The Hero Returns

Chapter 393: Chapter 393

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A parasite is a type of "bug" that hid inside another living creature's body and parasitically sucked out nutrients from its host—a worthless, filthy, and insignificant existence that no one acknowledged or cared for.

That was this creature in a nutshell, but that remained true only up until it coincidentally began parasitizing a certain corpse.

"What is this thing?"

The nutrients it absorbed felt different from the usual. The more it absorbed, the greater it transformed. Power overflowed within its body, and its outer appearance eventually changed.

The creature that was once a bug now grew to resemble an actual monster.

It was ecstatic. It learned to feel emotions, and its thought process broadened. Then, it began devouring other monsters using all the overflowing power in its body.

The more it led this life, the greater its greed grew while not knowing if it was under someone else's influence all along.

"Won't there be a creature much larger and tastier out there?"

Its greed and appetite—its thirst for possessing an even greater power—became ever-growing.

And so, this creature eventually transformed into a horrifying hybrid where its identity as a bug and the greediness of a predator had combined into one. It matured enough to possess a functioning ego and a mind that could reason, yet they were all suppressed by its greed.

And while in such a state, it roamed around many different worlds and dimensions to devour countless monsters. Eventually, it discovered a creature so, so much larger than anything it had ever seen before—a tree that enveloped an entire world, a gigantic tree that was basically a world in itself.

It had to be the best prey the bug had discovered so far, and so, the bug predator parasitized this tree for the past several thousand years.

In the beginning, the tree powerfully fought back, but it gradually lost its strength and even lost its ego, too.

And now, yet another delicious prey had appeared before its eyes.

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Wriggle, wiggle…

The outer appearance of the mother body of all these parasites was quite bizarre, to say the least.

While its body and tail resembled a long, black parasite, the upper part of its body and its head resembled a humanoid.

"Did a person turn into a bug or did a bug morph into a person…?"

Su-hyeun couldn't figure out what this creature even started off as, but he was sure that this thing was not only grotesque but also extremely dangerous. "Mister Luslec?"

"Yes?"

"I'll lend you my summons. Please take care of the other bugs."

Shu-wuwuwu…

Black aura flooded out of Su-hyeun and gathered around him to transform into his summoned creatures. He had summoned about a hundred or so creatures, which included the likes of Gluttony and the God of War, too.

When they materialized, Luslec nodded and also called out his own summons. "Understood."

"Well, then…"

"Little bro, you take your time, okay?"

Pooow—!!!

Sun Wukong explosively flew forward and with blinding speed while carrying his Ruyi Jingu Bang in his hands.

His target was, of course, the "bug" in front of their eyes. Outwardly at least, the creature seemed like it should be slow-moving due to how large it was, making it easier to land a hit.

"Get longer…!"

Swhooooooosh—!

Bang, pow, poooow—!

The Ruyi Jingu Bang that was in Sun Wukong's grip rapidly moved and slammed into the bug's body.

It struck the creature's torso, its head, its neck, and even where its heart should be. Each of Sun Wukong's strikes was aimed at the vital parts, and as such, they were all quite lethal.

"Get smaller again."

Whoosh, land…

Sun Wukong had swung his weapon dozens of times by then. He secured his grip on the polearm and leaped toward the bug's head.

And then…

"Get bigger—!"

KA-BOOOOM—!

"Ruyi!"

In the blink of an eye, the Ruyi Jingu Bang enlarged to the size of a small mountain. It all happened within a truly brief time that wasn't even a dozen or so seconds.

Su-hyeun observed this spectacle from a little bit of distance away.

For some reason, the bug was getting one-sidedly pummeled here.

"Maybe its reaction is slow? If not…"

This was strange. Rather than its reaction being tardy, the bug simply didn't display any reaction whatsoever. Not even during the moments when it was getting hit, too.

If it lost consciousness after getting struck earlier, then fine, but it hadn't, and it not displaying any sort of reaction to this degree made it difficult to understand why.

Sure enough…

Creak, gi-gi-gik…

The Ruyi Jingu Bang that had grown much larger and longer got stuck and couldn't go forward anymore, and Sun Wukong's expression slightly distorting also happened around the same time. He couldn't move his weapon despite using more of his strength than before and forcing his will into it.

Whoooosh…

"Huh?"

Sun Wukong's body was suddenly lifted up, along with the Ruyi Jingu Bang extending in front of him.

Fwhoooosh…

KA-BOOOOM—!

Soon afterward, Sun Wukong's figure was slammed straight into the floor. What happened was that the upper torso of the bug that resembled a humanoid used its incredible strength to grab the polearm and lifted up both the weapon and its wielder, Sun Wukong.

Shu-wuwu…

The bug's gaze then shifted over to Su-hyeun again. The creature had been doing that ever since the beginning of the fight. It only paid attention to him and no one else.

Screeeech…

But just as the bug began shuffling toward Su-hyeun…

"I don't think I can start fighting against you yet," said Su-hyeun.

"…?"

"If I do, I'm going to get scolded by my third brother, you see."

BAAANG—!

The Ruyi Jingu Bang came in flying again and struck the back of the bug's head with a much larger size and carrying so much greater force.

Stagger…

The bug that didn't even flinch from the attacks earlier suddenly began staggering now.

Sun Wukong, who had swung his Ruyi Jingu Bang from a distance, beckoned with his finger. "My turn hasn't ended yet."

Hisss…

The bug's head turned around, and at the same time, Sun Wukong's body shot up high as well.

"Restrict that thing…"

Shu-rururu…

Clouds rose up from below to envelop the bug's body. Sparks then arced from within all those clouds simultaneously as well.

And the exact moment Sun Wukong's will reached the clouds restricting the bug…

Squeeze—

He tightly clutched his fist. "Strike now, lightning bolts."

FLASH—!

Rumble, Ka-boooooom—!

A barrage of lightning whipped up viciously within the white clouds enveloping the bug. Su-hyeun shielded his eyes from the blinding light and muttered softly to himself, "Didn't he say that it's a type of sorcery?"

Even though Sun Wukong had gifted the Somersault cloud to Su-hyeun, it was as if he hadn't lost it at all.

To someone like him who possessed near-infinite energy, commanding clouds and shooting lightning bolts through them were fairly easy things to do.

As such, Sun Wukong fought as if he still controlled the Somersault cloud even now. Even if the overall power didn't come anywhere near the real Somersault cloud, at the very least, he didn't need to radically alter the way he had been fighting all along.

Of course…

"It didn't even work, though."

Some little burn marks were the extent of the damage the bug had suffered.

And there was no way that Sun Wukong would've missed something that Su-hyeun was able to see from a distance away. The Monkey King roused up even more of his Dao energy and took an almighty swipe with his lengthened Ruyi Jingu Bang.

Whiiirl, swiiiiiiish—!

Sliiiice—

The long polearm scythed through the air. Several powerful thrusts followed, but all they produced was the sounds of air splitting and nothing else.

Su-hyeun couldn't help but doubt his own eyes just then. "Son of a…"

Even an expletive, something he didn't use all that often, threatened to jump out of his mouth, too.

Was he seeing things correctly right now?

Paaang—!

Sun Wukong's Ruyi Jingu Bang was thrust at the bug's figure once more, but the moment the weapon was about to land on the target, the huge monster relied on a truly bizarre movement, and its body seemed to bend away.

Paaang—!

Yet another sound of the air exploding resounded. The Ruyi Jingu Bang had missed its target again, and then, the bug's body began emitting an ominous light.

Staaab—!

"Keuph…!"

A "thorn" suddenly shot out from the bug's pitch-black body and impaled Sun Wukong's side. His eyes shot wide open as his flashy movements of earlier came to an abrupt halt.

Suck, sluuurp…

The bug then began absorbing Sun Wukong's Dao energy through the thorn. This was something he also suffered in the earlier battle against another predator. However, there was one thing different this time, and that would be Sun Wukong standing paralyzed as if poison was affecting him right now.

But then…

"Hey, punk." Sun Wukong suddenly smirked and opened his mouth, "Above you…"

"…?"

The bug's head tilted up at what Sun Wukong said.

Whoosh, whirl…

And that's when it discovered the Ruyi Jingu Bang flying right above its head. Also at the same time, Sun Wukong said something else.

"Get bigger, Ruyi."

KA-BOOOOOM—!

The bug's figure got crushed by the enlarged Ruyi Jingu Bang and disappeared from view. As an added bonus, the thorn impaling Sun Wukong's side lost its strength and went limp as well.

"Tsk. That freaking hurts."

This was Sun Wukong's honest impression after a hole was punctured in his torso. He pressed his hand on his bleeding wound and watched Su-hyeun walk up to his side.

He asked, "What's up?"

"You said you wanted to fight together, third brother."

"But didn't you say you're definitely not a fan of fighting?"

"Well, for some reason, I'm hankering for one today."

"Makes sense."

Step—

Su-hyeun stepped forward.

Creak, creeeak…

Meanwhile, the enlarged Ruyi Jingu Bang was being lifted up. The bug that got crushed by the polearm was actually lifting the weapon away with only one arm while glaring at Su-hyeun.

"Alright, alright. I'm not going to stand back anymore, so come at me already."

Giii-iiiing—

Shu-wuwuwu…

While wielding a spear in his left hand and a sword in his right, Su-hyeun flung himself forward.

Pooow—!

Bang, pow, whoosh—

The first few hits landed on target. However, the bug soon began twisting its body in a bizarre fashion to duck and weave out of Su-hyeun's blades.

As he thought, this creature was rather fast, and more importantly, it still hadn't shown a lot of what it was capable of yet.

"Surely this isn't all it has."

Tsu-tsutsu…

[Palm Leaf]

[Explosion Style]

Winds enveloped Su-hyeun's sword. Right after that, he swung his weapon upward and sliced apart the bug's head.

Chwa-jajajajajak—!

Tumble, driiiip…

The bug's insanely tough flesh finally got cut open, and blackish fluid splattered from there.

Su-hyeun urgently tilted his body out of the liquid's path. The black liquid landed on the floor and melted the tough body of the World Tree to leave behind a surprisingly deep hole.

Su-hyeun was quite confident of his resistance against most toxins, but that thing's toxicity was just too ridiculous, even for him.

"What a troublesome creature you are."

Creak, gigigik…

The bug's figure writhed. It must be in pain, judging from how it held onto its half-sliced head. What an amazing thing this was for it to not die even after getting injured to that degree.

Pu-shu-shiiiii…

Suddenly, smoke escaped from the bug's sliced body. Su-hyeun unleashed flames out of his own body to get rid of the smoke around him. Even though his immunity was strong, the smoke containing this level of toxicity would still prove to be dangerous nonetheless.

"Did it convert all the absorbed energy into poison?"

The creature's regenerative power must've been considerable as well, as all of its wounds had been recovered already.

The smoke continued to spread around ominously. Then, the walls melted down, and the floor became soggy. What's notable was the fact that the other parasites weren't affected by the poison at all.

No, it would be more correct to say that these parasitic creatures became even more energized as if they were fish meeting water.

In the meantime, the World Tree began screaming once more. It was probably due to all the smoke containing poison rapidly filling up its interior.

Su-hyeun groaned at length at the screaming, "Gee whiz. I got it already."

Ruuumble…

Su-hyeun used the divine Flame to dissipate the smoke and started walking forward.

His magical energy stat that had broken past the "10" mark imparted a completely different sensation. It felt like he was drawing a bucket of water to use from a massive ocean that would never run dry—so much so that he began wondering if this was what Sun Wukong had been feeling all this time while using his powers.

Shu-wuwuwu…

At the same time, the prana sleeping somewhere below his navel also began circulating.

Things were different from the last time when this mysterious energy simply tagged along as he activated his other powers.

"I think I can do this."

Su-hyeun swept his gaze over the blackish smoke densely filling up the surroundings. While taking them in with his eyes, he slung his spear on his back.

And then…

Rumble, fwhooooosh—

The activated magical energy and prana permeated in his surroundings and gave birth to flames of high density.

[Flame - Territory Declaration]

RUUUMBLE—!

The surroundings, bathed in the black smoke and in which one couldn't even see an inch in front of their nose, suddenly got brightly illuminated. Intense flames instantly filled up the interior of the World Tree's trunk, utterly scorching the parasites to death and turning them into cinders.

However, the World Tree itself wasn't burned in the slightest. The divine Flame only burned the things Su-hyeun wished to burn, after all. It went on to warmly envelop the injuries pockmarking the World Tree, instead.

"Wow," Luslec's jaw fell as a soft sigh of admiration leaked out of there.

The one now ruling the World Tree was none other than Su-hyeun.