The Hero Returns

Chapter 387: Chapter 387

Smirk…

Sun Wukong's lips spread wide open, revealing his pearly-white teeth.

Almost at the same time, the three predators were overcome with this ominous foreboding and simultaneously made their moves.

"Get bigger—"

"Get bigger—"

"Get bigger—"

The activation phrase was uttered from everywhere at the same time.

The clones speaking in the exact same voice got into the exact same stance and pointed their Ruyi Jingu Bangs.

"Ruyi—"

"Ruyi—"

Ka-ka-boom—!

The Ruyi Jingu Bangs fired and tore apart the surface of the false World Tree's branch. The floor got gouged out, a thick dust cloud got kicked up, and the surroundings fell into pandemonium in an instant.

The trio of predators flung themselves upward and evaded the hundreds of Ruyi Jingu Bangs. They still had to punch a few away or even had to defend against them, however.

Of course, there was no reply to Sun Wukong's question. There was no reason to answer, though; even a blind person could tell that the trio was under an overwhelming disadvantage in numbers here.

The three predators swept their gazes over Sun Wukong's clones.

"It's not an illusion."

"They all can't be the real body…Are they summons instead?"

"No, that's not it, either."

"Makes sense since every single one of them possesses the same type of aura."

"What an amusing ability. Ever since I first saw it through my 'eye,' I have been wondering what kind of trickery it was."

However, it didn't look like the predators were flustered by this development or anything like that. On the contrary, they seemed to be rejoicing right now.

"We now have more prey."

"Even though the points we'll get remain the same."

"Even then, don't they look rather delectable? Who cares about points or whatever?"

Driiip…

After the trio of predators landed back on the solid ground; one of them began licking its lips with a long tongue.

Sun Wukong found that lengthy, snake-like tongue disgusting to behold and began dry-retching. The animal he hated the most happened to be snakes, after all. "Hey, little bro. You take care of that one. I'm graciously yielding that one to you."

"Ah, sure thing. Thanks a bunch."

"In that case, let me deal with that punk over there."

"Nope, that one's mine."

Pang—!

When Luslec spoke up, Sun Wukong resolutely shook his head and then pounded his fist on his palm. "I'm gonna beat the living snot out of that bastard, you see."

His expression showed how pissed off he was right now.

Su-hyeun could only sigh softly at that. He began thinking that if things went any further south here, then he might accidentally end up getting swept up in Sun Wukong's fight.

Sun Wukong's current state suggested that he wouldn't care about his surroundings during his fight.

"Shall we change the location?" Su-hyeun asked the predator he was in charge of.

In response, the creature merely smirked before asking, "Is there a reason for that?"

"I think things might get really messy if we remain here and fight, you see."

"No need for that. This fight will end very soon any—"

Crunch—

The predator couldn't finish the rest of its sentence, as a powerful hand suddenly grabbed it by the throat.

"Just shut up and come with me."

"…!"

Su-hyeun had closed the distance and tightly gripped the predator's throat even before the latter had the chance to realize what happened. He then powerfully leaped into the air.

Ka-boom—!

A thick dust cloud got kicked up again in the surroundings, and the other predator became slightly flustered by the event that happened in the blink of an eye.

"Should we change locations as well?"

"Sure, whatever."

Luslec turned around to leave, prompting the other predator to also vacate its position. That meant only Sun Wukong and the predator that had been here since the beginning remained now.

"Well, this just became rather annoying." The predator swept its hair back and made a deeply irritated face.

Nothing seemed to be working out as planned.

All those participants the predator had gathered with some difficulty, while suppressing its own irritation, turned out to be not much of a help in the end. It might have been a bit better if their energies had been farmed beforehand, but even that seemed to be a difficult task at the moment.

In the end, the job of mopping up had ended up as this predator's.

"Why are you standing around doing nothing?" Meanwhile, Sun Wukong was still stewing in his anger.

When he began shifting the Ruyi Jingu Bang, hundreds of his clones also matched him and moved as well.

Thinking that another attack similar to the one earlier was now coming, the predator opened its eyes wide and quickly roused up its own power.

"All right, now. Hurry and—"

"Get bigger—"

"Get bigger—

The voices of the clones echoed throughout the entire area.

Ka-boom—!

At the same time, hundreds of Ruyi Jingu Bang slammed down on the predator.

Sun Wukong smirked and finished the rest of his sentence, "Start moving already."

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Swhooooooosh—

Su-hyeun's figure rapidly flew forward; his hand still gripping the predator's throat.

Rather unsurprisingly, the predator was trying to get away from Su-hyeun's grip, having been grabbed in the blink of an eye. The creature's tough and ultra-sharp nails were poised and ready to sever Su-hyeun's entire arm, but right at that moment…

SMASH—!

KA-BOOM—!

Su-hyeun stopped flying, then powerfully slammed the predator's head into the ground below.

Gu-wuuuuu—

The World Tree's branch sank greatly, which showed how strong his downward force was.

He then quickly let go and used Leap to jump up and away, as the predator still tried to attack with its nails without caring about the impact force.

Tumble, drip…

"Your movement is rather swift," the predator said as it lifted itself from the deeply caved-in hole in the floor. It was holding its head with one hand and furrowing its brow greatly, implying that it did suffer from some amount of damage just now. "You are also quite strong. It seems that you're one of the strongest among the hounds."

"Does that make you one of the weaker ones among the predators, though?" Su-hyeun asked while lightly clenching and unfurling his fist. "I mean, you couldn't even react properly and all."

"Don't get too ahead of yourself just because I fell for your sneak attack."

"I think I've mostly figured out what your personality is. It's like an open book."

Each predator held its own desire, and those desires differed from one predator to the next. Even if their desires ran the gamut of all possibilities, in the end, one particular desire would serve as the differentiator of their personalities.

"Overly egotistical and loves to show off—that's your identity and your biggest desire."

Egotistical and a show-off—these two traits make up a type of desire where one wanted to reveal oneself and proudly boast about one's greatness.

That kind of applied to just about everyone. If you had a part about you that was quite outstanding, then you'd naturally desire for the others to acknowledge it, so you'd reveal yourself to the world and boast about this part of you. The animal called "human" couldn't help but be an egotistical and boastful creature, with the only difference being the level of their desire to show off.

"That's why it's easy to figure you out. You can't help but boast about yourself, after all. You just don't know how to be humble or stay incognito," Su-hyeun said.

"What are you trying to say?"

"I have figured you out, like, just how good you are, but you…"

Snap—!

Po-popopopow—!

The moment Su-hyeun snapped his fingers, flames exploded all around the predator.

"You don't have any idea about me."

Rumble—!

Keuph

The predator leaped outside the flames while flailing its arms about.

Its whole body had been singed black, and a confused expression was etched on its face. Su-hyeun's flames that could easily be dealt with until a few moments ago suddenly came across as the hellish conflagration that the predator had never experienced before.

Su-hyeun quipped again, "Judging from your expression, you still don't get it, do you? Well, that's not that surprising. You haven't seen the real me yet, after all."

"You still dare to run your mouth off…!"

Swiiiiish—

Right at that moment, a thin "line" suddenly came flying toward the predator.

CLAAANG—!

Sliiice—

The predator's body was flung back far away. At the same time, blood sprayed out from a long sword wound cut open on the creature's arms as the creature tried to shield itself with its arms.

"Having said that, your body sure is pretty tough, isn't it?" Su-hyeun muttered.

"…!"

Clang, claaang—!

Slice, snick, splaaash—

Su-hyeun's sword quickly cut apart and sliced the predator's body. The latter's eyes gleamed murderously as it reached out toward Su-hyeun's figure that appeared next to its position—or more correctly, it tried to.

Chwa-rarararak—!

Ka-claaang—!

Sturdy "ropes" suddenly bound the predator's body. "W—what is the meaning of this?!"

[Yogoe Capturing Rope]

It was one of the six treasures Prince Nezha possessed. This weapon was capable of restricting even Sun Wukong in the past, and such an item was now binding the predator's body.

Squeeeeze—

Prince Nezha put more strength into his arms, causing the constricting force around the predator to gradually grow stronger. His own energy was also enhancing the toughness and gripping power of the Yogoe Capturing Rope with every passing second.

Of course, that alone wasn't enough to confine the predator forever. However…

"This short moment is already enough for me."

Ruuumble…

Half of Su-hyeun's body transformed into roaring flames.

He activated none other than "Transformation," a skill he already boasted a fairly high proficiency in.

"This one will probably get a lot hotter than before," said Su-hyeun while putting more strength into his arm.

There was no need for him to emit his power outwardly here.

Poooow—!

Su-hyeun kicked the ground and rapidly dashed forward, and after his powerful sprint, his transformed fist punched powerfully at the predator still bound by the Yogoe Capturing Rope.

Fwhooooosh—!

Ka-boooom—!

The condensed flames slammed mercilessly into the predator's body, and Su-hyeun felt the sensation coming from his fist and quietly added, "It's also going to be a lot heavier."

<hr />

Tumble, crackle…

Hiss, sizzle…

The predator's whole body burned fiercely and turned into charcoal. It didn't look like it had survived that attack.

Of course, Su-hyeun didn't fall for it.

"I haven't received the points yet."

There were three ways of taking the points away after defeating another participant: kill your opponent, knock them out, or get them to surrender.

In other words, none of the three conditions had been satisfied if the point acquisition message didn't show up.

"Are you pretending to be unconscious now?"

Keuk—

When Su-hyeun asked while looking down at it, the predator distorted its lips and began sneering derisively.

Soon, however, it began guffawing madly.

Although it didn't have enough energy left to move its body, it seemed that the predator still had enough leeway to laugh. Su-hyeun got ready to wield his sword at any given moment, only to relax after spotting the tips of the predator's hands crumbling away.

Even if he did nothing, this creature would soon die.

"Its body was sturdy, but it's also really weak," he thought.

Su-hyeun had run into two predators until now. The first one was specialized in physical battles, while the second one was specialized in magic-type abilities.

As for the third one, the one in front of his eyes, it was closer to the first one, technically speaking. If there was one thing separating the predators, then it would be with how much weaker this one was.

"Since its mind was functioning properly, I thought it'd be really strong, but that isn't really the case, it seems."

Su-hyeun naturally believed that the strength of a predator was connected to whether it was still rational or not.

He thought that rather than fighting mindlessly and in a straightforward manner, it was far more logical to use one's reasoning and determine the best way to fight.

Also, he figured that a creature that could still reason although its powerful desire had turned it into a predator would be a high-level existence.

However, now, it seemed that this quandary was not necessarily like that.

"Could it be that, if you're still able to make rational decisions, then your desire as a predator isn't all that strong?"

Whatever the case might be, he was still disappointed either way. This creature was no longer worth his time or attention.

"Are you finished laughing now?"

Rumble—

Su-hyeun cocked his fist once more. "In that case, have a nice trip."

"Doesn't matter. You're all going to die."

Su-hyeun's fist faltered a little. "What was that?"

"Even if you kill me, all of you will still die by that one's hands," the predator chuckled insidiously.

Even though its burnt body was slowly crumbling away, the predator didn't even show a single sign of despair. Its voice and expression even indicated how much it was enjoying this situation.

The creature muttered some confusing things, but Su-hyeun soon understood what it was trying to say. "Wait, are you referring to that guy you were with earlier?"

That predator proficient in magic, the one who observed everyone with floating eyeballs—indeed, something seemed different about that guy. This predator seemed to trust that creature rather deeply.

It was just unfortunate for this predator, though.

"Stop talking nonsense, will you?" Su-hyeun mocked the predator's claims. How could he not, when he knew intimately well how strong the opponent that the eyeball-controlling predator was currently fighting against?

"You don't even know who that guy's opponent is, so no one's going to die, you moron."

"Eternal youth and immortality," one of the phrases that symbolized Sun Wukong, came to Su-hyeun's mind, and he chuckled softly to himself.