The Hero Returns

"Things have quieted down recently," the Bull Demon King muttered while resting his hands behind his back.

It had been a few days already since he withdrew the barrier cast around his residence. Not only did the monsters not show up to attack in the last couple of days, but no new dungeons also manifested in that period.

Snap, crack'”

"Maybe it's the handiwork of our little brother?" Sun Wukong replied while cracking and loosening his neck and hand muscles.

Other things had changed as well. The newly repaired Ruyi Jingu Bang now boasted an even greater level of sturdiness than before. As for Lang Mei, she enjoyed a much-deserved break when no new dungeons manifested in the last few days.

These peaceful days allowed Sun Wukong to have sparring sessions with the Bull Demon King.

"I'm sure that's the case."

"Not sure where he is and what he's doing right now, but First Brother, I'm getting a feeling that it's related to that punk, Shiva," Sun Wukong muttered. He then asked in a slightly uncertain tone, "Wait, could he have already killed Shiva?"

"No, that's probably not it."

"How do you know that, First Brother?"

"I just know. Besides, he isn't someone who will die that easily."

"Even now, you still speak in such an ambiguous way, First Brother," Sun Wukong grumbled unhappily at the Bull Demon King's vague answer and then pointed the tip of Ruyi Jingu Bang at his older brother. "Anyway, get ready, brother. If you don't, I might embarrass you today."

"After hearing you say that, I fear that won't happen for the foreseeable future, Wukong."

"What are you talking about?"

"Do I look like I'm full of openings to you?" The Bull Demon King, still leisurely standing around with his hands behind him, slowly extended his hand forward and beckoned Sun Wukong, "Why don't you come and see for yourself?"

Sun Wukong didn't respond right away to that provocation, but his eyes narrowed into slits.

One of his eyes was dyed crimson, while the other eye was glowing in a golden light. He was activating the Yogoe's power from the very start.

The Bull Demon King was an opponent he couldn't hope to fight against without doing that.

"Well, in that case..."

Baaang'”!

Sun Wukong's figure leaped high in the air.

"Here I come!"

* * *

"Huh?"

Sun Wukong opened his eyes again after his consciousness came back to him.

He must've been buried really deep underground since almost no daylight reached where he was. However, he did spot some semblance of light peeking in from somewhere really high up above him.

That was where he saw the Bull Demon King looking down at him at the bottom.

"Are you alright, Wukong?"

Of course, he knew Sun Wukong was fine even before asking that. Somewhat unsurprisingly, not a single hint of worry was present in his voice.

Sun Wukong pushed up his aching body and recalled what happened not too long ago.

"Were there three... no, five blows?"

He remembered how many hits it took before he got knocked out.

It took some power to knock him out like this instantly, but some part of the blame also lay with how the Bull Demon King exploited the perfect timing to smack Sun Wukong in the chin.

Sun Wukong mulled over their exchanges while standing back up. He then jumped up out of the hole.

Whoosh, land'”

Tap, tap...

He dusted himself off and then pointed Ruyi Jingu Bang once more.

Although he got knocked out in no time, he didn't feel dejected or anything like that. Sun Wukong began grinning widely instead, "Ha!"

That was because both of the Bull Demon King's hands were now resting by his sides.

"Looks like you need to use both of your hands now, First Brother."

"Indeed. You've improved, Wukong."

"I didn't see your other hand just now. But from here on out, that's not gonna happen."

"It was your mistake for thinking that I'd not use my other hand, Wukong."

"You and your nagging," Sun Wukong grumbled again while swinging Ruyi Jingu Bang.

Whoooosh'”

Winds split apart, and the noises of metal hitting metal resounded. Sun Wukong's attacks grew harsher and more unforgiving, prompting the Bull Demon King to pull out his weapon, the Mixed Iron Rod.

"Hah, so you're finally getting serious, First Brother!"

"It seems that bare hands alone won't be enough to subdue you."

"I'm not going to die anyway, so why worry?"

"Hitting you too hard will weigh heavily on my mind, after all."

Whoosh'”

Ka-boooooom'”!

The Mixed Iron Rod in the Bull Demon King's hand slammed down, hard.

Sun Wukong leaped high to evade; then, his staff rapidly extended toward the Bull Demon King while making sharp whistling noises.

Lang Mei watched this scene unfold from afar and then muttered to herself while picking up a plate of confection, "Boys will be boys, it seems."

She then silently turned her head.

Since dungeons had stopped showing up for some time now, she found herself with a valuable opportunity to take some much-needed rest. Even so, she still paid great attention to the "sound."

New dungeons still hadn't appeared yet. They seemed to have entirely vanished without any warning.

That fact made Lang Mei much more anxious.

"It's like the calm before the storm."

For her, it was better to have winds blowing and waves rising and falling. That would be far closer to being peaceful.

However, the peace that came so abruptly like this was only good for worsening her level of anxiety.

That was why Lang Mei continued to listen to the sound, the voice of the world.

The voice'”the sound'”could only be heard by her, the Shamaness beloved by the world itself.

While listening, she raised her head and asked softly, "Why are you still crying?"

* * *

"Hah'”ah..." Shiva let out a groan. He scanned the surroundings and began scratching his head while looking somewhat troubled by what he saw. "To think that I need to do this..."

Grrrr...

Krrrrng, kkyahk...

It was a literal field of monsters'”Prey, Predators, and monsters that were neither of those two.

This world populated by such creatures was, quite literally, Hell itself. Perhaps it also deserved to be called the land of pure pandemonium.

"Why? Were you happy to see your kin or something?"

"Of course, do you have any idea how much effort I put into creating these guys?"

Shiva, the one in charge of the universe's destruction, created the beings called Prey and Predator after long, meticulous planning.

These creatures, lifeforms of obsessive desires and urge to destroy, acted according to Shiva's plan and drove the universe toward destruction. But now, Shiva found himself in a situation where he had to kill all these things he had personally created with so much effort.

[Destroy this planet.]

Su-hyeun had to do a double-take when he first heard that system message.

He wondered if he could really carry out a trial like this.

However, upon learning what kind of world this was, all of his dilemmas got washed away in an instant.

"If you don't want to, leave it to me, then."

Pazzik, bzzzzzik...

Su-hyeun generated a Thunderbolt in one hand.

Throwing only one would be enough to devastate their surroundings. The sheer number of the enemies might be a problem, and a few of them seemed tough enough to withstand the strike. Still, this trial didn't seem that difficult overall.

After all, Su-hyeun now possessed infinite magical energy reserve. He felt utterly confident about waging protracted battles.

"Well, this is rather annoying," Shiva's expression crumpled deeply.

A situation where he needed to wipe out his cards?

He suddenly became resentful of Master Subhuti, his supposed ally.

"Still, I should do my part, I guess."

After all, he climbed the Tower after forming a party with Su-hyeun.

No one knew where the end destination lay. For that reason, Su-hyeun wasn't the only one feeling the urgency right now. Their plight inevitably brought them to this very place.

Just like how Olympus or Yggdrasil was the land of the gods, this place was the world populated by the Predators. Not only that, but even two of the Ten Great Evils called this place their home. The planet's scale was several dozen times larger than Earth as a result.

"What a relief," Su-hyeun inwardly sighed in relief while watching Shiva roll up both of his sleeves and get ready to act.

Outwardly, he kept saying it didn't matter either way, but the truth was, he wanted Shiva to help out here. With his help, they could drastically shorten the time required to clear the trial.

"With him, we might finish in two days."

Su-hyeun got ready to fire off the Thunderbolt in his hand.

Shu-shushushu...

Until he felt a dangerous aura right next to him, that was.

"What's this?"

"You can at least look after yourself, can't you?"

"What?"

Shiva pressed both of his hands on the ground.

Su-hyeun retracted the Thunderbolt and hurriedly raised his hand almost at the same time.

[Somersault cloud]

[Kali's Blood Armor]

[Flame '“ Flame Barrier]

Hoo-woooong'”

Chwa-rurururu'”

Su-hyeun's figure was shrouded in clouds, while the armor permeating with Kali's authority hidden underneath his clothes quickly enveloped his exterior. The Flame Barrier spread out a few meters around Su-hyeun's position.

Su-hyeun still sensed something like an explosion going off despite his blocked view. What was for sure was the ground he stood on was rumbling ominously.

Hissss, sizzle...

Some black smoke penetrated the Somersault cloud's barrier and even through the blood armor. Su-hyeun extended his hand forward and pushed the black smoke back.

"That stings."

His hand plugging up the leakage began getting scorched black. Once he sensed that the impact force had subsided outside, he withdrew the blood armor and the cloud and canceled the Flame Barrier.

And when he did...

"Hey, you are not injured anywhere, right?"

As Shiva's question reached him, Su-hyeun was greeted with unbelievable spectacle.

"So quickly... and all of them, too?" he silently marveled.

He could only see blood'”blackened or crimson blood and nothing else.

Not even hides or internals of Preys and Predators remained. No traces of them were left whatsoever.

They had all been reduced to pools of blood. Even then, those pools were getting erased after being swept up in the black smoke.

Was this the power to erase everything it touched?

Su-hyeun belatedly came down with a renewed understanding of Shiva's authority just then. He also realized that once he overcomes one mountain called Vishnu, he would have to contend with another mountain called Shiva.

"However, it will not be the same as before when that time comes," he said to himself.

Su-hyeun had been looking back and replaying his battle against Shiva countless times in his head.

Every time he did that, the simulated fight ended in a draw. It didn't matter whether it was a protracted battle or a short, decisive one; Su-hyeun couldn't find a way to defeat Shiva successfully.

The reverse of that was also true.

He couldn't see himself losing to Shiva, either. It seemed like the victory could only be decided when both were completely drained of their energy and fatigued beyond what was even humanly possible. Even he couldn't tell what might happen if things reached that far.

But now...

"I have a higher chance of losing."

After witnessing this spectacle, he realized that his internal reflections had been entirely wrong.

"Did he handicap himself during our fight?"

From the beginning, Shiva had no plans of killing Su-hyeun. Indeed, he wanted to rope Su-hyeun in as his ally and use the latter as a powerful trump card against Vishnu.

Su-hyeun thought that fight ended in a draw. However, he had been overlooking one thing all along.

"He made sure to end it in a draw."

Shiva looked fatigued back then, but he still managed to lead the battle to the kind of conclusion he wanted to see in the first place.

It meant that Su-hyeun had to revise his calculations now.

"Are you thinking about how to kill me?"

Su-hyeun nodded at Shiva's question, "Yeah. I need to rethink about some things, you see."

He didn't need to beat around the bush here.

Both of them had acknowledged each other as enemies, anyway. It went without saying that they needed to kill each other someday.

Since Su-hyeun got a glimpse of the true depths of Shiva's strength, he needed to revise his strategy accordingly. The same should apply to Shiva, too.

"Sure. Take your time thinking about it. Think about what you need to do to defeat me."

When Shiva didn't even bother to hide his true powers, Su-hyeun became somewhat puzzled and had to say something. "This is surprising."

"What is?"

"There's no benefit to revealing your hand so early, is there?"

Shiva's ultimate goal was this universe's destruction.

They might be cooperating right now, but that fact didn't change. Without a doubt, after Vishnu, Su-hyeun was Shiva's biggest obstacle in achieving his goal.

So, to think that Shiva lacked wariness to this degree?

"Does that mean he's that confident about himself?" he thought.

No, that couldn't be it.

Su-hyeun couldn't be sure how strong Shiva was at the moment. Still, that didn't mean the latter was way out of Su-hyeun's league.

Not to forget, other variables should be considered, too'”like the Bull Demon King and Sun Wukong. Therefore, Shiva shouldn't be this relaxed about his chances.

"Well, we need you to possess that much ability, you see. For all of us."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know what Vishnu's original role was?" Shiva must've not been expecting an answer from Su-hyeun because he continued right away. "It's to keep the 'order' of things. If I make a wrong decision and try to destroy the universe, he'd make a move against me. That was his role."

"I thought you can't even recall his face?"

"That's because he killed me, you see. I lose all my memories when I die. Well, whatever the case may be, we're trying to kill Vishnu, right? So, it's prudent to think about what will happen afterward."

Shiva pointed to himself.

"I'm destruction. Brahma is creation."

Then, he pointed at Su-hyeun next.

"And you are order."