Player who Returned 10,000 years Later

Chapter 247: Stay Dead (1)

[Ugh, aah!!]

He heard Satan’s agonized scream.

Ignoring it, he kept using the Authority of Predation.

Crunch. Crunch.

A giant mouth with thousands of white teeth devoured the black sphere.

Black blood poured out from a widening fissure.

It was grotesque enough to have been pulled straight from a horror movie.

KangWoo, who had the role of said movie’s ‘main monster’, put more demonic energy into the Authority of Predation.

Crack-!

The shell protecting the black sphere was completely destroyed, and a thick smile appeared on KangWoo's face.

He’d broken the egg's shell.

'Now the only thing left…'

Was to devour all the demonic energy that the shell had been protecting and not leave a speck behind.

"Haa, haa." His breathing became heavier, and he felt an intense craving.

He was drooling.

KangWoo stopped moving briefly before he devoured the Root of Evil.

He narrowed his eyes.

'Weird…'

There was something he couldn't understand.

'Why is this so easy for me to eat?'

It was the same question Satan asked.

KangWoo remained silent and fell into thought.

'Did he say it's the corpse of a demon god?'

He began thinking about something he couldn't have while trapped in the nightmare.

'That demon god is probably the guy trapped in the Abyss.'

He remembered the thing confidently revealing it was the Demon King.

Even at that moment, KangWoo could feel the being inside him intensifying his craving.

- Eat it.

A voice spread through his ear.

His lips dried, and a horrible craving stimulated his neck.

- Eat it, and don't leave anything behind!

"Ugh."

He frowned and clicked his tongue as if he didn't like it.

"What a noisy bastard."

If he'd used the term 'corpse', that probably meant someone had killed him in the past.

His body had been torn into pieces.

He still couldn't understand why that demon god was inside him, and he didn't know what his goal was or what he was, but…

"I was planning to eat it anyway."

He smirked.

It didn't matter if he had the demon god inside him or not.

He could more or less guess what his goal was. After all, the demon god had probably been the one to force him into that strange place.

'I don't like it.'

The sense of losing control of his body was unpleasant.

KangWoo closed his eyes.

- Eat it right now!

The voice through his head, and the craving intensified through his body.

'Slowly…'

KangWoo closed his eyes and tried to regulate the intense craving that was burning inside his body.

The craving soon began to die down.

'Yes.'

His thoughts began moving faster.

The only thing that the demon god could do at the moment was intensify his craving or try to get more control of his body.

Although he wasn't used to it at the beginning, as time went on, he started to regain control.

He was confident in his ability to control the lust and demonic energy trying to run amok inside his body.

"Okay, then…"

He raised his head.

He could still hear a noisy voice spreading in his ear and a burning desire, but he ignored it and took a deep breath.

He used the Authority of Predation, crushed the shell, and ate the entire sphere.

Crunch-! Crunch!

There was a chilling sound, and demonic energy entered his body.

Ting-

[Warning, warning.]

[The demonic energy that has 'Divinity'. You can't control it fully at the moment!]

A message appeared in front of him.

He ignored it.

No, to be more precise, he wasn't in a situation where he could think about it.

"Ugh."

He let out an exclamation and bent forward.

As if he'd poured water onto dry land, a huge amount of demonic energy started to flow into the Ten Thousand Demon Core.

[Your Demonic Energy stat has increased to 153.]

[Your Demonic Energy stat has increased to 165.]

[Your Demonic Energy stat has increased to 172.]

Messages kept appearing, and his Demonic Energy stat was going up at an incredible pace.

'It's dangerous.'

KangWoo bit his lip.

He couldn't be happy with the speed at which his stat was going up.

In the deepest place in the Ten Thousand Demon Core, the demonic energy within the Abyss started to rapidly fluctuate.

'The doors are about to fall apart.'

The three doors that were protecting the entrance of the Ten Thousand Demon Core…

He felt that cracks were starting to appear in one of them.

KangWoo's expression became pale.

'If it goes on like this, I’ll get devoured.’

He didn't need to think anymore.

The moment the doors were forcibly destroyed, he would be devoured by the demonic energy.

If that happened…

* * *

'I'll die.'

If the Ten Thousand Demon Core fully opened while he was unconscious, what would happen next wasn’t hard to imagine.

His body, with only the craving of 'eating' left, wouldn't stop until he ate every living thing on the planet.

No, he probably wouldn't stop there.

- Ha, hahaha!! Yes!! Finally, the time has come!!

He heard the laughing voice of the demon god in his ear.

- Although only one of the three doors has been destroyed… Well, I guess it isn't bad to announce the beginning of the prophecy.

He began talking.

- The time of the prophecy has come! All living beings, tremble in fear!

He felt something trying to rise from the Abyss along with the voice.

Huge…

A giant with a body so huge that he couldn’t even guess the size of it…

The hands of that giant emerged from the Abyss.

- I'm death, I'm the end, I'm…

"Fuck. There was another bastard like Satan?"

KangWoo began laughing while breathing heavily.

- Oh? You still have some consciousness left?

The demon god asked in surprise, letting out a low laugh.

- This is when your job ends. From now on, I'll take control of your body…

"Cut the bullshit."

KangWoo started to laugh.

He’d expected the demon god was after that.

Everything was so obvious that it was boring.

"I told you…"

He remembered when he'd entered the Abyss.

"Don't joke with me."

- …

"The time you're dreaming about will never come. I don't care about the prophecy or whatever. You're going to be locked there forever."

- Do you know who I am…?

"Do you know me?"

There was no way.

He probably had a plan, considering he'd talked about something like being a puppet or roles.

But…

He wasn't aware of who he'd tried to make into his puppet.

He wasn’t aware of what kind of person KangWoo was or everything he had gone through.

"Huh? Do you know me?"

‘You don't, right?’

"If you don't, then shut up and stay dead."

A huge amount of demonic energy rose, and his consciousness became blurry.

'If I can't accept it…'

‘I'll throw it.’

He couldn't fully control the fluctuating amount of demonic energy, so he placed his hand on the chest, and changed the flow of the demonic energy within his Ten Thousand Demon Core.

'I can't send it out.'

He wasn't sure where he was, but if he let it go, a catastrophe would probably happen.

'Then…'

KangWoo's eyes shone.

If he couldn't let it out, there was only one place he could send it…

'I'll store it in the deepest part of the Core.'

—The place where the demon god was resting.

[Your Demonic Energy stat has decreased to 168.]

[Your Demonic Energy stat has decreased to 159.]

[Your Demonic Energy stat has decreased to 153.]

He stored the fluctuating demonic energy in the deepest part of the Ten Thousand Demon Core.

It was as if he was stepping on a garbage bag.

It was too bad that he couldn't use that strength, but he had no choice.

'It's better than dying.'

It wasn't that he'd completely throw it away, after all.

Once the time came, he would be able to use it.

- What the…?!

The demon god started being pushed back down into the Abyss.

- How could something like…?

The demon god’s voice weakened.

KangWoo didn't hesitate and forced it down again, strongly.

- N-no!

Once again…

- Just what are…?

And then, with all his might…

- …

All the demonic energy he'd absorbed through the Authority of Predation was shoved down, and the door that led to the Abyss completely closed.

[Your Demonic Energy stat has decreased to 150.]

'This much is enough.'

One of the conditions to become a demon god was to reach 150 in the Demonic Energy stat.

There was probably a reason why it said 150.

'Is the limit I can control at the moment 150?'

If he had more than that, he couldn't control it 'perfectly.'

The moment one couldn't perfectly control their demonic energy, it became poison.

"Anyways…"

KangWoo straightened his body.

Even if it was at 150, his Demonic Energy stat used to be at 140, so it had increased by 10 points at once.

'I've also fulfilled two conditions.'

There was only one condition left to become a demon god.

He wasn't sure what that was yet, but having fulfilled two out of three was good.

Clack-

The black sphere had completely disappeared, and he picked up the pitch-black sword that had been left behind.

'Anger'—Satan's Hell Equipment.

KangWoo looked at the ring on his right middle finger.

"It seems like it hasn't fully digested ‘Greed’ yet."

There was no reaction when he sent demonic energy into the Key of the Demonic Energy Sea.

'Can I keep putting things inside?'

There was no way to know without trying.

Just to test, he put the Key of the Demonic Energy Sea close to 'Anger'.

Crunch-!

The Key of the Demonic Energy Sea reacted and devoured 'Anger'.

Ting-

[The Key has absorbed 'Anger'.]

[The time necessary to digest has increased.]

"As expected, it will take longer."

KangWoo clicked his tongue.

Leaving aside the fact that it would take longer, there was no special penalty, so it really didn't matter.

'It’s not that I depend on the weapon anyway.'

He could create weapons by combining Authorities.

"Okay, then…"

KangWoo turned his head.

Then…

- You…

Someone's voice spread through his head, full of anger and resentment.

It wasn't the demon god's.

KangWoo frowned.

"Satan?"

- Ugh, ah.

It was a low voice that seemed like it would fade at any moment.

KangWoo shrugged his shoulders.

'He hasn't been digested yet?'

Well…

It was a soul that had been fused with the corpse of the demon god, so it would be weird if it were digested too easily.

'Well, anyways…'

It was a matter of time.

Satan’s soul would be cut into pieces and scattered into the Ten Thousand Demon Core.

- Do you… think you'll… be okay… after doing… something like… this?

"Huh?"

- For how… long… Do you think your lies… won't…

"What are you saying?" KangWoo asked, a frown on his face.

- All the things… you've put the blame… on me… one day…

"What did I blame you for?"

He tilted his head in confusion.

- What…?

"You were the one who did all those things. You killed Alec, killed Reinald, and even made Ludwig fall."

- What… nonsense?

"Ha." He laughed in disbelief.

'There should be a limit to how shameless someone can be.'

The truth about who was behind all those crimes had been revealed; Satan had also admitted to it.

"Don't try to blame an innocent person."

- Hey… you… son of a…

"Haa… How lame, Satan… At this point… shouldn't you accept it?"

- You… mother… fucker…

"There's no point in talking with you anymore."

Talking with someone who didn't want to admit his crimes would just cause him stress.

"Then…"

Satan had died, but that didn't mean that everything was over.

No. Things would only get more serious from then on.

"Should I go out?"

KangWoo turned his body and walked out of the icy cave.

- Ah, aah.

He could still hear Satan's voice lingering around his ear like an echo.

Satan knew the Demon King was someone like that, but…

- Still, isn't this too…

He was in a seemingly endless sea of demonic energy.

Satan cried.