The Returner Chapter 217

"My god…." (Michael Douglas)
Michael Douglas could not believe the spectacle unfolding right before his eyes.
"Is he really a human being??" (Michael Douglas)
He had met many, many ability users before in his life. For the past five years - since the Black Monday incident - he was in charge of commanding the British ability users, and he had ably led them up to this point.
So, indeed, he had seen countless ability users so far.
With the unique trait of the European landmass being what it was, the exchange of ‘ideas’ between ability users from different nations often took place.
Even considering all that, though, Michael Douglas still fell into a pit of confusion on whether the things Yi Ji-Hyuk had shown him should even be classified as ‘regular’ abilities or not.
"Just what’s going on here?" (Michael Douglas)
Christopher McLaren clicked his tongue at that question.
"This is why I told you to hand me command." (Christopher McLaren)
"No, hang on. Just what the hell….." (Michael Douglas)
Michael Douglas couldn’t continue on. Seriously now, was everything his eyes could see happening for real?
"But, isn’t he a human like us?" (Michael Douglas)
"From our perspective, even normal ability users don’t look like humans, does it?" (Christopher McLaren)
"Even then, that’s just…." (Michael Douglas)
"What, he’s far beyond that?" (Christopher McLaren)
"….Yes." (Michael Douglas)
This was on the level of being really terrifying.
If other people saw a dude busy spitting out jet-black smoke and commanded monsters while tentacles shot out from his body, what would they call such a man as?
"….Like a devil." (Michael Douglas)
Christopher McLaren formed a bitter smile. The very first impression he had after watching Yi Ji-Hyuk fight was being parroted by Michael Douglas, too.
Then again, most human beings would think along the same way, now wouldn’t they? Just who would think of the fight between Yi Ji-Hyuk and Beltreche as a battle between a human being and a demon?
The more apt description would be - some humans ended up getting swept up in a fight between two demons. Christopher McLaren also fell into such a dilemma.
"What makes a person human isn’t about being weak or strong." (Christopher McLaren)
"………"
"Do not forget. He may look like that, but he’s shedding blood for our sake. He stepped forward to fight, so he can protect people like you who finds him disgusting to look at." (Christopher McLaren)
"….I was being foolish." (Michael Douglas)
"No need to go that far with reproaching yourself, but you must never forget the real story just because how he looks from the outside. Even in the future, too." (Christopher McLaren)
….And also, be thankful, too.
If you’ve experienced Yi Ji-Hyuk’s personality first and then saw that spectacle, the way you see him would be at least twice as bad. (Christopher McLaren’s inner monologue)
Christopher McLaren didn’t say aloud those words, though.
"Get ready to commence firing!" (Christopher McLaren)
"Yes, sir!"
Christopher McLaren’s brows creased as he heard the adjutant’s reply. It wasn’t all that hard to launch a ranged attack whenever there was an opening. The real issue was with the deployment timing of close-quarter type ability users.
He knew very well that telling them to run towards a demon king was the same thing as telling them to go kill themselves.
But, it had to be done.
To shield Yi Ji-Hyuk and allow him enough time to prepare and rain down his attacks against the demon king, that was the best Christopher McLaren could do in this situation.
"Please, help us." (Christopher McLaren)
Christopher began praying again after almost giving up on religion.
*
Kuwaaaaah!!
Oh-Sik roared viciously and pounced on Delkaran. The demon king’s brows furrowed from this sight.
"How dare an Ogre…?" (Delkaran)
A measly little monster not even worthy of being classified as a demon dared to bare its fangs at a demon king? Of course, it knew that such a thing was only possible because the creature was under Yi Ji-Hyuk’s mental control. Regardless of reasons, though, stuff that felt bad would still feel bad.
Black magical aura danced like a rising dragon from Delkaran’s extended right hand. It soon morphed into a giant snake and flew towards Oh-Sik.
Keureuk!!
The Ogre saw that huge clump of magical energy rushing towards him and raised both of his sturdy arms to smack it away.
Kwaaaaahang!!
An ear-splitting explosion resounded out as the magical force and a monster collided violently. And shortly thereafter, Oh-Sik was thrown away at frightening speed, unable to even scream out.
"Keuk." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk saw the whole thing unfold and quickly extended his tentacle out towards Oh-Sik.
Both of the Ogre’s arms were completely gone, while his stupendously sturdy torso was so badly maimed that his rib bones were showing. If it weren’t for the tenacious vitality of an Ogre, such a wound prove to be instantly fatal. That’s how grievous it was.
Yi Ji-Hyuk successfully stabbed Oh-Sik’s body with his tentacle and injected Mana into the creature. Once the dark Mana was poured into him, Oh-Sik’s body began regenerating at once.
‘Just one hit?’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Yi Ji-Hyuk gnashed his teeth.
Oh-Sik had been continuously fed a steady diet of Yi Ji-Hyuk’s dark Mana and now, could no longer be called a ‘normal’ Ogre anymore. Yet, even if there was such a gap in strength, just one hit was enough to drive Oh-Sik to the brink of death. Should he chalk this down to his opponent being a demon king?
Yi Ji-Hyuk was reminded once more of Delkaran’s nonsensical strength and focused wholeheartedly on making hand signs.
"Go attack that thing!!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
At the same time, he shouted out loudly. The horde of monsters coming out of the Gate tumbled and seethed in frenzy before dashing towards their target.
A monster tripped and fell only to be stomped and crushed underfoot by the endless wave of monsters as they rushed forward in their maddened state.
Kwaarururru!!
Kuwaaahh-!!
Monstrous roars and painful screams were blended into create a horrifying sound that reverberated throughout the land.
"Been a while since I last saw this." (Delkaran)
Delkaran fell into a bit of weird reminiscence while watching this spectacle.
Even if those monsters were being completely subservient to their master, it was still very rare to see creatures being so absolutely loyal to the order given with such a near-frenzied state.
Delkaran also was a demon king with its own sizeable demonic army, but not once did it manage to push its soldiers to display such a sight before.
"Although your magical powers had weakened, your control remains absolute, is that it?" (Delkaran)
As expected of the 99th demon king.
What a pity it was, though.
The monsters under Yi Ji-Hyuk’s control in the past were a bunch of truly dangerous creatures even by the standards of the demon world. Delkaran would have to use all of its powers in order to deal with those monsters, and considering the sheer number of them, there was no guarantee of victory, even if it was a demon king.
But, now?
Could these weak dregs of former selves even be able to touch Delkaran’s body, whether they were driven by madness or nor?
Wuuuong-!!
The cape draped around the demon king’s body flapped around like crazy, and soon, Mana poured out from beneath to form another gigantic snake that pounced towards the rushing monsters.
Kaaaah-!!
"Hmm?"
Almost at the same time, the Dae-Mahng was falling towards Delkaran from the sky.
"Is it a snake this time?" (Delkaran)
The thing was, all snakes were what one would call Delkaran’s kin. Every snake would instinctively accept this particular demon king’s control.
However, this large snake monster was attacking Delkaran with its hostility on full display. This was ‘control’ that far exceeded the realm of one’s instincts.
The demon king felt its mood sour just a bit more and reached up into the sky.
"This certainly feels a little bit rubbish, doesn’t it?" (Delkaran)
Wwuuuoong-!!
Magical energy poured out from its right hand and ballooned up noticeably.
Soon, it morphed into yet another gigantic snake-like shape several times larger than the already-huge Dae-Mahng that seemed to fill up the sky. And then…. the black energy simply swallowed up the large snake in one go.
Kwa-du-duk!!
Kkkiiiiiiieeee!!!
Along with the sounds of one’s flesh being crushed flat, Dae-Mahng’s horrifying scream resounded out.
"Attack!!" (Seo Ah-Young)
Seo Ah-Young stopped observing and doing nothing about that spectacle and fired out the flames burning around her hands. They never dreamed of easily bringing that monster down from the beginning, anyway.
"Uwaaaaah-!!" (Seo Ah-Young)
She roared out as drops of flames rained down on Delkaran. Following up on her, Ether attacks boasting a rainbow of colours crossed the sky and flew in on Delkaran’s position.
Light beams, blizzards, flameballs, even blades of winds endlessly poured down onto the demon king.
"Support them!" (Christopher McLaren)
Christopher McLaren found the opening and cried out as if he was screaming. The American and British ability users observing the unfolding situation began firing their Ether attacks as well.
Ka-boooom!! BANG!!
Ether and more Ether danced and tumbled to cause one explosion after another. It was as if a bomber had dropped an endless amount of ordnance to cause a chain reaction of explosions that didn’t want to end.
Yi Ji-Hyuk, meanwhile, finished making his hand signs while watching that spectacle. When he did, black-coloured Mana that at once resembled black flames or even rising smoke bubbled up out of his body.
"Keu-euh-euh-euh." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Thin blood vessels were now visible on Yi Ji-Hyuk’s eyes.
He extracted an excessive amount of Mana and as a result, his body began screaming at him. This level of Mana could never be dealt with by a measly human’s flesh, and as it coursed throughout his body, his bones shattered and his skin ruptured open.
This terrible pain was akin to a nest of ants biting and tearing him up all at once. As the destructive pain strong enough to make him almost lose his consciousness assaulted him, he made sure to not let up with completing his hand signs.
"Uwaaaah-!!"
Yi Ji-Hyuk roared out to momentarily suppress all that pain; Mana quickly gathered around his hands and rose up in the air. The black ‘flames’ crossed the sky and began constructing a humongous magic circle.
Blood trickled down from Yi Ji-Hyuk’s seven orifices on his face.
There was no meaning in striking the enemy several times!
No, just one hit!
He must scrape together as much Mana as possible and crush the creature in one go!
"Condense!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
After he roared out, Mana dancing in the air quickly condensed in the middle of the magic circle. Meanwhile, Dragon Hearts dangling on both of his arms began emitting black light as well.
"Tirieh!!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
The Spirit of Darkness floated up into the air and then, began shooting her barrage of black laser beams at Delkaran’s body faintly visible through the explosions of Ether attacks.
‘Just a bit more!’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
He was done with his calculations.
He was done with his preparations, too.
All he needed now was a bit more time to gather and fire the Mana. All of these preparations were to help him endure during that time.
"Keu-huehk!!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Mana escaping from Yi Ji-Hyuk’s body flowed into the Dragon Hearts and became amplified before getting sucked into the magic circle in the air.
Guuoooohh-!!
Mana coalesced and condensed in the air, gradually transforming into a shape very similar to a storm cloud.
Bzzzzzz!!
Now excessively condensed, Mana tumbled and roiled around as if they were electric sparks. They even began billowing about like dancing flames, too.
Just a little bit more!
Tears of blood flooded out from Yi Ji-Hyuk’s eyes.
As if to drag out every ounce of Mana residing in his body, he flung his magical energy towards the sky.
His body screamed as it could no longer hold on from the overwhelming dark Mana and threatened to collapse at any second, but he completely ignored all the warning signs.
Because, if he failed to bring Delkaran down now, the only thing remaining would be death and destruction, anyway.
"Uwaaaaaahht!!"
Final bits of Mana leaked out from Yi Ji-Hyuk and got sucked into the magic circle. And at the same time, the humongous cloud of black-coloured magical energy located high up above Delkaran began pumping out gobsmacking level of oppressive aura.
"Ah, aaaah…"
No one told them to, but still, the ability users stopped throwing their Ether attacks at the demon king anyway. They all stood around and stared at the magical cloud filling up the sky in complete daze.
That incredible aura tumbling within that cloud even managed to steal away their reasoning.
"Eat thiiiiis!!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)
Along with Yi Ji-Hyuk’s angry shout as if he was vomiting blood, the black cloud began its descent towards the ground.
Delkaran, still trapped within the fog of dust kicked up from the various Ether attacks, raised its head.
"Hah?" (Delkaran)
The demon king’s red eyes quivered greatly after confirming the sight of the magical cloud descending on top of itself. Black smokes bubbled and hissed while black-coloured arcs of lightning buzzed and snapped angrily.
Black flames were burning up fiercely as if to scorch every single thing on Earth.
This was the true darkness, true power, a void capable of destroying the world. This was the magical cloud only Yi Ji-Hyuk could create.
His trademark attack that caused even the demon kings in the demon world to run for their dear lives had been activated.
‘This is dangerous!’ (Delkaran)
Even before Delkaran’s brain ordered its body to escape, the black cloud swallowed up the demon king in its entirety.
Fin.