The Hero Returns

One thousand hells.

If he hadn't heard about it already from King Yama, Su-hyeun would've failed to understand what that even meant.

King Yama's role was to rule over nine thousand netherworlds created by the Primordial Gods, but he lost one thousand of them to Osiris. The one thousand hells Thor mentioned obviously referred to those.

"Could it be that Osiris was preparing for this day?" Su-hyeun thought.

Osiris commanded a truly massive army. Its scale was undoubtedly the largest among all the Predators out there. Such an army brought Asgard down to its knees.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the army was mostly intact even now.

"Wow, there are a crap ton of them," Sun Wukong muttered while staring at the massive army completely blotting out the sky.

He turned his head and noticed that more Predators had also filled the ground by now. They might be here to block the path toward Yggdrasil's roots, but even so, this number of Predators showing up in one place was simply unprecedented.

Just how many hundreds of thousands—no—how many hundreds of millions of them were here?

The number of Predators flooding out from one thousand hells was far higher than even Su-hyeun's estimation.

"Yggdrasil's roots are below that cliff in that direction." Thor brought Su-hyeun and Sun Wukong closer and pointed to where they had to go. "It doesn't matter who. Head there and secure Yggdrasil's roots no matter what it takes. And kill Osiris."

They had two goals—one, protect the roots and, two, kill Osiris. Neither of them could be called easy at all.

No, wait—both goals were incredibly challenging for only three individuals to accomplish.

However, Sun Wukong was quaking visibly from knowing this fact, his expression excited. "Yes! This is really kickass!"

Grab—

Pow, popopopopow—!

When he pointed Ruyi Jingu Bang to his front, lots of smoke exploded all around Sun Wukong's position. Countless clones materialized just then. Their numbers must've been well into several hundreds.

"If it's the numbers game, I'm also pretty good with it, you see!"

All those clones spoke up simultaneously, causing a noisy ringing in the surroundings.

They all assumed the same stance while wielding the very weapon. Even Su-hyeun found it difficult to differentiate which one was the real deal.

And so, after Sun Wukong and his clones got in position...

"Extend—!"

Extend—!

The voices echoed all around them.

"Ruyi—!"

Ka-boom, boooooooom—!

KA-BOOM—!

Hundreds of Ruyi Jingu Bangs enlarged to sizes never seen before. It was as if they were trying to split the world in half. The staves instantly punched hundreds of holes within the densely packed army of the Predators in the sky.

A path forward opened up.

Pow, popopow—!

"Huh?"

The clones disappeared a short while later, and Sun Wukong staggered a little.

"Are you all right, Third Brother?"

"It's nothing. Nothing. I'm still fine."

It really must've been nothing but a little dizzy spell because Sun Wukong's complexion didn't change much.

It seemed that he felt a little dizzy after exhausting a lot of Dao energy in one go.

"Makes sense since it's my first time seeing that many clones."

Still, they now had a path.

Su-hyeun grabbed the arms of Thor and Sun Wukong.

"Ng?"

"What are you doing?"

The two of them made the same sort of expressions that asked, "Why are you suddenly grabbing our arms?"

Su-hyeun replied, "Hold on tight so that you don't fall off."

"Eh?"

"S—say what? What are you—?"

Clouds rapidly materialized below Su-hyeun's feet. Sun Wukong saw that and suddenly laughed aloud as if he had figured out what was happening here.

"Fly—!" Su-hyeun shouted while staring at the path Sun Wukong had carved out, "Somersault cloud!"

Ka-boom—!

Swiiiiiiiish—!

Somersault cloud began flying forward at a breakneck pace.

They flew straight into the path and dug in deeply, all the while avoiding the Predators trying to interfere. Thor's complexion quickly lost all colors as he watched the scenery before his eyes rapidly changed, and the ground grew distant in an instant. "Uh, uuuuuh...?!"

Even though he was the God of Thunder and Odin's son, he had never experienced flying so fast in his entire life. If Su-hyeun let go of Thor's arm now, then no doubt the latter would crash-land rather ungracefully and perform some hilarious dance routines with Predators midair.

Thor instinctively reached out to Somersault cloud, trying to grab hold of it. However, as if it only wanted to carry Su-hyeun and no one else, the cloud rejected Thor's flailing hand and transformed into a handful of water vapors.

Just how long he clung onto Su-hyeun's arm like that, Thor didn't know.

"Mister Thor."

"Y—yes?"

"In front of us. Burn them all down with a lightning bolt, please."

Thor turned his head to look at their front at Su-hyeun's request.

Their speed seemed to be slowing down gradually, and the cause turned out to be the Predators that had gathered around once more to create a packed wall.

Thor raised Mjölnir's handle, which he had been gripping tightly. The power of the thunder and lightning gathered on the weapon, and he swung the hammer in the air.

Baaang—!

Fwhoooosh—!

Heavy pressure bore down from the air when he swung the hammer in. The Predators had been shoved aside before getting scorched alive by the azure arcs of lightning. The monsters began falling to the ground like dead flies.

"Looks like this is as far as we can go," Su-hyeun smacked his lips as if he found it rather unfortunate.

He thought that they could travel even deeper than this, but as it turned out, Sun Wukong's path wasn't as deep as he expected.

"No, wait—it's more like they managed to plug up the path much sooner than expected, isn't it?" he thought.

They wanted to get as close to Yggdrasil's roots as possible regardless of what, so he had been recklessly charging forward.

Result-wise, they could make some good headway, thanks to Sun Wukong's clone warfare. But now, the path the Monkey King had created was completely blocked off by the Predators still flooding out from one thousand hells.

Su-hyeun looked at Thor, who was still clinging to his arm, "Do you know how to fly?"

"I, uh, I can't fight in the air without the assistance of Valhalla's heavenly steeds. At this rate, it'll be better for me to go down to the ground and provide assistance from there."

"In other words, you need something to ride on?"

"Well, basically, yes. But right now, we don't—"

"Miru."

Split—

When Su-hyeun called its name, the giant red dragon peeked its head out from a tear in space.

Miru spotted countless Predators in the surroundings and bared its fangs in an ominous growl. Thor looked at the red dragon and let out an impressed sigh.

"I don't know how impressive the heavenly steeds are as a ride. Even then, my Miru shouldn't lose out to them."

"I assure you, never mind losing, this will be much better. A red dragon, is it? To think that I'd get a ride from a legendary god-beast!" Thor climbed on Miru's head and grinned.

Su-hyeun then began calling out his other summons, "Prince Nezha, you stick with me. As for the rest of you, focus on opening up the path. And Third Brother..."

"I need three minutes," Sun Wukong replied with a pair of slightly tired eyes as if his dizziness hadn't gone away yet.

Three minutes wasn't too long.

Su-hyeun nodded and then turned his head back to his front. He placed Gungnir on his back, where he usually kept his other spears. "In that case, I'll create a path for the time being."

Ruuuumble—

The divine Flame enveloped his sword. The surroundings were brightly illuminated when the blade was lit up in pure-red flames.

The standard slash? Or go with a different basic sword move?

The situation was urgent, and they didn't have much time. However, hurrying along wasn't the answer to every problem.

"It would help if you did not become impatient. That should be the largest wall you must learn to overcome."

That advice came from the Bull Demon King.

Su-hyeun heard that constantly from his First Brother ever since their first encounter. Nowadays, he would recall those sage words whenever he began feeling impatient.

"For now, let's keep it simple and easy."

[One Sword Cutting Through Everything - Sky Divider]

Gu-gugugu—

His sword descended like a meteor on the heads of the Predators closing in from his front.

Splat—!

Ruuumble—!

The Predators were chopped apart in half, and fierce flames spread out behind them. Although his strike was "simple and easy," it still killed dozens of Predators in one go.

Pah-aht—

Su-hyeun's figure lightly darted around. However, being "light" did not mean he was slow. He was even faster since he kept it light and simple. His movement was airy and smooth, making it much easier to connect disparate arcs of sword trajectories.

It wasn't as if he relied on a special technique or anything like that.

Shu-wak, sliiice—

Splaaat—!

All he did was envelop the blade in the divine Flame and began slicing and dicing the enemies.

Flames poured out according to the trajectories of the sword swings, their heat lingering everywhere for a long time. Despite fighting while conserving his strength, he opened up a path rather quickly.

"Nezha."

Whoooosh—

Prince Nezha responded to Su-hyeun's call and chucked the Yogoe Beating Mace to his master.

Grab—

Su-hyeun caught the weapon and drove his magical energy into it.

The Yogoe Beating Mace was similar to Sun Wukong's Ruyi Jingu Bang. Its size can be adjusted by the amount of energy one poured into it.

The mace Su-hyeun had in his left grip ballooned up seemingly endlessly. He relied on his grip strength to hold on tight and took a mighty swipe with it.

Right at that moment...

[Yogoe Beating Mace - Thunder Hammer]

Pazzzzzzik—!

The power of the thunder and lightning entered the Yogoe Beating Mace, turning it golden-orange.

FLASH—!

KA-BOOOOOM—!

Predators swept aside by the Yogoe Beating Mace fell in droves like dead flies. But then, more Predators rushed in from behind Su-hyeun, who was left wide open after making such a large move.

Swiiiiish—

Stab—

Sharp claws dug into Su-hyeun's exposed back. The Predator that was making a satisfied smile soon sensed that something was amiss.

Crunch—

"Huh?"

That sound came from bones breaking, but it didn't come from Su-hyeun's back.

What got crushed just then was the Predator's hand.

Split—

Cruuuunch—

A massive mouth opened up from above and swallowed up the Predator in one go, noisily munching on it.

It was Gluttony.

"Not bad."

Su-hyeun smirked deeply at the performance of his armor.

He deliberately let a low-tier Predator succeed in its attack. He already confirmed the improved performance of the sword enhanced by Kim Dae-ho, but he didn't have any opportunity to test out the armor until now, so he figured now would be a good time to do so.

Its performance was confirmed with this. The Predator that was trying to attack him from behind broke its hand instead. The impact didn't get transmitted underneath the armor. It seemed that the armor plating had fully absorbed it.

As far as armors went, now that deserved a perfect score.

Not only that, but also it was made out of adamantium, so its magic resistance should be quite considerable. Calling it the perfect armor wouldn't be an exaggeration at this point.

"I guess I don't need to worry about protecting myself from most regular small fries, then."

Squeeze—

Su-hyeun reached behind him and gripped Gungnir.

He hesitated slightly.

He knew he couldn't keep fighting while lugging around something this heavy on his back. Its weight was no joke, dulling his movements just a little, which in turn, led to him needing to spend more stamina.

If he wasn't planning to use it, he might as well discard it right away. But to throw it away just like that is unthinkable. The fact that it used to be Odin's spear, as well as a weapon crafted by Brahma, made him hesitate.

"I guess I'll check it out first."

Su-hyeun was proficient in handling spears. If he was asked to pick the weapon type he was most comfortable with, the first would be swords, followed by spears.

Rub—

While he pulled Gungnir off his back, the spear shaft brushed past the armor and transmitted a sharp metallic sensation to his back.

Initially, he didn't think much about it. However, when he got into the spear-throwing position with Gungnir in his hand, a sense of disharmony suddenly flooded into him.

"The sensation got transmitted inside the armor...?"

A determined Predator tried to stab Su-hyeun in the back to kill him, but he didn't feel a thing in the end. Yet just from the spear shaft brushing past the armor, he picked up the ultra-sharp metallic sensation?

Gungnir, which came across as a heavy burden until then, suddenly seemed to transform into something else entirely in his grip.

Like an entranced man, Su-hyeun got into the spear-throwing position. During his brief hesitation, countless Predators had assembled in front of him.

"One, two..."

Giii-iiing—

He readied his entire being to throw Gungnir, and when he started counting to three, the tip of the spear suddenly glowed brightly in golden light.

And when he finished counting to three...!

"Three."

FLASH—!

Gungnir flew out of Su-hyeun's hand.