The Hero Returns

Chapter 391: Chapter 391

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"It hurts…"

Su-hyeun started hearing that voice after the third mission commenced, and the World Tree began writhing around.

At first, he thought he was simply hearing things. Not only was the sound faint but the feeling it gave off was also far closer to "words" rather than an actual "sound."

But the next set of voice that came to him sounded far more vivid than before.

"It hurts! It hurts so much! Aaaaaahk!"

It was a scream so loud and tragic that the one making it must've damaged its vocal cords.

The screaming continued, and rather obviously, it was coming from somewhere.

However, it wasn't just that sound either.

"I can sense it, too," he thought.

He didn't even need to close his eyes, yet he could still sense this "energy" simply by focusing.

This energy felt quite similar to what Su-hyeun possessed, and it wasn't the newly acquired and therefore unfamiliar type of energy but something all creatures that managed to survive from their birth possessed.

"Miru, to your side!" Su-hyeun cried out as he rode on Miru's back.

Flying rapidly, Miru instantly twisted its body. At the same time, Sun Wukong leaped and retrieved the Ruyi Jingu Bang.

Poof, poof poof poof—!

Ten clones quickly materialized, and they assumed the exact same stance and pointed their own Ruyi Jingu Bangs. Then, they spoke in unison along with Sun Wukong, "Get bigger—!"

Ka-boom—!

"Ruyi!"

Creeeak, ka-gagagagak—!

Ten Ruyi Jingu Bangs blocked the branch of the World Tree that was closing in on them. The sizes of those polearms were the largest Su-hyeun had ever seen up to this point.

"Wow."

Whoosh, tap…

Soon afterward, Sun Wukong, having successfully blocked the branch, rode on his cloud to get back on Miru's back.

Su-hyeun looked at him and raised his thumb, "That was great."

Thanks to his efforts, they managed to overcome one hurdle.

They were traveling on Miru's back since their destination was somewhere very high, but the thing was, the red dragon's defensive ability wasn't strong enough to defend against the incoming branches of the World Tree.

Even if they were still ably dodging the branches, the fact remained that every single attack was potentially fatal. A single branch was the size of a large city, so even if it was Miru, just one solid strike would result in every bone in the dragon's body breaking.

"It's coming again! This time, on both sides!"

"Please take care of the other side."

Tap—!

Su-hyeun leaped toward the branch that was flying in from their left side. At the same time, Luslec groaned grandly and jumped in the opposite direction.

Half of Su-hyeun's body transformed into purplish flames, while a black aura flooded out from Luslec's body to coalesce into a lump in his hands.

[Flame - Transformation]

[Wave Fist - Explosion Style]

[Palm Leaf]

The "Wave" skill that amplified one's magical energy was added to his fist that had transformed into a purplish flame. At the same time, Palm Leaf answered Su-hyeun's will and powerfully swirled around his arm to morph into something similar to a skill.

Rumbleeeee—

Ka-boooom—!

Su-hyeun punched with all of his might. Along with a ginormous explosion, the tornado of flames shoved the World Tree's branch away and burned it.

Sizzle, crumble…

The branch caught on fire and slammed into the floor. The scream of the World Tree echoing in Su-hyeun's ear became even sharper.

"What the heck?!"

Stunned, Su-hyeun hurriedly looked at his own transformed fist and then looked down at the spot below his chest, silently touching it.

"The energy down here moved on its own."

It was prana, the energy that all humans possessed, which was the same thing as one's life force—one's life span—but was different from magical energy.

Su-hyeun still had no clue on how to utilize it. As such, he was planning to not use it until he completely cleared all the missions and acquired the elixir.

He was thinking of gradually discovering its secrets, but then, prana activated all on its own.

The moment Su-hyeun willed it and tried to use his own powers, the energy automatically blended in with the rest of his power and produced a much greater end result.

"Controlling my strength just got harder."

Still, this wasn't a bad result at all. He could now use up less energy yet still get to exhibit far greater power, after all.

And also…

"I'm not sure why, but it feels like controlling this energy won't be that difficult overall."

The amount of prana he used up just now was quickly refilled.

It was as Sun Wukong said earlier—those who became a demigod could sense prana, and they could even recover it at will.

The changes to him—being able to hear the World Tree's voice and also getting to sense his own prana—all occurred after he became a demigod.

Su-hyeun turned his head and glanced at the direction Luslec flew off to.

Over there, Luslec created a gigantic black skull made out of his black energy and then fired it at the other World Tree's branch flying in from that side.

The huge branch was shoved back, and at the same time, its surface began rotting away in a blackish hue.

The World Tree's scream could be heard once more, making Su-hyeun think that they should hurry up some more.

Tap—

Su-hyeun landed back on Miru's back and lowered himself to pat the red dragon.

Maybe, this might work…

"Hey, Miru?"

Shu-wuwu…

Grrrr—

Miru's growling became even more energetic, and at the same time…

Flap—

Even the dragon's wings flapped with even greater vigor. Miru's flight speed going up became so much faster.

Fwhooooooosh—!

Meanwhile, Luslec urgently landed back on the dragon, and just like what Sun Wukong was doing, held onto Miru for his dear life, trying not to fall off.

"Wow! What is going on here?!" Luslec asked with widened eyes, genuinely amazed.

"You can even do something like this with prana?" Meanwhile, Sun Wukong, having knowledge on the matters of prana already, quickly figured out what Su-hyeun had done.

As for Su-hyeun, he only gave it a shot because he felt that it might be doable. He replied in a somewhat stupefied voice, "Yes, it's possible, as it turns out."

Fwhooooooosh—!

Miru's speed increased by at least another level, and they rapidly climbed up the thick pillar-like trunk of the World Tree.

Su-hyeun climbed up to Miru's head to see the direction of their flight, and then, he closed his eyes for a brief moment. He still heard the World Tree's voice, and it seemed that the destination where its prana could be sensed wasn't too far from here.

"It hurts…Hurts so bad…Please…"

That voice sounded as if it was ardently wishing for something—as if it wished for someone to hear its voice.

Su-hyeun opened his eyes and pointed to the side, "That way."

"Eh? You mean, over there?!" Luslec cried out in shock.

However, that was because the direction Su-hyeun pointed at wasn't up but the "wall" of the World Tree's trunk.

"Not sure what's what, but let's go! Little bro!"

Sun Wukong didn't seem to care about minor stuff like that. He was thinking that Su-hyeun wasn't planning to kill himself in the first place, so they should just trust his intuition in times like this.

"W—what are you even thinking here?! Let me know first at least before trying something!" Luslec cried out again.

"Let's break through."

"Sorry?!"

Shruuuung—!

Ruuuuumble—!

Su-hyeun unsheathed his sword and then wrapped it in the divine Flame. At the same time, the Palm Leaf responded to his will, and a massive storm was condensed on the sword to create a violent vortex of winds.

Swiiiiiiish—!

Without hesitation, Miru flew toward the direction Su-hyeun pointed at with every ounce of its energy.

Luslec groaned deeply before driving his magical energy to his hands once more. On the other hand, Sun Wukong was happily smirking away, "I knew it. It's so much fun hanging out with you, little bro!"

Creak, gigigigigi-gik—!

Dao energy concentrated on the Ruyi Jingu Bang that Sun Wukong held in his hands. He pointed the tip of his polearm at the main body of the World Tree and sucked in a deep breath as if he was preparing to explosively unleash all of his stored-up power. "Get bigger…"

"How are you even going to break that…?!"

[Clone - Ruyi Jingu Bang]

[Necromancy - Soul Integration]

[Flame - Palm Leaf - Explosion Style]

The enlarged Ruyi Jingu Bang, the black aura taking on the shape of a huge skull, and the sword wind fired off from Sun-hyeun's sword flew into their target all at once.

Ka-boooom—!

Sa-aaaaah…

Ruuuumble… Ka-gagagak—!

Ten Ruyi Jingu Bangs viciously pounded on the World Tree's bark, while the aura of concentrated souls caused the Tree's surface to melt and rust, and finally, Su-hyeun's sword wind transformed into a typhoon wrapped in flames to repeatedly slash at the same spot.

Ruuuumble…

Slash, slice—

Fwhooooosh—!

A huge flame billowed from the side of the pillar-like World Tree's trunk. Its surface was being scorched black.

"What? The false World Tree is being burned?" Luslec's eyes went wide open.

He couldn't help but wonder what the plan was when Su-hyeun obstinately chose to go straight forward. But to think that the false World Tree's trunk would actually catch fire, even if his and Sun Wukong's attacks had weakened it somewhat beforehand.

Not only that but the sword wind from Su-hyeun left behind a considerably deep sword gash on the bark as well.

"Miru!"

Grrrrrrr—!

Split—

For the climax, Su-hyeun called out to Miru, and the red dragon opened its maw wide to amass a huge amount of magical energy in there. No, more correctly, Miru had been gathering magical energy in its maw for a while already even before Su-hyeun had said anything.

[High Breath]

Ruuuuumble—!

The powerful Breath fired from Miru's mouth poured straight on top of the World Tree's burnt-black trunk.

KA-BOOOOOM—!

The surface of the trunk exploded and crumbled, and at the same time, a bright light shone from the open gap to reveal a wide-open space beyond the bark.

"Euhk…"

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"What's this? Little bro, you have a migraine?"

When Su-hyeun frowned deeply and held his head with his hand, Luslec and Sun Wukong quickly walked up to him in surprise.

As expected, he might have pushed himself too much.

Su-hyeun hurriedly waved his hand to assuage their concerns, "No, it's nothing major."

It wasn't as if his head was hurting. No, the voice had gotten so loud that he was reflexively trying to cover his ear for a moment there.

"It hurts. It hurts so much!" The World Tree's screaming became so much louder than before, and it only became even louder once they entered the trunk of the Tree itself, which was understandable, considering that from the World Tree's perspective, it would have felt like a hole had opened up somewhere on its body.

"What do you want from me when this is the only way…?" Su-hyeun groaned at length.

This damn World Tree was acting like a child, and Su-hyeun's ears were hurting from all that screaming, which made it harder for him to focus.

He took a little time to calm his numb hearing and then scanned his new surroundings. There was a cave-like empty pathway found inside of the World Tree, and a variety of colored lights came from several spots on the walls. Therefore, securing one's vision proved to be not an issue.

The cave was so massive that its end couldn't be seen, while the ceiling was tall enough to seemingly touch the sky outside.

Luslec also stepped inside, only to mutter with a grave expression on his face, "You know, it kinda feels like we've entered somewhere we shouldn't have."

On the other hand, Sun Wukong's face showed how excited he was right now. He gripped the Ruyi Jingu Bang even tighter and cried out in pure excitement, "Yes! This is it!"

No one had seen Sun Wukong acting this excited before.

As for Su-hyeun's reaction, his was far closer to Luslec's rather than Sun Wukong's, who welcomed any and all forms of fighting. "Well, this is…I can't even guess how many of them are here."

Wiggle, wriggle…

Countless parasites and a gigantic insect that looked like their "mother" that was seemingly commanding them all greeted them. Su-hyeun looked at all these creatures and tried to calm the nauseating feeling rumbling in his stomach.

"It's been a while since I fought against monsters, but even then, this would be my first time seeing a sight as disgusting as this one," he said.

"Wait, are you scared of insects?"

"No, not scared but more like disgusted. They are repulsive, too."

"Ah, that. I think I know a saying to match your sentiment." Luslec furrowed his brow as if he was slightly confused about something and then spoke up, "You don't avoid sh*t because it's scary but because it's dirty? Was that it?"

"Where did you even hear such a saying?"

He laughed, "I studied a bit, you know."

Could it that the old adages were also recorded in the myths? Su-hyeun stared at Luslec with a puzzled face.

However, the latter was already preparing to fight while scanning all the parasites that were practically overflowing in their surroundings.

Su-hyeun's own attention shifted over to the parasites that were gradually closing in on them.

He suddenly felt a bit apologetic for finding the World Tree's screaming quite annoying after setting his eyes on all these parasites that filled up the Tree's interior.

"I guess there's a reason for its torment, then," he thought.

Just how badly was the World Tree suffering from this many parasites?

Shu-wuwuwu…

"Hold on for a bit longer," he silently communicated to the World Tree as the prana that was slumbering away below his navel area began circulating when he willed it.

As he lightly jumped off from Miru's head to land near the parasites, a different type of vitality was already manifesting within his body. However, he wasn't conscious of it yet.

"We shall completely exterminate every single one of these creatures soon enough."