The Returner Chapter 211

Yi Ji-Hyuk’s tense eyes glared at the creature emerging from the Gate.
"Why the heck did that thing pop out from there?!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
The being in question was actually a very small lifeform.
Such a small thing emerging from a Gate that big seemed rather strange. If it came out from a ‘regular’ Gate, then the sense of awkwardness wouldn’t have been so great, but….
But, on the other hand, he could understand it.
Well, that monster isn’t something that should’ve walked out of a regular Gate, to begin with.
No, hang on. Can I even call that thing a monster? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)
"Groan…." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk roughly scratched his head.
"What should we do? Should we attack it?" (Jeong In-Soo)
Yi Ji-Hyuk heard Jeong In-Soo’s urgent shouting and spat out a groan before waving his hand around.
"Wait. Just wait." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Hah….
Attacking it feels a bit wrong, but not attacking it feels just as wrong, too. What the heck am I supposed to do now? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)
Yi Ji-Hyuk stared hard with eyes filled with irritation, before he slowly walked closer to the Gate. The creature spotted him getting closer and flinched rather grandly.
"You recognise me, don't you?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Nod.
The being that had emerged from the Gate was a really small creature. It was as small as a puppy.
As a matter of fact, it even looked like a small puppy, too. However, its maw was a bit long so rather than a puppy, it came across more as a small dog, instead.
Its snow-white fur shimmered in a silvery hue, and its four legs were adorably short, as well. As for its tail, it was rolled up into a circle, and its eyes were gleaming brightly in black colour.
"….It’s a dog." (Jeong In-Soo)
"Yup, a dog." (Choi Jung-Hoon)
"It looks like a dog." (?)
Jeong In-Soo and Choi Jung-Hoon muttered to themselves.
"Tsk." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk clicked his tongue. Since this thing looked like a dog on the outside, it wasn’t strange to see such a response from the unaware crowd over there.
Unfortunately for them, this little guy was no ordinary dog at all.
"Maybe you haven’t had enough beatings yet? How dare you show your mug in this place?!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Whimper….
The ‘puppy’ began backing up after hearing Yi Ji-Hyuk’s voice.
"Uh-whew…." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk’s irritation level went up even higher from this spectacle. What a hateful little b*stard.
It was rather simple to categorise all living beings on Earth; humans, animals that weren’t humans, insects that weren’t animals, and microbes that weren’t insects, and finally, plants.
However, it was a bit different story in Berafe.
First of all, there were these things called monsters, which Earth didn’t have. Even they were also categorised differently according to the naturally-occurring monsters or demonic beasts, but still, one could dump them into one generalised category and be done with that.
And then, there were the ‘Spirits’, there were races similar to humans, plus lots more others, but…. But, if he were to mention the most peculiar of the lot, then it’d no doubt be the thing right in front of his eyes.
The Divine Beast.
….Animals born with divinity in them.
Even as a ‘monster’, some of them possessed a higher level of intellect than humans, some were blessed with incomparable passive buffs, and hell, they were even worshipped in the past as gods themselves because, well, they came across as divine and all that.
"Urgh, I’m asking you, why the heck did you come here for?!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk gritted his teeth quite aggressively. But, his reaction was to be expected.
If the Dragon that hindered his path the most was Affeldrichae, then the Divine Beast that hindered him the most would be none other than this d*mn smelly little puppy b*stard.
This guy was actually called the Behemoth. Out of the many, many Divine Beasts in Berafe, this thing sat on the top tier level. As far as physical power was concerned, it even rivalled a Dragon.
Just one leap, and it’d cleanly jump over a mountain. Just one Howling, and it’d split an ocean. Not only that, it was a creature of divinity, too.
In a way, this little guy was an even more troublesome existence than Dragons to Yi Ji-Hyuk.
Of course….
In the latter part of his stay in Berafe, it became the norm for him to treat the dang thing as nothing more than a stray mutt and proceeded to pummel it to within an inch of its life. But when he was still a newbie Dark Wizard, this creature had tormented Yi Ji-Hyuk just as badly as Roabell the mad Elf had done.
"Arrrgh!!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Just thinking about it drives me up the walls!
Should I just slather it in doenjang?! (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue) (TL note at the end)
Behemoth must’ve read Yi Ji-Hyuk’s dangerously gleaming eyes, because it shivered and cowered its head.
"What the heck….?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Seeing how it reacted to him, it didn’t seem to have chased after Yi Ji-Hyuk on its own volition.
"Hey, you!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Flinch!
The Behemoth’s body flinched nastily every time Yi Ji-Hyuk said something.
The thing was….
It was really fleet of foot, and when it started running at full tilt, it could easily break the sound barrier. That allowed the creature to just barely escape the life-threatening situations, or it might have ended up as the Behemoth barbecue, or as the Behemoth roasted dog already.
Since Yi Ji-Hyuk had suffered greatly at the hands - or paws - of this thing, there was once upon a time when he deliberately singled the Behemoth out and pounded it into the ground whenever he had the chance.
Back then, his basic rule whenever he spotted Behemoth - even if it was hidden among the hundred thousand-strong army - was to ‘Attack that guy first!’
"Come here." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
The Behemoth unwillingly stood up from its spot and extended its front paw ever so slightly, before pulling it back.
"Wanna die??" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Whimper….
The Behemoth pitifully cried out as if it really didn’t want to get closer and stared at Yi Ji-Hyuk’s face.
"What do you want now?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Whimper….
Even though it was a measly little dog, Behemoth spat out a resigned sigh and trudged towards Yi Ji-Hyuk.
Where could it run away to even if it wanted to? This wasn’t Berafe, to begin with; since it didn’t know anything about this world, it was impossible to escape Yi Ji-Hyuk’s all-seeing eye.
"Hurry up! You really wanna die today?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Taptaptaptap….
As soon as his words came to an end, Behemoth hurriedly ran on its four short legs and arrived right next to Yi Ji-Hyuk.
"Sit!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Tuck!
"Hand!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Tap!
"Good boy!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
….Huh? Hang on, this isn’t right. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)
"….Oh, my bad. You were so natural at this that I made a mistake." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Driiip….
Did Yi Ji-Hyuk make another mistake when he thought he saw something clear and liquid-like drip out of Behemoth’s eyes?
"Argh, why are you crying over a minor thing like that?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk began patting the creature on the head.
Now that he thought about it for a second, this current situation felt a bit off to him. If he was still Berafe’s Bringer of Apocalypse, fine, but the current Yi Ji-Hyuk couldn’t really be seen as a superior being when compared to the Behemoth.
If he were to fight with everything he had, then maybe, he’d defeat the creature at the final stage, sure, but with his current level of power, they were pretty much on an equal footing.
Even then, Behemoth couldn’t even dare to rebel against Yi Ji-Hyuk and simply whimpered away.
‘This is why you gotta discipline unruly kids early on.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
A few hundreds of years of constant beatdowns had deeply instilled the fear of Yi Ji-Hyuk in this creature’s psyche.
But, then again…
Even Yi Ji-Hyuk felt this sense of awkwardness after being beaten up so much in the beginning, too. For instance, he still felt this unknown type of rage bubble up from deep within every time he looked Affeldrichae.
"Okay, fine! So, what are you doing here? Did you come to kill me or something?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Shake, shake!!
Behemoth vehemently shook its head left and right.
…Hey, your neck might snap off at this rate.
So, why don’t you just stop? You know, I’m living like a good person nowadays. If only you knew how well behaved I’ve been lately, you’ll start crying for real…. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)
"Okay, then why did you come here?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Whimper….
Behemoth turned its head to look behind itself.
"M-mm?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
"I shall be the one to explain that to you." (?)
"Eh?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
It was in that moment that yet another existence walked out from the Gate. Yi Ji-Hyuk’s eyes progressively widened after confirming who it was.
"YOU?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
The being that finally revealed itself possessed outer appearance of a slender, beautiful woman. Whitish hair reaching all the way down to her waist and gently wavering around; milky-white skin in a perfect match with her hair; her sleek, perfectly-shaped arms and legs as if she was a supermodel.
And finally….
Pointy ears.
"An Elf?" (Choi Jung-Hoon)
Choi Jung-Hoon cried out in surprise after confirming what had walked out of the Gate. Just from looking at the appearance that closely resembled Roabell, he could easily guess correctly the identity of this being.
She was indeed an Elf.
More important than that, though, one of the non-human races of Berafe had willingly entered this world.
"Mm?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk began tilting his head after looking at this Elf.
Haven’t I seen this Elf before from somewhere?
Who was this girl, again? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)
The Elf slowly walked over to where he was. She quietly studied him for a moment or two, before elegantly swirling her arms to perform the Elf-style greeting.
"It has been a long time, oh the Ruler of Berafe. This person greets the owner of the demonic beast horde hundreds of millions strong and the possessor of a vast territory, a noble demon king of the demon world, and Berafe’s one and only Bringer of Apocalypse." (?)
"Groan…." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk abruptly spat out a groan after hearing all of those. He finally remembered her.
"What brings a lazya*s High Elf such as yourself to this world?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
The Elf now referred to as ‘High Elf’ smiled brightly and continued to look at Yi Ji-Hyuk.
"We have come to seek an audience." (?)
"I’m guessing you’re the one who forced this puppy to come along." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
"The great one has sent along the creature as my guardian." (?)
"It’s just a puppy, so who’s guarding who now?!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Whimper….
Yi Ji-Hyuk began glaring angrily, prompting the Behemoth to whimper pitifully and hide behind the High Elf’s legs.
Guardian, my foot!
You’re the one who needs guarding! (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)
"Fine, fine. What do you want? Why are you looking for me?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
"Something has happened and we need to speak to you." (?)
"Hah….." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
He was really tense after such a huge Gate opened up, but why did idiots like these two had to come out and take the wind out of his sails?
"….No, hang on." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk quickly and correctly re-assessed the situation and stared the High Elf straight in her eyes.
"Hey, you. Are you here as the representative of your entire race?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
When he thought about it, either a High Elf or the Behemoth was an incredible VIP that not even a Zombie Dragon could compare to. Even if this woman had this innocent-looking face, at the end of the day, she was the representative of the entire Elf race.
In terms of the Dragon hierarchy, she would be on the same level as a Dragon Lord. Or, if he were to give rankings to every single living creature in Berafe, then at the least, she’d enter the top 10 rather easily. Indeed, she was a bigshot among bigshots in that place.
The thing was, he’d been helplessly watching a certain Lord of the Dragons lounging around lazily in his house and playing video games the whole day, and because of that, his grasp on the severity of the situation had weakened a bit. But the truth remained that this High Elf was an existence even demon kings couldn’t disparage that easily.
And such an existence had decided to cross the dimension. This couldn’t have been a simple matter.
"Hmm…." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
All hints of playful mischievousness were wiped away from Yi Ji-Hyuk’s face in an instant, his expression becoming hard, cold.
"What happened?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
"Ah…." (?)
Witnessing the instant change in his atmosphere, even the High Elf corrected her posture immediately. The man standing before her was none other than Yi Ji-Hyuk.
He was the only man in history of Berafe to rebel against the teachings of the gods, and also, an unparalleled sorcerer who stepped into the realm of godhood with no help from anyone.
Even if he no longer emitted the same aura of violent devil of the past, he fully deserved to be respected for everything he had achieved so far. Of course, she couldn’t outwardly express this respect, since the paths they took were quite different, after all.
"Do you remember the Eye of Latrel?" (?)
"Mm?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk tilted his head. How could he not remember that?
But, if she was still asking him to make sure, then did that mean this matter had something to do with the Eye?
"Of course I remember. But why?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
"After you used the Eye of Latrel and crossed over to this world, a connection point between Berafe and this world has been established." (?)
"Oh, really?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
What an unpleasant piece of news that was.
Yi Ji-Hyuk spat out multiple groans.
Sure, even though Earth was connected to Berafe, nothing of note had happened until now, but still, the mere fact of two places being connected was displeasing him a great deal.
Seriously now, he was really tempted to cut out and utterly isolate the world of Berafe somewhere far away if he could.
"Okay, so what’s the problem?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
The High Elf spoke with a grave expression on her face.
"That means, you don’t need to resort to any special means to open a Gate to Berafe from this world." (?)
"But, isn’t that how things ought to be?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
"Originally, only those who had a connection to Berafe and knew its coordinates could open a Gate to our world. In this world, that would be you, the Bringer of Apocalypse, and the Lord of the Dragons." (?)
"Okay…?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
"However, now, as long as you can track down the lingering trace of divinity, anyone can open a Gate leading to Berafe." (?)
"Fine, so what does that have to do with me?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk continued to tilt his head. The only people who could use Mana in this world was Yi Ji-Hyuk and Affeldrichae, so what did that matter, anyway?
"It’s because that being has entered your world." (?)
"That being?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
The High Elf’s hardened face nodded up and down.
"Yes. The Demon King of Anguish, Delkaran." (?)
"….What was that?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk’s eyes began quaking heavily, then.
***
"The humans of this world builds rather interesting structures." (Delkaran)
Delkaran stared at the skyscrapers that seemed to rise up without an end and cackled as if it found something quite amusing.
It had witnessed the Holy Empire, purported to be at the zenith of human civilisation, building castles and spires that reached up towards the heavens. But, the structures the humans of this world had built seemed to truly touch the heavens.
And when seeing the large ships of metal being flown in the sky, the abilities of humans living in this world couldn’t be underestimated, it seemed.
"However, it does not matter." (Delkaran)
They were still humans, in the end.
Humans were simple existences that would scream out in despair and anguish in front of this demon king. And now, it was time to teach the humans of this world.
To teach them what a demon king truly was.
Khaaaaahh!!
Mana pouring out from Delkaran’s body dizzily spun around the demon king’s body before rushing out towards the skyscrapers pointing to the heavens.
Fin.
(TL: This "slather it in doenjang" is a slang for, uh, well, there’s no other way of saying this, so I’ll say it straight - cooking dogs. Apparently, doenjang paste is used liberally to coat the dog meat. The saying has been modified to simply mean when you’re about to beat up a dog/some other fool. Yeah. BTW, I don’t condone eating dogs. Nor cats. Seriously.)