Returnee's S-Rank Management Guide

Emergence (1)

'Quite fast.'

Shutron, the demon who was sniping between the trees of the demonic zone's forest, narrowed his eyes.

The moment he launched his attack, one of the enemies began to rush toward his position.

'Huh?'

And even with a woman carried on his back.

'Is he insane?'

With her face obscured by being carried, it was difficult to see her properly.

Still, from Shutron's perspective, this was practically a suicidal act.

Neither the carrier nor the one being carried could possibly exert proper strength.

Above all, their speed would inevitably be slowed.

'They must have thought it's enough to just shake off the Mi-mes.'

Variants created based on 'Mimos' from Alcatraz.

Though their strength was far inferior to the original, these improved beasts, perfectly adept at hiding their presence and acting as a group, were twice as easy to deploy.

Monsters made from the remnants left after experiments.

Failures but also, in a way, successful creations, those creatures were difficult opponents even for Shutron.

'I'd better eliminate them first, then cover Cade.'

No matter how strong Cade was, he never thought Parker Jung-woo would be easy to handle.

Even if he had grown stronger, Park Jung-woo too would have become more powerful.

Above all, Park Jung-woo possessed the 'Demon King's' heart.

If he learned to wield the Demon King's power more perfectly, nothing could be more horrifying.

KWAANG!!

At Shutron's fingertip, a black beam took shape, forming like an awl and firing.

This black awl was Shutron's secret magic and the power of his bloodline as a demon.

Black Fang.

Spinning in a spiral, it flew toward the man who was rushing closer—Eugene.

Aimed perfectly between Eugene's eyebrows.

'He's not dodging?'

Expecting the first shot to be dodged, Shutron started to re-aim, but when the opponent kept running straight toward him, his eyes widened.

If someone did that, their head would be pierced through as is—

CRACK!!

"...!!"

Shutron instinctively twisted his body.

Simultaneously, something pierced through his shoulder.

'What the...'

Had he not dodged by instinct, his head would have been run through.

'Just now, what pierced my shoulder was definitely Black Fang.'

Did the opponent just use his secret magic?

No, that's impossible.

To use Black Fang, one needed the power of his bloodline.

'No way.'

Gritting his teeth, Shutron moved his gaze.

Now, the man was only a step away.

And the woman on his back, as well.

"Got you."

Eugene adjusted his sword to a horizontal grip.

Just as Shutron thought Eugene's sword hand trembled faintly, dozens, nearly countless slashes rained down upon him almost at once.

"...... Yuria, is it!!"

"You've got the wrong person."

At the snorting, scoffing figure of Yeon-ji, Shutron ground his teeth with a crunch.

He'd been too late to realize who was carried on Eugene's back.

'So, it could be used this way too?'

Shutron had seen the fight with Sol Mayer.

Back then, her power had gathered the opponent's magic and reflected it in reverse.

But this was different.

At that time, she gathered strength and shot it all at once.

But now, the counterattack was immediate, returned instantly as an attack.

Instant retaliation.

"Damn it."

Close combat was not his forte.

Shutron tried to quickly retreat to dodge Eugene's strikes, but even that was impossible.

Both his feet were already frozen to the demonic zone's ground.

The power of Yuria, wielder of ice.

It was the bloodline magic of Ardan Bello, Duke of Winter.

"That's one down."

With Eugene's calm words, Shutron's body was torn apart by an onslaught of blows.

***

'A great power vanished from afar.'

Jung-woo sensed it.

He felt that Shin Ah-yeon's group had taken down the demon who had been sniping from a distance.

With the most bothersome presence dealt with, all that remained was to defeat the mimics cloned from Mimos, and Cade himself.

"Just hold out a little longer!"

Jung-woo's fist came crashing down on the head of the charging monster, the Mi-me.

Feeling the crunch of breaking bones through his hand, he realized he had taken one down.

'Three left.'

Perhaps because their comrades had fallen, the Mi-mes' movements had dulled.

They remained invisible to the naked eye, but he could practically sense their every move as if he could physically catch them.

'I'm getting used to this now.'

He couldn't see them, but he tracked their flow among countless distractions.

At first, it had been strange and he'd missed them several times, but not anymore.

Thanks to constant fighting, he barely felt a difference from seeing them directly now.

"Looks like you're starting to think the battle is almost won."

At that moment, Cade, who had quietly been facing off against Baek Hojun and Kian, spoke.

There was no hint of anxiety on his face, even in this unfavorable situation.

"What do you mean?"

Jung-woo took a step away from the Mi-mes and addressed Cade.

"Now, in effect, your side seems to think that as long as you deal with me, you'll be able to go inside."

He nodded as he took on the flying divine swords and flames that threatened to burn his body.

Yet, without a scratch even after all this, he truly deserved to be called a monster.

"To be honest, I thought it would have been better for you to just shake everyone off and rush inside, but you haven't made that mistake."

Jung-woo frowned at his words.

He wasn't wrong.

The troublesome Mi-mes, the top-rank demon sniping from afar.

Above all...

"You couldn't just leave someone like me behind."

Cade was as powerful as any demon, a main pillar for them, and someone Jung-woo, too, had to defeat.

"Besides, there's our history."

"What are you trying to say?"

"You can't have it all."

He said that and sighed.

Honestly, he'd hoped the situation wouldn't come to this.

'Maybe Damian anticipated this.'

He looked ahead.

Opponents—Park Jung-woo, and the heroes who followed him—stood before him.

In the past, he'd fled once.

So he'd never properly faced them; but this time, he wouldn't run.

"Let's see if you can really turn your back on me."

Just as Henate had done, now it was his turn.

RUMBLE!!

The earth shook, trembling.

As if in response to Cade's words, demonic energy began to surge up from deep underground.

No, not just demonic energy.

A colossal primordial force.

The power that manifested when divine art was activated began to gush forth from below the earth.

"Manager Park, what is that?!"

Startled by the sudden turn, Hojun shouted, and Jung-woo scowled.

This wasn't caused by Cade.

Something was about to erupt at the very heart of the demonic zone they were headed toward.

'Judging by the strength I sense, it shouldn't be complete yet.'

From the king's vision Jung-woo had acquired, he could see the unstable intertwining of divine art and demonic energy below.

It was clear something was being forcibly activated before it was ready.

"You, they must not have thought you'd last this long."

"Yes, it's a bit quicker than expected. Honestly, I thought I could last a little longer myself, but..."

Cade shook his head as if resigned.

"But it can't be helped. You have to carry out your mission to the end."

Standing on the quaking ground, he drew the rising demonic energy into his body.

At this moment, this entire area was a perfect match for the 'Demon Realm'.

Just like fighting in a city for someone from Alencia.

In this moment, Cade was almost conjoined with whatever was deep underground.

"You..."

Jung-woo narrowed his eyes at him.

Cade's body couldn't possibly be okay, not when absorbing this monstrous power alone.

At the moment, Cade's body was Owen's.

Though changed to resemble the demon realm and shaped close to Cade's original, there was clearly a limit.

Even if it were Cade's real body, it wouldn't have endured this.

"I know."

Cade understood that, too.

From the moment he accepted this power, he had no place to go back to.

His body would gradually collapse, his life ultimately lost.

"Still, I'll buy enough time."

Underground, their plans were progressing even faster than scheduled.

They must have decided that enough would be achieved nonetheless.

"Now, what will you do?"

Clutching his sword, Cade pointed it at Jung-woo.

What's more, the 'Mi-mes' were still alive.

"Honestly, you should go now. There's no point fighting me. But if you do, everyone here will die."

Jung-woo still believed his people could handle Cade.

His conviction hadn't changed.

But if Cade, reinforced by burning his life and the help from 'something' underground, fought them, it was a different story.

That, even to Jung-woo, was a monster he couldn't deal with easily.

Perhaps, a monster right at the threshold of the Demon King.

"Manager Park."

As Jung-woo hesitated, Hojun spoke up.

"You can go. It's okay."

"Hunter Baek Hojun?"

"Hunter Shin Ah-yeon and others will join us soon."

The Mi-mes' presence was still hard to track, but once Soo-ah arrived, her blue flames would reveal them.

Cade, well... he didn't know.

But if they fought together, they couldn't stop whatever was beginning below.

"Oh?"

At Hojun's words, Cade gave a vague smile.

"Interesting. Even I thought so earlier. A human swordsman trying to stop me alone."

Especially now, for Cade was burning away his very life.

Yet here, a human who'd barely lived a century stood in his way.

"Hunter Baek Hojun has a point. What matters is below, after all, isn't it?"

Kian chimed in support, stepping forward.

He, too, was a swordsman.

He knew all too well the gulf between him and the monster before him.

Still, what did it matter?

He'd considered this possibility from the moment he arrived.

"..."

Cade had said he would see if they could turn their backs on him.

Indeed, moving to the core of the demonic zone, leaving others behind, was dangerous.

There was no guarantee they could stop anything, given the forced activation.

'In any case, from the moment they forced this to start in an incomplete state, their goal was mostly achieved.'

So, should they finish things here by defeating Cade?

'Or...'

Go directly to confront and stop whatever was underground?

His hesitation was fleeting.

"Then, I'll leave it to you."

"Yes."

Jung-woo trusted Hojun.

He was not the type to claim he could do what he couldn't.

So, he left Cade to him.

The Mi-mes were a concern, but as Hojun said, Soo-ah could handle it.

More importantly—

"If you thought I'd just let you go..."

As he began to speak, blue light sliced through the demonic zone.

Once, he wouldn't even have managed to react. Now, Cade blocked it with his sword.

"I was about to call you mistaken, but..."

KWAANG!!!

With a belated boom, Cade clicked his tongue.

Alencia Walker.

He'd seen her speed more than once, but experiencing it firsthand was new.

"Nothing for it, I suppose."

Cade looked at Alencia, who stood unscathed even after taking a direct hit from his sword.

"... Old man, you're fast, huh?"

"Not really. I just barely kept up."

Alencia shook off her tingling hand, glancing at Jung-woo.

She'd already roughly grasped the situation.

As a Saintess, she could sense even more clearly the power rising from below.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

35 chapters left.

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