The Hero Has Returned-Chapter 29 : The Butterfly Effect. (7)

Chapter 29: The Butterfly Effect. (7)
After Purple Devil disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Lee Yu-seol stood there as if frozen in place.
‘What on earth was that…….’
Only then did she strain to confirm Purple Devil’s ability through [Sense].
But it was useless.
The speed at which Purple Devil kicked off the ground and shot away was something her senses simply could not keep up with.
Probably no one among them had noticed.
That Purple Devil had already infiltrated the Dio Guild building.
“…….”
Lee Yu-seol had witnessed countless powerful individuals while living as a hunter.
The head of another guild who ran across water and instantly subdued an aquatic monster.
A different race inside a gate that rendered an entire combat unit unconscious.
A nationwide villain who had dismembered and murdered seven A-rank hunters on site.
Each and every one of them was an unforgettable memory etched into her mind.
‘They were all monsters.’
But.
None of them possessed physical abilities as astonishing as Purple Devil’s.
‘I couldn’t even catch him in my sight, let alone sense him.’
How. How much.
What kind of training would it take to reach such a realm.
Ten years? Twenty years? A lifetime?
Lee Yu-seol bit her lip.
‘No. He far exceeded human limits to begin with.’
Then there was only one answer.
He must have been granted a special talent upon awakening.
No matter how coldly she analyzed it, she could not understand it.
‘What kind of talent did he have…….’
Before she could finish her thought, an explosion rang out from the sky.
Bang!!!
A rain mixed with fragments of sand poured down as the entire building shook.
The source of the shockwave was the building’s rooftop.
The Dio Guild agents guarding the entrance looked up in shock.
“W-What?”
“What is that now?”
“……My God.”
A mass of mana burst like fireworks atop the building.
Lee Yu-seol closed her eyes.
In the darkness, her awareness moved toward the tip of the spire.
“Ugh!”
Lee Yu-seol clutched her temples.
Two beings of a higher level than her were fighting.
One was Go Ju-hoon, the head of the Dio Guild.
The other was Purple Devil.
The two exchanged fierce blows, neither yielding an inch.
Lee Yu-seol wondered.
The fight between Go Ju-hoon and Purple Devil.
‘Who will win?’
Not long after, Lee Yu-seol’s expression noticeably relaxed.
The balance was gradually tipping.
The one being driven on the defensive was…….
‘Purple Devil!’
Lee Yu-seol felt relieved.
‘That’s more like it.’
The man she trusted, the man she truly loved.
There was no way Go Ju-hoon would lose to a lowlife like that.
Lee Yu-seol headed toward the building entrance.
Then she shouted to everyone gathered there.
“Everyone, attention!”
When the armed agents spotted Lee Yu-seol, they snapped to attention.
“A high-risk villain has infiltrated the Dio Guild interior!”
The agents stared blankly at one another, question marks practically floating over their heads.
“……When?”
“We didn’t see a single rat.”
Lee Yu-seol raised her voice.
“The head of the Dio Guild is fighting that bastard right now. Are you just going to stand by and watch!”
At a glance, the guild looked like a tightly united armed group, but its structure was no different from a large corporation.
The agents who worked for money had no sense of mission or deep loyalty.
The Dio Guild was usually ill-behaved, a rabble of good-for-nothings who caused trouble whenever they got the chance and had nowhere else to go.
The agents held special feelings toward Go Ju-hoon, who had taken them in.
“We’re going to support CEO Go! Pass the word! All forces, charge to the rooftop!”
Determination filled the agents’ faces.
“Yes! Understood!”
“What kind of guts-less bastard dares!”
“May I take that bastard’s head myself!”
Someone raised a hand.
“Team Leader Lee. With Code X active, the elevators are stopped, so it seems it’ll be difficult to reach the rooftop.”
When the Dio Guild building entered combat mode, the elevators automatically stopped.
If someone forcibly activated them, the doors would close and immediately explode.
If an intruder unaware of this fact broke in.
They would melt in a blazing inferno, trapped inside the elevator.
The bomb was only disarmed when Code X was解除.
“What should we do, Team Leader Lee?”
Lee Yu-seol deliberated.
Purple Devil had also avoided the elevators and headed for the emergency stairs.
He must have judged that route to be faster and more efficient.
Eighty-eight floors. And then the rooftop.
For an ordinary person, it would take at least thirty minutes, maybe an hour.
But for trained Dio Guild agents.
‘Ten minutes is enough!’
What would happen on the rooftop during that time was impossible to predict.
‘It might already be over.’
Lee Yu-seol predicted Go Ju-hoon’s victory.
‘Purple Devil will be a corpse.’
With a smile on her lips, she dashed through the revolving door.
“Run!”
Swoooosh.
Rainwater soaked my suit and streamed down my body.
“……Huff, huff.”
After just a few exchanges, my body was completely battered.
One eye was swollen shut, to the point I couldn’t see out of it.
The jaw portion of my mask had been torn away.
Fresh cuts carved all over my body stung sharply.
Both fists throbbed as if I had punched solid rock.
The spots where Go Ju-hoon had pummeled me ached.
‘Damn it.’
Right before clashing with him.
I had purchased Super Kid’s <Aura of God>.
Mana spread over my entire body, forming a thin protective layer.
Ordinary blades or bullets couldn’t leave even a small scratch on my skin.
Even The Twins hadn’t been able to break through the barrier.
But.
No matter how strong a diamond was, if force beyond its limit was applied, it shattered to pieces.
The shield that enveloped me was helplessly torn apart by Go Ju-hoon’s attacks.
The impact transferred directly to my organs.
“Cough.”
A mouthful of blood spilled out.
Go Ju-hoon washed the blood off his hand with rainwater.
“There was a lot of talk, but you’re nothing special.”
The amount of mana emanating from his body surged.
Go Ju-hoon opened his mouth.
“My talent is [Devour (Predation)]. It’s effective when killing an opponent, but every time I clash with an enemy, experience piles up.”
To reveal his own ability so casually.
It was hard to see it as mere confidence.
That bastard was…….
“At first, everyone’s like you. They boldly stand up to me.”
Go Ju-hoon curled the corner of his lips into a sneer.
“In the end, they all died miserably by my hand.”
He wrapped his body with both arms.
“Mana. Isn’t it amazing? Sometimes it’s warm, sometimes ice-cold, and sometimes it excites people like a drug.”
A thoroughly arrogant narcissist.
Only then did I come face to face with Go Ju-hoon’s true nature.
“It feels like becoming a god. No, I really will become a god. Standing at the pinnacle of this world. If that isn’t a god, then what is.”
Go Ju-hoon stretched out both hands.
Shapes emerged through the wavering rain.
“Giiik!”
“Gigegek!”
“Kkegek!”
Three figures that vaguely resembled Go Ju-hoon burst forth.
My skin was pale, and my hair was long.
I was naked, but my genitals were not visible.
The three of them were wearing leashes, and Go Ju-hoon was holding those leashes.
They were truly bizarre beyond description.
Creatures that could not naturally occur in reality.
‘Was it a Make-type.’
A lineage that materialized things through mana.
Go Ju-hoon had materialized living beings.
None other than himself.
“I’m not interested in people other than myself. I focus solely on me, and then focus again.”
And the result was.
Those puppet dolls.
Go Ju-hoon slung an arm around one of his clones’ shoulders.
“My friends obey any order I give them.”
Looking closely, they were slightly taller and more muscular than him.
“If I tell them to kill each other, they’ll rush at one another without hesitation.”
Go Ju-hoon threw something onto the ground.
It was a dog leash made of iron.
“I’ll give you two choices. First, you become my dog.”
He pointed at the leash.
“Put it on and swear. That you’ll do exactly as I say for the rest of your life. Then I’ll let you live.”
Go Ju-hoon pointed at me.
“Second, you don’t become my dog. If you choose this, I’ll cripple you and take off your mask. And then I’ll kill everyone you know. Hehe.”
When he laughed, his shoulders shook.
“I won’t kill you. I’ll completely isolate you and make you lonely. Until the day you die.”
Go Ju-hoon jingled the leash in his hand.
“Now, choose.”
Go Ju-hoon’s clone drooled as if it would pounce at any moment.
“Grrr!”
I looked at the dog collar half-submerged in a puddle.
Living alone wasn’t frightening.
I had been horribly alone even in my previous life.
What I truly feared was…….
From outside the mask, torn at the jaw.
I stuck out my long tongue crookedly.
“I’d rather bite off my tongue and die than submit to the likes of you.”
The moment I finished speaking, Go Ju-hoon’s clones lunged at me.
They adhered to a combat style completely different from their host.
Where Go Ju-hoon was elegant and refined.
They were like zombies that had starved for days.
“Khak!”
“Khahaak!”
“Kaaak!!”
All three attacked simultaneously, slashing with their claws.
Slaaash.
Even the remaining <Aura of God> was completely torn away.
I urgently activated <Judgment of the Superhuman>, but there was no way they would oblige my sluggish punches.
“Damn it!”
I blocked with both arms, but the rest of my body, aside from what I defended, was torn apart.
In the brief moment I faltered, one of them bit into my shoulder.
Blood gushed from my shoulder and ran down to my wrist.
The more damage I took.
The more my mana turned into light and was sucked toward Go Ju-hoon.
“……Ha. Good! More! Just a little more!”
My damage became Go Ju-hoon’s source of energy.
A pool of blood formed where I stood.
My body shivered.
Cold.
My consciousness grew hazy.
I felt like I was about to pass out.
‘……This is dangerous.’
Super Kid’s <Judgment of the Superhuman> and <Aura of God> were blocked.
I wanted to use Speeder’s <Infinite Acceleration>, but my legs had been trembling for a while now.
‘It’s doubtful whether my body can endure it.’
There was nothing worse than wasting money and failing to bring out an ability.
‘There’s no choice. I’ll have to try something new.’
A new skill obtained after finishing a full marathon course.
Ding.
Purchasing <Regeneration>.
Mana surged from my wrecked body.
Swoooosh.
My wounds began to heal.
At the same time, my balance was rapidly depleted.
[ Awakener’s Balance ]
: ₩989,565,998.
: ₩985,565,998.
: ₩985,564,545.
: ₩985,551,110.
…….
An amount that had exceeded one billion dropped to nine hundred million won.
Speeder, according to his setting, became a hero after being struck by lightning in a laboratory.
In addition to running abilities, he possessed the power to stimulate cells and heal wounds on the body.
Go Ju-hoon tilted his head.
“A healer? Or self-healing? You’ve got a lot of tricks. So, what now? Are you just going to keep healing until you die?”
His assessment was correct.
<Regeneration> was a defensive skill.
This ability alone couldn’t turn the tables.
And even if I engaged Go Ju-hoon in a slugfest.
It would only make him stronger.
‘Isn’t there some kind of way?’
Flash!
In an instant, a bolt of lightning struck down.
Immediately after, thunder that tore at my eardrums roared.
‘Yeah. That’ll work.’
The moment Go Ju-hoon turned his gaze away, I quietly picked up something that had fallen on the ground.
Go Ju-hoon stroked the clones’ heads as he spoke.
“My kids. You’re hungry, right?”
He shoved a clone’s back.
“That one over there. Leave only the torso and eat everything else!”
The moment his words ended, the three monsters clung to me like evil spirits.
They viciously bit into my limbs and neck.
Rip! Riiip!
My skin split open, and blood splashed into my eyes.
Fresh blood surged back up my throat, and a thick metallic taste spread across my tongue.
As my body was damaged, my balance decreased and the injured parts regenerated, but.
The pain went beyond imagination.
“Kuaaaagh!!!”
The horrific pain made it feel like my brain was about to burst.
It was as if someone had tied me up and was inflicting the most brutal torture imaginable.
‘I can’t fall!’
I clenched my teeth so hard they felt like they would crack.
With the clones hanging all over my body, I took a step forward.
Go Ju-hoon let out a snort of laughter.
“Oh? You’re enduring it? Fine. Let’s do this.”
The clones’ ferocious assault intensified.
My limbs snapped, and sharp claws dug deep into my back.
Crunch! Crack! Rip!
“……Kh.”
I couldn’t even let out a proper scream.
At every moment, my vision flipped and my body staggered.
The chunks of flesh that had been torn away filled back in, and the bones that had split apart fused again.
But they mercilessly destroyed my body all over again.
This hellish cycle of reconstruction and destruction continued as if it were eternity.
Once it went beyond the mere sensation of pain, a despair like falling into a deep abyss surged up.
At this point.
‘……I want to die.’
My half-dislocated jaw trembled like a nutcracker doll.
Cold. Sleepy.
‘But. Not now!’
One step. Then another.
I walked, and walked again, desperately.
And then,
Before I knew it, I had reached Go Ju-hoon.
“……Uh.”
I was truly standing between the living and the dead.
My scalp was peeled away, and my right ear had fallen off.
My intestines were fully exposed as blood poured out.
The clones were still clinging to me, greedily devouring my body.
Go Ju-hoon extended his nails long and aimed between my brows.
“You’re an eyesore. Enough. Disappear.”
Atop a high-rise building.
Endless raindrops poured down behind Go Ju-hoon’s back.
Lightning flashing between the storm clouds was a spectacular sight.
I smiled with lips torn and tattered.
“An eyesore? It’s beautiful.”
I raised what I was holding in my right hand up toward the sky.
It was the metal dog collar Go Ju-hoon had thrown.
That’s right.
Speeder was a hero born after being struck by lightning.
At times, lightning became his driving force.
“You disappear instead.”
In that instant, Go Ju-hoon’s pupils widened.
“What?”
I hugged him tightly with my left arm.
Kwa-gwa-gwang!!!
An energy close to infinity descended from the sky and struck Go Ju-hoon.