Player who Returned 10,000 years Later

Side Story Chapter 118: Endless Eighth (4)

“Hyung-nim, so what you’re saying is…”

“We are in… a time loop?”

Kim Si-Hun and Balrog, who came as soon as Oh Kang-Woo called them, stared at each other in disbelief.

“Yeah,” Kang-Woo replied.

“Mmm.”

“The eighth is repeating…?”

They doubted Kang-Woo was lying— no, they were so loyal to Kang-Woo that they would believe any lie he told them. Despite that, they were having a hard time accepting that the day was repeating without their knowledge.

“But it’s not a perfect loop, as I’ve mentioned.”

“Those who have died disappear when time is rewound, correct?”

“Oh, come to think of it, there were a lot of missing person reports in the morning news. I’ve also been reported that some were from Guardians.” Si-Hun softly groaned and nodded. “It must be because the people who have died in the past three loops are gone in the current loop.”

“Exactly.”

People died for a variety of reasons; although everyone’s memories were reset once time was rewound, it did not bring the dead back to life.

“That means…” Si-Hun stroked his chin and narrowed his eyes. “Their ability to rewind time is flawed, right?”

“Yes.”

If they could perfectly turn back time, the dead should also be coming back to life. However, as proven in the case of Hong Seung-Hyun, the dead did not come back to life once time was rewound. Traces of them just disappeared as if they were never there in the first place.

“It is different from what happened with me.” Balrog also nodded in understanding.

Balrog was brought back to life by rewinding time. Kang-Woo did not see it happen because his mind was taken over by the Demonic Sea, but Han Seol-Ah told him the details afterward.

‘Even Nostrian’s power dwelling in Seol-Ah had to be used up in its entirety just to save Balrog.’

As such, there was no way anyone else but Nostrian could bring the dead back to life. No, according to Eve, not even Nostrian could perfectly turn back time for every being on Earth.

‘In that case.’

Kang-Woo could take advantage of that flaw.

“But isn’t it meaningless to know that it’s flawed as long as we have no idea who’s behind it?” asked Si-Hun with a frown.

Although no one was being resurrected from the dead, November 8th was still repeating itself. Just because they knew the loop was flawed did not mean they could find the culprit behind it.

“We can just call them to us.”

Kang-Woo smiled and pointed down. He, Balrog, and Si-Hun were at Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. The place had become a hellscape bustling with monsters due to the dozens of Gates that had opened in the vicinity during the Day of Calamity.

“How?” asked Si-Hun, tilting his head in confusion.

“Think about it.” Kang-Woo crossed his arms and continued, “The dead don’t come back to life even when time is rewound. In other words, the culprits can’t create a perfect time loop.”

“That’s… true.”

“But do you think that’s limited to people’s lives?”

“Pardon?”

“I’m talking about the monsters bustling here. Don’t you think they’d apply as well? No, I wonder if they’d be able to perfectly restore destroyed terrain?”

“Oh,” Si-Hun expressed, finally understanding what Kang-Woo was trying to say.

“In game terminology, they’re doing a daily server rollback.”

It was not a perfect rollback either; the culprits were straight up disregarding any data they couldn’t restore. They were turning back time in a crude manner.

“In other words.”

The more data there was to restore— the more changes in data there were between November 8th and 9th, the lesser their capacity to rewind time became.

“If we destroy enough to the point they can’t restore it…”

Kang-Woo pulled out Midir, the demonic sword gleaming dark blue.

Whoooom!!

Midir’s blade shone dark blue. Kang-Woo pointed the tip of the blade at the mountain peak beneath them.

Zoom—! Boom!!

A laser as powerful as a dragon’s breath shot in a straight line.

“They’ll have no choice but to come crawling to us.”

Rumble—!!!

The perpetual snow covering Mount Everest slid down the mountain from the impact of the dark blue laser. Although the laser’s main purpose was to deal spiritual damage, the laser infused with the power of the demonic energy from the Abyss was as powerful of a physical attack as any.

Rumble—!

The falling perpetual snow turned into a giant avalanche and swept away everything in its path.

“Balrog.” Kang-Woo turned to Balrog after staring at the natural disaster. He snickered as he asked, “You said you were itching for some action, didn’t you?”

Balrog’s eyes shone. “Gahahahaha!!! So this is why you brought me along with you!!!” He laughed heartily as he flapped his giant wings. “Right, then!!”

Ker-thunk, ker-thunk, ker-thunk!!

Black armor began to wrap Balrog.

Tsssssss—!

White steam fumed from his back like a jet engine. He twisted his torso and raised his right fist high.

“I WILL GO AS WILD AS MY HEART DESIRES, AS YOU COMMAND—!!!”

Balrog flapped his wings covered in black armor and shot down toward the avalanche like a meteor.

“Come! Overlord’s Titanic Might!!!”

Balrog swung his fist with all his might after activating the【Overlord’s Titanic Might】Trait.

Creak! Creak—!!

Balrog’s muscles swelled, pushing on the black armor surrounding him as if they would burst out of the armor. Unfathomable power befitting its grand name smashed into the earth.

RUMBLE—!!!

The ground was upturned in the shape of a circle with Balrog at the epicenter as if a rock was thrown into a puddle. Several kilometers of terrain were falling apart as if a meteor had truly fallen.

“Kraaaahhh!!”

“Krrrrrrkkk!!”

Thousands of monsters inhabiting the area around Mount Everest frantically fled in shock.

“I see,” remarked Si-Hun as he unsheathed his beautiful white sword from his waist. “I will do as you say, hyung-nim.”

He jumped into the air using Void Steps and landed in front of the swarm of fleeing monsters.

“Twenty-Four Sword Forms of the Plum Blossom.”

One of the peerless martial arts in the Thousand Martial Treasury naturally popped into his head. Although he had never performed the technique before, it didn’t matter to him. After all, he was none other than Kim Si-Hun.

“Thousand Miles of Plum Blossom Fragrance.”

The condensed sword energy split into thousands of fragments and fluttered like flower petals, spreading the fragrance of plum blossoms throughout the surroundings.

“GYAAAAAAHHH!!!”

“KRAAAAAHHH!!!”

Monsters trapped in the storm of flower petals made of condensed sword energy were torn to pieces as if they were in a blender. The thousands of monsters inhabiting Mount Everest were powerlessly killed by Si-Hun’s blade.

“Bwehehehehe!! Die!! All of you!!!” shouted Kang-Woo as he burst into laughter and crazily swung Midir.

He felt like his frustrations were being blown away.

[Kyahahahahahahaha!!! Yeah, kill them all!! Destroy everything, my king!!!]

Midir’s crazed laughter was also echoing in Kang-Woo’s head. It seemed like she was also enjoying the situation.

[You who get in the way of salvation. Cease your actions at.]

[Once.]

Low voices echoed throughout the area of Mount Everest where the destruction had escalated from the level of a natural disaster to the deformation of the Earth’s crust. One sounded like that of a dignified man and the short continuation of the man’s sentence sounded like it came from a woman.

‘I knew it.’

Kang-Woo stuck out his tongue and cackled. As he had expected, his answer to creating irreparable destruction was the correct one.

“Come on~ Do you expect me to stop without even giving me your names~? Hm?”

Kang-Woo smiled wickedly as he turned to where he heard the voices.

‘I mean, I already know who you guys are.’

There was only one group of bastards who would spout shit about salvation out of the blue.

[I am Solar, the Great Akart’s third retai.]

[Ner.]

[And the other is Lunar, the Great Akart’s fourth retai.]

[Ner.]

“What the hell is up with the line distribution?”

‘Give Lunar some lines too, shameless motherfucker.’

There were two retainers of Akart; it made sense since something of this scale could not be done alone.

“Are you the ones who have been turning back time?”

[Yes. We have stopped the flow of time on this planet to bring salvation to this.]

[World.]

[If you continue to get in the way of salvation, we swear on the Great Akart’s name that you will be pu.]

[Nished.]

The two voices echoed throughout the leveled earth but they had yet to show themselves.

“I don’t know~ We won’t stop even if you say pretty please. Screw this salvation crap, okay? I’ll stop if you restore time to what it was before.”

The retainers responded firmly, [We refuse. We are the saviors of worlds. We do not negotiate with e.]

[Vil.]

‘I guess this isn’t enough for them to stop rewinding time.’

It was only natural; Kang-Woo had no idea why but they truly believed that stopping Earth’s flow of time would lead to its salvation.

‘I need to make them come out somehow.’

Their voices were echoing so much that Kang-Woo couldn’t pinpoint where they were.

“I don’t think they have any intention of coming out,” said Si-Hun as he bit his lip anxiously.

“You think? In that case…” Kang-Woo continued calmly, “We’ll have to give them no other choice but to come out.”

The corners of his mouth ripped open and reached his earlobes.

‘I’m glad the ones who did this were Akart’s retainers.’

It would have been a pain in the ass if the culprits weren’t Akart’s retainers because he would have had no way of finding them if they dedicated themselves to hiding. However, there was a simple way of handling it if they were Akart’s retainers.

“How are you planning on…”

“Lemme tell you something, Si-Hun.”

“Yes?”

“Their sole objective is to bring salvation to this world.”

“Pardon?”

Si-Hun looked back at Kang-Woo in confusion.

‘Yeah.’

However twisted their convictions were, their actions were all to bring salvation to Earth.

‘In that case.’

Fwoosh—!!!

The Flames of Voracity blazed and wrapped the blade of the dark blue sword like a snake. They seeped into the sword and condensed. Flames intense enough to devour the world gathered inside the demonic sword.

“TURN THE TIME BACK TO NORMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!!!” Kang-Woo roared as he stomped his foot. The roar of a demon, amplified with thick demonic energy, echoed throughout the surroundings. “RIGHT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWW!!!”

[We have no obligation to do what evil.]

[Says.]

“You won’t do it? You woooooooooooooooon’t??? Did I hear you right~???”

Kang-Woo was filled with sorrow.

“A-Aaaahh. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!”

Kang-Woo’s eyes flipped backward as he pulled on his hair.

“I CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN’T!!! BECOME A GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!! IF TOMORROW DOESN’T COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOME!!!”

Tears flowed down his cheeks— the tears of heartbreak flowing from the eyes of a man who couldn’t get married for ten millennia.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! I’M SO SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!! MY TEARS WON’T STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!”

[What a crazy de.]

[Mon.]

“IT’S BECAUSE OF YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!! YOU BASTARDS TURNED ME INTO THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!!!” Kang-Woo foamed at the mouth as his limbs trembled. “FUCK IT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL!!! IF I CAN’T GET MARRIED FOREVER, THEN I DON’T NEED THIS WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORLD!!!”

Kang-Woo raised Midir over his head. He drew out all the power he could muster without hesitation to ignite the Flames of Voracity and condensed all of it into Midir. If he swung down this sword containing flames that could devour worlds, all life on Earth would be devoured by the Flames of Voracity.

[Stop!! What are you trying to do?!!]

[Stop this instant!!!]

Solar and Lunar’s anxious voices echoed.

“H-Hyung-nim!! Are you insane?!”

Even Si-Hun ran toward Kang-Woo in pallor.

“WHAT’S THE POINT OF THIS WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORLD?!! IF I CAN’T EVEN GET MARRIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED?!! I WON’T EVER GET TO SEE DARLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!! YEON-JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! AND LILIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITH!!! IN THEIR WEDDING DRESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!”

Fwoosh—!!!

Kang-Woo screamed madly as he swung down the demonic sword.

[S-Stop him—!!!]

[We must protect Earth!!!]

The two saviors hurriedly showed themselves to stop the end of Earth.