The Hero Returns

Chapter 388: Chapter 388

Act 6

Scratch…

Sun Wukong was scratching his cheek with an awkward expression on his face. He then stared at the predator's tentacle currently wrapped around his throat and asked, "And what's this supposed to be?"

"You…Just what are…?" the predator's voice trembled.

The one getting shocked here should've been Sun Wukong, yet that role had been reversed.

"Just what the hell are you?!"

"I don't want to hear that from a punk who uses a disgusting crap like this."

Grip, rip, tear—

Sun Wukong simply used his hand strength to tear off the tentacle wrapped around his throat. This black tentacle writhed within his grip for a bit before withering away and scattering in ashes. "Back in my world, creatures that rely on sucking out other people's energy are seen as not even on the same level as the lowest-ranked Yogoes. Right, they are seen as mongrels, instead. But you, you are so strong, yet why are you relying on a cheap trick like this?"

"How can you possess such an abundant energy?!"

The predator's confusion was rather unsurprising.

Absorbing the energy of the opponent and turning it into its own was this predator's ability.

However, that ability was meaningless in front of Sun Wukong, for the power he possessed wasn't something that would run out simply because some creature decided to absorb it.

His power could be compared to an ocean. You would never make it run dry no matter how hard you tried if you're using a bucket to scoop out all the water there.

"My energy? Are you talking about Dao energy?"

"Doesn't matter what it's called."

"You see, this elixir thing you idiots want so badly to acquire? I've already eaten a ton of those, and thanks to that, even I can't understand what's going on with my own body."

Stab…

While saying that, Sun Wukong stabbed his own arm with his hand. The pierced flesh on the arm regenerated at a visible pace. He didn't even look like he was in pain, nor did it look like he was having a hard time healing his wound. "You know, controlling my Dao energy in the past was really tough, but lately, I've been gradually learning the ways to control it better."

Sun Wukong had been aware for a while now that he had not been properly using his near-infinite energy and his undying, eternal body that was sturdy and resilient enough to wield all that power. That near-infinite energy simply came from all those elixirs he had consumed, and there was a clear limit to how much he could use that energy.

The reason for that was he lacked physical stats.

That infinite power was continuously regenerating his body so that he wouldn't die, but his physical body itself was so much weaker compared to that infinite energy reserve.

"Well, technically, I knew it from the beginning. It's just that, there was no way to change it. In the end, though, the answer was with me getting stronger. And then…"

Crunch, crack…

Sun Wukong firmly pressed his foot on the ground, causing the surface of the World Tree's branch to crack and split apart. "I found a way to do exactly that recently."

"…!"

The Tower of Trials, as well as the system that existed in that tower, rapidly transformed Sun Wukong.

"Still, there was a downside to all that. The thing is, no one can challenge me now that I've become so much stronger, you know? And I love fighting against really strong guys, too…"

Shu-aaaahk…

The Ruyi Jingu Bang suddenly elongated. Even though Sun Wukong didn't say his usual activation phrase, the weapon still changed its length according to his will. "As for you, I guess you're only good enough to kill some time? Something like that?"

Swhoooooosh—

CLAAANG—!

Black barriers rapidly forming around the predator were easily shattered into pieces. The predator dodged the shock waves by quickly moving its body to someplace not too far away.

Paht, pa-paht—!

Chwa-rarararara…

Right after that, it extended its hands and fired multiple black spheres of varying sizes. They resembled black raindrops, and as soon as those spheres finished dispersing to every corner, the predator powerfully clenched its fist.

Ka-ruuuumble—!

Pow, popopopopow—!

A humongous explosion enveloped the surroundings. The ripples from the explosion dyed everything black except where the predator was.

Sizzle, hiss…

There was no place to dodge nor a way to block it. Soon, the explosion stopped, and the surroundings could be seen again.

"To think that it'd end this easily," the predator inwardly said, thinking that the fight was over.

However, his troubles had only just begun even before he regained a clear view of the surroundings.

Fluff…

As the explosion subsided, a bundle of pure-white clouds revealed itself.

Shu-wuwuwu…

Soon, though, the clouds also disappeared, revealing Sun Wukong within. "Well, that wasn't so bad, I guess"

"Crazy son of a…!"

He managed to withstand that?!

The predator was thrown into confusion, and as it stood there in a daze, unable to form a coherent thought, Sun Wukong's figure suddenly flew forward.

"Get longer…"

Shu-aaaak—

The Ruyi Jingu Bang grew instantly in length like it wanted to pierce the heavens, and then, its incredible weight came crashing down.

"Ruyi!"

Kwa-wuuuuuu—!

Screeeeech—

The palm strike shooting out from the predator's hand began pushing Sun Wukong's Ruyi Jingu Bang back. The closely fought contest of strength between Sun Wukong who powerfully slammed his weapon down and the predator who tried to shove it back began right there and then.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit—!" the predator inwardly cursed in panic.

"Dammit!!!"

Creaaaak…

Splat, pow—!

The shoulders and thighs of the predator were suddenly blown apart. But then, almost instantly, the blood streaming down from its wounds stopped, and all the damaged flesh started regenerating.

"Oh? Is that high-speed recovery? That makes this a bit more interesting," Sun Wukong smirked deeply before snapping his fingers.

Pow! Popopopow—!

Ten clones suddenly materialized, all of them wielding identical Ruyi Jingu Bangs, and simultaneously opened their mouths to command.

"Grow bigger…"

"Grow bigger…"

As the multiple Ruyi Jingu Bangs pointed at the predator, it hurriedly extended its hand forward once more, all the while swearing to high heavens in his head.

"Ruyi—!"

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Wriggle, writhe…

Riiip, stick…

The predator's crushed body was now sticking like a piece of gum on the ground.

Surrounding it from all sides were 11 Sun Wukongs—or more correctly, one Sun Wukong and 10 of his clones.

"Why…?"

"Mm? What do you mean, why?" Sun Wukong, who was getting ready to wrap things up by pointing with his Ruyi Jingu Bang, made a puzzled face.

"You…were…definitely not… this strong…"

"Ah, that's right. You were peeking at us, weren't you?"

The predator had used thousands of eyeballs to spy on not just all the participants but also Sun Wukong and his companions.

"No adult will get serious while fooling around with kids, you know? Besides, these guys…" Sun Wukong looked around at his clones and replied, "They get weaker the more I create them, you see? The amount of Dao energy I can use at any one time is limited, so creating lots of them would disperse Dao energy that much more."

Pow, popopopow—!

As soon as he was finished, countless more clones suddenly materialized, which completely filled up the surroundings. There must've been several thousand of them here.

"Back then, I created something like 2,000 of them, so of course, they would be so much weaker. What's wrong? You saw my clones get defeated by the participants you managed to lure in, so you thought they were all weak?"

Splat—!

"Well, it was fun while it lasted."

Sun Wukong stomped with his foot and crushed the predator's head.

The predator's body, which had regenerated about halfway, writhed weakly around. Sun Wukong lowered his head as the glare in his eyes burned viciously. "And I got to vent my anger a bit, too."

Soon afterward, the point acquisition message floated up in Sun Wukong's mind, which was proof of the predator being dead for sure.

"Did you guys wait for long?"

"You did take longer than I expected, third brother."

"Still, watching you was not boring at all."

Su-hyeun and Luslec appeared one after the other. For the past 30 minutes or so, they had been patiently waiting for Sun Wukong to wrap his fight up.

The winner was obviously Sun Wukong—a completely predictable result.

"By the way, just how big is your magical energy reserve? I mean, you got caught multiple times and got your energy sucked out, yet you're completely fine even now," Luslec asked incredulously.

He didn't know anything about Sun Wukong, and that was why he ended up asking.

There was no such thing as "moderation" in the way Sun Wukong fought. He didn't hold back on his magical energy, and rather unsurprisingly, he didn't even care about apportioning his power, either.

Not only that but even after the predator stole away some of his magical energy, Sun Wukong continued to respond normally as if none of that mattered.

"Not sure. I can't answer you since I also don't have a clue."

"Do you mind if I directly check it out?"

"Sure, go ahead," said Sun Wukong while extending his hand forward.

Luslec, now making a deeply curious face, reached out and grabbed Sun Wukong's hand, but right at that moment, his face lost its color.

Shwa-aaaaaah…

The Dao energy Sun Wukong wielded, or magical energy as some others called it, could be felt so clearly like a gigantic tidal wave.

There didn't seem to be an end to this vast energy reserve. It felt like Luslec wouldn't be able to extricate himself if he got lost in this deep reservoir of power that came crashing in like a humongous tsunami wave.

"Heok—?!"

Gasping out in shock, Luslec hurriedly let go.

Su-hyeun chuckled a little while checking out Luslec's pale face. "I was also shocked the first time. I couldn't help but wonder how there could be a human like him…"

"I'm not human but a Yogoe, little bro."

"In any case. But after consuming a Peach of Immortality, I kind of understood how such a thing is possible."

The Peach of Immortality—the precious fruit and the treasured elixir of the heavens that the so-called gods of the Heavenly World back in Sun Wukong's world valued so much—only ripened once every 3,000 years, and a single one was capable of boosting Su-hyeun's magic energy count by several points in one go. It also possessed the effect of increasing the magical energy level.

However, Sun Wukong didn't just consume one peach. As a matter of fact, he completely devoured every single one found in the Heavenly Peach Garden that the Heavenly World held so dear, then made all that power his.

"You are a lot stronger than I've imagined," said Luslec.

"Even if you say that, you seem to be a lot stronger than I expected, too." Sun Wukong alternated his gaze between Su-hyeun and Luslec. "Judging from how you two arrived here around the same time and all," he explained.

Su-hyeun and Luslec had dealt with their predators and arrived back here almost at the same time. Since the levels of the predators that left with each of them were quite similar, Sun Wukong could now roughly estimate Luslec's strength.

Luslec replied, "Well, that punk wasn't all that special in the end, you see. Not only did it become a predator recently, but its desire also had waned quite a bit. That's why."

"Wait, does a predator get weaker if its desire wanes?"

When it came to knowledge concerning predators, Luslec, as an apostle, knew a lot more than Su-hyeun.

Sure enough, he didn't hold back and openly replied to Su-hyeun's question, "Yes. That's because the main source of motivation for a predator is its desire. So, if that desire is satisfied to some degree, and it no longer thirsts to fulfill it, then a predator will indeed get weaker."

"In that case, the scale of its desire equals to…"

"To the strength of the predator, or to put it simply, it's like the tier of predators. These bastards can become endlessly stronger if they are not conscious of where the end of their desires lies and continue to strive to fulfill it by preying on more worlds, you see."

Now, this was new information. However, now that he learned about it, Su-hyeun couldn't help but tilt his head a little. "But wait, didn't third brother fight against a predator that could suppress its desires quite well?"

"Well, in this case, it's a bit of a stretch to call it 'suppressed,' actually. I'm not sure what this bastard's desire was, but if its ultimate gain of the elixir by passing the missions was connected to its desire, then this punk simply chose the most logical way to go about it, that's all."

"Oh…" Su-hyeun nodded only then after listening to Luslec's explanation.

He had been thinking that maybe the predator had suppressed its desire and tried to make the most logical choices to pass the missions and acquire the elixir, but according to Luslec, that didn't seem to be it.

If that predator desired to become stronger by acquiring the elixir, then it certainly had been staying true to its desires.

"Now that I think about it, we don't have much time left, do we?"

[Remaining time: 00:11:01]

A little over 10 minutes remained, meaning they didn't have a lot of time left until the end of the mission.

"In that case, let's just take a short break and wait for the next set of rewards," said Luslec while plopping down on the spot.

Su-hyeun nodded and settled down as well. There were no parasites or participants in the near vicinity, anyway.

As for the second mission's reward, it had to be what most of the participants who came to this world were aiming to get their hands on. Luslec had also acquired this reward the last time he came here, he said.

"It's supposed to be the plant sap of the false World Tree, isn't it?" Su-hyeun thought.