's fist was enough to break this magical barrier.

But right at that moment, the barrier vanished. It hadn't been shattered into oblivion, but it had been Fafnir who willingly canceled it.

Ruuuumble—!

Pow-popopow—!

Jet-black flames instantly enveloped the Bull Demon King.

This wasn't some flame summoned from the depths of hell. No, it was even hotter than that, something that Fafnir had created.

This flame possessed a nature that was at complete odds with Su-hyeun's divine Flame.

Ruuumble—!

Fuu-hoooph—

As the flames raged on, the Bull Demon King's cheeks bulged as he began sucking in the surrounding air. The flames Fafnir had materialized also got sucked inside the Yogoe's mouth.

He then breathed out the flames stored in his mouth back at the Predator.

Fwhooooosh—!

Ka-boom! Poooow—!

A ray of light shooting out from a staff that Fafnir held in its hand collided against the black flames and caused a massive explosion.

KA-BOOM, BOOM—!

Craaack...

Su-hyeun continued to watch the two battle it out. This wasn't a simple illusion but the record of the battle that had already taken place.

"What do you think?" the real Bull Demon King, not the illusory version, asked Su-hyeun. "Do you still think you can win?"