The Returner Chapter 216

Delkaran glared at Yi Ji-Hyuk with tense eyes.
His powers were definitely weak. Compared to the old 99th demon king capable of choking others with nothing more than a single step, it was not an exaggeration to call the current Yi Ji-Hyuk a completely different existence.
The Yi Ji-Hyuk of the past was simply too powerful. Even Delkaran’s master avoided fighting against him.
"However, what remains of you is a rather wretched sight, isn’t it." (Delkaran)
Looking at Yi Ji-Hyuk who had lost majority of his strength, it didn’t feel too good for the demon king.
A man who had climbed to the very top of the world, only to crash right back down to being a weak human. Some demonic beings might enjoy spectating on such a sight, but regrettably, Delkaran wasn’t the type to do so.
Regardless, the one before its eyes was an enemy. He was the target of the supreme order issued by its master, an enemy that had to be destroyed.
‘Also, I should not let my guard down.’ (Delkaran)
Didn’t matter what other factors played a hand, Yi Ji-Hyuk used that little magical power to drive Beltreche to the corner. Even if the 13th demon king had intervened at the end, it still made little to no sense that he managed to fight against Beltreche with such little power.
An old king was still a king at the end of the day. Even though his Mana reserve had fallen, no other existence alive could exert better control over magic and its application than him.
Dragons, often referred to as Mana lifeforms, used to express their unreserved admiration towards Yi Ji-Hyuk’s precise Mana application.
"As a human, it is indeed an impressive feat. And also…" (Delkaran)s
It was only possible perhaps because he was a human being.
For instance, Dragons lived for tens of thousands of years. As for demonic kind, they held no concept of one’s lifespan. To both of these races, they enjoyed almost an infinite amount of time. There was no reason to be driven about anything nor did they have to give their maximum effort, either.
To Dragons, ‘magic’ was something naturally given to them, while to demonic beings, it was simply a type of power they were born with.
Sure, there were some Dragons that researched magic, but to them, magic itself was akin to breathing in air. Just as there was very few humans researching on breathing air, there shouldn’t be that many Dragons researching magic, either.
Also, what Dragons researched wasn’t magic itself, but the phenomena that happened after magic was used.
However, things were different with humans. Humans, they tend to research on every part of magic. Once they felt the need, they would start their experiments, and using their research as a foundation, a field of study would soon spring up.
They would focus on the research to find the most optimal solution with such a zeal that other races might see them as utterly obsessed.
The results of all that? Humans could only live up to one hundred years, but they still managed to produce Arch Mages.
In order to fight against an Arch Mage, you’d need at least a Wyrm-class Dragon. But, in order for a Dragon to mature into a Wyrm-class, it’d require around two thousand years.
However, humans only needed less than one hundred to catch up to a Dragons’ two thousand. And Yi Ji-Hyuk taught everyone what would happen when a human was given a near-infinite amount of time.
The result of a human’s zealous drive and the infinite time combining together was the Bringer of Apocalypse.
"But then again, will you be able to make up for the lack of combat power with only your zeal?" (Delkaran)
"What are you on about now?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk smirked derisively at Delkaran.
Indeed, he used to be like this. Even back in the demon world. Regardless of what situation he was in, he never stopped mouthing off once.
"Unfortunately, oh 99th demon king, you are simply a mere human now." (Delkaran)
"I told you, there was this other guy who said the exact same c**p before getting killed." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
"Fufufu." (Delkaran)
Delkaran decided to stop their chitchat right here.
Wuuuoong-!!
Any further communication would now be performed using their own bodies.
"Well, then. Take this." (Delkaran)
Black-coloured Mana shot out from Delkaran’s body before taking on the shape of a gigantic snake and flew towards Yi Ji-Hyuk. This illusory snake with the very-real sense of incredible weight was flying straight at him.
"Hmm…." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk watched this scene unfold and began emitting black Mana from his body, as well.
Beltreche was a demon that used its entire body as a weapon. If one were to forcibly assign a category to that guy, then it was a close-quarter fighter. However, Delkaran was more like an ’emission’ type demon king.
"This is far easier for me to handle, actually." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Mana oozing out from Yi Ji-Hyuk gathered in front of him to create a huge vortex in the air.
"Deflect that!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
KWA-BOOM!!
Delkaran’s black snake slammed into Yi Ji-Hyuk’s vortex and got deflected away.
"Hoh-oh?" (Delkaran)
Delkaran let a sigh of admiration leak out of its mouth.
It was really difficult to deflect away condensed Mana in such a fashion. Even more so, by relying on the spinning power of Mana as well as his ability to calculate accurately, Yi Ji-Hyuk used the absolute minimum amount of magical energy to deflect Delkaran’s attack.
It was a miraculous feat that no one could imitate even if they wanted to. Indeed, it was definitely an apt assessment that, as far as his Mana application was concerned, no demon kings could ever come closer to him, never mind measly Dragons.
Unfortunately….
"Ouch!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk suddenly grasped his chest.
He definitely managed to deflect that attack. He did so in the utmost perfect manner, yet the impact force still managed to grind his innards to meat paste and the acrid metallic taste quickly filled up his mouth.
"D*mn, you and your stupid amount of Mana." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
"I don’t think you have the right to say something like that." (Delkaran)
"Che." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Sure, the Yi Ji-Hyuk of the past possessed the kind of Mana reserve that was completely unmatched in the world. He even got his hands on the source of Mana, too.
"Take this one next." (Delkaran)
Kaaahahng!!
A snake twice as large as the previous one pounced on Yi Ji-Hyuk next.
"….This guy really doesn’t know the meaning of doing it in moderation." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk’s right hand extended out forward.
Wuuong.
Along with a loud vibrating noise, a huge Gate suddenly opened up in front of his hand.
Scccreeech-!!!!
Next up was the ripples of space distorting and twisting out of shape. Delkaran’s giant snake was sucked into Yi Ji-Hyuk’s Gate.
"If it’s too hard to deflect it, then I just have to get rid of it altogether." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
"Keke." (Delkaran)
Delkaran cackled under its breath while staring at Yi Ji-Hyuk.
"You’re laughing?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk shot a glare back at the demon king with an unreadable expression.
"Aren’t you too relaxed for your own good here?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
I shall… get rid of that attitude of yours. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)
Tentacles shot out from both of Yi Ji-Hyuk’s hands and flew behind him.
"Euh, euh…." (Seo Ah-Young)
Seo Ah-Young formed an openly unhappy expression at the tentacle flying straight towards her, but she didn’t tried to avoid it.
Now wasn’t the time to avoid the pain. Indeed, it was far too obvious what would happen if they failed to stop that demon king right here, right now.
"Seriously though, I really hate this c**p." (Seo Ah-Young)
Seo Ah-Young shuddered at the icky sensation of the tentacle wrapping around her. It might not feel like a real snake was touching her, but still, one would never say that being bound by what looked like a snake was a nice experience to go through.
"Euh…." (Seo Ah-Young)
She gritted her teeth.
Dark Mana travelled into her body through the tentacle.
It coursed inside her and quickly mixed with her Ether. The latter wildly rampaged about, trying to reject this new type of energy, sending a soul-searing pain from all corners of her body to her brain.
"Heuuh-woop." (Seo Ah-Young)
She clenched her teeth so hard that they might end up shattering. She experienced this situation a few times already now, but regardless of what, she’d never get used to this pain.
Her eyes soon became deeply bloodshot. Her anger and hatred towards Delkaran tried to go through the roof - against the one who made her feel this pain.
"Fuu-woop." (Seo Ah-Young)
Seo Ah-Young took a quick but deep breath. She heard many times that she must never surrender herself to the rage. In order to maintain her reasoning, she bit down on her lower lip. Right after tasting the bitter metallic taste of blood, it felt as if her eyesight suddenly brightened up.
"Let’s go!" (Seo Ah-Young)
As soon as she issued her order, animal-like grunts and howls of agreement resounded out from both of her sides.
Her heart boiled over again after hearing those responses and she immediately created a pair of massive flame balls in both of her hands. She then dashed forward.
"H-mm?" (Delkaran)
Delkaran’s eyes narrowed to a slit.
"They accepted dark Mana?" (Delkaran)
This information wasn’t included in the intel.
Sure, unimportant matters could be omitted in the report submitted since there was a restriction imposed on the communication with the demon world. So, it wasn’t all that strange that Delkaran wasn’t informed of this situation.
But, still….
"Humans did…??" (Delkaran)
There were dark wizards, like Yi Ji-Hyuk, so the current scene shouldn’t be that surprising.
However, it was rather weird sight to behold, to see a bunch of humans being exposed to dark Mana and not experience any changes when they hadn’t even formed a contract with demonic beings.
"As expected of you, 99th demon king." (Delkaran)
It couldn’t have been easy to accurately figure out the limits of each individual’s transformation threshold and insert dark Mana accordingly.
Delkaran wasn’t even trying to be generous here yet in less than a minute, it was being surprised by several unexpected developments.
What amused the demon king even more was the fact that, compared to the amount of dark Mana injected into them, these humans’ spirits had increased to a surprising level. The dark Mana went through strange modification once inside these humans and they emitted rather suspicious auras now.
"How amusing." (Delkaran)
Once the type of energy humans of this world possessed was blended in with dark Mana, it created a certain enhancement effect. This was why new worlds always proved to be so amusing.
Delkaran reached out with both of its hands as large flame balls flew at it.
"Hah-ahp!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
A gigantic magic circle suddenly appeared in front of Yi Ji-Hyuk, which led to an opening of another Gate.
"Come out!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Wuuuong-!!
The Gate vibrated noisily before opening its mouth wide.
Kaaaah-!!
And then, something leaped out from there while roaring out like a top predator.
"Hah…" (Choi Jung-Hoon)
Choi Jung-Hoon shook his head while watching that scene.
"Stop roaring out when you look like that!!" (Choi Jung-Hoon)
Choi Jung-Hoon’s eyes were locked onto the cute, bite-sized Oh-Sik jumping out of the Gate. Another tentacle shot out from Yi Ji-Hyuk dig into Oh-Sik’s small physique.
Wooof!!
Initially, it looked as if Oh-Sik’s body was twisting horribly, but then, his size grew explosively larger. Having regained its former hulking, huge form of an Ogre, Oh-Sik pounced forward with its eyes glowing in crimson hue.
‘Doesn’t he look even bigger than before?’ (Choi Jung-Hoon)
There was a noticeable change compared to the first time Oh-Sik made his appearance in this world. His current size was easily twice that of his old self, regardless of who thought about it.
Keurururuk!!
From another Gate, Hydra and Dae-Mahng made their entrance, as well. And from another one, massive hawk made out purely of Mana emerged and soared high up in the air.
"Hah-aaah…."
From Yi Ji-Hyuk’s back, a nasally moaning sound whispered out, and the Dark Spirit, Tirieh revealed herself.
"Hah-ah?"
She slithered around his surroundings as if she was swimming in air before blowing into his ear next.
"Blow that thing away!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Wuuuong-!!
Tirieh floated up on Yi Ji-Hyuk’s head and then, a strand of black light suddenly fired out from her body!
Kwaaaahaaahng!!
The black beam of light fired out like a laser beam and penetrated through Delkaran’s body.
"Keuk??" (Delkaran)
Being struck by this unexpected attack, the demon king groaned out loudly, clearly displeased.
"A Spirit, is it?" (Delkaran)
Yi Ji-Hyuk sure possessed quite a few tricks up his sleeve. The information received wasn’t this much at all, so how….
Even though Delkaran told itself not to underestimate Yi Ji-Hyuk, it still made a major mistake by not paying closer attention on the information on its target.
"However, this much is still not enough." (Delkaran)
"I know." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk smirked again.
The final remaining Gate began resonating now.
Wuuuongg-!!
Soon, it opened up wide and a horde of monsters utterly lost to the state of frenzy crazily rushed out as if they were water gushing out from a broken tap.
"Mm?"
Monsters?
In this world?
Delkaran’s red eyes trembled noticeably.
The demon king had to look Yi Ji-Hyuk in renewed light after being struck constantly by unexpected turn of events one after another.
"You truly outdid yourself…" (Delkaran)
He truly did an excellent job amassing this much of a combat force even though he entered this world without a single drop of dark Mana.
If only his opponent today wasn’t Delkaran….
An army of this scale could easily contend with an opponent on the level of a superior demon. Unfortunately….
"Far too crude." (Delkaran)
This level of an army was not enough to deal with a demon king from the demon world. Surely, Yi Ji-Hyuk wouldn’t have forgotten that crucial fact?
"But, if you have forgotten it, I shall remind you." (Delkaran)
Remind him of the terror of the demon king. To help him remember just what kind of an existence a demon king was.
Delkaran’s robe flapped in the wind as dozens upon dozens of black ‘snakes’ shot out from below.
Fin.