Dinner of the returned Hero

A hideous looking demon with a horn protruding from his head swung his spear. The spearhead that glowed in blue had fierce demonic energy radiating from it, wiping spirits that were fluttering about around it.

“You dare to think I,  Bekirah, 628th in rank of Demons, would fall to a mere medium class spirit-”

CRUSH! Crushing sound made a stop to the hideous demon from finishing his talk, as an enormous lion wearing a blazing fire had crushed down the demon in his mouth. The demon himself was over 15 feet tall, but the size of the lion was so large that it made the demon look cute.

The lion bit on the demon by its head and swung it, making the demon’s waist tear off like if it was a rotten branch of wood.

ROOOOAR!!!

A Spirit Beast that reigns over fire.

The giant lion wearing blue flame around him, Leon roared the Bellow of the Lion, making demons and demonic beasts that were charging towards him to falter at its power.

At that moment, a gigantic bird flew down. It was a blue colored bird. The giant bird covering the sun, Locke, screeched by opening its mouth and a lightning formed from around him and struck down on demons and demonic beasts.

The wave of demons then slowed, but there still were countless numbers of them left. The giant plain rumbled from countless numbers of demonic beasts running through, letting out uncomfortable wails to fill out the skies.

It was then, when Spirit Beasts and spirits that followed appeared from over the horizon of the plains, bringing in the new wind.

“Gosh, Leon and Locke. I told you guys to wait and you two ran off again,” said the man.

[Gyungho, you know very well that Leon and Locke are born that way. They are what they are, after all.] A voice then rang through the sky.

Far above, at the high sky, there were beings watching over the fight of Leon and Locke. It was a gigantic Serpent Dragon, Mir, and the man standing above the dragon’s head, Gyungho Choi.

Gyungho had uncombed, dirty dark hair with distinctive dark eyebrows. He did not stop to smile even while watching a gruesome scene.

“Mir, so this is the last dungeon, right?” asked Gyungho.

[Yes. Perhaps it is why they are more desperate. Or they also seem they have given up, given that we are not seeing any formidable foes. Nevertheless, yes this is the last one.] Mir answered.

“Then my job here is really over.”

[You have done well. Shall we then make a grand finale?]

Gyungho then opened a dimensional space to pull out the Dragon Fang Sword made from Mir’s fang, and nodded.

“Let’s go, Mir,” said Gyungho.

Mir’s giant body twirled in a weird angle, then dove straight down as if it struck down. It was right where Leon and Locke were fighting about.

Powerful mana soared from Gyungho’s body, and a pure white aura covered the giant Dragon Fang Sword that he held in his right hand. It was an aura that had a combination of the slashing power from mana, anti-demonic power from the Divine Energy, and the destructive power of the Spiritual Power.

“Shall we hack it down?”

Gyungho then swung, almost carelessly, on top of Mir’s head but his single swing explosively crushed through demons and demonic beasts. Gyungho made the way like that, and countless Spirit Beasts followed its past on the way that Gyungho opened for them.

Wolf, bear, turtle, leopard, eagle, elephant and such shaped Spirit Beasts charged in through the plains, stomping through demonic beings. Just like that, the last fight of the War against the Demonic Realm that invaded into the Spiritual Realm had come to an end easier than expected.

***

Gyungho struck a giant spirit stone into the stone that had a magical circuit engraved onto it. The stone began to let out a whooshing sound.

“Is this working correctly?” asked Gyungho, to which Mir nodded.

[We now have a barrier over the entire Spiritual Realm. We will no longer face any dungeons connected to the Demonic Realm from now on.]

“Shouldn’t we just jump into their realm and wipe them out, to be safe?”

[You know very well that that is not how it works.]

Unlike humans, Spirit Beasts and Spirits were weak against demonic energy so they couldn’t infiltrate into the Demonic Realm. Gyungho knew this fact as well.

“I’m just saying. I still think those Demon pricks will think of a new plan back at their home again.”

In fact, high ranking demons stopped invading three years ago, after Gyungho had become powerful.

[I want to thank you for what you did, Gyungho. We would not have won if it was not for your help.] Mir spoke.

“You’ve thanked me enough already. No need, friend.”

Gyungho then looked at small spirits fluttering about and smiled softly.

‘This will be my last time watching them.’ thought Gyungho. Spirits chirped like baby birds, but there were sounds of sadness among those clear chirps. They were saddened to part ways with Gyungho.

It had been ten years. It was that long that Gyungho had been summoned into the Spiritual Realm that was tainted by the Demonic Realm’s invasion.

Gyungho, the 25 year old man who was working at his mother’s restaurant, had to become a Guardian that he had not even thought about. Anger and resentment had faded over ten long years, and now new relationships had filled its space.

[It was good to have you, Gyungho.]

With thanks, Mir then handed Gyungho a fist sized seed.

“A seed of a World Tree?” asked Gyungho.

[I suppose your homeworld should have one or two World Trees as well.]

“This is a valuable seed.”

[That is why it is being given to you as a gift.]

Mir had a smile on his face as he handed the seed over. Gyungho also grinned as he took the seed.

“Yeah. I’ll take good care of it when I get back.”

Gyungho then had flashbacks of the past ten years in his mind.

‘It was hard and lonely, but I had a good time.’ thought Gyungho. He laughed at contradicting feelings he felt, then opened the dimensional space to stash the seed and turned to Mir and other Spirit Beasts. Gyungho waved his hand.

“I learned so much from you all. It was good to have you guys with me.”

Leon, the giant Lion as large as Mir, roared sadly at Gyungho’s farewell. His large eyes had become teary as he watched Gyungho.

“Leon, don’t cry like a baby. You’re a grown up.”

Leon roared again sadly, and Gyungho patted Leon’s front paw.

“Hey, hey. Stop crying. Guys, stop him will ya?” asked Gyungho to other Spirit Beasts, but they all seemed saddened to see Gyungho go. The giant snake, a giant wolf the size of about Leon, a giant ox that had huge horns and all other Spirit Beasts were saddened to say goodbye to Gyungho.

They were not just animals, but a comrade and partners that depended on each other for their lives to fight back demons with Gyungho. Gyungho’s eyes also became teary at the sight of them. He then looked up to the sky where spirits were fluttering to hide his tears.

“Spirits, thank you too.”

Mir then spoke to Gyungho.

[I hate to see you go, but it will be best that we keep our goodbyes short. Are you ready?]

“Yeah, I guess I should go now,” answered Gyungho.

Gyungho then turned around to see everyone, then bowed.

“Thank you all.”

It had been ten years already, fighting and surviving against demons and demonic beats. He became concerned if he would get used to comfortable lives of the Earth, since he had been used to the rough life of war.

But he couldn’t give up on returning back to Earth where his mother, his only family, was waiting for him.

‘Will I be able to live in peace while I hide my true power?’ thought Gyungho. It also felt appealing to live like the main character of novels that he read when he was young, where the main protagonist was overtly powerful than everyone else.

‘Lucky Restaurant of the Returned Hero with hidden powers. Or something to that extent. That should work.’ thought Gyungho. As he finished making up his mind, he smiled brightly.

“Goodbye guys!”

Spirit Beasts roared and screeched in different sounds of sadness at once, filling the great plains with noise.

“Stop crying.”

The Dragon Sphere held by Mir began to shine in silvery light over Gyungho, covering him.

“Be well!”

Gyungho waved his hand, smiling. Soon, with a bright spark of light, he was gone.

[Gyungho, I wish the best for you.] said Mir as he bowed deeply, blessing Gyungho’s future.

***

BEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEP! Loud noise filled the entire city, with various media outlets featuring emergency news.

[Rupture Alert! Rupture Alert!]

[Emergency News. Rupture erupted at Sector B-4 of Seoul.]

[Rupture Wave analyzed to be the 2nd Grade Disaster Class Demonic Beast - Dark Flame Demon Dragon.]

Strongest class, excluding the Extinction Class that brings damage on a country level, was the Disaster Class. On top of that, it was the 2nd Grade beast, a higher ranked of them, a Dark Flame Demon Dragon that was incoming.

It wasn’t an Extinction Class, but a Dark Flame Demon Dragon was powerful enough to wipe out a sector from the map if it comes out of the Dungeon.

“AHHHHHH!”

People screamed over the streets, running in panic mode as they followed the sign saying Evacuation Center.

A vehicle from the Rupture Specialist Team of the Hunter HQ had arrived first to the scene. Soon, hunters from giant guilds also arrived one by one.

“We’re so doomed! 2nd Grade Disaster Class out of nowhere? Where is the military?!” Shouted the man.

“They will be here in ten minutes.”

“We need to hold them until they come at all cost,” said the man.

He was Siwon Kim, the team leader of the Rupture Specialist Team, 7th in rank of Korean Agents. Siwon became nervous as he watched the enormous sized Rupture. That’s when the 90 feet long Rupture began to swirl with bright light, spreading mana from within. It was right before it cracked.

“It is cracking! Be ready!” shouted Siwon.

The magnitude of the situation made those on the ground not notice the existence of another rupture. There was a small rupture on top of the giant 90 feet rupture. The rupture cracked, then a figure of a human appeared from it.

“Ugh, the dimension of travel is worse than the ‘Realm of Consciousness.’” said the man with uncombed hair and distinct thick eyebrows. It was Gyungho Choi, who just returned from the Spiritual Realm.

“Wait, what? What the hell is this?” said Gyungho.

There was Bosingak in the distance, so he was correctly sent to the Jonggak Station area where he disappeared ten years ago.

“It’s in ruins.”

But the scene seen below was completely different from what he remembered from ten years ago. There were buildings still left, but the Jongro he remembered was no more.

“What?”

Gyungho then noticed a giant rupture swirling in mana beneath his feet.

“What the hell? Is this a Rupture?”

From the depth of dark Rupture, a sound too familiar to the point where he was tired of hearing it, came from within. It was the sound of a Dark Flame Demon Dragon.

‘Dammit. Did it tag along from the Demonic Realm on my dimensional travel?’ thought Gyungho, although he was completely wrong on that. Gyungho then curled his hand into a fist. A powerful mana began to storm into his fist.

‘Hmm? It’s weaker than usual.’ It seemed the mana concentration was much weaker as he was in a different environment from the Spiritual Realm. Moreover, he could not feel any Divine Energy or Spiritual Power around him at all.

‘Well, it’s still more than enough to get rid of the Rupture of Dark Flame Demon Dragon.’

Gyungho then raised his fist, then struck it down on the Rupture that was shining brightly. A light exploded out from his fist, striking down the Dark Flame Demon Dragon ripping out of the Rupture, along with the Rupture itself.

The Rupture exploded, bursting in powerful light and a fierce mana wave exploded out from it. It was when Gyungho was going to disappear after dealing with the Dark Flame Demon Dragon.

[System Error.]

[The Guardian is summoning you for analysis.]

Gyungho, who was about to run away, stopped at the message popping up in front of his eyes. Then a pure white magical rune began forming in front of him.

“System? What’s up with this now?” said Gyungho as he frowned at the magical rune that was nearing its completion. But he was not going to get summoned on the first day he returned from his long ten years of life in the Spiritual Realm.

“It’s a good try, but there’s no way you’re taking me back again,” said Gyungho.

He would have dragged away powerless if it was before, but he wasn’t what he was anymore. Gyungho reached out, and to surprise, the magical rune created in mana was grabbed by his hand. It was a shocking scene if seen by a magic type Awakener.

As Gyungho gave a push, the magical rune was ripped away like a piece of paper.

“Let’s hurry,” said Gyungho, and disappeared from the sky.

Those on the ground were crouching down at the powerful mana wave that exploded out when the Rupture was destroyed, so that they couldn’t see Gyungho.

“Ugh, what the-”

As the mana wave decreased, Siwon Kim raised back up and saw the area where the Rupture had just been.

“R-Rupture… it’s gone.”

Siwon couldn’t close his mouth in shock at the sight.

‘The dragon was coming out from it. What the hell just happened?’ He thought, when one of his team members asked in a dumbfounded look.

“Boss, did the Rupture ever disappear on its own?”

“No. I had never seen or heard anything like this,” said Siwon as he turned to the sky where the Rupture had disappeared.