The Returner - Chapter 438

Araksis wouldn’t have been this incensed if Yi Ji-Hyuk was the one stopping its attack. The thing was, the demon king didn’t want to kill him; the attack’s strength had been adjusted to be a little bit weaker so that Yi Ji-Hyuk would feel despair arising from his utter powerlessness after failing to defend even something on this level.

 

However, the story would change drastically if someone else other than him managed to block the attack.

 

Out of sheer rage, Araksis increased the output of its magical power.

 

The demon king could focus the magic power and blow the opposition away at once, but that went against its sense of aesthetics.

 

As if it was waiting for an insect to drown after falling into a puddle, Araksis gradually increased its magical energy output.

 

The resulting effect manifested itself almost instantly.

 

Cruuuunch.

 

Along with a bone-chilling noise, Alpha’s arms began bending at a bizarre angle.

 

“Aigoooo! I’m dying here!” (Alpha)

 

If only it weren’t for that pie hole of his, he’d have looked pretty heroic right about now. But for a ‘hero’ opposing a demon king at the forefront of humanity’s survival, Alpha was just too flippant and honest with his thoughts.

 

“Please do something! Isn’t this fine already?! Even if I get paid a mountain for my overtime, it’s not nearly gonna be enough at this rate! Imma file a claim with the labour…” (Alpha)

 

“Man, you’re so bloody talkative.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

Yi Ji-Hyuk furrowed his brows.

 

Alpha was brought here for the purpose of doing sundry stuff like blocking attacks, anyway. For sure, his role was supposed to somehow seal the demon king’s movements, so to act as a shield was…

 

“…Ng?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

Realising something just then, Yi Ji-Hyuk raised his head to look up.

 

Now that he thought about it, no matter how powerful and strong a demon king was, one wouldn’t be able to protect itself or even move from the spot while emitting that much magical energy from such a distance away, now would it?

 

Just like how a person wouldn’t be able to move elsewhere while in full swing, as it were.

 

“Oh-hoh?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

Although this wasn’t in the plan, the old saying went that the roads taken didn’t matter as long as you could reach your destination, so… Alpha certainly had fulfilled his mission, then. And of course, Yi Ji-Hyuk wasn’t going to miss out on this unexpected opportunity.

 

Mana ballooned up from his body next. For a moment there, he felt enough sharp pain to nearly knock him out cold, but he bit down on his tongue and woke up his fading consciousness.

 

‘Seriously, this is no bloody joke.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

Yi Ji-Hyuk could confidently boast that no one in this world was as familiar with pain as him, but the level of pain he’d been experiencing lately was so harsh that he felt almost compelled to revise his stance a bit.

 

However, he couldn’t whine and b*tch about it.

 

Yi Ji-Hyuk dragged and gathered Mana from his whole body towards both of his hands. The pain followed the path of Mana’s circulation and spread around like a plague.

 

“Man, this sucks donkey balls.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“What really sucks is right here, you know! Please do something already!” (Alpha)

 

Yi Ji-Hyuk roundly ignored Alpha’s complaints and began drawing a magic circle in the air.

 

‘This is also pretty inefficient when I think about it, too.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

Unlike demonic beings who could wield Mana as naturally as breathing or waving about one’s hand in the air, Yi Ji-Hyuk was a human being and in order to utilise Mana in any capacity, he had to go through the established process beforehand.

 

Araksis noticed a large magic circle suddenly manifesting in front of Yi Ji-Hyuk and formed an unreadable expression.

 

“Hoh-oh?” (Araksis)

 

The demon king had never seen a magic circle like that before.

 

‘Has he already stepped into the realm of creation, too?’ (Araksis)

 

But such a thing shouldn’t come as a surprise when considering that Yi Ji-Hyuk could legitimately be called the history’s strongest archmage. Even if it was not his speciality, which was undoubtedly dark Mana manipulation, he would still be able to easily create any magic he wished with regular Mana.

 

In reality, no one had taught Yi Ji-Hyuk the dark magic he’d been using all his life. Indeed, he had created them himself. Which was unsurprising as well, since no other human being before him could wield dark Mana as smartly as he did.

 

‘But, that thing certainly is strange.’ (Araksis)

 

Araksis took a closer look at the magic circle Yi Ji-Hyuk had created. This circle boasted runic symbols that the demon king had never seen before and its flow of Mana couldn’t even be sensed as well.

 

Araksis began thinking that maybe, Yi Ji-Hyuk’s degree of understanding in wielding Mana might have exceeded that of demon kings.

 

‘But, that’s all for naught, anyway.’ (Araksis)

 

No matter how good your understanding was, there would be no point when the total amount of Mana one could use was so pathetically low, to begin with.

 

Araksis proceeded to pour out the maximum amount of Mana that the clone could produce and fired that out, causing Alpha’s figure to literally sink deeper into the ground. He was still standing upright, but his body had broken through the earth below and began going under.

 

“Cough!” (Alpha)

 

Alpha had no more room left to mouth off anything. In fact, blood flooding out his mouth attested to how serious his condition was right now.

 

“Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk!!!” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

 

Choi Jeong-Hoon’s urgent cry came from somewhere behind, but Yi Ji-Hyuk still didn’t make his move.

 

Not yet. It’s not the right time yet!

 

“DIE!” (Araksis)

 

And in that very moment when Yi Ji-Hyuk sensed the magical attack fired by Araksis had gotten one level stronger, he rushed in front of Alpha.

 

“Undo the barrier!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“Keuk!” (Alpha)

 

Alpha undid the shield and collapsed on his butt at the same time. And in that precise moment the shield disappeared, Yi Ji-Hyuk shoved his Mana into the magic circle.

 

“Uwaaaaaah!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

The magic circle transformed instantly and created what looked like a transparent wall. The bright ray of light from Araksis slammed into this wall next.

 

Right after that…

 

“What’s this?!” (Araksis)

 

Fluster filled up Araksis’s face. Because, its attack was reflected by Yi Ji-Hyuk’s Mana wall, that’s why. Not only that, it was headed right back to the demon king, no less!

 

“Ah?!” (Araksis)

 

Araksis tried to increase its attack power but the clone couldn’t produce any more Mana than this.

 

“How absurd…!” (Araksis)

 

The unstoppable ray of magical light was returning to the demon king in full.

 

“Yi, Ji, Hyuuuuuk!!!” (Araksis)

 

Pah-sususu…

 

Araksis’s clone body was struck dead-centre by the light and turned to ashes in an instant.

 

“Is it gone, then?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

Seo Ah-Young observing the situation hurriedly cried out.

 

“No, wait! The missile! It’s still here! That’s the bigger problem!” (Seo Ah-Young)

 

Yi Ji-Hyuk must’ve known that too, because he was already creating another magic circle by then.

 

“Uuu-rah-caaaah!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

This new magic circle appearing mid-air went onto create a massive Gate next. At the same time, the missile falling towards the ground got sucked into it and vanished from the view.

 

“Fuu-woo.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

Yi Ji-Hyuk fell on his butt himself. Just like Alpha next to him, currently exhausted beyond his capacity and whimpering in pain, Yi Ji-Hyuk had no energy left and couldn’t move a muscle right now.

 

Choi Jeong-Hoon hurriedly rushed to Yi Ji-Hyuk and Alpha at his full speed.

 

“Have you defeated it?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

 

“…Defeat what?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“The demon king! I’m talking about the demon king!” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

 

“I told you, that thing was like a clone.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

Yi Ji-Hyuk replied with an irritated tone of voice.

 

“The real body wasn’t affected in the slightest. Sure, for a little while the amount of Mana that demon king can use will be lower and its stamina probably has weakened a bit too, but I think it’ll regain its full powers in a few months.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“What about the warhead, then?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

 

“I sent it away to some other world.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“Ohh!” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

 

Choi Jeong-Hoon exclaimed loudly after getting the feeling that things have been resolved somehow.

 

“That’s a relief. Does that mean it’s over now?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

 

“Well, yeah. For this place, that is. Sixteen more to go, I guess.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“Wait, what should we do about them, in that case?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

 

“There’s no need to sweat. For now that demon king, Araksis, won’t be able to butt in so what we have in our hands are just sixteen nukes, that’s all.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“………..”

 

Choi Jeong-Hoon couldn’t really tell whether he should be happy about this or not. What a vague feeling this was. Of course, their situation certainly had improved by a great deal, but there were still sixteen warheads to worry about, weren’t there?

 

“Can you, perhaps…” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

 

“No can do.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

Yi Ji-Hyuk resolutely waved his hand away.

 

“I know now isn’t the time to argue about feeling tired or whatever, but I can’t gather any Mana in my current state. And even if I can gather it, I’ll need a minimum of ten hours to gather an enough amount to do something similar to what I did just now.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“M-mm…” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

 

Choi Jeong-Hoon nodded slowly.

 

Yi Ji-Hyuk certainly had done a lot today. So it was not right to egg him on to do even more.

 

“By the way, will this guy over here even survive?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

 

“Ehm…” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

Yi Ji-Hyuk chuckled hollowly while staring at Alpha who was intermittently convulsing away with his face rubbing against the dirt.

 

“Well, I don’t think he’ll die any time soon, so… Oiii, dude.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“…Don’t talk to me. Imma sue you.” (Alpha)

 

Yi Ji-Hyuk cackled at Alpha’s wretched state.

 

“What are you laughing about?” (Alpha)

 

“I’ve almost never seen someone else injured worse than me after a fight, you see. But now that I’ve seen one, I’m beginning to get this feeling.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“What feeling?” (Alpha)

 

“All’s well as long as it ain’t me.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“……………”

 

Alpha wriggled and struggled a bit then forced his torso up. Dirt tumbled off from his once-well-groomed hair.

 

“If only my arms were fine, I’d have…” (Alpha)

 

Seeing both of his arms bent horrifically behind him like that, Yi Ji-Hyuk got the impression that here was an articulated doll tossed aside by a kid after a particularly rough play session.

 

“Your arms, they are going to regenerate, I’m assuming?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“I’ll take care of that much. But, uh… Is it over now?” (Alpha)

 

“Yup.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“In that case, what about the nuke headed to America?” (Alpha)

 

“Can’t they shoot it down since the demon king isn’t interfering anymore?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“…Well, it’s easier said than done.” (Alpha)

 

Alpha seemed to be deeply pondering something before opening his mouth.

 

“I think we have one piece of good news and one not so good.” (Alpha)

 

“…And your source is?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“My brain.” (Alpha)

 

“…Wow, now that’s an amazing ability to generate news in your brain, isn’t it. Why don’t you enlighten us, then?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“First of all, good news. All of the demon king’s slave creatures are thankfully still alive.” (Alpha)

 

“Eh?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

Yi Ji-Hyuk stared at Alpha with an expression asking, what on earth are you talking about?

 

“As for the bad news, all of the demon king’s slave creatures are still alive.” (Alpha)

 

“Explain so that I can understand.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

Alpha wanted to scratch his nose but belatedly realised that he couldn’t use his hands and spat out a groan.

 

“If that demon king named Araksis or whatever losing its powers caused the slave creatures to lose their powers too, then all the flying nukes would have fallen to the ground by now. If we’re lucky, they would have ended up as duds, but if not, all of them would’ve exploded by now.” (Alpha)

 

“Oh…” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

Yi Ji-Hyuk’s mouth dropped a little as if he hadn’t thought about that before. He almost ended up showering Earth with nukes with his own two hands just now.

 

“Okay, so what’s the bad news?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“The bad news is that the slave creatures are still alive. Meaning, instead of nukes dropping down in random places, those things are still diligently delivering the missiles to the cities with lots of people.” (Alpha)

 

“Oh, I see.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

Yi Ji-Hyuk clapped as if that made sense, then replied nonchalantly.

 

“Very good. Leave those nukes to the countries in the firing line and we’ll just go home.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“…Excuse me?!” (Alpha)

 

“There’s nothing else I can do from now on.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“H-hold on, wait! What about America, Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk?” (Alpha)

 

“Not my problem.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

Alpha’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

 

“What the heck?! We came all this way and worked our butts off to help you, yet South Korea is going to forsake its American allies?!” (Alpha)

 

“Since when did you become America’s representative? Spare me from your diplomatic rant, will ya?! If you want my help, ask me through the official diplomatic channels, okay?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“But then, aren’t you going to refuse officially in that case?” (Alpha)

 

“…You know me so well.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“Please, don’t be like this and help us out, too. If you do that, then maybe we can call off your debt or something.” (Alpha)

 

“Well, that doesn’t sound so bad. So if I help you guys out this time, you’ll consider the favour fully paid up, got it?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“Okay!” (Alpha)

 

“Jeong Hae-Min!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

Yi Ji-Hyuk called out loudly, and Jeong Hae-Min hurriedly scurried out from among the NDF agents.

 

“Yeah?” (Jeong Hae-Min)

 

“Let’s go home.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“Eh???” (everyone)

 

Everyone listening on the conversation stared at Yi Ji-Hyuk in dumbfounded expressions.

 

“What? I told you, I don’t have any Mana right now. Besides, the missile will take over ten hours to get to America, anyway.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“Y-yeah, that’s true.” (Alpha)

 

“So, I’m gonna take a nap in the meantime. Oh, by the way, if I was in Christopher McLaren’s shoes, I’d have dispatched fighter planes by now. In that case, the nuke should go off somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. But if they fail to blow the missile up for some reason and it’s about to reach the land, gimme a call.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

Yi Ji-Hyuk lightly waved his hand at Alpha and grinned refreshingly.

 

“Let’s go.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

 

“Uh? Oh, okay!” (Jeong Hae-Min)

 

Jeong Hae-Min grasped Yi Ji-Hyuk’s hand and activated teleportation. Alpha watched them disappear and dazedly muttered to no one in particular.

 

“Wait, did I just get scammed?” (Alpha)

 

“Nah, boss. It’s just what I think, but boss, you’re simply dumb.”

 

“I-is that so?” (Alpha)

 

“Something like this happens all the time, anyway. We should go back, too.”

 

“M-mm.” (Alpha)

 

Choi Jeong-Hoon stared at the flustered Alpha and abruptly began thinking that perhaps dealing with that man wasn’t as hard as he feared.

 

< 438. Wouldn’t you say that this is enough? -3 > Fin.