Player who Returned 10,000 years Later

Side Story Chapter 59: Happy End? (1)

[Kurgh! Guh! Gaaaahh…]

The ragged Satan coughed violently and wriggled as Oh Kang-Woo was holding a requiem for him.

"Eh? The hell? You’re still not dead?"

The centipede’s attacks could nullify the Demonic Sea’s regenerative capabilities so Kang-Woo expected Satan, who took several such attacks head-on, to have been annihilated.

’Oh, come to think of it, Satan is just a summon from the Abyss.’

It meant as long as Kang-Woo, the summoner, wasn’t dead, Satan could never be annihilated.

"Satanmon! You’re back!"

’My partner isn’t dead!’

[Y-You… m-motherfucking scumbag.]

Kang-Woo snickered as he withdrew the summon. He was having difficulty keeping Satan summoned because he used a significant amount of power in this battle.

"Fuuu," Kang-Woo exhaled, the feeling of sparks that traveled throughout his body still lingering. "How long has it been since I fought for real?"

It had been a while since he fought with the possibility of death looming over him. He wanted nothing more than to kill Akart in the worst way possible but was also thankful for Akart in a way for the experience of a heated battle Kang-Woo had not had in a long time. Kang-Woo did not expect a battle to ever bring him ecstasy again after becoming one with the Demonic Sea and achieving immortality.

"This makes me sound like a battle junkie or something."

’Well, it’s not wrong, I guess.’

A battle with no guarantee of survival was far more exciting than one where his victory was guaranteed. Kang-Woo was treating a battle to the death like a game but it couldn’t be helped since he spent the vast majority of his life in a world where he would not have survived without going insane.

Kang-Woo examined the wound on his flank as he relished in the thrill of battle.

’Will it stay like this?’

It would be a problem if the wound did not heal; it was quite large because Kang-Woo had taken it head-on, not expecting it to nullify his immortality.

Wriggle, wriggle.

"Looks like it’s healing slowly."

The regeneration speed was extremely slow but Kang-Woo could see black mucus squirming as his wound healed. He felt like the pain was lessening as well. He ripped off a piece of his clothes and wrapped it around the wound like a bandage. Just then, he heard the chime of a bell.

Riiing!

[Sanctification has been removed due to the death of Akart’s subordinate!]

"Sanctification…?"

Kang-Woo tilted his head in wonder, then recalled how communication with the outside world was blocked as if the space around the city was isolated from the rest of the world.

’That must have been Sanctification.’

[I was unable to help you because the Law of Titans cannot interfere with sanctified territory. My apologies, guardian deity.]

"No wonder you were so quiet."

Kang-Woo clicked his tongue and turned around. Sanctification was certainly an annoying means. He approached Akart’s dead subordinate which had its head split in two.

’It looks disgusting, but…’

He had no choice but to eat it using the Authority of Predation to gain information about Akart.

Crunch! Crunch!

Kang-Woo activated the Authority of Predation. Black mucus with sharp teeth sprouting from it devoured the centipede. At that moment, a red warning message popped up.

[The Light of Akart has the power to disintegrate the Demonic Sea! You must not eat his subordinate!]

"Oh, is that right?"

’For fuck’s sake.’

Kang-Woo spat out the centipede’s corpse; its ragged corpse flew out of the black mucus.

’That aside, the power to disintegrate the Demonic Sea, huh?’

He had a feeling it would be far more annoying to face Akart than he had originally expected. His ability perfectly countered Kang-Woo’s.

’Is there no change… in my body reconstruction?’

Kang-Woo expected the Demonic Sea to have received significant stimulation thanks to Kang-Woo experiencing the fear of death after a long time, but he couldn’t feel anything in particular.

"Fuuu."

Kang-Woo felt dizzy as a wave of fatigue hit him once he lowered his alertness after the battle. He shook his head to keep himself together.

’I still have things to do.’

He slowly walked as he looked around. The rampaging monsters were left immobile after the centipede’s death but they couldn’t be left in that state.

’Threats need to be eliminated early.’

Kang-Woo needed to kill every single monster standing still like puppets with no strings attached.

"Fucking hell, I’m so exhausted."

Fwoosh.

He couldn’t ignite the Flames of Voracity on his hand, likely due to using it too much during his battle against the centipede.

"Th-Thank you very much!!"

"Aaaahh! I-I’m alive!! We’re alive!!"

"How did that little boy…"

Just then, Kang-Woo noticed the survivors cheering and his eyes shone.

"Oh," he expressed.

’I can get them to do it.’

"Everyone! Rescue teams from Guardians will arrive soon!" Kang-Woo shouted.

"Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!"

"I would expect nothing less from Guardians!!!"

"We’re alive! Alive!!!"

Kang-Woo smiled as the survivors cheered. He picked up a piece of wood and made a small torch.

"Right then, everyone! Please burn the immobile monsters while the rescue teams arrive!"

"..."

"Pardon…?"

The expressions of the cheering survivors suddenly froze.

"Y-You want us to?"

’Obviously. Who else is gonna do it?’

"Yes, please," Kang-Woo responded respectfully.

One could only expect to be treated respectfully if they treated others with the same respect.

"Umm… that’s a bit…"

"Urgh! I-I’m bleeding!"

"Guh! How the hell do you expect us to burn those hideous monsters?!"

’The fuck did you motherfuckers say?’

"Aren’t you part of Guardians?! Huh? Why are you making us do your job?" shouted a thug with blond hair and covered in tattoos.

"You shouldn’t talk that way to the person who saved us…"

"What? If you’ve got a problem with it, then do it yourself, old lady! Those monsters might start moving again at any second, so why do Non-Players like us have to deal with the corpses?!" shouted the blond thug as he walked toward Kang-Woo. "I’m not doing that shit, so deal with it, brat."

"Hah…" Kang-Woo chuckled.

’Respect, my ass.’

This was how humans were; they were grateful to Kang-Woo for saving them but didn’t want to do anything filthy and scary. It somewhat made sense since they weren’t obligated to do something they didn’t want to do just because their lives were saved.

"What? Do you have a problem with that? Why don’t you hit me if you do? Kekeke! You know what happens if a Guardians Player attacks an ordinary person, don’t you?"

But of course, this thug was not picking a fight with Kang-Woo, who wiped out the monsters, because he was brainless. A Guardians Player couldn’t attack an ordinary person under any circumstances, the same as a soldier.

No matter how illogical and unfair it was, the rules of Guardians stated a member could never attack an ordinary person, even if the Player was attacked first. The rule had been made to stop members from intimidating regular people with the position. Hence, the thug’s actions were not brainless.

If Kang-Woo were an ordinary member of Guardians, that was.

"For fuck’s sake, you sure love to fuck around, huh?" cursed Kang-Woo.

It was hard to believe such words came out of a little boy’s mouth. Kang-Woo grabbed the collar of the thug who was lightly slapping Kang-Woo’s cheek to taunt him.

"Huh…?" the thug expressed confusion.

Bash!

Kang-Woo slapped the thug with as little power as possible but to the thug, the slap was strong enough to rattle his brain.

"Jeez, just listen to me when I’m asking nicely, you dumbass. You think I’m having you work for no fucking reason? Huh? I’m asking you to burn the motherfuckers before they fucking eat your brains out. Is that so bad for you?"

"Kurgh! Ugh! Y-You attacked me!!"

"So what, dipshit?"

"I-I’ll report you! I’ll report you to the leader of Guardians and say that a member of Guardians attacked a regular person!!!"

"The leader of Guardians is my sister-in-law."

"Huh…?" The thug’s wide eyes darted rapidly. "Th-Then I’ll tell the Sword Dragon—"

"He’s my little brother, dumbass."

Crush!

Kang-Woo twisted the blind thug’s left arm, breaking his bones.

The thug screamed monstrously, "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!! M-MY FUCKING AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARM!!!"

It was so hideous that Kang-Woo had difficulty believing it had come from a human.

’Is this son of a bitch infected?’

Kang-Woo was sure the thug was infected from how nightmarish his scream was. The thug did not seem to be injured but they could still be infected through blood.

"Son of a bitch!! So you were infected!!"

"What? Wh-What the fuck are you talking ab—"

"Shut up!!!"

"Kurgh! Ugh! Gurgh!"

"Such hideous screams! I knew it!!"

Bash! Smash! Crunch!

The thug’s screeches only became more monstrous the more Kang-Woo beat him up. As he had thought, the thug was infected.

"W-We’ll burn the monsters right away!"

"H-Haha! It’s only natural we help Guardians!"

The survivors watching the thug get beaten up slowly picked up pieces of wood. Getting fire was easy since the entire city was burning. The survivors began to burn the immobile monsters.

"Gurgh, urghhh."

"Fuuu. That’s better."

Kang-Woo smiled widely as he watched the survivors fervently burning the monsters. Forget respect, violence was the most effective form of communication.

"Sheesh."

Kang-Woo clicked his tongue. After witnessing how cunning the cowardly survivors were, he naturally recalled the father who recklessly attacked the monsters to save his son’s life. Although the result was terrible, some Players had charged at the horde of monsters to rescue the captured people.

’That’s just how humans are, I guess.’

Some risked their lives to protect those precious to them, some risked their lives for strangers, and others only cared for themselves as they thought of their weakness as some sort of right to do nothing. No two people were the same.

"That aside," muttered Kang-Woo as he stared at the burning hotel sorrowfully. "I guess this puts an end to our trip."

The family trip had gone to shit before he even had a chance to enjoy it to the fullest. His shoulders drooped. He managed to see Cha Yeon-Joo’s swimsuit but did not even get a glimpse of Han Seol-Ah and Lilith’s new swimsuits.

- Ah, ahh. Can you hear me now, my king?

Just then, Lilith’s voice echoed inside Kang-Woo’s head. Communication magic was back now that the Sanctification was removed.

"Yeah. Have you contacted Si-Hun and Layla?"

- Yes. They are sending rescue teams right away.

"Got it."

- My, why do you sound so dejected, my king?

"It’s nothing," Kang-Woo said as he pouted and shook his head.

- Fufu. I thought you would be like this, so I asked Layla to make some considerations.

"Eh? What considerations?"

- She said that since Guardians was of no help whatsoever in this incident, she told us to leave the rest to them and enjoy the break.

"Oh, how nice of her, but where are we supposed to enjoy the break, exactly?"

The entire city was burning down.

- It doesn’t look like the hotel is going to collapse or anything. Wouldn’t it be nice in its own right to enjoy the pool on the roof of a burning hotel?

’What a galaxy brain idea.’