The Hero Returns

Pazzzz, bzzzzzik—

The spear that was flashing brightly with reddish-golden lightning currents looked suspiciously like a certain weapon that reaped the lives of many Predators until now.

"You're an Apostle of Zeus?"

"If so, Brahma dying at your hand makes sense."

Zawucheon and Anubis became deeply wary of Su-hyeun.

It sounded like they mistook him as Zeus's Apostle.

Sure, Su-hyeun had already met Zeus's brother Hades and son Apollo, but that didn't automatically mean he knew how incredible an existence Zeus was to these Predators.

"I guess it's not technically wrong," he thought.

Whatever the case might be, Su-hyeun was wearing the item called Zeus's Thunder Glove on his left hand. There was no doubting that the power he was wielding right now was based upon the abilities of the god named Zeus.

Su-hyeun inwardly mused, "Looks like they misunderstood something, but..."

He wasn't planning to correct them.

"It doesn't really matter," he told them.

Pazzzzik—!

Su-hyeun's body arched back into a stance of throwing a spear.

Anubis recognized that stance right away and was the first to rush toward Su-hyeun.

Right after that, Su-hyeun's arched torso sprang forward, and the Thunderbolt in his hand hurtled toward its target.

FLASH—!

KA-RUUUUMBLE—!

A blinding light flashed from Anubis's rushing figure.

An explosion noise loud and sharp enough to rupture eardrums and shatter the world rocked the surroundings. As for Anubis, it was violently flung back like a broken kite.

Kuuugh…

Anubis moaned while gripping a long and large metal hammer. The weapon was scorched black, but as if to indicate that the Predator couldn't block everything with its metal hammer, Anubis's face was also scorched pitch-black.

Thud—

Anubis fell to its knees on the ground.

It only took one strike; the spear didn't even hit Anubis directly, and Anubis had successfully defended against it, yet the impact was still this heavy.

The Predator forced itself to stand back up and tried to approach Su-hyeun. But then...

Pazzzik, bzzzzzzik—!

Yet another spear had materialized within Su-hyeun's grip.

"Crazy son of a—"

"So he can fire something like that several times?"

Anubis cursed aloud while Zawucheon frowned deeply at this sight.

That lightning energy was basically an incredible quantity of destructive power compressed into a spear-like shape.

They found it odd that a spear created through the lightning energy could be tossed around so easily. Spear throwing was indeed a powerful attack technique, but there was a clear drawback of not easily retrieving the spear once thrown.

Also, there was the fact that what Su-hyeun threw earlier wasn't a real spear but simply compressed lightning energy.

Such energy that once left one's hand would inevitably fail to maintain its shape and explode, and rather obviously, there was no way to retrieve such a spear as well.

On top of those points, it should not be that simple to create another spear like that so quickly.

That was what they thought.

"I shouldn't be defending against that, then," Kalira became incredibly cautious now, unlike a few moments ago.

Kalira didn't rush in blindly like what Anubis had done. Instead, it chose to cautiously creep forward one step at a time.

When it did...

FLASH—!

Kwa-aaaaaah—

A humongous explosion noise resounded from somewhere behind Kalira, and at the same time, a small hill in the distance completely disintegrated. Su-hyeun had fired the second spear just then.

"I see. So it can be evaded as long as I concentrate," said Kalira.

Indeed, Kalira was different from the other two Predators. Anubis barely managed to stand back up, its legs trembling even now, but Kalira was good enough to evade the Thunderbolt.

Kalira was supposed to be the closest to ranking among the Ten Great Evils; that claim didn't seem to be an empty boast, after all.

"Gluttony, Nezha."

Shu-wuwuwu...

From Su-hyeun's shadow rose the tall and fat frame of Gluttony and then Prince Nezha.

Gluttony was drooling heavily and even began swallowing its saliva. It seemed that its appetite was acting up again.

"You, take care of that dokkaebi over there. As for you, Nezha…"

Clack—

Prince Nezha knelt down, indicating that it was waiting for Su-hyeun's command.

"You see that one over there looking all sickly and all? Have a go at it."

Prince Nezha silently nodded.

After Su-hyeun acquired the godhood of death, his summons also in turn acquired the level of intelligence that surpassed what they had when they were still alive.

On top of that, Prince Nezha used to be revered as the God of War back in the Heavenly World. He was a prodigy in combat, and as such, he obviously could tell the gap between himself and his opponent.

Unlike Gluttony, Prince Nezha didn't have enough strength to fight a Predator ranked among the One Hundred Evils. However, Anubis was gravely wounded right now. Also, Su-hyeun only called out two summons this time.

"If I focus much of my Death Aura on Nezha, he should be able to somehow fight back," he thought.

Su-hyeun wasn't worried about Gluttony at all. It had already devoured a number of Predators by now, and on top of that, not too long ago, it even devoured Tyrant—a Predator also ranked among the One Hundred Evils.

Actually, not doing this much would make it more troubling for him.

Kalira stared at the two summons and asked, "Are those your summoned creatures?"

Su-hyeun replied while nodding, "They won't interfere during our fight, so you can rest easy."

"Looks like you're planning to set them loose on the others."

"Correct."

"Those two might be a part of your abilities, but I'm not interested in wasting time with some measly summons, you see. Should I say I'm thankful for that?"

Step, step—

Kalira slowly walked up to Su-hyeun, "Well, now. Our stage has been set."

"Let's get started, then."

Just as Su-hyeun assumed the position...

"Very good!"

Pah-aht—!

Kalira's figure vanished from the spot. At the same time, four vajras flew in from up, below, and both sides, with Su-hyeun's head as their target.

CLANG—!

A powerfully swung sword deflected all four vajras away. Of course, that wasn't the end.

Swiiiiish—

The deflected vajras quickly regained their center and shifted around rapidly. The four weapons darted and dodged past the sword strikes and tried to aim for Su-hyeun's vital areas.

Clang, bang, diiiing—!

The trajectories of the sword swatting away the incoming vajras were dizzying to behold, so much so that even Su-hyeun began wondering if he had ever wielded a sword this fast before. Just one mistake and Kalira's vajra might shatter his skull without mercy.

However...

"I can see everything," Su-hyeun thought.

He could clearly see the trajectories of Kalira's vajras. It was like staring at four pens dancing around on top of a blank piece of drawing paper. He could see oh-so vividly like a painting not only the trajectories but even how Kalira would move next.

And at the end of all that was...

"Right there."

He glimpsed into the future about to happen where the vajras would show up next.

Clang, claaang, diiing—!

"...!"

The vajras Kalira swung around were deflected up into the air.

Swinging his sword while knowing what would happen beforehand wasn't quite enough to deal with all those vajras dizzily dancing and darting about.

Shu-wuwuwuwu—

After Su-hyeun's sword swatted away the vajras, sharp winds gathered around his blade. The power of a storm intense enough to blow away an entire city, no, an entire country, was gathering there.

"Blow away—"

Whooooosh—

Su-hyeun's sword sliced open Kalira's chest.

"Palm Leaf!"

Kwa-aaaaaaah—!

A huge storm lashed out over Kalira's wounded chest. Thousands, no, tens of thousands of sword cuts were inflicted on the Predator's torso as massive winds swept it up and flung it back.

Driiip—

Paaaaahk—!

As Kalira was flung back, it used its vajras to swat away the winds tearing at its chest. The winds morphed into a powerful typhoon that swept across the lands around the Predator.

Huff, pant...

Kalira gasped laboriously. Cuts and wounds completely covered its upper and lower torsos. Unsurprisingly, blood dripped gruesomely from all those wounds and seeped into the ground below.

Kalira had suffered serious wounds.

Smirk—

Despite all that, it began grinning. It must have found this quite entertaining.

"She's insane," Su-hyeun tutted unhappily while staring at Kalira.

To think that it would actually smile despite all those grave wounds and all that bleeding, too. It actually found this entertaining? This Predator was the type Su-hyeun found most difficult to understand.

"You are the insane one, not knowing the true pleasure of this."

Step, step—

Kalira's steps grew faster and faster.

"Simply enjoy it!"

Whoooosh—

Vajras were swung in his direction. Their speed had become faster by a level compared to before. To Su-hyeun's eyes, the trajectories of those vajras seemed disconnected.

He was certain of blocking three, but for the last one...

Clang, claaaang—

Ka-booooom—!

The last vajra he couldn't deflect slammed into the ground.

Su-hyeun took a step back and watched as the ground overturned and rose up. For a moment there, the ground jutting up blocked his view.

Pah-ahk—!

Kalira used this opening to try and stab him with its vajra.

Shu-rururu—

But the vajra that it thrust forward was blocked by pure-white clouds.

Pazzzzzik—!

The clouds restricted the vajra and began sending powerful electrical shocks. However, Kalira ignored the electrical currents, shattered the boulder before it, and then pounced straight at its opponent.

Unfortunately for Kalira...

[One Sword Cutting Through Everything - Great Mountain Splitter]

What awaited it after breaking through the boulder was Su-hyeun's sword that he held up high.

Sha-aaaaahk—

Kwa-gagagaga—

The heaven and earth were split apart, and debris noisily tumbled down the chasm now opened up on the ground.

A long sword wound ran down on Kalira's face. Right at the last possible moment, it stopped advancing and raised a single vajra to protect itself before it was chopped apart in half.

Smirk—

However, Kalira continued to smile regardless, "This is so much fun!"

CLANG—!

Two vajras swung downward and shoved Su-hyeun's sword down.

Kalira's wounds continued to accumulate. Despite that, it remained unperturbed, clearly not fearing shedding more of its blood. Actually, it was enjoying this battle even more thoroughly, its strength getting stronger over time.

However...

"I'm getting more used to it now."

The same applied to Su-hyeun.

Swiiiiish—

Su-hyeun's body spun around in a large arc, his sword slicing the air apart. At the same time, a crimson line was drawn on one of Kalira's arms.

Splaaash—!

A fountain of blood shot out from the arm; Kalira's hand had been cleanly severed.

Su-hyeun quipped, "Well, three more to go."

"..."

Kalira's attitude, filled with killing intent and burning fighting spirit evident in its crimson eyes, faltered noticeably for a moment then.

But that made some sense; unlike the wounds inflicted on it until now, a part of its limb got severed. Losing an arm meant the number of vajras it could swing around would decrease, which in turn, would negatively affect its overall combat capability.

"It's..." Kalira seemed to ponder something before another smile was etched on its face, "become even more interesting."

"How nice that you still think that way."

"However, why aren't you using that power from earlier?"

"That power?"

"Yes, the power of Zeus. The power you acquired after you agreed to become Zeus's hunting dog. From the look of things, you're quite proficient with swordsmanship," Kalira spoke while recalling Su-hyeun's Thunderbolt that brought Anubis to its knees. "You better use that power again. Only then will this battle be even more entertaining."

"You sound way too eager to die, you know that?"

"It matters not," Kalira replied without a shred of hesitation. "Death cannot be separate from conflicts and warfare. Even if it's unknown whether your life or mine will be forfeited today, for the sake of maximum enjoyment, I will gladly offer up my life."

This Predator had such an obsession for fighting and an overwhelming desire for the amusement derived from fighting itself. As Kalira was an offspring between Asura and Kali, it truly enjoyed fighting against a strong opponent, and it had not fought anyone as strong as Su-hyeun until now.

If at all possible, Kalira wanted to see the strongest state of the strongest opponent it had ever met.

"Well, I don't have a reason to humor you just because you asked me, but," Su-hyeun replied while scratching his head, "Honestly, though, there's something I wanted to test out myself, you see."

Kalira said that the power Su-hyeun possessed came from Zeus. In a way, Kalira was right.

Also, Su-hyeun hadn't fully mastered Zeus's power, the power of lightning. As such, learning how to wield that power was a task he would have to gradually solve by himself over time.

Ruuuumble—!

When Su-hyeun raised his left hand, lightning began cracking again. However, the electrical charge didn't gather around his hand this time; it instead floated up in the air and assumed a physical form where he was pointing at with his fingertip.

It was a spear glowing in a reddish-golden hue. Right after that, though, a second one materialized, quickly followed by a third one, a hundredth one…and then hundreds of them.

[Thunderbolts - Divine Punishment]

That was a somewhat familiar technique.

Su-hyeun recalled the original owner of this technique, Gordon Rohan, and muttered softly to himself, "Hey, Gordon. This isn't too shabby, actually."