The Hero Returns

Chapter 390: Chapter 390

Act 7

"Sorry?"

What did he mean by "demigod"?

Su-hyeun, who had regained his wits only just now, began making a puzzled face at what Sun Wukong said. "Not a Taoist God but a demigod? What do you mean?"

"What else could it be? It's a half-Taoist God."

"A half…Taoist God, you say?"

This would be his first time hearing the term. He heard the details regarding the Taoist Gods from the Bull Demon King a few times in the past. In principle, all living things were capable of becoming a Taoist God by ascending, and one's "level" after becoming a god would be wholly dependent on the individual's strength.

But to say that he wasn't a full-fledged Taoist God but a half-god? A demigod?

"In simpler terms, only your body has become a god," said Sun Wukong.

"Only my body…"

Su-hyeun could faintly sense the changes that happened to his physical body.

He clenched and unfurled his fists a few times and then began rotating his shoulders as well, eventually spotting the differences compared to his old body. At a casual glance, it seemed to have become a little lighter, yet beyond that, something about his body felt somewhat unfamiliar as well.

It was as if…

Ba-dump—

"Did I gain another heart or something?" he asked inwardly.

He pressed his hand on the spot somewhere below his chest where he could sense a rhythmic palpitation and some kind of energy contained within.

It was a completely new type of energy that seemed very different from magical energy.

No, wait—it wasn't a new type of energy, strictly speaking. It was just that this would be his first time sensing it. Indeed, Su-hyeun had already been in possession of it for a very long time, simply that he couldn't sense it until now.

It was the "power" that all living people, Yogoes, and, as a matter of fact, every living being possessed.

"It's prana," Sun Wukong said, instantly recognizing that power.

Luslec made a puzzled expression at the term he had never heard of before. "What's prana?"

"Most normal people know of it as life force or even as lifespan itself."

"Eh? One's lifespan, you say?"

"Yeah. The reason why a person's lifespan runs out, getting old and all that, is all because the energy called prana, the life force energy, is slowly being consumed, you see. So it's not that weird to call this energy one's lifespan itself."

From how he explained things, it seemed that Sun Wukong was quite familiar with prana.

"Most living creatures can't even sense it, though. But that's only obvious when you think about it. Now normally, there's simply no way to figure out in detail just how much of your own lifespan is remaining, right?"

"Wait a minute, does that mean one shouldn't use it even if it's your energy?" Luslec asked with a concerned face.

But that wasn't surprising. According to Sun Wukong's explanation, this prana was basically the same thing as one's lifespan, so using it equated to shortening one's own life.

"Normally you'd be right. Normally, that is. But do you think a demigod is a regular existence?"

"Sorry?"

"You see, this demigod? That's an existence who can sense their prana and recover the amount spent through their own will." While saying that, Sun Wukong smirked and stared at Su-hyeun. "Just like you, little bro."

"Honestly, it still doesn't feel real to me."

All of his stats had reached the three-digit mark. This transformation took place when that happened. To think that change was simply a process to become a demigod and to acquire an ability to control this energy form called prana.

Su-hyeun felt like he now understood a little more about the changes that had occurred to him after listening to the explanation, but that didn't mean this transformation felt real to him just yet.

He now could wield and recover prana, the power that controlled his own life force.

"Does that mean it's possible for me to live forever?" Su-hyeun thought.

Although not as ridiculously overpowered as the indestructible immortal body that Sun Wukong possessed, Su-hyeun now possessed a quasi-indestructible body as well—meaning, he shouldn't die from most injuries anymore.

But still, he felt this intense feeling of separation right now, something he didn't even feel when he first acquired the god-like powers of the qualifications of godhood.

This really felt like he was no longer a human being but a deity.

"No, wait—I'm far closer to being an actual god than a human at this point, aren't I?"

He would've loved to take his time and analyze what kind of changes had occurred to his body. Unfortunately, he simply didn't have the luxury of time for that.

[The third mission will now commence.]

[Please eliminate the parasite that has taken over the false World Tree.]

[The false World Tree will now recognize you as its enemy.]

[The moment you announce your intention to quit, you shall be expelled from the World Tree.]

Gugu, gugugugu—

The ground rumbled and shook. More correctly, the branch of the World Tree they were standing on was trembling.

"They aren't giving us time to rest."

"Well, they did, but little bro, you couldn't rest because you were occupied with something else," Sun Wukong replied

"Urgh," Su-hyeun could only groan as his mind faltered.

Honestly, though, he was right. The one saving grace here was that Su-hyeun still managed to regain his wits before the next mission got underway.

"My fatigue level is too high," he thought.

He ascended to a demigod, and he could also use prana now, but if he was being honest, he was feeling the worst level of fatigue right now compared to when he experienced other transformations. Even the numerical representation of his fatigue had shot up quite high as well.

[Fatigue: 54]

"Fifty-four, is it?"

That figure was equal to his state right after finishing a considerably fierce battle.

Even then…

"I don't feel all that tired, though."

His body didn't feel heavy. On the contrary, it felt slightly lighter than how it was usually.

What an odd thing this was. What would it feel like when his fatigue level was at zero?

"I'm looking forward to it."

When Su-hyeun faintly smiled while thinking that…

"Let's get going."

Gu-gugugu…

Luslec next to him said that while noticing the branches of the World Tree beginning to arch. "If we get careless, we'll get crushed to death here."

<hr />

Lilac William was an apostle who served a god with fairly high godhood.

A veteran with two successful predator hunts under her belt, Lilac felt quite proud of her own skills as a result.

She was aiming to acquire the elixir that supported the World Tree using this opportunity. She thought that drinking that elixir would help her become a god herself and stop being a regular apostle—a god with a really amazing qualification of godhood, no less.

But now…

KA-BOOM—!!!

Gugugugu…

Lilac was running as hard as she could without even glancing behind her.

She was a very confident runner but never before had she used her skill to flee for her life like this.

The moment she sensed that something was wrong coincided with the start of the third mission.

"I'm supposed to overcome this kind of mission?!"

A total of 100 people managed to pass the second mission and entered the third stage. That was easy enough to check when looking at the ranking list.

However, the moment the mission commenced, about half of that 100 simply vanished from the list right in front of her eyes.

She initially thought that they were all morons. They could've acquired the elixir by trying a little harder from this moment on, but to give up now…

She definitely believed that quitting even before giving the challenge your all was stupid. It was something only a weakling would do.

That mindset lasted only until the World Tree began moving, however.

KA-BOOM—!

Heo-urhk—?!

Lilac urgently threw herself forward and began sprinting with every ounce of her energy.

A heavy impact noise came from behind her. It came from somewhere uncomfortably close.

It was the noise of the World Tree's branch crushing the spot she used to be only a second ago.

"You want me to fight against something like that?! That's impossible!"

She had encountered countless huge monsters during her time, and the thought that kept popping up in her head while fighting such creatures was that one's physical size often had no relation to the actual battle taking place.

Sure, one could rely on the physical power afforded by sheer massive size, but such a thing would no longer matter once one acquired a qualification of godhood.

Even then, that was still within the boundaries of common sense.

The false World Tree was not just the central pivot of this world. For all intents and purposes, it was basically another world on its own. The ground she was running on and the air she was breathing in—all of those had been created by the false World Tree.

But now, that very World Tree was trying to kill her.

Uwaaaaah—!

"Dammit! Should I just give up now?"

The system said that the moment one declared their intentions to give up, one would be expelled from the World Tree.

In other words, she would get to escape from this life-threatening situation simply by saying out loud that she was quitting.

"I think I'm almost…"

Gu-wuwuwu…

Right at that very moment, a humongous shadow loomed over Lilac's head, and a deathly chill suddenly attacked her spine.

Just as she reflexively turned her head to look…

Uwaaaaaahk—?!

She got so shocked that she screamed instead of declaring her intentions to quit, and something else happened right at that moment.

Paht, swiiiiiiish…

In the blink of an eye, the scenery Lilac could see changed.

Only a second ago, she thought she was going to die, crushed by the branch of the World Tree, but now, even before she realized what happened, nothing could be seen above her.

And at that moment…

KA-BOOOOOOM—!

RUMBLE…

Along with a loud, heavy impact noise, the ground she was standing on quaked ominously. She turned her head to look and saw that the World Tree's branch had landed.

But, without a doubt, she was standing on the impact zone only a moment ago.

"W—what is going on…?"

"If you thought you were going to die, you should've just quit, you know? Why were you screaming like an idiot, instead?"

Someone was gripping Lilac's throat.

Quite a sharp intent could be sensed from the hand gripping her. Lilac flinched in shock and quickly looked at the owner of the hand, only to discover Su-hyeun standing there.

He said, "Either quit now or lose your consciousness here and wait for your death. Please choose. I'll count to three. One…"

"I—I quit!"

Poof…

Lilac cried out without a shred of hesitation. At the same time, she simply vanished from the view. She had already been thinking that giving up was far better than dying, so of course, she wouldn't hesitate at all.

"Why were you saving a useless moron like that?" Sun Wukong asked.

"Why shouldn't I help, though? I can save a person's life just by reaching out, after all."

It was a simple enough story. If one could save another person hanging on the edge of a cliff simply by extending one's hand, if one possessed enough ability to help, then it was only correct to help out.

That's what Su-hyeun believed, and that's how he lived her life, and both Sun Wukong and Luslec knew that side of Su-hyeun's personality all too well.

"Well, yeah. Sure thing, since we didn't have to take too much of a detour, anyway."

Rumble…

The trio stared at the World Tree's branch that had begun moving again.

The majority of the remaining participants should be terrified out of their minds by now. They would be mindlessly occupied with the task of surviving and eventually declare their intentions to quit.

"This is the real hurdle, in all honesty."

The first mission of acquiring the golden leaves and the second mission of hunting the parasites down and surviving against the other participants weren't all that difficult in reality.

Only a hundred or so participants out of the initial thousands could reach this far, but when one considered the rate of competition, it wasn't actually all that unreasonably astronomical.

But the real issue started from the third mission.

The goal of this mission was to hunt the parasite in control of the World Tree itself, and to reach that goal, you had to survive against the World Tree that had designated you as its enemy.

"I could also only get this far. I managed to endure for a bit, but in the end, I couldn't locate the parasite," Luslec shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly speaking, there's just no way to find the damn thing, anyway. Finding that small parasite in this big place while constantly dodging the attacks of the World Tree is just too—"

"No. It's possible."

Paht—!

Su-hyeun began moving again.

Luslec made a puzzled face and started sprinting as well. Sun Wukong was already following Su-hyeun without saying anything by then.

Luslec urgently caught up to them and asked, "It's possible? But how?"

"I'm not sure myself. It's just that…"

He didn't have a good way to explain it in detail. At first, they were thinking of splitting up to search for the parasite, but Su-hyeun told them there was no need to do that, and they should just follow him.

That was because he was confident of something.

"I can just tell."

Buzz…

The sound the other two couldn't hear, Su-hyeun could hear it just fine.

"It's screaming right now," he thought.

It was none other than the World Tree's screams.