The Returner

Chapter 216

Delkaran glared at Yi Ji-Hyuk with tense eyes .

His powers were definitely weak . Compared to the old 99th demon king capable of choking others with nothing more than a single step, it was not an exaggeration to call the current Yi Ji-Hyuk a completely different existence .

The Yi Ji-Hyuk of the past was simply too powerful . Even Delkaran’s master avoided fighting against him .

“However, what remains of you is a rather wretched sight, isn’t it . ” (Delkaran)

Looking at Yi Ji-Hyuk who had lost majority of his strength, it didn’t feel too good for the demon king .

A man who had climbed to the very top of the world, only to crash right back down to being a weak human . Some demonic beings might enjoy spectating on such a sight, but regrettably, Delkaran wasn’t the type to do so .

Regardless, the one before its eyes was an enemy . He was the target of the supreme order issued by its master, an enemy that had to be destroyed .

‘Also, I should not let my guard down . ’ (Delkaran)

Didn’t matter what other factors played a hand, Yi Ji-Hyuk used that little magical power to drive Beltreche to the corner . Even if the 13th demon king had intervened at the end, it still made little to no sense that he managed to fight against Beltreche with such little power .

An old king was still a king at the end of the day . Even though his Mana reserve had fallen, no other existence alive could exert better control over magic and its application than him .

Dragons, often referred to as Mana lifeforms, used to express their unreserved admiration towards Yi Ji-Hyuk’s precise Mana application .

“As a human, it is indeed an impressive feat . And also…” (Delkaran)s

It was only possible perhaps because he was a human being .

For instance, Dragons lived for tens of thousands of years . As for demonic kind, they held no concept of one’s lifespan . To both of these races, they enjoyed almost an infinite amount of time . There was no reason to be driven about anything nor did they have to give their maximum effort, either .

To Dragons, ‘magic’ was something naturally given to them, while to demonic beings, it was simply a type of power they were born with .

Sure, there were some Dragons that researched magic, but to them, magic itself was akin to breathing in air . Just as there was very few humans researching on breathing air, there shouldn’t be that many Dragons researching magic, either .

Also, what Dragons researched wasn’t magic itself, but the phenomena that happened after magic was used .

However, things were different with humans . Humans, they tend to research on every part of magic . Once they felt the need, they would start their experiments, and using their research as a foundation, a field of study would soon spring up .

They would focus on the research to find the most optimal solution with such a zeal that other races might see them as utterly obsessed .

The results of all that? Humans could only live up to one hundred years, but they still managed to produce Arch Mages .

In order to fight against an Arch Mage, you’d need at least a Wyrm-class Dragon . But, in order for a Dragon to mature into a Wyrm-class, it’d require around two thousand years .

However, humans only needed less than one hundred to catch up to a Dragons’ two thousand . And Yi Ji-Hyuk taught everyone what would happen when a human was given a near-infinite amount of time .

The result of a human’s zealous drive and the infinite time combining together was the Bringer of Apocalypse .

“But then again, will you be able to make up for the lack of combat power with only your zeal?” (Delkaran)

“What are you on about now?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk smirked derisively at Delkaran .

Indeed, he used to be like this . Even back in the demon world . Regardless of what situation he was in, he never stopped mouthing off once .

“Unfortunately, oh 99th demon king, you are simply a mere human now . ” (Delkaran)

“I told you, there was this other guy who said the exact same c**p before getting killed . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Fufufu . ” (Delkaran)

Delkaran decided to stop their chitchat right here .

Wuuuoong-!!

Any further communication would now be performed using their own bodies .

“Well, then . Take this . ” (Delkaran)

Black-coloured Mana shot out from Delkaran’s body before taking on the shape of a gigantic snake and flew towards Yi Ji-Hyuk . This illusory snake with the very-real sense of incredible weight was flying straight at him .

“Hmm… . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk watched this scene unfold and began emitting black Mana from his body, as well .

Beltreche was a demon that used its entire body as a weapon . If one were to forcibly assign a category to that guy, then it was a close-quarter fighter . However, Delkaran was more like an ’emission’ type demon king .

“This is far easier for me to handle, actually . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Mana oozing out from Yi Ji-Hyuk gathered in front of him to create a huge vortex in the air .

“Deflect that!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

KWA-BOOM!!

Delkaran’s black snake slammed into Yi Ji-Hyuk’s vortex and got deflected away .

“Hoh-oh?” (Delkaran)

Delkaran let a sigh of admiration leak out of its mouth .

It was really difficult to deflect away condensed Mana in such a fashion . Even more so, by relying on the spinning power of Mana as well as his ability to calculate accurately, Yi Ji-Hyuk used the absolute minimum amount of magical energy to deflect Delkaran’s attack .

It was a miraculous feat that no one could imitate even if they wanted to . Indeed, it was definitely an apt assessment that, as far as his Mana application was concerned, no demon kings could ever come closer to him, never mind measly Dragons .

Unfortunately… .

“Ouch!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk suddenly grasped his chest .

He definitely managed to deflect that attack . He did so in the utmost perfect manner, yet the impact force still managed to grind his innards to meat paste and the acrid metallic taste quickly filled up his mouth .

“D*mn, you and your stupid amount of Mana . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“I don’t think you have the right to say something like that . ” (Delkaran)

“Che . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Sure, the Yi Ji-Hyuk of the past possessed the kind of Mana reserve that was completely unmatched in the world . He even got his hands on the source of Mana, too .

“Take this one next . ” (Delkaran)

Kaaahahng!!

A snake twice as large as the previous one pounced on Yi Ji-Hyuk next .

“… . This guy really doesn’t know the meaning of doing it in moderation . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk’s right hand extended out forward .

Wuuong .

Along with a loud vibrating noise, a huge Gate suddenly opened up in front of his hand .

Scccreeech-!!!!

Next up was the ripples of space distorting and twisting out of shape . Delkaran’s giant snake was sucked into Yi Ji-Hyuk’s Gate .

“If it’s too hard to deflect it, then I just have to get rid of it altogether . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Keke . ” (Delkaran)

Delkaran cackled under its breath while staring at Yi Ji-Hyuk .

“You’re laughing?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk shot a glare back at the demon king with an unreadable expression .

“Aren’t you too relaxed for your own good here?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

I shall… get rid of that attitude of yours . (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

Tentacles shot out from both of Yi Ji-Hyuk’s hands and flew behind him .

“Euh, euh… . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young formed an openly unhappy expression at the tentacle flying straight towards her, but she didn’t tried to avoid it .

Now wasn’t the time to avoid the pain . Indeed, it was far too obvious what would happen if they failed to stop that demon king right here, right now .

“Seriously though, I really hate this c**p . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young shuddered at the icky sensation of the tentacle wrapping around her . It might not feel like a real snake was touching her, but still, one would never say that being bound by what looked like a snake was a nice experience to go through .

“Euh… . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

She gritted her teeth .

Dark Mana travelled into her body through the tentacle .

It coursed inside her and quickly mixed with her Ether . The latter wildly rampaged about, trying to reject this new type of energy, sending a soul-searing pain from all corners of her body to her brain .

“Heuuh-woop . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

She clenched her teeth so hard that they might end up shattering . She experienced this situation a few times already now, but regardless of what, she’d never get used to this pain .

Her eyes soon became deeply bloodshot . Her anger and hatred towards Delkaran tried to go through the roof – against the one who made her feel this pain .

“Fuu-woop . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young took a quick but deep breath . She heard many times that she must never surrender herself to the rage . In order to maintain her reasoning, she bit down on her lower lip . Right after tasting the bitter metallic taste of blood, it felt as if her eyesight suddenly brightened up .

“Let’s go!” (Seo Ah-Young)

As soon as she issued her order, animal-like grunts and howls of agreement resounded out from both of her sides .

Her heart boiled over again after hearing those responses and she immediately created a pair of massive flame balls in both of her hands . She then dashed forward .

“H-mm?” (Delkaran)

Delkaran’s eyes narrowed to a slit .

“They accepted dark Mana?” (Delkaran)

This information wasn’t included in the intel .

Sure, unimportant matters could be omitted in the report submitted since there was a restriction imposed on the communication with the demon world . So, it wasn’t all that strange that Delkaran wasn’t informed of this situation .

But, still… .

“Humans did…??” (Delkaran)

There were dark wizards, like Yi Ji-Hyuk, so the current scene shouldn’t be that surprising .

However, it was rather weird sight to behold, to see a bunch of humans being exposed to dark Mana and not experience any changes when they hadn’t even formed a contract with demonic beings .

“As expected of you, 99th demon king . ” (Delkaran)

It couldn’t have been easy to accurately figure out the limits of each individual’s transformation threshold and insert dark Mana accordingly .

Delkaran wasn’t even trying to be generous here yet in less than a minute, it was being surprised by several unexpected developments .

What amused the demon king even more was the fact that, compared to the amount of dark Mana injected into them, these humans’ spirits had increased to a surprising level . The dark Mana went through strange modification once inside these humans and they emitted rather suspicious auras now .

“How amusing . ” (Delkaran)

Once the type of energy humans of this world possessed was blended in with dark Mana, it created a certain enhancement effect . This was why new worlds always proved to be so amusing .

Delkaran reached out with both of its hands as large flame balls flew at it .

“Hah-ahp!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

A gigantic magic circle suddenly appeared in front of Yi Ji-Hyuk, which led to an opening of another Gate .

“Come out!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Wuuuong-!!

The Gate vibrated noisily before opening its mouth wide .

Kaaaah-!!

And then, something leaped out from there while roaring out like a top predator .

“Hah…” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Choi Jung-Hoon shook his head while watching that scene .

“Stop roaring out when you look like that!!” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Choi Jung-Hoon’s eyes were locked onto the cute, bite-sized Oh-Sik jumping out of the Gate . Another tentacle shot out from Yi Ji-Hyuk dig into Oh-Sik’s small physique .

Wooof!!

Initially, it looked as if Oh-Sik’s body was twisting horribly, but then, his size grew explosively larger . Having regained its former hulking, huge form of an Ogre, Oh-Sik pounced forward with its eyes glowing in crimson hue .

‘Doesn’t he look even bigger than before?’ (Choi Jung-Hoon)

There was a noticeable change compared to the first time Oh-Sik made his appearance in this world . His current size was easily twice that of his old self, regardless of who thought about it .

Keurururuk!!

From another Gate, Hydra and Dae-Mahng made their entrance, as well . And from another one, massive hawk made out purely of Mana emerged and soared high up in the air .

“Hah-aaah… . ”

From Yi Ji-Hyuk’s back, a nasally moaning sound whispered out, and the Dark Spirit, Tirieh revealed herself .

“Hah-ah?”

She slithered around his surroundings as if she was swimming in air before blowing into his ear next .

“Blow that thing away!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Wuuuong-!!

Tirieh floated up on Yi Ji-Hyuk’s head and then, a strand of black light suddenly fired out from her body!

Kwaaaahaaahng!!

The black beam of light fired out like a laser beam and penetrated through Delkaran’s body .

“Keuk??” (Delkaran)

Being struck by this unexpected attack, the demon king groaned out loudly, clearly displeased .

“A Spirit, is it?” (Delkaran)

Yi Ji-Hyuk sure possessed quite a few tricks up his sleeve . The information received wasn’t this much at all, so how… .

Even though Delkaran told itself not to underestimate Yi Ji-Hyuk, it still made a major mistake by not paying closer attention on the information on its target .

“However, this much is still not enough . ” (Delkaran)

“I know . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk smirked again .

The final remaining Gate began resonating now .

Wuuuongg-!!

Soon, it opened up wide and a horde of monsters utterly lost to the state of frenzy crazily rushed out as if they were water gushing out from a broken tap .

“Mm?”

Monsters?

In this world?

Delkaran’s red eyes trembled noticeably .

The demon king had to look Yi Ji-Hyuk in renewed light after being struck constantly by unexpected turn of events one after another .

“You truly outdid yourself…” (Delkaran)

He truly did an excellent job amassing this much of a combat force even though he entered this world without a single drop of dark Mana .

If only his opponent today wasn’t Delkaran… .

An army of this scale could easily contend with an opponent on the level of a superior demon . Unfortunately… .

“Far too crude . ” (Delkaran)

This level of an army was not enough to deal with a demon king from the demon world . Surely, Yi Ji-Hyuk wouldn’t have forgotten that crucial fact?

“But, if you have forgotten it, I shall remind you . ” (Delkaran)

Remind him of the terror of the demon king . To help him remember just what kind of an existence a demon king was .

Delkaran’s robe flapped in the wind as dozens upon dozens of black ‘snakes’ shot out from below .

< 216 . Imma do it my way now -1 > Fin .