Player who Returned 10,000 years Later

"Goddammit," Oh Kang-Woo cursed.

He had no idea where they were. Once a new path opened, an existing path disappeared.

"Where the hell are we?"

"I… am not sure either at this point," answered Balrog as he looked around and sighed.

’Shit.’

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes. The Gate’s structure was changing in real time.

’Was this a shifting maze?’

He had never heard of such a phenomenon.

"Hmm. It seems we have no choice," Balrog said as his eyes gleamed, immense demonic energy gathering around his fist. "We have to blow everything away, tunnel and all."

Kang-Woo stopped Balrog as he was about to swing his fist. They would indeed be able to find their way once they destroyed everything, but there was one problem.

"They could run away."

There would have been no point in coming here if the monster that turned the Players into mummies escaped.

"Urgh," Balrog groaned.

"Let’s try walking for a little longer. If we’re still stuck after that, just blow everything away."

"Understood."

Balrog nodded and followed Kang-Woo through the complexly entwined tunnel.

- Fuck!

- This is all your fault!

- Bullshit!

Just then, they heard people arguing from the other side of the tunnel.

"Balrog."

"Yes, my king."

Kang-Woo and Balrog headed to the source of the sound without hesitation.

"You sons of bitches!"

"You bastards wanna go?!"

"Hah! Bring it on!"

They reached a cave about one hundred meters wide, where two factions, about twenty people in total, were in a standoff. They were glaring at one another in rage with their weapons out.

"This never would’ve happened if you sons of bitches weren’t so greedy over the relic!"

"We solved the puzzle first!"

Kang-Woo didn’t know what they were arguing about but it was getting heated.

"Helya’s fucking dildos!"

"What did you say? Big words from Ishvalda’s electric fucking fleshlights!"

’Holy shit, look at them go.’

Kang-Woo couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched the two factions fiercely cursing at each other.

’That aside… Ishvalda?’

He had heard the name before.

’That Kim Tae-Ho guy or whatever his name was mentioned it.’

Kang-Woo recalled the young man who introduced himself as a seven-star apostle of Ishvalda. He was one of the people from another Earth whom Kang-Woo met back at the Temple of Truth. He used lightning infused with enough power that impressed even Kang-Woo.

’That fucking troll.’

Kang-Woo still got headaches from recalling how Kim Tae-Ho had drawn the giant golden monkey Rajang’s attention toward the group due to his carelessness.

’Were the unidentified corpses Lilith mentioned from their world?’

That seemed the most likely. They were also from Earth but it was undoubtedly an outer world if compared to the Earth Kang-Woo lived in. It was only natural their fingerprints or DNA weren’t in any database.

"Hah! It seems words won’t get us anywhere!"

"You never intended to settle things with words from the beginning! I heard Ishvalda’s apostles were evil but I never expected it to be this bad!"

"What did you say?!"

"Everyone knows you extort the residents of the Tower’s lower floors of their money!"

"Hah! I can’t believe I’m hearing this from someone who killed people to get information about this relic!"

"Shut up! That was a fair trade!"

"Bullshit. You call killing five people a fair trade?"

"Wh-Where did you get that information from…?"

"Shit! What are we going to do now?! Now that we’re stuck here, you can kiss getting out of here goodbye!"

Members of each faction were getting more and more worked up.

’I don’t know what relic they’re talking about, but…’

Kang-Woo could tell both factions were pieces of shit in their own right.

’I mean, I had a feeling that was the case for the Ishvalda group since that fucking troll is a member, but I don’t give a damn.’

He couldn’t care less whether they extorted money from others or gained information by killing people. The important thing was that they had information about this place. If they didn’t, they would never have said that they couldn’t get out once they were stuck here.

"Ah, ahhh," Kang-Woo cleared his throat as he stepped forward. He spoke as respectfully as possible, "Please stop fighting, everyone."

"Haaah?"

"Who the hell is that brat?"

The members of both factions stared at Kang-Woo.

Kang-Woo smiled and said kindly, "I am one of the people who are stuck here. This is not the time to fight." He then shouted with all his heart, "It is time for us to join forces and find a way out together!"

"..."

"..."

The expressions of the people staring at Kang-Woo crumpled as they glared at him as if they couldn’t comprehend what he was saying. They went back to glaring at each other and cursing.

"Damn Ishvalda dogs!"

"Hah! It seems your brains aren’t developed enough to understand words!"

Kang-Woo quickly shouted, "Everyone! Violence breeds nothing!"

Yes, violence never solved anything. They needed to join forces and get out of here together.

"Bring it on, motherfuckers!"

"O Helya! Grant me the power of the sun!"

Fwoosh!

Intense flames raged.

"Take the judgment of Ishvalda!"

Crackle!

Blue lightning on par with the flames sparked.

"Everyone! Please stop fighting!!"

"Kurgh! Die!!"

"Bastards!"

Boom! Clang!

The factions began fighting against each other. Clashing metal echoed throughout the cave as the flames and lightning raged.

"Everyone! Please stop f—"

"Die, you cocksuckers!"

"Kuh! Son of a bitch!"

"Every…"

’These fucking bastards.’

"STOP FUCKING FIGHTIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!"

A destructive impulse took over Kang-Woo as a thin string keeping his sense of reason intact snapped.

Bash! Crunch!

Kang-Woo ran forward and dealt a low kick to the two nearest people fighting. Their legs bent at an unnatural angle and they screamed as they collapsed on the spot.

"Huh…?"

"Wh-What was that?"

The others stopped fighting and stared at Kang-Woo wide-eyed.

"ARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!" Kang-Woo screamed ferociously as he charged at the people fighting. "WHY THE FUCK AREN’T YOU SONS OF BITCHES LISTENING TO ME?!!"

He couldn’t contain his fury.

"Kurgh! Cough!!!"

"GAAAAAAAAAAH! M-MY AAAAAAAARM!!"

"I FUCKING TOLD YOU TO STOP FIGHTING!!"

Bash! Crunch! Crush!

Kang-Woo beat the shit out of everyone who entered his field of vision like a wolf in a flock of sheep. The sound of bones breaking echoed throughout the cave.

"Arghh! I-I’m sor…"

"Huh? What?"

"I’m sor— Cough!"

"SPEAK CLEARLY, MOTHERFUCKER!!!"

Crunch!

The man vomited blood as his ribs shattered.

"GAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!" his screams filled the cave. "Cough! Cough! Gah…"

"NOW! REPEAT AFTER ME! VIOLENCE!"

"I-It hurts… I’m gonna d-die…"

"VIOLEEEEEEEEEEENCE!!!"

"GAAAAAAAAAHHH! I-I’m sorry! P-Please stop hitting me!! V-Violeeeeeeeence!!"

"IS BAD!"

"I-Is bad…"

"I CAN’T HEAR YOU, MOTHERFUCKEEEEEEEEERS!!"

"Kurgh!! Urgh! I-IS BAAAAAAAAAD!!"

"AGAIN!! VIOLENCE! IS BAD!!"

"VIOLEEEEENCE!! IS BAAAAAAAAAAD!!"

"THEN WHY THE FUCK WERE YOU FIGHTING?????!!!!!!!!!"

Crunch, crack.

"Ah."

’He’s dead.’

"Huuu," Kang-Woo caught his breath.

He accidentally killed one of them but it didn’t matter.

’There are plenty more people I can ask.’

Kang-Woo slowly turned around to see people looking up at him in pallor, their eyes filled with terror.

’I knew it.’

There was nothing like illogical violence to instill fear into people. Since Kang-Woo engraved into their minds that he was insane, they wouldn’t look down on him because of his young appearance.

"I will take care of the interrogation, my king," Balrog remarked as he approached.

Kang-Woo shook his head. "No, it’s okay."

Interrogations were best carried out by the source of the person they feared.

"Right, then. Attention, everyone!"

Kang-Woo clapped his hands together to gather their attention.

"Gasp!"

"P-Please spare us!"

The people bowed in fear just from Kang-Woo clapping his hands together. Kang-Woo smiled in satisfaction.

"Do you know where we are?" Kang-Woo asked a random person as he placed his foot on their fingers.

"Eek! I-I do!! I KNOOOOOOOAAAAAAHHHH!!" shouted a man as the pressure on his fingers grew stronger.

"Where are we?"

"A-A space created by a d-demon!"

"A demon…?"

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes.

’A space created by a demon? Demons… still exist?’

As far as he knew, most demons from the Nine Hells died in the battle between him and Bael. Even if some demons had survived, he was confused about why they would create a space on another Earth to kill people.

The man trembled as he shouted, "W-We’ve done nothing wrong! We simply entered a dungeon to find a relic! But those damn Ishvalda dogs activated a trap and—!"

Crush!

Kang-Woo pressed his foot down on the man’s fingers without hesitation, bending them at an unnatural angle.

"GAAAAAAAHHH!!"

"I don’t give a shit about who did what, so just stick to answering my questions."

"Gurghhh. I-I understand…!"

The man cried as he held his broken fingers.

"To think a demon did this… It’s quite hard to believe," Balrog expressed.

"Yeah. Was there a demon who could make spaces like this?"

"Mm. I can’t quite remember."

Balrog fell into thought as he tilted his head. Kang-Woo lightly kicked the collapsed man’s hip.

"Do you know which demon made this space?" he asked.

"Gurgh… M-My fingers…"

"For fuck’s sake. You’re outright ignoring my questions now, are you?"

"Eek! I-I’ll talk! I’ll talk!!!" the man shouted as he smashed his head into the ground.

Kang-Woo clicked his tongue and waited for the man to answer.

"This place is called… Den of the Night Demons."

"What…?"

Chills went down Kang-Woo’s spine the moment he heard what this place was called.

"W-Wait a second. By night demons, you mean…"

He was reminded of a fear he did not want to even imagine.

"Yes! It is a space made by s-succubi to suck the life force of men!!"

"...!!!" Kang-Woo’s eyes widened. He shouted from the bottom of his heart, "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY?!! This is a den of succubi…?"

His feet, firmly planted on the ground, began to shake uncontrollably.