The Hero Returns

Act 9

Creeeak—

He opened the door, but he didn’t enter his house right away. There was something he wanted to confirm first.

Hercules’s eyes scanned the interior of the house. “Not here.”

He stood still and heightened his senses, but he couldn’t sense the presence of that monster with the gigantic aura, the Bull Demon King.

He was thinking of chasing that man out of his house before anything else, but things had gotten simpler for him.

Trudge—

Hercules began walking forward again.

The whole house was quiet, as everyone was still slumbering. He entered the main bedroom and discovered Megara sleeping alongside Hale and Palaemon.

Paaah, haaa—

Haaa—

The two children were in a deep sleep next to the woman he loved more than anyone else in this world.

“Hale, Palaemon, Megara…” Hercules reminded himself of those names in his mind. Right away, the killing intent oozing out from him died down.

But moments later…

“Devour them and take away their godhood.”

Urgh—

A head-splitting migraine assaulted him again.

“When you do that, their powers will become yours. That is the only way to protect your family.”

Devour his family and then use that newly acquired power to protect his family? That was a truly nonsensical suggestion.

However, power…

Hercules’s desire for more power even dulled his ability to see the exceedingly obvious flaw in that logic.

Right now, he was unable even to see how nonsensical it was to give up on his original purpose for the sake of achieving the means.

“Hale, Palaemon.” Two children with his blood flowing through them.

For now, they were too young and couldn’t unleash their powers yet, but without a doubt, there would come a day when they would awaken the godhood hidden inside them.

They might not become as powerful as Hercules himself, but they were still the inheritors of Zeus’s bloodline.

“My children…”

He then shifted his gaze over to Megara.

She was more beautiful than anyone in the world as if the manifestation of the goddess of beauty herself. At least that was true in Hercules’s opinion.

“I’ll protect you.”

Shu-ruck—

His hand extended toward Hale and Palaemon, but just before his large hand could grab Hale’s head…

GRAB—

A long and slender hand suddenly reached out from nowhere and grabbed Hercules’s arm.

“My apologies for entering the bedroom of the master of the residence without permission.”

“You—”

“By the way, fella, what were you thinking of doing?”

The tall man that suddenly appeared and stared at Hercules with calm and withdrawn eyes was none other than the Bull Demon King.

Grit, bulge—

Hercules tried to shake his arm loose, but he just couldn’t do it. The grip on his arm was so strong that even Hercules, who was famed for his physical prowess, couldn’t easily free himself.

“Mm…”

“Ng…”

The weird change in the atmosphere between these two men caused Hale and Palaemon to stir in their sleep, and that led to the quietly slumbering Megara to faintly crack open her eyes.

She murmured, “Dear, you’re home earlier than—”

But her lips clamped shut right away.

Hercules and the Bull Demon King were standing next to the bed, but they were glaring at each other as the latter held tightly onto her husband’s outstretched arm.

“D-dear, what is going—?”

“Although I’m not the master of this residence”—the Bull Demon King cut her word off while smiling warmly at her—”may I ask you to vacate the house for a little while? Along with your children, of course.”

“Excuse me?”

“Who do you think you are to tell them to leave?”

Grrrit—

Hercules strengthened his arm even more.

The thick killing intent leaking out from his eyes, dyed in a pitch-black color, gradually spread to the surroundings.

Megara didn’t need long to realize that Hercules’s current state was not normal.

The Bull Demon King was blocking most of the killing intent right now, and when he continued to block Hercules’s path, Hercules impatiently took a swing at him with his other arm.

However…

Whoosh—

Ka-boom—!

Kkyak—!

Hercules’s arm was shoved back in an instant, and then, the demigod’s head was snatched up by the Bull Demon King’s swift hand before he slammed it straight into the floor.

“Please hurry,” said the Bull Demon King.

“Pardon…pardon me?”

“Waaaah—!”

“So noisy…”

That round of commotion finally caused Hale to start wailing and Palaemon to awaken blearily. Megara stared at Hercules, who barely managed to lift up his head from the floor.

She saw the vicious light oozing out from his eyes and immediately recalled the sight of him reaching out toward her children. This man was not the Hercules she spent her life with.

“But how can I…?” Her reasoning told her to run from this place, yet she couldn’t bring herself to do that.

The Bull Demon King noticed Megara’s expression, which displayed the conflict in her heart, and sagely nodded his head. “Indeed, it’s the correct thing for the guest to leave instead.”

“Excuse me?”

“Apologies for this inconvenience.”

Smash—!

The noise of something breaking could be heard. At the same time, the Bull Demon King and Hercules, who was being held down on the floor by the Yogoe, both disappeared from her sight.

Stunned silly by this development, Megara hurriedly looked around before raising her head to look up.

Tumble— Drop—

The ceiling was a wreck, and debris was falling to the floor from the gaping hole.

* * *

Whooooooosh—

Ka-boooom—!

A thick dust cloud kicked up.

Hercules, suppressed in the contest of strength yet again, barely managed to push his torso up. The Bull Demon King withdrew his hand that was pressing down on the demigod’s head and spoke. “It seems that I’ve committed a grave offense, especially to the master of the house that let me rest for a night under his roof.”

“Why are you hindering me?”

“Why wouldn’t I hinder you? You were about to murder your family with your own hands.”

“You don’t know anything!”

“On the contrary, I do know very well. I’ve already done what you did, after all.”

The Bull Demon King killed Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King with his own hands.

That Yogoe was Sun Wukong’s first family member and the Bull Demon King’s younger brother too. Yet he still killed the Snub-nosed Monkey Spirit King and had to endure an empty feeling akin to a hole in his chest for a while.

That feeling still stayed with him even now.

“You shouldn’t do that because you’ll regret it.”

“Regret? Who will?!”

Whoosh—

Bang—!

Hercules swung his club to smash down on the Bull Demon King, only for the poor ground to explode into pieces. He continued to take powerful swings with his blunt weapon while chasing after the Yogoe’s figure.

Whoosh, whooooosh—

Swish, swish—

“I don’t have any thoughts of hurting you. That’s not my role, anyway.”

“Who the hell will hurt who?!”

“The more paralyzed your reasoning gets and the more agitated you become, the harder you should take a look at yourself. You mustn’t become a monster out of impatience.”

Push—

The Bull Demon King’s fingers lightly shoved aside Hercules’s swung club. The latter’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets due to that action.

He definitely took an almighty swing, yet to think his opponent easily pushed aside his club as if it was a small wooden stick, he just couldn’t believe it.

“He wasn’t even trying to block it, too…” he thought.

Shudder—

Hercules immediately took several steps back. He finally realized that there was no point in swinging his club anymore.

“You chose well. I won’t block you anymore, however,” the Bull Demon King said.

“Why not?”

“The person who will stop you has arrived, you see.”

“Stop me?”

Whoooosh—

Crash—!

Suddenly, an impact force assaulted the back of Hercules’s head, and his view of the world spun around. He felt himself seemingly float up, only for his body to actually lift off and be flung away to a distance.

Tumble, bang, ka-boom—

The Bull Demon King watched as Hercules’s figure was ungainly flung away.

The demigod quickly regained his stance. It seemed that the impact to the back of his head had been largely absorbed by the Nemean lion leather.

That didn’t change the fact that it was a powerful impact, nonetheless.

“You took a while,” the Bull Demon King spoke up.

“A lot of Giants showed up, you know. But I didn’t miss a single one of them.”

“Well done. I shall step aside, then.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“Can I ask you for a favor, big brother?”

“Please protect the kids. When I’m not around, that is.”

This was the lone insurance Su-hyeun had prepared just in case.

He wasn’t worried about Hercules regardless of where the latter might end up, but the problem was with his two children.

Hercules’s children also inherited Zeus’s blood, but unlike their father, Hale and Palaemon didn’t have any abilities to protect themselves.

“Thank you for your help, brother.”

“I’m your brother, after all,” the Bull Demon King replied while crossing his arms. “However, this is as far as I’ll go to shield you.”

“Of course,” Su-hyeun replied while staring at Hercules and his hideously contorted expression as he walked closer.

Step—

The naked killing intent that Hercules emitted, which could only be faintly felt as he headed back to his house earlier, was now gushing out like floodwater that couldn’t be suppressed at all. His whole demeanor exactly matched that of an enraged wild beast.

Hercules bared his fangs like that of the hide of the lion on his head and glared at Su-hyeun. “As I thought, you…were my enemy.”

A small trace of his reasoning still remained. He hadn’t fully become a monster yet.

“No, not true. I’m still on your side.”

“Then why are you hindering me? Why did you attack me?!”

“Because that’s the only way to protect you.”

“Don’t make me laugh!”

Crack—

Hercules kicked the ground hard.

The pressure emanating from him as he used his thick legs to kick the ground and pounce forward was more than enough to send chills down the backs of all of his opponents. However, that was unsurprising since Hercules possessed enough strength to instantly bring down a Giant as tall as a mountain.

Rumbleeee—

POW—!

Walls of flame exploded before his eyes, but Hercules simply barged through it and slammed down on Su-hyeun’s waiting sword. The latter’s wrist ached instantly from the weighty impact.

Euhk…

“Where do you think you can run off to?!”

Whoosh—

Su-hyeun watched Hercules’s club descend on top of his head.

The heavy-looking blunt weapon was swung with enough power to shatter a mountain. Even Su-hyeun would end up with a shattered head if he were to get struck by something of that level.

“Block that…”

Jiggle—

“Somersault cloud.”

Along with his quiet murmur, pure-white clouds mushroomed up and formed a barrier between him and Hercules.

For a brief moment just then, briefer than a blink of an eye, the clouds managed to stop Hercules’s club midair.

Rumbleeeee—

Right afterward…

Purple-colored flames exploded in the location Su-hyeun had disappeared from.

Bang, boom, boom, booooom—!

Explosions went off one after another.

Keuh-heuph…

Hercules urgently retreated. Even if it were him, he would not emerge unscathed from the scorching flames containing godhood.

In the meantime, Su-hyeun hurriedly distanced himself from Hercules. His wrist that blocked the club was still aching even now.

“Well, his strength is certainly incredible.”

Su-hyeun knew that the demigod was already physically really strong, but after unleashing his killing intent, it seemed that the latter had gotten even stronger.

What would’ve happened if Su-hyeun didn’t acquire the godhood of strength? His wrist might have broken during Hercules’s first attack.

Of course, as far as pure physical strength was concerned, Hercules had far exceeded low-ranking gods by now. Maybe he was even physically stronger than most average gods out there.

“Which means I shouldn’t stupidly fight him with physical strength only…”

Still, Su-hyeun didn’t think he would lose here.

He had been fighting against the Giants alongside Hercules up until now, and during the process, he was naturally able to get an estimate of the differences between them.

Then, he confirmed his estimate during their earlier exchange.

“Excluding his strength and ability to take blows, yeah, it’s more than doable.”

Su-hyeun’s combat style had fundamentally evolved into specializing in close-quarter engagements. His styles consisted of outstanding cutting force that relied on his main weapon, a sword, and attacks that relied on his physical strength and quick speed. Sometimes, he created some distance and either threw his spears or fire the divine Flame to keep his opponents in check.

Su-hyeun’s head quickly decided on how he would go about fighting Hercules.

“Looks like I’ll have to do it the other way around.”

Close-quarter battle tactics would now be supplementary. He needed to go with ranged attacks as his main maneuvers from now on.

“Well, then…”

[Leap]

Su-hyeun leaped from his spot and created an even more distance between them before gripping a spear with his spare hand.

“Time to get started.”