The Hero Returns

Kali.

It sounded like a name Su-hyeun might have heard of before somewhere, but maybe it wasn't all that famous of a name because he couldn't quite remember when he heard of it.

"What kind of creature is it?"

The Ten Great Evils—Fafnir was said to have devoured another Predator called Asura and placed its name among the ranks of the Ten Great Evils.

This meant that Kali was a Predator in the same realm of strength as Fafnir. So, unlike other Predators, it could very well serve as a benchmark if Su-hyeun wanted to compare himself to Fafnir.

"This creature is an ally to Asura. She is a true monster-like woman who just loves battles and bloodshed, plus devouring sacrificial offerings. Oh, and she also wields a spear," Luslec said.

"When you say Asura..."

"I heard that it recently slipped out of the Ten Great Evils rank. Apparently, that event greatly infuriated Kali, but that's because the two of them were some kind of rivals or something."

If it was that Asura, then it died by Fafnir's hands.

It was unknown to him whether Kali knew of this fact, but whatever the case might be, Su-hyeun didn't think him showing up in her world was a simple coincidence.

There was simply no way that it was a coincidence at all.

Out of literally countless dimensions, realms, and planets out there, he defied the near-impossible odds to appear in Kali's world.

"What about the clue to locate her?"

"It's the Altar."

"Does that mean she 'enjoys' the Altar?"

"Yes."

That was already enough of a hint for him.

The Altar, was it? The first step in this trial was to destroy the Altar, to begin with.

"As for the other Predators, they all rank among the One Hundred Evils. More specifically, they are basically Kali's goons, and their names are—"

"Those names are the same as the gods the people of this world believe in, yes?"

"Yes, they are exactly the same. They have no need to hide or anything like that, after all."

After confirming that, Luslec told Su-hyeun all the information on the Predators one by one. His information proved to be invaluable, and thanks to this chat, Su-hyeun was able to set a definite goal now: the Altar and the Predators lead by Kali.

"Thank you. I'll call you again after having a go at Kali first."

"With this, you're letting the...earlier thing slide, yes?"

"Yes, yes. You did well here. I don't need to let anything slide, anyway."

"Whew! Thinking about you getting mad at me really kept me on edge, you know? Ah, before I forget. I told you that Kali uses a spear, right? But she must possess other types of abilities besides what's been publicized, so I want you to be extra cautious with her."

"Thank you," Su-hyeun ended the communication there.

Based on their little chat, this was a world dominated by 10 Predators, including Kali, who were acting like gods.

Su-hyeun then turned around and headed down the steps once more. Shen was a bit further down, waiting with a hardened expression. He looked at Su-hyeun and asked worriedly, "Did something happen?"

"No, it wasn't anything important," Su-hyeun shook his head and continued to walk down the stairway. "Let's keep going."

The stairway grew wider as they went lower. When they reached the end, he picked up the presence of people.

"There seems to be a surprising number of people down here."

"But there aren't all that many, only a few dozen thousand."

Su-hyeun could only smile wryly at Shen's serious reply. It was not "only a few people," but "only a few dozen thousand"?

The residents of Pangaea and Su-hyeun held a noticeably differing "opinion" on population numbers, it seemed. As such, people here didn't place much value on human lives.

That was also probably the reason why they didn't find it strange to offer up humans as sacrifices.

"Oh, ooooh...!"

"He's here!"

"That person is...Kim Su-hyeun?"

"Outwardly, he doesn't look all that different from us, though..."

"Shh! Watch what you say."

These people hiding underground were not affiliated with any religious order; they were people who came to worship another god named Kim Su-hyeun.

Such people were now filling up Su-hyeun's view.

Shen spoke up, "Besides this place, there are many more people like us hiding in other cities."

"How many are we talking about?"

"If we tally the numbers, then I'd say there are around two billion of us. Of course, this total is just too small, so comparing ourselves to other religious orders is like placing a lit torch in front of the sun..."

Shen lowered his head and couldn't finish the rest of his sentence as if he was too ashamed to speak, but Su-hyeun was quietly shaking his head at this unexpectedly high number.

Considering the fact that Pangaea's population exceeded several trillion, around two billion people was certainly quite minuscule. The number of people who worshiped Su-hyeun was less than one percent of the total population of this planet, far closer to 0.1 percent in reality.

However, that number was almost one-third of Earth's total population.

Su-hyeun asked, "What are your goals?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Believers in other religious orders wish to become offerings so that they could reach the side of their gods. Their faith is entirely based on that. In that case, what is it that you all want?"

Su-hyeun wanted to learn what the true intentions of these people were.

It would've been so much simpler to use Insight here, but people sometimes acted and thought differently from what they were really like in their hearts.

More than anything else, though, Su-hyeun wanted to hear directly from them.

Just what was their reason for gathering here?

It wasn't all that difficult to hear their reason.

"We do not wish to die," Shen replied first.

Right after that...

"And we also don't want to hide forever."

"Right, we wish to stop shivering from fear of not knowing when we will be chosen as sacrifices every year."

"I'm also worried about my mother and father back outside."

"My sons..."

"My brothers..."

"There's something wrong with this world, for sure!"

These people had sensed something was not right.

They might form an extreme minority that reached only around 0.1 percent of the overall population, but they were still people who had woken up to the fact that sacrificing one's life for the so-called salvation did not make one iota of sense.

What they wanted was just one thing—the appearance of a god named Kim Su-hyeun who would proceed to flip the script on the unfair and corrupt "gods."

"You wish to stop hiding and live your lives in the open. Is that the gist of it?" Su-hyeun asked.

"Yes, that's correct!"

"In that case, you all need to stay hidden for a little while longer."

Shen flinched at what Su-hyeun said just then. "What do you mean by that?" he asked.

"What I'm saying is, you shouldn't wander around outside or try to head over to the Altar. Aren't you all doing this so that you can survive?"

The desire for one's continued survival—that was an obvious instinct everyone possessed. Su-hyeun wasn't planning to say these people were wrong for desiring that.

"If you do that, though, you will all die."

Even then, for their survival, Su-hyeun definitely had to stop them.

"If you do not wish to die, you must stay hidden a bit longer."

"You are planning to attack the Altar, aren't you?"

"B–but how did you...?"

"Could it be that you can see through our minds?"

"As expected of a god..."

Several people became teary-eyed after their emotions swelled from what Su-hyeun said.

At a glance, they came across as religious zealots. However, Su-hyeun didn't really feel like breaking the bad news to them at this stage.

He hadn't used Insight this time; he didn't no need to use that ability since he could still see their intentions rather clearly.

"I mean, they are burning with so much hunger for battle, so how can I not notice it?" he thought.

The wide-open underground space that revealed itself when Su-hyeun and Shen reached the foot of the stairway was filled with tens of thousands of people; it was emitting white-hot heat of intensity belonging to someone getting ready to fight.

They were obviously planning to storm the Altar, and two billion was definitely not a small number.

Between people who accepted the societal structure of sacrificing human lives as normal and those who would never do that, a clear difference in one's intent to fight and hunger for battle would manifest.

If things went their way, then they could have destroyed the Altar of sacrifices and cause a revolution.

Unfortunately for them, though...

"There are 10 Predators. Nine of them are in the One Hundred Evils rank, while the other one is Kali, who ranked among the Ten Great Evils."

Not only were these people disadvantaged numerically but the beings lording over this world as gods were not some simple fake deities. They were bona fide Predators. One of them was Kali, a monster who just loved sacrificial offerings, conflicts, and warfare, just like Asura.

If someone like her got pissed and decided to personally intervene, then...

"They will all die."

Su-hyeun recalled the battle between the Bull Demon King and Fafnir and thought that each of those Ten Great Evils could easily destroy a single planet. Even if Pangaea was hundreds, no, thousands of times larger than an average world, the story should remain the same.

Even then, Kali chose not to destroy Pangaea and decided to build her nest here. There could only be one reason for that. It meant that rather than personally destroying a world with her own hands, she enjoyed receiving sacrifices under her name even more.

Pangaea boasted a population base of several trillion, which meant there were plentiful of sacrifices to go around, and Kali chose to maintain the structure of receiving a suitable number of sacrifices at regular intervals.

"It's like a humongous breeding farm, isn't it?" Su-hyeun could only groan deeply.

For the time being, he should prioritize preventing all these people from leaving this place.

"Going outside is a definite no. If you're facing a shortage of provisions, try to scrape something together, and if you insist on going to the surface, then I advise you to locate a small city first."

"What are you saying?!"

"It's already been several years since I last saw sunlight, but this..."

"You were supposed to save us, but..."

The atmosphere in the underground hall became filled with agitation from what Su-hyeun said, but that was just how shocking his words came across to them. After all, they fervently believed that a new deity would appear one day and lead them to the light without requiring the need for sacrifices. To them, this was the moment their beliefs came tumbling down.

"For how long are we supposed to stay down here?"

Still, some among this crowd managed to maintain their composure. More correctly, they seemed to have already overcome their confusion, which indicated how tough their mentality was. In other words, they were the "captains" of this group.

Su-hyeun loaded his voice with magical energy so that everyone could hear him, "It's until I destroy the Altar."

Whoosh—

His words echoed powerfully within the wide-open underground space.

Although his voice was small, it could be heard more vividly than any other sound. It was as if he spoke directly into their ears.

"D—destroy the Altar?"

"Just by yourself?!"

Several gasped in pure shock and hurriedly asked back. Everyone seemed to be deeply stunned right now.

The Altar was a symbolic and gigantic structure where sacrifices were offered up to the gods. It wasn't just some common soldiers camping out in that place; it was where the gods descended to accept the human sacrifices. Therefore, if Su-hyeun wanted to destroy the Altar, then the task went beyond simply destroying the structure but also defeating the gods that descended to the individual altars located there.

"You all said that I'm your god, didn't you?" Su-hyeun replied to their shock. "So, why don't you believe in me, at least this one time?"

* * *

Another 240 hours went by since that declaration.

Meanwhile, around the Altar, quite a large number of people had gathered. It was essentially a city entirely covered by a humongous dome. It was a land where tens of millions could live, and that large dome blanketing the area placed above them was the symbol of the Altar. At the entrance of the Altar, countless people had already lined up.

"Please stay in line and take your time entering, everyone. There's no need to be in a hurry, either. Our gods will always wait for your..."

"Charles! Have a good journey! Man, I'm so envious of you!"

"Congratulations, son."

"Mommy, I'll definitely follow after you soon!"

Around the waiting lines were the family members and friends of those about to be offered up as sacrifices. What they said didn't sound like something one would say to the "dead men walking." No, they were actually encouraging and cheering on their family members and friends who were about to become sacrifices. It was a bizarre spectacle.

Today happened to be the day of the sacrifices that happened once every year.

"Wow, there are so many people this year, too."

"Lots of people die of old age after failing to get chosen, so they are all very blessed people, indeed."

"Look at that child over there. Looks to be around five years old or so, right?"

"Only five, yet to be selected already..."

"What a blessed child that is."

The soldiers there to guide the people selected as sacrifices whispered among themselves. Their expressions were filled with envy. People were smiling brightly as they marched toward their death.

In the middle of this, a soldier guarding the entrance asked one of the sacrifices, "What's the matter? Why do you seem troubled?"

The man distinguished as a sacrifice shook his head, "It's nothing." He stayed in the queue and eventually brushed past the soldiers.

"There isn't much security to speak of," the man thought.

To indicate that a person was chosen as an offering, a type of "oracle" would manifest on that person. A red dot that suddenly appeared on the person's forehead was this so-called oracle. Therefore, anyone who bore that dot could easily pass the inspection to enter the Altar, even if anyone could have simply painted that dot there by themselves.

From the get-go, everyone thought that those without the oracle wouldn't become sacrifices, so no one bothered with special inspections or anything like that.

"Well, then..." Su-hyeun, hidden among the countless sacrifices, leisurely stepped inside the Altar. "I wonder what will happen inside."