The Hero Returns

Act 4

Sun Wukong stepped forward with a triumphant expression plastered on his face.

Now that things had come to this, Su-hyeun had no choice but to bow out. If he tried to interfere, who knows what kind of Sun Wukong’s nagging he’d be subjected to later?

“Well, this is for the better, actually,” he thought.

Honestly speaking, Su-hyeun was curious about how much stronger Sun Wukong had become.

The tower’s system rapidly enhanced a regular person’s stats. Su-hyeun also climbed the tower under the system’s help and, in the process, experienced many trials to earn corresponding rewards, which helped him get this far.

However, Sun Wukong was different. He was already monstrously strong by the time Su-hyeun met him for the first time.

He waged war against the Heavenly World all by himself and even freely wielded the godhood called the Somersault cloud.

His physical body was unkillable, and he possessed a near-infinite amount of Dao energy on top of that.

That version of Sun Wukong was already so much stronger than any awakener Su-hyeun knew of, but now, that Sun Wukong had received the help of the system to become even stronger.

So, the question was, just by how much did he get stronger?

“What are you doing?”

Flick—

Sun Wukong beckoned with his finger. “Aren’t you gonna come at me?”

It was such a simple, naked provocation, but it also showed how confident he was.

“You son of a…!”

“You dare to bluff in front of me?!”

The difference in the headcount was clear: two versus four.

Not only that, but the quartet had also experienced fighting the clones that looked exactly like Sun Wukong not too long ago. Rather unsurprisingly, they began looking down on Sun Wukong as a result.

It was rather unfortunate for them.

SMASH—!

“…?”

Whoooosh—

The man standing at the front of the group was ruthlessly struck by Sun Wukong’s Ruyi Jingu Bang and was instantly sent far, far away.

Ka-boooom—!

His flying figure crashed hard into the branch of the World Tree. Just as that loud noise resounded, Sun Wukong’s silhouette rapidly dug into the ranks of the remaining three. “There are no rules when fighting.”

Whoosh, whoooooshk—

Smack—, slap—!

The Ruyi Jingu Bang, now extended, slammed into the head of one man and the legs of another. By then, they had already confirmed that their comrade had been flung far away. Despite staggering from the impact, they still managed to extend their hands in Sun Wukong’s direction.

Craaaackle…

Pa-babababak—!

Sun Wukong’s body froze up in the layer of whitish frost, while pink-colored spears that flew toward him landed before him to jut out from the ground below.

“Hey, this is pretty refreshing!” Sun Wukong spun around smoothly.

His body that looked to be frozen solid didn’t even creak once as he moved. He really must’ve felt refreshed as he alluded to just now because he was even smiling happily away.

Just how was he moving so freely? He didn’t seem to be moving that fast, yet he dodged all the incoming spears with nimble movements.

“What…?!”

“He dodged them…?”

The two, still staggering from the Ruyi Jingu Bang’s impact, gasped in surprise and tried to create some distance. However, that was a pointless action in the end.

“Extend—”

Whoosh—

Sun Wukong’s Ruyi Jingu Bang that was extending downward right now was a heavenly treasure that was not restricted by piffling things like distance, after all.

Craaaack—!

Keok!

The man whose head was cleanly struck became the second person to lose consciousness. As for the other one, he was still wobbling around as the result of his legs getting hit earlier.

In the blink of an eye, two lost their capability to fight, while the third got injured.

“Well, that’s really amazing,” Su-hyeun thought.

He knew full well that Sun Wukong was an excellent fighter, but he wasn’t this strong.

“Maybe he’s earned the godhood related to reflex? His speed had gotten much faster than before, and his proficiency in wielding the pole has improved as well.”

To put it simply, he had simply gotten stronger.

Was it thanks to the system? All of his stats seemed to have improved in equal measure. The truth was, none of his opponents this time could be labeled weaklings, yet he still managed to completely subdue them.

Sun Wukong was already a genius-level talent in combat even before the upgrade, and now, he had become an even scarier monster.

Only one opponent remained. Sun Wukong stared at him while casually slinging the shortened Ruyi Jingu Bang on his shoulders. “What about you, then?”

“Would you be kind enough to spare me?” The man with yellow hair, whose name was Ri-ol, raised both of his hands up high in the air.

He was surrendering.

“What are you doing, man?” Sun Wukong stared at him, distorting his expression. Ri-ol didn’t display any reaction even as the tip of the Ruyi Jingu Bang was pointed in his direction.

“Tsk.” In the end, Sun Wukong tutted softly and withdrew his weapon. He scratched his head in irritation before spinning around to leave. “It’s no fun beating up a guy who doesn’t even want to fight, you know.”

He turned around, but then, a strange expression formed on his face. He bent down a little before taking out the Ruyi Jingu Bang that he placed on his back.

Right after that…

CRUNCHHHHH—!

“Come out.”

The Ruyi Jingu Bang, which had suddenly extended, punched a lengthy hole into the World Tree’s branch. When that happened, something jumped out from beneath Sun Wukong’s shadow.

“Aikoo!” Luslec landed back on the ground before sitting down as he rubbed the back of his aching head.

Sun Wukong stared at Luslec with an amused face. “Who are you? You seem like an entertaining guy.”

“Third brother!”

“Mm?” Sun Wukong turned to look at Su-hyeun who called out to him.

As for Su-hyeun, he stared at Luslec before sighing grandly. “He’s the companion I told you about earlier.”

“What? This guy?”

“Aha, hello there?” Luslec waved his hand at Sun Wukong.

He didn’t display any hostility whatsoever. Because he was hiding in the shadows, Sun Wukong thought this man was an enemy, but according to Su-hyeun’s explanation, that didn’t seem to be it.

Sun Wukong, feeling deflated again, smacked his lips and put his Ruyi Jingu Bang away.

Su-hyeun walked up to Luslec. The latter, squatting on the ground after getting struck in the head with the Ruyi Jingu Bang, dusted himself off and stood back up.

“When did you arrive?”

“Just now, actually. I finished gathering one million points not too long ago, you see,” Luslec replied proudly.

There were still over 20 hours left, however. Su-hyeun’s brows shot up high as he remarked inwardly, “Already?”

That speed was way too fast. Even if Luslec commanded a legion consisting of many souls via his Necromancy technique, this was simply way too fast.

First of all, he didn’t even have the advantage of enjoying the additional point acquisition reward from the extra golden leaves. It was only natural that Su-hyeun’s questions would only grow larger at this turn of events.

“By the way, that punk over there, I’m somewhat acquainted with him, so, uh…” Luslec pointed at Ri-ol and asked, “Is it fine if I chat with him for a little while?”

* * *

The man with short yellow hair, Ri-ol, was an apostle.

It was unknown which god he was an apostle of, however. Even Luslec said he didn’t know, and apparently, the apostles were not allowed to discuss things like that between themselves in the first place.

Discussing the matters of the gods they served in the open was akin to lese majeste or something similar. In any case, Ri-ol at least displayed no hostility, and he was also acquainted with Luslec.

They were not forbidden from exchanging other information, however.

“A predator formed a team?” Luslec asked with an unimpressed face.

On the other hand, Ri-ol explained himself in a far graver-sounding voice, “Yes. My goal was to eliminate the predator that appeared here…But that bastard turned out to be someone beyond my capabilities.”

“Hmm…sure. Figured as much.”

Luslec eavesdropped on Su-hyeun and Sun Wukong’s discussion earlier, and since he knew that, he wasn’t all that surprised by this revelation.

“A total of three predators are here. Two of them are indiscriminately hunting down any participants they run into, while the other one has coaxed the other participants to create a team for itself. Including myself, 30 participants in its team have been identified so far.”

“Well, that sure sounds troublesome.” Luslec scratched his head.

Not just one but three predators? Not only that but one of them wasn’t simply drunk on its own strength and even chose to form a team.

Ri-ol was an apostle, so he didn’t fall for the predator’s coaxing, but even then, this was the world of the strong. People had no choice but to submit when someone much stronger suppressed them.

Also, that predator now came to possess a power that shouldn’t be ignored—a team with a considerable number of combatants that came together as one under that creature’s banner.

“Alright, sure thing. You must have it hard out there. Well, do your best.”

“It seems that even before reaching this world, that predator has made up its mind on acquiring the elixir no matter what.”

“Aikoo, goodness me. That sure sounds bad.”

“Including myself, I’ve detected a total of five apostles, but we aren’t strong enough to hunt those predators down.”

“Is that so? Huh, that’s too bad. Well, do your best anyway.”

“Please help us.” Ri-ol bowed deeply in Luslec’s way.

The truth was, Ri-ol wasn’t considered as all that strong even among the apostles. It was a bit of a stretch for him to hunt a predator down by himself. “From the very beginning, this situation is not something we can resolve by ourselves. That’s why—”

“Can’t you see I’m on a holiday?”

“The god I serve asked me to deliver this message to you.”

“Huh?”

“Please hold on…”

Ri-ol whispered something into Luslec’s ear.

The latter’s expression gradually distorted the more he listened until he glared at Ri-ol in sheer irritation. “Wow, what a cheapskate…”

“It’s not my opinion, so please stop biting my head off.”

“Man, I’m sooo happy that my lips are about to reach my ears. Dammit.” Luslec scratched his head, hard.

He ended up getting tangled up in an annoying matter, but he had no choice but to go with it. He let out a groan and walked up to Su-hyeun.

Luslec didn’t see a reason to keep this secret anyway since they had discussed matters related to this already, and that’s why he didn’t try to prevent Su-hyeun from eavesdropping on the conversation with Ri-ol. “Well, it’s as you heard.”

“But I didn’t hear what was said at the end.”

Ri-ol deliberately whispered into Luslec’s ear so that Su-hyeun and Sun Wukong wouldn’t hear the contents of the god’s message.

“Ah, that. You don’t have to bother yourselves with that part, actually. Besides that, I’m sure you know what’s happening after listening in, so…”

“You mean, the part about hunting the predators down?”

“Yes, that.”

“I’ve already discussed that with my third brother. If I want to acquire the elixir, I have no choice but to—What are you doing?” Su-hyeun asked after witnessing Luslec casting a magical barrier to prevent sounds from leaking out.

“Ah, this? No need to worry about it, really.”

“Is there some other topic that shouldn’t be overheard?”

“Yes. A lot of them, too.”

“Are you worried about getting a scolding from the god you serve?”

“Uh, well…” Luslec made an awkward expression after he got found out. “W—well, I’ve been told that as long as I handle this matter properly, I’ll be let off the hook. Apparently, this has been the plan all along.”

“The plan?”

“I guess I got suckered by that dude again. Whatever the case may be, it’s a good thing for everyone present in this place, anyway,” Luslec said as an expression that strongly hinted mischief began forming on his face.

He looked like he was having fun.

“Well, he did say he can only stay for a few days on the other side after traveling through the marble,” Su-hyeun thought.

On top of that, Luslec also said that he couldn’t influence the other worlds. If he did, then the god he was working for would bite his ear off, he said.

Didn’t he plead Su-hyeun to keep things about him a secret, too?

Even then, he still acted for Su-hyeun. He wasted quite a lot of his limited time by staying in this place and even directly helped Su-hyeun out.

According to what Luslec said earlier, getting a scolding was already as good as a done deal for him at this point.

“In that case, our goal has been set.” Luslec scanned both Su-hyeun and Sun Wukong. “For you Mister Su-hyeun, it’s to acquire the World Tree’s elixir, and for the third brother here, it’s to hunt the predators. And I’m supposed to prevent the predators from going wild in this place…Let’s be honest, all of our goals are practically the same thing.”

“So, you want us to act together?” Sun Wukong asked in a less-than-impressed voice. It seems that forming a team and moving together just didn’t suit his personality. Not only that but he also didn’t look all that keen to yield the fight against predators to someone else.

“Third brother, since your goal is to fight the predators, I can definitely yield that to you. However, if I see you having a hard time, we’ll join you in the fight. How about that?”

“Well, if it’s that…”

“Yes. Then, our discussion is more or less concluded with this.”

Tap, tap…

Su-hyeun placed his arms around the shoulders of Sun Wukong and Luslec and then smirked deeply.

Even though this event would no doubt turn out to be dangerous, it still sounded like it might get entertaining nevertheless.

“Everyone, let’s do this.”