The Hero Returns

* * *

When Su-hyeun noticed that Hades, who was nowhere to be found in Hell, was standing here all fine, he wanted to ask about what happened back then, but he didn't get the chance.

Hades decided to leave right then.

Zeus spoke first, "The greetings will have to be delayed for a little while."

"Okay. I understand."

The atmosphere here was quite different from before. Zeus, who came across as a kind neighborhood grandpa, stood tall with a serious face, not a trace of a smile visible anywhere on his expression.

"Did something happen?" Su-hyeun asked.

"Not just my older brother, but even you are quick to catch on, benefactor."

"Well, the vibe in here is a little bit different from the last time, that's why."

"Indeed, you're correct. I'm planning on a journey to find someone. Before all that, however, I believe you have a business with me, yes?"

"I'm sure you're are aware of it."

Su-hyeun recalled the faint voice he heard just before he blacked out.

[You have cleared the 201st floor's trial.]

[You have acquired 1,000,000,000 points.]

[You can receive your clear reward from Zeus.]

"I'm here for my reward."

The rest of the reward, excluding the points, were all with Zeus. Although it was rather cumbersome to come all the way here to receive them, it was also true that Su-hyeun's anticipation had built up even more so. He couldn't wait to find out what kind of reward he would get from Zeus, one of the Five Godly Sages.

"Yes. Yes, of course," Zeus nodded and then extended his hand forward.

Su-hyeun hesitated slightly, wondering what was going on, but eventually, he grasped Zeus's offered hand.

When he did...

Fwhoooosh—!

"Heoph...!" Su-hyeun was stunned by the sensation transmitted through his palm and let go of Zeus's hand before stumbling back one step. He hadn't been holding the latter's hand too tightly, so it was easy to let go.

The sensation he got didn't feel disharmonious but unfamiliar nonetheless; something different from his own energy or power had traveled through his hand.

"Please don't let go, and keep holding on," said Zeus.

"Understood."

No matter what, this was supposed to be the reward for the last trial, so it shouldn't be something that would harm him in the end.

Su-hyeun reached out and grabbed Zeus's offered hand. It was at this point that something refreshing began entering him.

[You have acquired the "Godhood of Sky."]

[The effects of "Zeus's Thunder Glove" are being strengthened.]

"Godhood of Sky...?"

That was a completely unexpected reward. Never mind the surprising fact that the qualification of godhood could be handed over as a reward for a trial, Zeus's state was a problem that shouldn't be ignored.

"Is it really alright to give me something like this?"

"If it wasn't, I wouldn't have given it to you, benefactor," Zeus faintly grinned when Su-hyeun asked worriedly.

He got a reward directly from one of the Five Godly Sages.

The thing was, though, a trial reward wasn't something created out of thin air. This was not some video game, so a reward payout had to be with "something" that already existed within the system.

Even if it was Zeus, he couldn't just grant godhood to anyone just because he felt like it. On top of that, it was the "Godhood of Sky," which was basically one of the symbols of Zeus himself.

This could only mean that he was "yielding" one of his godhood to Su-hyeun.

"The battle against Uranus is already over, anyway. Also, benefactor, you will need that power more than I in the near future."

"Meaning, you want me to work even harder?"

"Is that how I sounded?"

"Actually, it doesn't really matter. I have a feeling that that's how the future will unfold, anyway."

He didn't deny it. Nothing had been concluded yet, after all.

No matter what happened, the massive event in Olympus was an incident limited to the confines of Olympus and nowhere else. Su-hyeun's own war hadn't even begun yet.

"And with this, I can do it," Su-hyeun thought.

He now had the Godhood of Sky.

He had been thinking about "something" even before acquiring this reward.

Just how big was the gap between himself and Fafnir? If it was the version of Fafnir that he saw through the Bull Demon King's vision, then he felt that his odds of victory were better than great.

But just as Su-hyeun was getting stronger pretty quickly, so was Fafnir after returning to the past through the Heavenly Ways of Reincarnation.

It was impossible to estimate how fast the growth rate of Fafnir was, so it was only apparent that Su-hyeun didn't feel confident of his chances. No, more than that, he even felt some vague, indescribable anxiety.

In percentage terms, it would only be fifty-fifty.

But now...

"I can win."

He was certain about this.

He carefully calculated over and over again, yet the odds of his victory were well over 90% percent. Maybe that was why he felt an intense satisfaction after acquiring his new power, which hadn't happened in quite a while.

"It seems that you rather like this reward, benefactor."

"I'm sorry. Was I that obvious?"

"No need to apologize. Compared to the grace you've shown to Olympus, this level of reward is nothing to boast about. Also...I'm not all that hung up on the title of one of the Five Godly Sages, you see."

It seemed like Zeus could no longer remain as one of the Five Godly Sages after losing the Godhood of Sky.

Su-hyeun felt a little apologetic about that, but that didn't mean he was thinking of rejecting the reward.

"Are you planning to head to the next floor right away, benefactor? If you wish, I can start the 202nd floor's trial right away from here."

When Zeus said that, Su-hyeun quickly waved his hand to say, "No, it's fine. I must get back home for now, anyway."

He ended up spending too much time in Olympus. No one knew when Fafnir would return to Earth, and he was getting a feeling that he needed to stay home for the time being, at least for a little while.

But then...

"In that case, I don't think you'll need to worry, benefactor."

Su-hyeun made a puzzled face at that.

Zeus's own expression was quite mischievous, however. He even burst into a peal of laughter. When Su-hyeun asked for more clarification, Zeus simply shook his head and replied, "You'll see when you get back home."

"I'll see, you say?"

"Yes. As such, I would personally recommend that you challenge the 202nd floor's trial right away in this place. And I'm saying this in no uncertain terms, either."

Just what could be happening back home? Su-hyeun mulled over the possibilities for a bit, but nothing came to mind for now.

He nodded again after a brief moment of pondering. "I shall do as you say," he finally said.

"You made the wise decision, benefactor."

Shu-wuwuwu—

Su-hyeun's figure soon blurred, and the familiar voice entered his head.

[The 202nd floor's trial is commencing.]

Just as Su-hyeun's view blurred, Su-hyeun heard Zeus's voice over the system's announcement, "I pray that you succeed in your goal."

* * *

The skies above were densely packed with clouds.

The expansive forest below spread out seemingly infinitely. The only sign of civilization visible within the trees tightly packing this forest was a small thatched-roof house.

"First Brother! It's mealtime!"

A booming voice loudly rang within the forest.

The powerful wild predators found in this forest woke up from their siesta at that voice. Still, they soon recognized who that voice belonged to and went back to sleep as if to say that they didn't hear anything.

But that made some sense; several wild beasts failed to rein in their instincts just because that voice got on their nerves and had rushed toward the owner of said voice already. Such things happened a few times by now, and every single time, the end result hadn't been a nice one for the beasts.

"You're noisy. Can't you see that you've rudely woken up those who were enjoying their sleep?"

"Well, if they try to attack me, I can just kick their asses again, right?"

"Even though you're spending your time with Buddha, your personality just doesn't want to change, it seems."

A man with a tall stature opened the house's door and stepped outside. A pair of small horns protruded from his head. He was none other than the Bull Demon King, and he was walking in a leisurely manner.

Tasty deer meat was being roasted in the middle of the front yard.

"First Brother, hurry and take your share. If you don't, I might eat everything by myself."

"But are you going to be satisfied with that amount?"

An entire deer was being cooked, an adult one at that. No matter how healthy you were, this amount of meat should still be too much for only two people to finish.

Despite that, the Bull Demon King asked anyway since he knew how much of a glutton Sun Wukong was.

Never mind a whole deer, Sun Wukong could normally devour an entire tiger in one sitting, and he still wouldn't feel full afterward.

"Buddha told me not to kill if it's at all possible, so I only caught this one. As for the rest, well, I'll just munch on some grass or something."

"I see. So that's why you didn't kill those wild beasts and just chased them away."

"Well, yes, something like that. Anyways, let's dig in," Sun Wukong handed over the thigh meat of the deer to the Bull Demon King. He accepted the meat with his pure, unblemished hand and then brought the meat to his mouth.

The taste of the deer meat, with its rich oil dripping from it, was quite delectable. Sun Wukong eagerly dug into the meat and even began licking his fingers clean off the juicy oil.

Once the meat's quantity had been diminished by some degree, he spoke, "First Brother, I'm really getting itchy here, you know?"

"Indeed, you aren't really suited for this type of lifestyle."

The two of them started living in this forest recently. The reason for that was fairly simple—to curb Sun Wukong's violent tendencies as much as possible.

Sun Wukong loved to fight. He enjoyed it so much that he even earned the title of "Victorious Fighting Buddha."

But after he asked Buddha for extra strength and became the latter's Apostle, he ended up receiving a truly simple-sounding order.

"You must kill as little as possible and avoid conflict."

That order indeed seemed a simple one. Anyone could've easily followed it, even if they weren't as strong as Sun Wukong.

However, in practice, everyone would find such an order quite hard to pull off successfully.

"I mean, where in the world can you find humans and Yogoes who don't kill or fight, like, forever?!"

Sun Wukong wasn't saying that simply because he was a violent being.

Any living person would have to kill to live. Since time immemorial, humans consumed animal meat. To do so, they had to kill.

The matter of handling a "conflict" was also rather similar.

It would be uncommon to find a person who had never thrown a punch out of anger. Worse still, having something as trivial as a verbal altercation, a quarrel even, fell under the bigger framework of "conflict," too.

Not only that, conflicts and killings were far easier to commit for Yogoes than regular humans.

Unlike humans that had strict rules regarding murder, Yogoes killing other Yogoes was an obvious thing.

And to Sun Wukong the Victorious Fighting Buddha, he...

"Still, you've done well to endure, little brother."

"First Brother, I have to say, you look very much at peace right now."

"Mm…This kind of lifestyle isn't so bad."

"In that case, why didn't you help out your little brother and hunt another deer or something? I mean, we end up sharing the catch, anyway."

"I only ate a thigh. Haven't you gobbled up the rest all by yourself? Besides, I don't mind filling myself up with wild berries or some other fruits."

"Are you really gonna be like this? So uptight and all?"

"You already know Buddha's command of refraining from taking a life is part of your training, don't you? Seeking my help to circumvent the guilt of taking lives will only serve to dilute the purpose of your training."

"Urgh..." Sun Wukong didn't have anything to retort with, so he shut his mouth and lowered his head.

Honestly speaking, he too knew that.

The Bull Demon King was the type to never offer his help to his siblings for some insignificant matters. The only times he would step up would be when Sun Wukong's abilities were simply not enough or when great harm might befall his brothers.

However, the current situation was neither of those.

Refraining from taking a life was always an issue of Sun Wukong's determination, and this "trial," as bestowed by Buddha, was part of the overall plan to grow Sun Wukong's willpower.

"Urgh. I wonder, does 'he' even know that his Third Brother is working this hard...?"

"Don't worry. You will soon meet him again."

Although what the Bull Demon King said just then sounded like nothing more than some cheap lip service, Sun Wukong's expression still changed a great deal.

He wouldn't have paid any attention if someone else said the same thing, but it was different now since the Bull Demon King had said it.

Not once in their lives did the latter say something that sounded like lip service. Actually, the Bull Demon King didn't even know the meaning of that term.

"Wait a minute, how do you know that, First Brother?"

"Didn't Buddha say anything to you?"

"Well, that dude is a strong silent type, so not really. But, uh, why mention Buddha all of a sudden—?"

Whoosh—

A breeze blew by just then, and Sun Wukong stopped his sentence there. He froze—a clear sign that he was flustered.

The Bull Demon King smiled faintly and turned his head in the direction where that wind came from.

"First Brother, could it be...?"

"Have you already forgotten?"

"Are...are you being serious?" Sun Wukong shot up from his spot.

His emotions began running wild; he couldn't hold himself and was about to rush ahead, only for him to hear footsteps coming from beyond the dense foliage.

Step—

"No need to go out of your way to welcome me, Wukong."

It was an unforgettable voice.

And then...

"Old man."

An unforgettable face, too.

An old man used his long pole to lift up the corner of his large conical bamboo hat and then raised his voice, "Have you been well, Wukong?"

This old man took both Sun Wukong and the Bull Demon King under his wings and taught them the Sage Arts.

He was the 10th disciple of Buddha and the progenitor of the Sage Arts.

He was none other than Master Subhuti.