Player Who Returned 10,000 Years Later
Crunch. Crunch.
The chilling sound of skin being torn apart and bones crunched spread through the devastated field.
The demon's body, soul, and demonic energy flowed into KangWoo’s body through the dark cloud hanging over the field.
Ting-.
[The attribute 'Reaper of Souls' has been activated!]
[You've absorbed a demon's soul in its entirety.]
Something spiritual that couldn't be seen flowed into his body.
It was an energy he'd never been able to feel while using the Authority of Predation.
'Ah.'
A mysterious feeling.
The demons he'd devoured were ones that barely lived in the middle levels of Hell, so that feeling wasn't that big.
But even the light from a firefly could shine brightly if hundreds gathered.
Even though they were small energies, he felt a filling sensation spread through his body because hundreds had gathered.
'This is a mysterious feeling.'
It was a sensation similar to when you were lying in a hot tub and hundreds of small bubbles gathered around your body.
It was hazy and drowsy. He felt the bubbles tickling his body.
After a while, those bubbles that were tickling him entered his body; a familiar message window appeared in front of him.
[The Attribute of 'Reaper of Souls' has been completed successfully!]
[You've absorbed souls and increased the quality of yours.]
[You've obtained a hint to fulfilling the first condition for Demonic Soul.]
'Nice.'
KangWoo's eyes shone while reading the message window that had appeared in front of him. The tips of his mouth went up.
KangWoo opened the status window and checked out the part that said 'Demonic Soul.'
[Information]
Demonic Soul: Second step to becoming a 'Demon God.'
1st Condition: Increase the quality of your soul (Unfulfilled)
2nd Condition: ???
'As expected, it was connected to the seventh Awakening Attribute.'
It was something he was expecting.
The steps to becoming a Demon God and the awakening attributes… The connection between them had become even clearer.
KangWoo nodded in satisfaction.
'It's a condition I can fulfill.'
KangWoo decided not to think of the second condition hidden behind question marks. He decided to focus on the first condition.
He wasn't sure how many demon souls he had to absorb, but the way to fulfill the condition was very straightforward.
Ting-
[Your Demonic Energy stat has gone up by 4.]
"Woah, it increased my stat."
KangWoo's eyes shone.
That wasn't an effect of the Reaper of Souls’s attribute but the effect of having absorbed hundreds of demons.
Four stats. A smile appeared on KangWoo's face. He opened his status window and checked the stats.
"Damn..."
The stat was still at 120.
KangWoo remembered something he'd forgotten.
"This has become complete trash."
KangWoo looked at the Black Pearl Coat he was wearing.
The Black Pearl Coat increased his stat by +5.
It was something that had happened because it couldn't increase his stat beyond 120.
Even if he took off the Black Pearl Coat, his Demonic Energy stat stayed at 120.
The stat-increase effect of the Black Pearl Coat had completely disappeared.
"Tsk."
He wasn't sure if he should be happy by the fact that, if his Demonic Energy stat increased, it went up for real, or if he should be annoyed by the fact that the Black Pearl Coat had become useless.
'Well, let's think about it positively.'
It was something he'd expected after discovering that, after 120, the stat increase that legendary-rank or lower-tier equipment had didn't apply.
He thought it should be okay if he thought about it as something that was bound to happen.
KangWoo left the bittersweet feeling behind and stood up.
"However..."
He thought about the message that said his soul's quality had gone up.
He still wasn't sure what effect it had.
'Should I check it?'
He closed his eyes.
He began checking the changes that had happened inside his body.
'There hasn't been any physical change.'
It wasn't that something had physically changed, like when he was trying to fulfill the conditions from Extreme Demoni Energy Body.
It also wasn't that something new had been generated inside his body, like when he formed a demonic energy stone.
'There must be a change.'
He wasn't sure what kind of effect fulfilling the conditions for Demonic Soul would give, but considering what had happened with the Extreme Demonic Energy Body, it should give him a huge strength.
It was weird that there hadn't been any change while fulfilling the conditions to reach it.
'Hmm?'
At that moment, he felt something foreign inside his body.
It was something he hadn't felt before from using ‘Reaper of Souls’.
It didn't take him long to realize what that foreign sensation was.
'The seal of the Ten Thousand Demon Core has weakened.'
KangWoo's eyes shone.
It wasn't that the seal had gotten as weak as when his level had gone up by 10.
* * *
But still, the seal had gotten weaker.
"This..."
A deep smile appeared on his face.
"The effect is greater than I imagined!"
The Ten Thousand Demon Core was the foundation of his power.
It'd been half a year since he’d returned to Earth.
Although he'd obtained new powers he didn't have while in Hell, they still couldn't be compared to his original strength.
The Ten Thousand Demon Core was a demonic energy sea. Even he didn't know how deep it was. It was an unknown world.
"Yes. This much is a must if you've blocked me from leveling up."
A deep smile was drawn on his face. He almost wanted to start dancing out of happiness.
To him, there were two huge benefits to leveling up.
The first thing was the Awakening attribute, and the second was the seal of the Ten Thousand Demon Core becoming weaker.
He’d been struggling to make its seal weaker, so it had a huge meaning to him.
"Good."
He sat down while making a satisfied smile.
If the seal of the Ten Thousand Demon Core had weakened, there was something he had to do.
'I must convert the energy that flowed out into stats.'
He had also done that when he'd completed the seventh Awakening.
'I can't depend on the Black Pearl's Coat stat increase anymore.'
From then on, stat increase was directly related to power.
KangWoo closed his eyes and used the Celestial Dragon's Psyche Style.
He felt the demonic energy that flowed out with the Ten Thousand Demon Core seal getting weaker.
It wasn't explosive as when he’d unlocked the new Awakening attribute…
But the Ten Thousand Demon Core was the Ten Thousand Demon Core.
The demonic energy that flowed out covered his body.
The energy of the Ten Thousand Demon Core started to melt into his blood.
Ting-
[Your Demonic Energy stat has increased by 1.]
The ringing sound made him feel good.
"Woah."
He let out an exclamation. Although it had gone up by just one point, the changes were impressive.
The demonic energy inside his body started fluctuating as if it were about to explode.
'The higher it becomes, the harder it gets to increase it, but the effects become even greater.'
He smiled while thinking about the most basic information about stat increases.
He'd used quite a lot of demonic energy during the battle because he'd used two big techniques consecutively, but he felt he'd been able to restore it at once.
"Should I go back?"
‘The fight against the demonic monsters should be over by now.’
KangWoo stood up and looked at the destroyed field that had become similar to Hell.
'It wasn't a bad harvest.'
The harvest was as he had expected, no, even better.
KangWoo clenched his fist.
Getting stronger while interrupting the Demon Cult's plans… It was like killing two birds with one stone.
He turned around, put his hands together, and bowed down.
"Thanks for the food."
Burp-
* * *
He returned to where the battle of the Korean and Chinese players against demonic monsters had happened.
'It seems like it's over.'
As expected, the battle had already ended. People were moving those that had been injured.
It was obvious, but the fight ended with an overwhelming victory for China and Korea.
Humans weren't weak enough to lose against a group of demons that were from the 1st hell.
'It seems like there aren’t many injured people.'
Most of the people walking around had bright expressions on their faces. That meant that there hadn't been many casualties.
'I wonder what would happen if a fight between the 9th hell and Earth's players broke out.'
He didn't need to think too much.
Even if players were strong, they couldn't be compared to the forces of the 9th hell.
A one-sided annihilation, just like that day five years prior, would probably happen again.
'But…'
KangWoo looked at the players that were busily moving.
They didn't seem happy just because they’d won the battle.
"Finally! The seventh Awakening!"
"Woah! Me too!! I've finally freed myself from this damn level limit!"
"My level has gone up by eight!"
He could hear their happy shouts.
The players had leveled up a lot from the battle; it ended up being a huge experience event, just like Chae YeonJoo said.
'The players are getting stronger.'
It wasn't just those that had participated in the war. Players all around the world were constantly getting stronger.
Even if they were getting stronger, they still had a long way to go before they could face beings from the 9th hell, but he had to emphasize that they were getting stronger.
'And, among those, there are special individuals like ShiHoon.'
For players, talent was something very important.
Regardless of when it was, talentless players couldn't get stronger.
That also meant that, if you had talent, you could get a lot stronger in a short period of time.
"KangWoo!"
Chae YeonJoo came running toward him.
"Where were you? What about the demons?"
"I eliminated them."
"Alone...?"
He nodded. Chae YeonJoo laughed in disbelief.
"It probably wasn't one or two. There should've been at least a hundred..."
"They were exactly 237."
"How did you... Oof, no. I better not ask."
Chae YeonJoo shook her head. After coughing, she looked at KangWoo.
"Aren't you hurt anywhere?"
"Of course not."
"Seeing how arrogant you are, it seems like you're okay. Hngh, people like you should break at least a bone so they can calm down."
She turned her head away while snorting. Unlike her words, the tips of her mouth were up.
KangWoo smirked and walked past her. After Chae YeonJoo, Echidna came running toward him.
"KangWoo. Just like you said, I protected Seol-ah."
She snorted.
"Well done. Not much happened, right?"
"Yes. Although there were some demonic monsters that could fly, I got rid of them all."
She looked at him with shining eyes, just like a child waiting to be praised.
KangWoo patted her.
"Echidna, go and help move the injured people."
"Okay!"
They had to move the injured people and help them heal.
'Then…'
He fell into thought.
He'd solved the Russia incident and stopped the invasion of demonic monsters and demons.
'I have nothing left to do.'
He couldn't think of anything he had to do since he'd solved the Demon Cult incident.
"Hmm."
KangWoo looked at Echidna, who was running to where the injured people were.
Suddenly, a certain thought crossed his mind.
"Oh yeah."
He took out his smartphone and checked the date.
'It's been three months, right?'
