Chapter 50

Without any words, Filder fell into a deep thought.

Filder was not acting too surprised after hearing what Vulcan told him. Watching Filder, Vulcan said,

“You are not surprised.”

“…”

“I was a little curious. I was curious why you allowed me to leave so easily when I told you I’ll be leaving Asgard last time. I thought you would insist that I should stay. On the contrary, you gave up so easily.”

Vulcan’s gaze contained some suspicion.

Vulcan continued.

“… By any chance, did you know things will turn out like this?”

“No. I really did not know. Please. I would appreciate it if you didn’t get me wrong.”

Unlike the usual, Filder was not smiling. Filder excused himself.

“The following is what we were thinking. In the lower dimension, a hundred years, or several hundred years if it takes longer, is long enough time to enjoy every pleasure that life has to offer. By then, all of the family members would have passed away one by one as well. So, in the end, it would feel like you are left all alone in the world.”

“Hm…”

“We figured you would come back by then. Because we were so certain of this, we just thought it would be easier if we waited instead. We knew that the Cross-dimensional travel technique is given to those who wish for a way to go back to their own worlds. That’s why.”

Vulcan believed Filder’s words.

It wasn’t because Filder’s explanation was logical. It was because he trusted the man. So, Vulcan went over this without doubting it too much.

Vulcan sat there in silence for a moment.

Filder continued.

“Earth… I heard that it was a place with a highly advanced civilization. Also, because of that, I heard that a war in that world could lead to complete destruction of that world, but it doesn’t seem like a war was the cause of its end. Based on what you said… If I am to make a guess… Was it because of an invasion by the forces led by a Demon Lord?”

“That’s right. It sounds like it happened to places other than just Earth.”

“As I thought… Those beings usually target worlds that are not protected by a god. They also target worlds where their gods are not in their full strengths because of injuries. Earth is a place without a god, demi-god, or not even a hero… It would have been a good target for them.”

Filder said with a cringed face.

“I think a more detailed explanation is necessary. Will you please tell me more?”

“… I will.”

Vulcan sighed and started to explain.

***

It felt like his body was gone and only is conscious was floating around through the infinite space.

In the space between dimensions, Vulcan drifted around like a ghost ship.

After a while, all of sudden, it felt like he was being sucked into a specific place. Vulcan finally realized he will be arriving to Earth soon. He couldn’t hide his excitement.

Although only two years passed in Earth, ten years have passed in Vulcan’s time. He was returning home after a long hard journey.

It was obvious he was excited.

Like that, time passed for a while with Vulcan in excitement. Finally, Vulcan was at Earth. He got to set his foot on South Korea’s land.

“Um?”

Having set foot on the ground, Vulcan crumpled his face.

It was because the scenery was completely different from what he imagined.

Vulcan was thinking about a busy city or a mountain area full of lush trees.

Before he arrived, he was concerned people might think he look odd, so he was going to leave the area as soon as he arrived. However, now that he actually arrived, he just looked around with a vacant look on his face.

There were half-destroyed buildings.

There were molten and broken pieces of irons on the rubbles of buildings. It was a horrible sight.

There were destroyed roads, and remains of cars and broken glass were scattered about the scene.

“What is this?”

Vulcan couldn’t get a hold of his mind.

“By any chance, was there a war against the North Korea?”

The scene was completely unexpected.

Vulcan panicked. Only plausible explanation that Vulcan could think of was a pre-emptive strike by North Korea.

He was not considering the possibilities of natural disasters such as a hurricane or earthquake, because the level of damage was too extreme.

Vulcan used his superior eyesight to look further, but to the end of his visual range, the land was filled with destruction. It was endless.

It was a tragic sight that could be brought about only by a war.

‘For now, I’ll have to go find out what happened here.’

Vulcan left the area and started to run.

After all, there wasn’t any modern day weapon that could hurt him.

Vulcan figured that he would run into people and intact cities, if he ran around aimlessly far enough in any direction.

It was right about when Vulcan was going to activate the Thunder God’s might.

Vulcan felt the presence of a few approaching him.

“What? There are people still here?”

“…”

Vulcan was about to put up a welcoming look on his face. He thought they were people.

However, what appeared before him was not a human being.

It had bloody red skin and two horns on its head. It had a tail with an arrow-like end.

It was a muscular looking monster.

It looked like a demon commonly portrayed in western culture. Having witnessed the lifeform, Vulcan was at a loss for words.

[Demon Force Belake, Captain of Nine]

[37Lv]

‘What is this… Isn’t this place supposed to be Earth?’

Vulcan was not able to say anything. Belake said to Vulcan who was lost in his thoughts,

“Hey. Tell me. Why did you come all the way here by yourself? Are you here to get yourself killed on purpose?”

“Kukuk Kakakakak!”

“Kukakaka!”

When Captain Belake finished talking, other smaller demons started to laugh in their unpleasant voices.

With a blank look on his face, Vulcan observed them.

[Demon Force Grunt Hum]

[19Lv]

[Demon Force Grunt Kiru]

[21Lv]

…

[Demon Force Grunt Hudura]

[18Lv]

Overall, they were a little stronger than an ordinary orc.

However, that was not the point here.

Vulcan finally came back to Earth, his home, after long years of hardship.

The problem was that there were strange beings that should not be in this world. These beings were roaming about the street. That was the problem.

‘This place is definitely Earth.’

The words written on broken signs on the ground were Korean.

This was Earth. There were no other possibilities.

‘In that case, how come those monsters, the kind that should be in places like Rubel Continent, are here?

Also, what happened to the people that lived here?

What about my family and friends? Are they alive?

Just what happened in two years while I was gone…’

“Hey. Human. Did you not hear me? Are you deaf?”

Toward Vulcan, who was deep in futile thoughts, Belake said with a hardened look on his face.

It looked like he was displeased about his words being ignored.

Because he was a demon, Belake was able to communicate and converse with any intelligent being. It was a trait unique to demons. Despite that, he was not getting a response.

Belake raised his giant trident and aimed it toward Vulcan’s chest.

“Human. Answer. This is your last chance. What business do you have? Why did you come all the way over here?”

“Kukikikikic. Captain. Why do you bother asking? You are going to kill him anyway!”

“Let’s kill him already! Blood! I want to see blood!”

“Kukaka. It’s human meat!”

It seemed the grunts were expecting a bloodbath festival soon. The grunts were already running around wild in celebration.

Vulcan looked at them with annoyed eyes.

Their laughters were annoyingly loud. Their voices were very unpleasant for a human being’s ear to listen to.

Vulcan said to the demons.

“Would you be quiet for a sec.”

“… This human must be metally ill. Kuhahahahaha!”

Having heard what Vulcan just said, Belake laughed out loud.

Belake laughed for a long while with his head tilted all the way up.

He suddenly stopped laughing and looked at Vulcan.

There was a thick vein popping out of his forehead. It looked like Belake was mad all the way to the tip of his head.

“I’ll give you the most painful death, human.”

Belake stabbed Vulcan’s thigh with the trident.

Wheec.

Tung.

“Kuk. What’s this?”

In light of a completely unexpected outcome, Belake opened his eyes wide.

He was expecting Vulcan to be pierced by his trident and scream in pain. However, instead, Belake’s hand was hurting from the impact.

Belake looked at his hand, and then he looked at Vulcan, who was standing there peacefully as if nothing happened.

“This bastard. Just what did you do… We are done messing around! It’s time to get serious!”

Belake took three steps back. With all of his strength, he charged at Vulcan with his trident.

With its violent momentum, Belake charged toward with his trident aimed at Vulcan’s chest.

‘He probably blocked the last attack somehow using a trick. However, it will be different this time.

I’m counted as one of the strongest of captains.’

Belake firmly believed that the trident was going to more than just pierce through Vulcan’s heart.

KUWANG.

“Kuaaak!”

KUDANGTANGTANG.

“Huk… Captain is…!”

“Our captain was attacked!”

By the reaction from the impact that was far greater than the last one, Belake was tossed back to the distance. Having witnessed this, the smaller demons strained their eyes.

They didn’t have any abilities to determine what happened exactly.

However, it seemed certain to them that this human used some kind of weird trick and attacked their captain.

“Let’s go! Let’s kill him!”

Nine small demons surrounded Vulcan in a circle. They all charged toward Vulcan at once with their weapons.

Blades, swords, maces, and etc. They were using all sorts of weapons to pound at Vulcan.

KANG! KANG!

TANG!

KANG!

With excitement, the small demons beat Vulcan who was not resisting at all.

Meanwhile, Vulcan leisurely watched what the small demons were doing. That’s all he did for the time being.

Vulcan’s passive skill, ‘Iron body’, was at rank A even in Asgard’s lofty standard.

If he used Rubel Continent or Earth’s standard, it was at rank SS, an unbelievable mastery rate.

Also, the difference in level was humongous.

Even when he was at level 99, he could just let orcs or goblins attack him and let them beat him without taking any damage. He could do that while yawning.

Now, he was at level 471, and his true power rivaled that of demi-gods. To Vulcan, who developed such strength, their attack didn’t even tickle.

Clank!

KAGANG!

“Ugh…. This….!”

“My blade is broken!”

“What is this? This human! He’s weird!”

In the end, their weapons broke.

The small demons panicked and didn’t know what to do. Vulcan quietly looked around the small demons and started to cast magic.

It had been a while since Vulcan cast this magic. Infinite Flame Orbs made their entrance.

Infinite Flame Orbs were launched toward the small demons. It left no time for them to react, and the orbs made direct impacts.

BOOM!

KUGWAGWAGWANG!

[Experience points went up by an extremely small amount.]

[Experience points went up by an extremely small amount.]

The small demons exploded. There were no traces of them left.

That was not the end of it.

Infinite Flame Orbs’ powers were not exhausted from exploding the small demons.

Each orb created a crater that was almost 200 ft in diameter.

Each orb had destructive power that rivaled a Hellfire cast by an ordinary mage in a lower dimension.

Even Vulcan was a little shocked by the outcome of the magic he cast.

‘I didn’t really feel it until now because I was in Asgard all this time, but it looks like I really did get a lot stronger. Looks like I’ll have to be careful.’

In comparison to the lower dimensions, everything was tougher in Asgard, not just people there, but even the ground or rocks.

After seeing the ground suffering bigger destructions than he anticipated, Vulcan made up his mind to be careful about controlling his strength.

Step… Step…

Vulcan slowly approached Belake who was lying on the ground.

He got close enough to just kick him. Now that he observed Belake from a close distance, Vulcan realized Belake had his jaw dropped. It appeared he was in a state of shock after watching the power of Vulcan’s magic.

With a voice that had his fury suppressed, Vulcan said,

“Hey.”

“Huk. Y… Yes!”

Belake was shivering in fear.

The confident look that he had a while ago left the scene without any trace. He looked that scared.

Vulcan said very slowly so even Belake in his state could understand.

“I just arrived in this dimension called Earth. I heard that only humans lived in this dimension. Who are your kind? How did you get here? Also, what is the purpose of your invasion to human world? Tell me what you know. Also, tell me who is your leader.”

“T… That is…”

“If you tell me willingly, I’ll spare your life. However, if I sense that you are lying, or if you choose to keep your mouth shut, then…”

Vulcan focused flame energy to the tip of his finger and pointed it toward a building that was mostly in ruins.

The magic power gradually increased its concentration.

A powerful energy, enough to make Belake shake in fear, was launched toward the building, and it melted away.

“…!”

“I don’t have time for this, so hurry up.”

Vulcan was keeping his voice down. It seemed like he was suppressing his emotion as much as he could.

However, Belake could tell that there was unimaginable fury hidden behind it.

It was no longer about wanting to live.

It was just that Belake was overcome by the huge difference in strength. He was overwhelmed by the pressure. It felt like he had no other choice but to speak in this situation.

Belake even had forgotten about the fear toward Amarus, his leader. He was about to speak.

At that moment, Vulcan felt someone was flying toward him. Vulcan looked toward the sky.

There was a giant monster falling rapidly toward him from the sky.

It was a muscular demon with horns bigger than a fully grown human being.

The demon arrived before Vulcan and Belake. The demon asked,

“What’s this? I came because there was a large explosion here, but it’s just a human. Hey. You. What are you doing here?”

The being was harshly scolding Belake.

Vulcan examined its abilities.

[Demon Force Naramhart, Captain of 999]

[86Lv]

“T… The thing is!”

Naramhart stared at Belake, who was about to make excuses.

Vulcan moved his position to right between Belake and Naramhart.

Naramhart had an unpleasant look on his face with one of his eyebrows moving. Naramhart was about to say something, but Vulcan stepped up and said,

“If you are a captain of 999 soldiers, then you must know a lot more than a captain of 9.”

Having heard what Vulcan just said, Naramhart gave a look. It looked like he was thinking this was ridiculous. Naramhart said,

“Hey, kid. Where did you learn to butt in to other’s conversation?”

The tone of his voice was like how an adult would scold a little kid that didn’t know anything about how the world works.

Vulcan didn’t bother to talk back. Instead, he focused his mana.

At an instant, he created ten Hellfires and had them float in the air, but soon he realized his mistake and canceled nine of them.

‘I need to keep him alive at least, if I want to find out what happened here.’

As he made a grinding noise with his teeth, Vulcan steadily glared at Naramhart.